Research and Action for Bridging Science and Practice in Prevention

There is a well-known gap between science and practice. To address this gap in the areas of Child Maltreatment (CM) and Youth Violence (Y/V), the Division of Violence Prevention (DVP) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) embarked on a Dissemination/Implementation (D/I) planning project. The project was aimed at identifying better ways to connect research and practice through reviews of the literature as well as through discussions with experts on violence prevention and research utilization. This introductory article sets the stage for the rest of the special issue by defining terms, providing a rationale for the planning project, describing the planning process, and summarizing what is to come in the rest of the issue. The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.     

Understanding mortality and the life of the ancestors in rural madagascar

Across two studies, a wide age range of participants was interviewed about the nature of death. All participants were living in rural Madagascar in a community where ancestral beliefs and practices are widespread. In Study 1, children (8–17 years) and adults (19–71 years) were asked whether bodily and mental processes continue after death. The death in question was presented in the context of a narrative that focused either on the corpse or on the ancestral practices associated with the afterlife. Participants aged 8 years and older claimed that death brings an end to most bodily and mental processes. Nevertheless, particularly in the context of the religious narrative, they claimed that certain mental processes continue even after death. This assertion of an afterlife was more evident among adults than children, especially with respect to cognitive processes, such as knowing and remembering. In Study 2, 5- and 7-year-olds were asked similar questions in connection with the death of a bird and a person. Seven-year-olds consistently claimed that bodily and mental processes cease at death, whereas 5-year-olds were unsystematic in their replies. Together, the two studies replicate and extend findings obtained with Western children showing that, in the course of development, different conceptions of death are elaborated—a biological conception in which death terminates living processes and a religious conception in which death marks the beginning of a new form of spiritual existence.     

Neurofunctional correlates of personality traits in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis: An fMRI study

Extraversion and Neuroticism are two fundamental dimensions of human personality that influence cognitive functioning in healthy subjects. Little is known about personality changes that may occur in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) nor about, in particular, their neurofunctional basis. The aim of this study is to determine the impact of personality characteristics on brain activity in patients with MS. Eighteen patients with clinically definite relapsing-remitting MS without any evidence of psychiatric or cognitive disorders and thirteen healthy controls matched for age, gender and education were investigated using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during the execution of an “n-back” task. No differences were detected on the behavioral tests between the two groups, although the MS patients had lower total IQ and showed a trend towards higher Extraversion and Neuroticism scores than did the controls. fMRI analyses demonstrated that Extraversion scores were positively associated with brain activity in the fronto-parietal network including the superior parietal lobule and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in both groups during the high load condition of the n-back task. Given the overlapping neural systems found in the two groups, we suggest that the neural activity associated with specific personality dimension is a neurophysiological characteristic preserved in patients with MS at an early stage in the course of their disease.     

Optimism, Pessimism, and Motivation: Relations to Adjustment

The present work reviews the literature examining connections involving the key constructs of optimism and pessimism with motivation and adjustment. We review historical and conceptual models of optimism and pessimism. We then examine how these central constructs have been linked to both adaptive and maladaptive motivational processes and outcomes in the empirical literature. How cultural factors may impact the function of optimism and pessimism is also discussed. We end with a brief discussion of emerging issues that would be useful to examine in future research on optimism and pessimism.     

Helping Others Shows Differential Benefits on Health and Well-being for Male and Female Teens

Objectives Adults who engage in altruistic social interest behaviors experience better mental health and have lower mortality rates than non-altruistic adults. The present study investigated the relationship between altruism and health and well-being in teens, and demographic and lifestyle variables. Methods A cross-sectional survey was implemented with a national sample of teens recruited through the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Measures included the PedsQL, the Ryff Psychological Well-Being Scale, and a new self-report scale of Altruism (subscales: Receiving/ Providing Emotional Support, Family Helping Behavior, General Helping Behavior, and Helping Orientation). Results Data were collected from 457 teens (M age = 15.6, sd 1.2). Psychometric analyses revealed that a five-factor model fit the altruism data well. Multivariate regression revealed no association between providing emotional support and psychosocial health. There were, however, many associations between altruism and well-being, and differential associations by gender. Family helping was the most salient aspect of altruism for males, showing associations with positive social relations, purpose in life, and self-acceptance. For females, General Helping Behavior was associated with positive social relations, and Helping Orientation was associated with better purpose in life. Family Helping was associated with better physical health in females, but not for males. The only correlates of altruism were higher age, more physical activity, and engaging in positive religious coping. Conclusions Altruism is positively associated with health for females and with well-being for both males and females. Different gender-specific interventions to guide teens in doing more altruistic activities may have to be designed to capitalize on these different associations.

Insight into illness and adherence to psychotropic medications are separately associated with violence severity in a forensic sample

Violence towards others by a minority of psychotic individuals is a significant public health concern. The severity of this other-directed violence (ODV) in the community may be influenced by insight into illness and adherence to psychotropic medications; however, few studies have tested these associations. Sixty male psychotic inpatients, legally detained at a forensic unit in New York City, were assessed with semi-structured interviews, supplemented with information from hospital and official records, family members and the treating clinician. Results indicated that in this unique sample of detained persons with psychotic disorders; (1) increase in the severity of community violence is associated with medication non-adherence, all dimensions of poor insight into illness, and several previously reported covariates such as substance use comorbidity; (2) no relationship was found between insight and adherence in this particular sample; (3) multivariate analyses showed that select covariates, along with medication adherence, and select insight domains predicted a total of 73% of the magnitude of ODV behavior in this sample. Overall, medication non-adherence explained a large amount of how violently participants behaved toward others. Since non-adherence was independent of poor insight, it may be more worthwhile for clinicians to develop treatment strategies to target medication adherence without directly addressing an elusive target such as insight into illness. Treatment addressing medication adherence needs to concomitantly target substance use behaviors since the latter was responsible for a substantial increase in ODV.     

Social Control in Marital Relationships: Effect of One's Partner on Health Behaviors1

The present study examined the role that health‐related social control plays in promoting health‐enhancing behavioral reactions among married couples. Health‐related social control refers to interactions entailing influence and regulation of health practices. A sample of 109 couples answered questions about their social control interactions during structured phone interviews. Analyses maintaining the couple as the unit of analysis indicated that spouses' reports of more frequent social control overall and the use of positive, bilateral, and direct social control tactics predicted their partners' reports of health‐enhancing behavioral reactions.     

Anti-Semitism the World Over in the Twenty-first Century

The article reports the numbers and types of anti-Semitic incidents, attacks, media reports, and public opinion against Jews in the United States, Canada, Latin America, Western and Eastern European countries, the Middle East, and Australia. It also reports responses to these actions by police and local and national government officials. The period for which the data are reported is from 2000 to mid-2007. For each country, the size of the Jewish community is reported. What is manifestly clear from the data presented is that anti-Semitism is on the rise in most countries of the world. The data show a dramatic increase in anti-Semitism in Western Europe notably, Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, and The Netherlands. Of those countries, France has the worse record.     

Child and family‐related predictors of psychological outcomes in children adopted from abroad; what is the role of caregiver time?

International adoptees need to cope with stressful transitions and to develop secure attachment with their caregivers at the same time. Although most children adopted from abroad adjust fine, they are at increased risk of psychological problems. We investigated whether both child and family‐related factors are associated with later psychological problems and whether the length of time spent at home after adoption before daycare moderates these associations among internationally adopted children in Finland (FinAdo, Finnish Adoption Study). The sample consisted of 1,265 children (708 girls, 557 boys) who arrived in Finland before they started school (mean age 2 years at arrival). Later behavioral problems were measured using the Child Behavior Check List (CBCL). According to our results, male gender, older age, child's early clinical symptoms (problems of sensory processing) and single parenthood were associated with later behavioral problems measured by CBCL scores. Longer stay at home before the start of daycare or school modified these results. Longer stay at home was associated with less later behavioral externalizing problems in girls but not in boys compared to those who spent a shorter time at home.