The Psychosocial Vulnerability Model of Hostility as a Predictor of Coronary Heart Disease in Low-income African Americans

The current study examined social support and stress as mediators of the hostility—coronary heart disease (CHD) relationship as suggested by the psychosocial vulnerability model in a sample of low-income African Americans. Among 95 CHD patients and 30 healthy controls, hostility was negatively correlated with social support, but was not related to minor stress. CHD patients endorsed higher levels of hostility; however, the relationship between hostility and CHD status was diminished once stress and social support were included in the model. This study lends partial support for the psychosocial vulnerability model of hostility in African Americans, but suggests that the relationship between hostility and stress may be impacted by socioeconomic status.     

Validation of scales from the Deployment Risk and Resilience Inventory in a sample of Operation Iraqi Freedom veterans

The Deployment Risk and Resilience Inventory (DRRI) is a suite of scales that can be used to assess deployment-related factors implicated in the health and well-being of military veterans. Although initial evidence for the reliability and validity of DRRI scales based on Gulf War veteran samples is encouraging, evidence with respect to a more contemporary cohort of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) veterans is not available. Therefore, the primary goal of the present study was to validate scales from the DRRI in a large sample of OIF army personnel diversified in occupational and demographic characteristics. In general, results supported the use of these DRRI scales in this population. Internal consistency reliability estimates were quite strong. Additionally, support was obtained for criterion-related validity, as demonstrated by associations with mental and physical health measures, and discriminative validity, as demonstrated by differences between key military subgroups.     

Methylphenidate amplifies long-term plasticity in the hippocampus via noradrenergic mechanisms

Methylphenidate treatment is used for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and can improve learning and memory. Previously, improvements were considered a by-product of increased attention; however, we hypothesize that methylphenidate directly alters mechanisms underlying learning and memory, and therefore examined its effects on hippocampal long-term potentiation and long-term depression. Methylphenidate enhanced both mechanisms in the absence of presynaptic changes and in a noradrenalin beta-receptor-dependent manner. These findings can explain both the improved learning and memory and decreased learning selectivity found with methylphenidate treatment and constitute the first demonstration of direct actions of methylphenidate on mechanisms implicated in cognition.     

Distress, coping, and blogging: comparing new myspace users by their intention to blog.

New Myspace.com users (N = 134, mean age 24.5 years) completed a questionnaire about their intent to blog and several psychosocial variables. Intending bloggers scored higher on psychological distress, self-blame, and venting and scored lower on social integration and satisfaction with number of online and face-to-face friends. Intending bloggers may view this activity as a potential mechanism for coping with distress in situations in which they feel inadequately linked with social supports.     

Characterization and sociocultural predictors of neuropsychological test performance in HIV+ Hispanic individuals

Hispanic individuals in the U.S. have been disproportionately impacted by HIV/AIDS, yet little is known regarding the neuropsychological sequelae of HIV within the Hispanic population. This study characterized neuropsychological (NP) test performance of HIV+ English-speaking Hispanic participants (n = 51) and investigated the combined roles of sociocultural factors (e.g., ethnicity, socioeconomic status [SES] proxy, and reading level) on NP test performance among our HIV+ Hispanic and non-Hispanic White participants (n = 49). Results revealed that the pattern of NP impairment in HIV+ Hispanic participants is consistent with the frontal-striatal pattern observed in HIV-associated CNS sequelae, and the overall prevalence of global NP impairment was high compared to previous reports with more ethnically homogeneous, non-Hispanic White cohorts. Multivariate prediction models that considered both sociocultural factors and CD4 count revealed that reading level was the only unique predictor of global NP functioning, learning, and attention/working memory. In contrast, ethnicity was the only unique predictor of abstraction/executive functioning. This study provides support for the use of neuropsychological evaluation in detecting HIV-associated NP impairment among HIV+ Hispanic participants and adds to the growing literature regarding the importance of considering sociocultural factors in the interpretation of NP test performance.     

Implicit Religion: A Contemporary Theory for the Relationships between Religion,State, and Society

This article demonstrates that the term ‘implicit religion’ provides an effective way to explore some of the philosophies and ideologies common to church, state, and society and to explain the mutual influence of traditional religion, civil religion, and folk religion in the creation of a national identity. Examples of church–state interactions from three continents are provided and variations in the definition of a national church are discussed. The effect of these variations on cross-cultural studies in religion, state, and society are assessed. The article concludes by examining the potential of the construct of implicit religion for bridging the different historical and cultural understandings of religion.     

Children's conceptions of Jesus

This paper presents findings from a recent study investigating young children's (aged 10–11) conceptions of Jesus in England. The overall picture revealed by the study is that whilst there was a general assent amongst pupils in our sample towards an ethical and humanistic conception of the historical Jesus, there was less of a consensus about those issues which previous research claims children find difficult to understand, namely: the divinity of Jesus; the miracles of Jesus; and Christian beliefs pertaining to Jesus' continued presence in people's lives today. The paper concludes by arguing that the variety of conceptions of Jesus which are encountered in religious education (RE) may be seen by children as a barrier to learning rather than an opportunity to grow in understanding and highlights the need for further research into the relationship between children's hermeneutical horizons and RE curriculum content.