Barriers to Integrated Treatment of Substance Abuse and Trauma Among Women

Despite increasing empirical support for an integrated approach to treating trauma and substance abuse, many substance abuse treatment programs have been slow to embrace integrated models of practice. Using an embedded case study design, the purpose of this study was to understand barriers that prevented a substance abuse treatment provider and 20 professionals and staff from adopting an integrated approach to treating substance abuse and trauma. Data analysis revealed 2 kinds of barriers that prevented substance abuse treatment professionals from fully integrating substance abuse and trauma: systemic and professional barriers. These barriers have to be taken into account when trying to move providers and professionals toward integrated approaches to treating substance abuse and trauma.     

Exploring patterns of personal growth initiative and posttraumatic stress: A latent profile analysis

Objective: This study examined the inconsistent relationship found between personal growth initiative (PGI) and posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) by exploring potential subgroups. In addition, after identifying the subgroups, potential predictors of these subgroups were examined. Participants: Participants were 534 undergraduate students who experienced a potentially traumatic event (PTE). Data collection occurred from March 2013 to December 2014. Methods: Because this was a preliminary study, archival data was used. Participants consisted of students who experienced a PTE within the past three years. Results: Latent profile analysis indicated a five-class model as the best-fitting model. Direct exposure and intentionality of the event were significant predictors of class membership; length of time since event and gender did not predict class membership. Conclusions: The current study provides a potential explanation of the inconsistent results between PGI and PTSS and also highlights the importance of acknowledging subgroups when utilizing PGI after a PTE.     

Motherhood Penalties and Living Arrangements in China

Past research on the “motherhood wage penalty” has been based on data from nuclear families, leaving open the possibility that the motherhood wage penalty may be lower or even absent in multigenerational families. In this article, the wage gap between mothers and nonmothers is examined in nuclear and multigenerational families in the context of contemporary China, which has a long tradition of patriarchal families. Using 1993 to 2006 China Health and Nutrition Survey data, the magnitude and variation of motherhood penalty is explored with fixed effects models among 1,058 women. The results show that each additional child lowers hourly wages by about 12%. In addition, the motherhood penalty is largest for women living with their husbands' parents, smaller for women not living with parents, and nil for women living with their own parents.     

The Indirect Effect of Child Maltreatment Severity on Adult PTSD Symptoms through Anxiety Sensitivity

Although the rate of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among survivors of child maltreatment is high, individuals differ in symptom severity and many do not experience clinically significant levels of psychopathology. The present study tested the indirect effects of child maltreatment severity on adult PTSD, suicidal ideations, and alcohol dependence via anxiety sensitivity. A sample of 336 participants (mean age of 22.81 years, SD = 8.93; 70.2% female) completed an online survey of child abuse and neglect, anxiety sensitivity, PTSD symptom severity, suicidal ideation severity, and alcohol dependence severity. The results revealed significant indirect effects of child maltreatment on PTSD symptom severity through cognitive and social concerns, but not physical concerns. No direct or indirect effects were demonstrated for suicidal ideations or alcohol dependence severity. These findings elucidate mechanisms in the robust relationship between child maltreatment and adult PTSD symptoms and can potentially inform future research on mechanisms of change in psychotherapy.     

The challenges of new biopsychosocialities: hearing voices,trauma, epigenetics and mediated perception

This chapter considers the promise of epigenetics in the context of the phenomenon of voice hearing and the question of how to account for the links between voice hearing, trauma and abuse. The chapter explores the epistemic spaces and controversies, which surround the calls for a more psychosocial approach to be incorporated into the more molecular focus of epigenetics. This includes the vexed question of how to invent and work with models of psychological processes, which are processual, indeterminate and contiguous with the biological, social, technical, material and immaterial. These challenges are posed for sociologists, psychosocial researchers and molecular biologists, who when theorizing psychological processes, are often trapped by an individual/social dualism or bifurcation between nature and culture. The chapter explores evidence from the Hearing Voices Movement to draw out the issues at stake for addressing biosocial matters.     

Cambodian Refugee Families: Impacts of Immigration-Related Stressors on Intergenerational Relationships

The purpose of this study was to elucidate Cambodian refugees’ perceptions of immigration-related stressors and their impacts on intergenerational relations during the processes of immigration and settlement. We used narrative analysis to evoke older immigrants’ voices as they transitioned to the United States. Thirty-one Cambodian immigrants were interviewed using open-ended interview guides informed by ethnographic tenets of data collection. Participants expressed (a) changes in family structure and elder isolation and (b) intergenerational ambivalence and elder’s dependence on adult children as products of immigration-related stressors. Implications of these results for refugee and immigrant mental health research are discussed.     

Do military veteran and civilian students function differently in college?

Objective: The authors sought to assess military veterans' functioning in college by comparing their experience with that of civilian students. Participants: The study, conducted from April 2012 to February 2013, included 445 civilian and 61 student service member/veteran (SSM/V) undergraduates, drawn from a community college and two 4-year Catholic colleges, in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York. Methods: Participants completed anonymous online surveys. Six areas of functioning in transition to college were examined: Health, Fitting In, Emotional Adjustment, Productivity, Perceived Career Support, and Social Engagement. Results: Students, both SSM/V and civilian, with past exposure to a potentially traumatic event fit in worse than students without such exposure. Past exposure to trauma was associated with poorer emotional adjustment in civilian students, but not in SSM/V. Conclusions: Implications of results were discussed.     

Claymation for Collective Intelligence and Intergenerational Learning in an Educational Environment

Elementary students, volunteering older adults, and university students use their collective intelligence as they engage in intergenerational learning during an after-school enrichment activity producing Claymation videos. Participant reflections, completed questionnaires, and candid photos document learning and relationship building, suggesting intergenerational visual art engagement as a replicable method of lifelong learning for multiages in a school environment.     

The Experiences of Reciprocity among Filipino Older Adults in Canada: Intergenerational,Transnational, and Community Considerations

ABSTRACT

This article illustrates the concept of reciprocity in the context of immigrant families. It recommends that definition of reciprocity account for exchanges beyond the immediate family, and render visible the simultaneous location of older people as care recipients and providers, and care arrangements across generations, borders, community, and time. Adopting a critical ethnographic study on the aging and care experiences of older Filipinos in Canada, this article analyzes data from extended observations and in-depth semi-structured interviews with 18 older people, 6 adult children, and 13 community stakeholders. Findings highlight the unique configurations of care among the Filipino community whereby older people engage in care exchange as active participants across intergenerational, transnational, and fictive kin networks.     

To Christchurch with Love: Family,Neighbourhood and Community Responses to Earthquake‐Related Trauma

What follows is a response from far away to a city, its citizens and professional colleagues ravaged by a series of devastating earthquakes and aftershocks in 2010. It was an attempt to offer stories that could be easily circulated around professional circles and the populace. These might be considered to be ‘teaching tales’, which the author hoped would implicate community responses to what could be regarded as individual problems.