Characteristics of Personal Networks Associated with Physical and Psychological Quality of Life Among Demobilized Individuals from the Colombian Armed Conflict

The study identifies relationships between the characteristics of personal networks of demobilized individuals and their quality of life, through the evaluation of a sample of 102 ex‐combatants from a demilitarized zone in Colombia's Caribbean coast. The data was processed using centrality values calculation and statistical analysis through the Pearson correlation coefficient. Results showed moderate levels of nodality, proximity and intermediation degrees regarding small, closed networks with an unsatisfied high demand for support resources. Quality of life showed medium performance levels, with inverse relationships between mental health (p = .009 < .05) and vitality (p = .011 < .05) and intermediation. Positive feedback related significantly to general health (p = .041 < .05), while negative interactions showed inverse relationships to physical functioning (p = .012 < .05), physical role (p = .005), mental health (p = .001 < .05), and emotional role (p = .009 < .05). In conclusion, among the highly cohesive personal networks, there were less observations of social support that fosters increased energy and psychological health, given that access to this support is limited to a small number of members of the personal network. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Body image in eating disorders: the influence of exposure to virtual-reality environments

The aim of this article was to study the effect of virtual-reality exposure to situations that are emotionally significant for patients with eating disorders (ED) on the stability of body-image distortion and body-image dissatisfaction. A total of 85 ED patients and 108 non-ED students were randomly exposed to four experimental virtual environments: a kitchen with low-calorie food, a kitchen with high-calorie food, a restaurant with low-calorie food, and a restaurant with high-calorie food. In the interval between the presentation of each situation, body-image distortion and body-image dissatisfaction were assessed. Several 2?x?2?x?2 repeated measures analyses of variance (high-calorie vs. low-calorie food?x?presence vs. absence of people?x ED group vs. control group) showed that ED participants had significantly higher levels of body-image distortion and body dissatisfaction after eating high-calorie food than after eating low-calorie food, while control participants reported a similar body image in all situations. The results suggest that body-image distortion and body-image dissatisfaction show both trait and state features. On the one hand, ED patients show a general predisposition to overestimate their body size and to feel more dissatisfied with their body image than controls. On the other hand, these body-image disturbances fluctuate when participants are exposed to virtual situations that are emotionally relevant for them.     

Discourse-based emotional consistency modulates early and middle components of event-related potentials

In this study, participants read stories describing emotional episodes with either a positive or negative valence (Experiment 1). Following each story, participants were exposed to short sentences referring to the protagonist, and the event-related potential (ERP) for each sentence's last word was recorded. Some sentences described the protagonist's emotion, either consistent or inconsistent with the story; others were neutral; and others involved a semantically anomalous word. Inconsistent emotions were found to elicit larger N100/P200 and N400 than consistent emotions. However, when participants were exposed to the same critical sentences in a control experiment (Experiment 2) in which the stories had been removed, emotional consistency effects disappeared in all ERP components, demonstrating that these effects were discourse-level phenomena. By contrast, the ordinary N400 effect for locally anomalous words in the sentence was obtained both with and without story context. In conclusion, reading stories describing events with emotional significance determines strong and very early anticipations of an emotional word.     

Dealing with laughter and ridicule in adolescence: relations with bullying and emotional responses

We investigated the fear of being laughed at (gelotophobia), the joy in being laughed at (gelotophilia), and the joy in laughing at others (katagelasticism) in adolescent students (N = 324, 13–15 years). Gelotophobia was associated primarily with the victim and katagelasticism with the bully-role (self- and peer reports). Gelotophobia correlated with laughing at oneself if experiencing an embarrassing situation. Gelotophilia increased with the propensity to laugh if observing or experiencing embarrassment; katagelasticism increased with laughing if observing something embarrassing in another person. Imagining potentially embarrassing situations was associated with greater feelings of anxiety, shame, sadness, and embarrassment; gelotophilia with joy and cheerfulness. The study breaks the ground for a better understanding on how adolescent students deal with laughter and ridicule.     

Treatment of Diogenes Syndrome with Risperidone

Diogenes syndrome is characterized by shameless neglect of the body and personal environment, hoarding, and the rejection of any help. It occurs among patients with and without other psychiatric disorders. The initial treatment should be a behavioral program, but there is no information about the pharmacological treatment of this syndrome. We report the case of a 77-year-old woman with symptoms of Diogenes syndrome. After an unsuccessful behavioral program, treatment with risperidone initially improved the behavioral symptoms but impaired cognitive function, and was followed by marked global deterioration, fulfilling criteria for dementia.     

Exploring Perceptions of Xenophobia in a Sample of South African Employees

This brief report aimed to explore the perceptions of xenophobia within a sample of South African employees. Data on participants' views regarding xenophobia, related xenophobic violence and causes were collected from 127 respondents (males=43%, females=57%, with the majority of respondents being Afrikaans speaking=53% and white=68.5%). Responses were thematically analysed. Seventy-four percent of respondents did not approve of xenophobic behaviour. Only twenty percent of the respondents empathised with South Africans with xenophobia. Six percent of the respondents were indifferent to xenophobia. Participants considered having xenophobia to be related to unemployment, poverty, poor governance, a lack of education and involvement in crime.     

Antecedents of risk-taking behaviour among South African adolescents

This study aimed to investigate contextual predisposition to risk-taking behaviour among South African adolescents. Participants included 194 black adolescents from central South Africa (female = 50.5% between the ages of 16 and 19 years). The adolescents completed a youth risk behaviour survey as well as a questionnaire on their parental, peer, school, and community relationships. Data were analysed by means of multivariate analyses of variance and standard multiple regression analyses in order to predict risk-taking behaviour (violence, substance use, and risky sexual behaviour) from various relationship contexts (parents, peers, school, and community). Irrespective of relationship context, males portray a higher risk for all types of risky behaviour, and the more time adolescents spend with their peers, the higher their risk for engagement in risk-taking behaviour. Parental monitoring predicted a lower risk for portraying risky behaviour.     

Psychological Strengths as Predictors of Postgraduate Students' Academic Achievement

This study sought to predict students' Grade Point Average (GPA) from their personal sense of coherence, locus of control, hope and research self-efficacy. Participants were 429 postgraduate students at a large South African university (males = 86, females = 311, age range = 20 to 53, mean age = 30, SD = 6.77). They completed measures of sense of coherence, locus of control, hope orientation and research self-efficacy. Data were analysed using logistic regression. Results revealed that only research self-efficacy significantly predicted academic achievement. Although of small practical significance, it seems that students' beliefs about their own potential and abilities regarding research could influence their success to some degree. It is recommended that research self-efficacy, together with other psychological strengths, be further investigated as a predictor of academic success.     

BOOK REVIEWS

This paper deals with the traumatic departures of Jews from Morocco during the 1950s and 1960s. The issue is analyzed through a set of diverse oral narrations. The study is based on several interviews conducted both among Jews who left Morocco and Muslims still living in the city of Meknes. The repression of the memory by Muslims of two young Jews murdered in 1967 in Meknes is questioned. In fact, although the perceptions concerning the Jews' departure differs according to the interviewee's social class, a common feeling appears to be shared by different societal sectors regarding this specific issue, which still comes across as a sensitive one today. The representation of Jews traditionally depicted as “fearful” and “weak” turns into “courageous” and “strong” during the Six‐Day War. This new representation perturbed the Muslim population, which seemed to be unable to deal with the new status Jews were acquiring. In fact, emigration was commonly considered to betray a lack of virility. The paper argues that the unexpected departure of an historic component of Moroccan society has left an open wound in Morocco. Even the memory of the “events” by the Jewish population appears to be fragmented into ambiguous constructions, leading, on the one hand, to perceptions of fear and uncertainty and, on the other, to images of affectionate relationships and intense nostalgia.