Transportation,Stress, and Community Psychology

Conditions of transportation were investigated as sources of psychological stress as they affect the physiology, task performance, and mood of commuters. Participants in the study were 100 employees of industrial firms. Traffic congestion was construed as a behavioral constraint in terms of the concept of impedance which is defined by the parameters of distance and time. It was expected that the effects of impedance would be mediated by personality factors, such as locus of control. Multivariate tests of the internal validity of the impedance factor were significant. However, significant main effects for impedance were obtained only for mood and residential adaptation. The predicted interactions of impedance with locus of control were obtained across task performance indices. In multiple regression analyses, the distance and speed of the commute to work were found to account for significant proportions of variation in blood pressure, while several indices of personal control had significant regression effects on the task measures. The implications of the results for research in community psychology are discussed.     

A THERAPEUTIC PLAYGROUP FOR DEPRESSED MOTHERS AND THEIR INFANTS: FEASIBILITY STUDY AND PILOT RANDOMIZED TRIAL OF COMMUNITY HUGS

Symptoms of depression negatively impact on mother?infant relationships and child outcomes. We evaluated a novel, 10‐session mother?infant therapeutic playgroup—Community HUGS (CHUGS)—which combines cognitive and experiential components through psychoeducation, play, music, and movement. Participants were mothers experiencing a range of postnatal mental health difficulties, including depression, with infants ≤12 months of age. However, the aim was not to treat maternal depression but to ameliorate associated problems in the mother?infant interaction. In the feasibility study, all participants received CHUGS. In the pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT), participants were randomized between intervention and a wait‐list. Outcomes were the Parenting Stress Index (PSI; R.R. Abidin, 1995), Parenting Sense of Competency Scale (Self‐Efficacy subscale; J. Gibaud‐Wallston & L.P. Wandersman, 1978), and the Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scales (P.F. Lovibond & S.H. Lovibond, 1995). In the feasibility study (n = 74), PSI scores dropped on all subscales, all ps < .01. Depression, p < .001, anxiety, p = .01, stress, p = .01, and self‐efficacy, p < .001, all showed improvements, as did observer‐rated mother?infant interactions, p < .001. In the RCT, depression, p < .001, anxiety, p = .005, and stress, p < .001, symptoms were significantly reduced for intervention participants (n = 16), as compared to wait‐list participants (n = 15). The CHUGS program had high participant satisfaction and produced improvements in self‐efficacy, depression, anxiety, stress, and mother?infant interactions that supported the program's acceptability and the utility of further rollout.     

Examination of a multi-factorial model of body-related experiences during pregnancy: the relationships among physical symptoms, sleep quality, depression, self-esteem, and negative body attitudes

The aim of this cross-sectional study was to investigate relationships among women's body attitudes, physical symptoms, self-esteem, depression, and sleep quality during pregnancy. Pregnant women (N = 215) at 15–25 weeks gestation completed a questionnaire including four body image subscales assessing self-reported feeling fat, attractiveness, strength/fitness, and salience of weight and shape. Women reported on 29 pregnancy-related physical complaints, and completed the Beck Depression Inventory, Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale, and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. In regressions, controlling for retrospective reports of body image, more frequent and intense physical symptoms were related to viewing the self as less strong/fit, and to poorer sleep quality and more depressive symptoms. In a multi-factorial model extending previous research, paths were found from sleep quality to depressive symptoms to self-esteem; self-esteem was found to be a mediator associated with lower scores on feeling fat and salience of weight and shape, and on higher perceived attractiveness.     

Memory impairments and hippocampal modifications in adult rats with neonatal isolation stress experience

Early life events have profound consequences. Our research demonstrates that the early life stress of neonatal isolation (1-h individual isolation on postnatal days 2-9) in rats has immediate and enduring neural and behavioral effects. Recently, we showed neonatal isolation impaired hippocampal-dependent context conditioned fear in adult rats. We now expand upon this finding to test whether neonatal isolation impairs performance in inhibitory avoidance and in the non-aversive, hippocampal-dependent object recognition task. In addition to assessments of hippocampal-dependent memory, we examined if neonatal isolation results in cellular alterations in the adult hippocampus. This was measured with antibodies that selectively label calpain-mediated spectrin breakdown product (BDP), a marker of cytoskeletal modification that can have neuronal consequences. Neonatally isolated male and female rats showed impaired performance in both memory tasks as well as elevated BDP levels in hippocampal immunoblot samples. In tissue sections stained for BDP, the cytoskeletal fragmentation was localized to pyramidal neurons and their proximal dendrites. Interestingly, the hippocampal samples also exhibited reduced staining for the postsynaptic marker, GluR1. Neonatal isolation may render those neurons involved in memory encoding to be vulnerable to calpain deregulation and synaptic compromise as shown previously with brain injury. Together with our prior research showing enhanced striatal-dependent learning and neurochemical responsivity, these results indicate that the early experience of neonatal isolation causes enduring yet opposing region-specific neural and behavioral alterations.     

Meaning in Life and Volunteerism in Older Adults

Researchers explored predictors of meaning in life such as physical and mental health and volunteerism in a representative sample of older adults. Measures included the Geriatric Depression Scale and the Life Regard Index. Implications for counseling older adults are discussed.     

Hemispheric asymmetries in the activation and monitoring of memory errors

Previous research on the lateralization of memory errors suggests that the right hemisphere's tendency to produce more memory errors than the left hemisphere reflects hemispheric differences in semantic activation. However, all prior research that has examined the lateralization of memory errors has used self-paced recognition judgments. Because activation occurs early in memory retrieval, with more time to make a decision, other memory processes, like strategic monitoring processes, may affect memory errors. By manipulating the time subjects were given to make memory decisions, this study separated the influence of automatic memory processes (activation) from strategic memory processes (monitoring) on the production of false memories. The results indicated that when retrieval was fast, the right hemisphere produced more memory errors than the left hemisphere. However, when retrieval was slow, the left hemisphere's error-proneness increased compared to the fast retrieval condition, while the right hemisphere's error-proneness remained the same. These results suggest that the right hemisphere's errors are largely due to activation, while the left hemisphere's errors are influenced by both activation and monitoring.     

Personality characteristics of successful applicants to the priesthood

This study investigated personality characteristics of successful pastoral candidates to a major Catholic religious order. Personality measures (i.e., MMPI-2 and 16PF) were administered to 21 male applicants between 1990 and 1994 who subsequently entered into religious life. Results suggest that these clergy applicants were generally well-adjusted, socially responsible, and interpersonally sensitive. However, results also suggest a tendency for defensiveness. Coping with perceived negative impulses (i.e., anger and hostility) may also be an issue for many. Implications for future research are offered.     

The Incarcerated Female Felon and Substance Abuse: Demographics,Needs Assessment,and Program Planning for a Neglected Population

Incarcerated women (203 of 237) completed a needs survey designed by an inmate steering committee. The typical inmate was a European American mother of 2 children. Relevant programming (substance abuse education classes, self-study programs, didactic groups and workshops) is discussed.