Using Prayer as an Intervention With Clients Who Are Substance Abusing and Addicted and Who Self‐Identify Personal Faith in God and Prayer as Recovery Resources

This article describes how the authors use prayer with clients who self‐identify their personal faith in God and who have used prayer as a helpful recovery agent or who believe prayer would be helpful to their personal recovery.     

The Relationship between Local Identification,Urban Disorder Sensitivity,and Prejudice Toward Immigrants: The Role of Autochthony

Autochthony is the belief that a place belongs to those who were born there and that they are more entitled. Autochthony and local identification can foster sensitivity to any source of disorder that threatens local stability. The aims of this study were to determine whether: (a) local identification is associated with a higher level of sensitivity to urban disorder and a higher level of prejudice toward immigrants; (b) higher city identifiers use autochthony (entitlement for first comers) as a justification for both of these attitudes. A self‐report questionnaire was administered to 254 adult residents of Turin, Italy. Local identification was found related to autochthony and to urban disorder sensitivity, autochthony was positively associated with both urban disorder sensitivity and prejudice toward immigrants and it mediated the relationship between local identification and prejudice.     

Air pollution, cognitive deficits and brain abnormalities: a pilot study with children and dogs

Exposure to air pollution is associated with neuroinflammation in healthy children and dogs in Mexico City. Comparative studies were carried out in healthy children and young dogs similarly exposed to ambient pollution in Mexico City. Children from Mexico City (n: 55) and a low polluted city (n:18) underwent psychometric testing and brain magnetic resonance imaging MRI. Seven healthy young dogs with similar exposure to Mexico City air pollution had brain MRI, measurement of mRNA abundance of two inflammatory genes cyclooxygenase-2, and interleukin 1 beta in target brain areas, and histopathological evaluation of brain tissue. Children with no known risk factors for neurological or cognitive disorders residing in a polluted urban environment exhibited significant deficits in a combination of fluid and crystallized cognition tasks. Fifty-six percent of Mexico City children tested showed prefrontal white matter hyperintense lesions and similar lesions were observed in dogs (57%). Exposed dogs had frontal lesions with vascular subcortical pathology associated with neuroinflammation, enlarged Virchow-Robin spaces, gliosis, and ultrafine particulate matter deposition. Based on the MRI findings, the prefrontal cortex was a target anatomical region in Mexico City children and its damage could have contributed to their cognitive dysfunction. The present work presents a groundbreaking, interdisciplinary methodology for addressing relationships between environmental pollution, structural brain alterations by MRI, and cognitive deficits/delays in healthy children.     

A Cross-cultural Study of Biological,Psychological, and Social Antecedents of Self-objectification in Italy and Romania

Although there is extensive documentation of the damaging psychological consequences of self-objectification, more research is needed to explain its antecedents. With the present study we (a) investigated the correlates of self-objectification by analyzing biological (age and body-mass index), psychological (self-esteem), and sociocultural dimensions (influence of mass media and significant others) in women and men; (b) examined the role of culture in self-objectification processes; and (c) tested the effect of gender as a moderator in the relationship between both psychological and sociocultural dimensions and self-objectification. A total of 770 heterosexual adults residing in Italy and Romania completed a self-reported questionnaire. Self-objectification was operationalized as Body Surveillance (BS) and Body Shame (BSH); however, because the the BS subscale was not satisfactorily reliable, our focus was restricted to BSH. The correlates of self-objectification for BSH were analyzed separately by nationality in regression models. Overall, BSH emerged as a process influenced by agents rooted in biological and psychological domains, as well as in social and cultural domains. High educational level and high self-esteem (this last particularly in men) correlated with reduced body shame for the Romanian sample, whereas within the Italian sample, the internalization of media standards and influence of significant others emerged as risk factors for body shame. Taken together, these findings underline the need to identify cross-cultural constants of self-objectification, as well as differences across contexts, in order to better understand self-objectification and to promote protective factors in specific culturally situated interventions.     

Well…ah…: Hesitations and Hedges as an Influence on Jurors' Decisions1

Hispanic jurors' verdicts and whether these decisions were related to jurors' judgments of the credibility of the witness were the focus of this experiment. A prosecution witness testified in English or in Spanish with interpretation in English. Witnesses' speaking style systematically included hedges and hesitations or did not. Guilty verdicts were independent of language of testimony. Within Spanish‐interpreted conditions, jurors convicted the defendant 47% of the time in the absence of hedges and hesitations. When he hedged and hesitated, they convicted 34% of the time. This effect was complicated by a reliable Witness Hesitation × Juror Language Dominance interaction. These results are interpreted in the context of the courtroom impact of non‐English‐speaking witnesses and the impact of interpretation.     

Training AIDS and Anger Prevention Social Skills in At‐Risk Adolescents

Youth in alternative schools often engage in high rates of risk behaviors for AIDS and violence. This study included 42 youth, ages 13 to 18, from alternative schools in San Diego, CA, and tested the effectiveness of behavioral skills training based on the Behavioral‐Ecological Model. Two interventions were evaluated: one teaching condom use skills and the other teaching anger management skills. Changes in most skills were significant at postintervention but were not maintained at 6 months. Few risk‐related attitudes or behaviors improved at 6 months for either group.