Coping with type 1 diabetes through emerging adulthood: Longitudinal associations with perceived control and haemoglobin A1c

Objective: This study, which is part of a larger longitudinal study focusing on the biopsychosocial functioning of emerging adults with type 1 diabetes, examined how perceived personal control, coping and HbA_1c relate to one another over time.

Design and main outcome measures: Emerging adults with type 1 diabetes (18–30 years old) participated in a two-wave longitudinal study spanning five years (N = 164 at Time 1). At both times, patients completed questionnaires on perceived control and coping (i.e. diabetes integration, avoidant coping and passive resignation). HbA_1c values were obtained from treating clinicians. We investigated the directionality of effects using cross-lagged path analysis.

Results: Higher HbA_1c values predicted relative decreases in diabetes integration and increases in avoidant coping five years later. Feeling less in control over diabetes predicted the use of passive coping over time. Passive coping predicted a relative decrease in perceived control five years later.

Conclusion: These findings indicate that tackling poor glycaemic control is not only important to avoid medical complications but also to prevent patients from resorting to more avoidant coping strategies. Furthermore, given the longitudinal interplay between perceived control and passive coping, it is important that intervention efforts include both cognitive and behavioural components to be effective.     

Sibling Death and Adult Maladjustment Indices: A Brief Report

While symptoms of grief pose the most immediate psychological concern in the aftermath of sibling death, emerging research suggests that distal correlates may include strained interpersonal relations and externalized forms of psychological distress. College students with a history of Sibling Loss (n = 36), Parental Loss (n = 32), or No Loss (n = 367) were compared on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2). Sibling Loss was associated with higher Psychopathic Deviate (Pd; d = .62) and Hypomania (d = .42) scores. The relative risk (RR = 2.96) of a Pd elevation (T > 65) was higher after sibling death.     

A preliminary study of the comfort of paced respiration

In order to obtain basal information about what type of externally paced respiration is comfortable, 25 male and 25 female undergraduate students were asked to practice self‐paced respiration. After a 1‐min rehearsal following instructions on comfortable self‐paced respiration, subjects carried out 2 min of self‐paced respiration and rated their level of comfort on a scale of 1–5. This was repeated (up to a maximum of seven times) until the subject recorded a high rating. Results indicated that self‐paced respiration was most comfortable, irrespective of sex, when a respiratory pattern was attained of half the respiratory rate and nearly twice the tidal volume of the trainee's resting condition. Although respiratory sinus arrhythmia and heart rate were indicative of a decrease in cardiac vagal activity and end‐tidal PCO₂ was suggestive of a reduction in anxiety, these effects were small. The results have implications for the utilization of externally paced respiration.     

增塑剂DEHP的神经和行为发育毒性

增塑剂邻苯二甲酸二乙基己酯(Di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate,DEHP)是一种具有拟雌激素和抗雄激素活性的环境内分泌干扰物,人类和野生动物可通过不同途径终生暴露于DEHP.母体摄入的DEHP可通过胎盘和乳汁转入子代体内并进入脑组织.围生期DEHP暴露性别特异性地改变子代大鼠下丘脑视前区芳香酶活性而影响雌激素合成,并通过改变雌激素受体活性干扰雌激素对脑发育的调节作用.DEHP及其代谢产物可以影响神经细胞的增殖分化和突触形成,干扰性激素调控发育过程中的下丘脑氨基酸递质系统对促性腺激素释放激素分泌的刺激作用,影响中脑多巴胺递质系统发育而诱导自发性多动症.DEHP对脑发育的作用最终影响动物的早期行为、学习记忆和情感等行为发育.     

学前儿童在游戏中社交和认知类型发展的研究──中美跨文化比较

采用时间取样观察法,以录像对中美１５０名学前儿童在游戏中的社交和认知类型进行比较研究,结果表明：①学前儿童社会交往发展水平、认知发展水平、游戏难度随年龄的增长而提高;②学前儿童较高水平的认知游戏行为与较高水平的社会技能的发展相关联,社交水平与认知水平的发展相互影响;③中美学前儿童社交和认知能力发展进程具有一致性,游戏行为发展模式具有一致性;④中美学前儿童游戏的方式和内容、社交和认知水平存在显著差异,表明不同文化背景的制约性。     

An overview of malingering and deception in neuropsychiatric cases

Forensic practitioners must shoulder special responsibilities when evaluating over-stated pathology (e.g., malingering) as well as simulated adjustment. Such determinations may modify or even override other clinical findings. As a result, practitioners must be alert to their own misassumptions that may unintentionally bias their conclusions about response styles. Detection strategies for malingering—based on unlikely or markedly amplified presentations—are highlighted in this article. Given page constraints, assessment methods for feigning are succinctly presented with their applications to administrative, civil, and criminal referrals.     

A Typology of Interactional Patterns Between Youth and Their Stepfathers: Associations with Family Relationship Quality and Youth Well‐Being

Stepfamilies are an increasingly common family form, many of which are headed by a resident mother and stepfather. Stepfather–child relationships exert notable influence on stepfamily stability and individual well‐being. Although various stepfather roles have been observed, more research is warranted by which stepfather–child interactions are explored holistically and across a variety of life domains (e.g., recreational, personal, academic, and disciplinary). Thus, the primary purpose of the current study is to explore varying interactional patterns between youth and their stepfathers. A latent class analysis is conducted using a representative sample of 1,183 youth (53% female; mean age = 15.64 years, SD = 1.70 years; 62% non‐Hispanic White) residing in mother–stepfather families from Wave I of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. Latent‐class enumeration processes support a four‐class solution, with latent classes representing inactive, academically oriented, casually connected, and versatile and involved patterns of youth–stepparent interaction. Notable differences and similarities are evident across patterns with respect to family relationship quality, youth well‐being, and socio‐demographic characteristics. Differences are most stark between the inactive and versatile and involved patterns. Ultimately, the results showcase notable variation in youth–stepparent interactional patterns, and one size does not necessarily fit all stepfamilies. Family practitioners should be mindful of variation in youth–stepparent interactional patterns and assist stepfamilies in seeking out stepparent–child dynamics that are most compatible with the needs and dynamics of the larger family system.     

Marital Processes Linking Gender Role Attitudes and Marital Satisfaction Among Mexican‐Origin Couples: Application of an Actor–Partner Interdependence Mediation Model

Informed by dyadic approaches and culturally informed, ecological perspectives of marriage, we applied an actor–partner interdependence mediation model (APIMeM) in a sample of 120 Mexican‐origin couples to examine (a) the associations linking Mexican immigrant husbands’ and wives’ gender role attitudes to marital satisfaction directly and indirectly through marital processes (i.e., warmth and negativity) and (b) whether the associations between spouses’ gender role attitudes and marital processes were moderated by wives’ employment. Although previous research has identified spouses’ gender role attitudes as potential predictors of spouses’ marital satisfaction, no study has examined these links in a dyadic model that elucidates how gender role attitudes may operate through processes to shape marital satisfaction and conditions under which associations may differ. We found that when spouses reported less sex‐typed attitudes, their partners reported feeling more connected to them and more satisfied with the marriage, regardless of whether wives were employed. Our results suggest that marital satisfaction was highest for those Mexican‐origin couples in which marital partners were less sex‐typed in their attitudes about marital roles to the extent that partners’ attitudinal role flexibility promoted spouses’ feelings of warmth and connection to their partner.     

Mother‐Stepfather Coparenting in Stepfamilies as Predictor of Child Adjustment

Coparenting between biological parents is a strong predictor of child adjustment. To date, however, little is known about the coparenting dynamics between parent and stepparent in stepfamilies. This study aimed at exploring the links between coparenting in the mother–stepfather dyad and child behavior in stepfamilies compared with the links between mother–father coparenting and child behavior in first‐marriage families. Two modes of coparenting were assessed: overt coparenting, that is, coparental behaviors in the presence of the child, and covert coparenting, that is, the way each parent speaks of the other parent to the child. The sample (N = 80) comprised 48 stepfamilies and 32 first‐marriage families with a child between 7 and 13 years old. Overt coparenting was assessed through direct observation in the standardized situation of the PicNic Game. Covert coparenting and child behavior were assessed through mother‐reported questionnaires. Results showed (a) more covert coparenting behaviors in first‐marriage families, (b) no differences in overt coparenting, (c) more child difficulties reported in stepfamilies, (d) less optimal overt coparenting being linked with more difficulties in children in both family structures, and (e) an interaction effect between family structure and coparenting, showing that overt coparenting is linked with child behavior mainly in stepfamilies.