Psychosocial predictors of anxiety among immigrant Mexican migrant farmworkers: implications for prevention and treatment

This study examined predictors of anxiety symptomatology among immigrant Mexican migrant farmworkers in the Midwest. Its purposes were to assess the prevalence of anxiety symptoms, to examine the relationship between acculturative stress and anxiety, and to determine the variables that best predict anxiety. Heightened levels were found for overall anxiety and in the cognitive, affective, and physiological expressions of anxiety. Elevated acculturative stress, low self-esteem, ineffective social support, lack of control and choice in living a migrant farmworker lifestyle, low religiosity, and high education were significantly related to high anxiety. Findings suggest that migrant farmworkers who experience elevated acculturative stress are susceptible to the development of anxiety-related disorders and highlight the importance of establishing prevention and treatment services for migrant farmworkers.     

Psychological and family factors associated with suicidal ideation in pre-adolescents

To assess the psychological and family factors associated with suicidal ideation in pre-adolescent children, we studied a sample of 361 students, average age 9 years old. Two groups were formed, on the basis of the presence (n = 34) or absence (n = 44) of suicidal ideation. Suicidal ideation was assessed with the Children's Depression Inventory and the Children's Depression Rating Scale-Revised. Depression, hopelessness, self-esteem, and perceived family environment were compared in both the suicidal ideation and the control groups. Students with suicidal ideation generally presented greater depressive symptoms and hopelessness, and lower self-esteem and family expressiveness, although there were differences both between sexes, and when the variable depression was controlled. Identifying these risk factors in pre-adolescents may have an impact on prevention of suicidal behavior at higher risk ages.     

Attending, ignoring, and repetition: on the relation between negative priming and inhibition of return

A series of spatial localization experiments is reported that addresses the relation between negative priming and inhibition of return. The results of Experiment 1 demonstrate that slowed responses to repeated location stimuli can be obscured by repetition priming effects involving stimulus dimensions other than spatial location. The results of Experiments 2, 3A, and 3B demonstrate that these repetition priming effects may occur only when participants are required to respond to the prime display. Together, these results suggest that differences between attended and ignored repetition effects in selective attention studies of spatial localization do not provide a basis for distinguishing between spatial negative priming and inhibition of return.     

Body mass index in female Spanish Olympic athletes

The purpose of this study was to examine the Body Mass Index of 180 female Spanish Olympic athletes (M age = 27.1 yr., SD = 5.9 yr.) who participate in presentation sports and nonpresentation sports, in comparison with 114 female nonathletes (M age = 20.7, SD = 1.5 yr.). Presentation sports athletes have a profile similar to that of a university student but by age with a lower Body Mass Index. In particular, rhythmic gymnasts have a lower weight and Body Mass Index than other athletes and nonathletes.     

Early psychological consequences of the March 11, 2004, terrorist attacks in Madrid, Spain

On March 11, 2004, Al-Qaeda set off 10 bombs on several train routes in Madrid. 192 people were killed and 2,000 wounded. In this study, 1,179 questionnaires were administered Week 2 after the attacks to residents 18 years and over from the affected geographical areas. The questionnaire included items about sociodemographic variables and exposure to the attacks. Psychological effects were assessed as presence of acute stress and depressive symptomatology and functional impairment. 46.7% of the sample presented symptomatology of acute stress and 49.6% depressive symptoms. Among the symptoms of acute stress, the most frequent were re-experiencing (72.5%) and dissociative symptoms (71.8%). The chief predicting variables in symptomatology were being female, over 65 yr. old, and a habitual train user. The large number of affected people was refined with an item analysis and the consideration of severity of interference in psychosocial functioning.     

Effector-dependent learning by observation of a finger movement sequence

Can observational learning be effector dependent? In 3 experiments, observers watched a model respond to a 6-item unique sequence in a serial reaction time task. Their sequence knowledge was then compared with that of controls who had performed an unrelated task or observed a model responding to random targets. Observational learning was indicated when the introduction of a new sequence was associated with more reaction time elevation in observers than in controls. The authors found evidence of observational learning only when observers used the finger movement sequence that they observed during training, not when they responded at the same sequence of locations using different digits. Free generation and recognition tests also detected observational learning. These results imply that observational learning can be both explicit and effector dependent.     

An extended comparator hypothesis account of superconditioning

Three conditioned taste aversion experiments with rats investigated superconditioning. In each experiment, alternate exposures of 2 flavor compounds with a common element (i.e., AB/AS) were administered to establish an inhibitory relationship between the 2 unique elements, B and S, and prior to testing, S was paired with lithium chloride (LiCl). In Experiment 1, pairings of a neutral cue (X) with S in compound with B after the AB/AS exposures resulted in superconditioning between X and S. Extinction of the common element (A) just before the S-LiCl pairing attenuated both the inhibitory relationship between B and S (Experiment 2) and superconditioning between X and S (Experiment 3). These observations suggest that superconditioning consists of enhanced performance rather than enhanced associative acquisition.     

Characteristics of suicide attempters and nonattempters with schizophrenia in a rural community

In this study, demographic and clinical characteristics of individuals with schizophrenia in a Chinese rural community who had attempted suicide at some time in their lives and those who had not made a suicide attempt were compared. Among individuals with schizophrenia, subjects with (n = 38) and without (n = 472) a lifetime history of suicide attempt were assessed with the Present State Examination. The results indicate that attempters had a significantly younger age, higher level of education, higher rate of lifetime depressed mood and hopelessness, and a larger number of positive symptoms than patients without suicide attempts. The logistic regression models also indicated that hopelessness, the number of positive symptoms and age were the most important predictors. Early interventions focusing on reducing hopelessness and controlling positive symptoms may help reduce the risk of suicide attempts among patients with schizophrenia.     

Category norms for 500 Spanish words in five semantic categories

This study presents a database of 500 words from five semantic categories: animals, body parts, furniture, clothing, and intelligence. Each category contains 100 words, and data on lexical availability, age of acquisition, imageability, typicality, concept familiarity, written word frequency, and word length in number of syllables are provided with each word. The full set of norms may be downloaded from www.psychonomic.org/archive.     

Suicidal behavior among inpatients with schizophrenia and mood disorders in Chengdu, China

This study evaluated the characteristics of suicidal behavior (suicide attempt or suicidal ideation) among 230 consecutively admitted inpatients with schizophrenia and mood disorders in a university hospital in China. The rate of lifetime suicidal behavior was found to be significantly higher in patients with mood disorders (62.4%) than in patients with schizophrenia (38.6%). The rate of suicidal behavior was significantly higher in patients with major depressive disorder (86.8%) than those with bipolar disorders (42.6%). Patients with schizophrenia attempted suicide for the first time earlier in life than the patients with mood disorders. Mood disorder patients, especially those with major depressive disorder, had more and more serious suicide attempts than the patients with schizophrenia.