Hair pulling and its affective correlates in an African-American university sample.
Like other clinical phenomena, repetitive hair pulling in African-Americans has attracted little systematic investigation. Slightly over 200 participants were recruited from a historically black university. Participants completed the Hair Pulling Scale [Stanley, M. A., Borden, J. W., Bell, G. E., & Wagner, A. L. (1994). Nonclinical hair pulling: phenomenology and related psychopathology. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 8, 119-130], the Beck Depression Inventory, and the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI). Ten percent of the African-American sample thought about pulling out hair and 6.3% actually pulled out hair. A variety of types of affect was reported before, during, and after pulling or picking. Several statistically significant relationships were found: status as a person who thinks about pulling out hair is significantly correlated with anxiety as measured by the BAI (r=.265, p=.000), status as a person who pulls hair is significantly correlated with anxiety as measured by the BAI (p=.192, r=.007). Implications are discussed.
Mansueto
Charles S
CS
Bowie State University and Behavior Therapy Center of Greater Washington, Silver Spring, MD 20901, United States.
Thomas
Amanda McCombs
AM
Brice
Afrika L
AL
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008396:Maryland / Q000453:epidemiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology; D014256:Trichotillomania / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology*; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data