A Test of Contextual Theory: The Relationship Among Relational Ethics,Marital Satisfaction,Health Problems,and Depression

Few studies have examined the theoretical underpinning of contextual theory. Using structural equation modeling, the relationship among relational ethics (recognized as the most important aspect of contextual theory), marital satisfaction, depression, and illness was examined. Data came from a national sample of 632 mid-life, married individuals. Results supported Nagy’s contextual theory. The total score of the Relational Ethics Scale was a significant predictor of marital satisfaction, and marital satisfaction was significantly associated with depression and health problems. Vertical and horizontal subscales of relational ethics also were significant predictors of depression and health problems through the mediating variable of marital satisfaction.     

The effects of exposure to an acute naturalistic stressor on working memory, state anxiety and salivary cortisol concentrations

Exposure to an acute naturalistic stressor induces both psychological and physiological changes in humans. The two studies reported here explored the impact of exposure to an acute naturalistic stressor on state anxiety, working memory and HPA axis activation (salivary cortisol). In both experiments, ten healthy male participants were exposed to an acute naturalistic stressor, helicopter underwater evacuation training (HUET), and their physiological and behavioural responses before (first study) and after (second study) the stressor were compared to ten non-stressed controls. The results of both experiments showed that working memory performance was preserved during anticipation of an acute stressor, but impairments were observed immediately after stress exposure. Participants reported significantly higher state anxiety levels during anticipation and following stress exposure, whereas significant elevations in cortisol levels were only observed 25 min post exposure to stress, but not before or immediately after stress exposure. The results of both experiments demonstrated a dissociation between behavioural and biochemical measures and provided evidence for a dissociation of the effects of stress on cognitive and physiological measures depending on the time of testing, with cognitive impairments most evident following stress exposure.     

Breast Cancer in Men: A Need for Psychological Intervention

Male breast cancer is a serious issue that needs to be addressed more fully by the medical and public community. However, due to a lack of awareness and limited research on the topic, there is a general absence of knowledge concerning the psychological implications of this disease in men as well as a need for greater understanding of the medical diagnosis and treatment of male breast carcinoma. Similarly, there still remains a considerable gender difference between the awareness of female breast cancer and male breast cancer Although breast cancer in men makes up only 1% of all breast cancers reported in the United States, it is increasing in incidence. There are approximately 2000 new cases and approximately 450 deaths due to male breast cancer each year. Breast cancer diagnosis and treatment in men is very similar to that described in women, however, it has been shown that men are being diagnosed at a later stage of the disease than women.     

Docile Bodies and Heteronormative Moral Subjects: Constructing the Child and Sexual Knowledge in Schooling

This paper explores the complex relationship between childhood and sexuality by identifying prevailing discourses underpinning the repression and regulation of children’s knowledge of sexuality in Australia since the 1950’s. Examining several primary schooling Health Curricula, and Professional Development, Health and Physical Education Syllabi from the 1950’s to the turn of the new century, we trace the construction of the child and children’s knowledge of sexuality in early childhood (K-6). We believe that teaching sexual knowledge within schooling culture needs to be better aligned with the changing lives of children so as to adequately address different and diverse family experiences.

Transformation: Psychoanalytic and Eucharistic

This paper will explore parallels between Eucharistic and psychoanalytic transformation. Its objective will, in part, challenge the assumption that Eucharist constitutes a concrete and material reality, insular and devoid of symbolism; indeed, offering similarities to the psychoanalytic concept symbolic equation. It will be argued that Eucharist must be understood in context to its transformation within the community of believers, a relationship that offers accord to the transformation within the psychoanalytic relationship. Moreover, parallels between ultimate truth and divine mystery will be examined using the Bionian concept O.     

Institutional Review Boards and Professional Counseling Research

Institutional review boards (IRBs) are responsible for regulating and safeguarding research with human participants in academic institutions in the United States. The authors explore (a) the historical impetus for IRBs, (b) the ethical values and principles as core components of the review process, and (c) the American Counseling Association's (2005) standards for ethical research. In many ways, IRB review and counseling research are complementary, yet some challenges and obstacles unique to counseling research also exist and are elaborated in the article. Implications for counselors initiating research projects and suggestions for implementation are provided.     

V—Vagueness, Realism, Language and Thought

The problem of vagueness and the sorites paradox arise because we try to treat natural language as if it were a unitary formal system. In fact, natural language contains a large variety of representational ontologies that serve different purposes and which cannot be united formally, but which can intuitively be taken as ways of seeing a common basic ontology. Using this framework, we can save classical logic from vagueness and avoid the sorites.     

Guessing imagined and live chance events: Adults behave like children with live events

An established finding is that adults prefer to guess before rather than after a chance event has happened. This is interpreted in terms of aversion to guessing when relatively incompetent: After throwing, the fall could be known. Adults (N=71, mean age 18;11, N=28, mean age 48;0) showed this preference with imagined die‐throwing as in the published studies. With live die‐throwing, children (N=64, aged 6 and 8 years; N=50, aged 5 and 6 years) and 15‐year‐olds (N=93, 46) showed the opposite preference, as did 17 adults. Seventeen‐year‐olds (N=82) were more likely to prefer to guess after throwing with live rather than imagined die‐throwing. Reliance on imagined situations in the literature on decision‐making under uncertainty ignores the possibility that adults imagine inaccurately how they would really feel: After a real die has been thrown, adults, like children, may feel there is less ambiguity about the outcome.     

‘I am–we are’: personal and social pathways to further study, work and family life

This project explores the apparent layers in motivation for young people’s plans in order to extend Pathways Theory. We bring together personal, relational and group motivation to explain the planned pathways to study, work and family life. Location was an Australian town, close to the national socio-economic average, to control broad social factors. Participants (N = 78) were 12 to 18 year-old girls and boys (mean age 14.5 years). Results provide little support for popular explanations based on demographic factors (age, gender, family background) and broad personal indicators of self esteem and mood. Instead, the results support proposed differential explanations for pathways to study, work and family life. In particular, personal aspects of identity and self concepts, social expectations and group identity influence young people’s pathways to further study. Group uniqueness explains pathways to paid work, yet experience of higher education tends to limit plans for family life. Findings support inclusion of personal, relational and group motivations in developing innovative theories of pathways motivation. Ongoing work considers common and distinct explanations across socio-economic contexts.     

Memory fragments as components of autobiographical knowledge

Adults described and dated two kinds of personal remembrances: a fragment—a memory moment that is largely bereft of context—and an episodic, personal event memory—a narrative that consists of a number of related events. In Experiment 1 subjects reported memories from when they were 0–8 years of age and in Experiment 2, from when they were 0–16 years of age. Fragments were judged to be older than event memories, especially in Experiment 2 where the estimated ages of most fragments were from 0 to 8 years and of most episodic memories, from 8 to 16 years. Ratings of various features of the two kinds of memories also differed. We conclude that isolated memory moments possess validity and that although they are most likely to arise when the autobiographical memory system is not fully developed, they can also originate during a time when it is. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.