Predicting genetic loading from symptom patterns in obsessive- compulsive disorder: a latent variable analysis.

Background: Some symptom dimensions in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) patients have a familial and putative genetic foundation, based on replicated findings in studies of sib-pairs with OCD. However, these symptom dimensions are all from exploratory factor analyses of Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale Symptom Checklist ratings based on non-empirically derived symptom categories, rather than individual symptoms.

Methods: In this study, we used a novel latent variable mixture model analysis to identify meaningful patient subgroupings.

Brain lesion and memory functioning: short-term memory deficit is independent of lesion location.

We analyzed the effects of patterns of brain lesions from penetrating head injuries on memory performance in participants of the Vietnam Head Injury Study (Grafman et al., 1988). Classes of lesion patterns were determined by mixture modeling (L.

Context, complexity, and cognitive processing in schizophrenia.

Background: Cohen et al.'s (1990, 1999) concept of context has been employed to explain various schizophrenic cognitive deficits. Braver et al.

Parental practices and willingness to ask for children's help later in life.

We examine how parents' relationships with their 13- to 25-year-old offspring affect the parents' willingness to ask them for help with financial and personal problems 20 years later. Husbands and wives were interviewed in 1974 and 1994; a child was interviewed in 1974. We used two aspects of parental style, responsiveness and restrictive dominance, to predict parents' willingness to request help from a child 20 years later.

Use It-and Keep It, Longer, Probably: A Reply to Salthouse (2006).

In this article, I call into serious question Salthouse's (2006) conclusions evaluating and disparaging the validity of the "use it or lose it" hypothesis regarding mental exercise and mental aging. I do so, in some part, by using data not discussed by Salthouse. The core of my argument relies heavily on a critical assessment of the conclusions that Salthouse derived from both his theoretical reasoning and his review of the literature.

The roles of fatalism, self-confidence, and intellectual resources in the disablement process in older adults.

In this study, the authors examined the relations between 3 psychological variables-fatalism, self-confidence, and intellectual resources-and the subsequent development of illness and disability 20 years later in an adult sample. Results indicated that greater fatalism, assessed in 1974, predicted greater difficulty in everyday cognitive tasks as well as illness in 1994. Higher self-confidence in 1974 was associated with lesser degrees of cognitive and fine motor difficulty in 1994.

Causal connections between socio-economic status and health: reciprocal effects and mediating mechanisms.

Using structural equation modeling techniques on data from a nationally representative longitudinal survey, we first explored the reciprocal relationships between socio-economic status (SES) and health status. We then estimated the degree to which health-related lifestyles/behaviors and psychosocial distress are mediating mechanisms of these relationships. As predicted, SES positively affects health, and health positively affects SES.