The psychometric properties of the Autism Behavior Checklist (ABC; Krug, Arick, & Almond, 1980a, 1980b), a 57-item screening checklist for autism was investigated. Professional Informants completed the ABC on 67 autistic and 56 mentally retarded and learning-disabled children. The autistic children were the total population of autistic children aged 6-15 in two circumscribed suburban and rural regions. Using the total score, the ABC accurately discriminated 91% of the children, with 87% of the autistic and 96% of the nonautistic group correctly classified. Moreover, the accuracy of classification was virtually identical when only the more heavily weighted checklist items were used. A 3-factor model accounted for 32% of the total variance in the checklist. Seventeen items loaded .4 or more on Factor 1, 12 items loaded on Factor 2, and 10 items loaded on Factor 3. The present results fail to provide empirical support for a single unidimensional scale for autism. Also, there is little support for subdividing the checklist into five subscales based on symptom areas.

The present study investigated the relationship between the severity of depressive symptoms and various qualitative and quantitative aspects of pain reported by chronic pain patients. The sample consisted of 73 patients from a heterogeneous pain population admitted to the Victoria General Hospital Pain Management Unit. Patients completed a comprehensive pain evaluation battery that included the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ). They rated their loss of desire and ability for various social and recreational activities, and the intensity of their pain for 8 periods of a typical day. Multivariate analyses of variance were used to assess the sensory, affective, and evaluative indices of the MPQ, daily pain intensity ratings, and reported impairment of activities of non-depressed, mildly depressed and moderate/severely depressed patients. The results indicate significant relationships between the degree of depression and (a) the number of sensory descriptors endorsed on the MPQ; (b) pain intensity ratings in the late evening and at bedtime; and (c) reported loss of ability for social and recreational activities. Depression is related to loss of desire for activity in women, but not in men. A discriminant analysis suggests that depressed and non-depressed pain patients can be distinguished with 78% accuracy on the basis of their MPQ Sensory scores, reported loss of ability for activities, and global pain ratings at late evening and bedtime. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for research as well as for the assessment and treatment of chronic pain patients.

Cross-sectional research has demonstrated that negative automatic thoughts (Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire, ATQ) and poor self-efficacy are associated with dysphona. The present study employed a longitudinal, multivariate design to examine the relative contribution to subsequent depression of automatic thoughts and self-efficacy, after controlling for several other factors (initial depressive symptoms, life events stress, and social support). Forty-nine male and female undergraduates were assessed twice at monthly intervals. Initial scores on the ATQ and on a measure of student efficacy each predicted subsequent depressive symptoms. The results suggest that automatic thoughts and perceived self-efficacy may serve additive predisposing roles in depression.We are grateful to Dr. T. Michael Vallis for his comments on an earlier draft of the manuscript. Reprint requests to be sent to M.

Two experiments were carried out to determine whether expressive asymmetries in facial stimuli might underlie evidence of differential hemispheric responses to positive and negative emotion. Experiment 1 systematically varied stimulus orientation; Experiment 2 included both normally oriented and reversed (mirror-image) faces. We replicated previous reports of a left field advantage for happy faces and a right field superiority for sad faces only when normally oriented faces were used. Mirror-image stimuli tended to produce the opposite pattern of results, and a combination of the two (Exp. 2) eliminated the visual field differences for each emotion. The findings underscore the importance of controlling for stimulus asymmetries in visual laterality studies, and are discussed in terms of current notions about the lateralization of both the perception and expression of emotion.