Measures of aggression in questionnaire ratings and stories from the Apperceptive Personality Test.

The present study investigated relationships between judges' ratings of hostility from the content of eight TAT-like stories and scores on Hostile Feelings and Hostile Actions scales of the Apperceptive Personality Test. This test was administered to 104 college students volunteers (53 women, 51 men), who received extra credit on examination scores for their participation. Each subject made up 8 stories to stimulus pictures and then filled out 8 objectively scorable questionnaires about their stories from the Apperceptive Personality Test. The stories were rated by two "blind" judges for hostile feelings and hostile activities using Fine's 1955 scoring criteria. Agreement of judges ranged from .47 to .80. Correlations of judge's ratings with Apperceptive Personality Test scores were .13 for Hostile Feelings and .41 (df = 102, p < .01) for Hostile Actions. Thus questionnaires scores for Hostile Feelings are unrelated and scores for Hostile Actions only moderately related to judge's ratings of story content.

Word-association patterns of mental hospital patients.

The present study concerned an attempt to corroborate the classic findings of Rapaport, Gill, and Schafer in distinguishing mental hospital patients from control subjects, using a new objectively scored word-association test. 12 computer-scored objective scales were used to compare groups of 101 mental hospital inpatients (n = 75, including 37 on a prison ward) and outpatients (n = 26) and 101 control subjects matched with the patients for sex, age, racial and ethnic status, and education. A stepwise multiple discrimination analysis of the scores on the 12 scales of the test significantly distinguished the groups. Scales weighted most highly were Masochism, Antonyms, and Aggression. Subsequent t tests suggested that control subjects scored higher on Aggression, Self-reference, and Masochism scales, whereas patients scored higher on Rejections (nonresponses to stimulus words). Of these, only Self-reference and Rejections were items identified by Rapaport, et al.

The adult personality of childhood incest victims.

This is a further report on a group of 30 incest survivors we wrote about in 1994. Here, we report on measures of personality derived from the Apperceptive Personality Test, which contains many variables similar to those on the one we reported in 1994. On both measures, incest survivors can be characterized as having more negative perceptions and self-descriptions than the comparison group.

Alexithymia and affect pathology among adult male alcoholics.

The present study attempts to validate earlier findings of a positive relationship between the severity of alexithymia and symptoms of affect pathology among alcoholics. One hundred adult male outpatient alcoholics were given instruments to assess alexithymia and symptoms of affect pathology. Controlling for alcoholism severity, Pearson Product Moment Correlations demonstrated that the severity of alexithymia was significantly correlated with dysphoria and affect intolerance, as well as with certain interpersonal difficulties resulting from these affective disturbances. Such findings support the usefulness of the alexithymia construct in the understanding and treatment of affect pathology and its consequences among alcoholics.

An MMPI-2 portrait of narcissism.

This study developed a Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) portrait of narcissism using the Narcissistic Personality Inventory and 5 narcissism scales derived from the MMPI-2 with a nonclinical sample of 283 subjects. Correlational analyses revealed a divergent pattern of relationships among the 16 narcissism measures and MMPI-2 scales, with 1 set of narcissism scales correlating positively with MMPI-2 mania (Ma) and a second set correlating positively with MMPI-2 depression (D), psychasthenia (Pt), feelings of inferiority (Sc), social introversion (Si), and other measures of distress. A principal-components analysis of the 6 narcissism scales produced 2 orthogonal factors, 1 suggesting Grandiosity and the other Depletion. High scorers on the Grandiosity factor were equally well characterized by a 98/89 or 96/69 MMPI-2 profile with an average F, whereas high scorers on the Depletion factor were best represented by an 87/78 profile with an elevated F. Profile analyses of high scorers on the narcissism scales indicated that a 98/89 MMPI-2 profile with an elevated F score is the best overall representation of the narcissistic personality in nonclinical samples. Results supported 3 alternative interpretations, including a narcissistic continuum, narcissism as a pathological defense against depression and rage, and 2 forms of narcissism, 1 grandiose and overt and the other depleted and covert.

Personalities of women reporting incestuous abuse during childhood.

Previous studies of adult females reporting incestuous sexual abuse in childhood, using the Apperceptive Personality Test and Draw-a-Person Questionnaire, indicated abusees attributed more negative traits to their characters than did controls. No differences were found by type of abuse or relation to the abuser. In these studies abusees and controls were obtained from different sources, although matched on several characteristics. The present study compared 79 incestuous abusees to 79 matched controls all drawn from the same subject pool. Multivariate analysis of variance identified significant differences between the groups. In contrast with earlier studies questionnaire scores distinguished rape victims from those abused without rape and distinguished those abused by older relatives from those abused by peers in two additional multivariate analyses of variance.

Personality of rape survivors as a group and by relation of survivor to perpetrator.

Adult survivors of rape were compared to controls on 34 scales of the Apperceptive Personality Test and Draw-A-Person Questionnaire. They also reported on present or past weight problems, alcohol or drug problems, and psychotherapy. They differed on 12 scales and on alcohol, weight problems, and therapy. These survivors more frequently reported problems or therapy and differed on personality scales in the direction of assigning fewer positive or more negative attributes to their characters. Those raped by relatives, dates, or acquaintances were more negative than those raped by strangers on four scales, but did not differ on alcohol or weight problems or participation in psychotherapy.

Abnormal lateralization of motor activity during sleep in schizophrenia.

In previous studies it has been demonstrated that during sleep healthy subjects with consistent left- or right-handedness perform about two thirds of their movements with the non-dominant hand. We examined the motor activity during waking and sleep of 13 medicated hallucinating schizophrenic patients without motor side effects and 17 control subjects using bilateral wrist actometry during two nights. Five of the patients were also monitored by continuous infrared video recording and by the Static Charge Sensitive Bed method during the movement recording nights. Lateralization to the non-dominant side during nocturnal low activity period or sleep was absent in the schizophrenic group, in which the dominant hand remained more active. This was not due to movement excess. The difference in lateralization between the controls and the patients should be considered a preliminary finding until replicated. It suggests abnormal laterality of arousal, attention or movement system during sleep in schizophrenia. It may imply abnormality in the sleep dependent modification of attentive behavior, or it may be explained by the lateralized effects of neuroleptic medication.

Personality characteristics of incest survivors on the Draw-A-Person Questionnaire.

We investigated the psychological sequelae of incest through the use of the Draw-A-Person Questionnaire (DAPQ; Karp, 1990), a projective technique with an objective component. A group of adult incest survivors (n = 30) and a matched control sample (n = 30) participated in our study. Ratings of characters drawn by subjects were compared between the two groups on 10 measures hypothesized to differentiate the groups. Results suggest that incest survivors project more negative characteristics on their drawn characters than do control women. In addition, survivors treat their male and female characters differently to a greater extent than do controls. Findings indicate that the DAPQ is a valuable method to detect long-lasting repercussions that may stem from an incestuous experience. Specific differences between the groups are discussed, as well as suggestions for future research.

Prediction of depression with the Apperceptive Personality Test.

This study examined the relationship between depression and the Apperceptive Personality Test (APT), a picture-story assessment device with an objective scoring system. Subjects were 206 undergraduate volunteer females who completed the APT and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Multiple regression analysis showed significant APT predictors for the BDI. Results are discussed and directions for future research are proposed.

Prediction of MMPI clinical scores from the Apperceptive Personality Test.

Eight independent scores from a new objective/projective personality test, the Apperceptive Personality Test (APT), were validated against eight clinical scores of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). In parallel studies of 150 male and 150 female college volunteers given both tests, weighted combinations of the 8 APT measures significantly predicted MMPI raw scores in 15 of 16 analyses (Ma scores could not be predicted for men). Of 84 predicted zero-order correlations between APT and MMPI measures, 50 (60%) were confirmed, 74% for women and 45% for men; however, the vast majority of these correlations were below .30.

Factor structure of the Apperceptive Personality Test (APT).

This study examined the factor structure of the Apperceptive Personality Test (APT), a recently developed picture-story technique with both projective and objective features. University undergraduates (513 males, 664 females) were administered the APT in individual group sessions. A principal components analysis (Varimax rotation) was performed with 18 of the standard APT variables and resulted in three similar factors for both male and female samples. The first and largest factor was a positive evaluation factor, the second a negative evaluation factor, and the third an "intensity" factor. The usefulness and meaning of the factor analysis are discussed briefly.

Learning disabilities as a childhood manifestation of severe psychopathology.

The severity and nature of psychopathology in a group of learning disabled children was investigated. Compared to children in a normal control group, those in the learning disabled group manifested a significant degree of emotional maladjustment. They also exhibited disturbances in areas of ego functioning generally thought to be impaired in those with borderline personality organization. No linear relationship was found between severity of pathology and degree of underachievement.

Recommendations for the clinical use of the Apperceptive Personality Test.

The Apperceptive Personality Test (APT) is a new technique that combines the traditional story-telling method with a questionnaire about the characters in the story, to be filled out by the person being tested. The resulting information is tabulated, and a variety of scores are generated which yield information about the person's personality. The identified clinical signposts indicated by such scores are summarized in this article, along with two illustrative protocol fragments showing how to usual interpretive method is supplemented by the information from the questionnaire.

Assessing object representations as a continuous variable: a modification of the concept of the object on the Rorschach scale.

Current methods for assessing the quality of internalized object representations have not provided a continuous variable that simultaneously includes both an accuracy and a maturity component. A modification of Blatt, Brooks, Brenneis, and Schimek's (1976) Concept of the Object on the Rorschach scale that would combine the two components by weighting the quality of each response according to its form level was proposed. Initial discriminant and convergent validity of this modification was checked through correlations and multiple regression analyses using behavioral, diagnostic, and demographic data from 84 adolescent inpatients as dependent variables. Results indicate the modified score was directly related to measures of peer relatedness, intelligence, psychological health, and reality testing, and indirectly related to measures of psychosis and hostile, unmanageable behavior. The results support the utility of the modification for providing a continuous score that assesses both developmental maturity and accuracy, the two dimensions on which the concept of object representation is based.

Healthy students as adult citizens (mental health of the Finnish student. Follow-up, report V).

The longitudinal research project dealing with the mental health of Finnish students was started in the year 1965. This paper is the fifth follow-up report from research phase III. It describes the most healthy subgroup by contrasting it with the ill subgroup. Time and sex as well as external and internal reality are essential aspects of this comparison between the healthy and the ill. Differences between the healthy and the ill have been described in terms of a) external facts, b) background information (phases I and II) and c) subjective inner feelings. The special character of mental health and illness in men and women is also discussed from several points of view. In the attempt to interpret the extensive body of data and to give it a coherent shape, one general hypothesis which has been formed is that women tend to be characterized by a greater 'mobility' between the more mature, adult level and an earlier one, reaching back all the way to the oral aspects of the dyadic relationship. Such mobility and flexibility has both its advantages and its disadvantages. The specific aspects of women's difficulties are easily obscured by the duality of the roles taken on by the woman, and the great difference between them - that of adult woman and that of mother. In particular the maternal role easily comes to mask problematic early elements, which under subsequent conditions of stress may be activated. The male personality is more definite and clearcut in this respect, but by the same token also more rigid.

Differences in adjustment among university-educated men and women.

The present study forms a part of a thirteen-year longitudinal study of mental health and examines how university-educated men and women have adapted to an average environment. In basic cross-tabulations, 63 out of the total 356 psychological and sociological characteristics proved to be differently distributed for men and women. On the other hand, there were no quantitative differences in global mental health-illness indicators between the sexes. Fifteen central personality characteristics indicating good adaptation were kept constant. Different scales for men and women were needed for adjustment measures such as: "social position", "level of university degree", "ego strength", "control of anger", "general ability", "norm-dependence". On the contrary, "satisfaction with occupation", "self-actualization in love", "having children", "quality of social background" were distributed identically. Consequently, keeping these indicators constant did not decrease sex-differences. Hartmann's concept of adaptation to average environment proved to be rather difficult to apply in practice. Differences in how men and women adapted in Finnish society were examined in detail. The general adjustment was rather successful but there were signs indicating that the women's adaptation was less successful.