Used 9-point clinical rating scale to assess severity of hopelessness in 141 patients hospitalized with suicide ideation. Followed patients from 5 to 10 years; 10 eventually committed suicide. Mean hopelessness rating for patients committing suicide was significantly higher than that for patients not committing suicide. Cutoff score of 6 or above…

Evaluation of the clinical significance of a depression treatment program revealed that a substantial number of clients made reliable improvements; posttreatment scores fell within a functional distribution. Results suggest that highly structured interventions for outpatients with major depression can instill clinically meaningful changes in short…

Attempted to identify predictors of positive treatment outcome following behavioral marital therapy. The only variable that significantly predicted outcome at both posttest and follow-up was a measure reflecting traditional affiliation/independence patterns: couples with a highly affiliative wife and a highly independent husband were less likely…

Reports findings on the concurrent validity of the broad-band Internalizing and Externalizing profile types of the Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist. Results indicated that Internalizers were favored on a number of measures of adaptation when compared with Externalizers. (Author/MCF)

Factor analysis of the Bell Reality Testing Inventory items produced three subscales interpreted as dimensions of the reality testing ego function: Reality Distortion, Uncertainty of Perception, Hallucinations and Delusions. Replication factor analysis confirmed the factor structure. Subscales appear sensitive to variations in psychopathology and…

Demonstrated the reliability of the Body Sensations Questionnaire and the Agorophobic Cognitions Questionnaire on two clinical samples (N=175). The instruments fared well on tests of discriminant and construct validity. Concluded that these self-report inventories are useful, inexpensive, and easily scored measures for clinical and research…

Examines psychometric and normative questions related to the Areas of Change Questionnaire (AC) for 163 couples. Results offered support for the AC as a measure of overall marital adjustment, revealed differences according to sex and distress, and found that length of marriage influenced actual and perceived requests for change. (LLL)

The 13 basic Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) scales, 21 experimental scales of hostility and control, and four response-bias scales are cross-validated on 168 male criminals assigned to four aggressive criterion groups (nonviolent, threat, battery, and homicide). (Author)

Results indicated that predictive accuracy is greater when feedback is applied to the basis for the prediction than when applied to gut" impressions. Judges forming hypotheses were also able to learn from experience. (Author)

Reviews quantitative studies of Freud's proposition that the poorer the psychological health, the more limited are the benefits from treatment. Included are main methods of measurement, the record of predictive success, validity studies, the relation to the psychiatric diagnosis, prediction in forms of treatment other than psychotherapy, and…

The authors used structural equation modeling to investigate universal change processes identified in the generic model of psychotherapy (GMP). Three path models of increasing complexity were examined in Study 1 in dynamic therapy. The best fitting model from Study one was replicated in Study two for participants receiving either cognitive or…

Three Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory short forms, the Mini-Mult, Faschingbauer's 166, and the MMPI-168, which were constructed by different methodologies, were compared on a sample of 1,028 psychiatric patients. Results of this study seriously question the use of MMPI short forms for clinical interpretation. (Author)

Conducted four studies to develop Adolescent Perceived Events Scale (APES), measure of major and daily stressful events during adolescence. Describes test construction, test-retest reliability, and concurrent validity of APES. Summarizes subsequent research showing APES to be significantly related to behavior problems and psychological…

Presents maximum-likelihood confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) as a means for interpreting complete and incomplete multitrait-multimethod designs. CFA was applied to four data sets representing four designs and to an artificial data set to demonstrate its use in test validation designs to assess discriminant, convergent, and construct validity.…