Community Perspectives on Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorder

Little is known about community attitudes toward adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and what factors lead to more positive attitudes. Using a cross-sectional design with a quantitative correlational approach, 60 adults were surveyed regarding experiences, knowledge, and comfort with adults with ASD living in the community. Most participants reported having encountered a person with ASD. Among these participants with personal experience, knowledge about ASD was relatively high. Amount of experience was the only variable associated with comfort. Results suggest that increasing exposure to people with ASD may be more effective in improving community acceptance compared to informational campaigns.     

Evaluating the Psychometric Properties of a Measure of Ethnic Identity Among Black South African Youth

The authors examined the dimensionality and psychometric properties of the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM) among Black South African adolescents (ages = 13–14; 52% female) representing several ethnic groups (Ndebele, Pedi, Sotho, Swati, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu) and evaluated the measure for differential item functioning primarily among four ethnic groups (Sotho, Tswana, Xhosa, and Zulu). Results indicated that a two-dimensional model best represented the data, reflecting ethnic search/clarity and ethnic affirmations. Subsequently, we evaluated the equivalence of the MEIM among the four South African ethnic groups and a sample of African American adolescents (M_age = 15.57 years; SD = 1.22; 51% female). Further analyses revealed that configural and metric models were excellent across the four South African ethnic groups and the African American group. However, scalar invariance (i.e., intercept) was not found; the item intercepts were different for the South African ethnic groups and African Americans. Findings are discussed with consideration for conducting research on ethnic identity among youth in South Africa.     

Facial gender confirmation surgery—review of the literature and recommendations for Version 8 of the WPATH Standards of Care

Facial gender confirmation surgery (FGCS), also popularly known and referred to in the scientific literature as facial feminization surgery (FFS), was previously treated as a collection of aesthetic procedures complementing other aspects of gender-confirming surgery. Recent literature on quality-of-life outcomes following FGCS has supported the substantial impact these procedures have on overall well-being and reduction of psychosocial sequelae in patients. The World Professional Association for Transgender Health Standards of Care, Version 7 (WPATH SOC 7), did not deem FGCS a medical necessity. Based on these new studies, increasing evidence points to the need to include FGCS among medically necessary gender-confirming surgeries, though more-prospective studies are needed. Updates to the WPATH SOC 8 are proposed based on available quality of life studies.     

Developmental trajectories to heroin dependence: Theoretical and clinical issues

We have built up a great deal of insight into the early developmental trajectories that lead to heroin use. These cluster under five domains: social disadvantage, parental drug use/psychopathology, childhood abuse and neglect, early onset psychopathology and antisocial behaviors, and a developmental sequence of drug onsets. While not all heroin users have these risk factors, the broad clinical picture shows these early correlates to be the predominant presentation. We discuss each of the early psychosocial correlates of heroin dependence, as well as possible early interventions. Given the chronicity of heroin dependence, interventions to prevent heroin use emerging would reduce the considerable burden of disease associated with the disorder.     

Automatic Optimism: Why People Assume Their Futures will be Bright

Why are people optimistic about their futures, continuously assuming that their futures will be full of the positive outcomes they desire and devoid of negative outcomes? This paper concerns the proposal that desire, represented as affective reactions to potential future events, causes optimism for the future. We propose that positive or negative affective reactions to future events innervate motivations to approach or avoid the events. These motivations can be satiated by judging that events that elicit positive affective reactions are likely to occur and events that elicit negative affective reactions are unlikely to occur. The tendency to be optimistic thus results from emotional processes that occur largely outside of conscious awareness. We discuss recent evidence that supports these propositions, the import of understanding optimism as the result of emotional processes for judgment and decision research as well as attempts to improve decision‐making, and remaining unresolved issues.     

The Influence of Temporal Orientation and Affective Frame on use of Ethical Decision-Making Strategies

This study examined the role of temporal orientation and affective frame in the execution of ethical decision-making strategies. In reflecting on a past experience or imagining a future experience, participants thought about experiences that they considered either positive or negative. The participants recorded their thinking about that experience by responding to several questions, and their responses were content-analyzed for the use of ethical decision-making strategies. The findings indicated that a future temporal orientation was associated with greater strategy use. Likewise, a positive affective frame was associated with greater strategy use. Future orientation may permit better strategy execution than a past orientation because it facilitates more objective, balanced contemplation of the reflected-upon situation, and minimizes potential self-threat associated with past behavior. A positive affective frame likely improves strategy execution because it facilitates active analysis of the experience. Future directions and implications of these findings are discussed.     

Ulama, the state, & war: community Islamic leaders in the Aceh conflict

In recent years, much has been said of the relationship between the headmasters of Islamic boarding schools (ulama), the state, and war. Hoping to clarify how ulama behave in times of war and why they react as they do, I look to the recent secessionist conflict in Aceh, Indonesia. Based on extensive village fieldwork, I find that in response to the conflict, Aceh’s ulama were divided; some supported the rebels, some supported the state, and some remained neutral. These positions were largely predicted by combatant control, a pragmatic response to conflict dynamics. Sub-regional comparisons, temporal comparisons, and interviews suggest that while many ulama sided with power, they also sided against human rights abuses, a concern for social justice which may be rooted in religious sentiment after all.     

Cross-Field Differences in Creative Problem-Solving Skills: A Comparison of Health, Biological, and Social Sciences

In the present study, 258 doctoral students working in the health, biological, and social sciences were asked to solve a series of field-relevant problems calling for creative thought. Proposed solutions to these problems were scored with respect to critical creative thinking skills such as problem definition, conceptual combination, and idea generation. Results indicated that health, biological, and social scientists differed with respect to their skill in executing various operations, or processes, involved in creative thought. Interestingly, no differences were observed as a function of the students' level of experience. The implications of these findings for understanding cross-field, and cross-experience level, differences in creative thought are discussed.