The aim of this study was to demonstrate how personality test data can be plotted with a multivariate method known as Partial Least Squares of Latent Structures (PLS). The basic methodology behind PLS modeling is presented and the example demonstrates how a PLS model of personality test data can be used for diagnostic prediction. Principles for validating the models are also presented. The conclusion is that PLS modeling appears to be a powerful method for extracting clinically relevant information from complex personality test data matrixes. It could be used as a complement to more hard modeling methods in the process of examining a new area of interest.
To increase understanding of post-victimization symptom development, the present study investigated the role of shame- and guilt-proneness and event-related shame and guilt as potential risk factors. 35 individuals (M age = 31.7 yr.; 48.5% women), recently victimized by a single event of severe violent crime, were assessed regarding shame- and guilt-proneness, event-related shame and guilt, and post-victimization symptoms. The mediating role of event-related shame was investigated with structural equation modeling (SEM), using bootstrapping. The guilt measures were unrelated to each other and to post-victimization symptoms. The shame measures were highly intercorrelated and were both positively correlated to more severe post-victimization symptom levels. Event-related shame as mediator between shame-proneness and post-victimization symptoms was demonstrated by prevalent significant indirect effects. Both shame measures are potent risk factors for distress after victimization, whereby part of the effect of shame-proneness on post-victimization symptoms is explained by event-related shame.
The Test of Self-Conscious Affect (TOSCA) is a well-established scenario-based questionnaire assessing self-conscious emotions, such as shame and guilt, which have been shown to be differentially associated with a variety of functional, motivational, behavioral and health outcomes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties and internal structure of a Swedish version of TOSCA in a sample of 361 healthy adults. The psychometric properties and internal consistency of the Swedish version were at level with the original US TOSCA version for shame, guilt and detachment. The internal structure of the Swedish version was acceptable for shame, guilt and detachment but contained shortcomings in assessment of externalization.
Twenty patients complaining of symptoms deriving from their amalgam fillings and a non-patient group were assessed by means of the perceptual projective Defense Mechanism Test (DMT). The test protocols were scored for 130 DMT variables and analyzed by means of the multivariate statistical method Partial Least Squares discriminant analysis. The objective was to try to distinguish the group with amalgam illness from the non-patient group by means of the DMT. The results showed that it was possible to distinguish the two groups significantly from each other. The most characteristic traits of the patient group were a general lateness in perception and few emotional responses compared with the non-patient group and, especially, an inability to perceive the aggressive component in the stimulus picture. The DMT seems to be a powerful method in the effort to understand the mechanisms underlying the problems of amalgam illness.
13 patients with a diagnosis of chronic fatigue syndrome and two contrast groups of conversion disorder patients (n = 19) and healthy controls (n = 13) were assessed using the projective perceptual Defense Mechanism Test to investigate if specific defense patterns are associated with chronic fatigue syndrome. Another objective was to assess the possible influence of perceived negative life events prior the onset of the illness. The overall results showed significant differences in defensive strategies among groups represented by two significant dimensions in a Partial Least Squares analysis. Compared to the contrast groups the patients with chronic fatigue syndrome were distinguished by a defense pattern of different distortions of aggressive affect, induced by an interpersonal anxiety-provoking stimulus picture with short exposures. Their responses suggested the conversion group was characterized by a nonemotionally adapted pattern and specific constellations of defenses, associated with interior reality orientation compared to the patients with chronic fatigue syndrome and the healthy controls. Rated retrospectively, the group with chronic fatigue syndrome reported significantly more negative life events prior to the onset of their illness than healthy controls. For instance, 5 of the 13 patients reported sexual assault or physical battery as children or teenagers compared to none of the healthy controls. A significant association was found between defense pattern and frequency of reported negative life events. However, these retrospective reports might be confounded to some extent by the experience of the patients' illness; for example, the reports may be interpreted in terms of present negative affect.
This study compared psychological defensive strategies in two groups of patients with multiple chemical sensitivity (n = 10) and conversion disorder (n = 10) by means of the projective perceptual Defense Mechanism Test. We attempted to create a model for personality assessment based on the test data of prior patients, in which new patients could successively be tested. The overall results indicated that it was possible to separate the clinical groups significantly from a control group and from each other. In comparison to the controls, the clinical groups were characterized by patterns that were more nonemotionally adapted as well by a lateness of perception, but the ways in which the clinical groups maintained this difference were not the same. The multiple chemical sensitivity group was characterized above all by blocking maneuvers, while the main defensive strategy of the conversion disorder group was distortion of content.
Abstract:The aim of this study was to explore the prevalence of current suffering and the role of peritraumatic emotions and other risk factors for development of post-traumatic and general symptoms eight months post crime. Questionnaires assessing trauma-specific symptoms (HTQ) and general psychiatric symptoms (SCL-90) was used along with a semistructured interview covering subjective reactions of 41 civilian victims of interpersonal crime. Victims proved to still be suffering, in varying degrees, from post-traumatic symptoms and other psychological distress. Females reported more trauma-specific symptoms and other comorbid conditions than males. Prior trauma, adverse childhood, being female, previous psychiatric history, and unemployment were all associated with more distress. Peritraumatic reactions (especially secondary emotions following cognitive appraisals after the event) predicted the three core PTSD symptoms and comorbid conditions. Apart from the PTSD symptoms, an assessment of background factors, general psychiatric symptoms, peritraumatic emotions and their cognitive associated scripts in the initial post-trauma period could be helpful in identifying victims who are at risk of developing trauma symptoms.
The aim of this study was to examine the interrater reliability in the coding of the Defense Mechanism Test for 130 variables on both a variable and a subject level. Parallel with a traditional variable analysis, a multivariate strategy for measurement of interrater reliability, built upon principal component analysis, is presented. The results showed high agreement between judges with an overall interrater reliability coefficient of .98 but indicates the need for elucidation in the coding instructions for nine single variables. It also showed that multivariate modeling methods for handling personality test data are highly resistant to occasional differences on single variables but sensitive to major differences.
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