Suicide, hopelessness, and social desirability: a test of an interactive model.

We examined the relationships among suicidal indices, hopelessness, and social desirability. Both hopelessness and a measure of social desirability that reflected a sense of general capability were significant indicators of suicidal manifestations. In particular, hierarchical multiple regression procedures demonstrated that hopelessness and social desirability interacted in the prediction of suicide variables. Results generalized across various clinical diagnostic subgroups of psychiatric patients and a sample of prisoners and across different clinically evaluated and self-reported indices of suicidal behavior. Findings are interpreted to mean that a sense of general capability buffers the link of hopelessness to suicidal behavior. Implications for understanding the cognitions associated with suicide and for improving prediction of persons at risk are discussed.

Do response time limitations counteract the effect of faking on personality inventory validity?

Different models of lying on personality scales make discrepant predictions on the association between faking and item response time. The current research investigated response time restriction as a method for reducing the influence of faking on personality scale validity. In 3 assessment simulations involving 540 university undergraduates responding to 2 common, psychometrically strong personality inventories, no evidence emerged to indicate that limiting respondents' answering time can attenuate the effects of faking on validity. Results were interpreted as failing to support a simple model of personality test item response dissimulation that predicts that lying takes time. Findings were consistent with models implying that lying involves primitive cognitive processing or that lying may be associated with complex processing that includes both primitive responding and cognitive overrides.

Criterion validity of the Holden Psychological Screening Inventory Social Symptomatology scale in a prison sample.

The 36-item, self-report Holden Psychological Screening Inventory (HPSI; R. R. Holden, 1996) and the Psychopathy Checklist--Revised (PCL-R; R. D. Hare, 1991) were administered to 214 male, adult prison inmates in Canadian federal correctional facilities. The 12-item HPSI Social Symptomatology scale, a measure of antisocial behavior, demonstrated a large effect size in significantly differentiating between PCL-R-identified psychopaths and nonpsychopaths. HPSI scales not theoretically related to psychopathic behavior showed no such significant effects. Findings are interpreted as supporting the criterion validity of the Social Symptomatology scale and suggest that this brief, self-report screen has research and clinical merit.

Dissociation of musical tonality and pitch memory from nonmusical cognitive abilities.

The main purposes of this study were to replicate, validate, and extend measures of sensitivity to musical pitch and to determine whether performance on tests of tonal structure and pitch memory was related to, or dissociated from, performance on tests of nonmusical cognitive skills--standardized tests of cognitive abstraction, vocabulary, and memory for digits and nonrepresentational figures. Factor analyses of data from 100 neurologically intact participants revealed a dissociation between music and nonmusic variables, both for the full data set and a set for which the possible contribution of levels of music training was statistically removed. A neurologically impaired participant, C.N., scored within the range of matched controls on nonmusic tests but much lower than controls on music tests. The study provides further evidence of a functional specificity for musical pitch abilities.

Comparisons among the Holden Psychological Screening Inventory (HPSI), the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI), and the Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding (BIDR).

Issues of reliability, item latent structure, and faking on the Holden Psychological Screening Inventory (HPSI), the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI), and the Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding (BIDR) were examined with a sample of 300 university undergraduates. Reliability analyses indicated that scales from all inventories had acceptable internal consistency. Confirmatory item principal component analyses supported the structures and scoring keys of the HPSI and the BIDR, but not the BSI. Although all inventories were susceptible to faking, validity indices of the HPSI and the BIDR could correctly classify over two-thirds of test respondents as either responding honestly or as faking.

Faking and its detection on the Holden Psychological Screening Inventory.

This paper describes an index for the detection of fakers on the Holden Psychological Screening Inventory. Initially, the index is constructed and validated using an experimental paradigm. Subsequently, cut-off scores are developed based on a consideration of distributions of the index scores for the experimental groups (n = 101), for general psychiatric patients (n = 64), and for the general adult normative population (n = 564).

The Holden Psychological Screening Inventory and sexual efficacy in urological patients with erectile dysfunction.

This paper examined the relationship between psychological adjustment and sexual ability in a sample of 33 men with erectile dysfunction and their spouses. Indices of sexual efficacy converged and were negatively associated with self-reported depression. Data are interpreted as confirming the association between erectile dysfunction and psychological disturbance and as providing evidence of validity for the Holden Psychological Screening Inventory Depression Scale and the Sexual Self-efficacy Scale.

Associations between the Holden Psychological Screening Inventory and the Personality Assessment Screener in a nonclinical sample.

Associations between two screening inventories of psychopathology were investigated using a sample of 156 first-year undergraduates. Analyses supported the reliability and validity of all Holden Psychological Screening Inventory scales, but only of some of the Personality Assessment Screener scales. Orthogonal dimensions of Depression, General Distress, and Antisocial Tendencies represented the common latent structure of the two inventories.

Disguise and the structured self-report assessment of psychopathology: II. A clinical replication.

Previous research on the use of disguise in structured tests of psychopathology is extended to a clinical population. Based on a sample of 112 adult psychiatric patients for whom clinical criterion ratings were obtained, psychopathological test item validities were calculated and related to indices of test item disguise. Data contraindicated the use of disguise and were interpreted in terms of the various philosophies of test construction that underlie the structured assessment of psychopathology. In particular, results suggested the merit of a rational test construction strategy that emphasizes the use of relevant test item content.

Computerized versus standard administration of the Jenkins Activity Survey (Form T).

Using 60 male university students as subjects, this investigation compared the psychometric properties of computerized and paper-and-pencil versions of the student version (Form T) of the Jenkins Activity Survey. Data indicated that these different versions of the JAS demonstrated similar norms, reliabilities, and validities. The comparability of the JAS across administration modes suggested that computerizing the test does not significantly alter its characteristics. Implications of these findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Assessing the person reliability of an individual MMPI protocol.

This study investigated various measures commonly employed to assess the person reliability of an individual Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPB protocol. Specifically, relationships among indices of person reliability and the standard MMPI validity scales were examined using the responses of 82 subjects who completed the MMPI on two occasions separated by 1 week. Person reliability indices were based on within-occasion responses to identical and to psychologically similar items, and on three across-occasion response consistency measures. The validity scales, namely, the L, F, K, and Cannot Say scales, showed higher test-retest stability than the within-occasion person reliability indices. Further, the validity scales and person reliability indices appeared to reflect multiple facets of dependable responding. Interestingly, an individual's tendency to change responses to MMPI items from the test to the retest was significantly predictable. Clinical implications of these findings were derived.

Test-retest reliability of the Hopelessness Scale and its items in a university population.

In a study that used 149 university undergraduates and a 3-week test-retest interval, the stability of the Hopelessness Scale was examined. Scale scores and item responses demonstrated high test-retest reliabilities. Additional analyses indicated significant sex differences on the Hopelessness Scale. It was concluded that the Hopelessness Scale's stability fulfills a prerequisite for it to be a predictor of long-term suicidal risk.

Hopelessness, social desirability, and suicidal behavior: a need for conceptual and empirical disentanglement.

Although hopelessness has been postulated as the primary mediator that links depression and suicide, empirical evidence has produced varied results. A review of previous research suggests that the measurement of hopelessness has not been independent of social desirability. Consequently, the relationship of hopelessness to suicidal behavior remains unclear. It is suggested that the theoretical and clinical usefulness of assessing hopelessness depends on the use of theoretically explicit instruments to assess independently content and response styles with clinically relevant populations.

Equivalence of computerized and standard administration of the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale.

Two hundred seventy-nine 8- to 17-year-old children and adolescents were randomly assigned to complete paper-and-pencil or computer-administered versions of the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale. The equivalence of these two administration modes was assessed by evaluating the comparability of scale means, variances, reliabilities, and validities. Results indicate that, of 27 comparisons, only 1 produced a statistically significant difference. We concluded that the computerized administration of the Piers-Harris scale did not affect its psychometric properties and that paper-and-pencil and computerized modes of testing for this questionnaire may be regarded as equivalent.

Are all suicidal ideas closely linked to hopelessness?

In this study, the link between hopelessness and suicidal intent was investigated for two categories of suicidal thoughts, and the associations of these two categories of thoughts with a range of symptoms were also examined. A total of 97 patients with suicidal thoughts were assessed at the crisis unit of a psychiatric hospital. In interviews, suicidal intent was assessed using the Beck Scale for Suicide Ideation, while psychological distress was assessed using both the Beck Hopelessness Scale and the Derogatis Symptom Checklist. Ideation items describing the frequency, duration and acceptance of a wish to die were significantly correlated with feelings of hopelessness. However, items reflecting preoccupation with a method of self-harm showed only a weak correlation with hopelessness, although the relationship varied according to diagnosis. That is, this preoccupation was significantly associated with hopelessness for depressed patients, but this was not the case for the personality disorder, anxiety disorder and substance-abuse subgroups. Finally, analyses indicated that the primary predictor of suicidal intent was the patient's cognitive distortion, not hopelessness.

Assessing MMPI constructs through the measurement of response latencies.

Responses to the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) were assessed with respect to their relevance to schema theory. The relation between scores on self-reported personality dimensions and the speed of processing test items associated with each dimension was examined. With previously derived factor analytic content scales, negative correlations were obtained between scale scores and mean latencies for endorsing relevant items, and positive correlations were found between scale scores and mean latencies for rejecting relevant items. A similar analysis completed on the traditional clinical scales revealed no such pattern. Results were interpreted as supporting the conceptualization of item responding as a content-based, schema-relevant process.

Psychometric properties of the Holden psychological screening inventory for a psychiatric offender sample.

With a sample of 84 adult patients newly admitted to the forensic unit of a metropolitan psychiatric hospital, we evaluated the psychometric properties of the Holden Psychological Screening Inventory (HPSI). Results indicated that HPSI scales were reliable, and item factor analysis confirmed the HPSI's scoring key and latent structure. Correlations and joint factor analysis with scales from the MMPI-2 and Jackson's Basic Personality Inventory demonstrated the convergent validity of HPSI scales and their sampling adequately from the major components of psychopathology. Overall, findings build toward the clinical construct validity of the HPSI.