An Investigation of Genetic Counselors' Discussions of Genetic Discrimination with Cancer Risk Patients

Twenty-five genetic counselors who see familial cancer risk patients were interviewed about their definitions of genetic discrimination, perceptions of patient risk for discrimination, frequency and type of discrimination experienced by their patients, sources of information about discrimination, and what they tell patients about genetic discrimination. There was variability in participant definitions and content of discussions of genetic discrimination. Although 82% regarded risk to be low to theoretical, 40% reported possible instances of genetic discrimination, including insurance companies requiring results to cover procedures, denial of life/health insurance, social discrimination, and employment discrimination. Ninety-six percent of the sample reported always or almost always discussing genetic discrimination, and one or more of the following: insurance discrimination risks, protective legislation, no known cases positively documenting discrimination, strategies to avoid discrimination, and uncertainty of protective measures. The majority use current literature and research as information sources. Practice, policy, and research implications are discussed.     

Uptake of BRCA1 Genetic Testing in Adult Sisters and Daughters of Known Mutation Carriers in Norway

This study was undertaken to examine transmission of information to first-degree relatives of BRCA1 mutation carriers and uptake of genetic testing. The intention was to consider revision of current legislation related to privacy if information on life-saving health care was not disseminated to at-risk family members. The Norwegian Radium Hospital provides clinical genetics services for families at high risk for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer. Together with major hospitals nationwide we provide medical surveillance. Nearly all expenses are covered by the National Health insurance. Because of the high number of families with founder mutations in BRCA1, we are in a unique position to gather information about these groups. Within a consecutive series, we identified 75 BRCA1 mutation carriers and registered information transmission and uptake of genetic testing 6 months or more after the index mutation carriers had been informed about their mutation status. These 75 BRCA1 mutation carriers had 172 living first-degree relatives, aged 18 years or older (84 females, 88 males). Forty-four out of 54 (81.5%) of females over 30 had opted for genetic testing. The testing rate among all relatives was 43%. At any age, 63% of the females underwent genetic testing compared with 24% of the males (p<0.05). The overwhelming majority of adult females at risk opted for genetic testing. Males with daughters more frequently than males without daughters asked for testing. The findings give neither reason to reconsider legislation on privacy, nor for us to consider more aggressive methods of contacting relatives.     

Salamanders (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Plethodon cinereus</Emphasis>) go for more: rudiments of number in an amphibian

Techniques traditionally used in developmental research with infants have been widely used with nonhuman primates in the investigation of comparative cognitive abilities. Recently, researchers have shown that human infants and monkeys select the larger of two numerosities in a spontaneous forced-choice discrimination task. Here we adopt the same method to assess in a series of experiments spontaneous choice of the larger of two numerosities in a species of amphibian, red-backed salamanders (Plethodon cinereus). The findings indicate that salamanders "go for more," just like human babies and monkeys. This rudimentary capacity is a type of numerical discrimination that is spontaneously present in this amphibian. Electronic Publication     

Nicotine vs. ethanol discrimination: Extinction and spontaneous recovery of responding

Studies regarding extinction and spontaneous recovery of the discriminative stimulus effects of drugs are limited. Eight rats were initially trained to discriminate nicotine (0.4 mg/kg) vs. ethanol (800 mg/kg). For four rats, itraperitaneal (IP) administrations of nicotine fifteen minutes prior to fifteen-minute training sessions served as a discriminative stimulus (S^D) for predicting food-reinforced lever pressing (VI-1 min). On other sessions ethanol functioned in predicting nonreinforcement (S^Δ). The stimulus roles of the drugs were counterbalanced for the remaining four rats. S^Δ and S^D sessions alternated quasi-randomly with two daily sessions at 1000 and 1400 hours. Discriminative control was not disrupted following ten extinction sessions under a non-drug/saline condition, but was disrupted following extinction sessions under the original training drugs. Instances of spontaneous recovery (SR) occurred throughout extinction under the drug condtions. There was no evidence for SR two weeks following extinction, but partial recovery four weeks following the final extinction phase. Contextual status (context renewal) had neither a restorative or disruptive impact on extiguished or discriminated responding, respectively. Theser results support and extend the limited number of other studies by demonstrating extinction and spontaneous recovery of responding discriminated bytwo distinct drugs. Some theoretical interpretations regarding history effects and training in the context of drug discrimination are entertained.     

Speech perception in rats: use of duration and rise time cues in labeling of affricate/fricative sounds

The voiceless affricate/fricative contrast has played an important role in developing auditory theories of speech perception. This type of theory draws some of its support from experimental data on animals. However, nothing is known about differential responding of affricate/fricative continua by animals. In the current study, the ability of hooded rats to "label" an affricate/fricative continuum was tested. Transfer (without retraining) to analogous nonspeech continua was also tested. The nonspeech continua were chosen so that if transfer occurred, it would indicate whether the animals had learned to use rise time or duration cues to differentiate affricates from fricatives. The data from 9 of 10 rats indicated that rats can discriminate between these cues and do so in a similar manner to human subjects. The data from 9 of 10 rats also demonstrated that the rise time of the stimulus was the basis of the discrimination; the remaining rat appeared to use duration.     

Effects of interval duration on temporal processing in schizophrenia

INTRODUCTION: Temporal processing has received scant attention in the literature pertaining to cognitive deficits in patients with schizophrenia. Previous research suggests that patients with schizophrenia exhibit temporal perception deficits on both auditory and visual stimuli. The current study investigated the effects of interval manipulation to (1) replicate the original findings with a larger sample and an increased number of trials (2) assess the degree to which both patients and controls can differentiate temporal changes in a range of experimental interstimulus intervals, and (3) explore whether different interstimulus interval durations pose different levels of difficulty for the patients with schizophrenia. METHODS: Participants were asked to decide whether temporal intervals were shorter or longer than standard intervals on a computer-based auditory temporal perception task. The standard interval remained the same duration throughout the various tasks. The interstimulus interval separating the standard and experimental intervals varied in the range of 500, 1000, or 3000 ms. Data are presented for a sample of 16 patients with schizophrenia and 15 controls. RESULTS: Data suggest that patients with schizophrenia exhibit deficits in differentiating interval durations across all paradigms compared to their control-group peers on a range of auditory tasks (p<.001). CONCLUSIONS: These results are consistent with a general temporal deficit in schizophrenia. However, the roles of medication and localization are also addressed.     

Heterosexist discrimination and relational sacrifice of same-sex couples

Drawing on the family stress process model and using data from 141 same-sex couples (N = 282 partners), we examined associations between heterosexist discrimination and relational sacrifices (i.e., willingness and behaviors). We also examined the moderating roles of both partners' internalized homophobia and state-level liberalism on same-sex marriage legalization. Actor-partner interdependence moderation models were conducted. Most of our findings supported hypotheses from the family stress process model. One individual's experiences of greater heterosexist discrimination were related to the partner's higher levels of sacrifice willingness and the individual's own higher frequency of sacrifice behaviors. Such associations emerged (a) among couples living in more liberal states that legalized same-sex marriage earlier, and (b) when the individual's partner reported lower levels of internalized homophobia. Yet the moderating role of an individual's internalized homophobia was the opposite of our hypothesis. When individuals reported high (versus low) internalized homophobia, individuals' experiences of more discriminative events were related to partners' higher levels of sacrifice willingness. Collectively, our study findings highlight that—when investigating how same-sex couples forge and maintain romantic bonds—researchers should consider their experiences in the social cultural context of heteronormativity, which includes the focus on discrimination, stigma, and affirmative laws and policies.     

How mask gap impacts discrimination and anxiety during COVID-19: A study on overseas Chinese during the first outbreak in 2020

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic brought unrelenting waves of xenophobia against people representing vulnerable populations, among them those identified as Asians or more specifically as Chinese. Although previous studies have found that some discriminatory actions against overseas Chinese were closely related to mask use during the pandemic, there is not much evidence that explicates what might be the social-cultural triggers or impact of self-other mask discrepancy. The current study aims to examine how a mask use gap impacts perceived discrimination and anxiety during the first outbreak of COVID-19, and how perceived discrimination mediates the mask gap–anxiety relationship. This was operationalized by developing a new “mask gap” variable to capture the incongruent mask use norms between Chines and others around them in the host country. Data were collected from a cross-sectional sample of Chinese (n = 745) residing in 21 countries from March to May 2020 during the first wave of the pandemic. Results showed the newly explicated “mask gap” variable was associated with a higher level of anxiety. In addition, perceived discrimination mediated the mask gap-anxiety relationship. These findings advance both theoretical and practical understandings of how incongruent social norms impact discrimination and mental health during health threat events like the COVID-19 pandemic. The results also suggest important implications for both societal responses and the mental health of sojourners or immigrants during pandemics.     

The Connection between Perceived Workplace Discrimination and Viewing Work as a Spiritual Calling

Research shows that perceived workplace discrimination shapes an individual's job satisfaction and intent to leave a job. This study considers whether these impacts may be attenuated if an individual views their work as a spiritual calling. Using data from a nationally representative survey (N = 9,907), our analysis shows that perceived work discrimination due to race, gender, and religion are all independently associated with less job satisfaction net of a variety of other measures. Viewing work as a spiritual calling is associated with greater job satisfaction, even when accounting for traditional measures of religiosity. The negative impact of perceived discrimination on job satisfaction is weaker among those who view work as a spiritual calling. These findings provide evidence of the mechanisms underlying job satisfaction and have implications for understanding how religion might help mitigate the negative consequences of perceived discrimination in the workplace, or allow discrimination to potentially go unaddressed.     

Moderators of sex- and race-based subgroup differences in assessment center ratings: A meta-analysis

This meta-analysis tested a series of moderators of sex- and race-based subgroup differences using assessment center (AC) field data. We found that sex-based subgroup differences favoring female assessees were smaller among studies that reported: combining AC scores with other tests to compute overall assessment ratings, lower mean correlations between rating dimensions, using more than one assessor to rate assessees in exercises, and providing assessor training. In contrast, we found larger sex-based subgroup differences favoring female assessees among studies that reported: lower proportions of females in assessee pools, conducting a job analysis to design the AC, and using multiple observations of AC dimensions across exercises. We also observed a polynomial effect showing that subgroup differences most strongly favored female assessees in jobs with the highest and lowest rates of female incumbents. We found race-based subgroup differences favoring White assessees were smaller on less cognitively loaded rating dimensions and for jobs with lower rates of Black incumbents. Studies reporting greater overall methodological rigor also showed smaller subgroup differences favoring White assessees. Regarding specific rigor features, studies reporting use of highly qualified assessors and integrating dimension ratings from separate exercises into overall dimension scores showed significantly lower differences favoring White assessees.