Veteran Participation in Intensive Suicide Research Protocols: No Evidence of Iatrogenic Effects

Suicide research remains fraught with ethical and methodological issues, including researchers’ reservations about conducting intensive suicide research protocols due to potential iatrogenic effects and liability concerns. Such issues significantly impede scientific inquiry related to suicide. To date, no research has explored potential iatrogenic effects of intensive, nontreatment suicide research among Veterans. This study aimed to fill this gap. It was hypothesized that participation in suicide‐specific protocols would not significantly increase risk among Veterans. Veterans completed self‐reports, structured interviews, and rigorous suicide‐specific tasks (Study A, N = 34; Study B, N = 18; Study C, N = 119). Findings indicated there were no significant differences in pre‐ and postassessment suicide risk variables (all ps > .05). Estimated mean change for “urge to harm self” was ?0.24 (95% confidence interval [CI]: ?0.60, 0.13), ?0.28 (CI: ?0.56, 0.01), and ?0.01 (CI: ?0.09, 0.07) and “intent to harm self” was ?0.18 (95% CI: ?0.45, 0.10), 0 (CI: ?0.17, 0.17), and 0.01 (CI: ?0.04, 0.06) for Studies A, B, and C, respectively. Results indicated the respective protocols did not produce iatrogenic effects. The current findings are discussed with attention to safety‐monitoring techniques that may reduce iatrogenic effects and considerations for future researchers.     

Narrating Rape: An Ethnographic Case-Study of Non-Consensual Sexual Debut in Tanzania

ABSTRACT

This article explores the issue of (female) sexual consent in a non-western context by examining narratives of the non-consensual sexual debut in Tanzania within the institutional and cultural tolerance for intimate violence, and the role of the state and media in condoning “proper” gender roles. None of the young women interviewed during a year of ethnographic fieldwork on a college campus were willing to identify this activity as “rape,” though they frequently detailed the ways that aspirations for “respectability” created conditions of vulnerability to ongoing exploitative sexual relationships with older men in positions of authority whom they once trusted. In the socio-sexual premarital landscape of school girls, sex is never given away for free, but may be dispensed with reasonable expectation of return. In an effort to contextualize sexual intimacy and avoid careless use of labels like “prostitution,” feminist public health researchers began to frame sexual encounters in transactional terms. Although not entirely unproblematic, the less stigmatizing terminology reveals more nuanced intimate economies among men and women which include structurally and culturally-derived elements of deprivation, agency, and instrumentality. This article pays careful attention to the narrative of one young women who describes a socio-sexual premarital landscape which almost universally positions male partners as culturally-empowered to proceed with aggressive, even violent, advances toward young women they wish to have sex with, “date,” or marry. Within this context, this article then teases out emerging discourses about structural conditions that reinforce violence.     

An Open Pilot Feasibility Study of a Brief Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills–Based Intervention for Suicidal Individuals

This open trial sought to develop and evaluate the preliminary feasibility and effectiveness of a brief, one‐time, dialectical behavior therapy skills–based intervention with specific focus on ensuring acceptability to nontreatment‐seekers. Treatment‐seeking and nontreatment‐seeking suicidal individuals were recruited successfully from the community. Both groups found the intervention valuable. Suicide ideation was significantly lower at the 1‐month follow‐up, while use of the specific skills taught in the intervention increased significantly across time points. These results suggest that the intervention is both acceptable to the target population and that it has potential effectiveness as an intervention for individuals experiencing suicidal ideation.     

A Measurement Model of Media Parenting: Differences Across Parent and Child Reports and Youth Age and Sex

For youth raised in the Digital Age, online risks such as cyberbullying and sexting have become increasingly problematic. Since digital media is primarily consumed at home, parents play an important role in mitigating these risks; parents can teach children about online dangers, regulate the amount of time spent online, and, to some extent, curate the online content children see. The present study evaluated the psychometric properties of a four-factor media parenting measurement model introduced by Livingstone et al. (2011) across self-reports of a U.S. sample of parents (M_age?=?38.5) and children (ages 10–14; M_age?=?11.8). To identify meaningful group differences, latent mean comparisons were evaluated across youth age and gender. Confirmatory Factor Analysis results provided good fit to the data for the four-factor media parenting model based on both parent [χ2(201, n?=?306)?=?384.407; RMSEA_{(.046—.063)}?=?.055; CFI?=?.958; TLI/NNFI?=?.951; SRMR?=?.050] and child report [χ2(203, n?=?306)?=?378.033; RMSEA_(.045-.061)?=?.053; CFI?=?.942; TLI/NNFI?=?.934; SRMR?=?.060]. The final latent parenting factors included: Active Mediation, Monitoring, Technology Control, and Restrictive Mediation. Latent mean comparisons revealed that parents of girls reported higher levels of Monitoring than parents of boys, whereas girls reported higher levels of parental Restriction than boys. Similarly, older children and their parents reported lower Restriction than younger children and their parents. Overall, latent mean differences identified between media parenting domains may be important for youth outcomes and provide support for their inclusion as distinct factors in predictive models.