The effects of work- and family-related transitions on young people’s perception of being adult

Using a nationwide sample of 2656 eighteen- to twenty-nine-year-olds, the first part of the present study addressed the question of how non-traditional as compared to traditional living arrangements related to young people’s self-perception of being either adolescent or adult. Being in a romantic relationship increased the likelihood of feeling adult. Modern adult living arrangements (living alone in a single household or sharing an apartment with peers) increased the likelihood of feeling adolescent. Employing a longitudinal sample of 461 twenty- to twenty-seven-year-olds, changes in job status and sources of income were studied with regard to their connections to the emergence of subjective adulthood or the regression to subjective adolescence, respectively. No association between adult or adolescent self-perception and issues of work and material autonomy was found, but the emergence of subjective adulthood was related to romantic relationships and parenthood. Findings are discussed with reference to young people’s volatile living conditions and transient commitments implied by social change.     

On Being Wanted to Exist: A Spiritual Dimension in Pastoral Counseling and Psychoanalysis

Patients who feel not wanted to exist as persons in their own right require that pastoral counseling or psychoanalysis address their need to be wanted. Drawing on case material, it is argued that the pastoral counselor has a particular responsibility to address adequately patients’ need to have their existence affirmed. Connecting psychoanalytic theory and technique with spiritual exploration of the notion of creation, this paper calls attention in clinical practice to patients’ need to be wanted to exist.     

Pain modulation during drives through cold and hot virtual environments.

Evidence exists that virtual worlds reduce pain perception by providing distraction. However, there is no experimental study to show that the type of world used in virtual reality (VR) distraction influences pain perception. Therefore, we investigated whether pain triggered by heat or cold stimuli is modulated by "warm "or "cold " virtual environments and whether virtual worlds reduce pain perception more than does static picture presentation. We expected that cold worlds would reduce pain perception from heat stimuli, while warm environments would reduce pain perception from cold stimuli. Additionally, both virtual worlds should reduce pain perception in general. Heat and cold pain stimuli thresholds were assessed outside VR in 48 volunteers in a balanced crossover design. Participants completed three 4-minute assessment periods: virtual "walks " through (1) a winter and (2) an autumn landscape and static exposure to (3) a neutral landscape. During each period, five heat stimuli or three cold stimuli were delivered via a thermode on the participant's arm, and affective and sensory pain perceptions were rated. Then the thermode was changed to the other arm, and the procedure was repeated with the opposite pain stimuli (heat or cold). We found that both warm and cold virtual environments reduced pain intensity and unpleasantness for heat and cold pain stimuli when compared to the control condition. Since participants wore a head-mounted display (HMD) in both the control condition and VR, we concluded that the distracting value of virtual environments is not explained solely by excluding perception of the real world. Although VR reduced pain unpleasantness, we found no difference in efficacy between the types of virtual world used for each pain stimulus.     

Eavesdropping on Health: A Naturalistic Observation Approach for Social Health Research

This article provides an overview of a novel ecological momentary assessment method called the electronically activated recorder or EAR. The EAR is a portable audio recorder that periodically records snippets of ambient sounds from participants' momentary environments. In tracking moment-to-moment ambient sounds, the EAR yields an acoustic log of a person's day as it naturally unfolds. As a naturalistic observation method, it provides an observer's account of daily life and is optimized for the assessment of audible aspects of participants' daily social environments and interactions. The article discusses the EAR method conceptually and methodologically and identifies three important ways in which it can enrich social health research. Specifically, it can help cross-validate research findings independent of self-reports, calibrate psychological measures against behavioral markers of real-world social functioning, and further our understanding of the role that people's mundane social interactions and language use play in coping and health.     

Traumatische Trauer – ein eigenständiges Krankheitsbild?

Grief is a highly individualized process influenced by intrapsychic, interpersonal and social factors. The definition of normal and pathological grief is complicated by the variety of grief reactions. Empirical research indicates that pathological grief may be concerned considered as a separate entity. Two research groups developed empirically validated criteria with a special focus on the traumatic aspect of grief. The current state of research allows, however, in our opinion not the conclusion, that the proposed diagnostic criteria for complicated (Horowitz et al. 1997) or traumatic grief (Prigerson et al. 1999b) do not enclose all types of grief. Further empirical research on representative samples is necessary to validate previous findings and to differentiate specific subgroups of pathological grief.     

Does the feedback from previous trials influence current decisions? A study on the role of feedback processing in making decisions under explicit risk conditions

Decision situations frequently provide information about the amount of gains and losses and winning probabilities. In decisions under these conditions, also called risk conditions, both the use of feedback and executive functions have been shown to influence the decision‐making process, as revealed in different patient populations. However, the influence of offering feedback in tasks examining decisions under risk conditions has not been investigated experimentally, so far. This was the aim of the present study. For this purpose, a sample of healthy individuals was examined with the Game of Dice Task, a decision‐making task that explicitly provides the rules for gains and losses and in which participants receive feedback after each trial. In addition, a modified version of this task was performed, in which the feedback after each trial and all associated feedback components were removed. Results indicate that participants had a lower performance in the modified Dice Task without feedback. They selected the disadvantageous alternatives more frequently, when they did not receive feedback following their choices. Task performance in either version was correlated with executive functioning. Conclusion: In decisions under risk conditions, both executive functions as well as the use of feedback following previous trials are important components for optimal performance. Results have implications for the interpretation of deficient decision making in patients with neuropsychological impairments as both disturbances in categorization and other cognitive processes as well as emotional dysfunctions can compromise decision making in risky situations.     

Die Kindstötung „in oder gleich nach der Geburt“

§ 217 of the German penal code, which intended a milder punishment for the homicide of an illegitimate child by the mother right after birth than for manslaughter, was abrogated without substitution in 1998. The reasoning behind this move does not convince. We will give a short summary of the history of this law. The privileged status of this crime was primarily justified in view of the denied pregnancy and the consequent state of the mother at the time of birth. Even after abrogation of §217 StGB there has to be differentiated between former reasons for privileged treatment, which now can justify from a juridicial point of view the use of §213 StGB (minor manslaughter), and those pathological states of mind which allow for the establishment of reduced or nullified legal responsibility.     

Children of Prenatally Depressed Mothers: Externalizing and Internalizing Symptoms are Accompanied by Reductions in Specific Social-Emotional Competencies

Studies have shown that child development is negatively affected by prenatal depression. A dysregulated hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in the pregnant woman, passed to the fetus, is one discussed key mechanism. Studies, investigating primary-school age children, have found effects on antisocial behavior. Effects on internalizing symptoms were not found, but the analysis did not distinguish between anxiety and depression symptoms. Additionally, until now, no objective test data operationalizing social-emotional competencies have been included. The present study examined: 1.Whether the effects on child externalizing symptoms could be replicated; 2. If there are specific effects on child internalizing symptoms, separated for anxiety and depression; and 3. Are child clinical symptoms reflected in reductions in social-emotional competencies. A sample of 61 prenatally depressed and 143 prenatally not-depressed women and their 6–9 year old children were compared, controlling for key confounders in both the perinatal period and in middle childhood. Children of prenatally depressed mothers had more antisocial behavior and depression symptoms reported by their mothers. The prediction of antisocial behavior scores tended to be more significant for boys than for girls. Child anxiety symptoms were primarily explained by current maternal depressive symptoms. Children of prenatally depressed mothers also showed a reduction in social-emotional competencies, specifically regarding the ability to interpret complex social situations. This study showed that, even in a non-clinical sample, there are distinct effects of prenatal depression on child externalizing and internalizing symptoms which are accompanied by reductions in specific social-emotional competencies. These results emphasize that treatment for depressed pregnant women and/or early support for affected families is worthwhile. Additional work is required to identify the underlying biological mechanisms.