Explored relation between self-nurturance and disordered eating among bulimic (N=18), dieting restrainer (N=20), and nonrestrainer (N=20) women. Results indicated that bulimics were less likely to nurture themselves in non-food-related ways and derived greater percentage of total self-nurturance from food than either restrainers or nonrestrainers.…

A total of 399 individuals completed a lethal behaviors scale and a measure of death anxiety, which were found to have no significant correlation. Predictors of lethalness included doing dangerous things for the fun of it and having ever driven a motorcycle. The most lethal individuals were young, male, and less educated. (Author/ABL)

Presents data on current adoption seeking in summary fashion and confines analyses to likelihood of ever having sought to adopt using national survey data from 8,450 women. Analysis on ever having sought adoption indicated that adoption seeking is primarily a function of desire for children coupled with inability or difficulty in having them.…

Examined motivations for condom use by adolescent males (n=1,880). About one-third reported using condoms consistently. Found greater consistency of condom use related to perceived costs benefits concerning pregnancy prevention, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, partner expectations, embarrassment, and reduction of pleasure. (Author/ABL)

Discusses use of reward and punishment as reinforcers, then considers when reward-punishment model does not seem to elicit predictable results. Discusses need to go beyond simple explanation of reward and punishment and to consider other, more subtle forms of motivation. Specifically addresses issues of identity and conformity. (NB)

Examined influence of migration on sexual behavior. Data from national probability sample of single females, ages 15-19 (n=1,287) revealed that moving was positively related to premarital sex. Migration may lower control through such mechanisms as weakening community bonds, decreasing supply and demand of parental supervision, and increasing…

Contends that comprehensive discussion of women's alcoholism must include understanding of how male-as-norm bias has affected alcoholism research, assessment, and treatment. Summarizes how male-as-norm bias has affected research on women's alcoholism and shaped perceptions of women's alcoholic behavior and their responses to treatment. (Author/NB)

Assessment of the neurotransmitter dopamine through measurement of the dopamine metabolite homovanillic acid (HVA) in adult subjects with mental retardation and with high rates of body stereotypy (n=12), compulsive behaviors (n=9), or neither (n=12) found lowest HVA concentrations in the stereotypy group and highest in the compulsive group. (DB)

Asserts that theory of mind is unique to humans and that its original function was to provide a more abstract level of describing ancient behavioral patterns, such as deception, reconciliation, and gaze following. Suggests that initial selective advantage of theory of mind may have been increased flexibility of already-existing behaviors, not…

Presents a preliminary case for the dispositionalist interpretation of grammatical knowledge by accomplishing two complementary tasks: first rejecting a prominent argument against the dispositionalist interpretation; second, advancing an original argument against the anti-dispositionalist interpretation. (Author/VWL)

Current psychometric models of choice behavior are strongly influenced by Thurstone's (1927, 1931) experimental and statistical work on measuring and scaling preferences. Aided by advances in computational techniques, choice models can now accommodate a wide range of different data types and sources of preference variability among respondents…

Studies have shown that cigarette smokers are generally aware of increased health risks associated with smoking, but that smokers tend to underestimate their own susceptibility to disease. In general, optimistic bias has been shown to increase with greater perceived control over an event or behavior; however, this phenomenon has not been examined…

Several theoretical views of automaticity are discussed. Most of these suggest that automaticity should be diagnosed by looking at the presence of features such as unintentional, uncontrolled/uncontrollable, goal independent, autonomous, purely stimulus driven, unconscious, efficient, and fast. Contemporary views further suggest that these…

More than five million children suffer from brain injuries each year. While the majority of these children are treated and released without permanent consequences, many children return to the classroom with lasting effects. Symptoms of brain injury can be misconstrued as common behaviour or academic problems. Therefore, teachers need to recognize…

Professionals working with children who have severe emotional/behavioral disorders (E/BD) need to understand the risk and protective factors (RPFs) that are correlated with the development of these behavior patterns, for at least 3 reasons. First, significant numbers of students experience negative outcomes or fail to achieve positive outcomes.…