title: Object representations and their relationship to psychopathology and physical health status in African-American women in primary care.
abstract: Object relations theories hypothesize a relationship between self/other representations and level of psychopathology. Research has lent support to this hypothesis. This study was conducted to examine the link between object representation and psychopathology, stress, physical health status, and alcohol abuse in 110 African-American women in primary care. Object representations were assessed through spontaneous descriptions of parents. Psychopathology and physical health status were assessed with the Patient Health Questionnaire and the Medical Outcomes Study Short-Form Health Survey, both of which were designed for medical settings. The results support the link between dimensions of object representations (developmental level, benevolence, punitiveness) and psychopathology and between object representations and aspects of health status. Punitive maternal and paternal representations were most robustly associated with psychopathology and health status and were the only representational variables associated with alcohol abuse. The findings provide additional support for the object representations-psychopathology link and extend the research by demonstrating associations among object representations, alcohol abuse, and health status.
authors.affiliation: Division of Behavioral Science, Department of Family Medicine, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, Michigan 48235, USA.
authors.forename: John H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Porcerelli
authors.forename: Steven K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Huprich
authors.forename: Juliann
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Binienda
authors.forename: Dunia
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Karana
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology*; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D009769:Object Attachment; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology; D011320:Primary Health Care; D012938:Social Perception; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D014930:Women / Q000523:psychology*; D016387:Women's Health