An exploratory study of social support, distress, and life disruption among low-income Hispanic women under treatment for early stage breast cancer.

Relationships between distress and perceived availability of social support were examined in 51 Hispanic women being treated for early stage breast cancer. Distress and different types (emotional, instrumental) and sources (spouse, women family members, other family members, friends) of support were measured at presurgery, postsurgery, and at 3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-ups. Emotional support from friends and instrumental support from spouse at presurgery predicted lower distress postsurgery. No other prospective benefits of perceived support emerged. Distress at several time points predicted erosion of subsequent support, particularly instrumental support from women in the family. In contrast to the adverse effects of distress (and independent of them), illness-related disruption of recreational and social activities at 6 months elicited greater support at 12 months.     

Coping among african-american,hispanic, and non-hispanic white women recently treated for early stage breast cancer

Relatively little is known about how members of minority groups cope with experiences such as diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer – in particular, whether coping patterns among minorities differ from that of the majority. This study adds to the existing knowledge base using a cross-sectional sample of middle-class African-American (n = 26), Hispanic (n = 59), and non-Hispanic White women (n = 151) who had been treated for early stage breast cancer in the past year. We tested for differences in coping responses per se and also for the possibility that coping would relate to distress differently in different groups. There were only two differences in coping (controlling for medical variables, education, and distress): compared to non-Hispanic White women, the other two groups both reported using humor-based coping less, and religion-based coping more. There was one difference in how coping related to distress: venting related more strongly to elevated distress among Hispanic than among non-Hispanics. Discussion centers on a growing consensus on ethnic differences in religious and humor-based coping, and on the relative absence of other coping differences among these populations.     

Concerns about breast cancer and relations to psychosocial well-being in a multiethnic sample of early-stage patients.

Much work on psychosocial sequelae of breast cancer has been guided by the assumption that body image and partner reaction issues are focal. In a tri-ethnic sample of 223 women treated for early-stage breast cancer within the prior year, the authors assessed a wider range of concerns and relations to well-being. Strongest concerns were recurrence, pain, death, harm from adjuvant treatment, and bills. Body-image concerns were moderate; concern about rejection was minimal. Younger women had stronger sexual and partner-related concerns than older women. Hispanic women had many stronger concerns and more disruption than other women. Life and pain concerns and sexuality concerns contributed uniquely to predicting emotional and psychosexual disruption; life and pain concerns and rejection concerns contributed to predicting social disruption. In sum, adaptation to breast cancer is a process bearing on several aspects of the patient's life space.     

Integrating the dynamics of personality and close relationship processes: methodological and data analytic implications

A common theme that has emerged from classic and contemporary theoretical work in both the fields of personality and relationship science is a focus on process. Current process-focused theories bearing on personality invoke a view of the individual in ongoing action and interaction with the environment, reflecting a flow of experience rather than a static depiction. To understand the processes by which personality interacts with the social environment (particularly dyads), investigations must capture individuals interacting in multiple interpersonal situations, which likely necessitates complex study designs and corresponding data analytic strategies. Using an illustrative simulated data set, we focus on diary methods and corresponding individual and dyadic multilevel models to capture person-situation interaction within the context of processes in daily close relationship life. Finally, we consider future directions that conceptualize personality and close relationship processes from a dynamical systems theoretical and methodological perspective.     

Serotonin transporter polymorphism interacts with childhood adversity to predict aspects of impulsivity

The serotonin transporter polymorphism has been linked--often in interaction with environmental adversity--to a variety of outcomes, including affective disorders. This polymorphism is widely viewed as relating to anxiety traits. A different view is that it relates instead to impulsivity (vs. control) in reacting to emotions. In a test of the latter view, 303 students were genotyped on this polymorphism and completed self-reports bearing on impulsive reactions to emotions (including both negative and positive emotions in separate measures), impulsive tendencies that do not stem from emotions, and childhood adversity. The impulsivity measures reflected three latent variables: pervasive influence of feelings, feelings (including positive feelings) triggering action, and failure to carry through on intentions (with no mention of emotion). Interactions between genotype and adversity emerged for both emotion-related aspects of impulsivity. Theoretical implications of the findings are discussed.     

Effects of viewing ordered pictorial reminders on long-term memory in the first year of life

Previous research has shown that reminders can be effective for extending and enhancing a variety of kinds of memory in infants. We investigated the effects of viewing pictorial representations of actions that were included in imitation events used to measure long-term memory in young infants. Infants who saw the pictures of actions displayed in the order in which they comprised events showed evidence of memory for the events. Infants who saw the actions presented randomly did not. These results suggest that pictures presented during the consolidation and storage phase of memory formation can be effective reminders of events for young infants.     

Optimism, coping, and health: assessment and implications of generalized outcome expectancies

This article describes a scale measuring dispositional optimism, defined in terms of generalized outcome expectancies. Two preliminary studies assessed the scale's psychometric properties and its relationships with several other instruments. The scale was then used in a longitudinal study of symptom reporting among a group of undergraduates. Specifically, respondents were asked to complete three questionnaires 4 weeks before the end of a semester. Included in the questionnaire battery was the measure of optimism, a measure of private self-consciousness, and a 39-item physical symptom checklist. Subjects completed the same set of questionnaires again on the last day of class. Consistent with predictions, subjects who initially reported being highly optimistic were subsequently less likely to report being bothered by symptoms (even after correcting for initial symptom-report levels) than were subjects who initially reported being less optimistic. This effect tended to be stronger among persons high in private self-consciousness than among those lower in private self-consciousness. Discussion centers on other health related applications of the optimism scale, and the relationships between our theoretical orientation and several related theories.     

Physical aggression as a function of objective self-awareness and attitudes toward punishment

Based on a theory of self-awareness, it was hypothesized that subjects would use their attitudes to determine their behaviors when (a) that attitude was salient and (b) their attention was directed toward themselves. Subjects, who on questionnaires had indicated that they opposed or condoned the use of punishment, were given the opportunity to shock a male confederate in two (bogus) learning experiments. Each subject was instructed to use his own attitude in choosing shocks to punish incorrect responses. Self-awareness was increased among half the subjects by the presence of a mirror. In each experiment a Punitiveness by self-awareness interaction resulted: High Punitive-Mirror subjects shocked higher than Low Punitive-Mirror subjects, but their respective No Mirror controls did not differ from each other.