Decisions to Seek Healthcare Based on Family Health History Among Urban Appalachian Women

Family health history (FHH) is a valuable health promotion tool that can be used to assess disease risk and make lifestyle and screening recommendations. However, few FHH resources exist for medically underserved populations such as the urban Appalachian community in Cincinnati Ohio. Women of Appalachian heritage with less than a college education who did and did not participate in a prior FHH education session were interviewed by phone in a semi-structured format. Interviewees were asked to discuss their understanding of FHH and the role FHH played in seeking (or not seeking) medical care. Analysis of their discussion identified four overarching themes as well as a model identifying conditions that facilitated or impeded the choice to seek medical care based on FHH. Findings from this study may be used to develop targeted FHH educational interventions in the urban Appalachian and other communities.     

A reanalysis of the personal/impersonal distinction in moral psychology research

Greene and colleagues [Greene, J., Sommerville, B. R., Nystrom, L. E., Darley, J. M., & Cohen, J. D. (2001). An fMRI investigation of emotional engagement in moral judgment. Science, 293, 2105-2108.] have revealed an apparent distinction in folk psychology between ‘up close and personal’ and ‘impersonal’ moral dilemmas. Reasoning about these types of dilemmas is purportedly supported by partially dissociable neural systems. However, further investigation of the data supporting this hypothesis indicated that only a small number of stimuli used by Greene et al. are driving the effect originally found. Implications of the apparent distinction initially reported and of other research in the domain of moral psychology are discussed.     

The relation of neuroticism and social anxiety to willingness to volunteer

ABSTRACT

Relations between neuroticism, social anxiety, and generic and specific willingness to volunteer were examined among psychology undergraduates (N = 196). Based on previous research and speculation, with each of the willingness to volunteer criteria, and either without or with statistical control for age, sex, and international student status, the following hypotheses were tested: (1) Neuroticism negatively correlates with willingness to volunteer; (2) Social anxiety negatively correlates with willingness to volunteer; (3) Controlling for social anxiety substantially reduces or eliminates the relation between neuroticism and willingness to volunteer; and (4) Controlling for neuroticism does not substantially reduce or eliminate the relation between social anxiety and willingness to volunteer. For generic willingness to volunteer, Hypotheses 1 and 2 were supported with but not without the three demographic controls. For specific willingness to volunteer, both hypotheses were confirmed with or without demographic controls. Hypotheses 3 and 4 also were supported with each criterion.     

Black Women and Girls & #MeToo: Rape,Cultural Betrayal, & Healing

Sex Roles - Created by U.S. Black female activist, Tarana Burke, the #MeToo movement gained popularity in 2017, shedding light on the pervasive sexual harassment and assault of women. Since long...     

Measuring Multicultural Training Reactance: Initial Instrument Psychometrics

Resistant behaviors in multicultural courses are a common dilemma within counselor education. On the basis of psychological reactance theory (J. W. Brehm, 1966), the authors created a multicultural training reactance scale to measure the construct. Exploratory factor analysis and initial reliability and validity data are presented, followed by suggestions that address course reactions. Los comportamientos resistentes en los cursos multiculturales son un dilema frecuente en la educación de consejeros. Basándose en la teoría de reactancia psicológica (J. W. Brehm, 1966), los autores crearon una escala de reactancia en la capacitación multicultural para medir el constructo. Se presenta un análisis factorial exploratorio, así como datos iniciales de fiabilidad y validez, seguidos por sugerencias que abordan las reacciones al curso.     

Comparison of impulsive and premeditated perpetrators of intimate partner violence

Violence occurs in four to five million intimate relationships each year in the United States. Past research has investigated the concept of batterer subtypes based on the nature of the violent behavior. To extend this research, the present study used the Impulsive/Premeditated Aggression Scale (IPAS) along with a battery of relevant self-report measures in a sample of men (N = 113) convicted of domestic violence and court ordered into an intervention program. Batterers whose violence was classified as premeditated scored higher on psychopathic traits and a measure of treatment rejection. Batterers whose violence was classified as impulsive in nature reported a wider range of serious psychopathology. It is suggested that the use of a bimodal classification (Impulsive/Premeditated) in batterers may have significant clinical and legal policy implications. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Optimism, perceived risk of breast cancer, and cancer worry among a community-based sample of women.

Optimism is frequently inversely associated with distress; however, less is known about the mechanisms underlying this relationship. Optimism can be defined as having a generalized positive expectancy about the future. The authors hypothesized that a specific expectancy might mediate the relationship between optimism and distress. That model was tested using perceived risk of breast cancer as a specific measure of expectancy and cancer worry as a measure of distress in a community-based sample of 1,366 women. It was hypothesized that optimism would be inversely associated with cancer worry and that perceived risk of breast cancer would mediate the relationship between optimism and cancer worry. Multiple regression analyses revealed that perceived risk partially mediated the relationship between optimism and cancer worry.     

The experience of altered states of consciousness in shamanic ritual: The role of pre-existing beliefs and affective factors

Much attention has been paid recently to the role of anomalous experiences in the aetiology of certain types of psychopathology, e.g. in the formation of delusions. We examine, instead, the top-down influence of pre-existing beliefs and affective factors in shaping an individual’s characterisation of anomalous sensory experiences. Specifically we investigated the effects of paranormal beliefs and alexithymia in determining the intensity and quality of an altered state of consciousness (ASC). Fifty five participants took part in a sweat lodge ceremony, a traditional shamanic ritual which was unfamiliar to them. Participants reported significant alterations in their state of consciousness, quantified using the ‘APZ’ questionnaire, a standardized measure of ASC experience. Participants endorsing paranormal beliefs compatible with shamanic mythology, and those showing difficulty identifying feelings scored higher on positive dimensions of ASC experience. Our findings demonstrate that variation in an individual’s characterisation of anomalous experiences is nuanced by pre-existing beliefs and affective factors.     

The long and short of it: physical anchoring effects

Attempts to reconstruct the magnitude of recently encountered physical stimuli were influenced by the provision of physical anchors. Whether estimating length, weight, or loudness, those increasing the magnitude of a relatively small (short, light, or quiet) physical anchor produced estimates that were reliably lower than did those decreasing the magnitude of a relatively large (long, heavy, or loud) anchor. Estimates produced without an anchor were also low, suggesting that when people physically adjust upwards from a self‐selected starting point, “no anchor” may, in fact, act as a very low anchor. Physical anchors appear to influence estimates of recently encountered physical stimuli, much as numerical anchors influence estimates of more abstract numerical quantities. Implications for processes underlying anchoring, adjustment, and related tasks are discussed. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sensitivity of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (64-Card Version) versus the Tower of London (Drexel Version) for detecting executive dysfunction in children with epilepsy

Executive function deficits are common in children and adolescents with epilepsy. Though the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task (WCST) is often considered the “gold standard” for executive function assessment, its sensitivity—particularly in the case of the 64-card version (WCST-64)—is insufficiently established in pediatric samples, including children and adolescents with epilepsy. The present investigation assesses the sensitivity of the WCST-64 in children and adolescents with epilepsy in comparison to another measure: the Tower of London – Drexel Version (TOL-DX). A total of 88 consecutively referred children and adolescents with epilepsy were administered both the WCST-64 and TOL-DX as part of a comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation. The sensitivity of WCST-64 and TOL-DX variables were established and relations with epilepsy severity measures and other executive function measures were assessed. Of the WCST-64 variables, Perseverative Responses is the most sensitive, but detected executive function impairment in only 19% of this clinically referred sample; in contrast, the TOL-DX Rule Violations detected executive function impairment in half of the sample. Further, TOL-DX performances are more strongly related to epilepsy severity variables and other executive function measures in comparison to the WCST-64. Despite its popularity amongst clinicians, the WCST-64 is not as sensitive to executive dysfunction in comparison to other measures of comparable administration time, such as the TOL-DX.