Depressed Mood and Sexual Functioning

Abstract

Although some studies have reported substantial correlations between clinical depression and hypoactive sexual desire, thus far only a few studies have addressed the association between depressed mood and different facets of sexuality (such as sexual satisfaction, sexual activity and level of sexual problems) in close relationships. This study sought to fill this gap by examining 198 couples recruited through advertisement. The associations between depressed mood measured by the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and sexuality within one person (actor effects) and between partners (partner effects) were analyzed using the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model by Kenny and Cook (1999). Our findings show that actor effects of the BDI score on sexual experiences are somewhat higher than partner effects, and that depressed mood is mainly associated with one's own hyposexual desire, sexual aversion and sexual arousal problems. However, there were no substantial partner effects between depressed mood and sexual arousal problems.     

Long‐Term Effects of Fathers' Depressed Mood on Youth Internalizing Symptoms in Early Adulthood

While an accumulating body of research has documented increased risk of psychopathology among children of depressed fathers, most studies have used cross‐sectional design, and little is known about offspring outcomes beyond childhood. Using prospective data from a community sample (N = 395), we found that paternal depressive symptoms when children were in early adolescence (age 13) predicted offspring depressive and anxiety symptoms at age 21, controlling for baseline youth symptoms, maternal depressive symptoms, and other known correlates of internalizing problems in early adulthood. Associations were not moderated by maternal depressive symptoms or child gender. These results suggest that the unique and long‐term effects of paternal depression on children's risk of mood disorders may persist into adulthood.     

Trajectories of Depressed Mood From Early Adolescence to Young Adulthood: The Effects of Pubertal Timing and Adolescent Dating

The effects of pubertal timing and adolescent dating on trajectories of depressed mood from early adolescence to young adulthood were examined among youths who participated in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Results showed that for both boys and girls, the trajectories of depressed mood between the ages of 12 and 23 took an inverse U‐shape with its peak in mid‐adolescence. Furthermore, pubertal timing was a significant predictor of depressed mood at age 12. The pubertal timing effect was nonlinear, suggesting that at age 12, early and late maturing youths were at risk of experiencing elevated levels of depressed mood. The adverse effect of off‐time maturation gradually dissipated over time. Moreover, in early adolescence, teenagers, particularly girls, were adversely affected by dating, and off‐time physical maturation exacerbated the negative effects of dating. However, the interactive effect of dating and pubertal timing gradually decreased with age. Our findings underscore the importance of examining junctures of biological and social challenges in adolescence to gain better understandings of young people's emotional experiences over time.     

Mother Involvement as an Influence on Father Involvement with Early Adolescents

This study hypothesized that father involvement is influenced by mothers' level of involvement as well as by marital conflict, mothers' work hours, and fathers' status as biological or step father. The analysis also tested hypotheses about mother involvement as a potential mediator of the effects of marital conflict and maternal work hours on father involvement, and hypotheses about factors influencing mother involvement. Children aged 10-14 from the NLSY79 who resided with their biological or step father and with their mother reported on each parent's involvement with them. As hypothesized, father involvement was predicted by mother involvement, and the reciprocal influence was not significant. Father involvement was associated with low marital conflict and being a biological father. Mothers' involvement partially mediated the effects of marital conflict on father involvement. If the mediating role of maternal involvement is not taken into account, the effect of marital conflict on father involvement is overestimated.     

A Cross‐Ethnic Study of Adolescents' Depressed Mood and the Erosion of Parental and Peer Warmth During the Transition to Young Adulthood

This 1‐year longitudinal study investigated the effects of adolescents' depressed mood on perceived parental and peer warmth during the transition to young adulthood. We hypothesized that ethnicity would moderate such effects. As part of a larger study, 511 adolescents (154 European, 205 Hispanic, and 152 Asian Americans) participated in this research. They were surveyed shortly before their high school graduation and again 1 year later. Analyses based on 2‐wave cross‐lagged models showed that higher levels of initial depressive symptoms predicted lower levels of subsequent perceived parental and peer warmth for European Americans. For Asian Americans, higher initial depressed mood was significantly associated with lower levels of perceived peer warmth and was marginally associated with lower levels of parental warmth. In contrast, the erosion of parental and peer warmth was not evident for Hispanic Americans. The role of culture in the erosion of parental and peer warmth during life transitions was discussed.     

Parent Involvement Practices in Child Protection: A Matter of Know-How and Attitude

Modern view of child protection services implies that to help young people, simply intervening on their behalf is not sufficient. It suggests that involving parents in the assistance process is essential in order to ensure that they are most likely to play their role as parents to their children in the fullest possible way. Although several articles have dealt with the issue of parent involvement, very few have attempted to document the practices used by practitioners to encourage such involvement. This article presents the findings of a study on child protection practices for involving parents in a child protection context. It is exploratory in nature, and uses a qualitative methodology. The study population is made up of 38 child protection service workers. An analysis of the practitioners’ discourse reveals that the behaviour and attitudes used by them to encourage parent involvement are very diverse. There also appear to be key moments in securing their involvement, that is, making contact, setting objectives and means of action, and applying the case plan. In addition to corroborating earlier studies on the issue of parent involvement, our findings indicate that the majority of the caseworkers interviewed practice an approach that aims to empower clients.Funding of this project was provided by le Fonds Richelieu de recherche sur l’enfance.Marie-Christine Saint-Jacques, Geneviève Lessard, and André Beaudoin are affiliated with School of Social Work, Laval University, Quebec, Canada. Sylvie Drapeau is affiliated with Department of Foundations and Practices in Education, Laval University, Quebec, Canada.     

Affective Interaction as a Determinant of Musical Involvement*

Music may be understood as a structural representation, or symbolic “model,” of social interaction processes. Since music is a readily available expressive system in our society, individuals may use it as a socially meaningful symbolic medium within which they manage conflicting affective associations with interaction. Music listening then becomes one means by which individuals may maintain psychological well-being while adapting to complex social structures. Three initial points in this argument were examined, using high and low music listeners. High listeners were found to have more conflicting positive and negative affective associations with interaction than low or medium listeners, as measured by a TAT-type technique. The effect of role playing an affective interaction situation in an experimental design increased listening absorption in music for high but not for low listeners. High listeners were also more likely to describe musical effects in terms of symbolic participation in group processes.     

家庭参与流浪儿童救助保护的可行性与模式建构

家庭问题是儿童外出流浪的主要原因之一,只有家庭问题得到了缓解,流浪儿童才能真正实现回归家庭和社会。因此,流浪儿童救助保护需要家庭的参与。本文在结合前人研究和我国流浪儿童救助保护现状的基础上,分析了家庭参与流浪儿童救助保护的必要性和可行性,并建构了"家庭参与流浪儿童救助保护体系",将儿童心理行为问题解决和家庭问题解决相结合,为我国流浪儿童救助保护工作提供可资参考的新思路。     

Parental Childrearing Attitudes as Correlates of Father Involvement During Infancy

Using daily diary data to document involvement with infants at 6 - 8 months of age (n = 142) and 6 months later (n = 95), we examined relations between reported childrearing attitudes and resident fathers' relative (as compared to mothers') involvement with children. Fathers' authoritarian views related negatively to their relative involvement on weekdays, and this relation held over time for caregiving and playing activities. Mothers' protective attitudes had concurrent negative associations with fathers' relative weekend involvement. Findings suggest that fathers' authoritarian and mothers' protective attitudes relate to how parenting responsibilities are shared within families and may be detrimental to how much fathers become, or choose to become, directly involved in the care of their infants in comparison to mothers.     

Game On: Diminishing Risks for Depressive Symptoms in Early Adolescence Through Positive Involvement in Team Sports

While research shows that low levels of social acceptance and elevated body dissatisfaction increase risks for depressive symptoms among both girls and boys, little is known about protective factors that can mediate these risks. We test the hypothesis that positive team sports involvement mediates the effects of these risks on depression in a cross‐sectional study involving a diverse group of 449 Canadian students (49.7% girls) recruited from grades 8 to 10. Findings showed that positive team sports involvement partially mediated risks for depressive symptoms for both boys and girls. Implications for community‐ and school‐based sports programs are discussed.     

Sports fans as crisis communicators on social media websites

Previous research has analyzed how organizations publicly respond in crisis situations. This study addresses a sports crisis, the University of Miami NCAA investigation, as an avenue for exploring how fans become surrogates for organizational crisis responses via the social media entity, Twitter. Using Coombs's (2007) strategy for reputation repair, analysis of 75 highly identified Miami fans with over 42,000 Twitter followers shows that fans were most likely to engage in (a) ingratiation, (b) reminder, (c) attack the accuser, and (d) divert attention as primary methods of coping with the scandal. New methods for reputation repair were also found within the analysis and implications for organizations, academic institutions, sports research, and crisis communication theory are articulated.     

Balancing Autonomy Rights and Protection: Children’s Involvement in a Child Safety Online Project

Researchers who involve children in their research are faced with the challenge of choosing between differing theoretical approaches which can prioritise children’s autonomy rights or their ‘vulnerability’ and their need to be protected. Somewhat confusingly, ethical guidelines seem to reflect a combination of these approaches. Even when researchers have settled on their preferred approach, they may find that this then has to be modified in accordance with gatekeeper requirements. In the context of children’s involvement in a child safety online project, this paper highlights the difficulties encountered because of a tension between children’s autonomy rights, educational norms in a school setting and child protection concerns and considers whether an appropriate balance was achieved.     

Personality, Perceived Luck and Gambling Attitudes as Predictors of Gambling Involvement

A quantitative observational study was undertaken to examine the relationship between individual factors and level of gambling involvement, in particular problem gambling (PG). The specific factors under study were personality, perceived luck, and attitudes towards gambling. A sample of university students (N = 185) completed a battery of questionnaires, consisting of the 16PF, Canadian Problem Gambling Index, Belief in Good Luck Scale (BIGL), Gambling Attitudes Scale (GAS), and the Impulsive Non-Conformity subscale (ImpNon) from the Oxford-Liverpool Inventory of Feelings and Experiences. Four groups were formed (Non-PG, Low-Risk, Moderate-Risk, and PG). Personality profiles varied between groups, and there were significant main effects and interaction effects on gender and personality factors. The PG group was higher on impulsivity, and belief in luck, and had more positive attitudes towards gambling. Multiple Regression Analysis and Discriminant Functions Analysis, using variables including some 16PF factors, BIGL and GAS variables, produced models that were highly predictive of gambling severity and gambling membership. In both models, impulsivity was the strongest predictor. These results were discussed in terms of their implications for future research and treatment of PG.     

Normative Beliefs as Risk Factors for Involvement in Unhealthy Weight Control Behavior

Objective: The authors' aim in this study was to determine, after adjustment for the effects of body mass index and sociodemographic measures, whether sex-specific weight control norms would have significant independent relationships with the weight control behavior of college women and men. Participants: The authors used an anonymous questionnaire to assess a sample of 470 college students, aged 18 to 26 years, attending either a 2- year community college or a 4-year public university. Methods: To calculate body mass index, the authors objectively measured the height and weight of each participant. They conducted separate discriminant function analyses for women and men. Results: The discriminant function analyses clearly indicated that weight control norms of same-sex, close friends were the best discriminators of involvement in weight control. Conclusions: The findings indicate that perceived peer norms may be important but overlooked risk factors for engaging in unhealthy weight control practices. The authors discuss the implications of these findings in the context of student health promotion.     

Professional Sports as an Alternative Channel of Social Mobility*

Inequality of opportunity in the process of occupational attainment via the educational system is anticipated to cause a tendency toward alternative routes of social mobility among underprivileged groups. Professional sports have often been referred to in this respect, particularly in connection with the overrepresentation of ethnic minorities in them. The present study attempts to determine if the choice of a career in sports is mainly a matter of an individual's educational achievement and aspirations, or whether such a tendency is conditioned by socioeconomic and ethnic background. An investigation of this question among junior soccer players in Israel indicates that the preference for a career in soccer is associated with both low levels of educational achievement and modest goals, regardless of family background. Thus, at least as far as Israeli society is concerned, it is not only “cultural predisposition” which makes professional sports more attractive for lower ethnic groups, but, also the greater difficulties that youngsters of such origin encounter in the educational system.     

Pathological gambling as a defense against loss

The notion of pathological gambling as an elaborate defense against psychic pain is consistent with the traditional psychoanalytic literature, as well as recent writing on the process of addiction. The losses that pathological gamblers experience as a result of their gambling are enormous and well-documented, but losses suffered prior to the onset of gambling behavior may be far more significant. This paper explores the idea that pervasive developmental loss is a core issue for the compulsive gambler resulting in an intolerance for the anticipation of future losses and the certainty of mortality. Eight semistructured interviews were conducted with pathological gamblers in Gamblers Anonymous to explore the incidence of developmental loss and consequent styles of coping. An in-depth genogram and developmental history were done with each subject, revealing extensive developmental losses in all subjects.     

Youth Organizing,Identity-Support,and Youth Development Agencies as Avenues for Involvement

SUMMARY

What are the differences in outcomes among youth organizing and other efforts to involve young people at the community level?

This paper examines differences in developmental outcomes among youth organizing, identity-support, and traditional youth development agencies, with the finding that there are significant differences in outcomes such as civic activism and identity development. It reports that youth organizing agencies show higher levels of youth leadership, decision making, and community involvement in comparison with other agencies, and concludes that deliberate approaches to staffing and decision-making can influence youth outcomes.     

Childhood Sexual Abuse as a Risk Factor for Subsequent Involvement in Sex Work

Abstract

The following paper is a review of research studies examining the relationship between childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and subsequent involvement in sex work. The vast majority of research studies in this area are conducted on primarily female street-based prostitutes; however, there has been a recent emergence of studies focused on male, predominantly gay/bisexual, participants. Also, more studies have begun to include mixed gender samples and non-sex worker comparison groups. Highlights of the paper include a critique of studies reporting a prevalence of CSA, the intervening effects of family environment, runaway behavior, and abuse characteristics, and a brief overview of research on other sex worker populations. Limitations as well as contributions of current studies are underscored and directions for future research are indicated.