“It Can Happen to You”: Rape Prevention in the Age of Risk Management

This essay provides a critical analysis of rape prevention since the 1980s. I argue that we must challenge rape prevention's habitual reinforcement of the notion that fear is a woman's best line of defense. 1 suggest changes that must be made in the anti‐rape movement if we are to move past fear. Ultimately, I raise the question of what, if not vague threats and scare tactics, constitutes prevention.     

On the Semantics and Operations of Primary Prevention and Wellness Enhancement (Or Will the Real Primary Prevention Please Stand Up?)

Compared two recent, major reviews of primary prevention program evaluation research (i.e., Durlak and Wells' meta-analysis of 177 such studies and the Institute of Medicine (IOM) Report's summary of research studies of preventive intervention programs) with respect to specific studies included and input sources used. Whereas the IOM Report defined the goal of primary prevention as reducing the occurrence of new cases of mental disorder, Durlak and Wells' broader definition included both that goal and the promotion of psychological wellness. Overlap in journal sources used by the two reviews was modest and overlap in the actual primary prevention program evaluation studies included was minimal (7%). These findings bespeak somewhat different views of primary prevention and suggest a need for the complementary development of both the above approaches as alternatives, individually and collectively, to mental health's past established restorative ways.     

Primary Prevention Mental Health Programs for Children and Adolescents: A Meta-Analytic Review

Used meta-analysis to review 177 primary prevention programs designed to prevent behavioral and social problems in children and adolescents. Findings provide empirical support for further research and practice in primary prevention. Most categories of programs produced outcomes similar to or higher in magnitude than those obtained by many other established preventive and treatment interventions in the social sciences and medicine. Programs modifying the school environment, individually focused mental health promotion efforts, and attempts to help children negotiate stressful transitions yield significant mean effects ranging from 0.24 to 0.93. In practical terms, the average participant in a primary prevention program surpasses the performance of between 59% to 82% of those in a control group, and outcomes reflect an 8% to 46% difference in success rates favoring prevention groups. Most categories of programs had the dual benefit of significantly reducing problems and significantly increasing competencies. Priorities for future research include clearer specification of intervention procedures and program goals, assessment of program implementation, more follow-up studies, and determining how characteristics of the intervention and participants relate to different outcomes.     

Enhancing the National Dialogue on the Prevention of Intimate Partner Violence

Little systematic information exists about how community‐based prevention efforts at the state and local levels contribute to our knowledge of intimate partner violence (IPV) prevention. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) DELTA FOCUS program funds ten state domestic violence coalitions to engage in IPV primary prevention through approaches addressing the outer layers of the social ecology. This paper explored the ways in which DELTA FOCUS recipients have contributed to a national‐level dialogue on IPV prevention. Previously undefined, the authors define national‐level dialogue and retrospectively apply the CDC Science Impact Framework (SIF) to describe contributions DELTA FOCUS recipients made to it. Authors conducted document review and qualitative content analysis of recipient semi‐annual progress reports from 2014 to 2016 (N = 40) using NVivo. A semi‐structured coding scheme was applied across the five SIF domains: Creating Awareness, Catalyzing Action, Effecting Change, Disseminating Science, and Shaping the Future. All recipients sought to promote IPV prevention by communicating and sharing with non‐CDC‐funded state coalitions, national partners, and other IPV stakeholders information and resources accumulated through practice‐based prevention efforts. Through implementing and disseminating their prevention work in myriad ways, DELTA FOCUS recipients are building practice‐based evidence on community‐based IPV prevention.     

Primary Prevention Mental Health Programs: The Future is Exciting

Current outcome research on primary prevention mental health programs is encouraging and the future is exciting. Data continue to accumulate regarding the efficacy of preventive intervention. Exemplary programs can prevent multiple problems across different outcome domains suggesting the need for collaboration among preventionists across disciplines and research areas. The commentators on our review (Durlak and Wells, 1997) offered many useful suggestions to improve the next generation of research. Most recommendations fall broadly under the rubric of increasing the precision of theory, design, and program evaluation. If current recommendations for improving future research are followed, the next reviewers of primary prevention mental health programs for children and adolescents will have a more complete and useful database for analysis.     

Primary prevention of psychological difficulties in vulnerable mothers: pilot programme evaluation

This pilot study evaluated a primary prevention programme delivered to mothers who were considered to be vulnerable to the development of psychological difficulties (N = 11). Beneficial effects were noted in terms of mood and coping, as well as a reduction in the mothers' attendance at their general practitioners surgery. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Dreams,Memories, Reflections by C. G. Jung

Abstract

Group interventions have assumed a growing role in primary prevention and supportive care for cancer and HIV disease. Earlier sections of this Special Report examined empirical findings for these interventions and provided recommendations for future research. The current section offers brief recommendations for service providers, policymakers, and stakeholders.

Group services now occupy an increasingly prominent place in primary prevention programs and medical settings. In previous sections of this Special Report (Sherman, Leszcz et al., 2004; Sherman, Mosier et al., 2004a, 2004b) we examined the efficacy of different group interventions at different phases of cancer or HIV disease, considered characteristics of the intervention and the participants that might influence outcomes, and discussed mechanisms of action. Methodological challenges and priorities for future research were highlighted. In this, the final section, we offer brief recommendations for service providers, policymakers, and other stakeholders. We consider some of the barriers that constrain use of empirically-based group interventions and note how these programs might be implemented more widely and effectively.     

The 1979 division 27 award for distinguished contributions to community psychology and community mental health: Emory L. Cowen

Summary The metaphor of the paper's title offers a framework for a brief summary. Effective wooing of primary prevention requires that we take seriously, and adhere to, its clear, sensible defining guidelines; systematize, and further develop, its generative base; use that base to guide the formulation of new primary prevention programs; further develop frameworks to promote informed choices of programs derecions from among many attractive possibilities; and be more hard-nosed as program evaluators. That type of courtship should improve our love life with — and perhaps even, science of — primary prevention in mental health. Editor's Note: Emory L. Cowen was honored at the 1979 annual meeting of the American Psychological Association in New York, New York, on September 4, 1979, receiving the Division of Community Psychology Award for Distinguished Contributions to Community Psychology and Community Mental Health. The selection was made by an Awards Committee composed of all the past-Presidents of the Division. Dr. Cowen was introduced by Jack M. Chinsky of the University of Connecticut, and Julian Rappaport of the University of Illinois at Urbana—Champaign.This paper bears some (superficial) resemblance to a talk given at division 27's Distinguished Contribution Award ceremony, during the 87th Annual APA Meetings, New York, N.Y., 9/4/79. This draft is surely lengthier, more convoluted,no more informative, and muchless fun than the spoken version. Conceivably, the main accomplishment of my incessant revisions will prove to be the significant incapacitation of 10 gifted typing fingers attached to the hands of Sharon DeVita — the prime initial victim of my obsessionality. To Sharon, who suffered the indignity and boredom of eternal retypings, my boundless gratitude for her patience, forbearance, and good cheer, well beyond the call of duty.Preparation of this paper was done under support of a grant from the NIMH Experimental and Special Training Branch (MH 14547-02-03), which the author acknowledges with gratitude.     

What It Is to Pretend

Pretense is a topic of keen interest to philosophers and psychologists. But what is it, really, to pretend? What features qualify an act as pretense? Surprisingly little has been said on this foundational question. Here I defend an account of what it is to pretend, distinguishing pretense from a variety of related but distinct phenomena, such as (mere) copying and practicing. I show how we can distinguish pretense from sincerity by sole appeal to a person's beliefs, desires, and intentions – and without circular recourse to an ‘intention to pretend’ or to a sui generis mental state of ‘imagining.’     

Conflict Buffers and Marital Satisfaction: On the Effects of Different Forms of Social Support

This paper deals with the deterioration in the subjective quality of life of women as a result of marital conflict. Whereas primary and secondary prevention are generally targeted at maintaining or increasing the current level of marital happiness this paper focuses on the possibilities for buffering the negative impact of conflict on women’s quality of life. In particular, this paper is interested in the conflict buffering effects of various forms of social support such as home visiting by professional social workers or informal contacts with peers. In order to assess and compare the effectiveness of these forms of tertiary prevention, data from interviews with young mothers in the city of Zurich (Switzerland) will be reanalyzed. The data confirm the phenomenon of stress buffering from social support and reveal variation with regard to the effectiveness of different stress buffers. Female peer support e.g. seems to be at least as successful as home visiting by professional nurses and social workers.     

What Invariance Is and How to Test for It

Causal assessment is the problem of establishing whether a relation between (variable) X and (variable) Y is causal. This problem, to be sure, is widespread across the sciences. According to accredited positions in the philosophy of causality and in social science methodology, invariance under intervention provides the most reliable test to decide whether X causes Y. This account of invariance (under intervention) has been criticised, among other reasons, because it makes manipulations on the putative causal factor fundamental for the causal methodology; consequently, the argument goes, the account is ill-suited to those contexts where manipulations are not performed, for instance, the social sciences. The article aims to extend the account of invariance (under intervention), in a way that manipulations on the putative causal factors are not methodologically fundamental, and yet invariance remains key for causal assessment both in experimental and non-experimental contexts.     

Cholesterol and Aggression: An Ethnocultural Perspective

Although serum cholesterol has for several decades been linked to atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease, cardiovascular primary prevention studies that have resulted in low or lowered cholesterol have not reduced total mortality. This finding may be due in part to an increase in mortality from suicides, homicides, and accidents among people with low or lowered serum cholesterol. This article attempts to review the literature on cholesterol and aggressive behavior, examines possible links connecting the two, and suggests an ethnocultural perspective to these connections.     

Functional Anatomy of the Null Hypothesis and of Tests of It

The author compared simulations of the “true” null hypothesis (z) test, in which ò was known and fixed, with the t test, in which s, an estimate of ò, was calculated from the sample because the t test was used to emulate the “true” test. The true null hypothesis test bears exclusively on calculating the probability that a sample distance (mean) is larger than a specified value. The results showed that the value of t was sensitive to sampling fluctuations in both distance and standard error. Large values of t reflect small standard errors when n is small. The value of t achieves sensitivity primarily to distance only when the sample sizes are large. One cannot make a definitive statement about the probability or “significance” of a distance solely on the basis of the value of t.     

It Takes Two To Tango: Understanding and Acquiring Symmetrical Verbs

Children's ability to understand symmetrical verbs was investigated, along with adults' use of linguistic and visual cues to learn novel symmetrical verbs. Symmetrical verbs encode a relationship r between two entities such that X r Y entails Y r X. In Experiment 1, sixteen children (mean age 4;8) acted out two types of sentences with symmetrical and asymmetrical verbs. Eight adult judges viewed videotapes of the children's performance and tried to guess what sentence type was being enacted. Judges' performance was predicted(p < .05) by the verb type, symmetrical or asymmetrical. In Experiment 2, seventy-two adult subjects received visual and linguistic cues to the meanings of novel verbs. Both cue types affected subjects' judgments about whether the new verbs were symmetrical or asymmetrical (p < .05).     

It’s my safe space: The life-saving role of the internet in the lives of transgender and gender diverse youth

Abstract

Background: Public awareness of Transgender and Gender Diverse (TGD) identities has grown significantly; however, acceptance and support remain elusive for many TGD youth. Resultant experiences of marginalization and stigmatization contribute to elevated rates of psychological distress and suicidality among TGD youth. Emergent evidence suggests that the internet may offer TGD youth safety, support, and community previously unavailable.

Aim: The primary aim of this qualitative inquiry is to engage in an in-depth exploration of the online experiences and processes which help protect against psychological distress and promote well-being among TGD youth.

Methods: Data were culled from a mixed-methods, online study of sexual and gender minority youth from across the United States and Canada which followed Institutional Review Board approved protocols. Participants for this study represent a sample (n?=?260) of TGD participants aged 14–22 (x? = 17.30). Data were analyzed using Charmaz’ grounded theory strategies.

Results: Data revealed that the internet offers TGD youth affirming spaces that, for the most part, do not exist in their offline lives. Online, TGD youth were able to engage meaningfully with others as their authentic selves, often for the first time. These experiences fostered well-being, healing, and growth through five processes: 1. Finding an escape from stigma and violence, 2. Experiencing belonging, 3. Building confidence, 4. Feeling hope, and 5. Giving back.

Discussion: The unique and innovative ways in which participants use online spaces to foster resilience offer important insights to inform affirmative practices with TGD young people.     

Parts Ground the Whole and Are Identical to It

What is the relation between parts taken together and the whole that they compose? The recent literature appears to be dominated by two different answers to this question, which are normally thought of as being incompatible. According to the first, parts taken together are identical to the whole that they compose. According to the second, the whole is grounded in its parts. The aim of this paper is to make some theoretical room for the view according to which parts ground the whole they compose while being, at the same time, identical to it.     

Bring It On: Proactive Coping with Discrimination

We investigated proactive coping with discrimination among heavy women in both a high impact lab study (101 women) and a daily diary study (62 women). Heavy women assessed greater harm and fewer coping resources for discriminatory, as compared to non-discriminatory, hassles (Study 2). Primary appraisals of harm were important determinants of proactive coping, including primary control (attempts to change the environment) and secondary control (attempts to change the self to fit the environment) directed at discriminatory stressors (Studies 1 and 2). When heavy women used primary control coping efforts, they experienced positive interpersonal outcomes (Study 1) and less negative intrapersonal outcomes (Study 2). We discuss the benefits and limitations of engaging in proactive coping and suggest avenues for future research.

Gender and the Primary Prevention of Suicide Mortality

Primary prevention aims at reducing the incidence of a disorder. The first step in primary prevention involves documenting the magnitude of the problem and identifying risk factors. Consistent with primary prevention practices, we review the national and international epidemiological data on suicide mortality and then discuss the implications these data hold for primary prevention. Our approach is novel because we systematically examine the suicide epidemiology data by gender and culture. Suicide mortality appears to be highest among individuals (e.g., young adult married females in some Papua New Guinea regions; older adult, isolated, White males in the United States) for whom such behavior is culturally sanctioned. Thus, an important target for primary prevention may be local cultures of gender and suicide.     

The Main Argument for Value Incommensurability (and Why It Fails)

Arguments for value incommensurability ultimately depend on a certain diagnosis of human motivation. Incommensurablists hold that each person's basic ends are not only irreducible but also incompatible with one another. It isn't merely that some goals can't, in fact, be jointly realized; values actually compete for influence. This account makes a mistake about the nature of human motivation. Each value underwrites a ceteris paribus evaluation. Such assessments are mutually compatible because the observation that there is something to be said for an outcome from a particular perspective allows for any ultimate evaluation of that outcome; Values can be irreducible without thereby being incommensurable.