Women,sex, and HIV: social and contextual factors,meta-analysis of published interventions,and implications for practice and research

This article is focused on examining social and contextual factors related to HIV-risk behavior for women. Specifically, this article has three main purposes: to review the literature on selected social and contextual factors that contribute to the risk for the heterosexual transmission of HIV and AIDS, to review and conduct a meta-analysis of HIV-prevention interventions targeting adult heterosexual populations, and to suggest future directions for HIV-prevention intervention research and practice. Results suggest that the HIV-prevention interventions reviewed for this article had little impact on sexual risk behavior, that social and contextual factors are often minimally addressed, and that there was a large gap between research and the practice of HIV-prevention intervention.     

Using outgroup comfort to predict Black students' college experiences

This study investigated whether Black students' social comfort with Whites, termed outgroup comfort (OC), predicted outcomes related to academics and mental health. Surveys administered to Black college students near the beginning and end of their first year showed OC measured in the fall predicted outcomes assessed in the spring, including contact with other races, academic concerns among men, and psychological well-being among women. A subsample selected on the basis of high or low OC scores participated in two weeks of experience sampling, revealing students high in OC reported less state anxiety than those low in OC when in academic settings; in nonacademic settings, anxiety did not differ by OC. System-justifying ideology favoring the outgroup was controlled, thus OC is distinct from internalized oppression. Results are discussed in relation to gender differences in racial identity and college student development.     

Justice for whom, exactly? Beliefs in justice for the self and various others

The present studies examine why people think the world is more just to themselves than to others generally. Beliefs in justice for the self were uniquely associated with psychological adjustment, consistent with the theoretical motive to believe in justice for the self (Studies 1 and 2). However, this "justice motive" did not appear to affect the relative strength of justice beliefs. Instead, self-other differences in justice beliefs appeared to reflect objective assessments of the justice received by various demographics. Undergraduates believed the world to be more just to themselves than to others but not their undergraduate peers specifically (Study 1). Participants of both genders believed the world to be more just to men, and to themselves, than to women (Study 2). Women did not exempt themselves individually from injustice but believed, similar to men, that undergraduate women receive as much justice as men (Study 3).     

Implementing a Comprehensive Program for the Prevention of Conduct Problems in Rural Communities: The Fast Track Experience

Childhood conduct problems are predictive of a number of serious long-term difficulties (e.g., school failure, delinquent behavior, and mental health problems), making the design of effective prevention programs a priority. The Fast Track Program is a demonstration project currently underway in four demographically diverse areas of the United States, testing the feasibility and effectiveness of a comprehensive, multicomponent prevention program targeting children at risk for conduct disorders. This paper describes some lessons learned about the implementation of this program in a rural area. Although there are many areas of commonality in terms of program needs, program design, and implementation issues in rural and urban sites, rural areas differ from urban areas along the dimensions of geographical dispersion and regionalism, and community stability and insularity. Rural programs must cover a broad geographical area and must be sensitive to the multiple, small and regional communities that constitute their service area. Small schools, homogeneous populations, traditional values, limited recreational, educational and mental health services, and politically conservative climates are all more likely to emerge as characteristics of rural rather than urban sites (Sherman, 1992). These characteristics may both pose particular challenges to the implementation of prevention programs in rural areas, as well as offer particular benefits. Three aspects of program implementation are described in detail: (a) community entry and program initiation in rural areas, (b) the adaptation of program components and service delivery to meet the needs of rural families and schools, and (c) issues in administrative organization of a broadly dispersed tricounty rural prevention program.     

Analysing the Matter Flows in Schools Using Deleuze’s Method

Studies in Philosophy and Education - Using Deleuzian theory for educational research and practice has become an increasingly popular activity (e.g., Cole 2011). However, there are many theoretical...     

Modeling relations between hassles and internalizing and externalizing symptoms in adolescents: a four-year prospective study

This study examined the relations between hassles and internalizing and externalizing symptoms across 4 years in adolescents who varied with regard to their risk for psychopathology. The sample comprised 240 adolescents assessed in 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th grades regarding their level of peer and academic hassles and internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Structural equation modeling was used to construct latent variables of hassles and internalizing and externalizing syndromes. Results varied by informant about the teens' symptoms. For adolescent report, the stress exposure model fit the data best for internalizing syndromes; that is, higher levels of stressors predicted significantly higher levels of self-reported symptoms 1 year later. For mother report of adolescents' symptoms, the stress generation model fit the data best for both internalizing and externalizing syndromes; that is, higher levels of adolescents' internalizing and externalizing symptoms, as reported by their mothers, significantly predicted higher levels of hassles 1 year later.     

Chlordiazepoxide-induced discrimination impairment

Chlordiazepoxide (5.0 and 10.0 mg/kg but not 2.5 mg/kg) administered on 10 successive sessions, significantly impaired the reinforcement-cued discrimination performance of male Sprague-Dawley rats. On three postdrug (saline) recovery sessions, groups previously treated with the drug demonstrated good recovery in discrimination performance. An analysis of response components indicated that the discrimination impairment was due to less inhibition of responding during "no-go" phases of the task by the drugged than control animals. While changes in responding during reinforcement phases may also contribute to the performance of drugged animals, no clear pattern emerges from the present study.     

A Spirit in Need of Rest: Luther's Melancholia,Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder,and Religiosity

Male melancholia, rooted in early childhood experiences of perceived mother-loss, is intrinsically linked to religiosity. The Protestant Reformer Martin Luther suffered from melancholia that was related to, and exacerbated by, a corresponding obsessive-compulsive disorder. This essay makes a case for Luther's melancholia being grounded in both childhood beatings (at least one of which was carried out by his mother) and his subsequent search for an identity. Luther's melancholia also gave rise to life-long struggles with obsessive-compulsive anxieties. His religion, in which he believed he had discovered both an identity and a means for relief from his inner struggles, actually exacerbated his melancholia. He realized as an older man that religion had indeed become his substitute obsession and that a major part of his self had died. An argument for how Luther's melancholia and obsessive-compulsive disorder could have been alleviated is offered.     

Person-Placement Congruence: A Framework for Vocational Counselors

A common guideline for vocational counseling is the rule requiring congruence between a man and his job. The issue of person-placement congruence was studied utilizing 159 patients referred for vocational rehabilitation to the Mental Health and Manpower Project from the Fort Logan Mental Health Center. A 13-item scale devised by project research staff and completed by vocational counselors was shown to predict later job success. By separating the scale into two categories, those items dealing with abilities and those related to needs, it was possible to predict the nature of job termination, i.e., quit or was fired. There was demonstrated considerable validity for the man-job fit approach to counseling, and this research served as an initial step toward detailing this rather simple rule.     

Operant control of smoking in great apes

A methodology was developed for bringing smoking behavior in great apes under the control of a contingent food reinforcer. In this procedure, Ss were required to maintain long continuous draw durations (5 sec) against lighted cigarettes in order, to obtain candy rewards. By beginning with short criterional durations and gradually, working up to the desired response criterion, Ss were successfully habituated to the aversive aspects of smoking. The results indicated that it is possible to both shape and maintain smoking behavior with response-contingent reinforcement. The successful implementation of this procedure suggests that the pulmonary route can be used for drug administration with nonhuman primate species.