The Relationship Between Trajectories of Family/Cultural Stressors and Depression and Suicidal Ideation Among Substance Using Mexican-American Adults

We used an intersectional minority stress perspective to examine the association between family/cultural stress and mental health among substance-using Mexican-Americans. Employing a unique longitudinal sample of 239 socioeconomically disadvantaged, non-injecting heroin-using Mexican-Americans from San Antonio, Texas, we examined how culturally relevant stressors are related to depression and suicidal ideation. First, we identified depression and suicidal ideation prevalence rates for this disadvantaged sample. Second, we determined how cultural stress is experienced over time using stress trajectories. Third, we evaluated how family/cultural stressors and stress trajectories are related to depression and suicidal ideation outcomes. Results showed high rates of baseline depression (24 %) and suicidal ideation (30 %). We used latent class growth analysis to identify three primary stress trajectories (stable, high but decreasing, and increasing) over three time points during 1 year. We found that the increasing stressors trajectory was associated with higher rates of depression and suicidal ideation, and that stress trajectories had unique relationships with mental illness. We also showed that baseline stressors, sum stressors, and high but decreasing stressors maintained positive associations with mental illness after controlling for baseline depression. Our results highlight the importance of focusing on within-group, culturally specific stressors and addressing both operant and cumulative stressors in the study of mental health for marginalized populations and suggest the importance of early intervention in minimizing stressors.     

The cognitive underpinnings of creative thought: A latent variable analysis exploring the roles of intelligence and working memory in three creative thinking processes

The field of creativity has largely focused on individual differences in divergent thinking abilities. Recently, contemporary creativity researchers have shown that intelligence and executive functions play an important role in divergent thought, opening new lines of research to examine how higher-order cognitive mechanisms may uniquely contribute to creative thinking. The present study extends previous research on the intelligence and divergent thinking link by systematically examining the relationships among intelligence, working memory, and three fundamental creative processes: associative fluency, divergent thinking, and convergent thinking. Two hundred and sixty five participants were recruited to complete a battery of tasks that assessed a range of elementary to higher-order cognitive processes related to intelligence and creativity. Results provide evidence for an associative basis in two distinct creative processes: divergent thinking and convergent thinking. Findings also supported recent work suggesting that intelligence significantly influences creative thinking. Finally, working memory played a significant role in creative thinking processes. Recasting creativity as a construct consisting of distinct higher-order cognitive processes has important implications for future approaches to studying creativity within an individual differences framework.     

Southern Culture and Homicide: Examining the Cracker Culture/Black Rednecks Thesis

Recent scholarship traces the roots of southern violence to the Scots-Irish, who brought a relatively violent “cracker culture” with them to the United States in the eighteenth century. The tolerance for violence inherent in cracker culture was believed to be transmitted throughout the south to other whites and was maintained, in part, through evangelical Christian doctrine. Moreover, Thomas Sowell (2005) recently argued that some southern blacks were also influenced by “cracker culture,” leading to the emergence of a “black redneck” phenomenon influencing homicide among blacks. Using county-level data circa 2000, this study empirically evaluates the merit of the cracker culture/black redneck thesis. Negative binomial regression analyses for a full sample of counties suggest that a measure of southern cracker/black redneck culture is an important factor affecting contemporary rates of argument homicide among both whites and blacks. When counties are divided into south and non-south sub-samples, the results are also consistent: a cracker/black redneck culture effect is evident for both racial groups in the south, and is also apparent outside of the southern region. We interpret these latter findings as possible support for the thesis that southern cracker/black redneck culture has been transported through migration to non-southern localities.     

Korean Immigrant Women's Journey from Abused Wives to Self-Reliant Women

Today's adolescent girls experience sociocultural pressures and life stressors which result in negative mental health outcomes, including binge eating. The purpose of this article is to present a model of psychotherapy for adolescent girls who engage in binge eating. The components in this model include: (a) Feminist Therapy to emphasize client empowerment and the importance of sociocultural context in understanding girls’ concerns; (b) Cognitive Behavior Therapy to help clients to eliminate dieting and to cope with pressures for attaining the beauty ideal; (c) Dialectical Behavior Therapy to assist clients in coping with emotions; and (d) Interpersonal Therapy to help clients improve relational transitions and disputes.     

Controlled trial of a minimal-intervention exercise program for middle-aged working women

Abstract

Despite potential for major benefits, middle-aged women have low levels of aerobic exercise. A 12-week minimal-intervention exercise program was evaluated with female university employees aged 40 to 61. Following pre-testing, participants were randomly assigned to exercise or wait-list control. Testing was repeated at 12, 24 and 48 weeks. Exercisers improved significantly in aerobic fitness at 12 and 24 weeks, both groups decreased resting arterial pnssurc and body composition measures, and improved in exercise knowledge. Effects, however, were not well maintained at 48 weeks. These results are comparable to those obtained fmm intensive interventions and, while modest, suggest that a threshold has been reached for the modification of physiological control systems which are important for reducing cardiovascular disease risk. Middle-aged women face major social and practical baniers to regular exercise, and the minimal-intervention approach allows for a combination of flexibility and structure which seems appropriate for this group.     

The Illness Perceptions and Treatment Beliefs of Individuals with Severe Haemophilia and their Role in Adherence to Home Treatment

The majority of individuals in the UK with severe haemophilia treat themselves at home with clotting factor. The aim of this study was to examine patient's beliefs about their haemophilia, their beliefs regarding treatment with clotting factor and to assess whether relationships existed between these factors and adherence to home treatment. Patient beliefs were assessed by posting individuals with severe haemophilia A and B ( n = 104) the Illness Perceptions Questionnaire (IPQ) and the Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire (BMQ). The final analysis was based on 65 questionnaires yielding a response rate of 63%. Adherence to the frequency and to the amount of each clotting factor dose was assessed for individuals treating prophylactically and the amount of each clotting factor dose for those only treating 'on-demand'. Adherence scores were calculated by comparing individual patient treatment records with recommended regimens. Regression analysis indicated that perceptions of illness identity and treatment necessity explained a significant amount of the variance in adherence to frequency of prophylactic infusions and that illness identity was associated with the adherence to the amount of each prophylactic dose. Further regression analysis also showed that the amount of each dose of clotting factor administered on-demand was associated with perceptions regarding the necessity of treatment. Analysis with a combined measure of adherence to dose amount indicated that patients treating on-demand or with prophylaxis who under treated, recorded significantly lower perceptions of illness consequence than individuals who were fully adherent or who over-treated. The results suggest that assessing illness perceptions, especially beliefs regarding identity , consequence and necessity of treatment, may play a valuable role in identifying which individuals are least likely to adhere to treatment.     

Toward the re‐enchantment of psychotherapy: Stories as container

Abstract

Storytelling by a therapist to clients may serve to increase clients’ ability to bear pain, to increase self‐complexity, and expand clients’ senses of the allowable. A model delineating the therapeutic impact of therapist storytelling in psychotherapy is proposed. Stories may change clients’ selves so that they may accommodate traumatic experiences and internal complexity. Stories increase clients’ capacity to tolerate painful experience and therefore serve as a container of tragic life experiences. The artistry of therapeutic story selection is defined as choosing stories consonant with clients’ strengths, rather than with the nature of the trauma. The power of story‐listening to alter consciousness in pleasant ways (storystoned) increases its usefulness as an intervention that is neither anxiety provoking nor re‐traumatizing.     

Short-Term Memory and Working Memory in Children with Blindness: Support for a Domain General or Domain Specific System?

The study explored the contribution of two component processes (phonological and executive) to blind children's memory performance. Children with blindness and sight were matched on gender, chronological age, and verbal intelligence and compared on measures of short-term memory (STM) and working memory (WM). Although the measures were highly correlated, the results from two experiments indicated that the blind children were superior to sighted children on measures of STM, but not on measures of WM. The results supported the notion that children with blindness have advantages on memory tasks that draw upon resources from the phonological loop. However, comparable performance between the ability groups on WM measures suggests there are domain specific aspects in the executive system.     

Formation of FeNi with L10-ordered structure using high-pressure torsion

FeNi with the L1₀-ordered structure is formed over an astronomical timescale in meteorites. In this study, severe plastic deformation using high-pressure torsion (HPT) is employed for the production of the L1₀ structure in the laboratory. Its formation is confirmed by X-ray diffraction analysis and transmission electron microscopy. Processing of elemental nanopowders by HPT is an effective method for the formation of the L1₀ phase, which is enhanced by the addition of Co to FeNi or annealing after HPT. The formation of the phase must be associated with enhanced diffusion through HPT.     

Loss of coherency of the alpha/beta interface boundary in titanium alloys during deformation

The loss of coherency of interphase boundaries in two-phase titanium alloys during deformation was analyzed. The energy of the undeformed interphase boundary was first determined by means of the van der Merwe model for stepped interfaces. The subsequent loss of coherency was ascribed to the increase of interphase energy due to absorption of lattice dislocations and was quantified by a relation similar to the Read–Shockley equation for low-angle boundaries in single-phase alloys. It was found that interphase boundaries lose their coherency by a strain of approximately 0.5 at T = 800°C.