Research exploring the psychological importance of closeness with others has been hampered by the absence of a reliable and valid measure of this variable. The development of the Miller Social Intimacy Scale (MSIS), a 17-item measure of the maximum level of intimacy currently experienced, is presented. Evidence for internal consistency and test-retest reliability as well as for convergent, discriminant and construct validity is discussed in the context of the need for further scientific exploration of this important phenomenon.

The McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ) and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) were administered to 72 subjects with burning mouth syndrome (BMS) who were also requested to match the levels of their clinical pain to line lengths on a visual analogue scale (VAS) and to experimentally induced warm and painful thermal stimuli. The responses of 102 toothache pain subjects and 43 asymptomatic age- and sex-matched control subjects were used to compare the responses of the BMS subjects on the MPQ and MMPI, respectively. The results indicated that BMS pain is quantitatively similar to, but qualitatively different from, toothache pain, that self-reports of BMS pain appear to be valid, that when compared to the asymptomatic control subjects, BMS subjects show elevations in certain personality characteristics which are similar to those seen in other chronic pain patients, and that these personality disturbances tend to increase with increased pain. Therefore, our findings indicate that the pain of BMS is more severe than has previously been suggested and that the severity of this pain may explain some of the personality changes which occur in the BMS subjects.

In the search for moderators of negative life events, locus of control has been thought to be one of the more potentially important personality variables. Recent research has substantiated this hypothesis to a limited degree. This article presents stronger indications for the utility of locus of control variables. Locus of control measures were found to interact with recalled negative life events in predicting mood states that were assessed weekly over a period of several weeks. Multiple-regression analyses indicated that negative life events that had occurred during the high school years had a lingering effect on the current mood states of the more external university students. On the other hand, more recently occurring negative life events resulted in mood disturbances for all subjects regardless of locus of control scores, although externals appeared to be equally distraught in the absence of negative events. Multiple correlations between negative life events, locus of control, and mood scores attained sizable magnitudes. Positive life events, on the other hand, were found to have relatively slight effects on subsequent mood disturbance.

Two studies were conducted to explore the role of social intimacy in predicting the individual's response to stress. In the first study the experimenter reinforced the experimental subjects' verbalizations during an interview on a fixed schedule for the first 3 minutes, withdrawing reinforcement for the final 4 minutes. The control group received reinforcement on a fixed schedule for the total 7 minutes. Subjects scoring low on a measure of intimacy disclosed less personal material during the withdrawal period in the experimental condition than in the control condition in contrast to high scoring subjects who maintained their level of disclosure for both parts of the interview. In the second study, previously experienced life change events were assessed. Individuals lacking a current intimacy were found to be prone to higher levels of emotional disturbance especially when many previous negative or few positive life change events had occurred.

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