Exposure to missile attacks: the impact of the Persian Gulf War on physical health behaviours and psychological distress in high and low risk areas in Israel

The purpose of this study was to compare residents of an area (Tel-Aviv), which was severely afflicted by SCUD missiles during the Persian Gulf War (high risk region), to residents of a low-risk region (Jerusalem) in terms of: (a) changes in physical health, in use of medical or psychological services, and in health behaviours during the period of the war compared to the preceding month; (b) levels of psychological distress (somatization and anxiety) during the war; (c) characteristics of persons at highest risk for psychological distress. Respondents were randomly chosen and interviewed by telephone (N = 545 in Tel-Aviv, N = 406 in Jerusalem). The respondents in both regions reported significant yet similar deterioration in physical health status, and an increase in detrimental health behaviours during the Gulf War. Tel-Aviv residents had significantly higher levels of psychological distress as compared to residents of Jerusalem: in somatization 18 vs 12% respectively (OR = 2.44, CI = 1.39-4.28), in anxiety 34 vs 26% respectively (OR = 1.62, CI = 1.1-2.42). In addition to place of residence, age, ethnicity, religiosity and self-assessed health were identified as characteristics of persons at greater risk for psychological distress.     

Male gender role conflict: Psychometric issues and relations to psychological distress.

Two distinct deficits in research on male gender role conflict are addressed: (a) lack of psychometric information and (b) lack of research involving clinical samples. First, using 1,043 men across 3 samples, the psychometric properties of the Gender Role Conflict Scale (GRCS) were examined through confirmatory factor analyses, internal consistency estimation, and construct validation. Next, using 130 male university counseling center clients across 2 samples, the relation between gender role conflict and psychological distress was examined. The GRCS demonstrated good internal consistency and was best modeled as 4 intercorrelated factors, as originally proposed by J. M. O'Neil, B. Helms, R. Gable, L. David, and L. Wrightsman (1986). Construct validity was supported through correlations with attitudes about masculinity, fear of intimacy, and social desirability in expected directions. However, reservations about the Conflicts Between Work and Family Relations subscale are noted. Male gender role conflict was significantly related to psychological distress, with the Restrictive Emotionality subscale being the best predictor of distress level. Implications for mental health practice and future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Couples coping with congestive heart failure: Role and gender differences in psychological distress.

Psychological distress and marital quality were assessed with male (n=128) and female (n=49) congestive-heart-failure (CHF) patients and their spouses. Hopkins Symptom Check List-25 scores were in the distressed range for 57% of patients and 40% of spouses. This role difference was greater for men than for women, and a gender difference (more distress in women than men) was greater for spouses than for patients. The patient's distress, but not the spouse's, reflected the severity of the patient's illness, and distress for both partners correlated negatively with ratings of marital quality. Female-patient couples reported better relationship quality than male-patient couples, however, and a mediation analysis indicated that the gender difference in spouse distress could be explained by marital quality. Results highlight the contextual nature of CHF distress and suggest that role differences in distress vary by gender. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attachment styles, coping strategies, and posttraumatic psychological distress: The impact of the Gulf War in Israel.

Examines the association between adult attachment style and the way people reacted to the Iraqi missile attack on Israel during the Gulf War. 140 Israeli students were interviewed 2 wks after the war and classified according to their attachment style (secure, avoidant, or ambivalent) and residence area (dangerous vs less dangerous). Ambivalent people reported more distress than secure people. Avoidant persons reported higher levels of somatization, hostility, and trauma-related avoidance than secure persons. These results characterized Ss living in dangerous areas. In addition, secure people used relatively more support-seeking strategies in coping with the trauma, ambivalent people used more emotion-focused strategies, and avoidant people used more distancing strategies. Findings are discussed in terms of attachment working models. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Male gender role conflict: Psychometric issues and relations to psychological distress:" Correction.

Reports an error in the original article by G. E. Good et al (Journal of Counseling Psychology, 1995 [Jan], Vol 42 [1], 3-10). On page 6, the numbers on line 2 for the Tucker-Lewis fit index should be .827 (Sample 2) and .830 (Sample 3). (The following abstract of this article originally appeared in record 1995-15746-001.) Two distinct deficits in research on male gender role conflict are addressed: (a) lack of psychometric information and (b) lack of research involving clinical samples. First, using 1,043 men across 3 samples, the psychometric properties of the Gender Role Conflict Scale (GRCS) were examined through confirmatory analyses, internal consistency estimation, and construct validation. Next, using 130 male university counseling center clients across 2 samples, the relation between gender role conflict and psychological distress was examined. The GRCS demonstrated good internal consistency and was best modeled as 4 intercorrelated factors, as originally proposed by J. M. O'Neil, B. Helms, R. Gable, L. David, and L. Wrightsman (1986). Construct validity was supported through correlations with attitudes about masculinity, fear of intimacy, and social desirability in expected directions. However, male gender role conflict was significantly related to psychological… (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age and the gender gap in distress

Women report more psychological distress than men and recent evidence suggests that this gap increases with age. It has been argued that the widening differential in distress reflects the progressive and cumulative nature of women's disadvantaged work and family roles. Drawing on the cumulative disadvantage hypothesis and social stress theory, we test: (1) whether exposure to chronic stress accounts for an increasingly larger proportion of the gender effect on distress with age; and (2) whether women are increasingly more vulnerable to the effects of chronic stress on distress with age. Data are from the 1994 wave of the Canadian National Population Health Survey, a national probability sample of women and men aged 20 and older (N = 13,798). Exposure to long-term stress helps us understand gender differences in distress for those in their pre-retirement years. However, contrary to the cumulative disadvantage hypothesis, the model became increasingly less likely to explain such differences with age. Gendered vulnerability to long-term stress was not evident in the sample. The implications of these findings are discussed with particular reference to our ongoing efforts to understand health in the context of social structure and subjectivity.     

The medical aspects in the psychological training of the troops

A study of psychological training methods tested on 318 servicemen--armed conflicts participants, including 22 military doctors, veterans of Afghanistan. The results of the research prove that various departures in psychological traits are highly relevant to extreme situations and that a psychological training programme for the medical service personnel is a necessity. The development of the programme should be based on the troops medical maintenance experience in the armed conflicts.     

Physical disability and psychological distress.

Examined the relationship between physical disability and risk for psychological distress and disorder in 731 physically disabled adults (aged 19–91 yrs at initial interview 4 yrs earlier) and 850 nondisabled adults matched in age, sex, and area of residence. Ss completed the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale, the Diagnostic Interview Schedule, and an anxiety inventory. Disabled Ss were at substantially elevated risk for anxiety, depressive symptoms, and major depressive disorder. These findings can be attributed to chronic stress that tends to characterize the life circumstance and experience of disabled individuals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Women, alcohol and work: interactions of gender, ethnicity and occupational culture

Patterns of alcohol use are affected by culture and history and interwined with the rhythms of work life. The 20th century economic shift toward industrial and service jobs coupled with the increasing presence of women in the workplace has revolutionized U.S. women's domestic and public roles [1], and these changes have impacted their drinking behavior [2]. In addition, in a multicultural society like the United States, subcultures, ethnic groups, socioeconomic classes, and even job categories have their own sets of gendered drinking norms. patterns of alcohol use among women can be better understood with consideration of intricate interactions among gender, ethnicity, class, employment, and alcohol consumption. Stepping up to the need to learn more about these factors, we have reviewed literature about ethnic, class, occupational, and gender influences on women's workplace-related drinking. This report on that review will show both the complexity of the phenomenon and the inconsistent, incomplete nature of existing information, as well as pointing out directions for future research. We begin with a general discussion of women and workplace drinking.     

Love and dating experience in early and middle adolescence: grade and gender comparisons

The experience of being "in love" was studied in a sample of 186 early to middle adolescent males and 199 early to middle adolescent females. Results indicated that amount of dating experience of adolescents varied widely at each age. Being "in love" co-occurred with a reciprocal on-going relationship about half the time. Boys fell in love earlier and more often than girls, and both genders seemed to employ an increasingly narrow prototypical conception of being "in love". Qualitative analyses suggested that early and middle adolescents are actively reasoning about the nature and meaning of romantic feelings and experiences. Results are interpreted from the standpoint of psychosocial developmental theory, and implications for interventions with adolescents are discussed.     

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.     

Everyday stressors and gender differences in daily distress.

This article examines gender differences in psychological distress by assessing men's and women's experience of daily stressors and psychological distress in a sample of 166 married couples. Respondents completed a structured daily diary each day over the course of 42 days. Results showed that women reported a higher prevalence of high distress days and a lower prevalence of distress-free days than men. Gender differences in daily distress were attributable largely to women experiencing more onsets of distress episodes rather than being more likely to continue in a distress state from one day to subsequent days. Results from hierarchical linear models (HLM) indicated that the significant gender differences diminished after respondents' daily stressors were taken into account. Implications of these findings for gender role and rumination theories are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social support and psychological distress: A longitudinal analysis.

Used a multiple regression model of change in a longitudinal framework to examine the relationship between changes in social support and psychological maladjustment, controlling for initial maladjustment and initial levels of life change and social support. Ss were a randomly selected community sample of 245 male and 248 female adult family members who completed 2 surveys administered 1 yr apart. Findings are consistent with previous studies reporting a negative relationship between social support and psychological maladjustment. In addition, when initial levels of maladjustment, life change, and social support were controlled, results generally supported the prediction that decreases in social support in family and work environments would be significantly related to increases in psychological maladjustment over the 1 yr period. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Persian Gulf conflict: the impact of stressors as perceived by Army reservists

This study examines the extent to which certain stressors influenced U.S. Army Reserve soldiers and their families as a result of the Persian Gulf conflict. Family composition, location of the soldier, rank, and gender were variables used to make comparisons of how the stressors affected soldiers and their families. Results revealed that married soldiers suffered from greater stress overall than single soldiers. Lower ranking soldiers and their families were affected less by the stressors outlined in this study than higher ranking soldiers and their families. Female soldiers were influenced less by the stressors than their male counterparts. Single-parent families handled the stressors better than two-parent families, and families with three or more school-age children responded better to the stress indicators than families with no children in school. On the basis of these results, clinical implications are discussed.     

Interpretive algorithms for the symptom-limited exercise test: assessing dyspnea in Persian Gulf war veterans

The mechanisms by which respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection induces bronchiolitis and airway disease are unclear. The presence of large numbers of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) in the airways of infants with RSV infection suggests a potential role of PMN in airway injury associated with RSV infection. To investigate the potential role of neutrophils in RSV bronchiolitis, human alveolar type II cells (A549 cells) were infected with different doses of RSV for 6-48 h. A 51Cr-releasing assay was used to measure PMN-induced damage and image analysis was used to determine PMN adhesion and detachment of epithelial cells. The results showed that RSV infection of epithelial cells enhanced PMN adherence in a dose- and time-dependent pattern, RSV infection alone could damage and detach epithelial cells to a limited extent and PMN significantly augmented RSV infection-induced damage and detachment of epithelial cells. These data suggest that respiratory syncytial virus infection of respiratory epithelial cells enhances neutrophil adhesion to the epithelium and that activated neutrophils augment the damage and detachment of epithelium infected with the virus. Polymorphonuclear leukocytes may contribute to the pathogenesis of respiratory syncytial virus airway disease by inducing epithelial damage and cell loss.     

Coping and distress in organizations: The role of gender in work stress.

This article investigates the positive value of women's interpersonal way of coping by examining coping benefits on distress depending on gender socialization in the Spanish cultural context. The participants were 332 men and 129 women employed by financial companies. Preliminary results showed that women used social support coping more frequently than men, whereas there were no gender differences in the use of direct action coping. Interactive effects of gender in the relationship between coping strategies and distress and psychosomatic complaints were found; social support coping was only beneficial for women, whereas direct action coping was more beneficial for men than for women. Implications of these results and their significance within the framework of national and sector cultures are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Medical evaluation of Persian Gulf veterans with fatigue and/or chemical sensitivity

The purpose of this study was to determine if Gulf War veterans with complaints of severe fatigue and/or chemical sensitivity (n = 72) fulfill case definitions for chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and/or multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) and to compare the characteristics of those veterans who received a diagnosis of CFS (n = 24) to a group of non-veterans diagnosed with CFS (n = 95). Thirty-three veterans received a diagnosis of CFS with 14 having MCS concurrently; an additional six had MCS but did not fulfill a case definition for CFS. The group of fatigued veterans receiving a diagnosis of CFS was comprised of significantly fewer women and fewer Caucasians than the civilian group, and significantly fewer veterans reported a sudden onset to their illness. Veterans with CFS had a milder form of the illness than their civilian counterparts based on medical examiner assessment of the severity of the symptoms, reported days of reduced activity, and ability to work. Since CFS in veterans seems less severe than that seen in civilians, the prognosis for recovery of veterans with this disorder may be better.     

Women's involvement in multiple roles and psychological distress.

Examined women's involvement in multiple roles in relation to 3 stress indices: role overload, role conflict, and anxiety. With hierarchical multiple regression analyses, the effects of number of roles occupied; occupancy of the particular roles of paid worker, wife, and mother; and the quality of a woman's experience in her roles were analyzed. Data were from a disproportionate stratified random sample of 238 White women between 35 and 55 yrs of age. For the total sample and for employed Ss, occupancy of the role of mother was related to 2 stress indices; occupancy of the role of paid worker was related to none. Role conflict and role overload were strongly related to anxiety only among nonemployed Ss. The quality of experience in the work and in parental roles was a significant predictor of role overload; quality of parental role experience was a significant predictor of role conflict and of anxiety. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)