Objectives. This study longitudinally examines the relationships between psychological impact and coping in a cohort of 87 traumatic spinal cord injured individuals. Trieschmann (1988) emphasized the need to adopt a more longitudinal method of enquiry, elaborating not only on aspects of psychological impact following spinal cord injury (SCI), but exploring the relationship between psychological well-being coping strategies and adjustment. Within the framework proposed by Folkman and Lazarus (1988), coping is conceptualized as a mediator of emotional reactions, and Leventhal, Nerenz, and Steele (1984) suggest an interaction between coping and emotional outcomes. Design. A prospective longitudinal multiple wave panel design was utilized.Methods. Repeated, standardized measures were collected across nine observational periods from onset of injury to community placement. Forward stepwise variable selection multiple regression analyses were employed to examine concurrent predictive factors and prediction over time.

The current study examined the differences between three types of violent men based on Holtzworth-Munroe and Stuart's (1994) tripartite typology and a group of non-intimate violent men. First, a cluster analysis was conducted on a sample of 91 domestically violent men, resulting in three clusters that approximated the tripartite model for psychopathology as measured by the MMPI-2, that is, non-pathological, borderline/dysphoric, and antisocial. Based on the violence variables (i.e., severity of violence, family-only violence, and exposure to family of origin violence) only severity of violence approximated what would be expected across the three clusters, that is, the less the psychopathology, the less severe the violence. The other two violence variables had approximate frequencies/percentages of occurrence that would be expected for individual typologies with some but not all three typologies. In comparing the three intimate violent typologies to the non-intimate violent group, the non-intimate and non-pathological groups were within normal limits and did not differ significantly on any of the MMPI-2 scales. These non-intimate and non-pathological groups differed significantly from the antisocial and borderline/dysphoric groups on all the scales that defined the psychopathology of these two groups. On the violence variables, the non-intimate groups reported significantly less severe violence than the borderline/dysphoric and antisocial groups.

The effects of spinal cord injury in childhood upon later psychological adjustment were investigated by comparing a group of 86 people injured as children with a control group (matched for time since injury and level of injury) of people injured as adults. It was hypothesized that adolescence is a crucial period in psychological development and that the effect of spinal cord injury on body image, self-concept and social relationships during adolescence will have a long-term negative effect on psychological well-being. However, on overall measures of depression, self-esteem and self-perception, there were no significant differences between the experimental and control groups. Furthermore, there were no significant differences between paraplegics and tetraplegics, between men women, or between those who were involved in a significant intimate relationship and those who were not. These findings support previous research which has suggested that organic variables, such as age at injury and level of injury, are not predictive of long-term psychological adjustment.

Despite the empirically established beneficial effects of laughter on psychological health, humor remains a much neglected area of research. This study examined the psychological impact of humor on people with SCI, the hypothesis being that it would significantly reduce the deleterious psychological effects of the injury. Mood state, frequency of intrusive thoughts and avoidance behavior of eight male inpatients at the National Spinal Injuries Centre were monitored before and after exposure to a series of five humorous video presentations. Although differences in these parameters were in the predicted direction, statistical analysis revealed no significant effect. Nevertheless, this pilot study highlighted pertinent issues and suggested modifications for further exploration.

As a part of the resettlement programme, three young men with learning disabilities and behaviour disorder moved to a flat in the community providing one‐to‐one staffing. A fourth man received respite care. A multi‐professional team evaluated various aspects of their care and found that they showed an increase in engaged behaviour, a decrease in disturbed behaviour reflected by increase in MRC‐HBS scores and a decrease in violent incidents. They also needed less psychotropic medication. Following resettlement, their relatives were more satisfied with the care they received and found visiting easier. The young men's quality of life had improved and staff morale was high.