Chinese Version of the Separation-Individuation Inventory

The importance of the separation-individuation process in object relations theory is well known in disciplines of psychology, counseling, and human development. Based on the Separation-individuation Inventory of Christenson and Wilson, which measures the manifestations of disturbances in this process, a Chinese version of the inventory was developed. For college students Cronbach coefficient alpha was .89, and test-retest reliability over 28 days was .77. The scores of the inventory had positive correlations with both the number of borderline personality characteristics and the Individualism-Collectivism Scale, respectively. Also, the mean score on the inventory of patients diagnosed with borderline personality disorder was significantly higher than that of the two normal control groups ( ns = 564). Thus the inventory possessed satisfactory construct validity. Cultural differences regarding the separation-individuation process need to be investigated further.

The Utility of Seven-Subtest Short Forms of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III in Young Adults

Along with ongoing research on the WAIS-R, short forms of the WAIS-III have attracted much attention. However, few studies of WAIS-III short forms are based on normal samples or on the validation of estimated indexes. This study examined the utility of two seven-subtest short forms in 81 healthy young adults in Taiwan with the administration of the WAIS-III (Chinese version). Participants were recruited from three high schools and one university. Comparison of both the IQs and indexes from full administration and short forms was investigated extensively by using six different criteria. Results supported the utility of the seven-subtest short form, which includes Information, Arithmetic, Similarity, Digit Span, Picture Completion, Matrix Reasoning, and Digit Symbol. This short form can be used to estimate Full Scale IQ Verbal IQ Performance IQ Verbal Comprehension Index, and Working Memory Index in young adults. Thus the study was a cross-validation of the seven-subtest short form used in clinical settings. In addition, from a cross-cultural perspective, it was also a validation of the seven-subtest short forms of the WAIS-III (Chinese version).

Religion and Subjective Well-Being: Western and Eastern Religious Groups Achieved Subjective Well-Being in Different Ways

Culture can moderate which variables most influence subjective well-being (SWB). Because religion can be conceptualized as culture, religious differences can be considered cultural differences. However, there have been few studies comparing how different religious groups evaluate SWB at any given time. This study is among the first to investigate this issue. The present study compared Buddhists, Taoists, Christians, and atheists. In addition to demographic items, 451 Chinese adults completed Chinese version of the Socially Oriented Cultural Conception of SWB Scale. Religious belief was distributed as follows: 10 % Christian, 20 % Buddhist, 25 % Taoist, and 43 % atheists. As predicted, the socially oriented cultural conception of SWB was found to be highest among Buddhists, followed in order by Taoists, atheists, and Christians. It was concluded that the various religious groups achieved SWB in different ways.

Religion and health: anxiety, religiosity, meaning of life and mental health

We examined the association among anxiety, religiosity, meaning of life and mental health in a nonclinical sample from a Chinese society. Four hundred fifty-one Taiwanese adults (150 males and 300 females) ranging in age from 17 to 73 years (M = 28.9, SD = 11.53) completed measures of Beck Anxiety Inventory, Medical Outcomes Study Health Survey, Perceived Stress Scale, Social Support Scale, and Personal Religiosity Scale (measuring religiosity and meaning of life). Meaning of life has a significant negative correlation with anxiety and a significant positive correlation with mental health and religiosity; however, religiosity does not correlate significantly anxiety and mental health after controlling for demographic measures, social support and physical health. Anxiety explains unique variance in mental health above meaning of life. Meaning of life was found to partially mediate the relationship between anxiety and mental health. These findings suggest that benefits of meaning of life for mental health can be at least partially accounted for by the effects of underlying anxiety.

Recognition of Tactile Relief by Children and Adults

This study was designed to compare tactile sensitivity of children and adults on printed target stimuli covering a wide range of elevations and requiring different resolutions. A recognition-relief task using 9 digits at 6 levels of elevation from a surface (0.5, 0.4, 0.3, 0.2, 0.1, and 0.05 mm) was presented to 24 young adults and 24 children. As predicted, relief elevations as low as 0.05 mm were recognized above chance. As predicted, children performed significantly more poorly than the adults on recognition at all elevations, although the difference increased as elevation increased. Adults performed significantly better than children on high-resolution digit 8, but there was no reliable age difference on low-resolution digit 1. Recognition difference between the high- and low-resolution digits decreased nonlinearly as elevation increased, irrespective of age. Overall, the findings support previous research indicating greater tactile sensitivity in adults than in children, but the superiority was moderated by the elevation and resolution requirements of the stimuli.

Paranormal beliefs and religiosity: Chinese version of the Revised Paranormal Belief Scale

This paper reports an initial study investigating the relations of paranormal beliefs with religiosity in a Chinese sample, as well as the development of a Chinese version of the Revised Paranormal Belief Scale and a test of its psychometric properties with 310 college students (5.5% Christians, 21.3% Buddhists, 61% believers in traditional Chinese religions, and 12% atheists). The reliability and validity of the Chinese version were satisfactory. In general, traditional Chinese religious believers had higher scores on paranormal belief than did Christians and atheists, and the mean total score of the Chinese participants was higher than previously reported in a Western sample. It was concluded that the greater involvement of practitioners of traditional Chinese religions in activities emphasizing paranormal experiences might contribute to their greater paranormal belief, especially as compared to the minority Christian group. The results are consistent with the idea that Christianity may offer the least support for paranormal belief.

Replication of factor structure of Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III Chinese version in Chinese mainland non-clinical and schizophrenia samples

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the construct validity of the special four-factor structure of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)-III Chinese version in a clinical sample of inpatients with schizophrenia as well as a sample of healthy adults. A sample of 114 inpatients with schizophrenia and a sample of 114 close-matched non-clinical adults on the Chinese mainland were studied with the measures of the WAIS-III Chinese version. Four competing hypothetical models of factors were tested for model fit and parsimony in both research samples, using maximum likelihood confirmatory factor analysis. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that a four-factor model of Verbal Comprehension, Perceptual Organization, Working Memory, and Processing Speed best fit the data from both the schizophrenia sample and the healthy adult sample, and also fitted the data from both samples better than alternative models, which is similar to that reported by the developers and revisers of this scale. These empiric analyses and results support the construct validity of the WAIS-III Chinese version in patients with schizophrenia and healthy adults on the Chinese mainland.

Positive and negative symptom profile schizophrenia and abnormalities in the P300 component of the event-related potential: a longitudinal controlled study

The relationship between symptoms of schizophrenia and abnormalities in the P300 component of the event-related potential (ERP) was investigated in 22 and 27 patients diagnosed with positive and negative profile schizophrenia, respectively. The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) was used to characterize clinical symptoms. A group of 30 normal controls were also studied. Results showed that patients with schizophrenia exhibited reduced P300 amplitudes compared with controls and that those with negative profile schizophrenia had amplitude decrements and longer latencies. These findings suggest that there are neurobiological differences between positive and negative profile schizophrenia.

Comparison of neurocognition between drug-free patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder

It is often difficult to make a differential diagnosis between schizophrenia and bipolar disorder because of the overlapping symptoms. The patients of both disorders have been shown to have neurocognitive deficits. In this study, a computerized battery of neurocognitive tasks, COGLAB, was administered to four participant groups: 30 patients with positive schizophrenia, 22 patients with negative schizophrenia, 27 patients with bipolar disorder, and 28 normal controls. All the patients were drug-free for at least 1 month. The tasks included Mueller-Lyer illusion, reaction time, size estimation, a variant of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, backward masking, and Asarnow continuous performance. Discriminant analyses were used to investigate the differences among the four groups. Results indicated that COGLAB correctly classified 73.5% of the cases of negative schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The best discriminative tasks were card sort, Asarnow continuous performance, and backward masking. The results of this study were also compared with results of a previous study with medicated patients. Neurocognitive tasks had better discriminative power for medicated patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder than for drug-free patients. Moreover, medication effects did not seem to significantly change the pattern of the neurocognitive task responses of patients with schizophrenia.

The relationship between regional cerebral blood flow and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test in negative schizophrenia

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) and problem-solving thinking in negative schizophrenia. Twenty-one negative schizophrenic patients and 12 normal controls were studied with single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). Measures of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) were taken both at rest and during a prefrontal activation task using Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). Compared with controls, poor performances on the WCST of total trials category (TT), perseverative errors (PE) and non-perseverative errors (NE) were found in negative schizophrenic (P < 0.05). During WCST activation, patients showed interhemispheric differences in the prefrontal region, but under rest conditions, no such differences manifested. The negative schizophrenia group had a significantly lower rCBF change rate in profrontal lobe during stimulant WCST than those in normal controls (P < 0.05). The negative schizophrenic patient has executive function deficits and lower rCBF perfusion in left profrontal lobes, which suggest that the negative schizophrenic patient has dysfunction of the left profrontal region.