BODY OBJECTIFICATION AND DEPRESSION IN ADOLESCENTS: THE ROLE OF GENDER, SHAME, AND RUMINATION

Objectification theory posits that the tendency to view oneself as an object to be looked at and evaluated by others negatively affects girls', but not boys', subjective well-being. Although it has been established that women self-objectify more than men, research in this area has been limited to the study of adult college women. The aim in the current longitudinal study was to investigate the role of body shame and rumination in the link between self-objectification and depression among a community sample of girls and boys at ages 11 and 13. Results indicated that adolescent girls reported higher levels of self-objectification, body shame, rumination, and depression than boys. The findings support a model in which body shame and rumination mediate a direct relation between self-objectification and depression among girls; developmentally, the gender difference in self-objectification appears before the gender differences in rumination and depression.     

Results of an Intervention for Individuals and Families with <Emphasis Type="Italic">BRCA</Emphasis> Mutations: A Model for Providing Medical Updates and Psychosocial Support Following Genetic Testing

Providing medical management updates and long-term support to families with hereditary cancer syndromes in rural areas is a challenge. To address this, we designed a one-day retreat for BRCA1/2 carriers in our region. The retreat included educational updates about medical management, genetic privacy and discrimination, and addressed psychological and family issues. Evaluations completed at the conclusion of the retreat were overwhelmingly positive with requests for a similar event in the future. The impact of this retreat on a variety of health behaviors was assessed. Eligible participants completed questionnaires before and 6 months after the retreat. Questionnaires focused on lifestyle, cancer screening and prevention practices, psychological history and distress, decision-making regarding genetic testing, and family communication issues. For individuals who completed both the pre and post retreat questionnaires, one-half made lifestyle changes and nearly two-thirds increased cancer screening, initiated chemoprevention, completed or planned to complete preventative surgery in the future. We conclude that this type of forum provides a valuable opportunity for BRCA carriers and their families to receive updated medical information, share personal experiences, provide and receive support, as well as change health behaviors.     

BIS,BAS, and response conflict: Testing predictions of the revised reinforcement sensitivity theory

Gray’s (1970) reinforcement sensitivity theory (RST) was recently updated (Gray & McNaughton, 2000), but the changes have not received extensive empirical validation. The study tests three novel predictions of the revised RST. First, the behavioral activation system (BAS) is expected to be sensitive to both conditioned and unconditioned incentives. Second, the behavioral inhibition system (BIS) is expected to be sensitive to conflicting incentives such as between unconditioned and conditioned stimuli, and not to avoidance responses or aversive stimuli alone. Third, during approach-avoidance conflicts only, BAS is expected to moderate BIS responses to conflict such that individuals with high BAS show the strongest effect of BIS. In order to test these hypotheses, we developed a novel incentive task that crosses approach/avoidance conditioned responses to appetitive/aversive unconditioned stimuli. Conflict between unconditioned and conditioned stimuli occurred on the approach-aversive and avoid-appetitive trials. Results confirm the predictions and provide support for the revised RST.     

Self-Presentation of Beliefs About Gender Discrimination and Feminism

This study examined whether college students' expressed beliefs about gender discrimination and feminism are due to concerns about self-presentation rather than an accurate reflection of their beliefs. Fifty-eight women and 45 men (82% Caucasian) completed scales measuring their beliefs about gender discrimination and feminism and responded to scenarios about hypothetical court cases involving discrimination. Participants were told their personal views would be either shared publicly or remain private during a small group discussion. Results showed that men expressed more belief in gender discrimination and feminism in the public groups compared to men in private groups and women. Responses to hypothetical court cases also showed some evidence of self-presentation. Implications for changes in self-identity and behavior toward incidents of gender discrimination are discussed.     

The Color-Vision Approach to Emotional Space: Cortical Evoked Potential Data

A framework for accounting for emotional phenomena proposed by Sokolov and Boucsein (2000) employs conceptual dimensions that parallel those of hue, brightness, and saturation in color vision. The approach that employs the concepts of emotional quality. intensity, and saturation has been supported by psychophysical emotional scaling data gathered from a few trained observers. We report cortical evoked potential data obtained during the change between different emotions expressed in schematic faces. Twenty-five subjects (13 male, 12 female) were presented with a positive, a negative, and a neutral computer-generated face with random interstimulus intervals in a within-subjects design, together with four meaningful and four meaningless control stimuli made up from the same elements. Frontal, central, parietal, and temporal ERPs were recorded from each hemisphere. Statistically significant outcomes in the P300 and N200 range support the potential fruitfulness of the proposed color-vision-model-based approach to human emotional space.     

Wrapping community-based mental health services around children with a severe behavioral disorder: An evaluation of project wraparound

During the past two decades there has been a significant increase in community-based mental health and educational services for children and youth with serious emotional and behavioral problems and their families. However, in the vast majority of programs there are no reliable longitudinal data on the adjustment of the children that are served. Project Wraparound was a community-based individualized treatment program which served children and youth with severely maladjusted behavior and their families by providing intensive home and school-based services. The purpose of this paper is to provide a longitudinal analysis of client and family adjustment data. Data on client adjustment within the home and characteristics of the home environment were obtained at intervals of 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year. Data on client adjustment in school was obtained at four points over a period of 2 years. The results from 19 cases indicate that substantial change occurred on measures of the home environment and client adjustment in the home with no significant change in adjustment in the school. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

Spirituality in nursing theory and practice: dilemmas for Christian bioethics.

Moral strangerhood is due in part to competing worldviews. The profession of nursing is experiencing a paradigm shift which creates ethical dilemmas for both Christian nurses and Christian patients. Nursing's new focus on spirituality and spiritual care presents itself as broadly defining a desired state or patient outcome -- spiritual integrity -- supposed to be applicable to all patients of all faiths. Analysis of nursing's definition of spirituality reveals assumptions and values consistent with an Eastern/New Age worldview which may cause hostility towards Christian patients stereotyped as dogmatic or noncompliant.     

Effects of waiting times within simple problems: an analogy to waiting times in human-computer interaction

The impact of forced intra-task waiting periods was evaluated in a laboratory study designed in analogy to forced waiting periods in human-computer interaction. Each task consisted of two lines of grouped capital letters (so-called Sterzinger lines) that had to be processed individually, separated by the experimental waiting period. The final response to both lines was taken after removal of the second line. The experiment was conducted according to a within-subjects design with the order of the two factors "duration" (2 s vs. 8 s) and "variability of the waiting periods" (constant vs. variable) controlled. The dependent variables were performance indices, heart rate, electrodermal activity, and subjective measures of mood and physical complaints. The results showed effects of the duration of waiting periods for the performance and the physiological variables, and effects of the variability factor for the subjective variables. Shorter waiting periods were associated with higher scores of heart rate and skin resistance responses, variable waiting periods seemed to confuse the subjects more than constant ones. The results are discussed with respect to the effects of the two experimental factors. With respect to dialog structures in human-computer interaction, the results lead to the conclusion that response interference could be avoided by giving the user the possibility to immediately input problem solutions. Partial and preliminary inputs should be permanently kept visible during the whole task cycle by the software.