**A study by Friedman and Rosenham found that individuals with Type A personalities (stressed, hard-driving, impatient, and competitive) were more likely to suffer from heart disease than their more laid back Type B personality counterparts. Subsequent research has suggested that of the various characteristics of individuals with Type A personality, it is level of hostility and conflicts about expressing anger that are most predictive of cardiovascular disease.
**A study found that adolescents whose fathers had more than two drinks a day showed a 71% greater risk for substance abuse than other adolescents. Research suggests that as adolescents grow older, parental influence decreases and the influence of peers becomes greater, and it is not the actual level of peer drinking that affects adolescents as much as it is the perception of how much peers are drinking. The evidence shows that as with delinquency, a strong positive parent-child relationship mitigates alcohol use by adolescents.
**The risk of violence from watching television is made worse when actors are not punished for their behavior. When bad guys are punished for being violent, the punishment reinforces society's sanctions against violence. However, when heroes use aggression toward criminals and are rewarded, it glorifies violence. Research also indicates that children find violence more disturbing when it is in "real" shows as opposed to cartoons.
**Research suggests that the risk of developing Antisocial Personality Disorder is greater for children with ADHD who also have aggressive symptoms or who have symptoms of ADHD that severely impair functioning. Many people diagnosed with ADHD as a child continue to have some residual symptoms in adulthood, though the majority do not have the full disorder. There is no indication that the use of stimulants raises the risk of future drug and alcohol use, but the research so far has not suggested that use of stimulant medications improves the long-term course of the disorder.
**Research conducted by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development found that bullying may be a sign that children are involved in other violent behavior, or may be involved in more violent behavior in the future such as carrying a weapon or fighting. Interestingly, the victims of bullying may also be at risk for engaging in violent behaviors themselves. Experts do not consider bullying to be a normal aspect of childhood. There is mixed support for the idea that bullying indicates depression or self-esteem problems.
**Pseudodementia is a term used to describe cognitive impairments that mimic dementia but are actually due to depression. Depressive symptoms, especially in the elderly, frequently resemble mild cognitive dysfunction and can include slower processing speed, difficulties in concentration and attention, psychomotor retardation, and social withdrawal. If you or a relative are suffering from pseudodementia, you would expect to see improvements in cognitive abilities and memory after the depression has lifted. With a true dementia, one commonly sees a decline in cognitive abilities over time. An insidious onset and gradual decline are associated with Dementia of the Alzheimer's Type. Low levels of acetylcholine are associated with Dementia of the Alzheimer's Type.
**People who self-mutilate often report that inflicting of physical pain is the only way they know to deaden the overwhelming emotional pain they are experiencing. In contrast, some report that the infliction of physical pain is the only means they have to feel anything when they are in a numbed, emotionless state. The pain can actually help them to feel more alive. Many patients with Borderline Personality Disorder are survivors of sexual abuse. Self-mutilation is far from rare, and people who self-mutilate tend not to commit suicide.
**Permissive or laissez-faire parents who allow their children to regulate their own lives and provide few firm guidelines tend to have children who are impulsive, self-centered, and who act out. Authoritative parents are firm, fair, and reasonable and tend to have children who are independent and self-confident. Authoritarian parenting, which is characterized by parents who are controlling and require unquestioned obedience can result in moody and irritable children who can demonstrate aggressive and submissive behaviors.
**In general, girls appear to possess a wider range of coping skills than boys, especially in forming relationships. Overall, boys appear more vulnerable to risk factors from the prenatal period to about age ten, while girls grow more vulnerable to risk factors during their teens. The research on Gay and Lesbian parents has found that their children are as well-adjusted as children raised by heterosexual parents. The children have rates of homosexuality equivalent to that of the general population (some say 5% - 10%).
**Research into the impact of divorce indicates that initial recovery may take children from three to five years. Ultimately, about 2/3 of these children do not suffer long-lasting negative effects. Negative effects are more likely to occur if the parents argue openly in front of the children. The short-term and long-term effects differ depending on the age of the children at the time of the divorce. Younger children initially demonstrate poorer adjustment than adolescents, however, children who are older at the time of divorce appear to have more significant problems later in life
**Research on the attitudes of men viewing pornography depicting violence toward women have found that men who view these films display decreased empathy toward the victims of rape as well as toward women in general. Specifically, subjects in studies who viewed violent pornographic films rated the rape victim as significantly more worthless, rated her injury as significantly less severe, and assigned greater blame to her for being raped, as compared with subjects who had not viewed the violent pornographic films. Repeated viewing of these films resulted in desensitization to their violent material and subjects reported feeling less guilt and accountability at the prospect of themselves committing the violent actions seen in the films.
**Learned helplessness results when we attribute negative events to global, internal, and stable characteristics, meaning that we think everything is going to always be bad, it is my fault, and it will never change. These attributions increase the likelihood of experiencing depression, helplessness, and hopelessness. Negative views of the future, the self, and the world are characteristic of Beck's depressive triad.
**Social Exchange Theory states that people are concerned with the costs and benefits of being in a relationship. Each person considers the rewards from the interaction as well as the costs incurred in the interaction. When costs outweigh rewards, social attraction declines. Additionally, the person making a relationship choice is most likely to select a partner with the most favorable reward/cost ratio as compared with other available partners. Similarity hypothesis states that people similar in social background and values tend to form intimate relationships. Reciprocity theory asserts that people tend to like others who like them. Matching hypothesis posits that people of approximately equal physical attractiveness are likely to select each other.
**Some researchers have suggested that disruptions of early attachment bonds have irreversible effects, but there is mounting evidence suggesting that the impact of early deprivation on the attachment bond can actually be reversible. The quality of the care that the child later receives is the most significant factor in whether the child will be able to recover from early deprivation.
**It is commonly believed that depressed people are unrealistically pessimistic, the research of Abramson and Alloy has shown that depressed people are sometimes more realistic in their assessments of reality than are persons with normal mood. Non-depressed persons have unrealistically positive assessments of their ability to control outcomes, a phenomenon termed "illusion of control" by the researchers. A hostility attribution bias refers to a mental state in which a person expects others to be hostile and acts aggressively as a result, thus eliciting hostility from others and reinforcing the bias. A person who engages in a preemptive strike is deciding to act violently due to the expectation of hostility rather than the direct experience of hostility.
**Some researchers have suggested that disruptions of early attachment bonds have irreversible effects, but there is mounting evidence suggesting that the impact of early deprivation on the attachment bond can actually be reversible. The quality of care that the child receives later in life is the most significant determinant of future quality of life.
**Relaxation-response techniques, such as meditation, yoga, and prayer, could reduce the need for health care services by 43 percent, according to a study at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) that looked at participants in a relaxation-response-focused training program. The study, based at MGH’s Institute for Technology Assessment and the Benson-Henry Institute (BHI) for Mind Body Medicine, found that individuals in the relaxation-response program used fewer health care services in the year after their participation than in the preceding year.