Support Groups for Suicide Survivors: Results of a Survey of Group Leaders

To update and expand Rubey and McIntosh's (1996) survivors of suicide support groups report, SPAN USA completed a survey of U.S. support group leaders (n = 100; 24% completion). There are now more survivor groups (from 280 to 417), and the majority of groups now have a survivor leader (78% vs. 25%). Groups continue to be small (88% < 10 members per session) and meet on a monthly basis (55%). Sharing continues to be a universal experience in groups, which tend to be open‐ended (85%). Current groups are newer, and more operate without a sponsor. Further research is needed to examine group member perspectives and effectiveness of groups.     

Youth Media Lifestyles

In this article, the concept of “media lifestyles” is adopted in order to develop a comprehensive approach toward youth engagement in communication media. We explore how 503 Dutch eighth grade students with full access to new technology combine a broad range of media by focusing on their engagement with media while taking various contexts of use into account. Four different media lifestyles of media omnivores, networkers, gamers, and low‐frequency users are described. Furthermore, we show how the methodology we used is able to provide more insight into how the distinguished media lifestyles were codetermined by particular media, functions and social contexts. Finally, the implications for the Uses & Gratifications theory are discussed.     

Comparative meta-analysis of behavioral interventions for insomnia and their efficacy in middle-aged adults and in older adults 55+ years of age.

Meta-analyses support the effectiveness of behavioral interventions for the treatment of insomnia, although few have systematically evaluated the relative efficacy of different treatment modalities or the relation of old age to sleep outcomes. In this meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (k = 23), moderate to large effects of behavioral treatments on subjective sleep outcomes were found. Evaluation of the moderating effects of behavioral intervention type (i.e., cognitive-behavioral treatment, relaxation, behavioral only) revealed similar effects for the 3 treatment modalities. Both middle-aged adults and persons older than 55 years of age showed similar robust improvements in sleep quality, sleep latency, and wakening after sleep onset. A research agenda is recommended to examine the mechanisms of action of behavioral treatments on sleep with increased attention to the high prevalence of insomnia in older individuals.     

Social class and family size as determinants of attributed machismo,femininity, and family planning: A field study in two South American Communities

The major objective of the present investigation was to ascertain how stereotypes of machismo and femininity are related to acquired family size and perceptions of family planning. An indirect measurement approach was employed in which lower-class and upper-middle-class urban adults in Cali, Colombia, responded to photos of Colombian families which varied in size and completeness. The principal findings of the investigation revealed that (1) lower-class subjects described parents in the photos as significantly more macho and feminine because of their children than upper-middle-class subjects; (2) although no overall family size effect on attributions of machismo and femininity to parents emerged, lower-class female subjects described parents of large complete families as significantly more macho and feminine than parents of small complete families; (3) male subjects from both social classes described male spouses in the photos as more dominant and in greater control of the marital relationship as family size in the photos increased; and (4) perceptions of the incidence of family planning behaviors decreased linearly with family size for both social classes, although lower-class females attributed more family planning to spouses of large families than upper-middle-class females. Discussion of these results attempted to account for social class differences in the significance of parenthood as an indicator of sex-role identity and the psychological relevance of male dominance as a factor in fertility.This research was supported by a predoctoral research fellowship from the Council of Intersocietal Studies, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60201.