Dyadic coping mediates the relationship between parents’ grief and dyadic adjustment following the loss of a child

Background and Objectives: This study aimed to examine forms of dyadic coping (DC) as mediators of the association between parents’ grief response and dyadic adjustment and to determine whether these indirect effects were moderated by the child’s type of death, timing of death, and age.

Design: The study design was cross-sectional.

Method: The sample consisted of 197 bereaved parents. Participants completed the Prolonged Grief Disorder Scale, Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale, and Dyadic Coping Inventory.

Results: Significant indirect effects of parents’ grief response on dyadic adjustment were found through stress communication by oneself and by the partner, positive and negative DC by the partner, and joint DC. The timing of death moderated the association between grief response and dyadic adjustment and between joint DC and dyadic adjustment. Grief response was negatively associated with dyadic adjustment only when the death occurred after birth. Grief response was negatively associated with joint DC, which, in turn, was positively associated with dyadic adjustment, when the death occurred both before and after birth. However, the association was stronger in the latter.

Conclusions: Specific forms of DC might be mechanisms through which grief response is associated with dyadic adjustment and should be promoted in clinical practice.     

Going Beyond Frequency: A Qualitative Study to Explore New Dimensions for the Measurement of Family Meals

The majority of studies on family meals only assess frequency. We conducted a qualitative study of family meals with parent and child dyads to explore different dimensions of family meals, beyond frequency, that may be important protective factors for youth risk- and weight-related outcomes to examine in quantitative studies. Participants were 37 children aged 6–16 and their parent/guardian (74 participants in total). We conducted semi-structured and open-ended interviews with parents and children separately. Participants were recruited at pediatric/adolescent waiting rooms at an academic medical center in Boston, MA, as well as through flyers placed around Boston and online via CraigsList.org. The data were analyzed and compiled by first coding key phrases into themes and then including additional themes as they arose from the data. Themes related to three major topic areas emerged: feelings about family meals, meal rules and rituals, and communication during meals. Parents and children generally enjoyed family meals, and indicated that discussions of daily life, as well as more difficult conversations, took place during meals. Rules were set in place by parents but generally not reported as strict by children, and when allowed, the use of technology often hindered family communication during meals. Ultimately, this qualitative study provided an in-depth understanding of candidate dimensions that would be useful in quantitative studies to begin to disentangle the mechanisms associated with reductions in youth risk- and weight-related outcomes.     

Early development of letter specialization in left fusiform is associated with better word reading and smaller fusiform face area

A functional region of left fusiform gyrus termed “the visual word form area” (VWFA) develops during reading acquisition to respond more strongly to printed words than to other visual stimuli. Here, we examined responses to letters among 5‐ and 6‐year‐old early kindergarten children (N = 48) with little or no school‐based reading instruction who varied in their reading ability. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure responses to individual letters, false fonts, and faces in left and right fusiform gyri. We then evaluated whether signal change and size (spatial extent) of letter‐sensitive cortex (greater activation for letters versus faces) and letter‐specific cortex (greater activation for letters versus false fonts) in these regions related to (a) standardized measures of word‐reading ability and (b) signal change and size of face‐sensitive cortex (fusiform face area or FFA; greater activation for faces versus letters). Greater letter specificity, but not letter sensitivity, in left fusiform gyrus correlated positively with word reading scores. Across children, in the left fusiform gyrus, greater size of letter‐sensitive cortex correlated with lesser size of FFA. These findings are the first to suggest that in beginning readers, development of letter responsivity in left fusiform cortex is associated with both better reading ability and also a reduction of the size of left FFA that may result in right‐hemisphere dominance for face perception.     

Extreme appraisals of internal states and bipolar symptoms: the Hypomanic Attitudes and Positive Predictions Inventory

The Hypomanic Attitudes and Positive Predictions Inventory (HAPPI; W. Mansell, 2006) was developed to assess multiple, extreme, self-relevant appraisals of internal states. The present study aimed to validate the HAPPI in a clinical sample. Participants (N = 50) with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder (confirmed by a structured clinical interview) completed a series of questionnaires pertaining to clinical factors, reward motivation, cognitive style, symptoms, and functioning at baseline, in addition to the HAPPI. Over the following 4 weeks, participants were asked to complete self-report measures of symptoms (activation, perceived conflict, depression, and well-being), as well as work and social functioning, twice weekly. The authors hypothesized that the HAPPI would be associated with prospective bipolar symptoms and functioning, when controlling for baseline symptoms and potentially confounding measures. The HAPPI was positively, independently associated with activation and conflict after 4 weeks. Furthermore, individual HAPPI factors were associated with activation, conflict, and depression. The results provided preliminary support for the predictive validity of the HAPPI in a clinical sample. The HAPPI could be used in the future as a tool in cognitive behavioral therapy for bipolar disorder to identify problematic beliefs and guide formulation.     

“The Flow of Her Cum”: On a Recent Semantic Shift in an Erotic Word

Recently there has been a semantic shift in the pornographic word ‘cum.’ Traditionally, the word, as a noun, is used to designate semen. However, ‘cum’ is now used to designate also female fluids during sexual activity. The concept of ‘female cum’ is discussed in relation to examples from a corpus of two hundred erotic short stories collected from the Internet, and to the physiological realities of female fluids during sex. In order to show how the innovation of ‘female cum’ is useful in written erotic narrative, a comparison is made with filmed pornography and drawn erotic comics. Finally, I argue that ‘cum’ in this new context is used as a device to arouse sexual excitement.     

Feasibility of telephone-based cognitive behavioral therapy targeting major depression among urban dwelling African-American people with co-occurring HIV

Given the burden of depression among those with HIV, and the impact of HIV on urban minority communities there is an urgent need to assess innovative treatment interventions that not only treat depression but do so in a way that allows for increased access to mental health care. This single site, uncontrolled, pilot study sought to determine the feasibility and depression outcomes of an 11-session telephone-based cognitive behavioral therapy intervention delivered over 14 weeks targeting low-income, urban-dwelling, HIV-infected African-American people with major depression. The diagnosis of major depression was made using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview. The primary outcome was the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D) and the secondary outcome was the Quick Inventory of Depression Symptomatology-Self Report (QIDS-SR). Feasibility and satisfaction were also assessed. Assessments occurred at baseline, midpoint and at study conclusion (14 weeks). Fifteen people were screened for the study. Six HIV-infected, low-income, African-American people individuals (five females and one male) were eligible and participated in the study. All patients finished the study. On average, participants completed nine sessions. The sessions lasted for an average of 48 min (SD = 11.5). Compared to mean HAM-D score at baseline (HAM-D = 22.8 (SD = 3.1), the mean HAM-D score was significantly reduced at study conclusion (HAM-D = 9.8 (SD = 7.4); (t (5) = 4.6, p = 0.006); (Cohen d = 1.9)). Compared to the mean QIDS-SR score at baseline (QIDS-SR = 15.5 (SD = 4.2) the mean QIDS score was significantly reduced at study conclusion (QIDS = 7.0 (SD = 5.4);(t (5) = 3.2, p = 0.02); (Cohen d = 1.3)).The mean satisfaction scores across all participants at post-treatment was 5.7 (SD = 0.3) with of a maximum score of 6. Telephone-based CBT can be delivered to low-income, urban-dwelling ethnic minority HIV-infected people resulting in significant reductions in depression symptoms with high satisfaction. The efficacy of this intervention will be assessed in a planned randomized control trial.     

Increasing organ donor registration rates by providing an immediate and complete registration opportunity: an experimental assessment of the IIFF model

The IIFF model of organ donation holds that the simultaneous presence of four factors directly influence donor registration: (1) immediate and complete registration opportunity (ICRO), (2) information, (3) focused engagement, and (4) favorable activation. Two field experiments examined the impact of an ICRO on organ donation registration. In Study 1, participants were at town halls where they knew organ donation was to be discussed. Registration cards were distributed and then collected at the end of the session in half of the town halls. For the other half, participants were asked to mail in completed cards. In three US cities, participants given an ICRO registered at a significantly greater rate (z?=?4.865, p?相似文献   

Attentional capture by irrelevant emotional distractor faces

We establish attentional capture by emotional distractor faces presented as a "singleton" in a search task in which the emotion is entirely irrelevant. Participants searched for a male (or female) target face among female (or male) faces and indicated whether the target face was tilted to the left or right. The presence (vs. absence) of an irrelevant emotional singleton expression (fearful, angry, or happy) in one of the distractor faces slowed search reaction times compared to the singleton absent or singleton target conditions. Facilitation for emotional singleton targets was found for the happy expression but not for the fearful or angry expressions. These effects were found irrespective of face gender and the failure of a singleton neutral face to capture attention among emotional faces rules out a visual odd-one-out account for the emotional capture. The present study thus establishes irrelevant, emotional, attentional capture.     

A longitudinal assessment of the home literacy environment and early language

This longitudinal assessment concentrated on the relation between the home literacy environment (HLE) and early language acquisition during infancy and toddlerhood. In study 1, after controlling for socio‐economic status, a broadly defined HLE predicted language comprehension in 50 infants. In study 2, 27 children returned for further analyses. Findings revealed that the HLE measured in infancy predicted language production in toddlerhood and maternal redirecting behaviours measured in toddlerhood were negatively associated with expressive language. Results across both studies indicate the importance of a broadly defined HLE (including joint attention and parent–child conversation) for language development. Taken together, these findings highlight the importance of the HLE in supporting both receptive and expressive vocabulary growth in the second and third years of life. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

You never think about my feelings: interpersonal dominance as a predictor of emotion decoding accuracy

Dominance and submission constitute fundamentally different social interaction strategies that may be enacted most effectively to the extent that the emotions of others are relatively ignored (dominance) versus noticed (submission). On the basis of such considerations, we hypothesized a systematic relationship between chronic tendencies toward high versus low levels of interpersonal dominance and emotion decoding accuracy in objective tasks. In two studies (total N = 232), interpersonally dominant individuals exhibited poorer levels of emotion recognition in response to audio and video clips (Study 1) and facial expressions of emotion (Study 2). The results provide a novel perspective on interpersonal dominance, suggest its strategic nature (Study 2), and are discussed in relation to Fiske's (1993) social-cognitive theory of power.