Social support knowledge and behavior and relational intimacy: A dyadic study.

Examined the relationships among social support knowledge, supportive behavior, intimacy with one's spouse, and satisfaction with support provided by one's spouse among 41 Israeli kibbutz couples. The hypothesis that support knowledge and support behavior influence the intimacy between couples and increase satisfaction with spouse's social support efforts was tested. Alternative causal mechanisms are explored with simultaneous equation modeling. Results indicate that satisfaction with social support behavior by one's spouse is mediated entirely by intimacy with one's spouse. Results also indicate that partner's knowledge about social support behavior directly affects intimacy and indirectly generates social support satisfaction independent of actual supportive behavior. The findings do not differ by sex. The consistency of the findings with family behavior exchange theory and implications for marital therapy are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Satisfaction with social support during crisis: Intimacy and self-esteem as critical determinants.

Satisfaction with social support was studied longitudinally in 113 17–40 yr old Israeli women following the outcome of both normal and medically complicated pregnancies (delivery by cesarean section, delivery of an infant weighing under 2 kg, or spontaneous abortion before the 3rd trimester). Ss were interviewed concerning the size of their social networks, the number of friends and family members in their networks, perceived intimacy with spouse, and perceived intimacy with at least 1 friend and 1 family member. Included in the interviews were measures of self-esteem, intimacy, social network structure, and satisfaction with support. Findings show that greater intimacy with spouse and with friends was related to greater satisfaction with support received during the crisis period. Intimate ties contributed to satisfaction with support independent of self-esteem, social network parameters, and type of pregnancy outcome. Social network parameters and pregnancy outcome were not related to satisfaction with support. Among Ss low in self-esteem, greater intimacy with family was related to lower satisfaction with support if the Ss lacked intimate ties with spouse or a friend. Clinical and social psychological theories regarding reaction to aid are discussed. (37 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

How loss affects anger and alienates potential supporters.

The effects of loss of resources and illness symptoms on experienced anger, anger expression, and supporter's anger was studied among patients with severe chronic breathing disorder. Both illness symptoms and resource loss were related to greater anger. Angry feelings, in turn, led to more angry behavior. This angry behavior, in turn, resulted in increased anger of supporters. This process illustrates how chronic stress depletes both personal resources and social resources, making the individual increasingly vulnerable to further stressful experiences, inevitably to be confronted in chronic stress sequences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ecology, community, and AIDS prevention

The A-factor receptor protein (ArpA) plays a key role in the regulation of secondary metabolism and cellular differentiation in Streptomyces griseus. ArpA binds the target DNA site forming a 22 bp palindrome in the absence of A-factor, and exogenous addition of A-factor to the ArpA-DNA complex immediately releases ArpA from the DNA. An amino acid (aa) replacement at Val-41 to Ala in an alpha-helix-turn-alpha-helix (HTH) motif at the N-terminal portion of ArpA abolished DNA-binding activity but not A-factor-binding activity, suggesting the involvement of this HTH in DNA-binding. On the other hand, an aa replacement at Trp-119 to Ala generated a mutant ArpA that was unable to bind A-factor, thus resulting in an A-factor-insensitive mutant that bound normally to its target DNA in both the presence and absence of A-factor. These data suggest that ArpA consisting of two functional domains, one for HTH-type DNA-binding at the N-terminal portion and one for A-factor-binding at the C-terminal portion, is a member of the LacI family. Consistent with this, two ArpA homologues, CprA and CprB, from Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2), each of which contains a very similar aa sequence of the HTH to that of ArpA, also recognized and bound the same DNA target. However, neither CprA nor CprB recognized A-factor, probably due to much less similarity in the C-terminal domains.     

Effects and generalizability of communally oriented HIV-AIDS prevention versus general health promotion groups for single, inner-city women in urban clinics.

A primary prevention, behavioral intervention designed to reduce HIV risk behavior was tested in a randomized, controlled trial with single, inner-city women. A total of 935 women were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 conditions: a small group, 6-session communally oriented HIV prevention intervention; a yoked general health promotion intervention control; or a standard care control. Both interventions involved the interactive use of videotapes by live group leaders. The HIV prevention intervention, in particular, resulted in significant positive effects on self-reported and behaviorally assessed safer-sex behavior. Women in the HIV prevention group showed reduced point prevalences of medically tested sexually transmitted diseases at follow-up in some comparisons. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Safer sex knowledge, behavior, and attitudes of inner-city women.

Sexual behavior, knowledge of HIV transmission and prevention, perceived risk of AIDS, and safer sex behavior were studied in a sample of 289 single, pregnant, inner-city women. African-American and European-American women were equally represented. Women had poor AIDS knowledge. Sexual behavior placed women at risk for HIV infection due to the lack of condom or spermicide use. Women did not perceive themselves at risk for the AIDS virus, although they did recognize that heterosexuals were at risk. Their lack of risk perception was partly based on their having a single sexual partner. They did not regard their partner's current or past behavior as placing them at risk. Recommendations for intervention and cultural differences are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Trajectories of resilience, resistance, and distress during ongoing terrorism: The case of Jews and Arabs in Israel.

This is the 1st longitudinal examination of trajectories of resilience and resistance (rather than ill-being) among a national sample under ongoing threat of mass casualty. The authors interviewed a nationally representative sample of Jews and Arabs in Israel (N = 709) at 2 times during a period of terrorist and rocket attacks (2004?2005). The resistance trajectory, exhibiting few or no symptoms of traumatic stress and depression at both time points, was substantially less common (22.1%) than has previously been documented in studies following single mass casualty events. The resilience trajectory, exhibiting initial symptoms and becoming relatively nonsymptomatic, was evidenced by 13.5% of interviewees. The chronic distress trajectory was documented among a majority of participants (54.0%), and a small proportion of persons were initially relatively symptom-free but became distressed (termed delayed distress trajectory; 10.3%). Less psychosocial resource loss and majority status (Jewish) were the most consistent predictors of resistance and resilience trajectories, followed by greater socioeconomic status, greater support from friends, and less report of posttraumatic growth. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of war exposure on air force personnel's mental health, job burnout and other organizational related outcomes.

Longitudinal data from a stratified representative sample of U.S. Air Force personnel (N = 1009) deployed to the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other locations were analyzed in this study. Using structural equation models, we examined the effects of war exposure on traumatic experiences, Post Traumatic Stress (PTS) symptoms, resource loss, and on subsequent functioning, perceived health, and on job and organizationally relevant outcomes. The job and organizational outcomes included job burnout, job involvement, job strain, job satisfaction, work-family conflict, organizational commitment, deployment readiness, and intention to reenlist. We found that deployment to the theater of the war increased risk of exposure to trauma, which in turn, predicted elevated PTS symptoms and resource loss. PTS symptoms predicted later loss of resources and deterioration in perceived health and functioning. In turn, resource loss predicted negative job and organizational outcomes. Exposure to trauma fully mediated the effects of deployment to the theater of war on PTS symptoms and resource loss and had additional significant indirect effects on several job and organizational relevant outcomes. For returning veterans, deployment to the theater of war, exposure to trauma, PTS symptoms, and resource loss represents a “cascading” chain of events that over time results in a decline of health and functioning as well as in adverse job and organizationally relevant outcomes that may affect organizational effectiveness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of physical attractiveness on therapists' initial judgments of a person's self-concept.

Videotapes and audiotapes were made of interviews with attractive and unattractive males and females. Ratings of attractiveness were derived from peer judgments of photographs of 83 undergraduates; the 2 most attractive males, 2 least attractive males and a similar number of females were selected as stimulus persons. 13 male and 3 female graduate students in clinical psychology rated the person they had heard (seen) as to self-concept. As hypothesized, physically attractive persons of both sexes were rated as having better self-concepts than unattractive persons. Further, the self-concept ratings of attractive females increased significantly from the audiotape to the videotape conditions, whereas the ratings of all the other stimulus persons remained the same. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-control predicts later symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder.

Self-control, often defined as the ability to control one's thoughts and actions, is one of the most important constructs in psychology. However, the relationship of self-control to clinical disorders has rarely been directly examined. The current study sought to explore this relationship by examining whether self-control predicted posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in a longitudinal study of 65 inner-city women. Results showed that baseline levels of self-control predicted PTSD symptoms at 3-month follow-up above and beyond other variables in the model. This research combines clinical and social psychological research to reveal the potential role of self-control in protecting against future symptoms of PTSD. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)