No abstract

Desire for healthcare control, health locus of control, perceived control over diabetes, satisfaction with diabetes treatment, and general personality traits were assessed in 54 Type 1 and Type 2 diabetic patients of the same male endocrinologist during a regularly scheduled office visit. At the end of the consultation, both patients and the physician completed a measure describing the interpersonal impacts produced in each by the other's control and affiliation behaviors. Patient success at diabetes control was assessed via glycosylated hemoglobin A1C (HA1C) level on the day of the visit and variability in HA1C levels across several visits. Patients' satisfaction with treatment was unrelated to diabetes control measures. Patients' desire for behavioral involvement in their own healthcare and NEO Agreeableness scores were positively associated with diabetes control. Better diabetes control also resulted when the physician perceived patients to be more controlling and less submissive, and when there was more reciprocity in patient and physician's perceptions of the other's controlling interpersonal behavior. Findings support the conclusion that both a patient's self-reported desire for involvement in his or her healthcare and the transactional fit of patient-physician interpersonal behaviors are potentially important contributors to better diabetes outcomes.

In a study of alienation among urban university students, 85 men and 136 women completed the Gould Manifest Alienation Measure and the 44-item Big Five Inventory. Multivariate analysis of variance disclosed that the 77 college students high on Alienation, irrespective of sex, scored higher on the Neuroticism scale and lower on the Conscientiousness and Openness scales of the Big Five Inventory. None of the interactions between sex and scores on the Big Five Inventory was significant. Results suggest that college students scoring high on alienation can survive in a supportive university environment, although they appear to experience increased anxiety and tension and have a relatively constricted awareness of their environments. Students scoring high on alienation may also be more tolerant of deviant behavior given their perceived irrelevance of social norms.