Gender differences in comorbid disorders among offenders in prison substance abuse treatment programs

This study examined gender differences in a range of lifetime psychiatric disorders in a sample of 272 offenders newly admitted to a prison substance abuse program. Although these men and women did not differ in severity of substance use in the six months prior to incarceration, women were significantly more likely than men to report a lifetime psychiatric disorder and a lifetime severe disorder. Furthermore, gender differences emerged in the pattern of lifetime psychiatric comorbidity. Women reported greater lifetime major depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, eating disorder, and borderline personality disorder; men were more likely than women to meet criteria for antisocial personality disorder. Additionally, female offenders were found to have a higher degree of internalizing disorders than male offenders, but there were no gender differences in degree of externalizing disorders. The study concluded that women offenders newly admitted to a prison substance abuse program present with a greater psychiatric vulnerability and a different pattern of psychiatric comorbidity than their male counterparts.     

An experimental investigation of referential looking in free-ranging Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus)

The authors examined looking behavior between 15 Barbary macaque (Macaca sylvanus) infants and their mothers in the presence of a rubber snake (experimental period) and in the absence of the snake (control period). Two of the 15 infants looked referentially at their mother in the experimental period. Including both referential and nonreferential looks, the six older infants (aged 5 to 12 months) displayed a higher frequency of looks to mother than nine younger infants (aged 3 to 4.5 months) in the experimental period, but not in the control period. Older infants looked more to the mother in the experimental condition, whereas the younger infants looked more to the mother in the control condition, or looked equally in the two conditions. These results suggest that age is an important factor in determining looking behavior to mother in situations of uncertainty. Compared to hand-reared chimpanzees or human infants tested in standard social referencing paradigms, the infant macaques displayed a low rate of referential looking. Possible explanations for this are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2008 APA, all rights reserved).     

Infant crying and maternal holding in the first 2 months of age: an Italian diary study

This study aims to confirm previous North American and North European findings about the normal developmental pattern of infant crying by studying the crying of Italian babies. A cohort of 70 healthy, full‐term Italian infants was assessed longitudinally at 2, 5 and 8 weeks of age. Mothers were asked to fill in 24‐h behaviour diaries for 3 consecutive days at each age. Results show significant differences in the amount of daily crying between 2 and 8 weeks and between 5 and 8 weeks. Different from other similar studies, no significant cry peak at 5 weeks was found in the Italian babies, but the amount of time Italian mothers spent holding their babies showed a peak at 5 weeks. Infants cried more during the evenings and mothers carried them most during this part of the day. Significant correlations between maternal holding and infant crying were found both concurrently and predictively. The amount of infant crying at 2 weeks predicted the amount of holding at 5 weeks. Results confirmed previous findings about the individual stability of daily crying in the first 8 weeks of age, but future research should take account of cultural variations in maternal holding in studying infant crying in different societies. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Going shopping and identifying landmarks: does collaboration improve older people's memory?

Older participants (mean age = 72.82 years) attempted to recall items from shopping lists while shopping in a supermarket and subsequently in their homes on recognition tests. They also attempted to identify local landmarks on a map. The recall occurred either together with their spouses or independently. Collaborative recall was compared to the pooled, nonredundant recall of spouses who completed the memory tasks alone (nominal groups). Nominal groups produced more hits on most measures and never fewer hits than did collaborative groups. However, collaborative groups consistently generated fewer memory errors than did nominal groups. In many everyday contexts, a tendency for collaboration to reduce false recall could be advantageous to older people. Signal detection analyses revealed that collaboration leads couples to require a higher level of certainty before they are willing to claim that they recognize an item. Finally, we examined the relation between expertise and recall in the shopping and landmark tasks. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Adult Attachment and High-Risk Sexual Behavior Among HIV-Positive Patients

The present study investigated the relationship between adult attachment style and sexual behavior among HIV-positive patients. HIV-positive (HIV+) participants ( N = 48) completed questionnaires assessing number of sexual partners, adult attachment, self-esteem, and depressive symptoms. Results revealed that insecure attachment styles (particularly negative attachment representations of self and fearful attachment) were associated with having multiple sexual partners, including at-risk HIV-negative (HIV-) partners. These relationships remained significant after controlling for sexual orientation, self-esteem, and depressive symptomatology. These results suggest that interpersonal issues may play a key role in high-risk sexual behavior among HIV+ individuals.     

Empowering high‐risk clients to attain a better quality of life: a career resiliency framework

Career counselors frequently encounter clients who are at high risk for career and life development difficulties. Research suggests there is a connection between resiliency and successful career development in high‐risk clients. Many high‐risk individuals have poor decision‐making skills and lack motivation to succeed in life and career development. This article describes a career resiliency framework in which career resiliency is best understood within the context of psychological resiliency. Specifically, this article explicates how career counseling from a resiliency theory perspective may promote successful career development for populations dealing with multiple barriers.     

Mere Exposure: Gender Differences in the Negative Effects of Priming a State of Self-Objectification

Objectification theory (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997) holds that American culture coaxes women to develop observers' views of their bodies. The present study was designed to test whether a state of self-objectification can be automatically activated by subtle exposure to objectifying words. A state of self-objectification or of bodily empowerment was primed by the use of a scrambled sentence task. Women's ratings of negative emotions were higher and their ratings of the appeal of physical sex lower when primed with self-objectification than when primed with body competence. Men's ratings were unaffected by the primes. The results of this study suggest that mere exposure to objectifying media can play a significant role in the initiation of a self-objectified state along with its attendant psychological consequences for women.     

Teaching Spelling of Social Studies Content Vocabulary Prior to Using the Vocabulary in Inclusive Learning Environments: An Examination of Constant Time Delay, Observational Learning, and Instructive Feedback

This study evaluated the effectiveness of using a 5 s constant time delay (CTD) procedure to teach the written spelling of social studies vocabulary words taken from the general education social studies content to students with mild disabilities. Subjects were 3 elementary students with mild disabilities. Instruction was delivered in a small group setting. Vocabulary words were different for each student, which allowed for observational learning by the other students in the group. Assessments of observational learning were conducted when each student attempted to spell their group-mate's words. Related instructive feedback (meaningful sentences containing the social studies vocabulary words) was presented in the consequent event of instructional trials. A multiple probe design across word sets was implemented to evaluate the effectiveness of the procedure. Results indicated that (a) CTD was reliably implemented and all students acquired the spelling of their own sets of 12 social studies vocabulary words with 100% accuracy and maintained this accuracy over time, (b) all students generalized their target spellings across settings and instructors, and (c) some observational and instructive feedback learning occurred for all students. Additionally, long-term maintenance of observational spellings decreased over time, and minor fluctuations in long-term maintenance of instructive feedback occurred.