The effects of racial stressors and hostility on cardiovascular reactivity in African American and Caucasian men.

This study examined the effects of race-related stressors and hostility on cardiovascular reactivity in 31 African American and 31 Caucasian men. Participants viewed 3 film excerpts that depicted neutral, anger-provoking (but race-neutral), and racist situations. Participants exhibited significantly greater diastolic blood pressure reactivity to anger-provoking and racist stimuli compared with neutral stimuli. In addition, high hostility was associated with higher recovery systolic and diastolic blood pressure levels after exposure to the films. Although the results failed to confirm previous reports of greater reactivity to racism in African Americans, the findings suggest that diastolic blood pressure levels may remain elevated after exposure to racist stimuli. These results indicate that even indirect exposure to interpersonal conflict elicits significant reactivity, which can persist after exposure to the stressor, especially among high-hostile men.     

A neural model of hippocampal–striatal interactions in associative learning and transfer generalization in various neurological and psychiatric patients

Building on our previous neurocomputational models of basal ganglia and hippocampal region function (and their modulation by dopamine and acetylcholine, respectively), we show here how an integration of these models can inform our understanding of the interaction between the basal ganglia and hippocampal region in associative learning and transfer generalization across various patient populations. As a common test bed for exploring interactions between these brain regions and neuromodulators, we focus on the acquired equivalence task, an associative learning paradigm in which stimuli that have been associated with the same outcome acquire a functional similarity such that subsequent generalization between these stimuli increases. This task has been used to test cognitive dysfunction in various patient populations with damages to the hippocampal region and basal ganglia, including studies of patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD), schizophrenia, basal forebrain amnesia, and hippocampal atrophy. Simulation results show that damage to the hippocampal region—as in patients with hippocampal atrophy (HA), hypoxia, mild Alzheimer’s (AD), or schizophrenia—leads to intact associative learning but impaired transfer generalization performance. Moreover, the model demonstrates how PD and anterior communicating artery (ACoA) aneurysm—two very different brain disorders that affect different neural mechanisms—can have similar effects on acquired equivalence performance. In particular, the model shows that simulating a loss of dopamine function in the basal ganglia module (as in PD) leads to slow acquisition learning but intact transfer generalization. Similarly, the model shows that simulating the loss of acetylcholine in the hippocampal region (as in ACoA aneurysm) also results in slower acquisition learning. We argue from this that changes in associative learning of stimulus–action pathways (in the basal ganglia) or changes in the learning of stimulus representations (in the hippocampal region) can have similar functional effects.     

Predictors of Partner Engagement in PTSD Treatment

A telephone survey was conducted to identify predictors of treatment engagement in 83 cohabitating female partners of 83 Vietnam theater veterans with combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The survey assessed veterans for their trauma history and PTSD symptoms. Partners were assessed for caregiver burden, patient–partner involvement, PTSD treatment engagement, self-efficacy relating to PTSD, beliefs about benefits of PTSD treatment, and PTSD treatment barriers. Significant predictors of partner PTSD treatment engagement were the couple’s income, patient–partner involvement, and partner caregiver burden. These findings have implications for family interventions that may increase partner PTSD treatment engagement and improve PTSD treatment outcome.     

Children of Incarcerated Mothers and Their Caregivers: Factors Affecting the Quality of Their Relationship

We examined the quality of the relationship between children of incarcerated mothers and their kinship caregivers, to investigate whether perceived levels of warmth and acceptance were related to assessments of the children's behaviors. The sample consisted of 69 children (6 to 12 years) with currently incarcerated mothers who attended a recreational summer camp, and 25 of their caregivers. Children who felt lower levels of warmth and acceptance from their caregivers self-reported greater internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Caregivers' warmth and acceptance toward the children was lower when they assessed the children's behavior as difficult and the caregivers' parenting stress was high.     

Psychometric properties of the Social Problem Solving Inventory‐Revised Short‐Form in a South African population

The Social Problem Solving Inventory‐Revised Short‐Form (SPSI‐R:SF) has been used in several countries to identify problem‐solving deficits among clinical and general populations in order to guide cognitive‐behavioural interventions. Yet, very few studies have evaluated its psychometric properties. Three language versions of the questionnaire were administered to a general population sample comprising 1000 participants (771 English‐, 178 Afrikaans‐ and 101 Xhosa‐speakers). Of these participants, 210 were randomly selected to establish test–retest reliability (70 in each language). Principal component analysis was performed to examine the applicability of the factor structure of the original questionnaire to the South African data. Supplementary psychometric analyses were performed, including internal consistency and test–retest reliability. Collectively, results provide initial evidence of the reliability and validity of the SPSI‐R:SF for the assessment of problem solving deficits in South Africa. Further studies that explore how the Afrikaans language version of the SPSI‐R:SF can be improved and that establish the predictive validity of scores on the SPSI‐R:SF are needed.