Attachment, sleep quality, and depressed affect.

This study examined the role of attachment insecurity in sleep problems among married adults (N=78 couples). Using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and structural equation modeling, attachment anxiety was associated with higher levels of self-reported sleep difficulties for men and women, whereas attachment avoidance was not. Depressed affect was included as a control variable, and the effect of attachment anxiety remained significant. Men and women did not differ significantly in the magnitude of the effect of attachment anxiety on sleep quality. In addition, there were no cross-partner effects of attachment insecurity on sleep quality or depressed affect. Implications and future directions are discussed.     

Suicide across the Life Span: Pathways to Prevention

As reflected in a recent series of highly visible suicide awareness and prevention activities, the call for a comprehensive suicide prevention strategy has never been stronger, nor more unified. Using the framework provided by the transactional model of human development, the author illustrates the central implications that a developmental perspective has for suicide prevention, emphasizing the need to consider multiple pathways to prevention, to place renewed emphasis on prevention strategies that have their impact earlier in the life course and earlier in the course of mental disorder, and to collaborate with prevention specialists and advocates in related fields.     

A Prospective Examination of the Interpersonal‐Psychological Theory of Suicidal Behavior Among Psychiatric Adolescent Inpatients

The challenge of identifying suicide risk in adolescents, and particularly among high‐risk subgroups such as adolescent inpatients, calls for further study of models of suicidal behavior that could meaningfully aid in the prediction of risk. This study examined how well the Interpersonal‐Psychological Theory of Suicidal Behavior (IPTS)—with its constructs of thwarted belongingness (TB), perceived burdensomeness (PB), and an acquired capability (AC) for lethal self‐injury—predicts suicide attempts among adolescents (N = 376) 3 and 12 months after hospitalization. The three‐way interaction between PB, TB, and AC, defined as a history of multiple suicide attempts, was not significant. However, there were significant 2‐way interaction effects, which varied by sex: girls with low AC and increasing TB, and boys with high AC and increasing PB, were more likely to attempt suicide at 3 months. Only high AC predicted 12‐month attempts. Results suggest gender‐specific associations between theory components and attempts. The time‐limited effects of these associations point to TB and PB being dynamic and modifiable in high‐risk populations, whereas the effects of AC are more lasting. The study also fills an important gap in existing research by examining IPTS prospectively.     

Exploring tensions of using interpretative phenomenological analysis in a domain with conflicting cultural practices

ABSTRACT

The philosophical foundations of interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA)—phenomenology, hermeneutics, and idiography—guide its practice and use. However, this foundation is often at odds with cultural practices of disciplines that value post-positivist perspectives emphasizing that reality can be objectively known. The conflict between the philosophical underpinnings of the methodology and the cultural practices of particular disciplines can serve to limit the use and acceptance of IPA. This article highlights ways researchers can use IPA even when the underlying tenets of that methodological approach may be in conflict with disciplinary norms. As such, we have set out to explore the tensions that accompany the choice to use IPA in the context of engineering education research within the United States. As a group of engineering education researchers, we drew upon collaborative inquiry to systematically examine our use of IPA. Our exploration of using IPA, as connected to everyday practice in a discipline that takes a postpositivist stance toward knowledge generation, provides examples for the use of IPA in tension with these disciplinary norms.