Repeat HIV Testing and HIV Transmission Risk Behaviors Among Sexually Transmitted Infection Clinic Patients

HIV testing and counseling expends considerable HIV prevention resources and offers great opportunities for HIV risk reduction. Individuals who are at risk for HIV and have not been HIV tested are the focus of current targeted testing campaigns and yet persons who are repeatedly tested for HIV often continue engaging in high-risk practices. This study examined HIV testing, risk behaviors, and other medical diagnostic testing practices of men (N = 231) and women (N = 86) attending an inner-city sexually transmitted infections (STI) clinic. Results showed that 75 (23%) participants had not yet been tested for HIV, 45 (14%) had been tested once, and 197 (63%) had been tested two or more times. Patients that had not been tested and those who were repeatedly tested were similar in their risk behaviors; both demonstrated significantly greater risks for HIV than persons tested just once, although repeat testers were more likely to have had a past STI. HIV testing history was minimally associated with other medical testing and health protective practices, such as testicular self-examination, mammography, and having had PAP tests. Results support targeting high-risk untested persons for HIV testing and suggest an urgent need for interventions to reduce risk behaviors among STI clinic patients who repeatedly test for HIV.     

Rigidity in social and emotional memory in the R6/2 mouse model of Huntington's disease

Four experiments were conducted to examine social and emotional memory in the R6/2 transgenic mouse model of Huntington’s disease. First, R6/2 mice were tested in a social transmission of food preference task where they had to acquire a preference for a flavoured food (acquisition) and subsequently to learn a preference for a different flavour (shifted reinforcement). R6/2 mice performed well in the acquisition trial. However, they were impaired in the shifted reinforcement trial and perseverated on the first preference learned. Second, mice were trained in an inhibitory avoidance paradigm, with either one or two footshocks delivered during the training. WT mice given one footshock showed retention levels lower than those of mice trained with two footshocks. By contrast, there was no difference in retention levels of R6/2 mice given either one or two footshocks. Third, mice were tested in an active avoidance task that paired a mild footshock with a warning light. R6/2 mice had a strong age-dependent deficit in this task. Finally, mice were tested in a conditioned taste aversion task that paired a saccharine solution with a nausea-inducing agent (LiCl). R6/2 mice displayed normal aversion, however this was not extinguished following repeated exposure to saccharine solution alone. Our data show that while R6/2 mice have functional hippocampus-based memory, they have deficits in striatum-based memory skills. Further, social and emotional memories appear to be encoded in a rigid way that is not influenced by subsequent learning or by arousal levels.     

Social presence in online discussion groups: testing three conceptions and their relations to perceived learning

The correlation between three conceptions of social presence (seen as 1. a subjective quality of a medium that determines the quality of the communication and perception of others, 2. self-projection onto the group, and 3. identification with the group) and different aspects of perceived learning in online discussion groups were tested. Six hundreds and fifty nine students completed a web-based questionnaire that was distributed via 50 course Websites. Self projection, perception of others and identification with the group correlated positively with each other. They also correlated positively with most aspects of perceived learning. The subjective quality of the medium did not correlate with these conceptions and also did not correlate with any aspects of perceived learning. Thus, social presence may afford learning by setting a convenient climate. Alternatively, it may contribute only to the socioemotional source of perceived learning while leaving cognitive source unaffected.

Redemptive Experience in Relational Family Therapy: A Christian Perspective

We all long for relationships with others, because only in connecting with others can we develop our intrapsychic structure and become functional adults. We are psychologically predisposed to have a constant connection with others and are driven toward relationships with others. Our deepest yearnings are therefore devoted to building solid dialogue as the means of becoming fully human. We, therefore, consciously or unconsciously, long for a relationship where we can experience happiness, satisfaction and, above all, redemption or salvation from our dreads, miseries and unhappiness. In this article we presuppose that a therapeutic relationship, demonstrated in a psychoanalytic setting, namely in relational family therapy, can contain redemptive dimensions in which the inextinguishable longing for salvation is always present.

Well-being and Spirituality from a Korean Perspective: Based on the Study of Culture and Subjective Well-being

Criteria for well-being and spirituality are culturally bound. In this article, therefore, the notions of well-being and spirituality were reconsidered from a Korean perspective. Two major conceptual approaches that pertain to “subjective well-being” research in social psychology provide the methodological framework for this study. While “bottom-up” approaches focus on how external events and situations influence happiness, “top-down” approaches center on diverse variables within an individual and his or her culture. Noting the cultural differences between American and Korean self-construals (i.e., independence vs. interdependence), the author argues that Koreans need to construct “top-down” approaches to both well-being and spirituality. Reviewing Robert Emmon’s concept of “spiritual intelligence,” the author also suggests an integrative model for spirituality and well-being in Korea.     

On Similarity Coefficients for 2×2 Tables and Correction for Chance

This paper studies correction for chance in coefficients that are linear functions of the observed proportion of agreement. The paper unifies and extends various results on correction for chance in the literature. A specific class of coefficients is used to illustrate the results derived in this paper. Coefficients in this class, e.g. the simple matching coefficient and the Dice/Sørenson coefficient, become equivalent after correction for chance, irrespective of what expectation is used. The coefficients become either Cohen’s kappa, Scott’s pi, Mak’s rho, Goodman and Kruskal’s lambda, or Hamann’s eta, depending on what expectation is considered appropriate. Both a multicategorical generalization and a multivariate generalization are discussed.     

艾滋病人心理问题的探讨及其应对策略

我国艾滋病患者持续上升。艾滋病不仅损害了人们的躯体健康,也同时损害了人们的心理健康,引发心理危机。观察300例患者发现：抑郁症41．3％、焦虑症31．4％、报复心理20．0％、麻木8．3％。艾滋病的防治不仅仅是治疗肌体病痛的问题,还应该治疗患者的心理问题。因此运用系统论对艾滋病人心理问题中的相关问题进行探索和剖析,动员患者及全社会行动起来,才能达到对艾滋病的有效控制。     

大学生的自立人格与现实问题解决

为了探讨大学生的自立人格能否影响其现实问题解决的质量,对个人/人际高低分组的共30名大学生进行了现实问题解决访谈,结果发现:个人/人际自立高分组被试在访谈中解决个人/人际问题的质量显著高于低分组。为了探索自立人格与现实问题解决能力的关系,使用《青少年学生自立人格量表》和《大学生日常问题解决能力调查问卷》对101名有效被试进行了调查,结果发现:自立人格的多个维度都与日常问题解决能力的维度有显著相关,自立人格的多个相关维度是日常问题解决相关能力的有效预测变量。两个研究的结果支持了研究假设:自立人格利于个体对现实生活问题的解决;自立人格包含或涉及个体解决现实问题的能力因素。此外,自立人格影响现实生活问题解决的具体特点和机制还值得进一步研究。     

心理韧性儿童的社会能力自我觉知

旨在考察心理韧性儿童与缺乏心理韧性儿童相比社会能力自我觉知特点, 以探究社会能力自我觉知的心理韧性发展意蕴。利用量表法和内隐联结测验(IAT), 对经由汇聚操作法筛选出的99名心理韧性儿童和176名缺乏心理韧性儿童, 分别测量社会能力外显自我觉知与内隐自我觉知, 并从2个信息源多角度测量其实际社会能力。结果发现：心理韧性儿童比缺乏心理韧性儿童有更高水平的社会能力外显自我觉知, 社会能力自我觉知与心理社会发展功能总体上存在极其显著的正向关联; 心理韧性组儿童自我觉知的社会能力低于其实际社会能力但两者显著正相关, 缺乏心理韧性组儿童自我觉知的社会能力接近于其实际社会能力但两者不存在显著相关, 两组儿童自我觉知的社会能力与实际社会能力之差的差异极其显著; 心理韧性儿童在内隐社会能力自我觉知测验不相容任务与相容任务上反应时之差显著大于缺乏心理韧性儿童。这提示, 外显上谨慎一致的高水平社会能力自我觉知和内隐上更倾向于认为自己有能力或为心理韧性发展的主体性机制原因之一。