Relationship Between Specific Adverse Life Events and Psychiatric Disorders

This study examines whether certain psychiatric disorders are associated more closely with adverse life events than other disorders are, and whether some adverse life events are associated with a specific group of disorders (e.g., depressive disorders), but not with other disorders (e.g., anxiety disorders). A probability sample of youth aged 9–17 at 4 sites is used (N = 1,285). Univariate and multivariate logistic regressions identify specific relationships between 25 adverse life events and 9 common child and adolescent psychiatric disorders, measured by the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children. Conduct Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Major Depressive Disorder, and Dysthymia are significantly associated with many of the adverse life events examined, whereas Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Agoraphobia, and Social Phobia are related to very few. This study suggests that certain psychiatric disorders may be more closely associated with adverse life events than other psychiatric disorders are, and that some adverse life events seem to be related to specific types of disorders.     

The Contributions of Political Life Events to Psychological Distress Among South African

The psychological consequences of adverse political experiences among South African youth were studied in a sample of 540 black and white adolescents from two age groups, evenly divided by gender. Three questionnaires were administered, measuring exposure to political life events, the presence of symptoms of psychopathology, and stressful personal life events during the previous 5 years. The first hypothesis, predicting a substantial contribution of stressful political experiences to psychopathology, was strongly supported; when stressful personal life events were partialed out, a significant effect for political life events remained both on general distress and symptomatology indices. The second hypothesis of a linear relation between exposure to political life events and severity of distress was also confirmed. The findings underscore the enduring impact on children's mental health of past apartheid policies in South Africa specifically, and adverse political environments in general.     

Resilience to Childhood Abuse and Neglect in College Students

This study examined the prevalence of a history of childhood maltreatment in a college sample and identified the relationship between being maltreated as a child and later college adjustment in men and women. Results indicate that men who had been maltreated in childhood had more resilient outcomes in college than women who had been maltreated in childhood. Negative life events and protective factors acted as mediators in the relationship between childhood maltreatment and college adjustment for women, and protective factors acted as a moderator in the relationship between childhood maltreatment and college adjustment for men.     

Karamojong Adolescents in Tororo,Uganda: Life Events,Adjustment Problems,and Protective Factors

The Karamojong people of Uganda are marginalized and likely to have difficult lives. Research is needed to understand Karamojong children’s challenges, adjustment, and resiliency to help guide interventions and policies to improve their lives. Thus, 18 Karamojong 10–16-year-olds (10 girls; M?=?13.33 years; SD?=?1.81) were recruited from a nongovernmental organization in Tororo District, Uganda, and interviewed about their life events, coping strategies, social support, and hope. Adolescents also were verbally administered questionnaires about their life events and adjustment problems. Participants reported many negative life events (M?=?9.28 of 16). The number of negative life events was positively correlated with internalizing, but not with externalizing, problems. Participants described a variety of coping strategies. Most participants received emotional or instrumental social support, and were hopeful about their futures. Hardships were often alcohol- or poverty-related events, whereas hope was often centered on education.     

Test-Retest Reliability of Maternal Reports of Lifetime Mental Disorders in Their Children

This study examined the test-retest reliability of maternal reports of lifetime psychopathology using DSM-III-R criteria in nonreferred offspring. Sixty-three mothers reported on 79 children, ages 6 to 18 years. Retest intervals were between one and 12 months. The results indicated acceptable reliability for all supraordinate categories (any disorder, any anxiety disorder, any disruptive disorder, externalizing disorders, internalizing disorders) as well as for most individual diagnoses (separation anxiety disorder, simple phobias, oppositional defiant disorder, attention deficit disorder with and without hyperactivity, simple phobias, and adjustment disorder). Maternal reports for any diagnosis were significantly better for intervals under 6 months than for longer retest intervals. Reliability of maternal reports was not significantly affected by child's age or gender. This study supports the expectation that a history of psychiatric disturbance in children can be obtained reliably from mothers.     

Maternal Coping Skills as a Moderator Between Depression and Stressful Life Events: Effects on Children's Behavioral Problems in an Intervention Program

In this study, I report secondary analyses using data from the Infant Health and Development Program (IHDP). The IHDP included parent-targeted as well as child-targeted components as an integral part of early intervention programs. I examined three questions: (1) Do the IHDP early intervention services enhance adaptive maternal coping skills? (2) Do maternal coping skills moderate the relationship between stressful life events and maternal depression? (3) Are maternal coping skills associated with children's behavioral scores? Mothers in the treatment group have more adaptive coping skills than follow-up only mothers, and these effects are moderated by maternal characteristics. Adaptive coping skills moderate the effects of negative life events on maternal depression. Adaptive maternal coping skills are significantly associated with fewer behavioral problems for children at age three. These effects are moderated by the intervention. Implications for early intervention programs are discussed.     

Stressful Life Events: A Revision and Update of the Social Readjustment Rating Scale

The widely used and cited Social Readjustment Rating Scale developed by Holmes and Rahe (1967) was comprehensively revised and updated. The new instrument, containing 51 major life events, was administered to a national sample of 5000. Respondents were asked to rate the stressfulness of each life event on a 1–100 scale. Completed surveys were returned by 3122 individuals (62.4%). Responses were analyzed using repeated measures MANOVA and profile analysis. Major results included: (a) statistically and practically significant differences in mean ratings for the 51 life events; (b) five overlapping themes in the top 20 rated life events—death and dying, healthcare, crime and the criminal justice system, financial/economic issues, and family-related issues; and (c) an amazing level of agreement concerning perceived life event stressfulness, regardless of gender, age, or income level.     

Individual,Community, and National Resilience in Peace Time and in the Face of Terror: A Longitudinal Study

The present paper is based on thrice-repeated measures. The sample constituted 561 Jewish Israeli adults who experienced these terror attacks. The study examined individual, community and national resilience and their associations with resilience-promoting factors (sense of coherence, social support, and self-efficacy); as well as resilience-suppressing factors (distress symptoms, sense of danger, and exposure). Results indicated that resilience scores were quite stable across the three repeated measures, whereas sense of coherence, distress symptoms, sense of danger, and exposure significantly changed across the three repeated measures. Sense of coherence was the best predictor for individual, community, and national resilience.     

Relation of Maternal Role Concepts to Parenting, Employment Choices, and Life Satisfaction Among Japanese Women

Japanese women are often described as heavily invested in the role of mother, yet young women in contemporary Japan are increasingly likely to postpone or opt out of marriage and child rearing. To understand the psychological dynamics of parenting among Japanese women who have chosen to become mothers, we examined the relation of maternal role salience beliefs, personal maternal role commitment, and parenting self-efficacy to life satisfaction, number of children, and employment status. Survey data were obtained from 116 urban Japanese women with children in the 2nd grade. Mothers with more children expressed greater personal role commitment. Those who had sought employment were less likely to hold strong maternal role salience beliefs. Life satisfaction was predicted by having more children, feeling efficacious as a parent, and being employed. These findings suggest that even in a society characterized by strong normative expectations for women, women's life satisfaction and choices about family life and employment are related to individual beliefs, attitudes, and judgments about their role.     

Additive and Synergetic Contributions of Neuroticism and Life Events to Depression and Anxiety in Women

In this genetically informative and longitudinal study of women, we investigated the nature of individual differences in tendencies to depression (TD) and anxiety (TA) as well as in the probability to develop unipolar mood disorders (UMDs), anxiety disorders (ADs) or both. Specifically, we examined the roles of neuroticism, negative and positive life events and their interplay as heritable and environmental factors of variance in TD and TA. Cross‐sectional data from a total of 1200 women including 232 patients (suffering from UMDs and/or ADs) and longitudinal data from 630 female twins including 260 complete pairs were analysed. The analyses yielded that variance in neuroticism mediated the vast majority of the genetic variance in both TD (about 85–90%) and TA (about 70–75%). Negative life events additionally contributed as risk factors accounting for common and specific environmental variance in both TD and TA, whereas positive life events only acted as protective factors in the case of TD. Moreover, TD but not TA was associated with both the probability of exposure and the sensitivity to negative life events and a negative life‐event balance (i.e. more negative than positive experiences). The results were discussed within the framework of additive, dynamic and synergetic diathesis–stress models. Copyright © 2016 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Spouses' Perceptions of Each Other's Coping Ability with Possible Stressful Life Events and Marital Quality

This study examines the effect ob marital quality of spouses' appreciation of partner's coping ability with possible stressful life events. Results show that while higher appreciation of partner's coping ability contributes to marital quality in wives, only the extent of being threatened by stressful life events and sense of being needed by partner for support when confronting with stressful life events contribute to marital quality in husbands.     

The Relationship between Traumatic Life Events and Hoarding Symptoms: A Multi-Method Approach

Hoarding Disorder is characterized by difficulties with discarding and frequently excessively acquiring possessions, resulting in substantial clutter. Previous research has implicated trauma in the development of hoarding, but no study to date has examined the relationship between trauma and hoarding using hypothetical hoarding paradigms. This study investigated the association between traumatic events and both self-report and hypothetical indices of hoarding symptoms. We predicted that frequency of trauma would be associated with greater hoarding symptoms (across self-report and hypothetical indices). Undergraduate students (N = 80) completed self-report measures of hoarding symptoms and trauma, and hypothetical measures of acquiring and saving tendencies. As expected, more frequent trauma, and physical/sexual trauma in particular, was associated with greater acquiring tendencies. However, frequency of trauma was not significantly correlated with saving tendencies or self-reported hoarding symptoms. Future research should replicate these findings using longitudinal designs to confirm whether trauma actually serves as a risk factor for hoarding. Replication in a clinical sample is needed to better understand the implications of these results for intervention.     

Relationships Between Social Support, Social Coping and Life Events in the Relapse of Schizophrenic Patients

The vulnerability-stress model for schizophrenia posits that relapses are at least partly determined by interacting triggering and protecting psychosocial factors. This study examined social support and general coping style in 42 consecutively admitted DSM:III schizophrenic patients, who were followed prospectively for up to four years. In a second part of the study, a subgroup of the patients were interviewed using the Life Event and Difficulty Schedule 9 months after discharge or at relapse. Patients contented with low social integration had a higher relapse rate over four years than patients lacking of social provisions, but wanting more. We found an excess of life events three weeks before relapse compared to events reported in the non-relapsing group. Suggesting a buffering effect of social factors, time between life event and relapse was significantly extended among patients with a high availability of attachment and a coping strategy characterised of active support seeking.     

Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms and Stressful Life Events Predict the Long-term Adjustment of Survivors of Childhood Cancer and Their Mothers

Objectives: To examine prospectively the impact of posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) in response to childhood cancer and treatment on general adjustment while accounting for the role of other stressful life events and appraisal of life threat and treatment intensity. Methods: As part of a larger study assessing PTSS, 56 childhood cancer survivors, aged 8 to 18, and 65 mothers completed self-report measures of PTSS and appraisal of the intensity and life threat associated with cancer treatment at time 1 and self-report measures of stressful life events and general adjustment at time 2 (approximately 18 months after time 1). Results: For child survivors and their mothers, posttraumatic stress at time 1 significantly predicted general adjustment at time 2, over and above the significant contribution of lifetime stressful events. The life events variable did not function as a mediator in the association of PTSS and general adjustment. Conclusions: Trauma responses to childhood cancer and its treatment have implications for the long-term adaptation of children and their families. Early signs and symptoms of posttraumatic stress and stressful life experiences require early assessment and intervention.     

Quality and Ecology of Adversity as Common Mechanisms of Risk and Resilience

This paper proposes common mechanisms to explain the effects of adversities and of resources that promote resilience. Adversities threaten the satisfaction of basic human needs and the acquisitions of competencies to carry out valued social roles. Adversities can also be characterized in terms of their ecological properties of occurrence in time, and place. Resilience resources at the individual, microsystem and macro levels reduce the negative effects of adversities through their effects on satisfaction of basic human needs and their effects on the occurrence of adversities. The effects of resilience resources are described as preventive, protective and promotive. Implications are presented for the development of interventions to promote resilience.     

应激性生活事件对森林公安民警心理健康的影响

目的:探讨应激性生活事件对森林公安民警心理健康的影响。方法:对160名森林公安民警采用症状自评量表和生活事件量表进行心理状态评定和生活事件调查分析,并分析应激性生活事件对森林公安民警心理健康的影响。结果:共发放问卷160份,收回有效问卷124份。森林公安民警的心理健康水平及各因子得分均高于国内常模,除强迫因子和精神病性因子外,差异不显著;应激性生活事件中家庭有关问题强度频度偏重,工作学习中的问题强度频度次之,社交及其它问题强度频度最轻;森林公安民警的应激性生活事件与心理健康水平成正相关,应激性生活事件能有效预测森林公安民警的心理健康状况。结论:森林公安民警的心理问题比较突出,应激性生活事件能有效预测森林公安民警的心理健康状况。     

特殊儿童心理弹性的研究：现状及启示

心理弹性研究是心理学研究的热点领域,特殊儿童的心理弹性又是其中的重要部分。本文对学习障碍儿童、身体功能障碍、情绪或行为问题儿童等特殊儿童心理弹性的研究进行梳理．厘清其研究框架及问题范畴,寻找和明确促进儿童弹性发展的保护性因素及危险因素,并据此从家庭教育、学校教育、社会支持等方面入手,提出了促进特殊儿童的弹性发展之策略,以期为特殊儿童的教育实践提供一些有益的探索。     

Coping Strategies and Locus of Control as Mediating Variables in the Relation Between Exposure to Political Life Events and Psychological Adjustment in Israeli Children

The relation between political life events and distress was examined with particular emphasis on coping strategies and locus of control as two possible mediators. Subjects were 88 Israeli children. Results partially supported a linear relation between reported impact of exposure and distress. Findings for coping strategies as a mediator suggested, counterintuitively, that greater use of coping strategies is related to more experienced distress. Findings for locus of control as a mediator suggested that subjects with external locus of control experience greater distress, other than in the case of depressive symptomatology. These results indicate that coping strategies and locus of control play a complex role in the stress-outcome relation, the precise nature of which remains to be resolved. Theoretical, clinical and political implications of the findings are discussed.     

A Re-Examination of Risk and Resilience During Adolescence: Incorporating Culture and Diversity

We consider risk and resilience within the developmental contexts of youth of African, Asian, Latino, and Native American descent. Conceptual and definitional issues are explained in terms of the role that culture and diversity play in specifying risk and resilience factors for youth of African, Asian, Latino, and Native American descent. We promote a conceptual model of risk and resilience as multidimensional phenomenon. The relevance of culture and diversity in a developmental perspective of youth of African, Asian, Latino, and Native American descent is discussed in a manner that incorporates community psychology principles.