Aspects of Social Support Associated with Adaptation in Middle-Class,Single-Mother Families

Abstract

This study’s research question is: What aspects of social support are associated with adaptation in single-mother families? In a mixed-methods design, 47 participants were recruited through snowball sampling in Cape Town, South Africa. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and questionnaires were completed. Qualitative analysis indicated two main sources, paid and unpaid support. The quantitative analysis confirmed the following adaptation resources: harnessing family and friend support; having friends as a support; socializing with friends; receiving emotional support, practical help, and advice from friends. Significant differences were found between the family and friends groups for socializing and obtaining financial aid as a support.     

Eating styles in the morbidly obese: Restraint eating,but not emotional and external eating,predicts dietary behaviour

Objectives : The research explored (1) the relationships between self-reported eating style (restraint, emotional and external eating) and dietary intake and (2) emotional eater status as a moderator of food intake when emotional, in a morbidly obese population.

Design : A sample of 57 obese participants (BMI: M?=?51.84, SD?=?8.66) completed a five-day food diary together with a reflective diary, which assessed eating style and positive and negative affect daily.

Main outcome measures : A dietician-scored food pyramid analysis of intake.

Results : Restraint eating was the only predictor (negative) of overall food intake and the variable most strongly associated with the consumption of top-shelf foods. Emotional and external eating were unrelated to food intake. Emotional eater status did not moderate food intake in response to positive and negative mood states.

Conclusion : The findings indicated largely analogous relationships between eating style and dietary intake in this obese sample compared with previous results from healthy populations. The lack of predictive validity for emotional eating scales (when emotional) raises questions over people’s ability to adequately assess their eating style and consequently, the overall validity of emotional eater scales.     

Temperature dependence of the plastic flow behavior of tantalum

Nanoindention has been used to study the plastic flow behavior of bcc Ta(001) in the temperature range 25–200°C. Most notably, it is found that the shape of the load–displacement curves changes with increasing temperature. Only one large discontinuity marking the onset of plasticity is observed in room-temperature experiments, whereas multiple pop-ins separated by elastic reloading segments were observed at 200°C. Detailed analysis of the load–displacement curves indicates that the lattice resistance decreases with increasing temperature, consistent with the mobilization of screw dislocations by thermal activation. Contributions from the oxide layer and/or thermal drift can be excluded.     

The lived experiences of single mothers in Swaziland of their son's aggressive behaviour

The study explored and described the lived experiences of single mothers and described guidelines for psychiatric nurses to facilitate the mental health of single mothers subjected to aggression by their adolescent sons. Participants were a purposive sample of 8 (single mothers, aged between 40 and 50 years, 7 mothers were employed and 3 were professionally trained, 4 mothers were domestic workers and 1 earned living by selling vegetables). The mothers attended the outpatient department at the National Psychiatric Hospital in Swaziland because of being exposed to aggression by their adolescent sons and had adolescent sons living with them 6 months prior to as well as during the study. Data were collected using individual in-depth phenomenological interviews, direct observation and field notes. Analyses used thematic coding. Results reflected that single mothers experienced their adolescent sons as disrespectful and violent, they had negative experiences about their adolescent sons which resulted in anxiety related symptoms, they had negative experiences of self and experienced poor relationships with their neighbours. Guidelines concerning intra- and interpersonal challenges were formulated for the psychiatric nurse to facilitate the mental health of these mothers.     

Family structure and community connectedness: Their association with teenage pregnancy in South Africa

This study aimed to examine the relationships between family structure and community connectedness on the one hand, as well as risk for teenage pregnancy on the other. Data were from the South African General Household Surveys 2011, 2012, 2013; N = 279 042, female teenagers = 9.9%, age range 10 to 19; black teenagers = 81%. We applied multilevel binary logistic regression to predict risk for teenage pregnancy by family structure and community affinity variables. Findings suggest teenage female teenagers from single-headed households and with higher numbers of male relatives are at elevated risk for teenage pregnancy. Similarly, female teenagers from families with parental divorce were at higher risk for pregnancy as were those from communities with lower coherence.     

The structure of equivalence classes

THE STRUCTURE OF EQUIVALENCE CLASSES CAN BE COMPLETELY DESCRIBED BY FOUR PARAMETERS: class size, number of nodes, the distribution of "singles" among nodes, and directionality of training. Class size refers to the number of stimuli in a class. Nodes are stimuli linked by training to at least two other stimuli. Singles are stimuli linked by training to only one other stimulus. The distribution of singles refers to the number of singles linked by training to each node. Directionality of training refers to the use of stimuli as samples and as comparison stimuli in training. These four parameters define the different ways in which the stimuli in a class can be organized, and thus provide a basis for systematically characterizing the properties of stimuli in a given equivalence class. The four parameters can also be used to account for the development of individual differences that are commonly characterized in terms of "understanding" and connotative meaning.Methods are described for generating all possible combinations of parameter values, and a formula is introduced which specifies all of the parameter values for an equivalence class. Its utility for interrelating experimental procedures is demonstrated by analyzing a number of representative experiments that have addressed equivalence-class formation.     

Effects upon rats' responses on a running wheel of single alternation of large and small rewards and external cues

Thirty-two rats were trained to run on a running wheel for one or six pellets of food, in either single alternation (SA) or quasi-random sequences of reward magnitude and with external cues either informing or not informing the rats of the reward magnitude. Reward-magnitude discrimination was clearly shown when the informative cues were given, but without such cues the SA patterning of responding appeared only late in training. The reward-magnitude discrimination developed most quickly when internal (SA) cues and external informative cues were both present; the effects of these two classes of cues on discrimination were interactive rather than additive. Possible explanations are given for the superior discrimination under the condition where both the internal and external cues were present over the condition when only the external cues were present.     

Effects of Concerns About Child Care Among Single, Employed Black Mothers with Preschool Children

This study investigated whether differences in child care arrangements and mothers' attitudes about leaving their child in nonmaternal care were associated with maternal psychological well-being and perceptions of children in a sample of single, employed, low-income, Black mothers who were former welfare recipients. Feelings of discomfort with regard to nonmaternal care were associated with higher levels of maternal depressive symptomatology, which, in turn, predicted more negative perceptions of children. Preference for employment and increased working hours were associated with greater life satisfaction. Maternal education and the gender of the child were important moderating variables. Type of child care arrangement was nonsignificant. Policy implications are discussed.     

THE USE OF PHYSICAL RESTRAINT IN THE TREATMENT OF SELF-INJURY AND AS POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT

Two experiments investigated the effects of a treatment package on the self-injurious behavior of three profoundly retarded persons who appeared to enjoy the physical restraints used to prevent their self-injury. The treatment package included physically restraining subjects contingent on increasing periods of time during which no self-injury occurred, and providing them with toys and attention during intervals between restraints. A reversal and multiple-baseline analysis documented that the rapid and complete reduction in self-injury by all subjects was due to this treatment package. Because these results suggested that physical restraint might function as a positive reinforcer, in a third experiment physical restraint was applied contingent on a marble placement response with one subject. A reversal design demonstrated that toy play systematically increased when each response resulted in restraint. The experiments have implications for the nonaversive remediation of self-injury in individuals who are restrained, as well as for the development and maintenance of self-injury in natural settings.