Social responses to dysphoria were investigated. Subjects conversed for 15 minutes with persons selected on the basis of the presence or absence of depressed mood. Following the conversations, mood measures were administered along with social perception questionnaires that were described as either being confidential or to be shared with the other person. Subjects who interacted with depressed persons were anxious, depressed, and hostile, and the subjects rejected them. Contrary to predictions, subjects were willing to share their negative responses with the depressed persons. The depressed persons correctly anticipated rejection and reciprocated. The authors argue that cognitive models of depression need to be integrated with a conception of the social environment as being active and responsive. Judgments of cognitive distortion cannot be made without an understanding of the feedback typically available from the social environment.

This study examined the psychological and behavioral correlates of three major coping strategies used by medically ill patients in dealing with their illness; namely, confrontation, avoidance, and acceptance-resignation. The subjects consisted of 223 male medical patients with a variety of life-threatening and chronic illnesses. Coping responses were measured by the Medical Coping Modes Questionnaire, while other variables were tapped by a variety of self-report and test measures, as well as by interview data. Significant correlates were found for each of the coping strategies accounting for 10 to 53% of the variance. These included demographic, illness, and psychological variables. Employment of acceptance-resignation as a coping strategy was particularly evident in patients with little expectation of recovery and a lack of hope. Effectiveness of coping appeared to be negatively linked to frequent use of avoidance and acceptance-resignation in life-threatened patients. Overall, it seems that a variety of variables across several domains accompany the use of a particular coping strategy; that choice of a specific strategy is most likely multidetermined; and that the configuration of variables associated with a particular strategy is likely to be different for each coping strategy. Coping behavior is a subtle, multifashioned expression the complete grasp of which demands an integrative approach.

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In order to measure social cognitive constructs in the oral hygiene domain, questionnaires containing self-efficacy and outcome expectation items were developed. Items were generated to measure personal beliefs in brushing and flossing ability under a variety of circumstances, and expected outcomes from performing oral hygiene behaviors that might be positive, negative, primary and secondary. In the first study, factor scales were developed on the basis of the responses from 90 subjects awaiting dental treatment. Principal components analyses with varimax rotation revealed two self-efficacy and four outcome expectations dimensions that explained 73% and 51% of the variance, respectively. A second study that utilized 103 government employees was conducted to evaluate the psychometric properties of the questionnaires. All scales demonstrated good internal consistency and test-retest stability. Correlations with extra test measures provided preliminary evidence for the validity of the instruments.