Exercise self-regulation among older women participating in a heart disease-management intervention

Using behavioral self-regulation processes may facilitate exercise among older women with heart disease. Data from women in a heart disease-management program (n = 658, mean 73 years), was used to explore associations among exercise self-regulation components (i.e., choosing to improve exercise and observing, judging, and reacting to one's behavior) and exercise capacity. General linear models showed that choosing exercise predicted higher exercise self-regulation scores postprogram and 8 months later. In turn, these scores predicted greater improvements in exercise capacity concurrently and 8 months later. Interaction analyses revealed that the effect of self-regulation on exercise capacity was stronger among women who chose to work on exercise.     

An Overview of and Rationale for Changes Proposed for Pathological Gambling in DSM-5

The fifth revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) is scheduled for publication in 2013. It will include several changes to the diagnosis of pathological gambling: the name of the disorder will be altered, the threshold for diagnosis will decrease, and one criterion will be removed. This paper reviews the rationale for these changes and addresses how they may impact diagnosis and treatment of the disorder, as well as potential for future research in the field.     

A Social Networks Approach to Public Relations on Twitter: Social Mediators and Mediated Public Relations

This study proposes theoretical and practical frameworks to systematically examine mediated public relations in social media spaces. We applied a social network conceptual framework to identify and characterize social mediators that connect the US State Department with its international public. The results showed that social mediators vary in terms of their formality and interdependence. Formal social mediators were primarily US government agencies while informal social mediators were nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and individuals. Notably, relationships with populations in the Middle East and North Africa were mediated primarily by informal actors, and formal mediators played a key role in connecting the public with everywhere else in the world. Government-related formal mediators and informal social mediators showed similar levels of bilateral relationships. In contrast, news media, the most traditional public relations mediators, were rarely found as social mediators and demonstrated the most unilateral relationships.     

Effects of Gambling-Related Cues on the Activation of Implicit and Explicit Gambling Outcome Expectancies in Regular Gamblers

The current research examined whether the presentation of gambling-related cues facilitates the activation of gambling outcome expectancies using both reaction time (RT) and self-report modes of assessment. Gambling outcome expectancies were assessed by having regular casino or online gamblers (N = 58) complete an outcome expectancy RT task, as well as a self-report measure of gambling outcome expectancies, both before and after exposure to one of two randomly assigned cue conditions (i.e., casino or control video). Consistent with hypotheses, participants exposed to gambling-related cues (i.e., casino cue video condition) responded faster to positive outcome expectancy words preceded by gambling prime relative to non-gambling prime pictures on the post-cue RT task. Similarly, participants in the casino cue video condition self-reported significantly stronger positive gambling outcome expectancies than those in the control cue video condition following cue exposure. Activation of negative gambling outcome expectancies was not observed on either the RT task or self-report measure. The results indicate that exposure to gambling cues activates both implicit and explicit positive gambling outcome expectancies among regular gamblers.     

Pollen specialization by solitary bees in an urban landscape

Many polylectic bee species are known to specialize locally on one or a few pollen types to increase foraging efficiency. What is relatively unknown is how different landscapes influence foraging decisions, and whether habitat alteration, such as that resulting from urbanization, influences broad-scale foraging activities of bees. This study evaluates the type and diversity of pollen collected by two solitary bees that are common in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the native Osmia pumila and the exotic O. caerulescens, sampled in trap nests set up in urban parks and gardens. We found that the dominant pollen in every successful brood cell was either of one widespread, cosmopolitan lawn-invasive plant species (Trifolium repens) or one of two wind-pollinated tree genera (Quercus spp. and Betula spp.). In combination, these three represented more than 90 % of all pollen collected by each bee species. Despite considerable overlap in the dominant pollen types collected by each bee species, the exotic O. caerulescens was significantly more specialized than the native O. pumila. Brood cells with Betula as the dominant pollen type were more pollen species-rich than those cells having Trifolium or Quercus as dominant, perhaps a result of the comparatively low protein content in Betula pollen.     

Intergenerational Remote Exergaming with Family and Friends for Health and Leisure

Global guidelines for physical activity are not being met by most of the world’s youths, adults, and older adults. Family and friends who engage in physical activity across generations derive emotional, social, cognitive, and physical benefits from their interaction. Youths depend on adult assistance to travel long distances, adults are encumbered with obligations to work, and older adults often live more than 200 miles from their extended families. Intergenerational physical activity is difficult because generations are distant and lead busy lifestyles. Remotely played exergames can connect family and friends for intergenerational physical activity. Internet exergaming can help to make physical activity convenient and enjoyable as well as eliminate the effect of distance on playing with family and friends.     

Unemployment,Reemployment, and Health Insurance Status Among Older Workers in the Flexible Labor Market

As employment becomes more precarious, and spells of displacement become more common across the labor market, many individuals are forced to make decisions about the speed at which they seek reemployment and the types of employment they will seek. Using repeated cross‐sectional data from various years of the Displaced Worker Supplement of the Current Population Survey, we examine the degree to which employer‐provided health insurance and organizational provision of advanced layoff warning helped workers—particularly those from earlier birth cohorts—navigate the labor market during a period of growing employment flexibility. Our results indicate that workers from older cohorts, rather than older chronological ages, suffered more from displacement in terms of longer unemployment spells and declines in job quality upon reemployment. Workers able to obtain a job with health insurance had shorter unemployment durations, while those displaced from jobs with health insurance remained unemployed for longer periods of time. Advance notice appears to reduce some of the disproportionately negative effects of displacement for older workers, perhaps by easing the shock of a psychological contract breach. Our findings point to the importance of historical and cultural factors in shaping labor market outcomes.     

The Role of Household Social Organization in the Structure of Rural Economies: Comparing Forest Resource Dependent and Agriculturally Dependent Regions in Russia

Sociologists have examined how structural economic change affects household social organization and generation of household income from different sources. The introduction of elements of a market economy into rural Russia in the early 1990s provides a unique opportunity to examine these relationships. Much of the work on this topic, however, has been conducted in black earth zone, agriculturally dependent regions. Less attention has been given to non‐black‐earth zone, forest resource dependent regions. This article addresses this limitation by comparing the relationships between household income generation strategies and household social organization in a 2009 survey of villages in three forest resource dependent regions in northwest Russia with findings from a 2006 survey of households in nine agricultural regions of Russia. Income generated from enterprises based on household social organization—household labor and social helping networks—is substantially greater in agriculturally dependent than in forest resource dependent regions. We discuss the implications of these findings for understanding intranational regional differences in the relationship between economic systems, household social organization, and rural household economies as well as the obstacles facing policymakers and environmentalists who attempt to shift household income generation strategies away from an environmentally harmful lumber industry to income generation activities that are less harmful to the environment.     

A Cost–Benefit Analysis of a Family Systems Intervention for Managing Pediatric Chronic Illness

Despite recent increases of psychosocial programs for pediatric chronic illness, few studies have explored their economic benefits. This study investigated the costs–benefits of a family systems‐based, psychosocial intervention for pediatric chronic illness (MEND: Mastering Each New Direction). A quasi‐prospective study compared the 12‐month pre–post direct and indirect costs of 20 families. The total cost for program was estimated to $5,320. Families incurred $15,249 less in direct and $15,627 less in indirect costs after MEND. On average, medical expenses reduced by 86% in direct and indirect costs, for a cost–benefit ratio of 0.17. Therefore, for every dollar spent on the program, families and their third payers saved approximately $5.74. Implications for healthcare policy and reimbursements are discussed.