Forgotten warriors: an evaluation of the emotional well-being of presently incarcerated Vietnam veterans

The emotional well-being of a group of incarcerated Vietnam veterans within the maximum security section of a state prison was assessed along with comparison groups of veterans and nonveterans. The Multiple Affect Adjective Check List (MAACL) (Zuckerman & Lubin, 1965), the Adjective Check List (ACL) (Gough & Heilbrun, 1983), and the Military Life Questionnaire (MLQ) (Panzarella, Mantell, & Bridenbaugh, 1978) were administered. Both the factors of incarceration and Vietnam experience proved significant on a number of MAACL, ACL, and MLQ measures, including depression, anxiety, hostility, and personal adjustment. The MLQ results also indicated that, compared to their nonincarcerated counterparts, the incarcerated veterans were more likely to be black, to have come from a less supportive family background, to have been assigned to an Army infantry combat unit, to have been injured in combat, and to have witnessed or been involved in the killing of enemy soldiers, prisoners, and civilians while in Vietnam. Many incarcerated veterans apparently began as poor prospects in terms of their social, economic, and interpersonal well-being. They went to Vietnam, bore the brunt of these experiences, and emerged as even poorer prospects, all the more at risk and prone to incarceration.     

Examining genetic and environmental effects on reactive versus proactive aggression

This study compared the contribution of genes and environment to teacher-rated reactive and proactive aggression in 6-year-old twin pairs (172 pairs: 55 monozygotic girls, 48 monozygotic boys, 33 dizygotic girls, 36 dizygotic boys). Genetic effects accounted for 39% of the variance of reactive aggression and for 41% of the variance of proactive aggression. The remainder of the variance was explained by unique environmental effects. Genetic as well as unique environmental effects were significantly correlated across reactive and proactive aggression (genetic correlation = .87, environmental correlation = .34), but this overlap was largely due to a common underlying form of aggression (i.e., teacher-rated physical aggression). Once common etiological factors due to physical aggression were accounted for, reactive and proactive aggression shared no other genes and only a few environmental influences, although additional specific genetic and environmental effects were observed for both reactive and proactive aggression. These specific effects indicate that both reactive and proactive aggression may be influenced mostly by socialization experiences that are specific to each type of aggression and only to a very small degree by specific genes.     

Do Early Difficult Temperament and Harsh Parenting Differentially Predict Reactive and Proactive Aggression?

The goal of this study was to examine the links between difficult temperament (i.e., negative emotionality) and harsh parental discipline during toddlerhood, and reactive and proactive aggression in kindergarten. These links were assessed on a longitudinal population-based study of 1516 boys and girls followed longitudinally from the age of 17 months through the age of 72 months. Two possible models were tested to examine the interplay between negative emotionality and harsh parenting in predicting later reactive aggression compared to proactive aggression. The first was an additive model where both aspects make unique contributions in predicting later reactive aggression. The second model was an interactive model where harsh parenting exacerbates the link between negative emotionality and reactive aggression. Results showed a specific contribution of negative emotionality to reactive aggression. The results relative to harsh parenting are more mixed but nonetheless in line with developmental models stressing different pathways to reactive and proactive aggression.     

Early and middle childhood developmental,cognitive, and psychiatric outcomes of Malawian children affected by retinopathy positive cerebral malaria

The objective is to determine the short -and long-term developmental, cognitive, and psychiatric effects of retinopathy positive cerebral malaria (CM-R) among young children in a prospective study assessing them around the onset of disease and again 2 years at preschool and again at school age.

In total, 109 children were recruited from the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre, Malawi, (N = 49) with CM-R and non-malaria controls (N = 60). Children were assessed for overall motor, language, and social skills using the Malawi Developmental Assessment Tool (MDAT) at preschool age. At school age, the same children were then given the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children, second edition (KABC-II), which assessed global cognitive performancememory, and learning; as well as the Test of Variables of Attention (TOVA), which assessed attention. The Achenbach Child Development Checklist (CBCL) was administered at both time points to assess emotional and behavioral patterns.

Controls scored significantly better on all KABC-II global domains as well as on the mental processing index than their CM-R group counterparts, but showed no performance differences in the TOVA and CBCL assessments at school age, or in the MDAT and CBCL assessments at preschool age. The MDAT total score was significantly correlated with the KABC-II sequential processing, learning, and mental processing index among CM-R survivors but not among controls.

Persisting neurocognitive effects of CM can be captured with the KABC-II at school age. The MDAT at preschool age is correlated with the KABC-II among CM-R survivors and can be used to capture early emerging developmental deficits due to CM-R.     

Dispositional optimism, trait anxiety, and coping: unique or shared effects on biological response to fertility treatment?

The aim of this study was to examine the unique and shared predictive power of psychological variables on reproductive physical health. Three months before fertility treatment, 97 women completed measures of dispositional optimism, trait anxiety, and coping. Information about biological response to treatment (e.g., estradiol level) was collected from medical charts after treatment. Structural equation modeling showed that measured psychological variables were all significant indicators of a single latent construct and that this construct was a better predictor of biological response to treatment than was any individual predictor. This research contributes to evidence suggesting that the health benefits of dispositional optimism are due to its shared variance with neuroticism.