Locus of control,life stress,and social networks: Gender differences in the health status of the elderly

A sample of community-based older adults were interviewed and given a questionnaire in order to examine the effects of stress, social support, and locus of control on two measures of health: the number of actual symptoms and self-ratings of health. Subjects were 83% white, 63% female, and represented middle- and working-class backgrounds. All variables showed association with symptom levels, and for men, both locus of control and friend support networks predicted subjective ratings of health even after controlling for the level of symptomatology. Moreover, an internal locus of control was found to buffer the deleterious effect of symptoms of physical illness on self-rated health. The results suggest that a supportive network and a sense of control build confidence in one's capacity to cope both with external stressors and with sickness itself, but these factors are stronger influences for males than for females.     

The collateral effect of compliance training on aggression

This study represents a report on unexpected positive collateral benefits in the reduction of aggression. The treatment, for compliance across three classes of requests, resulted in the spontaneous reduction in non-targeted aggressive behavior across settings and time. An institutionalized adult male who was severely retarded and chronically aggressive served as the subject. Archival investigator- and facility staff-generated reports of aggressive episodes, based upon an operational definition in use for over a year at the time of the study, were used as dependent measures. A withdrawal design was used to demonstrate the collateral treatment effects upon aggression. The subject received positive treatment for his noncompliance within a multiple baseline across behavior classes design. Fifteen requests were presented to the subject in random order during each treatment session, compliant behavior was reinforced using praise and physical contact. Results of the compliance training showed immediate and marked increases in compliance with a collateral decrease in the incidents of aggression. While aggression increased during the nonintervention follow-up phase of the study, it remained significantly lower than baseline levels.     

Towards a theory of the rough ground: merging the policy and ethnographic frames of religion in the Kyrgyz Republic

Discussions of Islam present two analytical problems, one of interpretation and another of theory. Regarding interpretation, different frames – policy or ethnographic – for viewing religion influence our bias/understanding of religion and give us different senses of what ‘knowing’ the religion of a particular community means. The related issue is one of theory and connects to the problem of theorising movement: how people navigate their religious lives is not linear but much more random, related to events, and at times reified by (though always engaging with) the assumptions of policy agendas and the ethnographic imagination. Exploring implications that the policy and ethnographic frames have for Muslims in the Kyrgyz Republic, I argue that in synthesising the impact of different frames of analysis, a ‘theory of the rough ground’, while anything but neat, better portrays life as it is experienced locally.     

The effect of alcohol administration on human timing: a comparison of prospective timing, retrospective timing and passage of time judgements

Previous research suggests that human timing may be affected by alcohol administration. The current study aimed to expand on previous research by examining the effect of alcohol on prospective timing, retrospective timing and passage of time judgements. A blind between-subjects design was employed in which participants were either administered 0 g of alcohol per kilogramme of body weight (placebo), 0.4 g/kg (low dose) or 0.6 g/kg (high dose). Participants completed four types of temporal task; verbal estimation and temporal generalisation, a retrospective timing task and a passage of time judgement task. A high dose of alcohol resulted in overestimations of duration relative to the low dose and placebo group in the verbal estimation task. A high dose of alcohol was also associated with time passing more quickly than normal. Alcohol had no effect on retrospective judgements. The results suggest that a high dose of alcohol increases internal clock speed leading to over-estimations of duration on prospective timing tasks, and the sensation of time passing more quickly than normal. The absence of an effect of alcohol on retrospective timing supports the suggestion that retrospective judgements are not based on the output of an internal clock.     

Evaluation of a Family Systems Intervention for Managing Pediatric Chronic Illness: Mastering Each New Direction (MEND)

Family systems play a crucial, albeit complex, role in pediatric chronic illness. Unfortunately, very few psychosocial interventions are available to help these stressed families navigate the developmental steps of chronic illness. A new intervention (MEND) addresses the needs of these families and applies to a broad range of chronic illnesses. This article presents this family systems intervention as well as includes preliminary program evaluation data on 22 families that graduated from the program. Results show consistently strong effects across an array of psychosocial measures. Conclusions from this preliminary study suggest that families entering MEND present with high levels of stress due to the child's chronic illness, but after MEND, the level of stress and other functioning measures are comparable to those seen in healthy families, suggesting that the program offers a significant benefit to families with pediatric chronic illness.     

Problematic Identity Processes: The Role of Identity Distress

This special issue of Identity: An International Journal of Theory and Research explores some of the anxiety, distress, and difficulties that may be encountered in the identity development process. Despite findings documenting the presence of identity distress in samples from a variety of settings and cultures, it has been slowly moving out of direct attention within the world of clinical psychology and psychiatry. This special issue expands on our understanding of identity distress in a number of ways. It adds to our knowledge of prevalence and severity, as well as its psychological correlates. It examines identity distress under the contexts of traumatic exposure and the refugee experience, and it offers some cross-national comparisons. Also offered is a developmental psychopathology perspective as a way to lay the groundwork for increased prevention and intervention work, and an example of such an intervention program for emerging adults. It is hoped that this special issue on identity distress will shine more light on this important, and possibly growing, yet understudied phenomenon, and will contribute toward expanding and enhancing efforts to foster positive youth development.     

Reasoning deficits among illicit drug users are associated with aspects of cannabis use

Deficits in deductive reasoning have been observed among ecstasy/polydrug users. The present study seeks to investigate dose-related effects of specific drugs and whether these vary with the cognitive demands of the task. One hundred and five participants (mean age 21.33, SD 3.14; 77 females, 28 males) attempted to generate solutions for eight one-model syllogisms and one syllogism for which there was no valid conclusion. All of the one-model syllogisms generated at least one valid conclusion and six generated two valid conclusions. In these six cases, one of the conclusions was classified as common and the other as non-common. The number of valid common inferences was negatively associated with the aspects of short-term cannabis use and with measures of IQ. The outcomes observed were more than simple post-intoxication effects since cannabis use in the 10 days immediately before testing was unrelated to reasoning performance. Following adjustment for multiple comparisons, the number of non-common valid inferences was not significantly associated with any of the drug-use measures. Recent cannabis use appears to impair the processes associated with generating valid common inferences while not affecting the production of non-common inferences. It is possible, therefore, that the two types of inference may recruit different executive resources, which may differ in their susceptibility to cannabis-related effects.     

Gender and narrative in the Mahabharata

The public recognition of collectivities has been a difficult concept to embed in Western liberal states. Recognition is a complex and contested process, with minority rights proving particularly problematic. A commitment to recognising diversity within society that goes beyond the tokenistic ‘food and dance’ events must somehow be incorporated into the identity of a multicultural state. Yet, should this automatically mean the conferment of minority rights? If so, which rights? which groups? who decides and where does it end? Drawing on examples from Europe and Canada, this paper shall consider the issue of minority rights and integration, seeking to highlight some of the more important debates surrounding this issue including the importance of minority rights and recognition, their contested nature and the ability of such right to promote integration, or otherwise.