Young women with and without non-suicidal self-injury: A comparison of romantic relationship functioning

IntroductionThe interpersonal context of an individual struggling with non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is of critical importance.ObjectiveThe purpose of the current study is to offer, through a dyadic perspective, a unique portrait of the relevant indicators of romantic relationship functioning (i.e., romantic attachment, dyadic trust, dyadic coping, relationship satisfaction, and caregiving) that distinguish young women who have engaged in NSSI from those who have not.MethodParticipants consisted of 20 women who indicated having engaged in NSSI in the past six months and 20 women who indicated having never engaged in NSSI, along with their respective partner.ResultsResults revealed that women who engaged in NSSI were more likely to report subjective distress in the form of attachment anxiety and distrust, as well as lower relationship satisfaction and adaptive dyadic coping strategies, compared to women who had never engaged in NSSI. Findings also showed that partners of women who engaged in self-injury reported more attachment anxiety than partners of women who do not engage in NSSI.ConclusionThese results highlight the importance of romantic relationship dynamics and the potential associations with engagement in self-injurious behaviors, which has implications for the development of effective prevention and intervention strategies.     

Women who use exercise as a compensatory behavior: How do they differ from those who do not?

ObjectivesThis research examined group differences between women who reported using exercise as a compensatory behavior (ECB; n = 73) and women who did not report using exercise as a compensatory behavior (NECB; n = 133) on alcohol and exercise behavior, drinking and exercise motivation, and several related constructs.DesignA cross-sectional design was used.MethodsUndergraduate women (M age = 19.5 years, SD = 3.01 years) completed self-report measures regarding their alcohol use, alcohol-related problems, exercise behavior, alcohol and exercise motivations, impulsivity, body dissatisfaction, and dietary restraint.ResultsResults indicated that women in the ECB group reported consuming more alcohol, more binge drinking episodes, more alcohol-related problems, higher alcohol and exercise motivations, more exercise, and greater impulsivity, body dissatisfaction, and dietary restraint than women in the NECB group (p's ranging from <.0001 to .017).ConclusionsInterestingly, women who use exercise as a compensatory behavior consumed higher amounts of alcohol, but did not drink more frequently than women who did not use exercise as a compensatory behavior. Women who use exercise as a compensatory behavior also endorse drinking and exercise motives more strongly than women who did not use exercise as a compensatory behavior.     

Problem-solving training for family caregivers of women with disabilities: A randomized clinical trial

ObjectiveTo examine the effectiveness of an individualized problem-solving intervention provided to family caregivers of women living with severe disabilities.DesignFamily caregivers were randomly assigned to an education-only control group or a problem-solving training (PST) intervention group. Participants received monthly contacts for 1 year.ParticipantsFamily caregivers (64 women, 17 men) and their care recipients (81 women with various disabilities) consented to participate.Main outcome measuresCaregivers completed the Social Problem-Solving Inventory – Revised, the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale, the Satisfaction with Life scale, and a measure of health complaints at baseline and in three additional assessments throughout the year.ResultsMultilevel modeling was used to conduct intent-to-treat analyses of change trajectories for each outcome variable. Caregivers who received PST reported a significant linear decrease in depression over time; no effects were observed for caregiver health or life satisfaction. Caregivers who received PST also displayed an increase in constructive problem-solving styles over the year.ConclusionsPST may benefit community-residing family caregivers of women with disabilities, and it may be effectively provided in home-based sessions that include face-to-face visits and telephone sessions.     

Support during birth interacts with prior trauma and birth intervention to predict postnatal post-traumatic stress symptoms

Background: Many women experience childbirth as traumatic and 2% develop post-traumatic stress disorder. This study examined the role of health practitioner support and personal control during birth as predictors of post-traumatic stress (PTS) symptoms, adjusting for vulnerability factors of prior trauma, depression, control beliefs and birth intervention. It also investigated interactions between support, prior trauma and birth intervention and their association with PTS symptoms.

Methods: A prospective longitudinal survey of 138 women recruited from UK NHS maternity clinics. Measures were taken in pregnancy, 3 weeks and 3 months after the birth.

Results: Support and control during birth were not predictive of postnatal PTS symptoms. However, support was predictive of PTS symptoms in a subset of women with prior trauma (β?=??0.41, R ²?=?16%) at both 3-weeks and 3-months postpartum. The interaction of birth intervention and support was associated with PTS symptoms 3 months after birth, the relationship between support and PTS symptoms was stronger in women experiencing more intervention.

Conclusions: Low support from health practitioners is predictive of postnatal PTS symptoms in women who have a history of trauma. Longer term effects of low support on postnatal PTS symptoms are also found in women who had more intervention during birth.     

Parade strippers: A note on being naked in public

This research studied the practice of exposing the female breasts in exchange for “throws” from Mardi Gras parade floats in the New Orleans area. Data were obtained from men who rode parade floats and from women who exposed themselves. Interviews were done with 51 women parade strippers and 54 male float riders. This phenomenon is compared to nudism, mooning, nude sunbathing, and streaking.     

Running as a way fat women re-story their bodies and construct a runner identity in a North American sociocultural context

AimThis research sought to identify the process by which women who identify as fat or as not having a typical athletic body construct an athletic identity and persist in their running and other athletic endeavors despite body size-related barriers.MethodsFrom an online recruitment effort, 19 North American women runners in larger bodies completed interviews in which they told the story of how they had become runners. A narrative analysis with a feminist, constructivist approach was conducted to identify story types.ResultsFour narrative types were identified: reclaiming the body, reclaiming health, space-making, and future-imagining. Through finding a size- and pace-inclusive running community, running persistently, and completing races, women relinquished the stories they’d believed that their bodies were not athletic since childhood and constructed an identity of runner in a fat body.ConclusionsThese women’s engagement in running is a personal form of resistance against those who define athletic and healthy as “thin” or “fit.” They have found a welcoming athletic community and have moved on to leadership where they are working to make running accessible to other women in bodies like theirs. Those reading these narratives should consider ways in which fat bodies have been excluded from athletics, as well as ways to support the work being done by women runners in fat bodies to redefine health and athleticism.     

Exercise behavior and gender-related differences in posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms

ObjectivesExercise has been proposed as a potential treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, the relationship between exercise, gender, and PTSD symptoms is unknown.DesignThis study examined the cross-sectional relationship among these variables in a national sample of 165 men and women who screened positive for PTSD.MethodParticipants completed an online survey consisting of the Godin Leisure-Time Exercise Questionnaire and the PTSD Checklist-Civilian.ResultsActive participants had significantly lower PTSD symptoms than insufficiently active participants. Significant interactions between gender and exercise for PTSD symptoms were found, such that active men had significantly lower PTSD symptoms than active women, and insufficiently active men and women. Additionally, strenuously active men reported significantly lower hyperarousal symptoms than strenuously active women, and insufficiently active men and women.ConclusionFindings suggest that the relationship between PTSD and exercise may differ for specific sub-populations of individuals with PTSD, such as men and women.     

Postsurgical physical activity and fatigue-related daily interference in women with non-metastatic breast cancer

Purpose: Women undergoing surgery for breast cancer experience side effects, such as fatigue, reduced quality of life (QOL) and depression. Physical activity (PA) is associated with improved psychological adjustment during treatment and survivorship, yet little is known about how PA relates to fatigue, depression and QOL in the period following surgery for breast cancer. The purpose of the study was to examine the relationships between these constructs in women who recently underwent surgery for breast cancer.

Methods: At 2–10 weeks post-surgery, 240 women with non-metastatic breast cancer reported intensity and duration of moderate and vigorous PA (MVPA), fatigue (intensity and interference), depressed mood, clinician-rated depression and functional QOL.

Results: In the path analysis models tested, women that reported greater weekly MVPA reported less fatigue interference, greater functional QOL, less depressed mood, and lower clinician-rated depression. Tests of indirect effects suggested that fatigue interference may be an intermediate pathway by which MVPA relates to functional QOL, clinician-rated depression and depressed mood.

Conclusion: Women who are more physically active in the months after breast cancer surgery show greater psychological adaptation in the initial phases of their treatment.     

Burning or Building Bridges

SUMMARY

Among the population of physically abused women who present individually in therapy, there is a portion who struggle with their indecisiveness about whether or not they should work toward resolving or terminating their heterosexual relationship. This paper will examine clinical methods that are employed through individually based systemic therapy to assist women who find themselves in such confusing and perilous situations. Due to the complexity of the problem” emphasis is placed on addressing salient issues efficiently and non-judgmentally. Central to treatment is client engagement and the challenging of constraining client beliefs.     

Search for meaning,finding meaning and adjustment in women following miscarriage: A longitudinal study

Objective: The purpose of this study was to explore the associations between meaning making and psychological adjustment in 127 women who experienced a miscarriage.

Design: A longitudinal and controlled study design was employed.

Main outcome measures: Meaning-making variables and distress outcomes were examined at four, seven and 16?weeks after miscarriage, in two groups of women, one who had medical investigations of the cause of their loss, and a control group receiving standard care.

Results: Search for meaning was very common and it declined with time after miscarriage. By seven weeks post-loss, more than half the women reported that they had found meaning/understood why the miscarriage happened. Providing information about the cause of the loss was associated with finding meaning. A decline in the search for meaning and finding meaning at seven weeks post-miscarriage, predicted levels of distress at 16?weeks, whilst controlling for the initial distress and for significant background factors.

Conclusions: This study provides support for the notion that search for meaning is very common following negative life events, such as miscarriage, and that finding meaning is important in many peoples’ process of adjustment. Providing information about the cause of the loss facilitates finding meaning.     

Understanding physical activity behavior and cognitions in pregnant women: An application of self-determination theory

ObjectivesAlthough regular exercise during pregnancy is linked with improved health outcomes for both mother and foetus, many pregnant women are inactive. The purpose of this study was to use organismic integration theory (OIT) as the guiding theory for examining the relationship between autonomous and controlled motives for (a) exercise behavior reported over a typical week and barriers to exercise and (b) exercise and stage of pregnancy (i.e., trimester).DesignCross-sectional.MethodsParticipants (N = 75) were pregnant women who completed a multi-component, Internet-based survey.ResultsMultiple regression analyses showed that identified regulation predicted greater exercise behavior and fewer exercise barriers, irrespective of trimester. Further analyses indicated that women in the first trimester reported significantly higher identified regulation compared to women in either second or third trimesters.ConclusionsOverall, these findings reinforce the importance of distinguishing controlled from autonomous exercise motives and demonstrate the tenability of OIT for enhancing our understanding of exercise behavior and barriers during pregnancy.     

Menopausal stage and age and perceptions of body image

Abstract

The aim of This study was to investigate the association between menopausal stage and age and women's perception of their body image. Females from a community sample (n = 304. age range from 35 to 65 years) volunteered to complete a structured questionnaire which contained the Multidimensional Body Self Relations Questionnaire (MBSRQ) and the Stunkard Body Shape Figure Scale. One hundred and twenty women were premenopausal, 76 women were perimenopausal and 108 were postmenopausal. The effects of age and menopausal stage could not be separated in ratings of appearance evaluation, fitness evaluation, current, ideal and societal ratings of the Stunkard Body Shape Figure Scale. Premenopausal women (who were likely to be younger) had more positive ratings of appearance evaluation and fitness evaluation than menopausal women (who were likely to be older). Women who were premenopausal nominated smaller figures from the Stunkard Body Shape Figure Scale for ratings of the current, ideal and societal body shape than women who were perimenopausal and postmenopausal. The implications of these findings as they relate to women as they progress through the menopausal transition and as they become older is discussed.     

Chronic pelvic pain: A meta-analytic review

Abstract

Chronic pelvic pain (CPP) in women of reproductive age is a common complaint; for many women no identifiable pathology can be found. Research has suggested that women who have chronic pelvic pain without obvious pathology differ on a range of psychological characteristics, such as anxiety and depression, compared with those with identified pathology. A meta-analysis of 22 studies was undertaken to clarify these issues. Results showed that there were no significant differences on a range of psychological variables between women who were identified, via laparoscopy and clinical judgement, as having organic disorders and those who were not so identified. When women with chronic pelvic pain were compared with pain-free groups a profile of elevated depression, anxiety, neuroticism and psychopathology was found which is consistent with findings from studies of other painful conditions.     

Comparing the body to superior others: Associations with daily exercise and body evaluation in men and women

ObjectivesThis study tested the link between daily body-related upward social comparisons (BUSCs) and exercise behavior, and examined how appearance evaluation and gender may impact this association.MethodIn a weeklong assessment, 87 participants (54% women) completed daily retrospective measures of social comparisons and exercise behavior, and a one-time trait measure of appearance evaluation.ResultsBased on findings from hierarchical linear modeling, men with more negative appearance evaluations reported higher exercise engagement on days when they made more (compared to less) BUSCs. Meanwhile, women with more negative appearance evaluations reported less exercise engagement on days when they engaged in more (compared to less) BUSCs.ConclusionsAmong individuals who experience negative appearance evaluations, upward body comparisons are associated with more exercising among men, and lower exercise among women. BUSCs have an important role in promoting adaptive exercise behaviors and managing negative body image.     

Daily relations between social perceptions and physical activity among college women

ObjectivesThere is a need to develop more effective physical activity (PA) promotion programs for college women. Theory and evidence suggest that perceptions of the social environment play a role in college women’s PA, though little is known about how these perceptions are associated with PA at the day level. The goal of this study was to examine relations between changes in college women’s daily social perceptions and objectively assessed PA over seven days.DesignDaily diary method.MethodCollege women (n = 80, M_Age = 20, M_BMI = 23.1 kg/m²) wore Fitbit wristbands and completed daily self-reports of (1) the quantity and perceived intensity of their social interactions (positive/negative), and (2) the occurrence of social comparisons (based on appearance/health/status) for seven days.ResultsMultilevel models showed daily variability in predictors and outcomes (ps < 0.0001), as well as relations between within-person changes in social perceptions and PA. Increases in negative interactions (particularly those with friends) were consistently associated with decreases in daily PA, whereas increases in positive interactions showed limited relations (srs = −0.22-0.34). Days with health comparisons were days with greater PA for women who had stronger overall interest in comparisons, but were days with less PA for women with weaker overall interest (srs = 0.22–0.33). PA did not differ between days with vs. without appearance comparisons.ConclusionsSocial perceptions show meaningful day-to-day variability and relations with college women’s daily PA, and specific associations may be useful for improving tailored interventions for college women.     

Development of an Abuse Screening Tool for Women with Disabilities

Abstract

Women with disabilities are at increased risk for violence, including forms of abuse that can be experienced by all women as well as forms unique to women with disabilities, such as abuse by personal assistants. The purpose of this study was to develop an abuse-screening tool unique to women with disabilities. The tool, which was based on previous research, was field-tested with 47 women who experienced physical and/or cognitive disabilities. Final refinement of the tool's wording and formatting was accomplished through focus groups and individual interviews. Women with disabilities were receptive to participating in screening, which facilitated the identification of abuse and risk factors. Recommendations for abuse screening and risk assessment with women who have disabilities are presented.     

Cumulative trauma and midlife well-being in American women who served in Vietnam: effects of combat exposure and postdeployment social support

Background and Objectives: Research increasingly demonstrates that trauma exposure can have cumulative effects, yet much remains to be learned about effects of cumulative trauma, particularly regarding longer term adjustment. One such trauma, combat exposure, is insufficiently understood, especially for women, who are increasingly engaged in professional combat activities. Design: The study comprised a cross-sectional survey assessing multiple aspects of current well-being in women approximately 25 years after their service in Vietnam during the Vietnam War. Methods: Participants were 1374 women (78% military and 22% nonmilitary; mean age = 59.7). This study investigated the relations between three separate categories of trauma exposure (childhood, adulthood, and combat) and well-being and examined whether perceived social support at return from Vietnam moderated the association between combat exposure and well-being. Results: While both childhood and adulthood trauma exposure related to midlife well-being, combat exposure still uniquely predicted outcomes. Further, postdeployment perceived social support moderated the association of combat and well-being: recollected higher perceived social support at homecoming buffered participants from the links between combat exposure and well-being. Conclusions: These results may have important implications for interventions to reduce the impact of traumatic experiences, particularly in light of the increasing exposure of women to direct combat events.     

The Burden Left My Heart

Abstract

This paper presents psychosocial services for displaced women living in the war zones. Two study groups were formed from two cities in Croatia, Zenica and Tuzla. The services were designed to ameliorate distress and improve psychosocial functioning. A questionnaire-based evaluation indicated that highly distressed women derived greater benefit from group psychotherapy (Tuzla) than did the group who participated in occupational activities (Zenica).     

A qualitative exploration of apprehended women’s experience of drink driving events

BackgroundIn Australia, drink driving remains a serious road safety issue. The few studies that have addressed drink driving behaviour amongst women often focus on aggregated statistical comparisons to men or view the concept of drink driving as part of broader criminological behaviour. In contrast, scant research has directly focused on convicted female drink drivers. The aim of this study was to explore the factors that contribute to drink driving in a cohort of women convicted for drink driving and examine why these women were unsuccessful in mitigating the risk of engaging in drink driving behaviour.MethodThe study thematically analysed the narratives of 14 women who had been apprehended and subsequently convicted of a drink driving offence in the state of Queensland (Australia). All participants were recruited by way of their attendance at a drink driving education program.ResultsOverall examination of participants’ narratives revealed drink driving behaviour derived from a complex set of processes including taking a risk, using alcohol to self-medicate and alleviate psychological distress, basing the decision to drive on subjective assessment, and past engagement in drink driving behaviour and punishment avoidance. Underpinning these themes was the participants lack of awareness about the increasing risks associated with their alcohol consumption levels, with cognisance only being achieved after apprehension.ConclusionThese findings add to the limited research addressing drink driving behaviour among women and highlight important factors to explain why women are increasingly engaging in this risky behaviour.     

Fat Women’s Experiences in Therapy: “You Can’t See Beyond…Unless I Share It with You”

Abstract

This article reports the results of a qualitative exploration of fat women’s experiences with weight-related microaggressions in psychotherapy. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 15 women about their weight-related experiences as therapy clients and asked for their advice to therapists who work with fat women. We used a general inductive approach to code the data into themes and found that common microaggressions included therapists who overly focused on weight, therapists who appeared to be less interested in clients because of their weight, and dissatisfaction with waiting room seating options. Participants advised therapists to allow their clients to initiate conversations about weight. Results suggest the need for increased awareness of: (a) how clients’ weight may impact therapists’ attitudes and choice of interventions and (b) how weight might influence fat clients’ in-session presentations.