Helping Spouses Cope with Partners Coming Out: A Solution-Focused Approach

This article reviews previous research on coping strategies of spouses with partners who have come out. The current research on coping strategies has come from the work of Amity Pierce Buxton. Next the article examines previous treatment methods used with spouses of gay, lesbian, and bisexual partners. Solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) is discussed and suggested as an approach with this population. A case example is presented to show how SFBT was used with a client struggling with the news of her partner coming out. Finally, the implications of using SFBT and how the approach helps partners progress through Buxton's stages is discussed.     

The relationship between Revised Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (rRST), handedness and indecision

Indecisiveness is an inability to make a decision, manifest across a number of behaviours. We explore the influence that both direction and strength of hand preference may have on this construct, examining it in relation to the revised Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (rRST). Frost and Shows’ (1993) Indecisiveness Scale was administered to 328 undergraduates (221 females), alongside the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory (Oldfield, 1971) and Carver and White’s (1994) BIS/BAS scales. Simple correlations showed left-handers had a positive relationship between strength of handedness and BIS. In right-handers, strength and aversive indecision were positively correlated. Regression analysis demonstrated no significant relationship between hand strength and indecision, but that indecision was related to all three measures of rRST. Consistent with previous work, BIS was positively related to all indecision but particularly aversive, while BAS was negatively related to indecision but most strongly the avoidant category. We found that FFFS is more closely related to aversive than avoidant indecision. The relationship between rRST and indecision may be influenced by handedness; for right-handers the same pattern was found, but in left-handers BAS was not a significant predictor of indecision, BIS only predicted aversive indecision and FFFS predicted all three categories.     

Drawing as a means of communication at the initial interview with children with cancer

Cancer is always associated with distress and fear. In working with children who have cancer, a trusting relationship and meaningful dialogue often cannot be established by talking on its own. Drawings may offer an opportunity for children to express their feelings without giving up resistance completely. This paper summarizes the aims of the first interview with an ill child, one of its main purposes being the evaluation of the children's and their family's resources to cope with the strains of the illness. The meaning of drawings in this process is discussed in two case reports.     

Sifting through the Hyperbole: One Hundred Years of Marijuana Coverage in The New York Times

The contemporary media has often portrayed marijuana as a “slacker drug”; however, this portrayal is somewhat novel. Several scholars have argued in the early 1900s, especially in the 1930s, the media often associated marijuana with violence and mental illness. Another common argument was that marijuana was associated with Mexican immigrants. Conversely, other researchers have argued that these reports were overblown and media accounts of marijuana were not very common until recent years. The current study utilizes recently available on-line archives to conduct a more comprehensive test of how exactly marijuana was depicted in The New York Times from 1851–1950.     

Happy but still focused: failures to find evidence for a mood-induced widening of visual attention

In models of affect and cognition, it is held that positive affect broadens the scope of attention. Consistent with this claim, previous research has indeed suggested that positive affect is associated with impaired selective attention as evidenced by increased interference of spatially distant distractors. However, several recent findings cast doubt on the reliability of this observation. In the present study, we examined whether selective attention in a visual flanker task is influenced by positive mood induction. Across three experiments, positive affect consistently failed to exert any impact on selective attention. The implications of this null-finding for theoretical models of affect and cognition are discussed.     

Validation of a new multidimensional health locus of control scale (form c) in asthma research

Abstract

This study developed and validated an Asthma Multidimensional Health Locus of Control (AMHLC) scale using 186 asthmatics aged 13 to 55 years recruited from 46 pharmacies in the Hunter Valley, Australia. The construct validity and internal consistency of the scale were demonstrated using principal components factor analysis and Cronbach's alpha respectively. Although correlations were modest, findings indicate that asthmatics with higher “Powerful Others” locus of control perceived they had a better quality of doctor-patient relationship; the opposite was found for those with higher “Chance” scores. Powerful Others orientation was also associated with expectations and valuation of services doctors' provide. Knowledge of asthma was not related in the expected direction with the new scale, nor were clinical indices of asthma severity. Younger asthmatics had higher Chance scores while older asthmatics tended toward higher Powerful Others orientation. Overall, the AMHLC instrument achieved suitable measurement properties to allow further investigation of health care behavior in people with asthma.     

Type D personality predicts poor medication adherence in myocardial infarction patients

Type D personality, the combination of negative affectivity (NA) and social inhibition (SI), is an emerging risk factor in cardiovascular disease. This study aimed to examine one possible behavioural mechanism to explain the link between Type D and ill-health. It was hypothesised that Type D personality would predict medication adherence in myocardial infarction (MI) patients. In a prospective study, 192 MI patients (54 females and 138 males) completed measures of Type D personality and provided demographic and medical information 1 week post-MI, and then 131 patients went on to complete a self-report measure of medication adherence 3 months post-MI. It was found that Type D personality predicts adherence to medication, after controlling for demographic and clinical risk factors. Critically, the constituent components of Type D, NA and SI, interact to predict medication adherence, after controlling for the effects of each component separately. Poor adherence to medication may represent one mechanism to explain why Type D cardiac patients experience poor clinical outcome, in comparison to non-Type D patients. Interventions, which target the self-management of medication, may be useful in these high-risk patients.     

Why Young Men in South Africa Plan to Become Teenage Fathers: Implications for the Development of Masculinities within Contexts of Poverty

Drawing on in-depth interviews with young fathers (n=37) aged 14 to 20 in impoverished communities in South Africa, this study focuses on the young men who intentionally planned to have children while still teenagers. It interrogates their reasons for doing so, as well as their responses to their impending fatherhood and reactions after the birth of their child. Reasons such as wish-fulfillment, leaving a legacy, wanting to keep a partner, and wanting to be seen as ‘fashionable’ amongst their peers are discussed. An analysis is provided of the relationship between young fatherhood, poverty and masculinities. Key to the discussion are the interrelated notions of ownership and responsibility, and the ways in which impoverished young men find young fatherhood to be a powerful mediator in contexts where alternative pathways to exhibiting dominant masculinities are scarce.