Psychological reports
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In samples of organ donors, homicide victims had significantly more individuals with type O and type B than organ donors in general, while suicides did not differ.
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Brief case descriptions from journalists are presented to illustrate the role of traumatic experiences, the sense of being a burden to their families, and shame and humiliation in female suicide bombers.
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Using Riedel and Zahn's 1994 reformatted version of an FBI database, the mean age of homicide victims in 2,175 homicide-suicides (4,350 deaths) was compared with that of all other victims of homicides reported for the USA from 1968 to 1975. The overall mean age of homicide victims in homicide-suicides was 1 yr. greater than for victims of homicides not followed by suicides, whereas the mean age for both male and female homicide-suicide victims was, respectively, 3 yr. less and greater than the other homicide victims. ⋯ Also, the mean age of White female homicide victims in homicide-suicides was more than two years greater than for female victims of homicides not followed by suicides. When both sex and race were considered, the mean age for those killed in homicide-suicides relative to those killed in homicides not followed by suicides may represent subpopulations with different mean ages of victims.
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Psychological reports · Dec 2009
Postoperative delirium is associated with postoperative cognitive dysfunction at one week after cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass.
Postoperative delirium with cognitive impairment frequently occurs after cardiac surgery. It was hypothesized that delirium is associated with residual postoperative cognitive dysfunction in patients after surgery using cardiopulmonary bypass. Male cardiac surgical patients (M age = 66 yr., SD = 8; M education = 13 yr., SD = 2) and nonsurgical controls (M age = 62, SD = 7; M education = 12, SD = 2) 55 years of age or older were balanced on age and education. ⋯ In the Surgery group, the proportion of patients having postoperative cognitive dysfunction was significantly greater in those who experienced delirium (89%) compared with those who did not (37%). The odds of developing this dysfunction in patients with delirium were 14 times greater than those who did not. Postoperative delirium is associated with scores for residual postoperative cognitive dysfunction 1 wk. after cardiac surgery.
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Psychological reports · Dec 2009
Interaction between self-efficacy and initial performance in predicting the complexity of task chosen.
Research on motivation has confirmed the predictive power of cognitive-affective variables on performance in complex tasks. However, less attention has been given to the determinants of task choice in situations where there is discretion about which task is to be undertaken. ⋯ Self-efficacy beliefs contribute to explaining the range of difficulty people consider feasible to attempt when initial performance is controlled. Individuals with high self-efficacy chose tasks that maximized their learning opportunities.