The Impact of Exercise on Suicide Risk: Examining Pathways through Depression,PTSD, and Sleep in an Inpatient Sample of Veterans

Suicide has a large public health impact. Although effective interventions exist, the many people at risk for suicide cannot access these interventions. Exercise interventions hold promise in terms of reducing suicide because of their ease of implementation. While exercise reduces depression, and reductions in depressive symptoms are linked to reduced suicidal ideation, no studies have directly linked exercise and suicide risk. The current study examined this association, including potential mediators (i.e., sleep disturbance, posttraumatic stress symptoms, and depression), in a sample of Veterans. SEM analyses revealed that exercise was directly and indirectly associated with suicide risk. Additionally, exercise was associated with fewer depressive symptoms and better sleep patterns, each of which was, in turn, related to lower suicide risk.     

Memory distortions in coerced false confessions: a source monitoring framework analysis

Confessions are routinely offered as evidence and are potentially damning to defendants. However, not all confessions are truthful. Suspects can be coerced into falsely confessing to crimes that they did not commit, and in a subset of cases, the confessors come to genuinely believe they committed the crimes and sometimes create vivid ‘memories’ of their activities. Against the backdrop of a model of cognitive processes involved in correct and incorrect remembering known as the source monitoring framework, this paper examines how coercive tactics routinely used in interrogations may give rise to memory illusions and distortions that can contribute to false confessions in which individuals believe they are guilty and create false memories to support those beliefs. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

FIRST YEAR CAMPUS ACQUAINTANCE RAPE EDUCATION Evaluating the Impact of a Mandatory Intervention

The current study was designed to evaluate the impact of First Year Campus Acquaintance Rape Education (FYCARE), a mandatory program for first year undergraduates. First, questionnaires were administered to 48 FYCARE participants assessed immediately following workshop participation, 76 FYCARE participants sampled through the unrelated context of introductory psychology courses, and 67 students sampled through introductory psychology who had not yet attended their scheduled FYCARE workshop. Second, ostensibly unrelated telephone surveys were conducted with 93 students who participated in FYCARE 4 to 6 months earlier and 77 first year students who had not yet attended their scheduled workshop. Results indicated a positive impact of participation on attitudes and judgments of a hypothetical scenario, but only when assessed immediately following workshop participation. In contrast, increases in knowledge were maintained for a period of up to 7 weeks, and phone survey responses revealed an increase in the level of support for rape prevention efforts 4 to 6 months following program participation. Finally, superior outcomes were observed among students involved in more than one educational program, thus highlighting the need for repeated intervention.     

Concerns of Older Veteran Callers to the Veterans Crisis Line

When the Veterans Crisis Line (VCL) was implemented, it was uncertain if veterans, and particularly older male veterans, would utilize the service. We examined VCL use by a growing group of veterans at increased risk for suicide: those aged 60 and older. Real‐time clinical data were gathered from a weekly random sampling of calls. Approximately 25% of calls were from veterans aged 60 or older; over 80% reported benefit from the call. Several significant differences in presenting concerns between older and younger callers were found. Targeted outreach to encourage older veterans to use the VCL is suggested.     

The influence of popular media characters on children's object choices

Children often prefer objects and food packaging bearing images of popular media characters. However, it is unclear what factors may influence this. This study investigated whether depictions of popular media characters on high-quality (brand new) and low-quality (dirty, broken) objects influenced 3- to 4-year-old children's (N = 84) object preferences, as well as which objects children selected to help them complete a functional task (e.g., using a bucket to transport several small items). We also investigated whether children's preferences were related to inhibitory control. We found children's preferences were influenced by images of popular characters, but not their choice of objects for functional use. Instead, children relied on object quality when selecting an object to complete a task. Inhibitory control was not related to children's object choices. These results suggest children may weigh object features differently when making decisions for different purposes.