Forgiveness of Interpersonal Offenses in Younger and Older Roman Catholic Women

Forgiveness involves replacing negative thoughts, feelings, and behaviors with constructive responses following an interpersonal offense. Although older adults report themselves to be more forgiving than younger adults, it is unclear why. The current study examined forgiveness of specific offenses in two samples of Roman Catholic women. Participants wrote about an interpersonal offense and completed a multi-dimensional measure of forgiveness with regard to the offense. On 5 of 10 dimensions, older women (n = 26; mean age = 74 years) were significantly more forgiving of specific offenses than were younger women (n = 37; mean age = 19 years). Religiousness/spirituality and current hurt/anger about the offense partially mediated the associations between age group and forgiveness. The results support models of successful aging, with older women showing greater likelihood of responding to interpersonal conflicts with forgiveness.     

Perfectionism in depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder and eating disorders

High levels of perfectionism have been observed in major depression, anxiety disorders and eating disorders. Though few studies have compared levels of perfectionism across these disorders, there is reason to believe that different dimensions of perfectionism may be involved in eating disorders than in depression or anxiety [Bardone-Cone, A. M. et al. (2007). Perfectionism and eating disorders: Current status and future directions. Clinical Psychology Review, 27, 84-405]. The present study compared patients with major depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and eating disorders on dimensions of perfectionism. Concern over Mistakes was elevated in each of the patient groups while Pure Personal Standards was only elevated in the eating disorder sample. Doubts about Actions was elevated in both patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder and eating disorders, but not in depressed patients. Analyses of covariance indicated that Concern over Mistakes accounted for most of the variance in the relationship of perfectionism to these forms of psychopathology.     

Alcohol drinking parties and consumption of alcohol and other drugs in youth

The main aim of this paper is to analyze the relationships of involvement in the "botellon" (meetings of youth in public places to drink, chat, etc.) with alcohol/other drug abuse and vandalism in young people. A school survey was performed in centres of Compulsory Secondary School (E.S.O.), high school, professional training and University education in Lugo, NW Spain. The sample (aged 12 to 30) was split into three groups according to alcohol use and botellon involvement; drug abuse, drug-related problems and vandalism were assessed in each group. Results indicate that regular botellon attendants display more problems with alcohol and other drugs, as well as higher involvement in vandalism; this relationship is stronger among young students. The increase in adolescent risk associated with the practice of the botellon is explained by peer group pressure to use drugs and the greater accessibility of alcohol/other drugs in these contexts.     

The Interactive Effects of Race,Gender, and Job Type on Job Suitability Ratings and Selection Decisions1

The present study examined the main and interactive effects of race, gender, and job type on job suitability ratings and selection decisions. Consistent with the double‐advantage additive effects model of race and gender, highly educated Black women were rated as more suitable for jobs and more likely to be selected for jobs requiring high levels of cognitive ability than were comparably educated White men, White women, or Black men. These results suggest that selection decisions might be jointly determined by race, gender, and the nature of a job. The implications of these findings for overcoming biases in employment‐related decision making are discussed.     

An investigation into the impact of acute stress on encoding in older adults

Acute psychological stress commonly occurs in young and older adults’ lives. Though several studies have examined the influence of stress on how young adults learn new information, the present study is the first to directly examine these effects in older adults. Fifty older adults (M age = 71.9) were subjected to either stress induction or a control task before learning two types of information: a short video and a series of pictures. Twenty-four hours later, they were exposed to misleading information about the video and then completed memory tests for the video and pictures. Heart rate and cortisol measures suggest that a physiological stress response was successfully induced. Though pre-encoding stress had little impact on memory accuracy, stress did influence errors of omission on the cued recall test for the video. Findings are discussed in the context of previous research examining the effects of stress on memory in older adults.     

Intrauterine infection and prematurity

Intrauterine infection is a major cause of premature labor with and without intact membranes. Intrauterine infection is present in approximately 25% of all preterm births and the earlier the gestational age at delivery, the higher the frequency of intra-amniotic infection. Microorganisms may also gain access to the fetus before delivery. A fetal inflammatory response syndrome elicited in response to microbial products is associated with the impending onset of preterm labor and also with multi-systemic organ involvement in the human fetus and a higher rate of perinatal morbidity. The most common microorganisms involved in intrauterine infections are Ureaplasma urealyticum, Fusobacterium species and Mycoplasma hominis. The role of Chlamydia trachomatis and viruses in preterm labor remain to be determined. Use of molecular microbiology techniques to diagnose intrauterine infection may uncover the role of fastidious microorganisms that have not yet been discovered. Antibiotic administration to patients with asymptomatic bacteriuria is associated with a significant reduction in the rate of preterm birth. However, such benefit has not been demonstrated for patients with bacterial vaginosis, or women who carry Streptococcus agalactia, Ureaplasma urealyticum or Trichomonas vaginalis. Antibiotic administration to patients with preterm premature rupture of membranes is associated with prolongation of pregnancy and a reduction in the rate of clinical chorioamnionitis and neonatal sepsis. The benefit has not been demonstrated in patients with preterm labor and intact membranes. Major efforts are required to determine why some women develop an ascending intrauterine infection and others do not and also what interventions may reduce the deleterious effect of systemic fetal inflammation.     

MMPI-2 profiles of Colombian, Mexican, and Venezuelan university students

Performance of 82 Colombian, 87 Mexican, and 96 Venezuelan university students and adult community dwellers on Spanish translations of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) were compared. Findings suggest more comprehensive research is required on applications of the MMPI-2 in Latin America and greater consideration of the roles of culture and nationality.     

Time delays prior to movement alter the drawing kinematics of elderly adults

Position sense has been found to decay as a function of the time delay the limb remains in a static position prior to movement onset. Position sense has also been found to deteriorate as a function of aging, with increased reliance on vision by the elderly. This study investigated whether the pointing kinematics of elderly adults were differentially affected by delay compared to young adults, and whether visual information could compensate for the effects of delay. Young and elderly adults kept the limb in a static position for 1, 6, or 10 s prior to movement onset, both with and without vision of the limb, initial position, and the movement trajectory. Across groups, delay resulted in increased overall movement duration, decreased peak velocity including a shorter relative time to peak velocity, with decreased distance and duration of the primary submovement. Delay and lack of vision differentially decreased distance of the primary submovement for elderly adults. Vision was able to compensate to some degree for the effects of delay across age groups. The findings provide evidence that decays in position sense as a function of time create difficulties in incorporating the initial limb position in motor planning process in elderly adults.     

Mapping the apetitive and aversive systems with emotional pictures using a block-design fMRI procedure

Negative emotional pictures from the International Affective Pictures System (IAPS) have been successful in mapping brain areas related to the aversive system. However, the capacity of positive emotional pictures to study the brain areas related to the appetitive system (i.e., nucleus accumbens, prefrontal cortex) is less established. In this study, we used a block fMRI design to investigate this issue, including emotional pictures as background while participants performed a vowel-consonant discrimination task. Importantly, participants were heterosexual males and all positive pictures were related to erotic couples, opposite-sex erotica, or romantic scenes. Negative pictures were similar to those used in previous studies. Results were consistent with previous studies using event-related designs, showing activation of amygdala, lateral prefrontal cortex, and occipito-temporal areas, but positive pictures showed a significant activation in the left nucleus accumbens. These findings provide evidence of the utility of block designs in emotional research (positive emotional pictures).