Benefits and Changes for Family to Family Graduates

Family members of people with serious mental illnesses (SMI) need information and support to cope with the considerable stresses they experience. The Family to Family Education Program (FtF) is a structured, peer-led, 12-week information and support self-help class for such individuals. Previous research by Dixon et al. (2004) shows reduced subjective burden and increased empowerment among graduates. The present study sought to understand what processes take place during FtF participation that might lead to these benefits, as a first step in building a conceptual model of how FtF causes its effects, using semi-structured interviews with 31 FtF graduates. Qualitative data analysis suggested that new factual and emotional information from FtF shifts interviewees' understanding of their situation and that skills acquired through FtF then allow participants to incorporate these new perspectives into more adaptive behaviors. These changes led to both proximal and distal benefits for the FtF participants interviewed. The results are discussed in the context of self-help, stress-and-coping, and trauma recovery theories.     

Estradiol or diarylpropionitrile administration to wild type, but not estrogen receptor beta knockout, mice enhances performance in the object recognition and object placement tasks

Cognitive processes mediated by the hippocampus and cortex are influenced by estradiol (E₂); however, the mechanisms by which E₂ has these effects are not entirely clear. As such, studies were conducted to begin to address the role of actions at the β form of the intracellular estrogen receptor (ERβ) for E₂’s cognitive effects in adult female mice. We investigated whether E₂ improved performance of wild type (WT) and ERβ knockout (βERKO) mice in tasks considered to be mediated by the cortex and hippocampus, the object recognition and object placement tasks. WT and βERKO mice were ovariectomized (ovx) and E₂ (0.1 mg/kg), an ERβ selective ER modulator (SERM), diarylpropionitrile (DPN; 0.1 mg/kg), or oil vehicle was administered to mice following training in these tasks. We hypothesized that if E₂ has mnemonic effects, in part, due to its actions at ERβ, then WT mice administered E₂ or DPN would have improved performance compared to vehicle WT controls, which would not be different from βERKO mice administered vehicle, E₂ or DPN. Alternatively, activation of ERα (with E₂, which is a ligand for both ERα and ERβ) may produce opposing effects on cognition and/or the activation of ERα and ERβ vs. either receptor isoform alone may produce a different pattern of effects. Results obtained supported the hypothesis that ERβ activation is important for mnemonic effects. Ovx WT, but not βERKO, mice administered E₂ or DPN had a greater percentage of time exploring a novel object in the object recognition task and a displaced object in the object placement task. Thus, actions at ERβ may be important for E₂ or SERMs to enhance cognitive performance of female mice in the object recognition and placement tasks.     

Work-family supportiveness organizational perceptions: Important for the well-being of male blue-collar hourly workers?

The current study questions whether organizational perceptions of family supportiveness predict work-family conflict (WFC) and job satisfaction for an atypical sample of male hourly workers in a manufacturing organization, and whether those relationships depend on work (number of work hours) and family (number of family roles) demands. A unidimensional factor structure for the family supportiveness scale was not found; however a subscale for the extent that the organization supported work-family balance was strongly related to WFC and job satisfaction. An interaction was found such that those working long hours in the family-supportive work environment had lower WFC than those working long hours in an unsupportive environment, while the number of family roles (e.g., spouse, parent, eldercare) had no moderating effects. Supporting employees’ non-work life is determined to be important for these employees.     

The relation of moral judgment development and educational experience to recall of moral narratives and expository texts

Moral text processing was used as an ecologically valid method for assessing implicit and explicit moral understanding and development. The authors tested undergraduates, seminarians, and graduate students in political science and philosophy for recall of moral narratives and moral expository texts. Multivariate analyses of covariance using educational experience as an independent variable, age and moral judgment score as covariates, and recall of embedded moral arguments as a dependent variable revealed a relation between education and level of moral arguments recalled. Lower stage moral reasoning was best recalled by undergraduates, whereas higher stage reasoning was best recalled by graduate students, with seminarians intermediate for both types of text. Moral judgment score was related to recall of the highest level moral arguments even when age and educational experience were controlled. Moral judgment development appeared to be particularly helpful in recall of expository compared with narrative texts.     

Culture,method, and the content of self-concepts: Testing trait,individual–self-primacy,and cultural psychology perspectives

Three theoretical perspectives on cultural universals and differences in the content of self-concepts were tested in individualistic (United States, n = 178; Australia, n = 112) and collectivistic (Mexico, n = 157; Philippines, n = 138) cultures, using three methods of self-concept assessment. Support was found for both trait perspectives and the individual–self-primacy hypothesis. In contrast, support for cultural psychology hypotheses was limited because traits and other personal attributes were not more salient, or social attributes less salient, in individualistic cultures than collectivistic cultures. The salience of some aspects of self-concept depended on the method of assessment, calling into question conclusions based on monomethod studies.     

Startle modulation in non-incarcerated men and women with psychopathic traits

Past research has demonstrated that individuals with psychopathic characteristics are under-responsive to aversive stimuli, however, much of this work has failed to include non-incarcerated samples, or to examine gender differences in this relationship. Additionally, few studies have examined the role of specific personality characteristics, as they relate to both psychopathic behavior and emotional responsiveness. The current study assessed emotional modulation of the startle response in a community sample of 108 men and women (99 with usable startle data) during perception of emotion-laden photographs. Consistent with previous work, men reporting high levels of psychopathy failed to show the typical increase in the startle response when exposed to aversive photographs, but only when responses were elicited relatively early in picture viewing (i.e., 2.0 s as compared to 4.5 s post-photograph onset). Additionally, both genders showed a significant effect of harm avoidance and anxiety on modulation of the startle response, such that individuals reporting low levels of each trait failed to show significant responses to aversive photographs. These results suggest that while deficits in emotional processing extend to non-incarcerated samples, the relationship may be influenced by additional factors including gender, personality, and attributes related to incarceration.     

Contributions to Global Self-Esteem: The Role of Importance Attached to Self-Concepts Associated with the Five-Factor Model

Previous research has attempted to clarify the relations that one's self-concepts have with one's global self-esteem. One hypothesis that has received the most attention to date is the view that characteristic attributes that an individual regards as especially important for his or her self-concepts exert the greatest influence on self-esteem. In an investigation of this hypothesis, 375 college undergraduates completed measures of global self-esteem as well as rating scales that assessed self-concepts and the importance attached to these self-concepts in the maintenance of self-esteem. The self-concept and importance domains examined corresponded to the five-factor model (FFM) personality dimensions. Consistent with previous research, importance ratings attached to self-concepts were not found to moderate the relation between self-concepts and self-esteem. Rather, ratings on self-concepts alone accounted for a substantial proportion of variance (53.3%) in self-esteem scores. Bivariate correlations based on FFM dimension scores and self-esteem scores revealed consistent positive associations. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that among the FFM dimensions, self-concept ratings for emotional stability (vs neuroticism), extraversion, and agreeableness significantly predicted self-esteem.     

Jealousy,Gender, and Culture of Honor: A Study in Portugal and Brazil

The purpose of this study was to examine whether gender and culture of honor were associated with the type of infidelity (sexual or emotional) that affected our subjects more. Samples of 192 Portuguese university students (119 women and 73 men) and 415 Brazilian university students (214 men and 201 women) participated in this research. Participants responded to six dilemmas reflecting a type of infidelity (sexual or emotional), a gender scale, and a culture of honor scale. The results of both samples are compatible with the cultural theses about jealousy. Both men and women were more affected by emotional infidelity. In addition, it was found that the relationship between the sex of the participants and the type of infidelity that induced stress in them was affected by sociocultural variables, such as culture of honor, masculinity, and femininity. Some differences in the response patterns in the case of an infidelity, in both samples (Portuguese and Brazilian), are shown and discussed.     

Archetypal Hatred: Orlando Consciousness

The massacre at the gay nightclub Pulse in Orlando, Florida, which killed 49 and wounded 53 people on June 12, 2016, has been termed a terrorist act, another example of the rampant issue of gun control in America, and, of course, a tragedy. It has also been called a hate crime, but most media and other commentary have shied away from a focus on the gay aspect. This article focuses on why the gay community seemed specifically targeted, and what that intentionality represents from a Jungian perspective. Jung's essay on Wotan (a god in Germanic mythology), with a focus on the archetypal underpinnings of Nazi Germany, as well as his thoughts on taboo, specifically relationship taboo in tribal cross-cousin marriages explored in Aion, are examined in an attempt to underscore the importance of an underlying hatred and hostility toward gay men that existed in the unconscious of the shooter, and which may exist in the culture at large. Backlashes from religious groups that occur as gay rights are extended, as well as specific hate crimes like the Orlando shooting, point toward this underlying hostility toward gay men. This hostility is part of a dangerous unconsciousness suffered by the so-called modern world, a reminder of the thin veil of civility we live under: vulnerable, in moments like Orlando, or in larger contexts such as Nazi Germany, to explosion in the form of massacre, despotism, and other tragic and hideous manifestations.     

Unplanned pregnancy and risk of maternal depression: secondary data analysis from a prospective pregnancy cohort

Purpose: to evaluate the relationship between unplanned pregnancy (UP), a common problem in high and low income countries and maternal depression (MD). Methods: Secondary analysis of data from a prospective cohort study with pregnant women recruited from 10 primary care clinics of the public sector in São Paulo, Brazil. Participants were questioned about pregnancy intention at 20–30 weeks of gestation. The Self Report Questionnaire score >7 was used to evaluated the presence of depression during pregnancy and 11 months after childbirth. Four groups of MD were defined: never; antenatal only; postnatal only; persistent (both antenatal/postnatal). Multinomial logistic regression was used to assess the relationship between UP and MD, controlling for confounding. Results: Data were analysed for 701 at the postpartum period. Five hundred and sixty-two (67.8%) women did not plan the pregnancy. Women with UP had 2.5 more risk of being depressed during both assessments (during pregnancy and postpartum) when compared to women with a planned pregnancy (RR: 2.5; 95% CI: 1.47:4.30). In the adjusted models, women with UP were significantly more likely to have persistent depression (RR: 2.3; 95% CI: 1.2:4.3). Conclusion: UP is an independent risk factor for persistent depression, but not for postpartum depression