Expanding perspectives: A social inequities lens on intimate partner violence,reproductive justice,and infant mental health

Intimate partner violence (IPV) poses a threat to the attainment of reproductive justice. Women who experience IPV are limited in their ability to parent their children in a secure and nurturing environment, which can have negative effects on the mother and child immediately and long-term, potentially distressing reproductive well-being across generations. Societal inequities faced by women, particularly women of color, within education, economic, and legal systems are associated with risk factors for IPV. This article will use national- and state-level data with case examples and the lens of reproductive justice to consider the impact of and potential solutions to historical and institutional inequities related to IPV.     

Internet addiction,self-esteem and the validation of the Italian version of the Internet Related Experiences Questionnaire

IntroductionThe continued progression of the digital age raises the question of Internet and social media abuse among adolescents and of the need for more specific assessment instruments to measure the phenomenon.ObjectiveThe purpose of the current study was to explore the role of intrapersonal and interpersonal factors influencing Internet addiction, as well as to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Internet Related Experiences Questionnaire (IREQ-I) in relation to a sample of Italian adolescents.MethodTwo studies were designed. In study 1, a school-based sample of 838 Italian adolescents was recruited to test the psychometric properties of the IREQ-I by using a robust Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). In study 2, a total of 438 Italian adolescents were recruited to investigate the concurrent validity of the instrument.ResultsWe found that intrapersonal rather than interpersonal factors were associated with Internet abuse. The final version of the IREQ-I showed a good level of fit and the bi-factorial solution was consistent with the previous findings.ConclusionThe results of this study suggest that the IREQ-I is a valuable bifactorial instrument for measuring Internet abuse, including both intrapersonal and interpersonal factors as theoretically relevant constructs.     

气象因素如何影响消费行为?基于情境营销理论的气象营销机制

从个体情绪波动到社会经济兴衰, 越来越多的研究开始关注气象因素对人类行为的重要影响。本研究提出大数据时代下, 基于情境营销理论的气象营销新概念。通过识别动态气象环境中对消费者心理和行为有影响的气象因素, 提出和验证“气象因素-消费心理-消费行为”这一逻辑链条的影响机制。研究主要围绕情境营销的气象因素影响、气象因素对消费心理和行为的影响机制、气象因素影响消费者行为机制下的营销策略三个主要问题展开讨论。预期研究成果将进一步延伸和丰富现有情境营销理论, 同时对环境消费心理学也是有益的补充。     

Socioeconomic and sociocultural determinants of psychological distress and quality of life among patients with psoriasis in a selected multi-ethnic Malaysian population

Patients with psoriasis may have increased risk of psychological comorbidities. This cross-sectional study aimed at determining associations between sociocultural and socioeconomic factors with the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS) scores and the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) scores. Adult patients with psoriasis were recruited from a Dermatology outpatient clinic via convenience sampling. Interviews were conducted regarding socio-demographic factors and willing subjects were requested to complete the DASS and DLQI questionnaires. The Pearson χ² test, Fisher’s exact test and multivariate logistic regression were used for statistical analysis to determine independent predictors of depression, anxiety, stress and severe impairment of quality of life. Unadjusted analysis revealed that depression was associated with Indian ethnicity (p = .041) and severe impairment of quality of life was associated with Indian ethnicity (p = .032), higher education (p = .013), higher income (p = .042), and employment status (p = .014). Multivariate analysis revealed that Indian ethnicity was a predictor of depression (p = .024). For stress, tertiary level of education (p = .020) was an independent risk factor while a higher monthly income was a protective factor (p = .042). The ethnic Indians and Malays were significantly more likely than the ethnic Chinese to suffer reduced quality of life (p = .001 and p = .006 respectively) and subjects with tertiary education were more likely to have severe impairment of quality of life (p = .002). Our study was unique in determining sociocultural influences on psychological complications of psoriasis in a South East Asian population. This has provided invaluable insight into factors predictive of adverse effects of psoriasis on psychological distress and quality of life in our patient population. Future studies should devise interventions to specifically target at risk groups in the development of strategies to reduce morbidity associated with psoriasis.     

Decision-making in rectal and colorectal cancer: systematic review and qualitative analysis of surgeons’ preferences

Surgeons are experiencing difficulties implementing recommendations not only owing to incomplete, confusing or conflicting information but also to the increasing involvement of patients in decisions relating to their health. This study sought to establish which common factors including heuristic factors guide surgeons’ decision-making in colon and rectal cancers. We conducted a systematic literature review of surgeons’ decision-making factors related to colon and rectal cancer treatment. Eleven of 349 identified publications were eligible for data analyses. Using the IRaMuTeQ (Interface of R for the Multidimensional Analyses of Texts and Questionnaire), we carried out a qualitative analysis of the significant factors collected in the studies reviewed. Several validation procedures were applied to control the robustness of the findings. Five categories of factors (i.e. patient, surgeon, treatment, tumor and organizational cues) were found to influence surgeons’ decision-making. Specifically, all decision criteria including biomedical (e.g. tumor information) and heuristic (e.g. surgeons’ dispositional factors) criteria converged towards the factor ‘age of patient’ in the similarity analysis. In the light of the results, we propose an explanatory model showing the impact of heuristic criteria on medical issues (i.e. diagnosis, prognosis, treatment features, etc.) and thus on decision-making. Finally, the psychosocial complexity involved in decision-making is discussed and a medico-psycho-social grid for use in multidisciplinary meetings is proposed.     

Association of intimate partner violence with sociodemographic factors in married women: a population-based study in Iran

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a neglected public health issue in Iran. This study was conducted among married women residing in urban Rasht (northern Iran), to estimate the prevalence and frequency of different forms of IPV from husband and their associations with socio-demographic factors. We carried out a population-based cross-sectional survey with cluster sampling design from February to October 2015. The samples consisted of married women aged ≥ 18 years with total household in Rasht city (north Iran) as the sample frame. We administered the Revised Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS-2) to estimate prevalence of past-year IPV. Of 2091 women, 57.1% had suffered psychological aggression, 27.6% physical abuse, 26.6% sexual abuse, and 6.9% injury. A significant association with IPV was found for women with, age ≤ 40 years, unemployed, low education, husband’s addiction and rented-householders. Women who experienced physical abuse, had less age at marriage than women without violence. Also women with sexual coercion had less length of marriage than other non-abused women. On logistic regression, the strongest predictor of psychological, physical and sexual abuse was unemployment of spouse, whereas for injury it was low educational level (<12 years) of women. Our findings suggest that risk of IPV is high in our population. There is an obvious need of preventive and treatment activities. Our findings point at that various forms of abuse are different from each other in terms of differing characteristics of the perpetrators and it might be that also different strategies are needed to reduce and prevent these violence. Confirmation by further research is needed.     

Screening out accident-prone Iranian drivers: Are their at-fault accidents related to driving behavior?

To provide a scientific background in road safety domain a better understanding of human risk factor is crucial. The aims of the present study were the following: (1) developing an accident prediction model for estimating the at-fault accidents of drivers (2) controlling for the regression-to-the-mean and screening out the accident-prone drivers (3) identification of significant behavioral predictors in at-fault accident occurrences and delving into the relationship between the aberrant driving behaviors and at-fault accidents of those identified as accident-prone. A questionnaire survey compiling various measures of personality type, aberrant driving behavior, demographic and accident history information of 1762 Iranian drivers was conducted in which 1375 male and 387 female participants were of the average age of 35.6 (S.D. = 11.987). To analyze the obtained data, the generalized linear modeling (GLM) approach was taken resulting in four models with various independent variables. The results indicated that age, gender, education level, years of active driving, and especially exposure had an effect on drivers’ at-fault accidents while there was no discernible effect from income level, personality type and area of residence. In the screening procedure, 715 drivers were identified as accident-prone. Behavioral comparison analyses indicated that the lapses, errors, ordinary and aggressive violations are different for the accident-prone drivers. A comparison between the accident-prone and non-accident-prone drivers revealed that the ordinary violations have considerably higher effect than the others on at-fault accidents. Implications of the results are discussed with regard to insurance policies and education interventions.     

Episodic memory function is affected by lifestyle factors: a 14-year follow-up study in an elderly population

Understanding the relationship between memory function and lifestyle offers great opportunities for promoting beneficial lifestyle choices to foster healthy cognitive aging and for the development of intervention programs for older adults. We studied a cohort of older adults (age 65 and older) enrolled in the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam, an ongoing prospective population-based research project. A total of 1,966 men and women participated in an episodic memory test every 3 years over a period of 14 years. Lifestyle habits were repeatedly assessed using self-report measures. Physical activity, light-to-moderate alcohol consumption, difficulties staying asleep, and social engagement were associated with better memory function over the course of 14 years. In contrast, smoking and long sleep duration were associated with worse memory function. These findings suggest that certain lifestyle factors can have long-term protective or harmful effects on memory function in aging individuals.     

Daily life with early orphanhood from HIV/AIDS: An exploratory study

This study explored the everyday lived life by South African early adolescents orphaned by HIV/AIDS. Informants were ten early adolescents (age range 12 to 14 years; females?=?6; males?=?4) from a low socioeconomic status neighbourhood of Johannesburg. The adolescents completed autobiographical essays and in-depth individual interviews on their quality of life in the school, home, and community. Thematic analysis of the data revealed the early adolescents, orphaned due to HIV/AIDS, to experience extreme sadness, anxiety, and fear. Their sense of emotional distress was compounded by living in material and relational poverty, with frequent exposure to bullying at school, and crime in their neighbourhood. Integrated psycho-social interventions addressing both material and relational poverty might enhance the physical and psycho-social well-being of adolescents with orphanhood from HIV/AIDS.