Shaken baby syndrome: assessment, intervention, & prevention

Child abuse and neglect continue to be parts of a disturbing reality in both the United States and the world. Despite significant advances in the identification and treatment of child abuse, health care professionals are still attempting to grasp the extent of the physiological and psychological effects of child maltreatment and injury. Child abuse, in all of its forms, is preventable, and more must be done to decrease its incidence. Shaken baby syndrome is one of the most deadly and devastating forms of child abuse and is characterized by a traumatic brain injury caused by the violent shaking of an infant. Recognition of high-risk families, combined with education of parents and other caregivers are key to prevention of shaken baby syndrome.     

Benefits of community meetings in the corporate setting after the suicide of a coworker

When an employee commits suicide, his or her coworkers are confronted unexpectedly with issues related to the sudden traumatic death. Being inundated with questions, grappling with acceptance of the loss, and exploring how this could have happened are factors that can complicate the bereavement process and delay a return to workplace homeostasis. Understanding the dynamics and issues related to grief and bereavement after sudden traumatic death potentially can accelerate the recovery process and promote restoration of workforce normalcy for employees and organizations. This can be significantly important to corporate managers and administrators who must maintain ongoing productivity despite such disruption, while promoting adaptive coping for their employees.     

All the News that’s Fat to Print: The American “Obesity Epidemic” and the Media

In the last twenty years scientific, medical, and public health interest in obesity has skyrocketed. Increasingly the term “epidemic” is being used in the media, medical journals, and public health policy literature to describe the current prevalence of fatness in the U.S. Using social scientific literature on epidemics, social problems, and feminist theories of the body, this paper traces the historical emergence of the “obesity epidemic” through an analysis of 751 articles on obesity published in The New York Times between 1990 and 2001. Through the identification and analysis of three discursive pairings I argue that the “obesity epidemic” is a part of a new breed of what I call “post-modern epidemics,” epidemics in which unevenly medicalized phenomena lacking a clear pathological basis get cast in the language and moral panic of “traditional” epidemics. I show how this moral panic together with the location of the problem within the individual precludes a more macro level approach to health and health care delivery at a time when health care services are being dismantled or severely cut back.

The Effects of Sex and Gender-Role Characteristics on Facets of Sociosexuality in Heterosexual Young Adults

The present study was designed to systematically investigate the functional relationships among biological sex; masculine and feminine gender-role characteristics; and sociosexual behavior, attitude toward, and desire for uncommitted casual sex as three facets of sociosexual orientation. For this purpose, facets of sociosexuality were assessed by the Revised Sociosexual Orientation Inventory (SOI-R) and masculine and feminine gender-role characteristics were assessed by a revised German version of the Bem Sex-Role Inventory in 499 male and 958 female heterosexual young adults. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) revealed differential mediating effects of masculine and feminine gender-role characteristics on the relationship between biological sex and the three facets of sociosexual orientation. Sociosexual behavior was shown to be primarily controlled by an individual’s level of masculine gender-role characteristics irrespective of biological sex. Sociosexual desire was identified as being a sole function of biological sex with no indication for any effect of masculine or feminine gender-role characteristics, while sociosexual attitude was influenced by biological sex as well as by masculine and feminine gender-role characteristics to about the same extent.     

A Dyadic Perspective on Childhood Maltreatment for Women With Provoked Vestibulodynia and Their Partners: Associations With Pain and Sexual and Psychosocial Functioning

Childhood maltreatment is robustly associated with adult-onset vulvodynia, a common form of female genito-pelvic pain/penetration disorder. However, little is known about the impact of childhood maltreatment on current sexual, psychological, and relationship adaptation for couples with provoked vestibulodynia (PVD). This study examined the associations between childhood maltreatment and sexual and psychosocial functioning and pain in women with PVD, the most common subtype of vulvodynia, and their partners. A total of 49 couples (M_age women = 27.80, SD = 6.05; M_age men = 30.04; SD = 6.48) with PVD completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), as well as measures of sexual functioning, couple satisfaction, and anxiety. Women also reported on their pain during intercourse. Analyses were guided by the actor–partner interdependence model. Women’s higher reports of childhood maltreatment were associated with their lower sexual functioning and higher anxiety. Partners’ higher reports of childhood maltreatment were associated with their lower sexual functioning, lower couple satisfaction, and higher anxiety, as well as women’s lower couple satisfaction and higher anxiety. Both women’s and partners’ higher reports of childhood maltreatment were associated with higher affective pain for women. Findings suggest childhood maltreatment experienced by women with PVD and their partners should be considered as part of treatment planning.     

Managing the challenges of combining mobilities of care and commuting: an Australian perspective

Women face particular travel challenges when combining commuting with broader caring responsibilities. This policy note considers the issues associated with meeting the transport needs of working women as they navigate their daily ‘mobilities of care’. We extend the concept of ‘mobilities of care’ by combining an intersectional understanding of the transport task with the principles embodied in the child-friendly cities agenda. These are discussed with respect to the provision of public transport services and infrastructure in Australia to illuminate the ways that such an approach could deliver transport benefits to those commuting with young children in their care, most often mothers. We also argue that transport policy, planning and provision must make an explicit connection between intersectional factors such as disability, class, as well as gender, and the substantive impact they can have on women and children’s mobilities and modal choices.     

Intimate partner violence and Hurricane Katrina: predictors and associated mental health outcomes

This study sought to establish the prevalence and correlates of intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization in the 6 months before and after Hurricane Katrina. Participants were 445 married or cohabiting persons who were living in the 23 southernmost counties of Mississippi at the time of Hurricane Katrina. Data for this study were collected as part of a larger, population-based, representative study. The percentage of women reporting psychological victimization increased from 33.6% prior to Hurricane Katrina to 45.2% following Hurricane Katrina (p < .001). The percentage of men reporting psychological victimization increased from 36.7% to 43.1% (p = .01). Reports of physical victimization increased from 4.2% to 8.3% for women (p = .01) but were unchanged for men. Significant predictors of post-Katrina victimization included pre-Katrina victimization, age, educational attainment, marital status, and hurricane-related stressors. Reports of IPV were associated with greater risk of post-Katrina depression and posttraumatic stress disorder. Data from the first population-based study to document IPV following a large-scale natural disaster suggest that IPV may be an important but often overlooked public health concern following disasters.