Correlates of Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Sexually Transmitted Infection (HIV/STI) Testing and Disclosure Among HIV-Negative Collegiate Men Who Have Sex With Men

Abstract

Objective: To determine the extent to which personal, behavioral, and environmental factors are associated with human immunodeficiency virus/sexually transmitted infection (HIV/STI) testing and disclosure. Participants: Nine hundred thirty HIV-negative collegiate men who have sex with men (MSM) who completed an online survey about alcohol use and sexual behavior. Methods: Correlates of testing and disclosure significant in bivariate analyses (p < .05) were grouped into personal, behavioral, or environmental factors and entered into multivariable logistic regression models. Results: About half of participants tested for HIV (51.9%) and for STIs (45.8%) at least annually. Over half (57.8%) of participants always/almost always discussed HIV status with new sex partners; 61.1% with new unprotected sex partners. Personal and behavioral factors (age and outness) explained differences in testing, and the behavioral factor (routine testing) explained differences in disclosure. Conclusions: Collegiate MSM should be supported in coming out, encouraged to engage in routine testing, and counseled on discussing HIV/STI status with potential sex partners.     

Infant Affect During Parent—Infant Interaction at 3 and 6 Months: Differences Between Mothers and Fathers and Influence of Parent History of Depression

Fifty families participated in mother‐infant and father‐infant still‐face interaction at infant ages 3 and 6 months as part of a study of affect in early parent‐infant relationships. Infants' positive and negative affect and parents' positive affect and physical play were coded from videotapes. Consistent with previous research, during the normal condition, mothers displayed more positive affect than did fathers, and fathers were more likely than mothers to display physical play. Infants were more positive with mothers than with fathers. Parents' positive affect but not parent gender predicted infants' positive affect at 6 months. During the still‐face condition, infants of parents with a lifetime history of depression were more likely to display negative affect and less likely to display positive affect than infants with no such parent history. Infants' affect was unrelated to parents' current level of depressive symptoms, which indicates the value of considering family history of psychopathology when examining individual differences in infants' affect.     

The roles of caregivers and friends in adolescent daily emotion dynamics

Daily emotion dynamics provide valuable information about individuals’ emotion processes as they go about their lives. Emotion dynamics such as emotion levels (mean), emotion variability (degree of fluctuation), and emotion network density (strength of temporal connections among emotions) are associated with risks for various psychopathology in youth and adults. Prior work has shown that caregivers and friends play crucial socializing roles in adolescent emotional well-being, but less is known about their roles in daily emotion dynamics. This study examined whether caregiver emotion coaching, caregiver-adolescent closeness, and friendship quality were associated with adolescents’ emotion levels, emotion variability, and emotion network density. Further, we examined whether caregiver-adolescent closeness moderated the associations between coaching and emotion dynamics. Participants were 150 adolescents (61% girls; M_age = 14.75) and one of their caregivers (95% female; M_age = 43.35) who completed a baseline survey and 21 daily surveys. Results showed that caregiver emotion coaching interacted with caregiver-adolescent closeness in predicting emotion levels and variability. Specifically, when closeness was higher, emotion coaching was significantly associated with lower sadness and anger levels, higher happiness levels, and lower happiness variability. Caregiver emotion coaching, independent of closeness, was also associated with lower anxiety levels, lower sadness variability, and lower emotion network density. Friendship quality was significantly associated with lower levels of sadness, anxiety, and anger, higher levels of happiness, and lower variability in anxiety and anger. These findings suggest that caregivers and friends are central to everyday emotion levels and variability and a more flexible emotion system in adolescents.     

Hierarchy of Gambling Choices: A Framework for Examining EGM Gambling Environment Preferences

This paper presents the Hierarchy of Gambling Choices (HGC), which is a consumer-oriented framework for understanding the key environmental and contextual features that influence peoples’ selections of online and venue-based electronic gaming machines (EGMs). The HGC framework proposes that EGM gamblers make choices in selection of EGM gambling experiences utilising Tversky’s (Psychol Rev 79(4):281–299, 1972). Elimination-by-Aspects model, and organise their choice in a hierarchical manner by virtue of EGMs being an “experience good” (Nelson in J Polit Econ 78(2):311–329, 1970). EGM features are divided into three levels: the platform—including, online, mobile or land-based; the provider or specific venue in which the gambling occurs; and the game or machine characteristics, such as graphical themes and bonus features. This framework will contribute to the gambling field by providing a manner in which to systematically explore the environment surrounding EGM gambling and how it affects behaviour.     

Negative Stereotypes of Ethnic Outgroups: A Longitudinal Examination Among Palestinian,Israeli Jewish,and Israeli Arab Youth

Ethno‐political conflict impacts thousands of youth globally and has been associated with a number of negative psychological outcomes. Extant literature has mostly addressed the adverse emotional and behavioral outcomes of exposure while failing to examine change over time in social cognitive factors in contexts of ethno‐political conflict. Using cohort sequential longitudinal data, this study examines ethnic variation in the development of negative stereotypes about ethnic outgroups among Palestinian (n = 600), Israeli Jewish (n = 451), and Israeli Arab (n = 450) youth over 3 years. Age and exposure to ethno‐political violence were included as covariates for these trajectories. Findings indicate important ethnic differences in trajectories of negative stereotypes about ethnic outgroups, as well as variation in how such trajectories are shaped by prolonged ethno‐political conflict.     

WE WANT MORE – WE ARE MORE

Impressed with the current migration in Europe and the connected socio-political and civil-societal challenges, we examine the question which contribution group-dynamic learning forms and its paradigms can raise awareness for a shared created future. Group dynamics understands itself as a place of practical philosophy, as intervention per se, where collectives can emancipate and participation should become alive. The origin of this idea is the examination with the unknown, the differences and the linked questioning of subjective truths, feelings and convictions. The connection between individual as well as collective self-enlightenment processes and the competence extension dealing with personal, cultural, moral, social etc. boundaries.We focus on the emotional effects (uncertainty and fear as a side effect of migration) as well as the theoretical background of the unknown and discuss the sense and the possibilities of participative-designed intervention forms of knowledge creation. Taking into account that several issues of collaboration for a shared future cannot be solved without the people concerned, we examine why we are “more”, why we want “more” and from what we will need “more”.     

The capacity to parent: A self psychological approach to parent—child psychotherapy

Clinicians who work with dysfunctional parent-child relationships face the dilemma of evaluating and effectively treating the psychopathology of parenting, which is often elusive and difficult to extrapolate from behavioral reports or social statistics alone. Fundamental concepts of the self psychological theory of development, particularly empathy and the self-selfobject matrix, are especially useful for elucidating the complexities of parenting because they explain the psychological components of the interaction as well as its intrapsychic significance. These concepts will be applied to the process of parent-child psychotherapy. A case is presented to illustrate the explanatory advantages of a self psychological conceptualization.This work was conducted while both authors were employed as CoDirectors, Infant Development Project at the Juvenile Protective Association, Chicago, Illinois.The Infant Development Project is funded by a grant from the Kate Maremont foundation, Chicago, Illinois.