Psychological distress and well-being in advanced cancer: The effects of optimism and coping

This study examined the relations among optimism, coping, functional status, and psychological adjustment in 75 adults diagnosed with cancer. Both the positive and the negative aspects of psychological adjustment were assessed. All participants had been diagnosed with advanced stages of cancer (i.e., Stages II, III, and IV). Participants completed three assessments across a 4-month time period. Both optimism and coping were associated with psychological adjustment, even after controlling for functional status and prior adjustment. Additionally, optimism and coping were differentially related to distress and well-being. Optimism was strongly and positively associated with well-being and inversely related to distress. Escape-Avoidance coping was positively associated with distress and Accepting Responsibility coping was negatively associated with well-being. Comparisons between the current and prior studies indicated that individuals who are diagnosed with more advanced stages of cancer or who have survived bone marrow transplantation exhibit higher levels of optimism than do healthy individuals and individuals with early-stage disease.     

The Moderating Role of Gender and Gender Role Attitudes on the Link Between Spousal Support and Marital Quality

Researchers who examine the relation of gender role attitudes to division of household labor and marital quality often overlook its relation to emotional spousal support. Moreover, research on gender and marriage often ignores how gender role attitudes may explain the link between spousal support and marital quality. Secondary data analyses on a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults examined the interaction of gender and gender role attitudes on spousal support and marital quality. Emotional spousal support predicted better marital satisfaction and less conflict for traditional women and egalitarian men, whereas both instrumental and emotional spousal support predicted better marital satisfaction for egalitarian women and traditional men. These results suggest that within, as well as between, gender differences are important for understanding the contribution of spousal support to perceived marital quality.     

The President’s New Freedom Commission: Capitalizing on Opportunities to Advance School-Based Mental Health Services

The report from President George W. Bush’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health (NFC), Achieving the Promise: Transforming Mental Health Care in America(2003), proposes goals and recommendations for improving mental health services. This report has significant implications for the delivery of mental health services through the schools. A focused discussion of the potential opportunities and challenges of implementing NFC recommendations related to school-based mental health is presented. Strategies for addressing five key areas at the intersection of school mental health and the Commission’s recommendations include: stigma reduction, suicide prevention, expansion and improvement of school mental health, and screening and treatment of co-occurring mental health and substance abuse disorders.     

Effects of daily and acute restraint stress during lactation on maternal aggression and behavior in mice

A decreased reactivity to stressors during lactation might heighten the expression of maternal care (including defense of offspring) by minimizing the extent to which stress can impact maternal care. Although stressors applied during pregnancy have variable effects on maternal aggression (or defense of offspring), to date no study has examined the effects of stress applied during the postpartum period on maternal aggression. In this study, we examined the effects of both daily and acute restraint stress (30 min) applied postpartum on maternal aggression and other maternal behaviors. Daily restraint (ending 2 h before testing) did not alter any measure of maternal behavior, including nursing, licking and grooming of pups and pup retrieval, or any measure of maternal aggression. In contrast, acute stress significantly impaired total time aggressive and number of attacks, but pup retrieval was normal. c-Fos levels were significantly elevated in a number of brain regions in association with acute stress, including lateral septum (LS), caudal periaqueductal gray and medial amygdala (MeA), suggesting possible sites where stress reactivity could alter aggression. Together, the results indicate that acute restraint stress impairs maternal aggression and provide a starting point for future studies examining how stress reactivity pathways may intersect with maternal aggression pathways.     

Power and Psychological Well-Being in Late Adolescent Romantic Relationships

Using Olsen and Cromwell's (1975) three facetsof interpersonal power (power in resources, process, andoutcomes), we examined the balance of power in lateadolescent romantic relationships and the associations between interpersonal power, adolescents'self-esteem, and depression. Participants were 61adolescent couples who were primarily European-American(90% of girls and 93% of boys), with the remainder being comprised of approximately 2-3% each of NativeAmerican, Asian, African American, and Hispanicindividuals. We assessed power in terms of access toemotional resources, control during video-tapedinteraction, and control over decision-making. Overall,couples were more likely to be described by themselvesand by independent observers as egalitarian, with themajority of couples equally contributing emotional resources, sharing power in interaction, andsharing decision-making responsibility. However,romantic relationships characterized by inequality inthe contribution of emotional resources and indecisionmaking were associated with greater psychologicalsymptomatology, especially for females.     

Underestimating Youth's Commitment to Schools and Society: Toward a More Differentiated View

Many media reports contend that American youth are dangerous, self-possessed, and care too little about their personal education or the broader society. Not only are youth criticized, but their teachers and schools are subjected to exaggerated criticism. We argue that the average, undifferentiated view of youth as presented by the media is inaccurate and pejorative. Researchers have added to the chorus of unfounded negative assertions about youth and their schools. As an example, Laurence Steinberg, in Beyond the Classroom, argued that American students' levels of academic achievement were woefully inadequate. He argued that students did not do enough homework, that they cheated, and that pervasive, negative peer pressure undermined academic achievement. The purpose of our study was to examine students' attitudes and perceptions in three major areas – cheating, homework, and peer pressure. Using data from over 700 students drawn from one public high school and one junior high school, our results indicated that students' beliefs and norms concerning cheating, homework, and peer pressure varied widely in terms of gender, GPA, and school context. Our data failed to replicate the findings from Beyond in that (a) our average findings were more positive than those reported in that study, and (b) we showed that the reporting of average was highly misleading. Our findings provided evidence that one cannot describe American students in a general, sweeping way. Average statements about youth, especially adolescent youth, are apt to be very misleading.     

Development of a Certificate Training Curriculum for Domestic Violence Counseling

This article describes a specialty training curriculum for domestic violence intervention and delineates an entry level domestic violence counseling certificate training program. Designed For a university's continuing education department, the curriculum was developed to meet statewide training requirements for perpetrator intervention providers.     

Anencephalics as organ sources

In recent years, the need for infant organs for transplantation has increased. There is a growing recognition of the potential use of anencephalics as sources of organs. Prevalent arguments defending the use of live anencephalics for organ sources are identified and criticized. I argue that attempts to deny the applicability of the “dead-donor rule” are either question-begging or based on false premises and that attempts to skirt the Kantian dictum against treating others as a means only are not successful. I contend that the apparent utilitarian justification for live anencephalics as organ sources is unsatisfactory for two reasons: first, because it ignores the undermining effect the policy would have on parental values and sentiments central to social welfare; and second, because attempts to respond adequately to the slippery slope argument against live anencephalic use are unconvincing.     

Feeling frugal: socioeconomic status,acculturation, and cultural health beliefs among women of Mexican descent

Psychosocial and socioeconomic variables are often confounded. The authors combined quantitative with grounded theory analysis to investigate influences of acculturation, socioeconomic status (SES), and cultural health beliefs on Mexican-descent women's preventive health behaviors. In 5 focus group interviews sampling across levels of acculturation and SES, women expressing more traditional Mexican health beliefs about breast cancer screening were of lower SES and were less U.S. acculturated. However, SES and acculturation were uncorrelated with screening behaviors. Qualitative analysis generated hypotheses about joint influences of SES and traditional health beliefs; for example, low-SES women may learn frugal habits as part of their cultural traditions that influence their health care decision making, magnifying SES-imposed structural restrictions on health care access.     

Novel Measures of Response Performance and Inhibition in Children with ADHD

Fifteen children with ADHD aged 8 to 12 years and age and gender matched controls performed two different stopping tasks to examine response performance and inhibition and their respective moment-to-moment variability. One task was the well-established stop-signal task, while the other was a novel tracking task where the children tracked a spaceship on the screen until an alarm indicated they should stop. Although performance was discrete in the stop signal task and continuous in the tracking task, in both tasks latencies to the stop signal were significantly slowed in children with ADHD. Go performance and variability did not significantly differ between ADHD and control children in either task. Importantly, stopping latency in the novel spaceship tracking task also was more variable in children with ADHD. As stopping variability cannot be measured using the standard stop signal task, the new task offers compelling support for the heretofore untested prediction that stopping is both slowed and more variable in children with ADHD. The results support a response inhibition impairment in ADHD, whilst limiting the extent of an intra-trial variability deficit.