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The relationship between self-reported gossip, evaluative conversation about other people, and the self was examined with 243 university students completing questionnaires measuring gossip from 2 theoretical viewpoints: as an individual-difference characteristic, or as having social functions. The self was examined using several perspectives: self-concept clarity, self-efficacy, locus of control, and self-monitoring. Using structural equation modeling, gossip was related to external locus of control, high-self-monitoring, low self-concept clarity, and low self-efficacy. The final model is that high self-monitoring and locus of control mediate the relationship between self-clarity/efficacy and gossip. The study demonstrates the important role of self-monitoring and locus of control in gossip and that negative gossip may be associated with a more externalized, unclear sense of self. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Coolidge Axis-II Inventory (CATI) is a 200-item self-report inventory that is designed to measure DSM-IV personality disorders (PD's). Norms with a sample of 1,790 Canadian college students are compared with a US sample of 573 college students and 36 elderly subjects. Comparisons for the 11 DSM-IV personality disorder scales are made with several age groups and with gender. Some interesting similarities and differences were observed. With the Canadian sample, a gender difference was found on the antisocial scale. Age differences were found for on several PD scales in that younger respondents (17–24 years) scored higher than the older ones (25–57 years). This information is likely to be helpful to clinicians in monitoring age related behavioral changes in personality disorder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]