From Group Member to Democratic Citizen: How Deliberating with Fellow Jurors Reshapes Civic Attitudes

This investigation assesses the attitudinal impact of one of America’s most distinctive and famous group activities—jury deliberation. Tocqueville and the U.S. Supreme Court have both reasoned that jury service can promote civic engagement and recent research supports this view. The present study examines whether the attitudinal impact of jury deliberation depends on the quality of one’s jury experience. Two panel surveys of 2,410 total jurors tested the reciprocal relationship between the subjective experience of deliberation and the changes in civic attitudes toward oneself, fellow citizens, and public institutions. Principal results of structural equation models showed multiple effects of jury deliberation on attitudes, but there were no effects on one’s civic identity and political self‐efficacy. Reciprocally, every civic attitude except faith in fellow citizens was predictive of deliberative experience in at least one of the two studies. Overall, the study bolsters the claim of deliberative democratic theorists that the experience of consequential face‐to‐face talk can make private individuals into public citizens by reinforcing their confidence in fellow citizens and public institutions.     

Suicide Ideations,Suicide Attempts,and Completed Suicide in Persons with Pathological Gambling and Their First‐Degree Relatives

We examined the relationship between suicidal ideations and attempts in 95 probands with pathological gambling (PG), 91 controls, and 1075 first‐degree relatives. The results were analyzed using logistic regression with generalized estimating equations. Thirty‐four PG probands (35.8%) and 4 controls (4.4%) had attempted suicide (OR = 12.12, p < .001); in 13 probands, the attempt occurred before PG onset. Lifetime suicidal ideations occurred in 60 PG probands (63.2%) and 12 controls (13.2%) (OR = 11.29, p < .001). Suicidality in PG probands is a marker of PG severity and is associated with greater psychiatric comorbidity. Offspring of PG probands had significantly higher rates of suicide attempts than control offspring.     

Battered Woman Syndrome Questionnaire (BWSQ) Subscales: Development,Reliability, and Validity

ABSTRACT

The current study describes the development and evaluation of the reliability and validity of four components of a comprehensive assessment designed for the purpose of identifying women who manifest symptoms due to an intimate partner violence (IPV) relationship: The Battered Woman Syndrome Questionnaire (BWSQ). More specifically, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the factor structure, validity, temporal stability and internal consistency of four instruments for measuring current functioning of IPV survivors; (a) Interpersonal relationship (BWSQ-IR), (b) Sexual Dysfunction (BWSQ-SD), (c) Body Image (BWSQ-BI), and (d) Post-Traumatic Stress Checklist (BWSQ-PTSC). Overall, results indicate the BWSQ subscales have good temporal stability and internal consistency. Exploratory factor analysis of the four subscales indicate that each has a unidimensional factor structure. Internal consistency was high for each of the subscales. A two-way mixed effects model, intraclass correlation was used to demonstrate a high degree of test-retest reliability. Convergent and discriminant validity was demonstrated by comparing each subscale with the Revised Adult Attachment Scale (AAS), the Derogatis Interview of Sexual Functioning – Sexual Response (DISF-SR), the Objectified Body Consciousness Scale (OBCS) and the Trauma Symptom Inventory (TSI). The four instruments demonstrate sound psychometric properties as standalone measures as well as subscales of the BWSQ.     

The Psychological Well-Being of Women in Their Middle Years

In summary, educated, married women in their fifties generally appear to be happy regardless of their employment status, age, so-cioeconomic status, educational level, husband's attitude, life stressors, and menopausal symptoms. The empty nest transition does not seem to be anything near a universal problem for well-educated middle-aged women. It may, however, act as a "trigger event" for women with other significant problems, just as illness or retirement might trigger distress in some women. The empty nest transition does appear to be very important to women, but it seems that coping ability may be predictive of who will successfully deal with the adjustment. One implication of this finding for psychologists dealing with women in this stage is to teach general coping skills and apply them to specific problem areas relevant to this life stage such as empty nest, career decisions, retirement planning, health care, religion, recreation, and financial security.