Objective: This study addressed predictors of change in posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) among youths who had experienced physical injuries. The influences of pretrauma internalizing and externalizing problems, prior stressor exposure, and gender were investigated. Additionally, gender was examined as a moderator of the associations between…

Objective: Cognitive models of panic disorder suggest that change in catastrophic misinterpretations of bodily sensations will predict symptom reduction. To examine change processes, we used a repeated measures design to evaluate whether the trajectory of change in misinterpretations over the course of 12-week cognitive behavior therapy is related…

Objective: Suicidal members of the U.S. military often fail to disclose their suicidal urges and behaviors. Military suicide prevention efforts may therefore be enhanced if they also target less stigmatized psychosocial factors that may decrease risk of suicidality. In keeping with Bronfenbrenner's (1977, 1994) model, this study simultaneously…

The authors used a vulnerability-stress-adaptation framework to examine personality traits and chronic stress as predictors of the developmental course of physical aggression in the early years of marriage. Additionally, personality traits and physical aggression were examined as predictors of the developmental course of chronic stress. Data from…

Participants included 202 newlywed couples who reported retrospectively about child maltreatment experiences (sexual abuse, physical abuse, psychological abuse, and neglect) and whose marital functioning was assessed 3 times over a 2-year period. Decreased marital satisfaction at T1 was predicted by childhood physical abuse, psychological abuse,…

Objective: The primary goal of this study was to test a culturally specific model of binge eating in African American female trauma survivors, investigating potential mechanisms through which trauma exposure and distress were related to binge eating symptomatology. Method: Participants were 179 African American female trauma survivors who…

This study evaluated the predictive role of depressed outpatients' (N = 62) affective reactivity to daily stressors in their rates of improvement in cognitive therapy (CT). For 1 week before treatment, patients completed nightly electronic diaries that assessed daily stressors and negative affect (NA). The authors used multilevel modeling to…

Used a model of individual response to catastrophic events to analyze data from survivors of the Beverly Hills Supper Club fire of 1977. The most predictable symptoms at 1 year were associated with stress disorders. Overall, up to 45 percent of outcome variance 1-year postfire could be explained by individuals' experiences surrounding the fire.…

On the basis of theory and previous research, it was hypothesized that predisaster child trait anxiety would predict disaster-related posttraumatic stress symptoms and generalized anxiety disorder symptoms, even after controlling for the number of hurricane exposure events. Results support this hypothesis and further indicate that predisaster…

Participants in a communitywide stop-smoking contest were interviewed for cognitive, behavioral, and general smoking modification strategies used and amount of social support received specific to stopping smoking. Subjects reported using a variety of cognitive strategies but relatively few behavioral techniques during their attempts to quit.…

Studied the effect of stressful life events on the course and symptom remission of unipolar depression in 125 women. Results indicated that life events preceding treatment predicted certain symptoms and clinical outcome, whereas events occurring during treatment were not related to symptom outcome. (WAS)

Interviewed heart attack victims (N=287) seven weeks and eight years after their attack. Explored interrelations among causal attributions for the attack, survivor morbidity, and heart attack recurrence. Found that patients who cited benefits from their misfortune seven weeks after the first attack were less likely to have another attack and had…

Studied levels of psychological functioning of survivors (N=147) of the Beverly Hills Supper Club fire. Results showed the group as a whole was more impaired than the comparison sample. Survivors who were at the fire were less impaired than survivors not at the fire. (WAS)

Examined utility of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) as a longitudinal predictor of psychosocial adaptation to cancer. A post hoc discriminant analysis revealed that 75% of all patients could have been correctly classified into a high-distressed v a low-distressed cancer patient group using only the MMPI. (Author)

Concludes that age-related declines in intelligence and spontaneous flexibility during adulthood cannot be explained by increased anxiety. Age is a significant predictor either alone or with anxiety level taken into account, but anxiety level and the age/anxiety interaction do not add significantly to the prediction. (Author)