Andromeda Freed From Her Chains

Minds for the Making: The Role of Science in American Education, 1750–1990, by Scott L. Montgomery, New York: The Guilford Press, 1994, pb, $18.95.     

PTSD Symptom Severity and Family Adjustment Among Female Vietnam Veterans

This study examined relations between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom severity and several family adjustment variables among a sample of 89 female Vietnam veterans and their male relationship partners. Findings revealed associations between PTSD symptom severity and measures of marital adjustment, family adaptability, family cohesion, parenting satisfaction, and psychological abuse. Results suggest that the presence of PTSD symptomatology may have important implications with regard to the family life of female Vietnam veterans.     

The mediating effects of time structure on the relationships between time management behaviour,job satisfaction,and psychological well‐being

This article examined the relationship between time structure and Macan's process model of time management. This study proposed that time structure—‘appraisal of effective time usage’—would be a more parsimonious mediator than perceived control over time in the relationship between time management behaviours and outcome variables, such as job satisfaction and psychological well‐being. Alternative structure models were compared using a sample of 111 university students. Model 1 tested Macan's process model of time management with perceived control over time as the mediator. Model 2 replaced perceived control over time by the construct of time structure. Model 3 examined the possibility of perceived control over time and time structure as being parallel mediators of the relationships between time management and outcomes. Results of this study showed that Model 1 and Model 2 fitted the data equally well. On the other hand, the mediated effects were small and partial in both models. This pattern of results calls for reassessment of the process model.     

Exotic Dance Research: A Review of the Literature from 1970 to 2008

This article presents the process and findings of a review of the empirical research literature on exotic dance/dancers in the United States and Canada from 1970 to 2008. We present research methods represented in this sample, as well as the main purposes of these studies, the deployment of theory in exotic dance research, and the visibility of researcher subjectivities. Over time researchers have gradually moved from micro-level analysis with singular explanations toward multi-dimensional and contextual understandings of exotic dance/dancers. Contemporary researchers are less grounded in deviance, pathology, or victimization. We conclude with a discussion and a series of recommendations for future research.     

Prediction of work functioning following accidental injury: The contribution of PTSD symptom severity and other established risk factors

Responses to a mail survey were used to investigate the contribution of PTSD symptom severity to work functioning in 69 previously employed adult survivors of accidental injury approximately 8 months post‐hospitalization. Associations of PTSD symptom severity with other established risk factors for poor work functioning were also examined. Participants were initially divided into three groups based on PTSD symptom severity and analysis of variance undertaken to determine the differences in work functioning between survivors with PTSD, subclinical PTSD, and no PTSD. As anticipated, survivors with PTSD reported significantly poorer work functioning than those with subclinical PTSD and no PTSD. Those with subclinical PTSD, however, reported significantly lower levels of work functioning than survivors with no PTSD, suggesting that this population may also be at risk of poor outcomes and in need of vocational interventions post‐accident. To determine the influence of PTSD symptom severity on work functioning over and above other established risk factors, a two‐model hierarchical regression that included the established risk factors in the first model and PTSD in the final model was undertaken. Results revealed that PTSD symptom severity uniquely predicted work functioning after controlling for the influence of other contributing risk factors. A composite of seven risk factors, including PTSD symptom severity, was shown to predict 62% (57% adjusted) of the variance in work functioning but only pre‐accident occupation, physical functioning, and PTSD severity significantly contributed to the prediction. Findings suggest that the rehabilitation management of people with PTSD or subclinical PTSD following accidental injury would benefit from early identification by the established predictors together with an integrated approach to physical, psychological, and vocational interventions.     

Hoist on your own petard: When prejudiced remarks are recognized and backfire on speakers

The purpose of this research was to explore when people recognize prejudice in those who make bigoted remarks, and whether such expressions of bigotry backfire to harm those who express them. The results of Study 1 suggest that people attribute prejudice to speakers who make stereotypical generalizations about either ascribed (e.g., race, age, sexual orientation) or assumed (e.g., occupational) groups, but have more difficulty recognizing prejudice in those who express positive stereotypes. Study 2 found that bigoted speakers were perceived as less likeable, even by in-group members who agreed with their remarks. Study 3 replicated these findings in a more realistic paradigm, and found that those who made prejudiced remarks were spontaneously described as bigoted. Such negative reactions were again obtained even from like-minded in-group members, with follow-up analyses suggesting that these reactions primarily characterized a subset who spontaneously noted the bigotry and that these reactions mediated negative impressions.     

Latent memory for sensitization in Aplysia

In the analysis of memory it is commonly observed that, even after a memory is apparently forgotten, its latent presence can still be revealed in a subsequent learning task. Although well established on a behavioral level, the mechanisms underlying latent memory are not well understood. To begin to explore these mechanisms, we have used Aplysia, a model system that permits the simultaneous study of memory at the behavioral, cellular, and molecular levels. We first demonstrate that robust latent memory is induced by long-term sensitization training of the tail-elicited siphon withdrawal reflex. It is revealed by its ability to facilitate the subsequent induction of three mechanistically distinct temporal domains of sensitization memory: short-term, intermediate-term, and long-term memory. Under our training conditions, the latent memory persists for at least 2 d following the decay of original memory expression but appears to be gone by 4 d. Interestingly, we also find that latent memory is induced even in the absence of overt memory for the original training. These findings now permit the analysis of the cellular and molecular architecture of a common feature of learning and memory.     

Religion and spirituality. Linkages to physical health

Evidence is presented that bears on 9 hypotheses about the link between religion or spirituality and mortality, morbidity, disability, or recovery from illness. In healthy participants, there is a strong, consistent, prospective, and often graded reduction in risk of mortality in church/service attenders. This reduction is approximately 25% after adjustment for confounders. Religion or spirituality protects against cardiovascular disease, largely mediated by the healthy lifestyle it encourages. Evidence fails to support a link between depth of religiousness and physical health. In patients, there are consistent failures to support the hypotheses that religion or spirituality slows the progression of cancer or improves recovery from acute illness but some evidence that religion or spirituality impedes recovery from acute illness. The authors conclude that church/service attendance protects healthy people against death. More methodologically sound studies are needed.     

Multiple serotonergic mechanisms contributing to sensitization in aplysia: evidence of diverse serotonin receptor subtypes

The neurotransmitter serotonin (5-HT) plays an important role in memory encoding in Aplysia. Early evidence showed that during sensitization, 5-HT activates a cyclic AMP-protein kinase A (cAMP-PKA)-dependent pathway within specific sensory neurons (SNs), which increases their excitability and facilitates synaptic transmission onto their follower motor neurons (MNs). However, recent data suggest that serotonergic modulation during sensitization is more complex and diverse. The neuronal circuits mediating defensive reflexes contain a number of interneurons that respond to 5-HT in ways opposite to those of the SNs, showing a decrease in excitability and/or synaptic depression. Moreover, in addition to acting through a cAMP-PKA pathway within SNs, 5-HT is also capable of activating a variety of other protein kinases such as protein kinase C, extracellular signal-regulated kinases, and tyrosine kinases. This diversity of 5-HT responses during sensitization suggests the presence of multiple 5-HT receptor subtypes within the Aplysia central nervous system. Four 5-HT receptors have been cloned and characterized to date. Although several others probably remain to be characterized in molecular terms, especially the Gs-coupled 5-HT receptor capable of activating cAMP-PKA pathways, the multiplicity of serotonergic mechanisms recruited into action during learning in Aplysia can now be addressed from a molecular point of view.