Parental socialization of mental health in Chinese American families: What parents say and do,and how youth make meaning

Parental mental health socialization is a process by which parents shape how youth develop and maintain beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors regarding mental health and help-seeking behaviors. Although culture shapes parental mental health socialization, few studies have examined specific parental socialization practices regarding mental health and help-seeking, especially as a culturally anchored process. Using a qualitative approach, this study explores youth-reported parental socialization of mental health within Chinese American families by examining focus group data from 69 Chinese American high school and college students. Findings revealed that youth received parental messages that conveyed culturally anchored conceptualizations of mental health that included stigmatized views of mental illness and perceptions of mental distress as not a legitimate problem. Parents responded to youth distress in culturally consonant ways: by encouraging culturally specific coping methods, dismissing or minimizing distress, or responding with silence. Youth engaged in the active interpretation of parental messages through cultural brokering, bridging the gap between their parents’ messages and mainstream notions of mental health and help-seeking. Overall, our findings point to the significant role of culture in parental mental health socialization in Chinese American families and the need to integrate culturally specific understandings of mental health into future interventions for Asian American youth.     

Trait aggressiveness and situational provocation: a test of the traits as situational sensitivities (TASS) model

In this article, the authors propose and test an interactionist model of personality functioning. The model maintains that many traits function in a threshold-like manner, such that less situational strength is needed to evoke a trait-relevant response in people who are high on the trait than in those who are low on the trait. Because of these different sensitivities, people who are high on a trait are more reactive to moderate provocation than are those who are low on a trait, but the opposite is true when strong provocation is compared to moderate provocation. Three studies are reported showing how the model can be used to understand the nature of aggression.     

Affect optimization and affect complexity: modes and styles of regulation in adulthood

In this research, the authors hypothesize that affect regulation involves 2 independent strategies: affect optimization, the tendency to constrain affect to positive values, and affect complexity, the amplification of affect in the search for differentiation and objectivity. Community residents age 15 to 86 were assessed by using 2 convergent measurement domains: 1 based on measures of positive-negative affect and cognitive-affective complexity and 1 based on measures of coping and defense. Both domains yielded the hypothesized affect optimization and affect complexity dimensions. As predicted, the affect optimization dimensions are primarily related to relationship quality variables, and the affect complexity dimensions to socioeconomic status and education. Hence, positive affect and its maximization have different significance in the context of high- or low-affect complexity.     

Human Rights,Cultural Pluralism,and International Health Research

In the field of bioethics, scholars have begun to consider carefully the impact of structural issues on global population health, including socioeconomic and political factors influencing the disproportionate burden of disease throughout the world. Human rights and social justice are key considerations for both population health and biomedical research. In this paper, I will briefly explore approaches to human rights in bioethics and review guidelines for ethical conduct in international health research, focusing specifically on health research conducted in resource-poor settings. I will demonstrate the potential for addressing human rights considerations in international health research with special attention to the importance of collaborative partnerships, capacity building, and respect for cultural traditions. Strengthening professional knowledge about international research ethics increases awareness of ethical concerns associated with study design and informed consent among researchers working in resource-poor settings. But this is not enough. Technological and financial resources are also necessary to build capacity for local communities to ensure that research results are integrated into existing health systems. Problematic issues surrounding the application of ethical guidelines in resource-poor settings are embedded in social history, cultural context, and the global political economy. Resolving the moral complexities requires a commitment to engaged dialogue and action among investigators, funding agencies, policy makers, governmental institutions, and private industry.     

Lacking <Emphasis Type="Italic">lack</Emphasis>: a reply to Joldersma

First I would like to thank Clarence Joldersma for his review of our Poststructuralism, Philosophy, Pedagogy (Marshall, 2004-PPP). In particular, I would thank him for his opening sentence: “[t]his book is a response to a lack.” It is the notion of a lack, noted again later in his review, which I wish to take up mainly in this response. Rather than defending or elaborating our particular contributions to PPP—the latter would be a great indignity to my colleagues as I would not write over them—I will take the opportunity to develop the theme of a lack, as I believe that Joldersma has raised a very important issue. But first I will respond briefly to some of Joldersma’s general and opening statements about the book, and my philosophical position in particular.

Creatine supplementation and cognitive performance in elderly individuals

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of creatine supplementation on the cognitive performance of elderly people. Participants were divided into two groups, which were tested on random number generation, forward and backward number and spatial recall, and long-term memory tasks to establish a baseline level. Group 1 (n = 15) were given 5 g four times a day of placebo for 1 week, followed by the same dosage of creatine for the second week. Group 2 (n = 17) were given placebo both weeks. Participants were retested at the end of each week. Results showed a significant effect of creatine supplementation on all tasks except backward number recall. It was concluded that creatine supplementation aids cognition in the elderly.     

Revisiting places passed: sensitization of exploratory activity in rats with hippocampal lesions

We examined the involvement of the hippocampus in short-term changes in exploratory behaviour in an open field (Experiment 1) and experimental contexts (Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, rats with excitotoxic lesions of the hippocampus were more likely to revisit recently visited zones within the open field than were control rats. Similarly, in Experiment 2 rats with hippocampal lesions showed greater exploration of a context that they had recently explored than a context that they had less recently explored. This short-term sensitization effect was not evident in control rats. These findings are consistent with the suggestion that the recent presentation of a stimulus has two opposing effects on behaviour, sensitization, and habituation, and that hippocampal lesions disrupt the short-term process responsible for habituation, but not that responsible for sensitization.     

Beyond Compliance: Mother–Child Joint Action During a “Do” Task

Much of the literature on parent-toddler interactions does not account for the lack of independence in data. This investigation used a theory and method appropriate for examining the moment-to-moment patterns of joint actions between mothers and toddlers during a “do” task. Using contextual action theory to guide a mixture of methods, we observed and described the joint goal-directed series of actions of mothers and their toddlers as well as mothers’ intentions, meanings, and emotions they ascribed to their actions. Additionally, the associations between the patterns of joint mother-toddler actions and children’s negative emotionality were examined. Thirty mothers and their children participated in the study. Data collection included video-recorded activity, video recall interviews, and self-report questionnaires. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of the data revealed that (a) children were mostly engaged in the task alongside with their mothers’ on-going involvement; (b) mothers attributed a range of meanings to their interactions with their children; and (c) mothers’ perceptions of their toddlers’ dimensions of emotional negativity were associated with the organization of dyads’ joint goal directed actions—both when children were engaged in the task or self-focused.