Health-Related Quality of Life,Functioning and Social Experiences in People with Psychotic Disorders

Applied Research in Quality of Life - To inform development of a model for health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in people with psychotic disorders, we aimed to assess correlations between...     

End-of-Life Case Study: The Use of Narrative Therapy on a Holocaust Survivor with Lifelong Depression

Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy - End-of-life is associated with several physical and existential challenges that may necessitate and yet limit intervention. However, there is limited...     

Personality and Everyday Functioning in Older Adults With and Without HIV

Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings - In a cross-sectional multi-method study of older adults living with and without HIV (n?=?202; 69.8% HIV seropositive), we tested...     

Precipitating events in adolescent suicidal crises: exploring stress-reactive and nonreactive risk profiles

Factors distinguishing adolescents who experienced a precipitating event in the week preceding a suicidal crisis from those who did not were examined. Among 130 suicidal inpatients (mean age = 15.01 years), those who experienced a precipitating event reported significantly lower depressive symptom scores, better perceived problem solving, less suicidal intent, and a lower rate of prior suicide attempts than those without a precipitating event. Levels of trait impulsivity, suicidal ideation, and current attempt status did not differentiate groups. Findings provide preliminary evidence consistent with at least two possible pathways to a suicidal crisis. Clinical implications and future directions are discussed.     

Remodeling of the neuronal circuits underlying opiate-withdrawal memories following remote retrieval

Several types of memory display time-dependent reorganization of their underlying neural substrates, but it remains unclear whether affective memories associated with drug effects also follow similar reorganization. Here, we analyzed the neural circuits reactivated by the re-exposure of former dependent rats to the withdrawal-paired environment 1month after conditioning (remote memory) as compared with recent memory (Frenois, F., Stinus, L., Di Blasi, F., Cador, M., & Le Moine, C. (2005) A specific limbic circuit underlies opiate withdrawal memories The Journal of Neuroscience, 25, 1366-1374). C-fos expression showed that the circuits involved in the retrieval of withdrawal memories are partly different when comparing recent and remote reactivation, showing that, like other type of memories, affective memories linked to opiate withdrawal undergo anatomical reorganization, with a shift from extended amygdala regions toward cortical areas.     

Mentors Enhance Resilience in At-Risk Children and Adolescents

Mentors can play an important role in promoting resilience among at-risk children and adolescents. Nonparental adults who serve as mentors can provide reliable support, communicate moral values, teach information and skills, inspire, motivate, enhance interpersonal relatedness, and foster self-esteem. A number of researchers have reported that at-risk children who have mentors, especially nonparental kin, exhibit fewer problem behaviors, more positive attitudes towards school, greater school efficacy, less marijuana use, less nonviolent delinquency, and lower levels of anxiety and depression. The most successful mentors are those who invest time and energy and have frequent and prolonged contact with the children they guide. The relationship between mentoring and resilience in at-risk children and adolescents may best be understood from psychological, social, and neurobiological perspectives. As described and recommended by Allen and Hauser, the in-depth analysis of narratives provided by at-risk children and adolescents, particularly over the course of their development into young adulthood, will undoubtedly help researchers to isolate specific features of mentoring that are critical for fostering resilience.     

The Dimensionality of the Industrial Sales Job Characteristics

Abstract

Sales representative motivation, satisfaction, and performance have been topics of considerable interest to managers and researchers alike for many years. Recently researchers have borrowed conceptualizations from organizational behavior and applied them successfully in the sales setting. For the most part, research on work-related sales representative motivation has focused on either the “expectancy” approach or the “job characteristics” approach. A brief overview is presented, followed by an assessment of the validity of the core dimensions found in the increasingly popular Job Diagnostic Survey in a sales representative context. The managerial implications of the assessment are also discussed.     

Associations Between Time Since Event and Posttraumatic Growth Among Military Veterans

Despite efforts to understand the antecedents, correlates, and consequences of posttraumatic growth (PTG), the role of time since a traumatic event (time since event) vis-à-vis PTG is not well understood. Part of a larger project exploring experiences following emotionally distressing events among military veterans (N = 197) using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (Mturk), in the current study, we sought to clarify associations between the time since event and PTG. We used cluster-analytic techniques and analyses of variance to (a) determine the number of clusters, and (b) assess differences in core constructs of PTG and participant characteristics across clusters. Results revealed 4 significantly different groups (i.e., clusters) characterized by differential associations between PTG and time since event. These groups also differed significantly in challenge to core beliefs, level of PTSD symptoms, intrusive and deliberate rumination, and age. The immediate moderate-growth group (Cluster 1) experienced moderate levels of PTG over shorter periods of time, severe PTSD symptoms, and was significantly younger. The low-growth group (Cluster 2) was characterized by minimal PTG, regardless of time, the least challenge to core beliefs, and low amounts of intrusive and deliberate rumination. The long-term small-growth group (Cluster 3) was primarily characterized by small amounts of PTG over longer periods of time. The high-growth group (Cluster 4) was characterized by high PTG, regardless of time, greater challenge to core beliefs, the highest amount of deliberate rumination, and the highest number of PTSD symptoms. Findings underscore heterogeneity within military veterans’ experiences of PTG over time.