Sexual attitudes and behavior at four universities: do region, race, and/or religion matter?

This study sought to ascertain any differences in sexual attitudes, levels of premarital sexual involvement, and risk-taking sexual practices of college students at four distinctly different universities: a historic Black public university; a predominately white, Southern private university with a religious heritage; a Southwestern public university; and a Midwestern public university. An anonymous questionnaire was administered to a volunteer sample of 1,915 never-married women and 1,111 never-married men in select upper and lower division classes. Numerous significant differences among campuses were found regarding sexual history, first sexual intercourse, and sexual risk-taking. Religion, family background, and campus milieu were strong mediating variables, but race appeared as the single most influential factor differentiating the sexual attitudes and behavior of these college students. Implications are suggested for professionals in fields of research, education, and therapy.     

Presentism and the Non-Present

In this paper I argue that presentism has a problem accounting forthe truth of statements whose truth conditions seem to require therebe relations that hold between present and non-present objects. Imotivate the problem and then examine several strategies for dealingwith the problem. I argue that no solution is forthcoming, and thispresents a prima facie problem for presentism.     

Is flashbulb memory a special instance of source memory? Evidence from older adults.

Flashbulb memories (FMs) are vivid, stable memories for the reception of arousing, consequential news. Although such memories have been found in people of all ages, in the only examination of age differences to date, Cohen, Conway, and Maylor (1994) reported that older adults were less likely than young adults to experience a FM. We hypothesised that FM would be impaired in older adults with reduced frontal lobe (FL) function. To test this hypothesis, we asked older adults, who had been characterised according to FL function, to recall details of the moment that they first heard the news about the deaths of Princess Diana and Mother Teresa. Long-term retention was tested 6 months later. Details concerning the reception of the news about Princess Diana's death were retained better than those associated with Mother Teresa's death. Importantly, there was no evidence that memory for these contextual details was related to FL function. A measure of medial temporal lobe function, derived from neuropsychological tests of episodic memory, was also not associated with memory for the reception events, although it was associated with memory for the details of an everyday autobiographical event. We speculated that emotionally arousing autobiographical memories may be qualitatively different from everyday memories and may involve the amygdala.     

Physical Activity,Suicide Risk Factors,and Suicidal Ideation in a Veteran Sample

The association between current level of suicidal ideation and physical activity was tested in a broad sample of veterans seeking care from the Veterans Health Administration. It was hypothesized that the two variables would be significantly inversely related. It was further hypothesized that the relationship would be mediated by depressive symptoms, disturbed sleep, and a measure of heart rate variability based on existing research regarding physical activity and sleep. Due to the first hypothesis not being supported, the second could not be tested. Post hoc correlation analyses did find associations between physical activity and depressive symptoms, in expected directions, and are discussed. Possible explanations for the negative findings along with recommendations for future research to continue exploring links between suicide risk and physical activity are presented. We conclude by suggesting that physical activity may have promise as a risk reduction intervention and that prospective data are more likely to yield significant results than the cross‐sectional methodology employed in the current study.     

Personality correlates of the Matching Familiar Figures Test in adults

The Matching Familiar Figures Test (MFFT) measures a dimension of cognitive style known as reflection-impulsivity. Interpretations of the MFFT sometimes supplement its cognitive implications with one of two personality models, impulsivity and/or ego-resilience. Both models have received some research support from studies that used preadolescent subjects. The applicability of these two personality models to adults was evaluated in this research. In three studies on college students, one personality characteristic within the ego-resilience position, independent-oriented achievement, was found to differentiate between impulsive and reflective scorers on the MFFT. No support was found for the impulsivity position. Implications were drawn for the influence of personality on the MFFT.     

Stress and Control-Related Problems at Three Mile Island1

The relationship between stress and control for residents at Three Mile Island (TMI) was examined. TMI was studied because of the technological nature of the accident there. Residents of Frederick, Maryland, more than 80 miles from TMI, were used as a comparison group. Control-related problems were measured using questionnaires and a behavioral task. Stress levels were determined using self-report, behavioral, and biochemical measures. Residents at TMI reported more loss of control and performed more poorly on the behavioral task than did comparison subjects. Subjects at TMI reporting more loss of control had more stress-associated symptoms than did comparison subjects and subjects at TMI not experiencing as many control-related problems.