[The elaboration of aggressiveness in adolescence: Comparative structural study based on the Rorschach test]. / L'élaboration de l'agressivité à l'adolescence: étude structurale comparée basée sur le test de Rorschach.

BACKGROUND: In adolescence, a component of a successful identity quest consists in elaborating the aggressiveness, be it endured or acted out, in an imaginary and symbolic manner. We will present a comparative study between anxious and violent adolescents, based on the Rorschach test. As the handling of aggressiveness by means of various defense mechanisms and coping strategies contributes to the construction of a sense of reality and of coherent representations of oneself and the others, the Rorschach test is a pertinent tool to study the vicissitudes of the identity quest of medium adolescence. On the other hand, many studies demonstrate that it is also a precious tool allowing diagnosis of the risks of evolution towards character pathology and personality disorders belonging to cluster B of the DSM, or towards emotional disorders and suicidal tendencies. Thus, it can help initiating appropriate therapeutic measures in a spirit of tertiary prevention. METHODS: We present a comparative study between a sample of 20 adolescents suffering from anxiety and inhibition of aggressiveness (subgroup anxiety) and a second sample of 20 adolescents suffering from exteriorized aggressiveness and violent behavior (subgroup violence). The inclusion into the subgroups was based on clinical interviews and a thorough psychological assessment, using the criteria of categorical psychopathology. The comparative study between the two subgroups is based on an original rating scale constructed in the phenomenological and structural tradition, reflecting the global judgment of the experienced clinical psychologist. It permits using the Rorschach test as a research tool by making the step from qualitative analysis towards quantification and the use of inferential and multidimensional statistics. It also allows computing correlations between the Rorschach test and psychometric scales or other projective tests, using specific rating scales of the same type. RESULTS: After showing the descriptive demographic data, we present the results of the comparative between groups study (computed by means of Mann-Whitney's U test) and those of the multidimensional study (computed by means of the optimal scaling procedure HOMALS). The comparative study indicates that, with adolescents suffering from anxiety and inhibition, the emotional and relational needs are much greater, as is the tendency to direct one's aggressiveness against one self. Mentalization, documented by the richness, the originality, the level of integration and the maturity of associations is better developed in this subgroup. In the subgroup of adolescents characterized by exteriorized aggressiveness and violent behavior, the ambiguity of the stimulus causes perplexity, slowing down executive functions. The latent dimensions, extracted with the help of optimal scaling procedures, are meaningful at the light of current clinical psychology and create a typology of the adjustment to aggressive drives. They tend to illustrate the pertinence of the rating scale as a research tool and contribute in demonstrating its construct validity. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: The data of the comparative and multidimensional study are discussed in relationship with open questions in developmental and clinical psychology of adolescence. They highlight the role of the Rorschach test as a means to differentiate between temporary and long-term difficulties related to aggressiveness, as well as to show similarities and differences at the structural level of personality functioning between subgroups with interiorized and exteriorized aggressiveness. The psychological meaning of the latent dimensions, extracted with the help of optimal scaling techniques, are discussed in light of the recent research literature. Rorschach profiles can help indicate risks of evolution towards personality pathology at adult age. Let us stress that our latent dimensions are not focused on aggressiveness itself but rather on control functions liable to modulate its expression. Using the Rorschach test in pretest and posttest situation and exploring the change occurring during the psychotherapeutic interventions with the help of the rating scale (application of optimal scaling on Delta values) could open interesting tracks for future research in the realm of outcome and process evaluation of psychotherapies.

The role of anxiety in the perception of technological hazards - a cross-sectional study on cell phones and masts.

BACKGROUND: Risk perception is determined by parameters related to the nature of the risk, as well as inherent to the individual perceiving this risk. This study was designed to provide a better understanding of the role of personality, especially anxiety traits, on risk perception. It compared representations of two different risks, smoking (with known and generally accepted adverse health effects) and cell phones (whose hazardous potency is still controversial), each presented in two different forms of exposure, active (smokers and cell phone users) and passive (passive smoking and exposure to cell phone masts). METHODS: A self-administered questionnaire sent to volunteer subjects collected sociodemographic and exposure data. It measured the perceived risk as well as 11 psychometric properties of risk using visual analogue scales (values ranging from 0 to 10). An anxiety trait was evaluated by the Spielberger questionnaire. RESULTS: In all, 72% of the questionnaires sent were returned. Mean declared risk scores attributed to passive and active smoking were higher (8.75 and 8.31 respectively) than those attributed to cell phones and masts (4.44 and 4.73 respectively). However, scores for the 11 psychometric properties of the risk attributed to cell phones were higher than those associated with smoking, especially for dissatisfaction with information (6.71 and 7.36 respectively for cell phones and masts versus 1.75 and 2.18 for passive and active smoking) and the capacity of authorities to master the risk (6.45 and 6.65 for cell phones and masts versus 4.72 and 4.40 for passive and active smoking). Anxiety did not directly influence the risk scores attributed to these 4 forms of exposure but was predictive of the way in which subjects perceived the risk in terms of two essential properties: uncertainty concerning the effects on health and the potential to trigger health catastrophes. Indeed anxious subjects are more certain about the hazards of cell phones and masts than non-anxious subjects (P=0.008 et P≤0.001) and attributed a higher catastrophic potential (P=0.02 and P=0.004). CONCLUSION: This study suggests that subjects with an anxious profile are affected by the destabilizing nature of uncertain knowledge concerning the hazardous potency of new technologies and of the controversies concerning this hazard.

Comparative genetic approach to the study of body image of children from 4 to 14 years of age using the fairy tale of the ant.

This work was designed to study the body image of 3 groups of normal children (ns = 40) whose ages were 4 to 14 years with the assistance of a new projective technique, the tale of the ant from Royer. The data provide partial validation of this new procedure. Indicators of normal and pathological answers are given. Directions for research are suggested.

[Spina bifida and "psycho-socioaffective" adjustment]. / Spina-bifida et adaptation "psycho socio-affective."

The author has undertaken a critical review of the publications centered on the psychosocio-affective adaptation of spina-bifida. He considered the construction of personality, the socialization, the relations with family, marital and sexual life and the future professional life. Researches and guidance strategies are suggested.