The dynamic nature of the stress appraisal process and the infusion of affect

Very little is known about the process in which people reappraise a stressful environment or the factors that may influence this process. In the current study, we address the several limitations to previous research regarding stress reappraisals and explore the role of affect on this process. A total of 320 participants (mean age = 20 years, 60% male) completed an increasingly demanding team-based coordination task. Mood and stress appraisals were assessed at three time points using self-report surveys during four different waves of data collection. The longitudinal design enabled us to assess primary and secondary reappraisals (change in appraisals during the experiment), task-irrelevant affect (affect assessed prior to experiment participation), and task-relevant affect (change in affect experienced during the experiment). Guided by the Transactional Theory of Stress, we argue that the relationship between primary reappraisal and secondary reappraisal is an accurate representation of a dynamic stress appraisal process. We found that participants were more likely to engage in the stress appraisal process when they experienced less task-irrelevant positive affect and greater task-relevant positive affect. Both task-irrelevant and task-relevant negative affect were not found to influence the stress appraisal process.     

Promoting Healing and Restoring Trust: Policy Recommendations for Improving Behavioral Health Care for American Indian/Alaska Native Adolescents

American Indian/Alaska Native youth represent the strength and continued survival of many Nations and Tribes. However, they currently experience numerous health disparities and challenges, including the highest rate of suicide among 15–24 year-olds in the United States. Our comprehensive review of the literature on the mental health of AI/AN youth highlighted seven focal causes of behavioral health disparities: (1) high levels of violence and trauma exposure and traumatic loss, (2) past and current oppression, racism, and discrimination, (3) underfunded systems of care, (4) disregard for effective indigenous practices in service provision, policy, and funding, (5) overreliance on evidence-based practices, (6) lack of cultural competence among systems of care and providers, and (7) barriers to care. Seven policy recommendations that recognize the importance of moving beyond exclusive reliance on western models of care and that seek to foster transformation of individuals, families, communities, behavioral health service systems of care, and social structures are presented, supported, and discussed.     

Rebuild or Relocate? Resilience and Postdisaster Decision‐Making After Hurricane Sandy

Hurricane Sandy struck the east coast of the United States on October 29, 2012, devastating communities in its path. In the aftermath, New York implemented a home buyout program designed to facilitate the permanent relocation of residents out of areas considered to be at risk for future hazards. While home buyout programs are becoming popular as policy tools for disaster mitigation, little is known about what factors influence homeowners to participate in or reject these programs. This study used mixed methods to assess the relationship between community resilience and the relocation decision in two heavily damaged communities in which the majority of residents made different decisions regarding whether or not to pursue a buyout. The sample was composed of residents from Oakwood Beach and Rockaway Park, both working‐class communities in New York City, who participated via a community survey (N = 133) and/or in‐depth interviews (N = 28). Results suggested that community resilience moderated the relationship between community of residence and the buyout decision, leading to opposite responses on the buyout decision. Contextual community factors, including the history of natural disasters, local cultural norms, and sense of place, were instrumental in explaining these different responses. Implications for disaster policy are discussed.     

Predictors of injurious assault committed during or after drinking alcohol: a case-control study of young offenders

Studies of causal links between alcohol and aggression are often handicapped by threats to internal and external validity. Case-control methods employ an event-level analysis that can reduce some of these validity threats by the use of within-subject controls. This study used a case-control approach, asking 39 male inmates in a Young Offenders' Institution to compare drinking behaviour before incidents where they reported commission of an injurious assault and a matched incident where they did not. After controlling contextual differences, participants reported personally drinking more heavily and heavier drinking within their group, but not being more impaired when an assault was committed. The assault incidents were more likely to involve spontaneous, rather than planned, drinking and a higher proportion of males in the group. They were less likely to involve drinking in a pub. Our confirmation of previous findings using a case-control methodology strengthens those findings. Limitations of this methodology are also discussed.     

Was It Rape? The Function of Women's Rape Myth Acceptance and Definitions of Sex in Labeling Their Own Experiences

Sex Roles - In a phenomenon called unacknowledged rape, many rape victims do not label their experience “rape.” Does their level of rape myth acceptance influence this labeling process?...     

Accreditation Standards for University and College Counseling Centers

The accreditation standards outlined in the article are used by the International Association of Counseling Services as the basis for the formal accreditation of college and university counseling programs throughout the United States, Canada, and Australia. They reflect the program elements and practice standards that are deemed essential in a counseling center that provides high‐quality services to students.     

The relationship between borderline personality disorder and number of sexual partners

In this study, we examined the number of self-reported lifetime sexual partners between those with and without borderline personality disorder (BPD). Our hypothesis was that, due to the nature of the disorder, those with BPD would exhibit a greater number of lifetime sexual partners. Using a survey methodology in a consecutive sample of internal medicine outpatients (N = 354), we administered two self-report measures for BPD (the borderline personality scale of the Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire-4 and the Self-Harm Inventory), and queried participants, "How many sexual partners have you had in your lifetime?" Correlation coefficients and one-way ANOVAs were conducted to determine the relationship between BPD and the number of sexual partners. According to BPD status with the borderline personality scale of the Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire-4, we found that the mean number of sexual partners among BPD-positive participants was nearly double (p < .001) that of BPD-negative participants; according to BPD status with the Self-Harm Inventory, the mean number of sexual partners among BPD-positive participants was more than double (p < .001) that of BPD-negative participants. Compared to internal medicine outpatients without BPD, those with BPD exhibit a statistically significantly greater number of sexual partners.     

Efficacy of functional analysis for informing behavioral treatment of inappropriate mealtime behavior: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

Children diagnosed with a feeding disorder often exhibit inappropriate mealtime behavior such as throwing or swiping food, which can exacerbate feeding difficulties during treatment. We conducted a meta‐analysis of 86 behavioral treatments for inappropriate mealtime behavior from 23 studies to assess the extent to which treatments based on a pretreatment functional analysis were more efficacious than those treatments not based on a functional analysis. Procedural escape extinction and attention extinction for inappropriate mealtime behavior, as well as differential reinforcement for food acceptance or consumption, represented the most common treatments independent of whether a functional analysis was conducted. No difference was detected between treatments that were and were not based on a functional analysis, and mean effect size across measures was identical (79%). The requirement of a pretreatment functional analysis for inappropriate mealtime behavior is equivocal given that standard care often includes efficacious treatment components that are not informed by a functional analysis.     

Epidemiology of trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder in Mexico

Prevalence rates of trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were estimated from a probability sample of 2,509 adults from 4 cities in Mexico. PTSD was assessed according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (American Psychiatric Association, 1994) criteria using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI; WHO, 1997). Lifetime prevalence of exposure and PTSD were 76% and 11.2%, respectively. Risk for PTSD was highest in Oaxaca (the poorest city), persons of lower socioeconomic status, and women. Conditional risk for PTSD was highest following sexual violence, but nonsexual violence and traumatic bereavement had greater overall impact because of their frequency. Of lifetime cases, 62% became chronic; only 42% received medical or professional care. The research demonstrates the importance of expanding the epidemiologic research base on trauma to include developing countries around the world.