A young person's game: immersion and distancing in bar work

Previous research indicates that bar workers report high levels of alcohol consumption, but the bar work experience itself has been little studied as a means to understand health threats associated with this job role. The subjective experience and meaning of bar work was explored in this study by interviewing current and ex-bar workers from a district in an Irish city that had a high density of bars and busy tourism industry. A total of 12 participants took part in focus groups (FGs) and seven in individual interviews. Four themes were identified in a thematic analysis. The central depiction of bar work was of an initial immersion in an intensive lifestyle characterised by heavy drinking, with subsequent distancing from the extremes of the lifestyle. The participants affiliated strongly with the bar work occupational identity, which included alcohol use in group scenarios for drinking during work, after work and on time off. The bar work lifestyle was most intense in the 'superpub' environment, characterised by permissive staff drinking norms and reported stress. Although an important identity, bar work was ultimately a transient role. The findings are considered in relation to research on occupation-specific stress and alcohol use, social identity and developmental needs in young adulthood.     

Potential consequences of abandonment in preschool-age: Neuropsychological findings in institutionalized children

Objective: Several longitudinal studies had shown that early deprivation and institutionalization during the first six months of life affects the emotional, cognitive, social and neurophysiologic development. Nevertheless, our understanding of possible similar effects of delayed institutionalization, in preschool-age remains unclear to this day. The goal of this study is to evaluate the cognitive performance of institutionalized children with history of preschool-age physical abandonment. Method: 18 male institutionalized children with history of abandonment during the preschool-age (2-5 years old) and comparison group matched by age, handedness, gender, educational and socioeconomic level were tested on multiple tasks of attention, memory and executive functions. Results: We found a cognitive impairment in the institutionalized children in several measures of attention, memory and executive functions. This is the first report of cognitive impairment related to late abandonment and institutionalization effects (after 2 years old), extending the already known effects on early institutionalization. Conclusions: This preliminary study suggests that environmental factors including abandonment and institutional care, can affect not only the infancy period, but also the preschool period providing new insights into our understanding of neurocognitive development.     

Situationism and the Concept of a Situation

Abstract: The concept of a situation underlying the debate between moral situationists and dispositionists conceals various underexplored complexities. Some of those issues have been engaged recently in the so‐called psychology of situations, but they have been slow to receive attention in mainstream philosophy. I invoke various distinctions among situations, and show how situationists have selectively chosen certain types of situations that, for conceptual reasons, skew the argument in their favour. I introduce the concept of a ‘virtue‐calibrated situation’, and argue that if the person–situation debate is to move forward in philosophy as it has in psychology, it must focus on such situations. I bring to bear evidence from analytic and continental philosophy, as well as from social and personality psychology.     

The Role of Socio-Psychological Determinants in the Sexual Behaviors of Latina Early Adolescents

Although a large body of research has examined the negative outcomes that occur when Latina adolescents engage in sexual activity, relatively little research explores the determinants that may contribute to these behaviors. In the current study, an ecological community psychological approach was used to examine the impact that substance use, sexual self-efficacy, parental communication, normative peer pressure, acculturation, educational aspirations, grades, and gang activity have on adolescent sexual behavior. The sample consisted of 217 participants (mean age of 14.6) who self-identified as Latina from the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area of California in the United States. The results indicate that about a third of the sample had engaged in one or more sexual behaviors. Overall, greater usage of substances was associated with greater numbers of sexual behaviors. Girls who reported engaging in two or more sexual behaviors reported more frequent marijuana and alcohol use. The girls who reported high sexual self-efficacy engaged in few to no sexual behaviors. Additionally, parental communication, normative peer pressure, acculturation, and educational aspirations were unrelated to their sexual behavior. However, the majority of girls who reported receiving good grades also reported no sexual activity. Moreover, girls who reported no sexual behavior also reported no gang activity. The results indicate that a multi-level approach to examining the psycho-social determinants of sexual activity in Latina girls provides a more comprehensive picture of their sexual decision making.     

Breaking Difficult News in a Cross-cultural Setting: a Qualitative Study about Latina Mothers of Children with Down Syndrome

Giving difficult news to patients represents a common dilemma for health care professionals. Based on three decades of research, various authors have proposed guidelines outlining the ideal setting, delivery, and timing. Existing publications focus on patients of European descent and may not be applicable in cross-cultural settings. We explored perceptions of Spanish-speaking mothers who have a child with Down syndrome and how they preferred to receive the news of their child's diagnosis. We conducted semi-structured qualitative interviews (n?=?14), which were coded and analyzed by thematic networks to identify common themes. Six significant themes emerged: Cultural Belief System, Communication, Support/Lack of Support, Feelings Engendered, Medical Issues, and Medical System. One overarching theme of mother-child bonding encompassed all sub-themes. The mothers desired the news in a more positive, balanced light and with more complete explanations about the condition. Mothers felt excluded from the diagnostic process and wanted to be better informed about the need for diagnostic studies. Participants used religious beliefs to explain the reason for their child's condition. Many factors influenced Latina mothers' ability to bond initially with their children with Down syndrome. Ideally, these factors should be acknowledged during informing interviews to assist Latino families in adjustment.     

Benefit of social support for resilience-building is contingent on social context: examining cardiovascular adaptation to recurrent stress in women

Previous work on social support and stress tolerance using laboratory-based cardiovascular stress response paradigms has suggested that perceived social support may be effective in building resilience in recipients. However, such paradigms are often socially de-contextualized insofar as they fail to take account of the social aspects of stress itself. Using 90 healthy college women, the present study sought to examine the association between self-reported perceived social support and cardiovascular stress tolerance. Participants underwent two consecutive exposures to a mental arithmetic task. On second exposure to the stressor, participants completed the task under either social threat or control conditions. Social threat was manipulated using socially salient instructions, to create a high social context. Adaptation to stress was established in terms of comparisons between cardiovascular responses to successive exposures. Results showed that cardiovascular responses tended to habituate across time, with perceived social support associated with the degree of habituation, but only under certain contextual conditions; high perceived support was associated with effective habituation under control conditions only. This response pattern is consistent with the view that high perceived social support buffers against stress in healthful ways, but only in asocial contexts.     

Post-acquisition release of glutamate and norepinephrine in the amygdala is involved in taste-aversion memory consolidation

Amygdala activity mediates the acquisition and consolidation of emotional experiences; we have recently shown that post-acquisition reactivation of this structure is necessary for the long-term storage of conditioned taste aversion (CTA). However, the specific neurotransmitters involved in such reactivation are not known. The aim of the present study was to investigate extracellular changes of glutamate, norepinephrine, and dopamine within the rat amygdala using in vivo microdialysis during the acquisition and 1-h post-acquisition of CTA paradigm. Microdialysis monitoring showed a significant norepinephrine increase related to novel taste exposure and a glutamate increase after gastric malaise induction by i.p. LiCl administration. Interestingly, we found a spontaneous concomitant increase of glutamate and norepinephrine, but not dopamine, 45 min after conditioning, suggesting the presence of aversive learning-dependent post-acquisition signals in the amygdala. These signals seem to be involved in CTA consolidation process, since post-trial blockade of N-methyl-D-aspartate or β-adrenergic receptors impaired long- but not short-term memory. These data suggest that CTA long-term storage involves post-acquisition release of glutamate and norepinephrine in the amygdala.     

A motivational model for environmentally responsible behavior

This paper presents a study examining whether self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation are related to environmentally responsible behavior (ERB). The study analysed past environmental behavior, self-regulatory mechanisms (self-efficacy, satisfaction, goals), and intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in relation to ERBs in a sample of 156 university students. Results show that all the motivational variables studied are linked to ERB. The effects of self-efficacy on ERB are mediated by the intrinsic motivation responses of the participants. A theoretical model was created by means of path analysis, revealing the power of motivational variables to predict ERB. Structural equation modeling was used to test and fit the research model. The role of motivational variables is discussed with a view to creating adequate learning contexts and experiences to generate interest and new sensations in which self-efficacy and affective reactions play an important role.     

Dimensionality and Transcultural Specificity of the Sexual Attraction Questionnaire (SAQ)

Sexual attraction was considered a component of sexual orientation from the beginning of the second half of the 20th century to present times. However, some recent researchers have studied sexual attraction as an independent field measuring it by the Sexual Attraction Questionnaire (SAQ). This study analyzes sexual attraction through the SAQ in 400 university students from a Peruvian catholic university. These participants -191 women and 209 men- show a very diverse curricular background. The following hypotheses were tested: a) the structure of the SAQ, pointing out two concepts: attraction to men and attraction to women; b) the high inverse correlation between these two concepts or factors; c) the specific impact of this context in sexual attraction: higher percentage of attracted by none of the sexes and lower percentage of attracted to the opposite sex, in comparison with other contexts; and d) the Lippa prediction (2006, 2007), regarding a higher polarization of sexual attraction for men than for women. Results support the first three hypotheses. Clarifications are laid down with regard to the fourth one. Discussion focuses on theoretical and applied advantages of using the SAQ as opposed to the frequent use of a single item of sexual attraction for each sex.     

Histamine reverses a memory deficit induced in rats by early postnatal maternal deprivation

Early partial maternal deprivation causes long-lasting neurochemical, behavioral and brain structural effects. In rats, it causes a deficit in memory consolidation visible in adult life. Some of these deficits can be reversed by donepezil and galantamine, which suggests that they may result from an impairment of brain cholinergic transmission. One such deficit, representative of all others, is an impairment of memory consolidation, clearly observable in a one-trial inhibitory avoidance task. Recent data suggest a role of brain histaminergic systems in the regulation of behavior, particularly inhibitory avoidance learning. Here we investigate whether histamine itself, its analog SKF-91844, or various receptor-selective histamine agonists and antagonists given into the CA1 region of the hippocampus immediately post-training can affect retention of one-trial inhibitory avoidance in rats submitted to early postnatal maternal deprivation. We found that histamine, SKF-91844 and the H2 receptor agonist, dimaprit enhance consolidation on their own and reverse the consolidation deficit induced by maternal deprivation. The enhancing effect of histamine was blocked by the H2 receptor antagonist, ranitidine, but not by the H1 receptor antagonist pyrilamine or by the H3 antagonist thioperamide given into CA1 at doses known to have other behavioral actions, without altering locomotor and exploratory activity or the anxiety state of the animals. The present results suggest that the memory deficit induced by early postnatal maternal deprivation in rats may in part be due to an impairment of histamine mediated mechanisms in the CA1 region of the rat hippocampus.