Religiosity and treatment response to antidepressant medication: A prospective multi-site clinical trial

The present study examined the relationship between religiosity/spirituality and treatment response to antidepressant medication (citalopram). One-hundred and forty-eight Caucasian and African-American adults with uncomplicated major depression were treated with citalopram (20-60mg/day) over an 8-week period in a prospective multi-site clinical trial. Treatment response was assessed weekly with the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression. Religiosity (i.e., religious behaviours) and spirituality (i.e., spiritual well-being) were assessed at Week 3. No significant associations between spirituality and treatment response were found; however, there was a strong curvilinear relationship between religiosity and treatment response. Compared to lower or higher levels of religiosity, a moderate level of religiosity was significantly associated with a higher likelihood of remission and greater reduction in severity of depression. This association was independent of social support, ethnicity, gender, education, and baseline depression severity. A moderate amount of religiosity appears to be independently associated with an enhanced treatment response to citalopram.     

The bit in the middle and why it’s important: a computational analysis of the linguistic features of body paragraphs

This study examines the relationship between the linguistic characteristics of body paragraphs of student essays and the total number of paragraphs in the essays. Results indicate a significant relationship between the total number of paragraphs and a variety of linguistic characteristics known to affect student essay scores. These linguistic characteristics (e.g., semantic overlap, syntactic complexity) contribute to two underlying factors (i.e., textual cohesion and difficulty) that are used as dependent variables in mixed-effect models. Results suggest that student essays with 5-8 paragraphs tend to be more linguistically consistent than student essays with 3, 4, and 9 paragraphs. Essays with totals of 5-8 paragraphs, considered by many educators to contain an optimal number of paragraphs, may include functionally and structurally similar paragraphs. These findings could aid writing researchers and educators in obtaining a clearer view of the relationship between the total number of paragraphs comprising an essay and the linguistic characteristics that affect essay evaluation. Consequently, writing interventions may become better equipped to pinpoint student difficulties and facilitate student writing skills by providing more detailed and informed feedback.     

What is the Grounding Problem?

A philosophical standard in the debates concerning material constitution is the case of a statue and a lump of clay, Lumpl and Goliath respectively. According to the story, Lumpl and Goliath are coincident throughout their respective careers. Monists hold that they are identical; pluralists that they are distinct. This paper is concerned with a particular objection to pluralism, the Grounding Problem. The objection is roughly that the pluralist faces a legitimate explanatory demand to explain various differences she alleges between Lumpl and Goliath, but that the pluralist’s theory lacks the resources to give any such explanation. In this paper, I explore the question of whether there really is any problem of this sort. I argue (i) that explanatory demands that are clearly legitimate are easy for the pluralist to meet; (ii) that even in cases of explanatory demands whose legitimacy is questionable the pluralist has some overlooked resources; and (iii) there is some reason for optimism about the pluralist’s prospects for meeting every legitimate explanatory demand. In short, no clearly adequate statement of a Grounding Problem is extant, and there is some reason to believe that the pluralist can overcome any Grounding Problem that we haven’t thought of yet.     

Evidence-based mental health interventions for traumatized youth: a statewide dissemination project

Psychological trauma in childhood has been shown to increase a variety of psychological disturbances and psychiatric disorders. Although evidence-based treatments for children who have been traumatized exist, they are infrequently used by clinicians treating children. The present paper describes the creation of the Treatment Collaborative for Traumatized Youth (TCTY) which is a statewide partnership in North Dakota designed to disseminate efficacious treatments for traumatized children and monitor outcomes across a broad, rural, geographic expanse. The paper reviews the dissemination strategy developed by the TCTY, reports outcomes regarding both clinicians and child participants, and highlights problems identified in the project and solutions that were generated.     

Neurobiological and memory models of risky decision making in adolescents versus young adults

Predictions of fuzzy-trace theory and neurobiological approaches are examined regarding risk taking in a classic decision-making task--the framing task--as well as in the context of real-life risk taking. We report the 1st study of framing effects in adolescents versus adults, varying risk and reward, and relate choices to individual differences, sexual behavior, and behavioral intentions. As predicted by fuzzy-trace theory, adolescents modulated risk taking according to risk and reward. Adults showed standard framing, reflecting greater emphasis on gist-based (qualitative) reasoning, but adolescents displayed reverse framing when potential gains for risk taking were high, reflecting greater emphasis on verbatim-based (quantitative) reasoning. Reverse framing signals a different way of thinking compared with standard framing (reverse framing also differs from simply choosing the risky option). Measures of verbatim- and gist-based reasoning about risk, sensation seeking, behavioral activation, and inhibition were used to extract dimensions of risk proneness: Sensation seeking increased and then decreased, whereas inhibition increased from early adolescence to young adulthood, predicted by neurobiological theories. Two additional dimensions, verbatim- and gist-based reasoning about risk, loaded separately and predicted unique variance in risk taking. Importantly, framing responses predicted real-life risk taking. Reasoning was the most consistent predictor of real-life risk taking: (a) Intentions to have sex, sexual behavior, and number of partners decreased when gist-based reasoning was triggered by retrieval cues in questions about perceived risk, whereas (b) intentions to have sex and number of partners increased when verbatim-based reasoning was triggered by different retrieval cues in questions about perceived risk.     

The construction of self-injury in the clinical literature: a sociological exploration

This article presents a sociologically informed critique of a range of academic literatures relating to self-injury. It is noted how a lack of consensus on definitional issues, together with the inaccurate portrayal of the "typical self-injurer" in the clinical literature, has impeded the development of a sound understanding of self-injury. Some of the more problematic explanations for self-injury are explored. The individualistic focus of existing research is found to be inadequate, since it fails to account for the social context in which self-injury occurs. Social scientific approaches critically examine psychiatric and psychological constructions of self-injury, explore wider social and cultural meanings of the behavior, and examine its distribution across different social groups. The inclusion of social scientific perspectives into current debates will greatly improve understanding of self-injury.     

Promoting Self‐Esteem in Adolescents: The Influence of Wellness Factors

To assess the extent to which holistic wellness factors are predictive of self‐esteem, the authors administered the Coopersmith Self‐Esteem Inventories, School Form (Coopersmith, 2002), and the Five Factor Wellness Inventory (Myers & Sweeney, 2005a) to 225 adolescents ages 15 to 17 years. Wellness factors (Coping Self, Social Self, and Creative Self) explained a significant portion of the variance in components of self‐esteem (General Self‐Esteem, Home‐Parents Self‐Esteem, and School‐Academic Self‐Esteem). Implications for counselors and for further research are considered.     

Differences in Career and Life Planning Between African American and Caucasian Undergraduate Women

Women, especially African American women, have traditionally been in low‐paying careers. This exploratory study examined how career aspirations are affected by future career and family plans. Results revealed that African American undergraduate women had higher career aspirations than Caucasian undergraduate women and also planned for multiple roles in the future. Las mujeres, sobre todo las mujeres Afroamericanas, han desarrollado tradicionalmente sus carreras en trabajos de menor remuneración. Este estudio exploratorio examinó cómo las aspiraciones de carrera son afectadas por los planes futuros de carrera y familia. Los resultados revelaron que las estudiantes universitarias Afroamericanas tenían aspiraciones de carrera más elevadas que las estudiantes Caucásicas, y también planeaban tener múltiples roles en el futuro.     

Intimate partner cohesion and military unit cohesion: Different types of interpersonal relationships each uniquely predict soldier well-being

Although research on military populations has found that measures of personal well-being are correlated with both intimate partner cohesion and military unit cohesion, it is not clear how these correlations should be interpreted. Based on Relationship Regulation Theory, it was expected that each type of interpersonal relationship would have independent effects, that each would uniquely predict outcomes, and that effects would remain significant after controlling for person-level traits and experiences, such as trait resilience and exposure to combat. A sample of 273 active-duty military personnel completed self-report measures of cohesion in two types of interpersonal relationships (intimate relationships and military unit relationships), two control variables (trait resilience and combat exposure), and three outcome variables (well-being, negative emotionality, and trauma-related stress). Results indicated that cohesion in the two types of relationships were minimally related to each other, but both correlated with outcome variables. Effects for each type of interpersonal relationship remained significant after controlling for the other type and controlling for trait resilience and combat exposure. The results suggest that the effects of interpersonal cohesion are best understood as reflecting experiences in specific types of relationships rather than general characteristics of people in those relationships.