The Influence of Culture on Anxiety in Latino Youth: A Review

This article reviews the literature on how culture influences anxiety in Latino youth. First, a review of cross-cultural variations in prevalence and measurement is presented. Then, the article focuses on how culture impacts the meaning and expression of anxiety. Specifically, we discuss the meaning and expression of anxiety, the impact of culture on anxiety at a societal level and through its effect on family and cognitive processes, and the influence of immigration and acculturation on anxiety. Finally, we propose recommendations on how to advance the literature in this area building on existing knowledge.     

Advances in Latino Family Research: Cultural Adaptations of Evidence-Based Interventions

The stark contrast between frequent calls for research and practice that are applicable across a broad spectrum of cultural and ethnically diverse groups and the dearth of empirical knowledge about Latino families provided the impetus for this special issue on advances in Latino family research. A focus on empirically based practice frames the issue, focusing specifically on how concepts (expressed emotion, parenting style) can be used within interventions, how Latino parents perceive efforts to deliver evidence-based interventions, and how pilot projects that delivered culturally adapted interventions in three separate cities impacted family functioning. In all, the introduction highlights the complexities for researchers in meeting the needs of the field to ensure that effective interventions are applicable across cultural groups. Meeting the challenges is important to address the need of the growing Latino population. Advances in intervention research with ethnic minorities also stand to contribute to the advancement of intervention research broadly. This special issue provides examples of efforts that are underway to better understand what treatments work for Latino families, provided by whom, for what specific problems, and in which specific circumstances, paving the way to begin attempting to answer a challenge posed more than 40 years ago by Gordon Paul.     

高中生学校生活中的情感体验:基于日重现法的研究

采用日重现法对133名高中生学校生活中的情感体验进行实描研究,考察了高中生在学校生活中的活动、活动场所、互动对象及与之相应的各种情感体验的日波动模式。结果如下:(1)高中生在一天中的绝大多数活动、场所以及人际互动中均表现为积极情感的体验强度大于消极情感;(2)大部分积极情感以及疲劳的体验强度都表现为在晚睡前达到一天中的最高点,大部分消极情感体验都在该时段降至一天中的最低点;(3)全天都体验到较强烈的胜任感,中午的体验强度最大,早晨的体验强度最低。     

不同刺激强度训练后一日龄小鸡的记忆形成

一日龄小鸡,分别接受不同浓度的回避性刺激物邻氨基苯甲酸甲酯（ＭｅＡ）训练,间隔一定时间后测试记忆保持。主要结果为：５％和２０％ＭｅＡ训练,分别使动物记忆保持１５分钟和５０分钟左右,相当于记忆形成多阶段模型中的ＳＴＭ和ＩＴＭ阶段。４０％ＭｅＡ训练,记忆保持到训练后８－１０小时,相当于不依赖新糖蛋白合成的ＬＴＭ形成的早期阶段。只有６０％以上浓度的ＭｅＡ训练才使记忆保持至少２４小时。上述结果提示,利用弱化训练的方法,不仅可以将ＳＴＭ,ＩＴＭ和ＬＴＭ分离开,而且可把ＬＴＭ形成的早期阶段分离出来独立研究,增加了对ＬＴＭ新的理解,为进一步探讨记忆形成机制提供了一条新的途径。     

《易纬·稽览图》"一爻直一日"卦气术考

<易纬·稽览图>卷下载有一种"一爻直一日"的卦气占术,还少见学者讨论.本文对这一占术作了梳理,并对其特点、流传作了初步考察.与<稽览图>卷下"六日七分"卦气术不同,<稽览图>"一爻直一日"的卦气术,与焦赣"焦林直日"卦气说有密切的关系,二者可能同属于<连山><归藏>系统.此术至唐一直在流传.     

Time of day affects implicit memory for unattended stimuli

We investigated whether circadian arousal affects perceptual priming as a function of whether stimuli were attended or ignored during learning. We tested 160 participants on- and off-peak with regards to their circadian arousal. In the study phase, they were presented with two superimposed pictures in different colours. They had to name the pictures of one colour while ignoring the others. In the test phase, they were presented with the same and randomly intermixed new pictures. Each picture was presented in black colour in a fragment completion task. Priming was measured as the difference in fragmentation level at which the pictures from the study phase were named compared to the new pictures. Priming was stronger for attended than ignored pictures. Time of day affected priming only for ignored pictures, with stronger priming effects off-peak than on-peak. Thus, circadian arousal seems to favour the encoding of unattended materials specifically at off-peak.     

Gender as an Obstacle in HIV/AIDS Prevention: Considerations for the Development of HIV/AIDS Prevention Efforts for Male-to-Female Transgenders

SUMMARY

Social discourses regarding gender are responsible for molding people's cognitions, perceptions, behaviors, and interactions with others. Approaching and understanding gender socialization is an important strategy that must be included in the development of HIV/AIDS prevention intervention efforts targeting male-to-female (MTF) transgender people.

This paper represents an effort to identify the influence of gender construction among a group of MTF transgenders in Puerto Rico. Using combined methodology, authors examined results from a questionnaire and in-depth interviews with a convenience sample of MTF transgenders living in the San Juan metropolitan area.

Quantitative analysis demonstrated that this sample is composed of young, unemployed, and undereducated population. Many participated in the sex industry. Participants reported need for basic health and social services and alienation from social networks. Qualitative analysis confirmed their traditional social construction of the “feminine.” Their discourse underlines their need to reinforce their identity by the construction of a female self which undermines their possibilities for negotiating safer sex, as happens to most females in Latino societies.

Social vulnerability, institutional exclusion, and gender construction issues are obstacles for the HIV prevention efforts among these communities.     

To switch or not to switch: Inviting bilingual clients to switch languages in psychotherapy

In the present study, we used an audio-analog design to test whether exposing bilingual participants to a therapist who invited a bilingual client to switch languages in a psychotherapy session would have a positive effect on participants’ perceptions of the therapist. We also explored whether participants’ sense of belonging to their ethnic group and to the larger US culture would enhance or attenuate this effect. Sixty-three bilingual Latino/a university students listened to one of two recordings of a simulated psychotherapy session with a bilingual Latina therapist and client. In one recording, the therapist invited the client to switch from English to Spanish when the client had trouble expressing complicated feelings; in the other, the therapist did not invite the client to switch. When listening, participants were asked to imagine themselves in the role of client and to rate the credibility and multicultural competence of the therapist, and the emotional bond they would anticipate with her. Contrary to expectation, only participants who expressed a greater sense of belonging to US culture rated the therapist who invited the client to switch as being more multiculturally competent. We discuss how these findings contribute to the literature on language switching and bilingualism in psychotherapy.     

Organizational Cultural Competency: Shifting Programs for Latino Immigrants from a Client-Centered to a Community-Based Orientation

This paper discusses how the organizational cultural competency of social service agencies may be improved by shifting the philosophy of service delivery from a client-centered to a community-based orientation. This analysis is based on two years of fieldwork and interviews that were conducted as part of an action research project initially developed to increase the number of certified Spanish speaking Latino family childcare providers and knowledge about Latino immigrant families in the Midwest. In developing a culturally-specific certification program in Spanish, both the Latino participants and the bilingual program director challenged the agency to consider how the social context and social location of its participants required a more holistic community approach.