Personality Traits, Interpersonal Identity, and Relationship Stability: Longitudinal Linkages in Late Adolescence and Young Adulthood

Adolescence and young adulthood are characterized by important changes in personality, changes toward a more stable identity, and the establishment of intimate relationships. We examined the role of personality traits in establishing intimate relationships, the interplay between personality traits and interpersonal identity processes during these relationships, and the role of interpersonal identity processes and personality traits in the dissolution thereof. For this purpose, we used longitudinal data on 424 female college students (mean age at T1 = 18.6 years; Sample 1) and 390 late adolescents drawn from a community sample (56.7 % female; mean age at T1 = 19.7 years; Sample 2). Especially highly extraverted individuals were likely to become involved in a relationship. Neuroticism was associated negatively, and Agreeableness and Conscientiousness were associated positively with a stronger sense of interpersonal identity within intimate relationships. Finally, the importance of interpersonal identity processes was underscored by the fact that these processes, and not so much personality traits, predicted relational breakups. Overall, the present study provides important insights into the role of personality and identity in the initiation, maintenance, and dissolution of intimate relationships in late adolescence and young adulthood.     

Acute arsenic poisoning: clinical, toxicological, histopathological, and forensic features

This report describes a suicide case by acute arsenic intoxication via intravenous injection. A 30-year-old woman injected arsenic As (V) (sodium arseniate disodique: Disodium Hydrogena Arsenik RP) in a successful suicide attempt. Three hours following administration, the woman developed severe digestive symptoms. She was admitted to a hospital and transferred to the intensive care unit within 12 h of the massive administration of arsenic. Despite therapeutic efforts, over the next 2 h she developed multiorgan failure and died. A postmortem examination was performed. Pulmonary edema and congestion of liver were apparent. As (V) and As (III) were determined by high performance liquid chromatography and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry after mineralization of samples by concentrated nitric acid. Toxicological analysis revealed high concentrations of arsenic in biological fluids as well as in organs. Histopathological examination showed a typical indication of myocarditis. These findings were in agreement with acute arsenic poisoning. The symptoms developed by this young woman (intoxication by intravenous administration) were comparable to oral intoxication. The clinical signs, survival time, and administration type are discussed in light of the literature on acute and chronic arsenic poisoning.     

The Spatial Patterning of County Homicide Rates: An Application of Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis

The possibility that homicides can spread from one geographic area toanother has been entertained for some time by social scientists, yetsystematic efforts to demonstrate the existence, or estimate the strength,of such a diffusion process are just beginning. This paper uses exploratoryspatial data analysis (ESDA) to examine the distribution of homicides in 78counties in, or around, the St. Louis metropolitan area for two timeperiods: a period of relatively stable homicide (1984–1988) and aperiod of generally increasing homicide (1988–1993). The findingsreveal that homicides are distributed nonrandomly, suggestive of positivespatial autocorrelation. Moreover, changes over time in the distribution ofhomicides suggest the possible diffusion of lethal violence out of onecounty containing a medium-sized city (Macon County) into two nearbycounties (Morgan and Sangamon Counties) located to the west. Althoughtraditional correlates of homicide do not account for its nonrandom spatialdistribution across counties, we find some evidence that more affluentareas, or those more rural or agricultural areas, serve as barriers againstthe diffusion of homicides. The patterns of spatial distribution revealedthrough ESDA provide an empirical foundation for the specification ofmultivariate models which can provide formal tests for diffusion processes.     

Lonelines in pre-through late adolescence: Exploring the contributions of a multidimensional approach

A multidimensional loneliness measure was administered to 444 subjects in the 11–17 age range. The four-scale instrument probes for loneliness in relationships with parents and peers, and for aversion to and affinity for aloneness. All subscales were shown to exhibit high reliability and excellent factorial validity. With regard to age effects, a marginally significant increase was found for parent-related loneliness, accompanied by a sudden drop at the seventh-grade level. A decreasing age trend emerged in both peer-related loneliness and aversion to aloneness. A set of variables pertaining to subjects' social integration (number of friends, quality of friendships) and psychological functioning (outlook on the future) accounted for a sizable portion of the variance in all four scales, particularly in peer-related loneliness. Implications of these findings are discussed and suggestions for future research are outlined.Portions of this paper were presented at the annual meeting of the Belgian Psychological Society, May 1985.Received his Ph.D. from that university in 1973. Current interests include loneliness in children and adolescents and life-span psychology.Current interests are cognitive development in adolescence and its concomitants in the social and personality realms.Current interests include adolescent loneliness.     

Voting Procedures for Complex Collective Decisions. An Epistemic Perspective

Abstract. In addressing a complex issue that is decomposable into several sub‐questions, a committee can use different voting procedures: Either it can let the committee members vote on each sub‐question and then use the outcomes as premises for its conclusion on the main issue (premise based‐procedure, pbp), or it can let the members directly vote on the conclusion (conclusion‐based procedure, cbp). The procedures can lead to different results, but which of them is a better truth‐tracker? On the basis of Condorcet's jury theorem, we show that the pbp is clearly superior if the objective is to reach truth for the right (= correct) reasons. However, if the goal instead is to reach truth for whatever reasons, right or wrong, there will be cases in which using the cbp turns out to be more reliable, even though, for the most part, the pbp will retain its superiority. In that connection, we also consider the truth‐tracking potential of a “sophisticated” variant of the pbp, which is sensitive to the size of the majorities supporting each of the premises.