This study examined the influence of different sources of efficacy information on self-efficacy strength. Forty-eight women ranging from 18 to 40 years of age were recruited from a university population and randomly assigned to one of six groups. Each group received three sources of bench-press efficacy information (performance accomplishment, model, verbal message) presented in a different sequence. Bench-press efficacy strength was measured after each source of efficacy information. Results indicated that a performance accomplishment led to significantly stronger bench-press efficacy than did observation of a model, which in turn was more effective in strengthening efficacy than was hearing a verbal message. Second, performance accomplishment strengthened bench-press efficacy even when it followed one or both of the other sources of efficacy information. Finally, a verbal persuasion message was most effective in strengthening efficacy when it followed a performance accomplishment.

Two groups of visually impaired older adults, minimally (n = 40) and severely impaired (n = 40), were compared on depression, anxiety, life satisfaction, and various dimensions of control. The relationship of control to depression, anxiety, and life satisfaction among the severely impaired then was examined. The severely impaired were found to be significantly more depressed and scored lower in perceptions of control than the minimally impaired, butsignijkantdirerences were not foundinanxiety andlife satiflaction. Among the severely impaired, perceived control andthe internal domain of locus of control were strongly related to levels of depression, anxiety, and life satisfaction. Julia J.

Women with premenstrual syndrome (PMS; n = 14) were compared with women without premenstrual syndrome (n = 14). The diagnosis was based on the volunteers' responses to the Premenstrual Assessment Form, their medical history, a physical examination, and the Utah PMS Calendar. After assignment to the non-PMS or PMS group, each subject was studied for one menstrual cycle and was evaluated, once during the follicular phase and twice during the luteal phase. On each of these occasions, circulating concentrations of estradiol and progesterone were determined, and the Depression Adjective Checklist (DACL), the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), and the Attributional Style Questionnaire were completed. Each subject recorded daily her physical symptoms on the Utah PMS Calendar. During the luteal phase, women with PMS had significantly higher levels of depression as measured by the DACL and MMPI than women without PMS. The two groups did not differ in the follicular phase. The women with PMS reported significantly more physical symptoms on the Utah PMS Calendar during the luteal phase, but reported no significant differences in symptoms during the follicular phase. These findings suggest a luteal phase disorder superimposed on a background free of psychiatric or physiological illness.A number of etiological causes have been proposed for premenstrual syndrome (PMS). An area of continuing interest involves the abnormal levels of the ovarian steroid hormones estradiol or progesterone, or an imbalance between the two hormones as the factor or factors responsible for premenstrual symptoms (Rubinow & Roy-Byrne, 1984). Some investigators have suggested that women with PMS have abnormalities of thyroid, adrenal, pituitary, or hypothalamus function, whereas others have proposed a number of psychological factors as being influential, predisposing, or essential factors in the etiology of PMS (for a review see Keye & Trunnell, 1988). Recently, because certain PMS symptoms are characteristic of learned helplessness, it has also been suggested as important in the development of PMS (Hamilton, Alagna, & Sharpe, 1985).Previous attempts to characterize the hormonal and psychological profiles of women with PMS have been flawed by methodologic deficiencies: First, an operational definition of the syndrome has been lacking (Rubinow & Roy-Byrne, 1984). Second, researchers have failed to use both retrospective and prospective assessments (Parlee, 1973). Finally, earlier attempts This article is based on Eric P. Trunnell's doctoral dissertation, which was supervised by

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