Distress and psychiatric morbidity among women from high-risk breast and ovarian cancer families.

This study assessed psychological distress and psychiatric disorder in high-risk women enrolled in a hereditary breast and ovarian cancer registry, and it evaluated the concordance between self-report data and interview-based psychiatric diagnosis. A sample of 464 women completed the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25 and were interviewed using modules of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV. Level of psychological distress and the prevalence of psychiatric disorder were low and in the range that would be expected for a sample of community-residing women. Screening proved inefficient: Less than 10% of distressed women met criteria for a clinical disorder. High-risk women seeking genetic testing in research settings may not require extensive psychological screening and diagnostic assessment. Caution is expressed about possible self-selection biases in women enrolled in hereditary cancer registries. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Family therapy issues with adolescents in divorced families.

Discusses the research literature on adolescent adjustment to divorce and its application to family therapy. This literature covers such topics as the developmental issues that an adolescent is facing during and after the divorce, the possible impact of specific custody arrangements, the array of treatment issues for this population, and the development of specific structural and dynamic treatment goals. Psychosocially, teenagers are in the stage of identity vs role confusion. The developmental conflict is intensified in a divorce situation where questions of identity are echoed in the family constellation. Possible goals of family therapy with teens in divorced families included good family management, adequate communication and conflict resolution strategies within and between each unit, equitable visitation, and protection of each member from verbal or physical abuse. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Patterns of self-initiated smoking cessation among young adults.

Applied the cyclic-stage model of self-initiated smoking cessation by J. O. Prochaska and C. C. DiClemente (1984) to data on 3,179 young adults (aged 17–21 yrs) to determine the cross-sectional distribution of stages and the frequency and pattern of changes among stages over time. Compared to older adults, the distribution of the stages differed substantially. There were twice as many relapsers and only half as many maintainers among young adults. One-yr changes in stages were examined using a static model that did not take into account the cyclic nature of the change process and a dynamic model that did. Both models, especially the dynamic model, suggested more movement among stages in younger than in older adults. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An observational investigation of sibling interactions in married and divorced families.

Examined differences in sibling relations in divorced and married families and the extent to which sibling relationship quality is associated with the quality of spousal/ex-spousal, mother–child, and father–child relations. Observed 96 sibling dyads, 48 from mother-custody divorced families and 48 from biological two-parent families while playing a popular board game. Mothers completed a battery of questionnaires assessing the quality of other dyadic relationships within the family and family functioning. Results revealed that dyads from divorced families containing an older male were more negative, more resistant, and less compliant than older female dyads from divorced families or older male dyads from married families, with the older children more negative than their younger siblings, especially when interacting with their younger sisters. Quality of sibling interactions was found to be related to the quality of other dyadic relations within the family and overall family functioning. Quality of spousal/ex-spousal relationships contributed more than marital status of the parents in predicting whether siblings were negative. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Generativity among young, midlife, and older adults.

Generativity is conceived as a configuration of psychosocial features constellated around the goal of providing for the next generation. This study used a stratified random sampling of young (ages 22–27 yrs), midlife (ages 37–42 yrs), and older (ages 67–72 yrs) adults to examine age–cohort differences in 4 generativity features: generative concern, commitments, actions, and narration. Although prevailing views on generativity (e.g., E. H. Erikson, 1963) predict a peak in midlife and decline thereafter, support for this developmental hypothesis was mixed. Midlife Ss scored higher than young and older Ss on concern and actions in a second administration of measures, but not in the first. Generative commitments and narration showed high scores for both midlife and older Ss and relatively low scores for young Ss. Generative concern, assessed with the Loyola Generativity Scale, was positively associated with life satisfaction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Multiple sexual partners among U.S. adolescents and young adults

CONTEXT: Because many teenagers and young adults fail to use condoms correctly and consistently, the number of sexual partners they have is an important risk factor for sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV. Identifying factors that are associated with having multiple partners can help in the design of disease interventions. METHODS: Data on 8,450 males and females aged 14-22 who participated in the 1992 Youth Risk Behavior Survey were used to examine the prevalence of and factors associated with young people's having multiple partners. RESULTS: In all, 63% of female respondents and 64% of males were sexually experienced. Among those who had had sex during the three months before the survey, 15% and 35%, respectively, had had two or more partners during that period. At each age, the majority of sexually experienced respondents had had more than one lifetime partner; between ages 14 and 21, the proportion who had had six or more rose from 8% to 31% among females and from 14% to 45% among males. In logistic regression analyses, alcohol use, illicit drug use and young age at first coitus were associated with increased odds that females had had two or more partners in the previous three months, and being married lowered the odds; black or Hispanic race or ethnicity, alcohol use and young age at first coitus increased the odds for males, and being married reduced the odds. As the number of reported alcohol-related behaviors increased, the adjusted proportion of respondents who had recently had multiple partners rose from 8% to 48% among females and from 23% to 61% among men. CONCLUSIONS: The strong association between alcohol use and having multiple sexual partners underscores the need to educate young people about the effects of alcohol on partner choice and the risk of infection with sexually transmitted diseases.     

Psychosocial functioning of young adults with cystic fibrosis and their families

BACKGROUND: The psychosocial functioning of adolescents and young adults with cystic fibrosis still living in the parental home was investigated. With its proven genetic aetiology cystic fibrosis is an ideal model with which to assess the impact of a chronic and life threatening disorder on family and individual psychological and social functioning. METHODS: Twenty nine patients with cystic fibrosis and their families were compared with those of 27 patients with anorexia nervosa and 31 well controls. Assessments were made using self reporting, interview, and observational methods. RESULTS: Most patients with cystic fibrosis were in robust psychological health and only differed from their healthy peers in that they were much less likely to be in employment. Mothers of patients with cystic fibrosis or anorexia nervosa were more likely than the mothers of the well group to be emotionally distressed, although this was not so for fathers. Young people in both illness groups were more likely to have parents with high levels of expressed emotion. Most families of patients with cystic fibrosis had good problem solving abilities. CONCLUSIONS: In spite of the burden of illness in cystic fibrosis psychological functioning in many respects matches that of well young people.     

Perceived self-efficacy and everyday problem solving among young and older adults.

This research tested the hypothesis that age differences in both self-efficacy perceptions and problem-solving performance would vary as a function of the ecological relevance of problems to young and older adults. The authors developed novel everyday problem-solving stimuli that were ecologically representative of problems commonly confronted by young adults (young-adult problems), older adults (older adult problems), or both (common problems). Performance on an abstract problem solving task lacking in ecological representativeness (the Tower of Hanoi problem) also was examined. Although young persons had higher self-efficacy beliefs and performance levels on the Tower of Hanoi task problem and the young-adult problems, this pattern reversed in the domain of older adult problems, where the self-efficacy beliefs and performance of older persons exceeded those of the young. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Retrospective analysis of social factors and nonsuicidal self-injury among young adults.

Retrospective reports of social influences in nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) with regard to initiation, disclosure, methods, and motivations for engaging in the behaviour were examined in 23 (2 male, 21 female) self-injuring university students. Parent and peer social support was compared between the NSSI group and a comparison group that did not engage in NSSI. Lifetime frequency of NSSI and social support were evaluated. NSSI behaviours were found to be highly socially influenced in several ways, with 65% reporting that they talk to their friends about self-injury, 58.8% indicating that a friend had been the first to engage in self-injury, and 17.4% had self-injured in front of friends. Almost all participants endorsed emotional motivations for engaging in NSSI (91%); however, social motivations were also common (65.2%). Social support from peers was less for the NSSI group than the non-NSSI group, although social support was not found to be related to lifetime frequency of NSSI. The implications for understanding NSSI as a socially influenced behaviour are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Distress tolerance and psychopathological symptoms and disorders: A review of the empirical literature among adults.

We review theory and empirical study of distress tolerance, an emerging risk factor candidate for various forms of psychopathology. Despite the long-standing interest in and promise of work on distress tolerance for understanding adult psychopathology, there has not been a comprehensive review of the extant empirical literature focused on the construct. As a result, a comprehensive synthesis of theoretical and empirical scholarship on distress tolerance, including integration of extant research on the relations between distress tolerance and psychopathology, is lacking. Inspection of the scientific literature indicates that there are a number of promising ways to conceptualize and measure distress tolerance, as well as documented relations between distress tolerance factors and psychopathological symptoms and disorders. Although promising, there also is notable conceptual and operational heterogeneity across the distress tolerance literature. Moreover, a number of basic questions remain unanswered regarding the associations between distress tolerance and other risk and protective factors and processes, as well as its putative role(s) in vulnerability for and resilience to psychopathology. Thus, the current article provides a comprehensive review of past and contemporary theory and research and proposes key areas for future empirical study of this construct. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Specifying the relations between affect and heavy alcohol use among young adults.

Current reformulations of the tension reduction hypothesis posit that only a subset of vulnerable individuals are at risk for drinking in response to negative affect. To further specify this model, this study examined the types of mood and social contexts under which affect and alcohol use are associated. Participants were 74 college students who completed repeated assessments of mood, alcohol use, friendship quality, and social support. A complex pattern of findings supported the moderating influences of gender, friendship factors, and the timing of behavior (i.e., weekends vs. weekdays) on the relation between affect and alcohol use. Young adults with less intimate and supportive friendships, as compared with their peers, showed risk for greater drinking following relative elevations in sadness and hostility. Such drinking episodes, in turn, predicted subsequent elevations in these same negative moods the following week. Gender differences in such a cyclical pattern of affect and alcohol use were found to vary across differing emotional experiences. Recommendations for a more refined theory of affect and alcohol use are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Family and legal indicators of child adjustment to divorce among families with young children.

This research used structural equation modeling to examine relations among family dynamics, attorney involvement, and the adjustment of young children (0-6 years) at the time of parental separation. The article presents baseline data (N = 102 nonresidential fathers and N = 110 primary caretaking mothers) from a larger longitudinal study. Results showed that the effects of parental conflict on child outcomes were mediated by paternal involvement, the parent-child relationship, and attorney involvement. A scale assessing parental gatekeeping yielded two significant factors: Spouse's Influence on Parenting and Positive View of Spouse. Paternal involvement was related to children's adaptive behavior, whereas negative changes in parent-child relationships predicted behavior problems. Mothers who experienced greater psychological symptomatology were less likely to utilize an attorney, which in turn predicted greater internalizing problems in their children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Differential calculation abilities in young children from middle- and low-income families.

Examined the performance of 42 middle- and 42 low-income kindergarten children on arithmetic calculations presented in a nonverbal format as well as in 3 different verbal formats. On the nonverbal task, the child was shown an initial set of disks, which was then hidden with a cover. The set was transformed by adding or removing disks. After the transformation, the child's task was to construct an array of disks that contained the same number of disks as in the final hidden set. A significant interaction between income level and task format was obtained. Although middle-income children performed better than low-income children on each of the verbal calculation tasks, the 2 income groups did not differ in performance on the nonverbal calculation task. The findings suggest that the nonverbal task format is less sensitive to socioeconomic variation than are the verbal task formats. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Older adults prefer less choice than young adults.

Previous research has demonstrated that older adults prefer less autonomy and seek less information when making decisions on their own relative to young adults (for a review, see M. Mather, 2006). Would older adults also prefer fewer options from which to choose? The authors tested this hypothesis in the context of different decision domains. Participants completed a choice preferences survey in which they indicated their desired number of choices across 6 domains of health care and everyday decisions. The hypothesis was confirmed across all decision domains. The authors discuss implications from these results as they relate to theories of aging and health care policy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Refractive errors among young adults and university students in Norway

OBJECTIVE: To determine the diagnostic value of full-mouth radiography in cats. SAMPLE POPULATION: 115 cats referred for dental treatment without a previous full-mouth radiographic series available. PROCEDURE: In a prospective nested case-control analysis of multiple outcomes in a hospital cohort of cats referred for dental treatment, full-mouth radiography was done prior to oral examination and charting. After treatment, the clinical and radiographic findings were compared, with reference to presenting problems, main clinical findings, additional information obtained from radiography and unexpected radiographic findings. Importance of the radiographic findings in therapeutic decision making was assessed. RESULTS: The main clinical findings were radiographically confirmed in all cats. Odontoclastic resorption lesions, missed on clinical examination, were diagnosed in 8.7% of cats. Analysis of selected presenting problems and main clinical findings yielded significantly increased odds ratios for a variety of other conditions, either expected or unexpected. Radiographs of teeth without clinical lesions yielded incidental or clinically important findings in 4.8 and 41.7% of cats, respectively, and were considered of no clinical value in 53.6%. Radiographs of teeth with clinical lesions merely confirmed the findings in 13.9% of cats, but yielded additional or clinically essential information in 53.9 and 32.2%, respectively. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: The diagnostic yield of full-mouth radiography in new feline patients referred for dental treatment is high, and routine use of full-mouth radiography is justifiable.     

Drug use among young adults: The impacts of role status and social environment.

Using panel analyses, the authors examined drug use during the 1st 3 yrs following high school (HS), a period during which many young people make important transitions in social environments, primary activity, and marital status. Drug use after HS was highly predictable from senior-year drug use; however, usage rates for alcohol, marihuana, and other illicit drugs (but not cigarettes) also seemed to be influenced by post-HS living arrangements. More specifically, those who continued to live with their parents showed little or no change in their drug use. Among those who moved out of the parental home, Ss who married showed a decrease in use, those living with a partner of the opposite sex showed some increase in drug use, and those who entered other living arrangements (including dormitories) also showed an increase in use. These relations were largely unaffected by the inclusion of student status, employment status, and other predictor dimensions. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mother-child play and emerging social behaviors among infants from maltreating families.

Mother-child play of 12-month-old infants (N = 130) from maltreating (N = 78) and nonmaltreating (N = 52) families was analyzed as a context that integrates infants' developing social and cognitive skills. Play was coded from semistructured and unstructured play paradigms. No group differences were found in infants' play maturity. Infants from abusing families demonstrated more imitative play than infants from nonmaltreating families, and engaged in less independent play than infants from both neglecting and nonmaltreating families, suggesting a delay in emerging social behaviors. Mothers from abusing and nonmaltreating families differed in attention directing behaviors. Maternal behaviors predicted child play style variables, but did not mediate the effects of maltreatment. Findings discuss the influence of an early maltreating environment upon the development of the emergent self. Implications for early intervention are underscored. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)