Measures Of Maladjustment Research Articles

Being Hopeful and Mindful During Adversity: A Longitudinal Study on College Students' Adjustment During COVID-19.

ObjectivesThe current study examined whether hope and mindfulness were associated with changes in two maladjustment measures, internalizing and externalizing behaviors, during the COVID-19 pandemic and tested sense of coherence as a mediator. The salutogenic theory of health, which posits that sense of coherence is central to individuals’ well-being in stressful situations and that individuals derive their sense of coherence from their generalized resistance resources (GRRs), was used to guide the analyses.MethodsOn two occasions separated by about 6 months, 253 Hong Kong college students (mean age = 21.0 years at time 1; 86% of them were women) filled in online questionnaires during the COVID-19 outbreaks. Path analysis was conducted to examine the interrelationships among hope and mindfulness, sense of coherence, and internalizing and externalizing behaviors.ResultsResults indicated that hope and mindfulness at time 1 were associated with internalizing and externalizing behaviors at time 2, even after controlling for confounding variables and prior levels of internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Moreover, sense of coherence at time 1 significantly mediated these associations.ConclusionsFindings pointed to the potential roles of hope, mindfulness, and sense of coherence in understanding Chinese college students’ adjustment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Future research is needed to test whether sense of coherence and behavioral adjustment can be promoted through hope- and mindfulness-based intervention programs. Future research is also needed to examine the interrelationships among health-promoting assets, sense of coherence, and individual adjustment in samples of diverse cultural backgrounds.

Parental denigration reports across parent–child dyads: Divorced parents underreport denigration behaviors compared to children

Parental denigration is a phenomenon characterized by disparaging comments made by one parent about the other parent, in front of their children. It is an emerging area of research with implications that appear to follow from a conflict perspective, rather than a parental alienation perspective. In three prior studies of young adults, sibling pairs, and parents, denigration was found to be (a) measured reliably and validly, (b) reciprocally occurring, (c) related to children feeling more distant from both parents, particularly the more frequent denigrator, (d) associated with various measures of maladjustment, and (e) underreported by divorced parents. These results held across marital status and parent gender, in group and individual analyses, across sibling reports, and across studies. In the current study, parent reports of co-parent denigration behaviors were similar to child reports in both married and divorced families. However, divorced parents consistently underreported their own denigration behaviors compared to child reports, and their reports of parent–child closeness and attachment was not associated with child reports. This is consistent with findings from previous work that divorced parents may be less aware of their harmful behaviors and view co-parents in a globally more negative light than children perceive them.

Parental Denigration: A Form of Conflict that Typically Backfires

Parental denigration is a phenomenon characterized by disparaging comments made by one parent about the other parent in front of their children. It is an emerging area of research with implications that could either follow a parental alienation perspective or a conflict perspective. In two prior studies of 648 and 994 young adults, denigration was found to be (1) measured reliably and perhaps validly; (2) reciprocally occurring; (3) related to children feeling more distant from both parents, particularly the more frequent denigrator; and (4) associated with various measures of maladjustment. These results held in married and divorced families, for mothers and fathers, in group and individual analyses, across own and sibling reports, and across studies. In a new study, parents also showed agreement in reported denigration, with divorced (particularly litigating) parents appearing motivated to underreport their own denigration behaviors and overreport their co‐parent's denigration behaviors. Across all three studies, results consistently aligned with a conflict perspective and indicated that denigrating one's co‐parent appears to boomerang and hurt the parent's own relationship with the children rather than distance children from the co‐parent.

Internalized weight bias: ratings of the self, normal weight, and obese individuals and psychological maladjustment.

Current measures of internalized weight bias assess factors such as responsibility for weight status, mistreatment because of weight, etc. A potential complementary approach for assessing internalized weight bias is to examine the correspondence between individuals' ratings of obese people, normal weight people, and themselves on personality traits. This investigation examined the relationships among different measures of internalized weight bias, as well as the association between those measures and psychosocial maladjustment. Prior to the beginning of a weight loss intervention, 62 overweight/obese adults completed measures of explicit and internalized weight bias as well as body image, binge eating, and depression. Discrepancies between participants' ratings of obese people in general and ratings of themselves on both positive and negative traits predicted unique variance in measures of maladjustment above a traditional assessment of internalized weight bias. This novel approach to measuring internalized weight bias provides information above and beyond traditional measures of internalized weight bias and begins to provide insights into social comparison processes involved in weight bias.

Psychometric Analysis and Tentative Shortening of Survey of Personal Beliefs

The Survey of Personal Beliefs (SPB) is a frequently used measure of irrational beliefs, but can display less than ideal psychometric properties. In the first study of the present project, the five subscales of the SPB correlated as expected with higher levels of perfectionism, shame, and guilt. A confirmatory factor analysis, nevertheless, revealed that these subscales did not adequately describe responding on the SPB, and internal reliability for some subscales was poor. An abbreviated 12-item version of the SPB was more reliable than the subscales and generally as valid as the full 50-item instrument. With a second data set, the shortened version of the SPB was more consistent than the full 50-item scale in correlating positively with at least some measures of maladjustment that included depression, anxiety, neuroticism, and alexithymia. Future researchers may want to utilize the shorter 12-item version of the SPB as a more convenient and psychometrically acceptable measure of irrational beliefs.

Juvenile firesetting in Italy: relationship to aggression, psychopathology, personality, self-efficacy, and school functioning

Despite the fact that juvenile fire involvement is associated with significant injuries and is highly correlated with diverse maladjustment characteristics, firesetting has never been empirically evaluated in Italy. Participants included 567 youth between 11 and 18 years of age. This investigation attempted to address four gaps in the literature. The first objective was to examine how common firesetting behavior is among Italian youth. The second goal was to explore whether in Italy firesetting is associated with other types of psychopathology and later maladjustment. Thirdly, this study sought to extend our knowledge of the personal characteristics of firesetters. Finally, the relationship between firesetting and aggression remains an empirical question. Results suggested that almost one in three Italian youth reported engaging in fire involvement. Moreover, firesetting in Italian youth is associated with significant levels of antisocial behavior and psychopathology. In fact, firesetters-only demonstrated higher levels of most measures of maladjustment than did aggressive-only youth. Finally, the findings of this study suggest that aggressive firesetters are not at higher risk than nonaggressive firesetters. Instead, fire involvement appears to be the most important variable when predicting serious behavioral difficulties and anti-sociality. This highlights the importance of fire involvement in both the assessment and prediction of antisocial behavior and psychosocial adjustment in adolescence.

Construct Validity of the MMPI-2 College Maladjustment (Mt) Scale

The construct validity of the MMPI-2 (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2) College Maladjustment (Mt) Scale was examined using 376 student clients at a university psychological clinic. A principal components analysis and correlations of Mt scale scores with clients' and therapists' ratings of symptoms and functioning showed that the Mt scale identifies the presence of maladjustment as defined in terms of depressive and anxious symptoms. There is no evidence to show that the scale is specific to college students or that it is sensitive to severe psychological disturbance. The Mt scale does not inform the clinician as to why a person is distressed. In addition, there is no evidence from this study to suggest the superiority of the Mt scale over other MMPI-2 maladjustment measures. Therapists should use the entire MMPI-2 profile, not just the Mt scale, to gain the most comprehensive and specific understanding of clients.

Relatedness, Self-Definition, and Early Adolescent Adjustment

Concerns of young adolescents with interpersonal relatedness and self-definition assessed by the Depressive Experiences Questionnaire for Adolescents, were examined in relation to measures of maladjustment (internalizing and externalizing problems) and adaptive capacities (multiple dimensions of social competence and quality of relationships with parents and peers). Participants were four hundred ninety nine 6th and 7th grade students attending a large, ethnically and socioeconomically diverse, urban school. Factor analysis of the DEQ-A resulted in a factor structure similar to that obtained in previous research with older adolescents and adults. Prior findings of associations between DEQ-A factors and internalizing and externalizing problems, after controlling for levels of depressive symptoms, were also replicated in this sample. Furthermore, associations were found linking adolescents' interpersonal concerns, self-criticism, and efficacy, as assessed on the DEQ-A, with measures of social competence and quality of relationships with parents and peers.

Inherent Potentialities of Actualization

Biological factors are strongly emphasized in the actualization theories of Maslow and Rogers. Despite this emphasis, functionally nothing is known about the composition of the inherent potentialities of actualization. This study was intended to provide specific information about such potentialities. Toward that end, the study focused on the construct of the personality temperament, a trait having a significant genetic foundation. Using the temperaments of emotionality, activity level, and sociability, it was hypothesized that if these organismic potentialities were not actualized, then maladjustment would result, a deduction from Rogers's theory of personality. Degree of actualization was operationally defined by the discrepancy between retrospective parental recall of the participant's temperament profile as a young child and the college-aged participant's current self-perceptions of these temperaments. All temperament and maladjustment measures were taken by paper-and-pencil inventories, and the hypothesis was confirmed: The greater the child/adult temperament discrepancy, the greater were levels of current maladjustment. The results point to the personality temperament as a useful theoretical construct for understanding inherent potentialities of actualization. The findings are integrated into Maslow's and Rogers's theories, and the relevance of this research to the current crisis of general actualization theory in humanistic psychology is discussed.

The relationship of human figure drawings to aggressive behavior in preschool children

The adequacy of the Human Figure Drawing (HFD) as a diagnostic instrument for differentiating aggressive and nonaggressive behavior in 4-to 5-year-old children was examined. Two groups of children, an aggressive group (n = 16) and a nonaggressive group (n = 16), were formed on the basis of teacher ratings on the Child Behavior Checklist. The groups were compared across seven indicators from the Koppitz (1968) HFD system hypothesized to identify aggressive children. Additionally, 10 clinical judges attempted to sort the drawings into the two groups (aggressive and non-aggressive) based on their own experience with HFDs. It was found that the HFD, whether scored by the Koppitz system or by clinical raters, was not a valid instrument for differentiating aggressive and nonaggressive children in this age group. The probable reason for the inadequacy of the HFD as a measure of maladjustment in preschool-age children is that their lack of developmental maturity in cognition and in visual-motor coordination impacts their drawing capabilities. Implications of these findings for the use of HFDs with 4- and 5-year-old children are discussed.

Mental health and locus of control: SCL-90-R and Levenson's IPC scales.

College students were given the SCL-90-R depression and anxiety subscales and Levenson's Internal, Powerful Others, and Chance locus of control scales. For the total sample (N = 166), subjects who were more internal had lower scores on the SCL-90-R subscales. Higher SCL-90-R scores were associated with the belief that life was controlled by powerful others and chance. The results support some previous findings that all three of Levenson's scales are associated with measures of maladjustment, with internality negatively correlated and chance and powerful others orientations positively correlated with such measures. The results did not support Rotter's suggestion that the often-cited relationship between maladjustment and externality might result primarily from the presence of defensive externals within the external group.

Depression in adolescence: Its relationship to assertion and various aspects of self‐image

Despite numerous reports of adolescent depression, little empirical research exists. The study investigated the nature of adolescent depression by administering the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and a series of self‐report measures to 568 high school students. Findings consistent with the adult depression literature included significant positive relationships between depression and all measures of maladjustment. Subjects who reported more depression reported more overall maladjustment. A positive relationship between depression and assertion was also obtained which is consistent with the adult depression literature. Those reporting more depression reported more assertion. The most important predictor of depression was body and self‐image. These results are discussed as supporting the theory that depression exists in adolescence and while possessing certain unique characteristics it is highly similar to depression in adults.

Blaming-a sign of psychosocial tensions in the community: findings from two surveys.

Blame attributions were studied as indicators of tension between a person and his/her psychosocial resources. An eight-item blame scale was constructed to tap the areas of one's life about which a person made causal attributions to explain misfortune. This scale along with other measures was administered through household surveys to two samples of 537 and 185 community residents. Consistent with the predictions of the study, demographic groups with fewer social resources had higher blame scores, and residents reporting more stressful life events were more likely to blame. As expected, blame attributions were positively correlated with three measures of maladjustment and were unrelated to a separate measure of positive well-being. Discontent with social life, followed by financial situation, family life, and life opportunity blame, were consistently related to reports of maladjustment. Self-blame, however, was only marginally associated with poor adjustment. The same findings were obtained for two divergent samples of residents, suggesting that the relationships obtained here have considerable generalizability.

Social support resources, stress, and maladjustment of poor children.

The effects of the presence of social support resources as moderators of the relationship between stress and maladjustment was investigated. The sample consisted of 71 kindergarten through third-grade inner-city children referred by their teachers as experiencing adjustment problems. Stress was assessed using a 32-item recent life event scale, and maladjustment was assessed using parent ratings of children's adjustment problems. The sample was subdivided to reflect the presence versus absence of three social support resources: older sibling vs. no older sibling, one- vs. two-parent family, and ethnically congruent vs. incongruent with the community. Correlations between stress measures and maladjustment measures were computed within each subsample. The results indicate that older siblings and two parents in the family both reduce the negative effects of stress on children. The results are interpreted to be consistent with social support literature and implications for preventive interventions are discussed.

Social Rejection, Role Conflict, and Adjustment: Psychological Consequences of Orthopaedic Disability

20 orthopaedically disabled hospital patients responded to a self-ideal discrepancy scale and the Eysenck Personality Inventory. The severely disabled Ss were more self-accepting and less neurotic than the marginally disabled Ss. A direct relationship obtained between age and a composite measure of maladjustment ( r = .42, p < .001), but this was not due simply to the duration of the disabilities. The results were interpreted as supporting the role-conflict hypothesis rather than the social-rejection hypothesis concerning the psychological consequences of physical disability.

An MMPI measure of maladjustment in a sample of “normal” homosexual men

An MMPI measure of maladjustment in a sample of “normal” homosexual men

The validity of certain measures of maladjustment in an Army Special Training Center.

The validity of certain measures of maladjustment in an Army Special Training Center.