Traumatic triple amputation: psycho-social problems in rehabilitation

The action of some dipeptides (Lalpha-alanyl-histidine, Lbeta-alanyl-histidine, histidyl-leicine and glycyl-histidine), and histidine on passive cutaneous anaphylaxis of guinea pigs was studied. Lbeta-alanyl-histidine (karnosine) and Lalpha-alanyl-histidine proved to inhibit the passive cutaneous anaphylaxis. Histidyl-leicine, glycyl-histidine, and histidine failed to produce any inhibitory effect on passive cutaneous anaphylaxis.     

Physical contact in helping interactions with young children.

Studied frequency of occurrence of 4 types of physical contact (touching, holding hands, sitting on lap, and hugging) during school-based helping interactions between 49 nonprofessional child aides and a total of 559 children from kindergarten through 6th grade and from special education classes. The Physical Contact Survey was used to assess the frequency of occurrence of the 4 types of physical contact; the Classroom Adjustment Rating Scale, Aide Status Evaluation Form, and Professional Termination Report were used to assess children's referral and outcome status. Findings indicate that contacts varied markedly from a high of 81% for touching to a low of 4% for sitting on lap. Four parametric variables accurately predicted the occurrence of contact behaviors: (a) Girls had more contact than boys; (b) younger children had more contact than older; (c) aides from different buildings differed in the amount of contact they had with children; and (d) aides previously trained in Ginnottian limit-setting approaches had fewer physical contacts with children than those without such training. Frequency of contact behaviors did not relate either to a child's adjustment status at referral or to intervention outcomes. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of exposure to community violence and developmental problems among inner-city youth

While research has well documented that urban youth are exposed to increasing rates of community violence, little is known about what increases risk for violence exposure, what protects children from exposure to violence, and what factors reduce the most negative outcomes associated with witnessing violence. This study expands on current research by evaluating the relations between exposure to violence, family relationship characteristics and parenting practices, and aggression and depression symptoms. Data were drawn from a sample of 245 African-American and Latino boys and their caregivers from economically disadvantaged inner-city neighborhoods in Chicago. Rates of exposure could not be predicted from family relationship and parenting characteristics, although there was a trend for discipline to be related. Exposure to community violence was related to increases in aggressive behavior and depression over a 1-year period even after controlling for previous status. Future studies should continue to evaluate the role of exposure to violence on the development of youth among different neighborhoods and communities. Implications for intervention and policy are discussed.     

The association of personality characteristics with parenting problems among alcoholic couples

Phosphorylation of the regulatory light chain of myosin II (RMLC) at Serine 19 by a specific enzyme, MLC kinase, is believed to control the contractility of actomyosin in smooth muscle and vertebrate nonmuscle cells. To examine how such phosphorylation is regulated in space and time within cells during coordinated cell movements, including cell locomotion and cell division, we generated a phosphorylation-specific antibody. Motile fibroblasts with a polarized cell shape exhibit a bimodal distribution of phosphorylated myosin along the direction of cell movement. The level of myosin phosphorylation is high in an anterior region near membrane ruffles, as well as in a posterior region containing the nucleus, suggesting that the contractility of both ends is involved in cell locomotion. Phosphorylated myosin is also concentrated in cortical microfilament bundles, indicating that cortical filaments are under tension. The enrichment of phosphorylated myosin in the moving edge is shared with an epithelial cell sheet; peripheral microfilament bundles at the leading edge contain a higher level of phosphorylated myosin. On the other hand, the phosphorylation level of circumferential microfilament bundles in cell-cell contacts is low. These observations suggest that peripheral microfilaments at the edge are involved in force production to drive the cell margin forward while microfilaments in cell-cell contacts play a structural role. During cell division, both fibroblastic and epithelial cells exhibit an increased level of myosin phosphorylation upon cytokinesis, which is consistent with our previous biochemical study (Yamakita, Y., S. Yamashiro, and F. Matsumura. 1994. J. Cell Biol. 124:129-137). In the case of the NRK epithelial cells, phosphorylated myosin first appears in the midzones of the separating chromosomes during late anaphase, but apparently before the formation of cleavage furrows, suggesting that phosphorylation of RMLC is an initial signal for cytokinesis.     

The relationships among asymmetry in task dependence, perceived helping behavior, and trust.

Social relations analyses involving 132 working relationships among 60 individuals from 29 teams revealed that an increase in a team member's task dependence on another team member was associated with higher levels of perceived help from and interpersonal trust in that specific team member, provided the other member was highly task dependent on the focal member. The degree to which an actor perceived a relationship with a partner to be helpful partially mediated the relationship between task dependence and trust. These findings highlight the importance of attending to asymmetries in task dependence and provide valuable insights into mechanisms that can explain the development of trust in organizational work teams. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Construing action abstractly and blurring social distinctions: Implications for perceiving homogeneity among, but also empathizing with and helping, others.

Most people's actions serve goals that, defined abstractly enough, are quite similar to one another. The authors thus proposed, and found, that construing action in abstract (vs concrete) terms relates to perceiving greater similarity among persons both within and across different social groups (Studies 1-3). By fostering perspective taking, viewing action abstractly also related to empathizing with and expressing willingness to help nonstigmatized and stigmatized others (e.g., AIDS patients; Studies 3-5) and to donating money to help those in need (Study 6). These findings held when controlling for ideological, motivational, and broad personality variables. Abstract action construals, then, appear to blur social distinctions, fostering perspective taking and empathy on the one hand but also perceptions of group homogeneity on the other. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Secrecy, anonymity, and deception in donor insemination: a genetic, psycho-social and ethical critique

The State Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) is the product of a series of policy and political compromises and generates numerous structural and policy issues for states. CHIP entitles states to federal financial aid to provide health assistance to targeted children, through Medicaid expansions, new program implementation, or a product of the two. States that elect to operate CHIP programs apart from Medicaid have enormous discretion under the law to determine how they will structure their programs, the services they will cover, the form that benefits will take, and the conditions of participation and consumer protections that will apply. Determining what approach to take, as well as how to respond to the choices posed by the statute, represents a major test of how states address the needs of children and families.     

Sustained helping without obligation: Motivation, longevity of service, and perceived attitude change among AIDS volunteers.

A conceptual framework that identifies psychological and behavioral features associated with antecedents, experiences, and consequences of volunteerism is presented, and an inventory that measures 5 specific motivations for AIDS volunteerism is developed and cross-validated. Then a field study of 116 AIDS volunteers is presented in which a helping disposition, volunteer motivations, and social support (as antecedents), and personal satisfaction and organizational integration (as experiences) are used to predict duration of service over 2? years. Structural equation analyses indicate that dispositional helping influences satisfaction and integration but not duration of service, whereas greater motivation and less social support predict longer active volunteer service. The model is generalized to the prediction of perceived attitude change. Implications for conceptualizations of motivation, theoretical issues in helping, and practical concerns of volunteer organizations are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Goal setting among adolescents: A comparison of delinquent, at-risk, and not-at-risk youth.

A series of studies was conducted to compare group differences in the goal orientations of delinquent, at-risk, and not-at-ask adolescents. An Importance of Goals Scale was developed by examining the item responses of 230 high school students and validated by administering the revised scale to 80 delinquent, 90 at-risk, and 90 not-at-risk adolescents. Results identified differences in the importance attributed to different goals by the 3 groups. Delinquent and at-risk adolescents attached significantly more importance to goals associated with developing a social image (e.g., delinquency, freedom–autonomy), whereas not-at-ask adolescents were more concerned with goals associated with an academic image (e.g., educational, interpersonal). Results are discussed in terms of their implications for school achievement, peer relations, and future life paths. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predicting substance abuse among youth with, or at high risk for, HIV.

This article describes data from 4,111 males and 4,085 females participating in 10 HIV/AIDS service demonstration projects. The sample was diverse in age, gender, ethnicity, HIV status, and risk for HIV transmission. Logistic regression was used to determine the attributes that best predict substance abuse. Males who were younger, HIV positive; homeless; involved in the criminal justice system; had a sexually transmitted disease (STD); engaged in survival sex; and participated in risky sex with men, women, and drug injectors were most likely to have a substance abuse history. For females, the same predictors were significant, with the exception of having an STD. Odds ratios as high as 6 to 1 were associated with the predictors. Information about sexual and other risk factors also was highly predictive of substance abuse issues among youth. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Weather, mood, and helping behavior: Quasi experiments with the sunshine samaritan.

Conducted 2 field studies on the relationship of weather variables to helping behavior. In Study 1 (540 adult Ss), which was executed in the spring and summer and subsequently replicated in the winter, the amount of sunshine reaching the earth was found to be a strong predictor of an S's willingness to assist an interviewer. Smaller relationships were also found between helping and temperature, humidity, wind velocity, and lunar phase. Exp II was conducted indoors with 130 dining parties to control for comfort factors. Sunshine, lunar phase, and S's age and sex were found to predict the generosity of the tip left for a restaurant waitress. Sunshine and temperature were also significantly related to the 6 waitresses' self-reports of mood. (35 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceived opportunity, delinquency, race, and body build among delinquent youth.

The Ss were delinquent, institutionalized black and white 15- to 17-year-old boys from impoverished backgrounds. Variables investigated were perception of legitimate and illegitimate opportunity, admitted and committed delinquency, race and age of investigator and S, urbanization of residence, type of body build, physical attractiveness, and IQ. Modest support was obtained for the hypothesis that perception of little legitimate opportunity is accompanied by high admitted delinquency, particularly for white males. Perception of opportunity was not correlated with committed delinquency, and the relation between admitted and committed delinquency was low. Age and race of investigator entered into no significant relationships with any of the variables studied for either black or white boys. Body build and attractiveness were not found to be related to any of the other variables studied. Significantly more black than white boys were mesomorphic. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prospective associations between coping and health among youth with asthma.

The present study evaluated whether primary and secondary coping would predict longitudinal asthma-related clinical outcomes, such as peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) and self-reported school absenteeism, rescue inhaler use, and asthma-related physician contacts, in youth with asthma. The 62 youth (68% males) had an average age of 12.6 ± 2.73 years and were primarily of European origin. Coping and asthma outcomes were obtained by youth self-report at baseline and over a 12-month follow-up period. Greater secondary coping at baseline was related to greater increases in PEFR and a greater likelihood of physician contact over the following year. Greater primary coping at baseline was related to greater likelihood of rescue inhaler use, school absenteeism, and physician contact over the following year. In contrast, asthma measures at baseline did not predict changes in coping over the following year. These patterns suggest that youth who engage in secondary coping accept and adapt to their asthma in ways that improve pulmonary function over time. Youth who engage in primary coping may be more likely to communicate asthma problems to others, and such communication perhaps leads to increases in behaviors meant to address these problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Changes in drinking problems among whites, blacks, and Hispanics: 1984-1992

This paper reports changes in drinking problems among Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics between 1984 and 1992. A probability sample including 1,777 Whites. 1,947 Blacks, and 1,453 Hispanics in the United States adult household population was interviewed in 1984. In 1992 a subsample consisting of 788 Whites, 723 Blacks, and 703 Hispanics was reinterviewed. Results show a decrease in problem prevalence among Whites, stability among Blacks, and an increase among Hispanics. Problem incidence was higher among Hispanics than among Whites and Blacks, put problem remission was higher among Whites. Women had a lower problem incidence but a higher problem remission than men, independent of ethnicity. The two best predictors of problem status in 1992 were reporting a problem in 1984 and reporting a high level of consumption in 1984.     

Review of Gambling problems in youth: Theoretical and applied perspectives.

Reviews the book, Gambling Problems in Youth: Theoretical and Applied Perspectives edited by Jeffrey L. Derevensky and Rina Gupta (2004). This book specifically addresses gambling problems in youth, and presents a balanced and comprehensive overview of theory, research, and treatment knowledge. Throughout the book, contributing authors draw valuable conclusions on the major issues of measurement, treatment, prevention and, social policy. This book will be valuable for practitioners, researchers, and academics interested in youth with gambling problems. One of its unintended consequences may be to increase the research capacity of the field. Its broad and compelling overview of problem gambling, as it affects young people, may well entice new researchers to the field, or refocus and draw veteran researchers into this important emerging area of endeavour. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parents, peers, and prototypes: Antecedents of adolescent alcohol expectancies, alcohol consumption, and alcohol-related life problems in rural youth.

Most research on alcohol consumption has considered the impact of social influences, such as parental and peer factors, separately from more cognitive factors, such as alcohol expectancies. No research to date has prospectively considered the antecedents to alcohol expectancies and how they may relate to other alcohol-related cognitions (e.g., risk images). Using a recently developed model of health behavior in a longitudinal study with a sample of 357 adolescents and their parents, the current study investigated the combined impact of social, parental, and cognitive factors on alcohol expectancies, consumption, and alcohol-related life problems. Results suggest that parental and social factors are antecedents to expectancies and that cognitive factors mediate the impact of parental influence on consumption. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Identification, assessment and management of food-related microbiological hazards: historical, fundamental and psycho-social essentials

Microbiological risk assessment aimed at devising measures of hazard management, should take into account all perceived hazards, including those not empirically identified. It should also recognise that safety cannot be "inspected into" a food. Rather hazard management should be the product of intervention strategies in accordance with the approach made mandatory in the EU Directive 93/43 and the USDA FSIS Pathogen Reduction HACCP system; Final Rule. It is essential too that the inherent variability of the biological attributes affecting food safety is recognised in any risk assessment. The above strategic principles may be conceptualised as a four-step sequence, involving (i) identification and quantification of hazards; (ii) design and codification of longitudinally integrated ("holistic") technological processes and procedures to eliminate, or control growth and metabolism of, pathogenic and toxinogenic organisms; (iii) elaboration of microbiological analytical standard operating procedures, permitting validation of "due diligence" or responsible care, i.e. adherence to adopted intervention strategies. This should be supported by empirically assessed reference ranges, particularly for marker organisms, while the term "zero tolerance" is refined throughout to tolerable safety limit; (iv) when called for, the need to address concerns arising from lay perceptions of risk which may lack scientific foundation. In relation to infectious and toxic hazards in the practical context the following general models for quantitative holistic risk assessment are presented: (i) the first order, basic lethality model; (ii) a second approximation taking into account the amount of food ingested in a given period of time; (iii) a further adjustment accounting for changes in colonization levels during storage and distribution of food commodities and the effects of these on proliferation of pathogens and toxin production by bacteria and moulds. Guidelines are provided to address: (i) unsubstantiated consumer concern over the wholesomeness of foods processed by an innovative procedure; and (ii) reluctance of small food businesses to adopt novel strategies in food safety. Progress here calls for close cooperation with behavioural scientists to ensure that investment in developing measures to contain risk deliver real benefit.     

Assessment of family relationship characteristics: A measure to explain risk for antisocial behavior and depression among urban youth.

Two large samples of urban families were used to develop and cross-validate an assessment model and a measure to tap basic family processes and risk among diverse ethnic groups. Six scales (Cohesion, Beliefs About Family, Deviant Beliefs, Organization, Support, and Communication) produced a 3-dimension higher order factor model (Cohesion, Structure, and Beliefs). Tests support reliance on composite family scoring. Most scales and each higher order factor relate to depression, and aggression. Relations vary little by age, ethnicity, marital status of parent, or family income. Implications for family assessment methodology and risk models are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

When youth mental health care stops: Therapeutic relationship problems and other reasons for ending youth outpatient treatment.

Child and adolescent treatment ends for a variety of reasons, but little is known about the underlying factors or about whether any such factors are linked to premature dropout. To address these gaps, the authors administered our Reasons for Ending Treatment Questionnaire to the parents of 344 referred youth (aged 7-18 yrs), from 10 clinics, who had ended outpatient treatment. A factor-analysis identified 6 factors, all showing good test-retest reliability and internal consistency. One of these, Therapeutic Relationship Problems, accounted for the most variance (16%) and was the only factor, other than Money Issues, that distinguished therapy dropouts from completers. The findings highlight major themes underlying decisions to end child therapy, and they highlight the importance of the therapeutic relationship. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Domain-specific gender comparisons in identity development among college youth: ideology and relationships

Gender comparisons were conducted in six social domains of identity development on 210 college students: occupation, religion, politics, dating, sex roles, and friendship. The identity research literature often combines domains to create more global estimates of identity development. Such an approach may obscure differences among the domains, each of which may have different implications for different societal contexts, and for males and females. Analyses were made for each domain, and for the combined ideological, interpersonal, and overall domain scores. Several gender differences were apparent when domain-specific analyses were examined. Males were more likely to explore and commit in politics, whereas females were more likely to explore in sex roles and to commit in religion and dating. In politics, fewer males were in the diffused status; in contrast, for dating and sex roles, there were fewer females in the diffused status. However, when combined scores were examined, there were no gender differences in identity status. The results suggest that some gender differences still remain in specific domains. The utility of including domain-specific analyses is suggested when gender comparisons are examined. Regardless of gender, more youth were diffused in political identity than in any other domain, suggesting political apathy among today's college youth.