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Interpersonal discrimination as a function of age and psychopathology

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Abstract

Self-distinctiveness scores from the Interpersonal Discrimination Task were obtained on 87 normal and 92 psychiatric patients ranging in age from 16 to 44. As predicted, self-distinctiveness in normals increased from the 2nd to 3rd decade, then declined progressively thereafter. By contrast, patients' self-distinctiveness scores were significantly lower than normals' during the 3rd decade and higher than normals' thereafter. The results were interpreted in terms of patients' tendencies to view themselves as discrepant with age-specific societal expectancies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, 98195, Seattle, Washington

    John E. Carr & Brenda D. Townes

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  1. John E. Carr
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  2. Brenda D. Townes
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Additional information

This investigation was supported in part by State of Washington Initiative 171 Funds for Research in Biology and Medicine. The authors are indebted to John Wechsler, John Whittenbaugh, and James Oakland for their assistance.

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Carr, J.E., Townes, B.D. Interpersonal discrimination as a function of age and psychopathology. Child Psych Hum Dev 5, 209–215 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01433414

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