Emotion Regulation and Loss of Control Eating in Community-Based Adolescents

The current study investigated concurrent and prospective associations between emotion-related constructs and loss of control (LOC) eating in adolescents. Community-based females (N?=?588) completed annual self-report assessments of LOC eating, emotional awareness, emotion regulation strategies, and neuroticism from ages 16 to 18 years. Linear regressions and a regression-based multiple mediation model using bootstrapping were computed to examine the relationships among emotion-related constructs and LOC eating frequency. In the concurrent model, age 18 emotional awareness and emotion regulation strategies were associated with age 18 LOC eating, F(6, 416)?=?12.11, p?<?0.001, accounting for 4.5 % of the variance after controlling for demographics, body mass index, and neuroticism, F change?=?10.81, p?<?0.001. In the prospective model, age 17 emotional awareness predicted age 18 LOC eating, F(7, 425)?=?11.67, p?<?0.001, accounting for 1.7 % of unique variance beyond the effects of age 16 LOC eating and age 17 demographics, body mass index, and neuroticism, F change?=?4.26, p?=?0.015. In the multiple mediation model, age 18 emotion regulation strategies mediated the association between age 17 neuroticism and age 18 LOC eating, indirect effect estimate?=?0.003, 95 % confidence interval?=?0.001–0.005, after controlling for age 16 LOC eating and age 17 demographics, body mass index, and emotion regulation variables. Results suggest that deficient emotion regulation may contribute to the onset and maintenance of LOC eating in adolescence (although effects were small), and may partially explain the well-established prospective relationship between negative emotionality and later LOC eating. Prevention and early intervention programs should seek to improve adaptive coping in at-risk populations.     

Maternal Depression and Youth Internalizing and Externalizing Symptomatology: Severity and Chronicity of Past Maternal Depression and Current Maternal Depressive Symptoms

Maternal depression is a well-documented risk factor for youth depression, and taking into account its severity and chronicity may provide important insight into the degree of risk conferred. This study explored the degree to which the severity/chronicity of maternal depression history explained variance in youth internalizing and externalizing symptoms above and beyond current maternal depressive symptoms among 171 youth (58 % male) ages 8 to 12 over a span of 3 years. Severity and chronicity of past maternal depression and current maternal depressive symptoms were examined as predictors of parent-reported youth internalizing and externalizing symptomatology, as well as youth self-reported depressive symptoms. Severity and chronicity of past maternal depression did not account for additional variance in youth internalizing and externalizing symptoms at Time 1 beyond what was accounted for by maternal depressive symptoms at Time 1. Longitudinal growth curve modeling indicated that prior severity/chronicity of maternal depression predicted levels of youth internalizing and externalizing symptoms at each time point when controlling for current maternal depressive symptoms at each time point. Chronicity of maternal depression, apart from severity, also predicted rate of change in youth externalizing symptoms over time. These findings highlight the importance of screening and assessing for current maternal depressive symptoms, as well as the nature of past depressive episodes. Possible mechanisms underlying the association between severity/chronicity of maternal depression and youth outcomes, such as residual effects from depressive history on mother–child interactions, are discussed.     

Oil,Crime, and Disorder: A Methodological Examination of the Oil Boom’s Impact in North Dakota

This article examines the impact the oil boom has had on crime and disorder in North Dakota. Particular attention is paid to the methods used to analyze these impacts. Several quantitative analyses, including t-tests and regressions, were performed and critiqued. Overall, few significant relationships were found that could link the oil boom to increases in crime and disorder. In addition, this article introduces location quotients as an alternative method to examine crime and disorder in boomtown settings. The results suggest that the impact of the boom was localized in that different counties experienced differential crime and disorder impacts.     

The Problematization of Sexuality among Women Living with HIV and a New Feminist Approach for Understanding and Enhancing Women’s Sexual Lives

In the context of HIV, women’s sexual rights and sexual autonomy are important but frequently overlooked and violated. Guided by community voices, feminist theories, and qualitative empirical research, we reviewed two decades of global quantitative research on sexuality among women living with HIV. In the 32 studies we found, conducted in 25 countries and composed mostly of cis-gender heterosexual women, sexuality was narrowly constructed as sexual behaviours involving risk (namely, penetration) and physiological dysfunctions relating to HIV illness, with far less attention given to the fullness of sexual lives in context, including more positive and rewarding experiences such as satisfaction and pleasure. Findings suggest that women experience declines in sexual activity, function, satisfaction, and pleasure following HIV diagnosis, at least for some period. The extent of such declines, however, is varied, with numerous contextual forces shaping women’s sexual well-being. Clinical markers of HIV (e.g., viral load, CD4 cell count) poorly predicted sexual outcomes, interrupting widely held assumptions about sexuality for women with HIV. Instead, the effects of HIV-related stigma intersecting with inequities related to trauma, violence, intimate relations, substance use, poverty, aging, and other social and cultural conditions primarily influenced the ways in which women experienced and enacted their sexuality. However, studies framed through a medical lens tended to pathologize outcomes as individual “problems,” whereas others driven by a public health agenda remained primarily preoccupied with protecting the public from HIV. In light of these findings, we present a new feminist approach for research, policy, and practice toward understanding and enhancing women’s sexual lives—one that affirms sexual diversity; engages deeply with society, politics, and history; and is grounded in women’s sexual rights.     

A systematic review of cognitive functioning among young people who have experienced homelessness,foster care,or poverty

Young people who have experienced homelessness, foster care, or poverty are among the most disadvantaged in society. This review examines whether young people who have these experiences differ from their non-disadvantaged peers with respect to their cognitive skills and abilities, and whether cognitive profiles differ between these three groups. Three electronic databases were systematically searched for articles published between 1 January 1995 and 1 February 2015 on cognitive functioning among young people aged 15 to 24 years who have experienced homelessness, foster care, or poverty. Articles were screened using pre-determined inclusion criteria, then the data were extracted, and its quality assessed. A total of 31 studies were included. Compared to non-disadvantaged youth or published norms, cognitive performance was generally found to be impaired in young people who had experienced homelessness, foster care, or poverty. A common area of difficulty across all groups is working memory. General cognitive functioning, attention, and executive function deficits are shared by the homeless and poverty groups. Creativity emerges as a potential strength for homeless young people. The cognitive functioning of young people with experiences of impermanent housing and poverty has been relatively neglected and more research is needed to further establish cognitive profiles and replicate the findings reviewed here. As some aspects of cognitive functioning may show improvement with training, these could represent a target for intervention.     

The buffering power of overt socially supportive and unsupportive behaviors from the significant other on posttraumatic stress disorder individuals’ emotional state

Background and objectives: Social support is one of the three strongest predictors of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In the present study, we aimed to assess the buffering power of overt socially supportive and unsupportive behaviors from the significant other, in a group with PTSD and a comparison group. Design and methods: A total of 46 individuals with PTSD and 42 individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) or panic disorder (PD) completed diagnostic interviews and an anxiety-oriented social interaction with a significant other. Heart rate of participants was continuously measured during this interaction and overt social behaviors from the significant other were recorded on videotape and coded using a validated system. Results: Changes in heart rate in PTSD participants correlated negatively with changes in overt socially supportive behaviors from their significant other (r from ?.36 to ?.50, p?<?.05), while changes in overt unsupportive social behaviors from their significant other did not yield any significant correlation (r from ?.01 to .05, p?>?.05). No such statistically significant association emerged in the group with OCD or PD (r from .01 to ?.27, p?>?.05). Conclusions: This study sustain the buffering power of overt supportive behaviors from the significant other on heart rate changes in PTSD.     

It's a Museum,But Not as We Know It: Issues for Local Residents Accessing the Museum of Old and New Art

The Museum of Old and New Art (MONA), in Australia's island state of Tasmania, bears all the hallmarks of the new museology and a flagship museum. Located in a largely working class area, there are expectations of visitors from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds, particularly local residents. However most visitors are tourists, middle-class, and highly educated. In this article, the authors ask, “What are the issues affecting accessibility to MONA for local residents?” In asking this, they aim to better understand local engagement with MONA and shed light on potential socio-cultural transformation. Using a survey, interviews, and focus groups with local residents, the authors found that accessibility at MONA is defined along familiar socioeconomic lines, though there are indications of change that warrant further investigation. The expense of food and beverage, concern about children's behavior, and the explicit nature of some art all impact on accessibility, particularly for those with less cultural capital.     

Navigating through apertures: perceptual judgements and actions of children with Developmental Coordination Disorder

Passing through a narrow gap/aperture involves a perceptual judgement regarding the size of the gap and an action to pass through. Children with DCD are known to have difficulties with perceptual judgements in near space but whether this extends to far space is unknown. Furthermore, in a recent study it was found that adults with DCD do not scale movements when walking through an aperture in the same way as their peers. The current study, therefore, considered perceptual judgements and motor behaviour of children with DCD while looking at or walking through apertures. Twenty‐nine children with DCD and 29 typically developing (TD) children took part. In Experiment 1, participants completed a perceptual task, where they made passability judgements. Children with DCD showed a significantly smaller critical ratio (aperture size at which a participant first rotates the shoulders to pass through) compared to their TD peers. In Experiment 2, participants completed an action task where they walked through the same apertures. Children with DCD showed a significantly larger critical ratio than TD peers when body size alone was accounted for. Taken together these results suggest that perception within a static context is different from that within a dynamic context for children with DCD. However, despite this difference we have demonstrated a clear relationship between perception and action in children with DCD. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/SABXFrAJtF8     

Active engagement in a web-based tutorial to prevent obesity grounded in Fuzzy-Trace Theory predicts higher knowledge and gist comprehension

We used Sharable Knowledge Objects (SKOs) to create an Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS) grounded in Fuzzy-Trace Theory to teach women about obesity prevention: GistFit, getting the gist of healthy eating and exercise. The theory predicts that reliance on gist mental representations (as opposed to verbatim) is more effective in reducing health risks and improving decision making. Technical information was translated into decision-relevant gist representations and gist principles (i.e., healthy values). The SKO was hypothesized to facilitate extracting these gist representations and principles by engaging women in dialogue, “understanding” their responses, and replying appropriately to prompt additional engagement. Participants were randomly assigned to either the obesity prevention tutorial (GistFit) or a control tutorial containing different content using the same technology. Participants were administered assessments of knowledge about nutrition and exercise, gist comprehension, gist principles, behavioral intentions and self-reported behavior. An analysis of engagement in tutorial dialogues and responses to multiple-choice questions to check understanding throughout the tutorial revealed significant correlations between these conversations and scores on subsequent knowledge tests and gist comprehension. Knowledge and comprehension measures correlated with healthier behavior and greater intentions to perform healthy behavior. Differences between GistFit and control tutorials were greater for participants who engaged more fully. Thus, results are consistent with the hypothesis that active engagement with a new gist-based ITS, rather than a passive memorization of verbatim details, was associated with an array of known psychosocial mediators of preventive health decisions, such as knowledge acquisition, and gist comprehension.