Suicide Prevention in Adults (Age 30–65)

Relatively little is known about midlife suicides, compared to adolescent and elderly suicides. A life-span model of suicidal behaviors is suggested as a heuristic conceptual tool. General midlife tasks and crises, as outlined by Levinson and Erikson, are reviewed. However, more than routine midlife developmental problems occur in most suicides. Some of the possible distinctive traits of midlife suicides (versus younger and older suicides) include: loss of spouse, years of heavy drinking, reaching the age of high depression risk, and occupational problems (including unemployment, inability to work, and retirement). Midlife suicide rates tend to be highest among white males, although female suicide rates peak in midlife. The paper concludes with a review of assessment and treatment issues related to a half-dozen high-risk midlife suicide types.     

Odour and Proustian memory: reduction of context‐dependent forgetting and multiple forms of memory

In Experiment 1, the reintroduction of the same ambient odour (lemon or lavender) improved performance four weeks later in both free recall and recognition of a word list. This was a cross‐over design that allowed direct comparison between congruent and incongruent odour conditions. A further comparison with an additional group showed that memory was not improved by the presence of a different odour. Experiment 2 investigated the effect of two odour cues (lemon and lavender) in the same cross‐over design using three learning and memory tests: (1) free recall of a word list; (2) problem solving; and (3) spatial learning. While recall of the word list and spatial learning were best when the same odour was present at both learning and test, there was no such context‐dependent effect for the problem‐solving task. However, the presence of the lavender odour at test improved performance in the problem‐solving task, irrespective of the odour present at the first exposure. Thus although lavender had some effect on problem solving, we saw context‐dependent retrieval only in free recall and spatial learning. We discuss the implications of this dissociation. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Path analysis of variables affecting 36-month outcome in a population of multi-risk children

Path analysis was employed with data collected during a longitudinal neuro-behavioral follow-up study of multi-risk children. The relative impact of maternal medical history, drug abuse, and day-to-day functioning during pregnancy on the course of labor and delivery and on neonatal outcome was examined. The subsequent impact of each of these sets of variables on the child's developmental status at 36 months was then explored. An additional factor, which incorporated postnatal environmental and family functioning characteristics, was also included in the model. Maternal drug abuse had a significant effect on the course of labor and delivery, due in part to the impact of maternal drug abuse on family functioning. The results indicate that in this multi-risk population, environmental and psychosocial variables are important predictors of the child's developmental prospects.     

Cultural differences in body dissatisfaction: Japanese adolescents compared with adolescents from China,Malaysia, Australia,Tonga, and Fiji

Cultural influences on the body image of 133 female and 99 male Japanese adolescents aged 12–18 years (M = 15.9, SD = 1.2) were compared to those of a databank of 1233 female and 1149 male adolescents also aged 12–18 years (M = 14.9, SD = 1.5) from five cultures – Chinese, Malaysian, Australian, Tongan, and indigenous Fijian – surveyed previously using identical body image measures (Fuller‐Tyszkiewicz et al., 2012). Japanese adolescents reported the highest levels of body dissatisfaction despite possessing among the lowest body mass index (BMI) and also reported among the highest levels of media influence on their body image. Subsequent path analyses revealed that for Japanese adolescents cultural identification with modern Japanese values were associated with increased body dissatisfaction, and that this association was mediated by level of media influence. These results highlight the importance of cultural influences, as well as individual differences in cultural values, in shaping Japanese adolescents' body image.