SHS-Related Pediatric Sick Visits are Linked to Maternal Depressive Symptoms Among Low-Income African American Smokers: Opportunity for Intervention in Pediatrics

Maternal smoking and depressive symptoms are independently linked to poor child health outcomes. However, little is known about factors that may predict maternal depressive symptoms among low-income, African American maternal smokers—an understudied population with children known to have increased morbidity and mortality risks. The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that secondhand smoke exposure (SHSe)-related pediatric sick visits are associated with significant maternal depressive symptoms among low-income, African American maternal smokers in the context of other depression-related factors. Prior to randomization in a behavioral counseling trial to reduce child SHSe, 307 maternal smokers in Philadelphia completed the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) and questionnaires measuring stressful events, nicotine dependence, social support, child health and demographics. CES-D was dichotomized at the clinical cutoff to differentiate mothers with significant versus low depressive symptoms. Results from direct entry logistic regression demonstrated that maternal smokers reporting more than one SHSe-related sick visit (OR 1.38, p < .001), greater perceived life stress (OR 1.05, p < .001) and less social support (OR 0.82, p < .001) within the last 3 months were more likely to report significant depressive symptoms than mothers with fewer clinic visits, less stress, and greater social support. These results suggest opportunities for future hypothesis-driven evaluation, and exploration of intervention strategies in pediatric primary care. Maternal depression, smoking and child illness may present as a reciprocally-determined phenomenon that points to the potential utility of treating one chronic maternal condition to facilitate change in the other chronic condition, regardless of which primary presenting problem is addressed. Future longitudinal research could attempt to confirm this hypothesis.     

Daily fluctuations in the affective states of dancers: A cross-situational test of basic needs theory

ObjectivesThis study tested the generalizability of basic needs theory (BNT; Deci & Ryan, 2000) across situations in which dancers learn and perform within vocational dance. Specifically, we examined the inter-relationships between daily and typical perceptions of autonomy support, basic psychological need satisfaction, and changes in affective states, across dance situations that were divergent in their learning and evaluative potential (dance classes, rehearsals, and performances). Genre differences were also examined.DesignA one-month diary study examined the inter-relationships between typical and daily perceptions of autonomy support, basic psychological need satisfaction and positive and negative affect among dancers studying three distinct genres and in three situations (classes, rehearsals, performances).MethodFifty-five dancers completed a series of scales tapping the variables of interest. Abbreviated versions of the scales were completed before (affective states) and after (affective states, basic needs and autonomy support) dance classes, rehearsals and performances over four weeks. Analyzes tested the BNT sequence across the learning and performance situations. Interactions between typical and state experiences were tested. Cross-genre comparisons were also made.ResultsResults partially supported the BNT sequence across classes, rehearsals and performances. There were situational differences in the salience of each need as a predictor of affective states. When comparing genres, some differences were also found in perceived autonomy support, basic need satisfaction and affective states.ConclusionsFindings point to the importance of promoting autonomy supportive dance teaching to facilitate dancers' day-to-day experiences of well-being.     

Maladaptive Cognitions and Chronic Pain: Epidemiology,Neurobiology, and Treatment

Maladaptive cognitions are widespread and play a significant role in the development of chronic pain. (1) Catastrophizing seems to increase the risk of chronicity. In the laboratory it amplifies temporal summation of pain with repeated stimulation and delays the disengagement of attention from pain. In neuroimaging it is associated with increased activation in regions of the cortex involved in attention, the aversiveness of pain, and possibly pain intensity. (2) Fearful anticipation of pain seems to pre-activate brain regions involved in both the sensory and emotional intensity of pain and primes a stronger initial pain response. It may lead to abnormal patterns of muscle recruitment that, speculatively, may predispose to injury. (3) Belief that normal activity should be avoided seems to promote unnecessary long-term disability in nonspecific low back pain. Extreme guarding may intensify pain through loss of inhibition from motor cortex. (4) Educational programs targeting maladaptive beliefs have shown benefit in the primary prevention of chronic back pain in both pain-free and acute pain populations. In established chronic pain, cognitive-behavioral therapy has shown efficacy in improving pain intensity, coping and pain behaviors when compared with usual treatment. (5) Possible future research directions and clinical implications are discussed.     

Continuous dynamics in the real-time perception of race

Although the outcomes of race categorization have been studied in detail, the temporal dynamics of real-time processing of race remain elusive. We measured participants’ hand movements en route to one of two race-category alternatives by recording the streaming x, y coordinates of the computer mouse. Study 1 showed that, when categorizing White and Black computer-generated faces that featurally overlapped with the opposite race, mouse trajectories showed a continuous spatial attraction toward the opposite category. Moreover, these race-atypical White and Black targets induced spatial attraction effects that had different temporal signatures. Study 2 showed that, when categorizing real faces that varied along a continuum of racial ambiguity, graded increases in ambiguity led to corresponding increases in trajectories’ attraction to the opposite category and trajectories’ movement complexity. These studies provide evidence for temporally dynamic competition across perceptions of race, where simultaneously and partially-active race categories continuously evolve into single categorical outcomes over time. Moreover, the findings show how different social category cues may exert different dynamic patterns of influence over the real-time processing that culminates in categorizations of others.     

A motion aftereffect from visual imagery of motion

Mental imagery is thought to share properties with perception. To what extent does the process of imagining a scene share neural circuits and computational mechanisms with actually perceiving the same scene? Here, we investigated whether mental imagery of motion in a particular direction recruits neural circuits tuned to the same direction of perceptual motion. To address this question we made use of a visual illusion, the motion aftereffect. We found that following prolonged imagery of motion in one direction, people are more likely to perceive real motion test probes as moving in the direction opposite to the direction of motion imagery. The transfer of adaptation from imagined to perceived motion provides evidence that motion imagery and motion perception recruit shared direction-selective neural circuitry. Even in the absence of any visual stimuli, people can selectively recruit specific low-level sensory neurons through mental imagery.     

On Being Rejected: A Meta-Analysis of Experimental Research on Rejection

ABSTRACT— This article presents the first meta-analysis of experimental research on rejection, sampling 88 studies. The results are consistent with a needs account, which states that rejection frustrates basic psychological needs, but not with a numbness account, which states that rejection causes physical and emotional numbness. Rejection moderately lowers mood ( d =−0.50) and self-esteem ( d =−0.70), but does not decrease arousal or flatten affect. Both belonging ( d = 0.69) and control ( d = 1.16) are frustrated by rejection. Aggressive responses to rejection, considered paradoxical by some, appear to be due to attempts to gain control; measures that contrast belonging and control ( d =−1.17) cause antisocial responding, whereas measures that do not allow for control to be restored cause prosocial responding ( d = 1.21). These findings suggest that rejection makes individuals feel bad—ready to act to restore control or belonging—and that they will prioritize restoring control even if it requires being antisocial.     

On ethics in personal construct theory

Abstract

In personal construct theory, people interpret the world in unique ways. Constructions are subjective representations rather than objective truths. This means that our ethical constructions are (a) potentially wrong, if there is an external moral reality we cannot access, or (b) no more inherently defensible than others’ ethical constructions, if all notions of “right” and “wrong” are personally constructed. Constructions promoting violence, hatred, and intolerance are as viable as those promoting peace, love, and acceptance. To overcome this ethical quandary individuals must create meaningful ethical constructions and have faith in them. This is difficult because, as constructivists, we see each person's constructions as legitimate and our own world views as merely constructions, themselves. Implications for moral righteousness are discussed.