Meaning matters: Measuring the mental illness identity.

Drawing on stigma and identity research, we propose and examine quantitative measures of mental illness as a stigmatized identity. Using a web-based panel survey of 1453 adults, we ask individuals who identified as having mental health concerns (n = 1067) to rate adjective-pairs that represent stereotypes associated with mental illness derived from stigma research. Two dimensions of the mental illness identity emerged in our data: Dangerousness and Weakness.

The science identity and entering a science occupation.

The initiative to increase the number of students in STEM disciplines and train them for a science-related job is a current national focus. Using longitudinal panel data from a national study that followed underrepresented college students in STEM fields, we investigate the neglected role that social psychological processes play in influencing science activity among the young. We study the impact of identity processes related to being a science student on entering a science occupation.

To thine own self be true? Clarifying the effects of identity discrepancies on psychological distress and emotions.

After many years of research across disciplines, it remains unclear whether people are more motivated to seek appraisals that accurately match self-views (self-verification) or are as favorable as possible (self-enhancement). Within sociology, mixed findings in identity theory have fueled the debate. A problem here is that a commonly employed statistical approach does not take into account the direction of a discrepancy between how we see ourselves and how we think others see us in terms of a given identity, yet doing so is critical for determining which self-motive is at play.

The Causal Ordering of Prominence and Salience in Identity Theory: An Empirical Examination.

Identity theory invokes two distinct but related concepts, identity salience and prominence, to explain how the organization of identities that make up the self impacts the probability that a given identity is situationally enacted. However, much extant research has failed to clearly distinguish between salience and prominence, and their empirical relationship has not been adequately investigated, impeding a solid understanding of the significance and role of each in a general theory of the self. This study examines their causal ordering using three waves of panel data from 48 universities focusing on respondents' identities as science students.

STEM enrichment programs and graduate school matriculation: the role of science identity salience.

Improving the state of science education in the United States has become a national priority. One response to this problem has been the implementation of STEM enrichment programs designed to increase the number of students that enter graduate programs in science. Current research indicates enrichment programs have positive effects for student performance, degree completion, interest in science and graduate enrollment.

Patching the Pipeline: Reducing Educational Disparities in the Sciences Through Minority Training Programs.

For more than 40 years, there has been a concerted national effort to promote diversity among the scientific research community. Yet given the persistent national-level disparity in educational achievements of students from various ethnic and racial groups, the efficacy of these programs has come into question. The current study reports results from a longitudinal study of students supported by a national National Institutes of Health-funded minority training program, and a propensity score matched control.

The prevalence of pathologic skin picking in US adults.

Objective: Despite increasing recognition of the potentially severe medical and psychosocial costs of pathologic skin picking (PSP), no large-sample, randomized investigation of its prevalence in a national population has been conducted.

Method: Two thousand five hundred and thirteen US adults were interviewed during the spring and summer of 2004 in a random-sample, national household computer-assisted phone survey of PSP phenomenology and associated functional impairment. Respondents were classified for subsequent analysis according to proposed diagnostic criteria.

The prevalence of body dysmorphic disorder in the United States adult population.

Objective: In clinical samples, body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is associated with substantial suffering and reduced quality of life. Limited surveys report widely varying prevalence estimates. To better establish the prevalence of BDD, we conducted a United States nationwide prevalence survey.

Estimated prevalence of compulsive buying behavior in the United States.

Objective: Compulsive buying (uncontrolled urges to buy, with resulting significant adverse consequences) has been estimated to affect from 1.8% to 16% of the adult U.S.

Potential markers for problematic internet use: a telephone survey of 2,513 adults.

Objective: The Internet has positively altered many aspects of life. However, for a subset of users, the medium may have become a consuming problem that exhibits features of impulse control disorders recognized in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition.

Method: This is the first large-scale epidemiological study of problematic Internet use through a random-digit-dial telephone survey of 2,513 adults in the United States.