An examination of risky sexual behavior and HIV in victims of child abuse and neglect: a 30-year follow-up.

OBJECTIVE: This article examined links between childhood maltreatment and risky sexual behavior (early sexual contact, promiscuity, prostitution) and HIV in adulthood. DESIGN: Using a prospective cohort design, physically and sexually abused and neglected children (ages 0-11) with documented cases during 1967-1971 were matched with nonmaltreated children and followed into adulthood. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Early sexual contact, promiscuity, and prostitution were assessed through in-person interviews and official records (prostitution) at approximate age 29 (N=1196). HIV tests were conducted at approximate age 41 (N=631). RESULTS: Child maltreatment was associated with prostitution (OR=2.47, 95% CI=1.35-4.50) and early sexual contact (OR=1.73, 95% CI=1.24-2.40). Prevalence of HIV in the abuse/neglect group was twice that in controls (OR=2.35, 95% CI=.64-8.62), although this difference did not reach conventional levels of statistical significance. SEM provided significant support for a model linking child abuse and neglect to prostitution through early sexual contact and a marginal link to HIV through prostitution. CONCLUSION: These findings provide prospective evidence that maltreated children are more likely to report sexual contact before age 15, engage in prostitution by young adulthood, and test positive for HIV in middle adulthood.     

Culture in the context of intercultural negotiation.

This study explores culture's effect on behaviors and outcomes in intercultural negotiation and examines how those effects are moderated by role. Eighty U.S. and international students took part in a previously developed negotiation task (Pruitt, 1981) and completed Hui and Triandis's (1986) individualism‐collectivism (INDCOL) scale. Negotiation interactions were coded for information sharing, offers, and distributive tactics. Findings show that a negotiation dyad's collectivism is positively associated with higher joint profit. The effects of culture on both communication behaviors and joint outcomes, however, differ by role of the negotiator. In particular, seller collectivism has larger and more consistent effects on communication behavior and joint profit than buyer collectivism. Results support a ‘culture in context’ perspective of negotiation that takes into account negotiator qualities, contextual and structural features of the negotiation, and mediating processes in addition to cultural values.     

A Bayesian approach to the evolution of perceptual and cognitive systems

We describe a formal framework for analyzing how statistical properties of natural environments and the process of natural selection interact to determine the design of perceptual and cognitive systems. The framework consists of two parts: a Bayesian ideal observer with a utility function appropriate for natural selection, and a Bayesian formulation of Darwin's theory of natural selection. Simulations of Bayesian natural selection were found to yield new insights, for example, into the co‐evolution of camouflage, color vision, and decision criteria. The Bayesian framework captures and generalizes, in a formal way, many of the important ideas of other approaches to perception and cognition.     

Studying communication between community pharmacists and their customers

We discuss research issues within the field of pharmacist-customer communication in the light of the recently recommended extended role of the community pharmacist as a source of information about health and illness. The discussion focusses on possible ways in which the literature on doctor-patient communication might provide a useful initial framework for research into pharmacist-customer communication. We illustrate the discussion with reports of three exploratory studies, and consider the feasibility and value of carrying out further work within this framework.     

Restoration of the orienting response to a light by a change in its predictive accuracy

In three experiments the orienting response (OR) to a light was reduced by presenting rats with a serial conditioning schedule in which the light was always followed by a tone, and the tone was intermittently paired with food. The original strength of the OR was then restored by changing the nature of the serial conditioning: the light was followed either by the tone and food, or by nothing. Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrated that this change resulted in an increase in the OR relative to control groups, which continued to receive the original training. Experiment 3 revealed a similar effect using a within-subjects design. A further finding from the first two experiments was that the recovery of the OR was accompanied by an enhancement in the conditionability of the light. Overall, the results suggest that the accuracy with which the light signals the events that immediately follow it is an important determinant of the strength of the OR it elicits.     

Hemodynamic characteristics of young men at risk for hypertension at rest and during laboratory stressors.

Examined hemodynamic activity--at rest, during mental arithmetic, and during hand cold pressor--in young men varying in risk for hypertension. Classification into low-risk (n = 72), moderate-risk (n = 20), and high-risk (n = 13) groups was based on resting systolic blood pressure (SBP) and parental history of essential hypertension (PH). Dependent variables were SBP, diastolic BP (DBP), heart rate, and rate-pressure product (RPP). Progressively greater hemodynamic activity was seen across risk groups at rest and during the tasks. Risk groups differed significantly in SBP, DBP, and RPP at baseline (ps less than .003) and in size of response to mental arithmetic (ps less than .05) but not to cold pressor. These relationships were either absent or weaker when using either risk factor alone to form risk groups. These findings suggest that hemodynamic reactivity to mental stress is predicted better by a combination of resting SBP and PH than by either risk factor alone and that physiological reactivity may be an important accompaniment of increased risk for hypertension.