Using the Research Domain Criteria Framework to Explore Associations Between MMPI–2–RF Constructs and Physiological Variables Assessed by Eye-Tracker Technology

The National Institute of Mental Health has proposed a paradigm shift in the conceptualization of psychopathology, abandoning the traditional categorical model in favor of one based on hierarchically organized dimensional constructs (Insel et al., 2010 Insel, T., Cuthbert, B., Garvey, M., Heinssen, R., Pine, D. S., Quinn, K., … Wang, P. (2010). Research domain criteria (RDoC): Toward a new classification framework for research on mental disorders. American Journal of Psychiatry, 167, 748–751.[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). One explicit goal of this initiative, the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) project, is to facilitate the incorporation of newly available neurobiologic variables into research on psychopathology. The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory–2–Restructured Form (MMPI–2–RF; Ben-Porath &; Tellegen, 2008/2011 Ben-Porath, Y., &; Tellegen, A. (2011). Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory–Restructured Form: Manual for administration, scoring, and interpretation. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. (Original work published 2008) [Google Scholar]) represents a similar paradigm shift, also adopting a hierarchical arrangement of dimensional constructs. This study examined associations between MMPI–2–RF measures of psychopathology and eye-movement metrics. Participants were college students (n = 270) who completed the MMPI–2–RF and then viewed a sequence of 30-s video clips. Results show a pattern of positive correlations between pupil size and emotional/internalizing dysfunction scales when viewing video eliciting negative emotional reactions, reflecting greater arousability in individuals with higher scores on these measures. In contrast, when viewing stimuli depicting angry, threatening material, a clear pattern of negative correlations was found between pupil size and behavioral/externalizing trait measures. These data add to the construct validity of the MMPI–2–RF and support the use of the RDoC matrix as a framework for research on psychopathology.     

Connection,Action, and Hope: an Invitation to reclaim the “Spiritual” in Health Care

The complex process of health has, until recently, been understood devoid of a spiritual component. The present article offers a model of health inclusive of spirituality with implications for the health communication field. Amending the assumptive non-relevance of spirituality to individual health, a growing body of scholarship in various disciplines recognizes the ways in which spirituality connects to overall wellness. As a whole, this literature equates spirituality with seeking, striving, and forward movement. Given the potential for health communication scholars to make significant contributions at the forefront of this research, this article proposes a dynamic model of health inclusive not only of the physical and mental, but of the spiritual as well. Recognizing its centrality to wellbeing, the model locates the spiritual self at the center. Specifically, the spiritual self is described as engaging action, hope, and connection to self, others, and/or the universe.     

Urban–Rural Variation in Satisfaction with Life: Demographic, Health, and Geographic Predictors in Halifax, Canada

This paper examines how satisfaction with life (SWL) varies in four zones of the urban–rural continuum, for 1,971 residents of the county-sized municipality of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. It also examines whether the predictors of SWL themselves vary by rural–urban. Data are from the STAR project, which is an innovative GPS-assisted time diary survey. ‘Global’ SWL varies significantly by urban–rural zones, being highest in the inner city (IC), and lowest in the outer commuter belt (OCB). Self-rated health is a significant bivariate correlate, as are age, whether married, household size, and household income (all of which vary significantly by U-R zones). Several geographic variables co-vary significantly with SWL, particularly community belonging (strong in IC, weak in OCB), unsafe after dark (worst in IC, best in OCB), and commuting time (least in IC, most in OCB). A regional multivariate model yielded significant predictors related to physical health, mental health, and community geography, but excluded socio-demographic variables. Separate models for each urban–rural zone showed that SWL is more predictable at the zonal level than for the region as a whole, and the predictors vary considerably by zone. Physical health is an important predictor in the inner city and suburbs, unsafe after dark is significant only in the suburbs, and travel-related variables are very important in the inner commuter belt.     

Characteristics of Athletes’ Approach to the Question of Physical Health and Health Behaviors: Do Athletes Lead Healthy Lifestyles?

Athletes are people for whom physical health is a key value. Health promoting behaviors are an integral part of athletes’ success. The aim of this article is to identify health criteria and health-related behaviors among athletes and their determinants in terms of temperament and personality features. The concept of healthy lifestyle as understood by athletes and their most important health criteria were defined. Neuroticism and extraversion correlated with and were significant predictors of health behaviors; there were no significant relationships between health-promoting behaviors and temperament. Four groups of athletes, each characterized by a different approach to health, were identified. These groups were described with respect to various personality and temperamental determinants. Knowledge about the above-mentioned aspects of athletes’ performance can assist sport psychologists in providing athletes with more personalized support.     

Gender Ideology and Social Transformation: Using Mixed Methods to Explore Processes of Ideological Change and the Promotion of Women’s Human Rights in Tanzania

Despite growing international interest in policies and practices to enhance women’s status and well-being in the Global South, ideological constraints to structural transformation and increasing opportunities available to women are widespread. There is thus considerable need to examine how ideological processes surrounding women’s status and value can be challenged. In the current study we used mixed method analyses to examine a process of deideologization—the contestation and transformation of traditional ideology—among a group of Maasai women in northern Tanzania. First, thematic analysis was used to analyze qualitative interviews conducted with 16 Maasai women. Themes involving traditional ideology, the value of popular education, and components of a deideologization process were identified and assessed. Second, quantitative structural equation modeling was used to test a process model connecting women’s participation in popular education classes to increased political efficacy, decreased discomfort speaking at community meetings, and, in turn, deceased patriarchal beliefs about women. Overall, findings provided evidence for an iterative deideologization process catalyzed by popular education that led to improvements in women’s lives. The importance of promoting processes of deideologization via locally driven efforts to improve the status and well-being of women are discussed.     

Ethnic, gender, and socioeconomic differences in young adults' self-disclosure: who discloses what and to whom?

Self-disclosure of feelings, thoughts, experiences, and beliefs is central to our lives as social beings and has numerous implications for relationships and health. Although prior research suggests that men and underrepresented groups disclose less, ethnicity is conflated with socioeconomic status and there are few data regarding the types of information that different groups disclose and whether this information is disclosed equally to different people. The current study measured self-disclosure in 203 young adults (50% African American, 50% female), in respect of seven domains and 10 interpersonal targets. As expected, disclosure was not lower among African Americans once income was controlled, although both ethnicity and gender interacted with domain of disclosure and interpersonal target. Importantly, young men and African Americans reported disclosing less in the context of more intimate relationships. Together, these results suggest that income may be as important in predicting low disclosure as ethnicity or gender and that lower disclosure in low-disclosing groups is particularly evident in intimate relationships. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for patterns of interpersonal relating and physical and mental health processes.     

Social Rights and Migrant Realities: Migration Policy Reform and Migrants’ Access to Health Care in Costa Rica,Argentina, and Chile

Immigration poses a significant challenge to states’ existing social protection systems, especially in developing countries that are already struggling to provide social services for their citizens. In particular, immigration produces a tension between citizenship rights—those extended only to citizens, and social rights—rights extended by the state to others within their national territory. Immigration raises questions not only about the rights and access of migrants to health and other social services but also the level and quality of provisions to citizens. We draw on literatures on welfare regimes in Latin America, welfare magnets, and the legitimacy of social rights to examine the nexus of migration and health care policy in Costa Rica, Argentina, and Chile—three countries that have recently pursued immigration reform. We argue that variation in the extension of immigrants’ social rights to health is explained by the interaction of existing migration and social policies, the nature of the health care system in each country, and, in some cases, international and regional norms.     

Linking Job Work Hours to Women’s Physical Health: The Role of Perceived Unfairness and Household Work Hours

Although the relationship between job work hours and women’s physical health has been examined, limited empirical research examines the family demand conditions that explain this relationship. Given the challenge of integrating work and family demands, we examine the boundary conditions under which job hours relate to women’s physical health by integrating the influences of household work hours, perceived unfairness of division of household labor, and traditional gender ideology. Using a large, multi-national archival dataset, our results show that women working long job hours are more likely to report decreased physical health and that this relationship is moderated by the hours and fairness perceptions of household labor: The lowest physical health was observed at high job hours and high household hours and also when women felt that they did less than their fair share of household labor. However, looking at the slopes of these relationships, the negative relationship between job hours and physical health was stronger when women worked lower household hours or felt that they contributed less than their fair share of household labor—suggesting that maintaining a contribution to household labor might be important for working women. Furthermore, these results suggest that policy and organizational interventions aimed at supporting women’s physical health could take their household labor contributions and fairness perceptions into account when assessing the negative impact of high job work hours.     

Emotion Regulation in Relation to Emerging Adults’ Mental Health and Delinquency: A Multi-informant Approach

Relative to the merits of authoritative parenting, potential adverse outcomes are well documented for authoritarian and permissive parenting. However, conclusions are typically drawn from single informants. The ability of youths’ emotion regulation skills to mediate outcomes in emerging adults has also not been fully explored. This study investigated whether emotion regulation mediated parenting style history and potential outcomes of mental health and delinquency. Parenting style history and emerging adults’ emotion regulation ability were reported by 110 youth and their caregivers; youth reported on mental health functioning and delinquency. Emerging adults’ emotion regulation ability partially mediated the association between authoritative parenting history and mental health functioning and authoritative parenting history was indirectly related to delinquency through emotion regulation; however, based on all reporters, emotion regulation ability was not associated with authoritarian or permissive parenting style history. Results support that the merits of authoritative parenting may lie in fostering better emotion regulation skills.     

Exploring the Relationships Between Maternal Mental Health Symptoms and Young Children’s Functioning in a Low-Income,Minority Sample

Poor maternal mental health, including depression and high stress levels, can negatively impact many domains of child development, particularly among low-income, ethnic minority families experiencing multiple stressors. Low-income minority mothers, particularly Hispanic mothers, are also at increased risk of experiencing exposure to community violence and other types of trauma. However, studies exploring the additional impact of maternal trauma symptoms on children’s functioning are rare. This study aims to address this gap by examining the impact of maternal trauma symptoms on young children’s functioning in a low-income, predominantly Hispanic sample through the mechanisms of maternal depressive symptoms, and mother’s experiences of parenting stress and strain. The sample consisted of 158 biological mothers (58% Hispanic, 13% African American, 5.7% White American) who were participating in community-based mental health treatment for their children (M_AGE?=?3.7, SD?=?1.2). Mothers completed questionnaires providing information on their children’s behaviors and their own mental health and stress levels at intake. Path analysis indicated that there was a significant indirect effect of maternal trauma symptoms on children’s behavior problems through maternal depressive symptoms and maternal stress in the parent-child relationship (β?=?0.09, p?<?0.01). In addition, there was a direct effect of maternal trauma symptoms on children’s behavior problems (β?=?0.32, p?<?0.001). The results suggest that maternal trauma symptoms, in addition to maternal depressive symptoms, contribute to poor maternal and child functioning.     

Individual Values,Organizational Commitment,and Participation in a Change: Israeli Teachers’ Approach to an Optional Educational Reform

Purpose  

The purpose of this study was to examine how individual values and organizational commitment are related to teachers’ participation in an optional change program in the Israeli educational system.     

“A Community with Diversity of Culture,Wealth, Resources,and Living Experiences”: Defining Neighborhood in an Unincorporated Community

To obtain a better understanding of how people living in an unincorporated region define their neighborhood, a long-term photovoice project was conducted. Thirty-one photovoice sessions and eight structured interviews were coded and analyzed to assess participants’ neighborhood definitions. Participant’s difficulties in identifying the geographic, physical and demographic characteristics of their neighborhood led them to use social interactions, place-mediated values, and civic engagement to define neighborhood.     

Young Offenders’ Emotion Recognition Dysfunction Across Emotion Intensities: Explaining Variation Using Psychopathic Traits,Conduct Disorder and Offense Severity

Antisocial individuals have problems recognizing negative emotions (e.g. Marsh & Blair in Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 32:454–465, 2009); however, due to issues with sampling and different methods used, previous findings have been varied. Sixty-three male young offenders and 37 age-, IQ- and socio-economic status-matched male controls completed a facial emotion recognition task, which measures recognition of happiness, sadness, fear, anger, disgust, and surprise and neutral expressions across 4 emotional intensities. Conduct disorder (YSR), and psychopathic and callous/unemotional traits (YPI) were measured, and offenders’ offense data were taken from the Youth Offending Service’s case files. Relative to controls, offenders were significantly worse at identifying sadness, low intensity disgust and high intensity fear. A significant interaction for anger was also observed, with offenders showing reduced low- but increased high-intensity anger recognition in comparison with controls. Within the young offenders levels of conduct disorder and psychopathic traits explained variation in sadness and disgust recognition, whereas offense severity explained variation in anger recognition. These results suggest that antisocial youths show specific problems in recognizing negative emotions and support the use of targeted emotion recognition interventions for problematic behavior.     

Ethnicity and Homeownership in Montréal, Toronto and Vancouver: Measuring Effects of the Spatial Distribution of Ethnic Groups Using Multilevel Modeling in 1996 and 2001

This article presents the results of an empirical study on the relationship between the spatial distribution of ethnic groups and their access to homeownership in the three largest Canadian cities. Firstly, we argue, based on former theoretical work, that ethnicity has partly been misleadingly conceptualized in previous research on housing and neighbourhood dynamics. Consequently, we also argue that ethnic affiliation has wrongly been included as an individual trait in previous research, whereas it is a characteristic that needs to be treated as a collective trait. Multilevel modeling is presented here as a helpful way to avoid the limitation of previous research on this specific issue. Secondly, we attempt to test certain hypotheses about the emergence of an “ethnic capital” in metropolitan regions where immigration and cultural diversity are rising. In order to achieve this goal, we estimate the relationship between various dimensions of ethnic segregation and the mean level of ownership. We also try to determine whether the aggregation of ethnic groups in urban space enhances the probability of their members having access to homeownership. Our study provides mixed results in regards to these hypotheses. The “assimilation theory” seems to be applicable in most cases, while some of our results also lead to the conclusion that when ethnic groups with a higher income level are concentrated in space, this can foster their ability to access homeownership.     

Racial Discrimination and African American Adolescents’ Adjustment: Gender Variation in Family and Community Social Support, Promotive and Protective Factors

The current investigation explores the promotive and protective role of family and community-specific social support on the association between perceived racial discrimination and African American adolescents’ adjustment (e.g., depressive symptoms, school suspensions, school engagement). One thousand nine-hundred forty-two African American adolescents (ages 12–18, M = 15.12; SD = 1.83; 59 % female) from a large Midwestern city participated in this investigation. Regression analyses revealed that perceived racial discrimination was associated with less positive adjustment outcomes for boys and girls. Additionally, there was partial support for gender variation in the promotive role of social support and adolescent adjustment. In particular, while only maternal support was associated with boys’ adjustment, both maternal and paternal support was associated with girls’ adjustment. Also, there was partial support for gender differentiation in the strength and directionality of protective factors. Though in an unpredicted direction, father support moderated the relationship between perceived racial discrimination and girls’ adjustment. Community supports (religious connection and mentor presence) emerged as protective factors for boys’. Findings highlight the role of gender in understanding potential promotive and protective factors for African American adolescents.     

The Relation Between Early Adolescents’ Trust Beliefs in Peers and Reactions to Peer Provocation: Attributions of Intention and Retaliation

The authors examined the relation between early adolescents’ trust beliefs in peers and both their attributions for, and retaliatory aggression to, peer provocation. One hundred and eight-five early adolescents (102 male) from the United Kingdom (M age = 12 years, 2 months, SD = 3 months) completed the Children's Generalized Trust Beliefs in peer subscale (K. J. Rotenberg, C. Fox, et al., 2005) and reported the intentions of, and their retaliatory aggression to, hypothetical peer provocation. A curvilinear relation was found between trust beliefs in peers and retaliatory aggression but not for attributions of intention. Early adolescents with low and those with very high trust beliefs in peers reported greater retaliatory aggression than did early adolescents with the middle range of trust beliefs. The findings supported the conclusion that early adolescents who are high trusting, as well as those are very low trusting, are at risk for psychosocial maladjustment. Support was not obtained for a hostility attribution bias interpretation of those patterns.     

Traditions and texts: how two young women learned to interpret the Qur’an and hadiths in Kazakhstan

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, translations of the Qur’an and books of hadiths became widely available in Kazakhstan for the first time in 70 years. However, most Kazakhs do not read the Qur’an or books of hadiths on a regular basis. This essay examines the ways in which two young Kazakh woman who do read the Qur’an and hadiths learned to interpret and use these texts. I describe how the first young woman, who is a member of the piety movement in Kazakhstan, reads the Qur’an and books of hadiths on a daily basis using a schema that emphasizes the Prophet, the Qur’an, hadiths, and the differences between Muslims and non-Muslims. The second young woman, who is a member of Ata Zholy, an Islamic movement in Kazakhstan that focuses on revitalizing Kazakh traditions, reads these texts only occasionally and uses a schema that emphasizes ancestors, saints, tradition, and linking contemporary Kazakhs with an idealized Kazakh Islamic past. I link the ways that these two women learned their respective interpretive schemas to their family’s practice of Islam and, more broadly, to the restriction of Islamic practice in the Soviet era.     

Between art tourism and ‘Protestant pilgrimage’: individual journeys to artworks in two churches of Reformed denomination near Bern,Switzerland

ABSTRACT

Can an individual trip to an artwork in a Protestant church, that evokes experiences of transcendence, be understood as a ‘Protestant pilgrimage’? The question is discussed with a historical example from the eighteenth century and a contemporary example from the twenty-first century, both of which refer to the transcendental dimension of (religious) art and raise the question about the interrelationship between art tourism and pilgrimage. Although the motivation for such journeys is often aesthetic and not spiritual, visitors may be deeply touched by the artworks and experience feelings that transcend the mundane present. If these examples are considered as ‘pilgrimages’ (and not only in a merely metaphorical sense), attention must be paid to their ecumenical, potentially heterodox character. For in the Reformed tradition, the importance of the pilgrimage is the journey itself, and not the final destination.     

Using a Training-of-Trainers Approach and Proactive Technical Assistance to Bring Evidence Based Programs to Scale: An Operationalization of the Interactive Systems Framework’s Support System

Bringing evidence based programs to scale was a major initial impetus for the development of the Interactive Systems Framework for Dissemination and Implementation (ISF). The ISF demonstrates the importance of the Support System in facilitating the uptake of innovations in the community (the Delivery System). Two strategies that members of the Support System commonly use are training‐of‐trainers (TOT) models and technical assistance (TA). In this article, we focus on the role of the Support System in bringing evidence‐based programs (EBPs) to scale in the Delivery System using a case example, with special attention on two strategies employed by Support Systems—training‐of‐trainers (TOT) and proactive technical assistance. We then report on findings from a case example from the Promoting Science Based Approaches to Teen Pregnancy Prevention project that furthers our conceptualization of these strategies and the evidence base for them. We also report on the limitations in the literature regarding research on TOTs and proactive TA and provide suggestions for future research on TOTs and proactive TA that will enhance the science and practice of support in the ISF. Special Issue: Advances in Bridging Research and Practice Using the Interactive System Framework for Dissemination and Implementation; Guest Editors: Abraham Wandersman, Paul Flaspohler, Catherine A. Lesesne, Richard Puddy; Action Editor: Emilie Phillips Smith     

A nutritionist and an educator in professional horseracing: using reflection to create ‘My process’

The present paper provides the reflective accounts of a practitioner as both a lecturer in further and higher education, and as a performance nutritionist within professional horseracing. Adopting a first-person writing style and through the use of creative non-fictional anecdotes, I share critical accounts ‘in-action’ that shaped my initial teaching philosophy and my introduction to horseracing. These shared events culminate in me questioning my initial approach to performance nutrition within the harsh and challenging sport of horseracing, and despite being contrasting vocations, how ideologies from education can be adopted into the practice of nutrition. I close by reflecting upon my reflections and my initial trepidations, however, go on to conclude that engaging in these processes acted as a tool to think critically, self-assess and develop my own practices.