The present study examined antisocial dispositions in 487 university students. Primary and secondary psychopathy scales were developed to assess a protopsychopathic interpersonal philosophy. An antisocial action scale also was developed for purposes of validation. The primary, secondary, and antisocial action scales were correlated with each other and with boredom susceptibility and disinhibition but not with experience seeking and thrill and adventure seeking. Secondary psychopathy was associated with trait anxiety. Multiple regression analysis revealed that the strongest predictors of antisocial action were disinhibition, primary psychopathy, secondary psychopathy, and sex, whereas thrill and adventure seeking was a negative predictor. This argues against a singular behavioral inhibition system mediating both antisocial and risk-taking behavior. These findings are also consistent with the view that psychopathy is a continuous dimension.

Self-transcendence has been hypothesized to be a critical component of wisdom (Curnow, 1999) and adaptation in later life (Tornstam, 1994). It reflects a decreasing reliance on externals for definition of the self, increasing interiority and spirituality, and a greater sense of connectedness with past and future generations. The Adult Self-Transcendence Inventory was administered to 351 individuals along with the NEO-FFI Personality Scale (McCrae & Costa, 1989). A principal axis factor analysis identified two factors: self-transcendence and alienation. The relationships between self-transcendence and neuroticism, openness to experience, extraversion, and agreeableness were significant, although modest, suggesting that self-transcendence cannot be accounted for in terms of positive personality traits alone. As expected, a multiple regression analysis indicated that self-transcendence was negatively related to neuroticism and positively related to meditation practice. The present study appears to lend support to the construct of self-transcendence.

The purpose of this study was to examine whether appraisals of desirable and undesirable effects of military service mediated the effect of combat stress on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in later life in 1,287 male veterans, aged 44-91 years (M = 63.56, SD = 7.46), 40% of whom had been in combat. The men reported more desirable effects of military service (e.g., mastery, selfesteem, and coping skills) than undesirable ones; both increased linearly with combat exposure (r =. 17 and .33, p < .001, respectively). Path analysis revealed that the appraisals were independent and opposite mediators, with undesirable effects increasing and desirable effects decreasing the relationship between combat exposure and PTSD, even controlling for depression and response style. Although lifelong negative consequences of combat exposure were observed, perceiving positive benefits from this stressful experience mitigated the effect.

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Comparisons were made of the personality and social orientations of antisocial risk takers, defined as residents in a long-term drug-treatment facility (N = 24); adventurous risk takers, defined as rock climbers (N = 18); and prosocial risk takers, or heroes, defined as policemen and firemen decorated for bravery (N = 2 l). Measures included substance abuse proclivity, emotional arousability, conformity, moral reasoning, empathy, psychopathy, and sensation seeking. Discriminant analysis identified two functions that correctly classified 98.18% of the sample. Drug-unit residents had high scores on an Antisocial function, characterized by emotionality, depression, psychopathy, substance abuse proclivity, and lower scores on moral reasoning. Rock climbers had high scores on an Antistructural function, characterized by sensation seeking and moral reasoning, the latter reflecting the higher education level of the rock climbers. Neither discriminant function characterized the heroes. Thus, drug-unit residents, rock climbers, and heroes appear to represent both different psychological types and different forms of risk taking.

The valid measurement of latent constructs is crucial for psychological research. Here, we present a mixed-methods procedure for improving the precision of construct definitions, determining the content validity of items, evaluating the representativeness of items for the target construct, generating test items, and analyzing items on a theoretical basis. To illustrate the mixed-methods content-scaling-structure (CSS) procedure, we analyze the Adult Self-Transcendence Inventory, a self-report measure of wisdom (ASTI, Levenson et al., 2005). A content-validity analysis of the ASTI items was used as the basis of psychometric analyses using multidimensional item response models (N = 1215). We found that the new procedure produced important suggestions concerning five subdimensions of the ASTI that were not identifiable using exploratory methods. The study shows that the application of the suggested procedure leads to a deeper understanding of latent constructs. It also demonstrates the advantages of theory-based item analysis.

Individual differences in physical and psychological health trajectories were examined in 1,515 Normative Aging Study men. Mean age at baseline was 47.15 years (range = 28-80), and average follow up was 18.55 years (range = 8-25). Both linear and nonlinear growth curves were estimated with random-effects models and then clustered to identify patterns of change. Men whose physical health trajectories were characterized by high, increasing symptoms were higher in hostility and anxiety, were overweight, and smoked. Those whose trajectories were characterized by low symptoms were emotionally stable, educated, nonsmokers, and thin. Men with high, stable psychological trajectories had high hostility; those with low, stable trajectories had high emotional stability; those with moderate anxiety levels had nonlinear trajectories with peaks in psychological symptoms at different life stages. Personality had life-long effects on health trajectories, but these effects varied across traits and health outcomes.

Researchers during the past decade have found little effect of retirement on physical health. However, retirement entails a number of losses, and its effect on mental health, as measured by the prevalence of psychological symptoms, is unclear. We examined psychological symptoms in a sample of 1,513 older men, participants in the Normative Aging Study, using the SCL-90-R (Derogatis, 1983). Analyses of variance indicated that retirees reported more psychological symptoms than did workers, even after controlling for physical health status. Exploratory analyses examining the circumstances of retirement found no effects for length of retirement or part-time employment, but did find effects for the timing of retirement. Both early and late retirees reported more psychological symptoms. Late workers (aged 66 and older) reported the fewest symptoms. Reasons for these findings are discussed.