Attribution Patterns in Women With and Without Orgasmic Difficulties

People with sexual problems are more likely to attribute negative sexual experiences to themselves, in contrast with sexually functional individuals who attribute negative sexual experiences to external factors such as the circumstance or situation. We investigated attribution patterns in women reporting difficult or absent orgasm—a group only minimally investigated in this regard—to determine whether they differed from women without orgasmic problems. Using an internet-based approach, we compared attribution responses of 376 women with orgasmic difficulty with 367 women without orgasmic difficulty to five sexual scenarios, two presenting positive sexual experiences and three presenting negative sexual experiences. Women with orgasmic difficulty were more likely to take blame for any negative sexual experience, including ones not related to orgasmic difficulty. They were also more likely to attribute responsibility to their partner’s lack of skill, whereas orgasmic women attributed negative outcomes more to circumstance. Women with orgasmic difficulty were also less likely to assume credit or responsibility for positive sexual experiences. Differences between orgasmic and non-orgasmic groups persisted or were augmented when age and arousal difficulty were controlled. These results emphasize the stark contrast in the way women with and without orgasmic problems approach sexual situations and suggest several therapeutic strategies.     

研究生归因风格特点及教育对策

本文综述了归因风格的研究现状,通过对研究生归因风格特点的探讨,分析其教育对策,并提出了重视对乐观归因风格的培养、重视学生自身的积极力量进行情感管理训练等具体方法。     

Depression and childhood illness

Childhood depression as a component of the impact of childhood illness or developmental impairment on the latency age child is studied in relation to three diagnostic groups: children with asthma, cancer, and psychiatric diagnoses of behavioral disorders. The study revealed a range of coping styles to deal with the anxiety, loss and feelings induced by the specific crises. The special dimensions of stress and coping adaptations affected the child's developing self concept, the separation individuation process and the child-parent relationships. Depressive symptoms were variously present within and between the three groups of children.This study was funded, in part, by grants from the University of Michigan Medical School and the Horace Rackham Graduate School of the University of Michigan.     

Recovering from severe mental illness: mutual influences of self and illness

A growing body of literature on the subjective experiences of people with severe mental illness (SMI) reveals the importance of the experience of self. The current study explored how the course of SMI is related to individuals' subjective experience of self. Bimonthly, comprehensive, semi-structured interviews with 43 people who had been discharged from psychiatric hospitalization were conducted over a 1-year period. Qualitative analysis of the data revealed mutual influences between the experience of self and illness over time. Conceptual and clinical implications of the relation between self and illness are discussed.     

Family therapy and terminal illness

Abstract

This article describes the experience of a family therapist working in a family with an adolescent child suffering from a terminal illness. This work was undertaken in the framework of the Mexican Institute of Social Security.

In dealing with patents afflicted with incurable diseases such as renal deficiency, osteosarcoma or leukemia, which will eventally lead to death, it is important to know about the successive stages in this progression from life to death and to understand them. Some authors have studied in general the reactions of the dying and their families. Kubler-Ross (1970) reports denial, resentment, bargaining, depression and acceptance; Eric Lindemann (1944) mentions pain, anxiety, tension and guilt as the main components of mourning.

Psychotherapy with the terminal patient and their family is intimately concerned with the separation process, which is always accompanied by anxiety; this can become so acute that it feels like death or total annihilation. The family responds in many ways to this anxiety, but will often not express these feelings; the therapist has to try to discover at which stage of mourning the family has arrived. This is even more important where the patient is an adolescent who has no hope of achieving his longing to live. It is important that we are dealing here with anticipatory mourning, which can prevent serious reactions following bereavement. Great care is required in uncovering feelings of hostility, anger, fear, repulsion and frustration. The patient too must be encouraged to express his feelings; this will relieve tension, and make it easier for the family to accept the reality of what is going to happen.

It is important to keep the family informed about the medical requirements of the treatment. These should be explained very clearly, so that all members understand, accept and cooperate in such tasks as ensuring attendance at out-patient consultations, laboratory investigations and taking the medicine prescribed. We find that often only one member of the family, usually the mother, carries the whole responsibility of caring for the patient. All these matters need to be discussed with the whole family, together with such matters as the patient's school attendance, any problems of family relationships, and plans for the future. The worker needs to help family members to continue their personal growth and development while understanding this crisis, which might otherwise arrest them.

Treatment should not be rigidly planned at the start; as in all psychotherapies, it is necessary to make an initial evaluation of the degree of function and dysfunction in the family. This appraisal is made by exploring family problems, areas of conflict and the resources which are mobilized to support the system. In this process the worker collects all the elements which enable him to get a picture, free from his own technical preferences, so that the data can be integrated, taking into account the opinions of experts on structural family therapy, triaxial or psychodynamic views among others.

In the case I shall describe, we used a combination of theories and techniques, mainly derived from systems theory and psychoanalysis. A purist attitude was not adopted, because our main aim was to find what was of most immediate benefit to patient and family.     

Attribution Theory as a guide for post-crisis communication research

The field of crisis communication is poised to take the next in its evolution. Now is the time to move beyond the limits of the case study methods that shape the field's development and shift to empirical methods. As the field matures, crisis managers need recommendations that are based on scientifically tested evidence rather than speculation. The argument for scientifically tested evidence for action is based on the evidence-based in management and medicine. This article discusses the role Attribution Theory has played and can continue to play in building scientifically tested evidence for crisis managers as well as providing an integrative mechanism for the diverse crisis research that spans a variety of disciplines.     

Repairing a Spoiled Identity: An Application of Attribution Theory

Abstract

This exploratory study applies attribution concepts in the investigation of self-presentational tactics. We contend that self-attributions following failure are used by an actor not only to restore self-esteem but to mitigate negative social consequences for the self. Data for this study derive from a role-playing experiment in which subjects were asked to explain a failing academic performance. Weiner's control dimension and Kelley's covariation model are used to codify subjects' explanations of their performance. As predicted, individuals overwhelmingly attributed failure to uncontrollable causes. Further, the vast majority of the information provided by subjects about their performance consisted of claims of high distinctiveness which, according to Kelley, lead to external causal attributions. Effects of sex of actor and of influence target are investigated, and some suggestive patterns emerge. Based on this study, we suggest that the conceptual framework of attribution theory can benefit research on interpersonal tactics.     

Mental illness etiology beliefs among African American men with serious mental illness and their social support networks

Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with 26 African American men with serious mental illness who were consumers of community mental health services and 26 members of their social support networks. All participants were asked what they believed had caused the consumers’ mental illness. Consumer participants most commonly identified chronic life stressors as a causal factor, while social supports most often identified intrinsic factors such as genetics or biology as causes of mental illness. Some support participants believed that unintentional drug use had precipitated the onset of mental illness or had no causal theories. The fact that some support participants could not identify a causal explanation may indicate failure on the part of mental health care systems to engage with consumers’ social support networks and provide education about mental illness and its causes. The implications of etiology beliefs on mental health service utilization are discussed.     

Social class, mental illness, and social mobility: the social selection-drift hypothesis for serious mental illness

The assumptions and methods of previous studies of the social selection-drift hypothesis for serious mental illness are examined by using comtemporary log-linear methods for social mobility analysis. The null hypothesis of no difference in intergenerational social mobility between seriously mentally ill and general population control groups cannot be rejected in previous studies by Birtchnell (1971), Goldberg and Morrison (1963), Langner and Michael (1963), and Turner and Wagenfeld (1967). The findings of this study suggest that previous empirical support for intergenerational social mobility differences is an artifact of not controlling for group differences in origins and destinations when collapsed origin-by-destination tables are analyzed. This study suggests that intergenerational social mobility differences between seriously mentally ill and general population groups in previous studies provide very little, if any, empirical support for social selection-drift processes in serious mental illness.     

城市化视域下空巢青年的归因分析与理性审视

空巢青年的兴起与城市化息息相关.空巢青年,是城市化过程中的一种必然现象,是家庭核心化后家庭资源聚集的可行性产物,是青年个性发展和主体选择的结果.在城市化进程中助推空巢青年的健康成长与发展,需要我们打破标签,树立对空巢青年的理性认知和正确态度,正视空巢青年面临的困难及潜在的风险,构建城市共同体,推动空巢青年向筑巢青年转变.     

大学毕业生择业焦虑、自我效能感与归因方式的关系

择业心理因素及其相互关系对大学生就业有较大影响,对715名大学毕业生择业焦虑、择业自我效能感与择业归因方式的关系及择业自我效能感在择业归因方式和择业焦虑之间的中介作用的调查发现,大学毕业生择业自我效能感对择业焦虑具有显著的负向影响,择业归因方式对择业自我效能感具有显著的正向影响,个人素质类归因方式对择业焦虑具有显著的负向影响,社会支持类归因方式对择业焦虑具有显著的正向影响,择业自我效能感在个人素质和社会支持类归因方式与择业焦虑之间起着显著的部分中介作用,在机会运气、求职知识、个人努力和积极情绪类归因方式与择业焦虑之间起着显著的完全中介作用。