Breast Cancer as Trauma: Posttraumatic Stress and Posttraumatic Growth

Diagnosis and treatment of cancer has been associated with both posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and posttraumatic growth (PTG). This cross-sectional study sought to assess the frequency, common predictors, and interrelationships of PTSD symptoms and PTG in breast cancer survivors (n = 65). In this sample, symptoms of PTSD and reports of PTG were common and were not significantly related to one another. Greater social constraints on talking about breast cancer and perception of cancer as a traumatic stressor were associated with greater PTSD symptomatology. Younger age and perception of cancer as a traumatic stressor were associated with greater PTG. Findings suggest the central role of subjective appraisal in adjustment to cancer. Psychosocial interventions should be sensitive to the potential for PTG, both in treatment design and in assessment of outcomes.     

Films for eliciting emotional states in children

Standardized sets of films have been shown to be effective for eliciting emotional states in adults, but no comparable validated stimuli are available for children. We therefore examined the effects of three pre-selected film clips each of 3-min duration in eliciting a pleasant, neutral and unpleasant emotional state in 297 children aged between 6 and 12 years. After the films were presented on a video projector, affective ratings were obtained with the Self-Assessment-Manikin on the emotional dimensions of valence and arousal. Increasing pleasure ratings were observed from the unpleasant to the neutral to the pleasant film. Associated arousal ratings were stronger for the unpleasant and pleasant films compared to the neutral film. Overall, results showed successful elicitation of targeted emotional states only marginally influenced by age, gender or prior experience with the films. The use of these films is therefore suggested for future studies on emotions in children.     

Francis J. Ambrosio (ed.), The Question of Christian Philosophy Today (Perspectives in Continental Philosophy,No. 9)

International Journal for Philosophy of Religion -     

Norman Kretzmann,The Metaphysics of Theism: Aquinas's Natural Theology in Summa Contra Gentiles I

International Journal for Philosophy of Religion -     

Pastoral counseling with alcoholics and their families

The pastor is often in contact with the alcoholic and his or her family. Providing help to alcoholics and their families is a spiritual, humanistic, and therapeutic challenge. Recent developments have favored a family systems orientation to working with alcoholic families. This orientation acknowledges the family as contributor to maintaining alcoholic behavior and includes the family in treatment. Specific family systems concepts are discussed and how they relate to the dysfunctional unit which houses an alcoholic. Implications for pastors and specific role definitions are explored. Krebs' therapeutic model is expanded to: 1) evaluate, 2) support, 3) refer, and 4) support, as appropriate for the pastor working with alcoholics and their families.     

Using prequestions to enhance learning from reading passages: the roles of question type and structure building ability

ABSTRACT

Answering questions before learning something (“prequestions”) enhances learning. However, these benefits usually occur for information that was asked in the prequestions (i.e. prequestioned material), and not for non-prequestioned material. We reasoned that this narrow benefit may be due to the fact that studies typically use fairly simple prequestions that have a clear answer within one part of the learning material – isolative prequestions. We explored the effects of integrative prequestions that required participants to make connections across different parts of a reading passage. Experiment 1 showed the usual benefit of isolative prequestions on prequestioned but not on non-prequestioned material, but no benefit of integrative prequestions. However, in Experiment 2 when participants were given instructions to seek the answers while reading, integrative prequestions benefited learning of both prequestioned and non-prequestioned material. Individual differences in structure building positively predicted performance, but did not interact with the effects of prequestions.     

Maternal Control Behavior and Locus of Control: Examining Mechanisms in the Relation Between Maternal Anxiety Disorders and Anxiety Symptomatology in Children

This study tested components of a proposed model of child anxiety and examined the mediational roles of (1) maternal control behavior, (2) maternal external locus of control, and (3) child external locus of control in the association between maternal and child anxiety. Thirty-eight clinically anxious mothers and 37 nonanxious mothers participated along with one of their children aged 6 to 14 (52.0% female; 78.7% Caucasian). Path analysis indicated that the overall model fit the data very well. Analyses also indicated that child external locus of control mediated the associations between (1) maternal and child anxiety and (2) maternal control behavior and child anxiety. Maternal anxiety was not related to maternal control behavior and maternal external locus of control was not associated with child anxiety. Findings are discussed in the context of theoretical models (e.g., Chorpita and Barlow 1998) regarding the transmission of maternal anxiety to their children and the specific roles of maternal behavior and child locus of control.