An Examination of Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms among Maltreated Multiracial Youth

Symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are common among maltreated youth removed from their homes. These symptoms might be particularly evident in multiracial youth, although little research exists on this vulnerable population. A model whereby depression, dissociation, and posttraumatic cognition symptoms contributed to symptoms of PTSD met goodness-of-fit criteria in 160 maltreated multiracial adolescents. Enhanced model fit was found for females and for adolescents 11 to 13 years old. Analyses further revealed that the best predictors of PTSD symptoms were negative cognitions about the world and anhedonia. The findings are discussed within the context of existing theoretical models of PTSD. The results further highlight the importance of ethnically and racially sensitive approaches to assessment and treatment of youth with PTSD symptoms.     

Anxiety and adjustment levels among the visually and hearing impaired and their relationship to locus of control, cognitive, social, and biographical variables

Forty-five hearing-impaired and 40 visually impaired male residential school children aged 6 to 16 years were administered measures of adjustment, anxiety, and locus of control (LOC). Scores related to intelligence and academic level, teacher and peer acceptance, and biographical variables were also obtained. The findings show that the correlates of anxiety and adjustment differed qualitatively as well as quantitatively between the groups.     

Teachers' Ratings of Working Memory in English Language Learners: Do Laboratory Measures Predict Classroom Analogues?

This study investigated the relationship between teachers' classroom ratings of working memory (WM) and laboratory measures of WM of English language learners (ELLs) in the elementary grades. Multilevel modeling was used to identify whether teacher ratings accurately predicted ELL children's performance on WM tasks. The results indicated that teachers' ratings of WM were predicted by isolated components of WM even when measures of achievement, vocabulary and gender representation were entered into the analysis. Teacher ratings of WM were predictive of student performance on latent measures of Spanish short‐term memory and the executive component of WM. Entering inattention ratings into the analysis partialed out the influence of the executive component of WM, while leaving variance related to a language‐specific storage system as a significant predictor of teachers' classroom ratings of WM. The results suggest that classroom ratings of WM provide a valid analogue of student laboratory performance. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Creating a Pindh: Place-Making within a Sikh Diasporic Community in Malaya

This paper examines a diaspora group's claiming and contesting of physical space and actively engaging in host country multiracial spaces, I co-opted the Pindh, a Sikh concept incorporating relationships with the landscape and social structure, re-defining its original meaning to encompass this unique consolidation of identity, home and belonging. Addressing the use and meaning of space and the transformation of Peraktown, the geographical location, I explore this transformation to a place of meaning through the practices of everyday life within the Sikh community. It describes the concepts of spatial relationships and their impact on the construction and solidification of the Peraktown Sikh community in contrast to their inherited connection to the land and inherent romantic nostalgia for Punjab, as they recreated the meanings it contained and inscribed these on the physical map of the town. In the four spaces addressed, the home, the Gurdwara, the school and the gendered work spaces, I demonstrate the ways that space altered, through claiming, adoption and subversion. The lens of the Pindh offers a uniquely Sikh way to view and analyse the constitution of common identity and a place to belong. The Peraktown Sikhs extend the discourse of diaspora beyond postcolonial and Western modes of thought of being ‘other’ yet simultaneously belonging ‘here', ‘back there’ and to multiple places of home.     

Effects of green tea extract on learning, memory, behavior and acetylcholinesterase activity in young and old male rats

Objective

To study the effects of green tea extract administration on age-related cognition in young and old male Wistar rats.

Methods

Young and old rats were orally administered 0.5% green tea extract for a period of eight weeks and were evaluated by passive avoidance, elevated maze plus paradigm and changes in acetylcholinesterase activity.

Results

Treatment of young and old rats with the extract resulted in no significant difference in performance on the rota rod treadmill test/righting reflex time. Green tea extract significantly improved learning and memory in older rats, with increased retention latency to enter difference in passive avoidance test. In the elevated maze test, green tea treatment resulted in significantly more number of entries in the enclosed arm by the young and old rats. Decline in acetylcholinesterase activity was observed in the cerebrum of green tea treated old rats in comparison to the green tea treated young rats.

Conclusion

Green tea extract administration is effective in enhancing learning and memory in aged rats, and hence, may serve useful in reversing age-related deficits.     

An integrated model for intervention with infants,preschool children,and their maltreating parents

Service delivery systems for maltreating parents need to be comprehensive, integrated, and coordinated in order to address the ecological, developmental, and psychotherapeutic needs of maltreating families. This article presents a center-based, intensive model of intervention for multiproblem, maltreating families. The program described addresses the needs of the entire family; incorporates the evaluation and treatment of the child's, as well as the parent's, development; and provides services in a multifamily group milieu. The following interventions are integrated in the treatment approach: (1) family milieu approach, (2) assistance with functioning of the “parental ego,” (3) traditional therapies, and (4) developmental-structuralist approach to parent-child interaction. Challenges encountered and solutions employed in working with maltreating families are discussed. A detailed case study is presented to illustrate the types of interventions used.     

“Doing Gender” and “Doing Religion” in Science: A Cross-National Examination

Women tend to be both underrepresented in science and overrepresented in organized religion, yet the connection between these two phenomena is rarely examined. With survey data collected among 6,537 biologists and physicists from four national contexts—the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, and India—we test whether science as a social field shapes religious expressions and attitudes differently for men and women. Findings reveal a religious gender gap in India and Italy but not in the United States and the United Kingdom. Further, except in Italy, men had higher odds of perceiving religion and science to be in conflict, believing that their colleagues have a negative attitude about religion, and reporting that science made them less religious. Evidence suggests that men in science may disproportionately internalize normative pressures to masculinize by eschewing religion. Our findings have implications for selection into academic science and the practice of religion among men and women in science.     

Pathway to health: cluster-randomized trial to increase fruit and vegetable consumption among smokers in public housing.

OBJECTIVES: Examine the effectiveness of an intervention to increase fruits and vegetables (FV) consumption among smokers. DESIGN: Cluster-randomized trial of 20 public housing developments; 10 randomly assigned to an FV intervention and 10 to a smoking cessation intervention. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Usual (past 7 days) and past 30 days change in daily FV intake at 8 weeks and 6 months postbaseline. RESULTS: Greater increases were seen in the FV group. At Week 8 and Month 6, the FV group had consumed 1.58 (p = .001) and 0.78 (p = .04), respectively, more daily FV servings in the past 7 days than the cessation group. At the same time points, the FV group had consumed 3.61 (p = .01) and 3.93 (p = .01), respectively, more FV servings in the past 30 days than the cessation group. Completing more motivational interviewing sessions (p = .02) and trying more recipes (p = .02) led to significantly greater increases at Month 6 among FV participants. CONCLUSIONS: Motivational interviewing counseling and lifestyle modification through trying out healthy recipes may be effective in helping a high-risk population increase their FV intake.