Risk-taking behavior and adolescent suicide attempts

This study examined the overall rates of common risk-taking behaviors in a sample of 109 adolescents, aged 13 to 18 years, who made a suicide attempt, compared to a matched control sample of 218 adolescents in the community. No differences in either the total number of risk-taking behavior or the frequency of individual risk-taking behaviors were found. These findings suggest that suicide attempts in adolescents are not a function of risk-taking behavior.     

Classical Delay Eyeblink Conditioning in in 4- and 5-Month-Old Human Infants

Abstract-Simple delay classical eyeblink conditioning, using a tone conditioned stimulus (CS) and airpuff unconditioned stimulus (US), was studied in cross-sectional samples of 4- and 5-month-old healthy, full-term infants. Infants received two identical training sessions, 1 week apart. At both ages, infants experiencing paired tones and air-puffs demonstrated successful conditioning over two sessions, relative to control subjects who had unpaired training. Conditioning was not evident, however, during the first session. Two additional groups of 5-month-olds received varied experiences during Session 1, either unpaired presentations of the CS and US or no stimulus exposure, fol-lowed by paired conditioning during Session 2. Results from these groups suggest that the higher level of conditioning observed following two sessions of paired conditioning was not the result of familiarity with the testing environment or the stimuli involved but, rather, the result of retention of associative learning not expressed during the first conditioning session.     

Reactions to receiving expected and unexpected help from a person who violates or does not violate a norm

Different factors may affect reciprocity and attraction to an aid-giver. Sixty white South African high school students participated in a “record contest”. Hints provided by the quizmaster enabled them to win a prize. His help was expected or unexpected and, in providing this help, the quizmaster either did or did not violate a specific norm against doing so. It was predicted that recipients of unexpected help would display more reciprocity than recipients of expected help, but that the aid-giver would be derogated only when he behaved in both an unexpected and counternormative way and that, in general, attraction and reciprocity would be unrelated. These hypotheses were supported. They suggest that reciprocity is normally not mediated by attraction and that neither expectancy violation nor counternormative behavior will be itself produce derogation of an aid-giver. They further suggest recipients of unexpected help probably feel more obliged to repay an aid-giver than do recipients of expected help.     

Effects of writing about emotions versus goals on psychological and physical health among third-year medical students

A randomized, controlled trial compared writing about emotional topics (EMO) to writing about goals as the "best possible self" (BPS; after King, 2001) and evaluated emotional approach coping, i.e., efforts to cope through processing and expressing emotion, as a moderator of writing effects on psychological and physical health in 64 third-year medical students. In participants with higher baseline hostility, the EMO condition was associated with less hostility at 3 months compared to the BPS and control conditions. Emotional processing (EP) and emotional expression (EE) moderated the effect of experimental condition on depressive symptoms at 3 months; high EP/EE participants reported fewer depressive symptoms in the EMO condition, whereas low EP/EE individuals reported fewer depressive symptoms in the BPS condition compared to the EMO and control conditions. A moderating effect of EP on physical health was also identified, such that low EP individuals who wrote about goals (BPS) had fewer health care visits at 3 months compared to low EP participants in the EMO and control conditions.     

Nearly everything we wish our non-Jewish supervisors had known about us as Jewish supervisees

The authors observe that Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) developed out of a Protestant setting. Much of its thinking and writing therefore is heavily laden with Christian orientation and terminology. Sharing a general theological framework, most Christians read these words and think of the same- or similar-ideas. However, Jews neither start with nor share the same theological beliefs. Jewish students perpetually ask themselves, "If the premise isn't true for me, can the conclusion still contain meaning?" Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Often, the resulting conflict leaves Jewish students feeling alienated from their CPE supervisors and peers. Few CPE supervisors realize that although everyone is reading the same material there are (at least) two "nations" present that are processing it differently. This article, by two National Association of Jewish Chaplains (NAJC) Board-Certified Rabbis, presents twelve key points about Judaism and Jewish thought to help non-Jewish CPE supervisors and chaplains in their work with Jewish supervisees and patients (residents, et al.).     

Self-concept differentiation across the adult life span.

This study used 2 measures to examine 158 adults' (80 men, 78 women; ages 20 to 88 years) self-concept differentiation (SCD) across 5 role-specific self-representations. Findings revealed that the 2 measures did not assess SCD in similar ways and that they showed different associations with age. Specifically, the 1st measure was not significantly related to age, whereas the 2nd measure showed a curvilinear, U-shaped association with age. The 2nd SCD index also showed significant associations with several measures of emotional adjustment and 6 dimensions of psychological well-being. Additional analyses showed that age moderated the associations between SCD and positive and negative psychological well-being. A high level of SCD was associated with lower positive and higher negative psychological well-being for both young and older adults. However, this effect was significantly more pronounced in older adults.     

Rated helpfulness and partner-reported smoking cessation support across the pregnancy-postpartum continuum.

Support interventions have not changed smoking cessation rates significantly. The pregnancy-postpartum continuum presents a unique opportunity to examine patterns of support. Expectant couples (N = 477) were surveyed twice during pregnancy and 3 times postpartum. Partners reported positive and negative smoking-specific support; women reported the helpfulness of partner support. Linear trends suggest that women viewed support as more helpful during pregnancy than during postpartum. Partners' provision of positive support across the continuum depended on their smoking; provision of negative support depended on women's smoking. Partners who smoked provided lower levels of both positive and negative support, especially postpartum. Women who smoked throughout the pregnancy perceived their partner's negative support as helpful. Implications are that partners who smoke may need help staying engaged in the support process. Partners may provide negative support in response to women's smoking cues. Women who are struggling with cessation may not view negative support as negative.     

Stress and reproduction: introduction to the special section.

This special section on stress and reproduction is devoted to an emerging frontier in interdisciplinary research that merits the attention of health psychologists. The majority of the studies concern the role of stress and emotion on birth outcomes such as low birth weight, fetal growth and preterm delivery, or mechanisms underlying these findings. The implications of this research extend from maternal and infant health to life-span development and adult health and mortality.