Changes over time among homeless young people in drug dependency, mental illness and their co-morbidity

A cross-national survey was conducted among 358 recently homeless young people in Melbourne and Los Angeles. Drug dependence and mental illness were assessed at baseline, 6 and 12 months. At each time point, participants were classified as no condition, drug dependent, having a mental illness or dual condition. Low levels of drug dependence or mental illness or both were reported at each data point. Most young people were classified as neither drug dependent nor having mental illness at baseline and remained so for the 12-month period and few remained drug dependent, or had continuing mental illness or both. Half to two-thirds of young people classified as having one or both conditions were subsequently reclassified as "no condition". There was no evidence of a consistent pathway from either drug dependence or mental illness to co-morbidity. Most young people reported an absence of mental illness and/or drug dependence at each time point. Improvement from one or both conditions at each transition suggests it may be more effective to provide interventions to address drug dependence and mental health problems to young people early in their experience of homelessness.     

The mediating role of maternal responsiveness in some longer term effects of postnatal depression on infant development

We hypothesized a mediating role for low maternal responsiveness in certain child developmental deficits found previously to be associated with postnatal depression. Forty depressed inpatients and 48 control (non-depressed) mothers and their infants were followed until 42 months postpartum. Mother–infant interactions were impaired at 6 months postpartum in the depressed group. Subsequent cognitive deficits were found in children's Full Scale IQ on the Wechsler Preschool Primary Scale of Intelligence (Revised) at 42 months of age. Statistical modeling of the mediation hypothesis confirmed that these effects were overwhelmingly explained by lowered maternal responsiveness at 6 months. Similarly, increased temperamental difficulties were apparent in children of depressed mothers but were not correlated with maternal responsiveness. Male infants of depressed mothers were disproportionately vulnerable (compared to females) to impaired cognitive abilities associated with maternal depression. The data concur with previous work and provide empirical support for the theoretical prediction that early disturbances of the mother–infant interaction will mediate some developmental deficits in the children of depressed mothers.     

Modes of social support: The social support behaviors (SS-B) scale

Conclusion The SS-B appears to be a promising measure of five modes of available supportive behavior: emotional support, socializing, practical assistance, financial assistance, and advice/guidance. The measure was designed to assess supportive behavior available from family and from friends. For specific purposes the measure might be modified to tap enacted supportive behavior, as was done in Study 4, or might focus on different sources (cf. Tardy, 1985). Further evidence of the divergence of mode-specific scales would be valuable and might be demonstrated by comparing samples with mode-specific deficits, by comparing support received for different problem types (in a more sophisticated fashion than was done here), and by showing differentiated associations between modes of support and various outcome variables. The reliable and valid assessment of specific modes of supportive behavior is an important agenda item in social support research: Such a measure would allow more elaborate theories to be tested, and will undoubtedly prove essential in a complete understanding of social support processes.     

Affect and sensation seeking

The notion that affective responses differentiate high from low sensation-seekers was investigated. Male subjects with extremely high (N=13) or low (N=13) scores on Form V of the Sensation Seeking Scale (SSS) were presented with tones of 60, 80, and 100 dB in successive blocks of 10 tones each. Although measures of arousal (verbal self-reports and physiological measures of the orienting response) did not differentiate between high and low sensation-seekers, a self-report measure of pleasure did: Whereas reported pleasure of the low sensation-seekers began high and declined as tones became successively louder, the reported pleasure of the high sensation-seekers remained more constant across the blocks of tones.The research on which this paper was based was supported by Grant MT-4511 from the Medical Research Council of Canada to Robert Hare.     

Impairment of nonlinguistic hand movements in a deaf aphasic

A deaf man who became aphasic for sign language was seen 4 years after a left-hemisphere stroke. While not impaired on traditional apraxia tests, he was impaired, relative to nonaphasic deaf controls, in the imitation of complex nonlinguistic hand movements. He was not impaired on single isolated movements. These findings are interpreted as supporting a concept of left-hemisphere function which emphasizes complex motor control.     

The lady spaceman: Children's perceptions of sex-stereotyped occupations

In a study of perceptions of sex-sterotyping in occupations, children from first, fourth, and sixth grades in single-sex schools and a coeducational school were asked to name male and female occupants of traditionally male and traditionally female roles. Use of linguistic markers (e.g., lady doctor) or stereotypically inappropriate responses (e.g., naming a female doctor nurse, while correctly naming the male occupant of this role doctor) was associated with labeling female occupants of traditionally male roles and male occupants of traditionally female roles. The results from this study indicate that language subtly reflects children's perceptions of sex roles.This study was supported by a grant from the Melbourne State College Standing Committee on Research and Development.     

The influence of geographic region on the seasonality of early motor development

This investigation was conducted to determine whether the strong seasonality effect on infant motor development that has been noted in moderate climates would be replicated with infants born in a geographic region with more extreme conditions. One hundred and forty-five full-term infants (72 males, 73 females) born in Edmonton, alberta were assessed using the Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS) at 7 months of age. No seasonality effects on the AIMS total scores or the prone, supine, sitting, or standing subsection scores were detected. A weak and statistically non-significant correlation was obtained between the average monthly AIMS scores and the average monthly temperatures 7 months after birth. These results suggest that extreme climatic conditions in urban geographic regions may dampen effects of season of birth on infant motor development.     

Intention, Context, and Safe Sex: Australian Adolescents' Responses to AIDS

This study examined the applicability to condom use of Ajzen and Madden's (1986) theory of planned behavior by examining the predictors of intention to use a condom and actual condom use in a specific sexual situation. In a sample of 144 sexually active heterosexual males and females, limited support was found for the model. Intentions to use a condom immediately before a particular sexual encounter, and those assessed some time prior to this encounter were found to have direct and positive effects on condom use. In addition, perceptions of the disadvantages of condoms (a measure of attitudes to condoms in general) had direct negative effects on condom use and, together with perceptions of the advantage of condoms, also had indirect effects on condom use via prior intention. A number of the postulated predictors of safe sexual practice related neither to intentions nor behavior. The contextual variables of sexual arousal, condom availability, and degree of communication with a sexual partner all influenced condom use. Discussion centered on first, differences in the predictive ability of the model when compared to other studies of planned behavior, and second, the factors limiting the relationship between intention and behavior when the behavior in question is not under complete, volitional control.