Children’s memory for counting-out rhymes: A cross-language comparison

In English, counting-out rhymes, such as “Eenie Meenie,” vary little over retellings. Recall is not rote but is sensitive to the structure of the genre. To test the generality of this finding, a sample of Romanian rhymes was collected. Although there was no overlap with the English rhymes, the corpus of rhymes collected had similar structure in terms of number of lines, repeating words, rhyme, alliteration, and the inclusion of nonsense words. Variation within rhymes preserved the poetic structure of the genre. The results suggest that verbatim recall can be schema driven if there is sufficient structure.     

Can Money Buy Happiness? Evidence for European Countries

This research comes to empirical investigate the influence of income on the level of happiness. Can money buy happiness? It’s one of the most frequently disputed and researched questions of all time. At first sight, it seems easy to assign a simple answer: yes or no, but the correct answer is more difficult than these. We start from the assumption that people need to be happy but also need financial resources to feel safe. We used a panel analysis on a sample of 26 European countries over the period 2008–2016. We found that happiness increases with individual income until a threshold of 27,913 Euro per year (rounded to 35,000 USD) in European countries. Also, we found that culture plays an essential role in the perception of happiness. Moreover, our results indicate that a lower power distance, a high individualism, a low level of uncertainty avoidance and a high indulgence statistically increase the level of happiness.

     

Personality factors in relation to violent crimes

The personalities of a group of 54 persons (51 men and 3 women), imprisoned for the perpetration of violent crimes, were evaluated. The results were then compared to a normative group. This study considers personality factors and dimensions on three levels: (a) Basic factors: the "Big Five", (b) Personality disorders and clinical syndromes, (c) Personality dimensions related to personal wellbeing and social adaptation said to define a psychologically healthy individual. The results of the study show that it is not possible to define a basic personality profile for this group of violent delinquents based on the "Big Five" factors. It is, however, possible to find two habitual patterns of behaviour if the Millon Model (1990) is applied. These two behaviour patterns and attitudes towards life situations will be named "Dependent with compulsive traits" and "Psychopath tendencies". Both relate to indicators of mental health.     

What Determines Emotional Well-Being? The Role of Adverse Experiences: Evidence Using Twin Data

In this paper we use twin data from Australia to explore emotional well-being and its determinants. We aim to accomplish three things. First of all, using twin-fixed effects, and purging the estimates of common family environment and genetic similarities, we can test the robustness of previous findings in the well-being literature. We find that in the monozygotic twin-fixed effects estimations the marital status, health, years of education, and having low income preserve their significance, thus confirming the most pronounced stylized facts in the happiness literature. Second, using information about traumatic events, we test the validity of the adaptation hypothesis, according to which human beings can adapt to both positive and negative shocks and return to some setpoint level of life satisfaction. We find a strong negative effect of more recent traumatic events, such as being assaulted, being raped or being involved in an accident, which effects dissipate over time; thus, we confirm the validity of the adaptation hypothesis. Last but not least, we show that genetic dispositions are important for the within-pair variance of the emotional well-being.     

Sexual risk behaviour among HIV-infected women in the first twelve months after delivery in South Africa

This study aimed to assess sexual risk behaviour and its social correlates in HIV-infected women living in rural South Africa at six and twelve months post-partum. Participants were 699 HIV-positive women recruited prenatally by systematic sampling from twelve community health centres in Mpumalanga province, South Africa (mean age = 28.4 years, SD = 5.7; married =41.1%; serodiscordant or unknown partner status = 74.9%). They self-reported on their sexual activity six to twelve months after delivery; including use of condoms and partner involvement. Generalised linear mixed models were utilised to estimate unsafe sex outcomes from a prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT) intervention, socio-demographic factors, disclosure, and male involvement. About 20% of sexually active women in the past week had used condoms inconsistently at six and twelve months after delivery. Moreover, 16% and 18% of the women had not used a condom at last sex and 11% and 13% had unprotected sex with HIV-uninfected or unknown-status partners following delivery at six and twelve months, respectively. Higher inconsistent condom use was likely with lower male involvement. Promotion of condom use post-partum, as well as male involvement in sexual decisions, are important for safer sex post-partum by seropositive women.     

Major psychosis and chromosome 22: genetics meets epigenetics

Elucidation of genetic factors in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder remains a challenging task to psychiatric researchers. As a rule, data from genetic linkage and association studies are quite controversial. In this article, we further explore the possibility that in addition to DNA sequences variation, a putative epigenetic dysregulation of brain genes plays an important role in the etiopathogenesis of major psychosis. We provide an epigenetic interpretation of unclear genetic findings specifically pertaining to chromosome 22 in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. It is suggested that epigenetic strategies, when applied in conjunction with traditional genetic ones, may significantly expedite the uncovering of the molecular causes of major psychosis.     

Personality, emotions and coping styles: predictive value for the evolution of cancer patients

This study had a twofold goal: to define differences in psychological aspects between cancer patients and a control group and to explore the predictive value of such aspects for the evolution of the disease two years later. Firstly, personality, anxiety, anger and depression were assessed in both groups. Results of t-analyses revealed significant group differences. In personality, cancer patients had higher levels of neuroticism and lower levels of extraversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness than the control group. In emotional variables, cancer patients had higher levels of anxiety and some aspects of anger, but there were no group differences in depression levels. Secondly, applying a quasi-prospective design, the predictive value of personality, emotions and coping styles for the evolution of cancer (favourable or unfavourable) was explored using generalized linear models and logistic regression. A four-predictor logistic model was fitted: Anger Expression-In, Resignation, Self-blame and Conscientiousness, indicating that the higher Anger Expression-in, Resignation, and Self-blame scores together with a lower Conscientiousness score, the more likely it is for patients' cancer to evolve unfavourably. These results indicate the crucial role of psychological aspects for the evolution of the disease and the need to include such aspects in the design of clinical interventions.     

Life stressors, emotional avoidance and breast cancer

Two groups of women were assessed in psychological aspects considered by some authors of interest for personal well-being. The sample consisted of 118 women, 58 diagnosed with breast cancer and 60 healthy women, of similar ages and personal circumstances. The purpose of the study was: (a) to explore the existence of stressful life events in the women's history and their degree of subjective distress and (b) to determine whether or not there is an emotional avoidance style in the group of women with breast cancer. The following assessment instruments were employed: the "Cuestionario de Formas de Afrontamiento" (CEA), the Five-Factor Inventory NEO-PI-R, and the State-Trait Anger Inventory (STAXI). The results revealed more stressful vital events in the last two years in the group of women with breast cancer and significant differences in the degree of current distress. They also obtained higher scores in current anger, resignation, and neuroticism.     

Effects of lifestyles and the Mediterranean diet on elderly people’s quality of life according to gender / Efectos de los estilos de vida y la dieta mediterránea en la calidad de vida en personas mayores en función del género

Abstract

Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) has been associated with certain eating habits, such as the Mediterranean diet (MD) and lifestyles. However, the specific role of gender in this association is not yet known. The objective of this study was to analyse the relationship between the consumption of the MD essential foods and lifestyle (tobacco and alcohol consumption and exercise) with the HRQoL of 340 elderly people aged over 60 living in the Spanish Mediterranean area. The results show a better HRQoL in males. Compared to females, the lifestyles of males include a moderate consumption of alcohol and tobacco in addition to a greater frequency of physical activity. The predictive models of HRQoL were also different between males and females, as the influence of lifestyles and MD were greater in males. These results are clinically useful for the designing of programmes that promote successful ageing as they can be specified for sex.     

Intimate partner violence among HIV positive pregnant women in South Africa

The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of intimate partner violence (IPV) and associated factors among pregnant HIV-infected women in primary health care facilities in Nkangala and Gert Sibande districts, Mpumalanga, South Africa. Participants were 673 women who were, on average, 28.39 ± 5.73 years old. Data were collected through Audio Computer Assisted Self Interview (ACASI), and analysed using the IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Overall, 56.3% reported having experienced either psychological or physical IPV, and 19.6% reported physical IPV. In logistic multivariable regression analyses, higher levels of depressive symptoms and greater perceived stigma were associated with combined physical and psychological IPV. Psychological IPV and physical IPV were also individually associated with greater perceived stigma and higher levels of depressive symptoms. The design and implementation of evidence-informed interventions that can empower and protect HIV-infected pregnant women from IPV is essential to managing their health-related quality of life.