On‐Line Support and Resources for People Bereaved through Suicide: What Is Available?

The Internet is a potentially valuable source of information for the bereaved, but the current knowledge regarding the type and quality of online material on suicide bereavement is very limited. This study was designed to explore the types of online information and support available for people bereaved by suicide and the quality of such resources. Four popular Internet search engines were searched using terms related to suicide bereavement and support. Although a wide range of Internet resources exist for people bereaved by suicide, these resources may not meet basic quality standards. It is unknown who uses these sites, how such material is used, and whether it helps people to cope effectively with grief after suicide.     

Social Status and Aggressiveness as Moderators of the Relationship Between Interactional Justice and Workplace Deviance

Workplace deviance is a prevalent and costly problem for organizations. This study examines the relationship between interactional justice, a specific type of organizational justice perception that reflects how a person is treated by an authority, and 2 categories of deviant behavior. Based on a person-situation model, we expected the relation between interactional justice and deviance to be stronger when the employee is high rather than low in aggressiveness. Drawing from prior research suggesting that people with low status react defensively to self-invalidating events, we hypothesized that the social status variables of hierarchical position, gender, and race would also moderate the relation between interactional justice and deviance. Finally, we propose a 3-way interaction involving aggressiveness, status, and interactional justice. Data were collected from 192 employees of a public sector organization. The results provide support for several of the hypothesized interactions involving aggressiveness, social status variables, and interactional justice.     

Correlates of perceived HIV-related stigma among HIV-positive pregnant women in rural Mpumalanga province,South Africa

The study investigated correlates of perceived HIV-related stigma among 673 HIV-positive women from rural Mpumalanga province, South Africa (mean age 28 years old, SD = 5.73 years). The women completed measures of HIV-related stigma experience and related personal factors. Following multivariable logistic regression, results showed that lack of male involvement during the ante-natal visits was significantly associated with all four perceived HIV-related stigma factors. Lower income, intimate partner violence (IPV), lower education, and experienced HIV-related stigma were associated with a combination of the four components of perceived HIV-related stigma. From these findings, we conclude that higher levels of education, income, and partner involvement are protective factors against perceived HIV-related stigma, at multiple layers. Improving on adult education and income generating activities can help in reducing HIV-related stigma. Male partner involvement in their partner’s pregnancy, the initiation of support groups for both women and men, as well as community-based IPV prevention interventions may help to reduce perceived HIV-related stigma among women living with HIV.     

The influence of prematurity,maternal anxiety,and infants' neurobiological risk on mother–infant interactions

In this study, we investigated how the birth of a very low birth weight preterm (VLBW) infant influences the mother–infant interaction at 3 months. We also focused on the impact of the infant's neurobiological risk and maternal anxiety, and their interaction. The comparison of the VLBW preterm sample (n = 79) with an external full‐term sample (n = 35) showed mother–infant interactions of the families with the preterm infant to be more vocally responsive during the interaction, but less facially responsive during the interaction. Additionally, higher levels of maternal anxiety were associated with preterm infants being less facially responsive in interaction with their mother. While neurobiological risk of the infant played a part in this association, with higher risk infants also being less facially responsive, the relationship with maternal anxiety and the mother–child interaction was stronger. How these findings may influence therapeutic interventions is discussed.     

Defensiveness and Symptom Reporting

This investigation examined whether high levels of defensiveness were associated with lower levels of reporting symptoms of ill health. Participants completed questionnaires measuring defensiveness, trait anxiety (neuroticism), and health. Analyses revealed that overall high defensiveness was significantly associated with lower levels of symptom reporting, and that among individuals high in neuroticism (a trait normally associated with high levels of symptom reporting), those individuals also high in defensiveness reported significantly lower levels of symptoms. The results suggest that defensiveness may act as a buffer against the perception and reporting of the symptoms of illness.     

Putting the partner within reach: a dyadic perspective on felt security in close relationships

The authors argue that felt insecurity in a partner's positive regard and caring stems from a specifically dyadic perception--the perception that a partner is out of one's league. A cross-sectional sample of dating couples revealed that people with low self-esteem feel inferior to their partner and that such feelings of relative inferiority undermine felt security in the partner's regard. Three experiments examined the consequences of reducing such perceived discrepancies by pointing to either strengths in the self or flaws in the partner. Low, but not high, self-esteem participants reacted to new strengths in the self or faults in the partner by reporting greater felt security in their specific partner's positive regard and commitment and more positive, general feelings about their own interpersonal worth. Thus, putting the partner more within the psychological grasp of low self-esteem people may effectively increase felt security in the partner's regard.     

Look little, look often: the influence of gaze frequency on drawing accuracy

The present article attempts to determine what those who draw accurately do differently than those who do not. Four experiments explore the relation between drawing accuracy and the rate at which artists glance between their drawing and the stimulus (termed gaze frequency). Experiment 1 revealed a positive relation between gaze frequency and drawing accuracy (r2 = .33). Experiments 2, 3, and 4 demonstrated that gaze frequency directly influences drawing accuracy. High gaze frequencies may facilitate drawing accuracy by (1) allowing the artist to hold less information in working memory, (2) reducing memory distortion, and (3) facilitating the reduction of context effects through inattentional blindness.     

Treatment with medications affecting dopaminergic and serotonergic mechanisms: effects on fluency and anxiety in persons who stutter

Medications with dopamine antagonist properties, such as haloperidol, and those with serotonin reuptake inhibitor properties, such as clomipramine, have been shown to improve fluency. To examine the degree to which each of these two pharmacological mechanisms might independently affect fluency, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, paroxetine, and a selective dopamine (D-2) antagonist, pimozide, were evaluated. Both types of medications also affect mood and anxiety, factors that could influence fluency levels. Therefore, we also evaluated the medications’ effects on generalized and speech-related anxiety and the relationships between changes in anxiety and changes in fluency in 11 subjects with a history of developmental stuttering. The randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled crossover study that was designed had to be terminated prior to completion due to severe side effects following withdrawal from paroxetine. Even with a reduced sample size (n = 6), significant improvement in percent fluent speaking time (p = 0.02) was found using a telephone task between baseline and pimozide (n = 6), with average duration of dysfluencies significantly shorter (p = 0.04) but no significant difference in the estimated number of dysfluencies per minute. This significant improvement was associated with non-significant increases in generalized anxiety, but non-significant decreases in speech-related anxiety. No significant differences were found in fluency between baseline and paroxetine (n = 5). These preliminary results suggest that fluency improvement is more likely to be mediated by dopaminergic rather than serotonergic mechanisms. Due to its side effects, however, pimozide may be considered a risk for treatment of stuttering.

Educational objectives: As a result of reading this paper the reader will describe and explain: (1) how medications may affect fluency and the rationale for selecting medications for treatment trials; (2) the interrelationship between fluency and anxiety; and (3) factors important in developing clinical trials using medications.     

Task-set inertia, attitude accessibility, and compatibility-order effects: new evidence for a task-set switching account of the implicit association test effect

Based on a task-set switching account of the Implicit Association Test (IAT), the authors predict a specific pattern of aftereffects as a consequence of working through IAT blocks. In Study 1, performance in an evaluative decision task, but not in a color-naming task, was decreased after working through the incompatible rather than compatible block of a flower-insect IAT. In Study 2, response latencies in an evaluative rating task, but not in a color-rating task, were analogously affected, whereas the ratings themselves were not a function of the compatibility of prior IAT blocks. The aftereffects demonstrate reactivity of the IAT; they bear on the mechanisms underlying the IAT and on compatibility-order effects.