The relationship between stress and depression in first onsets versus recurrences: a meta-analytic review

S. M. Monroe and K. L. Harkness reviewed the empirical evidence supporting R. M. Post's kindling model, which suggests the 1st episode of depression is more likely to be preceded by major stressors than are subsequent episodes. Their review highlighted the diverse interpretations of Post's premise in the current literature and the changes in research methods that have contributed to this interpretive shift. The authors conducted a meta-analysis (N=13 studies) to test Post's premise that integrated early and recent research and examined potential moderators. A proportion difference effect size was used. Results indicated that 1st onsets of depression were more likely than recurrences to be preceded by severe life events, supporting Post's premise. The moderator analyses suggested that support may be most evident in patient samples and may vary according to age and gender, with less support for Post's premise evidenced in younger samples and in women. Although these results are preliminary, as the analysis included a small number of studies, they suggest that future research should further examine factors that influence the stress-depression relationship with successive recurrences.     

Weak and global supervenience are strong

Kim argues that weak and global supervenience are too weak to guarantee any sort of dependency. Of the three original forms of supervenience, strong, weak, and global, each commonly wielded across all branches of philosophy, two are thus cast aside as uninteresting or useless. His arguments, however, fail to appreciate the strength of weak and global supervenience. I investigate what weak and global supervenience relations are functionally and how they relate to strong supervenience. For a large class of properties, weak and global supervenience are equivalent to strong supervenience. I then offer a series of arguments showing that it is precisely because of their strength, not their weakness, that both weak and global supervenience are useless in characterizing any dependencies of interest to philosophers.

CHALLENGES FACING FEMALE DOCTORAL STUDENTS AND RECENT GRADUATES

Although increasing the numbers of women and minority faculty in academia is a widely held goal, their numbers remain small. The presence of women and minorities decreases disproportionately at each ascending rung of the academic ladder. This investigation identified factors potentially contributing to attrition in White and non-White women at a critical stage in their careers: as doctoral candidates and recent graduates. Two-hundred and twenty-four women in the life sciences, social sciences, and the humanities described their most pressing professional and personal concerns and offered suggestions for changes in their fields and in academia more generally. Independent raters coded responses by thematic content. Differences in responses by field, educational status, and minority status were examined. The most frequently cited concerns involved practical issues such as finding employment, financial stability, and developing professional expertise, revealing wide-spread concerns about a competitive academic climate. Suggestions included modifications in professional conduct, the employment and pay structure, and training.     

Some Effects of Brief Training Interventions on Perceptions of Sexual Harassment1

In 2 experiments, college undergraduates received brief sexual harassment training or were assigned to a control group; all participants then judged whether sexual harassment occurred in brief written scenarios which had been evaluated previously by experts. In the first study, training increased the tendency to perceive sexual harassment but did not enhance expertise. In the second experiment, training significantly increased perceptual expertise for men but not for women—thereby eliminating a gender difference which has been consistently reported in the sexual harassment literature. These are the first experimental demonstrations that training can influence perceptions of sexual harassment in a laboratory setting; whether training can measurably affect the perception, reporting, or incidence of sexual harassment in real life is not yet known.     

成人日常问题解决的老化研究

日常问题解决能力是近十几年来老年心理学中研究比较活跃的一个领域。本文介绍了有关日常问题解决研究的四种理论,即心理测量的智力内隐理论、形式后思维的辨证思维理论、信息加工理论和社会认知与智慧理论,及其初步的研究成果,并进一步指出在理论上整合和在实践中开展干预的研究方向。     

Sexual Coercion Among Students at the University of Cape Coast,Ghana

Sexual coercion refers to strategies that result in an individual engaging in sexual activity against his or her will. Ecological factors influence the way sexual interactions occur; however, the relationship between these factors and sexual coercion has not been explored among university students in Ghana. The purpose of this study was to examine sexual coercion among university students in Ghana by specifically examining individual-level factors (age, gender, sexual debut, age differential with first partner, being in an intimate relationship, history of abortion, and past experiences with transactional sex) and the experience of forced and coerced sex. Residential students at the University of Cape Coast were invited to participate and completed a survey on a tablet computer. Questions included demographics; sexual and reproductive health experiences and knowledge; and attitudes and experiences with abortion. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were used to examine individual-level factors associated with experiences of sexual coercion and forced sex. There were 480 females and 556 males that completed the survey; 26.3 and 16.4% reported having had intercourse either because they were forced or coerced, or when they were “very unwilling”. These students were more likely to be female (OR 3.5), to have had an abortion (OR 2.9), and to have engaged in transactional sex (OR 1.9). Many University of Cape Coast students are experiencing forced or coerced sex. Programs targeting both female and male students as both victims and perpetrators of sexual violence in this population are sorely needed. Primary prevention of sexual violence is one promising field.