Mentoring college-age women: a relational approach

Despite the popularity of mentoring programs, the relational dimension of mentoring has not been elucidated. Traditional conceptions of mentoring may exclude factors that are particularly important for women and girls, thus limiting the efficacy of mentoring programs for female adolescents. We suggest that the presence of relational qualities in the mentoring relationship (e.g., empathy, engagement, authenticity, and empowerment) strongly influences the success of mentoring in the lives of young women. In this study, we use a promising new measure of mentoring, the Relational Health Index – Mentor, to explore the impact of relational aspects of mentoring in female college students. We found that mentoring relationships high in relational qualities were associated with higher self-esteem and less loneliness.     

Site-selective N-methyl-D-aspartate and alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionate antagonists produce distinct effects in rats performing complex discriminations

Glutamate receptor-dependent neural plasticity is thought to be implicated in memory processes. Ionotropic N-methyl-D-aspartate- (NMDA) sensitive and alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionate- (AMPA) sensitive glutamate receptors have been particularly studied for their role in synaptic plasticity. Drugs can alter AMPA and NMDA receptor neurotransmission by competing for the glutamate site or other sites on these receptor proteins. Variants of the protein subunits forming AMPA and NMDA heteromers contribute to the complexity of pharmacological activity at these receptors. The NMDA receptor has numerous modulatory centers, including the glycine binding site, NR2B protein specific binding site, and an intrachannel (PCP) binding site. In this study, the accuracy and rate of rats performing under a Fixed Consecutive Number (FCN) operant task were measured after administrations of site-selective AMPA and NMDA receptor modulators. Test compounds included two glycine site NMDA agonists [(+)HA 966 and D-cycloserine], two NR2-B site NMDA antagonists (eliprodil and ifenprodil), an NMDA channel blocking antagonist (MK 801), and a competitively acting AMPA receptor antagonist (NBQX). The accuracy of FCN performance was not affected by response-rate-altering doses of (+) HA 966, D-cycloserine, eliprodil, ifenprodil, or NBQX. MK 801, on the other hand, reduced performance accuracy at several doses. These results are consistent with earlier studies suggesting that AMPA antagonists minimally affect working memory and that glycine and NR2B protein-specific modulatory sites may have advantages as targets for the development of medications intended to alter NMDA receptor-mediated transmission.     

The epidemiology of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): a public health view

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most common neurodevelopmental disorder of childhood. However, basic information about how the prevalence of ADHD varies by race/ethnicity, sex, age, and socio-economic status remains poorly described. One reason is that difficulties in the diagnosis of ADHD have translated into difficulties developing an adequate case definition for epidemiologic studies. Diagnosis depends heavily on parent and teacher reports; no laboratory tests reliably predict ADHD. Prevalence estimates of ADHD are sensitive to who is asked what, and how information is combined. Consequently, recent systematic reviews report ADHD prevalence estimates as wide as 2%-18%. The diagnosis of ADHD is complicated by the frequent occurrence of comorbid conditions such as learning disability, conduct disorder, and anxiety disorder. Symptoms of these conditions may also mimic ADHD. Nevertheless, we suggest that developing an adequate epidemiologic case definition based on current diagnostic criteria is possible and is a prerequisite for further developing the epidemiology of ADHD. The etiology of ADHD is not known but recent studies suggest both a strong genetic link as well as environmental factors such as history of preterm delivery and perhaps, maternal smoking during pregnancy. Children and teenagers with ADHD use health and mental health services more often than their peers and engage in more health threatening behaviors such as smoking, and alcohol and substance abuse. Better methods are needed for monitoring the prevalence and understanding the public health implications of ADHD. Stimulant medication is the treatment of choice for treating ADHD but psychosocial interventions may also be warranted if comordid disorders are present. The treatment of ADHD is controversial because of the high prevalence of medication treatment. Epidemiologic studies could clarify whether the patterns of ADHD diagnosis and treatment in community settings is appropriate. Population-based epidemiologic studies may shed important new light on how we understand ADHD, its natural history, its treatment and its consequences.     

The relationship between barriers to birth control use and actual birth control use among Mexican-American adolescents

This study examined the relationship between barriers to using birth control and actual use of birth control among a national sample of Mexican-American adolescents. Participants were either over age 15 or sexually active (regardless of age). They responded to survey items on birth control use. Chi-square analysis and t tests were used to investigate whether barriers to using birth control were related to actual use during first intercourse and most recent sexual intercourse. It was found that nonusers had significantly higher barrier scores compared with users of birth control. The results indicate that attitudes toward birth control are associated with actual birth control use among Mexican-American adolescents. Additionally, males and females may have distinct barriers to using birth control. It was concluded that a better understanding of the sexual attitudes and beliefs associated with birth control is needed in order to improve programs seeking to increase the use of birth control among this rapidly expanding, high-risk population.     

Induced emotional interpretation bias and anxiety

Five experiments are reported showing that the interpretation of personally relevant emotional information can be modified by systematic exposure to congruent exemplars. Participants were induced to interpret ambiguous information in a relatively threatening or a benign way. Comparison with a baseline condition suggested that negative and positive induction had similar but opposing effects. Induction of an interpretative bias did not require active generation of personally relevant meanings, but such active processing was necessary before state anxiety changed in parallel with the induced interpretative bias. These findings provide evidence consistent with a causal link between the deployment of interpretative bias and anxiety and reveal something of the processes underlying this association.     

Neighborhood Disorder, Fear, and Mistrust: The Buffering Role of Social Ties with Neighbors

This paper proposes that individuals who report that they live in neighborhoods characterized by disorder—by crime, vandalism, graffiti, danger, noise, dirt, and drugs—have high levels of fear and mistrust. It further proposes that an individual's alliances and connections with neighbors can buffer the negative effects of living in a neighborhood characterized by disorder on fear and mistrust. Results from a representative sample of 2482 Illinois residents collected by telephone in 1995 support the propositions. Living in a neighborhood with a lot of perceived disorder significantly affects mistrust and the fear of victimization, adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics. Perceived neighborhood disorder and social ties significantly interact: informal social ties with neighbors reduce the fear- and mistrust-producing effects of disorder. However, formal participation in neighborhood organizations shows little buffering effect.     

Attributional biases in the service of stereotype maintenance: a schema-maintenance through compensation analysis

Six experiments were conducted to test assumptions of a schema-maintenance through compensation analysis. The results of these experiments indicated that perceivers can compensate for the inconsistent action of one individual (the target) by altering their attribution concerning the action of a fellow group member. When the target performed an inconsistent behavior, perceivers compensated by making especially extreme stereotypically consistent attributions concerning a fellow group member's subsequent action. In addition, in Experiment 5, perceivers compensated via a fellow group member for a target's inconsistent action while maintaining their general view of group members. Experiments also provided tests of the capability and motivation assumptions of the schema-maintenance through compensation analyses.     

Perceptual,affective, and cognitive judgments of odors: pleasantness and handedness effects

The present study sought to examine the differential processing of pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant odors. The effects of the nostril stimulated (left or right) and the type of judgment (perceptual, affective, or cognitive) performed on the olfactory stimuli were also studied. To this end, 64 subjects were asked to smell pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant odors under four conditions (detection, intensity, pleasantness, and familiarity tasks). The participants were to perform these tasks as quickly as possible, while response times were recorded. The results showed that (i) unpleasant odors were assessed more rapidly than neutral or pleasant odors, and that this was specifically true (ii) during right nostril stimulation, and (iii) during pleasantness assessment, suggesting possible differential cerebral hemisphere involvement, with a right-side advantage for processing of unpleasant affect in olfaction. A handedness effect on familiarity judgment is also discussed.