Ethnocultural Influences in Cancer

Compelling evidence that ethnicity is associated with serious disparities in cancer morbidity and mortality has been documented in the medical and public health literature. In addition to the role that socioeconomic variables play in affecting cancer outcomes, health professionals are beginning to pay attention to the influence of ethnicity and culture. This paper examines the role that ethnocultural factors contribute to cancer, with particular attention to breast, cervical, prostate, and colorectal cancers. Young and Zane's adaptation of a process oriented model of how culture and ethnicity affect disease is proposed as a useful framework to understand the illness experience. It is suggested that attending to ethnocultural issues will assist health providers and researchers toward developing and implementing strategies to improve cancer outcomes among ethnic populations.     

Aggression,self-confidence,and cardiovascular reactions in competitive performance in adolescent boys

Interactions between suggested risk factors for the development of coronary heart disease (namely aggression, competitive performance, and cardiovascular reactions) were studied in 36 adolescent boys. Different manifestations of aggression were measured using a structured interview, the aggression-impatience factor of the MYTH test, and observation. Self-confidence was assessed by means of an interview. The performance tests used were the Stroop Color Word test and the P-factor test. Cardiovascular reactions were measured using an automatic noninvasive sphygmomanometer with a continuous recording system. Results showed that the significance of aggression in performance or competition cannot be evaluated separately; aggression in itself had an injurious effect on performance, but when combined with high self-confidence it resulted in a high level of performance. High cardiovascular reactivity was related to competitiveness rather than aggression. The results emphasize that before intervention programs for behavioral risk factors of coronary heart disease are planned, there are many questions to answer.     

A Cross-Cultural Investigation of Relational and Social Aggression in Female College Students from Puerto Rico and the United States

Researchers compared scores on a self-report measure of relational and social aggression using 2 groups, European American female university students (M = 20.23 years, SD = 3.88) from the mid-Atlantic region of the United States and Hispanic females from Puerto Rico (M = 19.34 years, SD = 1.26). Results indicate that cultural differences were evident in the use of relational and social aggression. The exclusively Hispanic Puerto Rican sample reported being more socially aggressive than the European American, mid-Atlantic sample. In contrast, the European American sample identified as being more relationally aggressive in their relationships than the Hispanic Puerto Rican sample. This distinction allows us to consider potential cultural differences in interpersonal relations in college-age females.     

未成年人内隐攻击性特征的实验研究

以不同性质的词组为实验材料,以偏好组词为测量方法,随机抽取136名初一学生,采用被试内设计来探讨内隐状态下未成年人在不同攻击类型倾向性上的差异及其与性别间的关系。结果表明:偏好组词法测量内隐攻击性的有效性;未成年人同样存在明显的内隐攻击性;在内隐状态下,个体的身体攻击倾向性显著高于语言攻击倾向性并且具有较高的性别一致性。     

内隐攻击性的实验研究

本研究采用IAT测量个体内隐攻击性。研究发现,个体的攻击性行为倾向性表现出自动化特征,性别因素和IAT测试的联合任务次序不影响IAT效应;本研究支持了IAT测量个体内隐攻击性的有效性。     

父母心理攻击：代际传递与配偶对代际传递的调节作用

作为一种常见的父母严厉管教方式, 父母心理攻击是指父母通过言语的或象征性的攻击行为对儿童实施的心理上或情感上的拒绝。国外研究表明, 父母严厉管教表现出代际传递效应。选取793名小学生父母为被试, 采用问卷调查法考察中国文化背景下父母心理攻击的代际传递效应以及配偶对代际传递的调节作用。结果表明：(1)母亲对男孩实施心理攻击的普遍性和频繁性显著高于女孩。(2)父母的心理攻击均具有显著的代际传递效应。(3)父亲对儿童实施的心理攻击对母亲心理攻击的代际传递具有调节作用, 母亲心理攻击的代际传递性随着父亲心理攻击水平的增高而降低。     

Intrafamily Aggression in Turkey: Frequency,Instigation, and Acceptance

Abstract

The present study was designed (a) to determine the frequency of aggression within different pairs of family members, (b) to define actions that may be construed as instigations of intrafamily aggression when committed by different members of the family, and (c) to investigate acceptance rates for different types of aggression from and toward different family members as reactions to different instigations. Questionnaires were administered verbally to 185 Turkish men and women between the ages of 14 and 75. The reported frequency of aggression was highest in mother-child relationships. Reported frequencies were higher for milder acts of aggression than for harsher acts. Content analyses of definitions of different actions that could be construed as instigations for aggression varied, depending on the person performing the act. Variations were consistent with power differences within the family and with gender stereotypes. The acceptance rate for intrafamily aggression was higher for verbal than for physical aggression and showed variations, depending on the nature of the instigation. Discussion focused on the relationship between intrafamily aggression and control.     

升高高密度脂蛋白胆固醇（HDL-C）面临的挑战——升HDL-C药物的不同机制和HDL-C升高的疗效评价

高密度脂蛋白胆固醇（HDL-C）水平与发生冠心病的危险性呈负相关。HDL通过促进胆固醇逆转运、改善内皮功能、抗氧化、抗炎和抗血栓而发挥心血管保护作用。HDL已成为冠心病防治工作的新靶点,生活方式和调脂药物的干预能升高HDL-C,然而HDL的功能比HDL-C血浆水平更重要,多项以HDL为靶点新的治疗措施正在研究中,临床上如何评价HDL-C升高的疗效价值及升高HDL-C的药物和策略有着重要意义。进一步研究HDL的结构、代谢和功能能够深入了解脂质代谢过程和动脉粥样硬化发生机制,使干预HDL成为动脉粥样硬化防治新的目标。     

Religious Prosociality and Aggression: It's Real

Individual religiosity relates to prosocial attitudes, behavioral intentions, and behaviors of minimal (no/low cost; limited to in‐group members) prosociality in hypothetical situations. Yet evidence on religious prosociality through other‐oriented, costly helping behavior in real life is still to be documented. Similarly, religiosity relates to cognitive, emotional, and attitudinal components of prejudice toward moral out‐groups. Evidence on real behavior of prejudice is nevertheless still needed. In two experiments using the same measure of religiosity and samples from the same population, religiosity predicted helping, in a real‐life context, of an in‐group member in need (Experiment 1) as well as overt and direct aggression by means of allocating hot sauce to a gay, but not to a neutral, target (Experiment 2). Religious prosociality and aggression are real, concern distinct kinds of targets, and are at the heart of personal religiosity.     

外显和内隐攻击性表现方式的性别差异实验研究

本研究同时运用问卷法和内隐联想测验(IAT)来研究我国大学生的攻击性。结果发现:1.整体外显攻击性不存在性别差异,但在身体攻击因素上男性显著高于女性。2.内隐攻击性在表现方式上存在性别差异,男性与身体攻击联系更紧密;女性与言语攻击联系更紧密。3.外显攻击性和内隐攻击性间的关系不能简单地根据相关系数来判断。     

自恋与攻击行为的关系:观点采择和共情关注的调节作用

为考察自恋对攻击行为的影响以及观点采择和共情关注在其中的调节效应,采用自恋人格问卷、人际反应指针量表和简版Buss-Perry攻击问卷,对562名大学生进行调查。结果发现:(1)自恋显著正向预测攻击行为;(2)观点采择和共情关注均可负向调节自恋与攻击行为的关系,两者都能显著抑制高自恋者的攻击行为,却无法影响低自恋者的攻击行为。因此,提高观点采择和增强共情关注是减少高自恋者攻击行为的重要途径。     

Distinguishing Proactive and Reactive Aggression in Chinese Children

This study examined proactive and reactive aggression and their relation to psychosocial adjustment in three samples (N = 767, 368 girls, M age = 10.03) of Chinese school age children. Confirmatory factor analyses revealed that a two-factor model which distinguished both proactive and reactive aggression fit the data reasonably well, and also fit the data better than a single-factor model in all three samples. The distinction between proactive and reactive aggression was found for both boys and girls. Reactive aggression was more strongly related to reciprocated friendship (negatively), peer victimization, emotion dysregulation, hostile attributions of others' behavior in ambiguous social situations, and self-reported loneliness and social anxiety (positively) than was proactive aggression. Proactive aggression was related to positive outcome expectancies and efficacy beliefs of aggression for boys but not for girls, but the significant gender difference was only found for positive outcome expectancies. The findings suggest that proactive and reactive aggression represent two distinct forms of aggression which are associated with specific adjustment outcomes in Chinese children.     

Aggression and testosterone: Testing a bio-social model

Based upon reports of a positive correlation between circulating testosterone levels and aggression, we draw upon evolutionary psychology to place the action of testosterone in a broader perspective. We propose that testosterone affects competitive status-seeking and that under certain circumstances (including youth) this is expressed as aggression. Involvement in aggression in turn is associated with adherence to an instrumental social representation of aggression which justifies aggression as a means of imposing control over others and increasing self-esteem. Measures of salivary testosterone, masculinity, preferred social representation of aggression, and multiple aggression scales were collected from an undergraduate sample of 119 men. An Aggression factor was derived from principle components analysis of the aggression measures. The strongest correlates of Aggression were holding an instrumental social representation of aggression and youth. Testosterone showed no significant relationship to the single or aggregate measures of aggression or to any of the other psychometric measures. We suggest ways in which previous work may have over-estimated the strength of the association between circulating testosterone and aggression and discuss the possible relationships between age, social representation, and aggression. Aggr. Behav. 23:239–238, 1997. © 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Reactive and Proactive Aggression: Attachment and Social Competence Predictors

In this study, 107 boys and girls aged 3 to 8 years were rated by their mothers on 6 factors: Reactive and Proactive Aggression, Secure and Insecure Attachment, and Prosocial Orientation and Social Initiative (i.e., social competence). Both secure attachment and prosocial orientation predicted proactive and reactive aggression, but prosocial orientation mediated the attachment–aggression relation in the case of reactive but not proactive aggression.     

A Review and Reconceptualization of Social Aggression: Adaptive and Maladaptive Correlates

The emergence of a research literature exploring parallels between physical and nonphysical (i.e., social, relational, indirect) forms of aggression has raised many questions about the developmental effects of aggressive behavior on psychological functioning, peer relationships, and social status. Although both forms of aggression have been linked to problematic outcomes in childhood and adolescence, more recent findings have highlighted the importance of considering the possible social rewards conferred by socially aggressive behavior. This paper examines relevant theory and empirical research investigating the adaptive and maladaptive correlates specific to nonphysical forms of aggression. Findings are explored at the level of group (e.g., peer rejection), dyadic (e.g., friendship quality), and individual (e.g., depressive symptoms) variables. Key developmental considerations and methodological issues are addressed, and recommendations for future research integrating current theoretical conceptualizations and empirical findings on social aggression are advanced.     

Evolution of Destructive Aggression

Aggression is defined as a mechanism of spacing by means of force or displays. It has evolved independently in different animal groups. The mechanisms underlying it are therefore not homologous throughout the animal kingdom. The phenomenon of aggression is so widespread, however, that strong selection pressures must be responsible for its development along analogous lines. Its most obvious functions are in competition for mates, natural resources, and territories, and in the preservation of group identity in many gregarious species. Aggression is often ritualized so that no damage is done to conspecifics. This ritualization may appear as modification of fighting into a tournament, or as the development of submissive postures which block further aggression in the opponent shortly after the onset of a potentially damaging fight. Animal aggression is preprogrammed by phylogenetic adaptation in well-defined ways, but can be modified by experience. The inborn programs involve motor patterns, innate releasing mechanisms, releasers, motivating mechanisms, and learning dispositions specific for the species. Aggression on this biological level can be observed in humans as intragroup aggression. Certain motor patterns and signals which lead to the release of aggression are universal. Some can even be found in deaf- and blind-born people, proving their innateness. A number of patterns of aggression in man are highly ritualized and - in a way analogous to that found in many animals - mechanisms of control have evolved inhibiting the killing of a conspecific. There are strong indications of the existence of motivating mechanisms within the brain, e.g., in the form of neuronal circuits, that show a degree of spontaneity. The type of destructive aggression which we call war, is a product of cultural evolution. War takes advantage of the given motivational structure of man, including his fear of strangers, which develops in every baby independently of experience and makes men inclined to form closed groups and causes them to be wary of or hostile to strangers. Based on these tendencies, man underwent a process of cultural subspeciation. Groups demarcated themselves from others by custom, erecting communication barriers. The development of languages demonstrates how fast and efficient this process is. Members of the same group, during this process, were defined as the “real man,” outsiders often were to be valued less -or even considered nonhuman. On the basis of this self-indoctrination, cultural codes of conduct developed, which allowed members of other groups to be killed when groups competed for resources. A cultural fiiter of norms was established which demanded killing under defined conditions, and was superimposed upon the biological filter of norms which inhibits the killing of a human being. This results in a conflict of norms, which is universally felt as guilt, since the biological filter of norms, though superimposed, is nonetheless working, particularly in the circumstance of a personal encounter. The more advanced the technique of armament, which allows fast and distant killing, the less the inhibitions are activated. Nonetheless, ritualizations occur on the cultural level. Warfare is sometimes ritualized and conventions are developed to prevent escalation into massacres, or the wholesale destruction of the subjugated enemy. To a great extent, this is certainly a result of our inborn moral code, If nothing like this were given to man our situation would be disastrous indeed. Whether cultural evolution will, in the future, be guided by moral maxims in accord with our human nature is a deeision men must make rationally. Although a ruthless ethnocentrism may bring advantage to a warring group, this may eventually prove fatal to mankind as a whole. In the escalating competition mankind runs the danger not only of exhausting its resources, but of destroying itself with its new weapons. If the outcome were not selfdestruction but domination by one group it would impoverish the diversity of human cultures, and thus seriously cut down man's spectrum of adaptability. War fulfills certain functions, similar to those found in animals. It is mainly a mechanism for preserving and extending one's territory, and a means of getting access to scarce resources. It is therefore dangerous to consider war merely as a pathological form of human behavior because this may distract our attention from the fact that, h order to overcome war, the functions of war have to be fulfilled by nonviolent means. Cultural evolution phenocopies biological evolution, due to similarities in the selection pressures shaping its course. This allows us to define the point of the evolutionary spiral we are at currently and to predict our future course.