Psychosocial Considerations in Sickle Cell Disease (SCD): The Transition from Adolescence to Young Adulthood

Sickle cell disease (SCD) occurs in 1 of every 400 to 500 African American births. Despite its prevalence, there has been a relative dearth of attention paid to SCD in the psychological literature. African American SCD adolescents and young adults, individuals at an already vulnerable developmental stage, are at increased risk for psychological distress and psychosocial impairments (e.g., depression and low self-esteem, poor social and academic/vocational functioning). Such difficulties often result in problematic adherence to medical regimens, and thus represent a potentially serious clinical and public health problem that merits the attention of psychologists working in medical settings. This article (1) reviews the psychosocial needs peculiar to SCD patients transitioning from adolescence to young adulthood; (2) applies a culturally informed stress-coping-adjustment framework to assess and address the psychological status, psychosocial functioning, and disease outcomes of these individuals; and (3) describes a culturally and developmentally sensitive, psychoeducational group intervention.     

Mediators of the Daily Hassles–Suicidal Ideation Link in African American Women

Depressive symptoms and hopelessness as mediators of the daily hassles–suicidal ideation link in low‐income African American women exposed to intimate partner violence (n = 100) were investigated. As hypothesized, daily hassles, depressive symptoms, and hopelessness were each significantly and positively associated with suicidal ideation. Moreover, the relation between daily hassles and suicidal ideation was, in part, accounted for by depressive symptoms and hopelessness. This study demonstrates the importance of assessing for the presence of these risk factors when determining the likelihood that an abused African American woman will consider suicide. The findings further highlight the value of designing and implementing interventions that target the reduction in depressive symptoms and hopelessness in abused African American women exposed to daily hassles to reduce their suicide risk.     

Relational Diagnosis: A Retrospective Synopsis

This article highlights and summarizes efforts that have been made primarily during the past 20 years to bring the significance of relational diagnosis to the attention of the entire mental health community, and either (1) to have dysfunctional relational interactive patterns classified and codified and accepted for inclusion in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or (2) if this is not feasible, to have a nosology of relational diagnoses, which have been clearly defined with accompanying risks specified for mental illnesses that might develop, and criteria sets delineated and adequately field tested to warrant and lead to publication of a separate but equal Diagnostic Manual of Relational Disorders and Dysfunctional Interactional Patterns.     

Descendants of holocaust victims and perpetrators: Legacies and dialogue

This paper summarizes the themes that often plague the lives of holocaust survivors and which were dealt with in a special roundtable dialogue in Budapest, Hungary, in August 1994. Some history of what happened to survivors after World War II is provided, followed by a summation of a teaching case and the dialogue among invited therapists from Germany, Hungary, and Israel who were either holocaust survivors and/or treating holocaust survivors. The dialogue focused on burdensome and troublesome issues that need to be discussed between and about survivors of both victims and perpetrators in an effort to ultimately enable therapists to treat this population with greater insight, compassion, and efficacy.She was the first president of the International Family Therapy Association, is a past president of the American Psychological Association's Division of Family Psychology, and author of many books and articles on family centered topics. Reprint requests should be sent to Dr. Kaslow     

Establishing linkages through international psychology: dealing with universalities and uniquenesses

This article chronicles one individual's personal odyssey toward becoming an international psychologist--and hopefully a citizen of a professional world that has no geographic borders. It is written as a narrative that is divided into chronological stages and several domains of professional activities. From each period, the main observations and lessons learned are extrapolated. It is hoped that readers who are interested in teaching, conducting workshops, and doing clinical work or research in other countries will find some of the personal reflections and professional ideas presented to be thought provoking and useful in the development of guiding principles in international psychology.     

Psychological, cognitive, and interpersonal correlates of attributional change in adolescents

Examined the role of attributional style in adolescent's psychological functioning. Specifically, we examined the cross-sectional correlates of attributional style, as well as the correlates of changes in attributional style over time. A sample of 841 adolescents with either maladaptive or adaptive attributional styles completed a battery of self-report measures at 2 points in time, 1 year apart. Measures assessed depressive symptoms and suicidality, cognitive functioning (self-esteem, pessimism, coping skills), and interpersonal functioning (social competence, conflict with parents, social support from family and friends). Results indicated that attributional style is associated with multiple depression-related variables. In addition, youth experienced significant changes in their attributional styles over time (from adaptive to maladaptive and vice versa). Finally, changes in attributional style were associated with changes in psychological symptoms and other psychosocial variables. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for the prevention and treatment of adolescent depression.     

Attributional style and self-control behavior in depressed and nondepressed children and their parents

Do the reformulated model of learned helplessness and the self-control model apply to clinically depressed children? Are the related cognitive patterns specific to depression? Are the cognitive deficits associated with depression learned from one's parents? To address these questions this investigation examined three groups of children (ages 8–12) and their parents: nonclinic (n =25),nondepressed clinic (n=22),and depressed clinic (n=15).Children were diagnosed depressed on the basis of Kiddie-SADS interview data. Depressed clinic children self-reported more depression, had a more depressive attributional style, and had more self-control problems. There were more depressed mothers in the clinic than in the nonclinic sample. Depressed clinic children had more depressed mothers than did nondepressed clinic children. There were no differences among the three groups of parents in their cognitive patterns. No relationship was found between the attributional style and self-control behavior of children and their parents.