Effort-Shape Characteristics of Emotion-Related Body Movement

The purpose of this study was to characterize the movement qualities of 5 target emotions during walking. We used an autobiographical memories paradigm for elicitation and observer judgments for emotion recognition. For each of the felt and recognized emotion portrayals, 6 Effort-Shape qualities were judged on a continuum between opposite qualities at the anchor points. Three general categories of movement style emerged, so that anger and joy shared anchor qualities at one end of the continuum, sadness had qualities at the opposite anchor, and content and neutral had qualities between the anchor extremes. The Effort-Shape profiles were unique for each target emotion, however, and mean scores were different between emotions even when emotions shared similar qualities. Emotions were classified using the Effort-Shape scores with accuracies ranging from 74–32 % for sad, anger, content and joy, respectively. For most of the target emotions, decoding accuracy was related to at least 4 Effort-Shape qualities, suggesting that decoding accuracy may be associated with a profile of movement qualities. This study highlights the importance of movement quality in bodily expression of emotion and demonstrates the effectiveness of Effort-Shape analysis in distinguishing among emotion-related movement styles.     

Randomized trial of Promoting First Relationships: Effects on maltreated toddlers' separation distress and sleep regulation after reunification

This study investigates the impact of an attachment focused intervention, Promoting First Relationships (PFR), on sleep problems among toddlers in child welfare recently reunified with their birth parent. Recently reunified parent–toddler dyads (n = 43) were drawn from a larger random control trial. Toddlers (11–36 months) and their parents were assessed in two-hour research home visits at enrollment (baseline), and a 6-month post-intervention follow-up. Measures included parental report of sleep problems and research visitor observation of separation distress (using the Toddler Attachment Sort-45). The PFR intervention predicted fewer sleep problems, adjusting for a baseline measure of sleep problems and other covariates. A path model showed evidence of an indirect effect of PFR on sleep problems through declines in separation distress. An attachment focused intervention like PFR that reduces infant separation distress can lead to reductions in sleep problems.     

Postmodern feminism: a theoretical framework for a field unit with women in jail

This article presents a postmodern, feminist framework as a foundation for a social work student field unit with women inmates in the corrections system. Feminist pedagogical methods were developed and implemented for this field unit and, once trained, the students utilized feminist social work skills within the jail environment. The case study illustrates the field unit design, student learning processes, and examples of student interventions. In addition to becoming skillful clinicians, student interns became social change agents within the corrections system. Implications for micro, meso, and macro levels of social work practice are discussed.     

Social and family patterns on the colonial Louisiana frontier

As the pendulum of historical scholarship swings toward the close of another century, momentum has propelled it toward the re‐establishment of a traditional relationship severed by professional historians at the turn of the last century. History and genealogy were inseparable until early 20th‐century humanists elevated the serious pursuit of history from the armchair to the university chair. In the generations since, a chasm of disdain has separated “real” history from so‐called family history in which untrained amateurs dabble with abandon.

Yet the family is the heart of society. To study a people's history without understanding the family structure from which it evolved is to confront a robot and pretend that one feels a pulse. Tardily, professional history is shifting from the “subjects' of broad national interest” to a study of society in microcosm, that is, the family, at the same time that academically oriented genealogists are upgrading their standards to prove that family history can be a legitimate field of scholarly inquiry.

This reunion of history and genealogy has produced outstanding re‐evaluations of society; but in the United States the emphasis to date has been on Anglo‐American culture. This article provides pioneer exploration of the nation's Latin heritage and finds significant differences in patterns of migration and settlement, marriage and morality. Such a study of French and Spanish borderlands in America upsets traditional, stereotyped conceptions of mobility, fertility, and family structure in colonial America.     

Cigarette Use Among Young Adults: Comparisons Between 2-Year College Students, 4-Year College Students,and Those Not in College

Abstract

Objective: To examine cigarette smoking among young adults based on education status. Participants: Community-based sample of 2,694 young adults in the United States Methods: The authors compared 3 groups—those not in college with no college degree, 2-year college students/graduates, 4-year college students/graduates—on various smoking measures: ever smoked, smoked in past month, smoked in past week, consider self a smoker, began smoking before age 15, smoked over 100 cigarettes in lifetime, ever tried to quit, and plan to quit in next year. Results: The authors found that for nearly all the smoking measures, the 4-year college group was at lowest risk, the noncollege group was at highest risk, and the 2-year college group represented a midpoint. Differences between groups remain after adjusting for parents’ education and other potential confounding factors. Conclusions: Smoking behaviors clearly differ between the 2-year, 4-year, and no college groups. Interventions should be tailored for each group.     

Development of a Questionnaire to Assess University Students’ Intentions to Use Behavioral Alcohol-Reduction Strategies

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the psychometric properties of a new self-report questionnaire designed to assess college students’ intentions to employ 31 specific alcohol-reduction strategies. Method: Students attending a large public university were recruited to complete alcohol-reduction, drinking history, and personality questionnaires online. Results: Based on item–total correlations and principal components analysis, the authors eliminated 3 items and calculated average intention ratings across the remaining 28 items. The resulting scale had appropriate unidimensionality and excellent internal consistency. Correlations of intention questionnaire scores with measures of drinking history, alcohol outcome expectancies, sensation seeking, and impression management provided some support for criterion and discriminant validity of the questionnaire. Conclusion: This questionnaire could be employed as an outcome measure to evaluate prevention programs and as a clinical tool to identify clients who have little intention to employ drinking reduction strategies in heavy drinking situations.     

Race and Ethnic Differences in Hope and Hopelessness as Moderators of the Association Between Depressive Symptoms and Suicidal Behavior

Abstract

Objective: The authors examined trait hope and hopelessness as potential moderators of the association between depressive symptoms and suicidal behavior. Participants: A diverse sample of 372 college students. Methods: Depressive symptoms, hopelessness (Beck Hopelessness Scale), trait hope (Trait Hope Scale), and suicidal behaviors were assessed. Trait hope is defined as confidence in the ability to identify and attain goals, whereas hopelessness encompasses future attitudes and motivation loss. Results: In independent models, low hopelessness buffered the association between depressive symptoms and suicidal behavior for our whole sample, blacks, and whites, whereas trait hope buffered for Hispanics and whites. Examined simultaneously, hope remained a significant moderator only in whites and hopelessness only in blacks. These findings suggest that etiological and outcome correlates of hope and hopelessness may differ by ethnicity. Conclusions: These findings may have implications for development of culturally targeted interventions for college students that strive to simultaneously reduce hopelessness and bolster hopefulness.     

Sleep Quality and Alcohol Risk in College Students: Examining the Moderating Effects of Drinking Motives

Abstract

Objective: Sleep problems and alcohol misuse are common issues experienced by college students that can have detrimental effects on overall health. Previous work indicates a strong relationship between poor sleep quality and alcohol risk in this population. This study explored the moderating effect of drinking motives in the relationship between global sleep quality and experience of alcohol-related negative consequences. Participants: College students (N = 1,878) who reported past-month drinking. Methods: Participants completed online surveys assessing sleep and alcohol-related behaviors. Results: Poorer sleep quality and higher drinking motives (coping, conformity, and enhancement) predicted greater alcohol-related consequences, controlling for drinking. Further, coping motives moderated the relationship between sleep quality and consequences such that participants reporting poor sleep and high coping motives experienced heightened levels of consequences. Conclusions: These findings advance the understanding of the relationship between sleep problems and alcohol-related risk and provide implications for targeted campus-based health promotion interventions.     

Exploring chlamydia positivity among females on college campuses, 2008–2010

ABSTRACT

Objective: Describe chlamydia positivity among young women tested at college health centers by student characteristics: age, race/ethnicity, and institution type. Participants: During 2008–2010, colleges participating in a national infertility prevention program provided chlamydia testing data from females aged 18–24. Methods: Chlamydia positivity (number of positive tests divided by the number tested) among females stratified by college type (4-year versus 2-year and minority serving institutes [MSIs]) was determined. Results: Chlamydia testing data were provided by 148 colleges: 37 (26%) MSIs and 21 (15%) 2-year colleges. Of the 118,946 chlamydia tests, 6.5% were positive. Chlamydia positivity in females at 4-year colleges was 6.6% versus 5.3% at 2-year colleges (p = .0001). Positivity at MSIs was almost double of that at non-MSIs, 10.0% versus 5.4% (p = .0001). Conclusions: Chlamydia positivity may be higher among college females than previously thought. Higher positivity at MSIs suggests that targeted sexually transmitted infection prevention efforts may be useful for high-risk college populations.