Mental Health and Clinical Correlates in Lesbian,Gay, Bisexual,and Queer Young Adults

Abstract

Objective: This study examined the prevalence of mental health disorders and their clinical correlates in a university sample of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer (LGBQ) students. Participants: College students at a large public university. Methods: An anonymous, voluntary survey was distributed via random e-mail generation to university students during April and May of 2011. LGBQ students were compared with their heterosexual counterparts on psychological and physical status as well as academic performance. Results: LGBQ students reported worse depressive symptoms, higher levels of perceived stress, considered themselves less attractive, and were more likely to be overweight. LGBQ students were significantly more likely to report histories of affective, substance use, and certain anxiety disorders as well as compulsive sexual behavior and compulsive buying. Conclusions: The higher rates of many psychiatric conditions among LGBQ students underscore the need for universities to provide LGBQ students a nonjudgmental environment to discuss sexual orientation and health issues.     

Two-stage chain sampling plans chsp-(0,2) and chsp-(l,2) - part 1

This article outlines the structure of a generalized family of two-stage chain sampling plans, extending the concept of two-stage chain sampling plans of Dodge and Stephens (1966) which is an extension of the original work of Dodge (1955). Expressions are derived for the OC curves for two-stage chain sampling plans with (c₁,c₂) = (0,2) and (1,2). In the original work of Dodge (1955) only acceptance numbers of 0,1 were used and in the extension work of Dodge and Stephens (1966) acceptance numbers of (c₁,c₂) = (0,1), (0,2), (1,2), (0,3), (1,3), (0,4) and (1,4) were used with selected sets of values of k₁ and k₂ (the number of lots considered for cumulation in the first and second stage respectively). In this paper the OC curves are derived more generally for any k₁ and k₂combination for two-stage chain sampling plans with (c₁,c₂) = (0,2) and (1,2) and comparisons are made with respect to sample sizes and discriminating power, with the corresponding single and double sampling plans.     

Enhancing the Career Development of Individuals Who Have Criminal Records

Large numbers of individuals are involved in the criminal justice system. Upon release, most have difficulty finding employment and stabilizing economic resources, which contribute to recidivism. To date, the role of work in the lives of ex‐offenders has virtually been ignored in the vocational literature. The purpose of this article is to increase awareness of this group by highlighting vocational implications of having a criminal record; reviewing existing interventions demonstrated to be beneficial (e.g., teaching skills prior to release, restorative justice interventions); and providing suggestions to more readily include this group in future practice, research, and policy.     

An Empirical Model of Perceived Mortality Risks for Selected U.S. Arsenic Hot Spots

Researchers have long recognized that subjective perceptions of risk are better predictors of choices over risky outcomes than science‐based or experts’ assessments of risk. More recent work suggests that uncertainty about risks also plays a role in predicting choices and behavior. In this article, we develop and estimate a formal model for an individual's perceived health risks associated with arsenic contamination of his or her drinking water. The modeling approach treats risk as a random variable, with an estimable probability distribution whose variance reflects uncertainty. The model we estimate uses data collected from a survey given to a sample of people living in arsenic‐prone areas in the United States. The findings from this article support the fact that scientific information is essential to explaining the mortality rate perceived by the individuals, but uncertainty about the probability remains significant.     

Erectile dysfunction is strongly linked with decreased libido in diabetic men

Erectile dysfunction frequently occurs with diabetes mellitus. A survey of diabetic men was conducted by anonymous questionnaire to investigate the associations of erectile dysfunction with various predictive factors. A total of 112 diabetic males without an obvious history of erectile dysfunction were available for analyses. The mean age and duration of diabetes were 53.7?±?12.2 years and 10.2?±?8.6 years (mean?±?standard deviation), respectively. The questionnaire included questions on the presence or absence of smoking, hypertension, libido and subjective symptoms of diabetic neuropathy that may be associated with erectile dysfunction. Analysis of the answers to the questionnaire revealed that 40% of the patients complained of erectile dysfunction (erection ‘always insufficient’). Erectile dysfunction was significantly correlated with age (p?=?0.005), but not with duration of diabetes (p?=?0.25), adjusted for age. Erectile dysfunction was also associated with sensory neuropathy and reduced libido, independently of age. The logistic regression analysis revealed that erectile dysfunction was positively associated with reduced libido and age. The odds ratio of erectile dysfunction for reduced compared to unreduced libido was 18.21, suggesting that psychogenic factors have a marked influence on erectile dysfunction. It is concluded that the presence of erectile dysfunction should be considered when symptoms related to diabetic neuropathy are observed; psychological approaches, such as sexual counseling, could be applied for the treatment of erectile dysfunction.     

Interpretation and the Therapeutic Relationship: An Attempt at Integration

The term integrative psychotherapy can have a range of meanings. It can refer to integration between therapeutic approaches grounded in different theoretical frameworks as exemplified in Wachtel’s (Psychoanalysis and behavior therapy: toward an integration. Basic Books, New York, 1977) Psychoanalysis and Behavior Therapy. Many therapists informally practice this sort of integration when, in response to problems and issues presented by the patient, they intuitively borrow from a variety of approaches in their clinical work. Therapeutic integration can also refer to attempts at integration within a single broad therapeutic approach such as psychoanalytic or psychodynamic. This is the direction I will take in this article. My goal in this paper is to contribute to the possibility of integration among different theoretical approaches within psychoanalysis in a delimited area. The delimited area that I will focus on is the tension between an emphasis on interpretation and insight versus an emphasis on the therapeutic relationship as the primary agent of therapeutic change. Rather than an “either-or” position, I will show that integrating theories about both aspects of this process leads to a richer, more complex picture of what happens in psychodynamically-informed therapy.     

Exact likelihood inference for Laplace distribution based on Type-II censored samples

We develop exact inference for the location and scale parameters of the Laplace (double exponential) distribution based on their maximum likelihood estimators from a Type-II censored sample. Based on some pivotal quantities, exact confidence intervals and tests of hypotheses are constructed. Upon conditioning first on the number of observations that are below the population median, exact distributions of the pivotal quantities are expressed as mixtures of linear combinations and of ratios of linear combinations of standard exponential random variables, which facilitates the computation of quantiles of these pivotal quantities. Tables of quantiles are presented for the complete sample case.     

Deconstructing maternal sensitivity: Predictive relations to mother‐child attachment in home and laboratory settings

Despite the well‐documented importance of parental sensitivity for child development, there is a lack of consensus regarding how best to assess it. We investigated the factor structure of maternal caregiving behavior as assessed at 12 months by the Maternal Behavior Q‐Sort (Pederson & Moran) with 274 mother‐infant dyads. Subsequently, we examined associations between these empirically‐derived dimensions and child attachment, assessed in the home and laboratory (final N = 157). Three dimensions of maternal behavior were identified, corresponding fairly closely to Ainsworth's original scales. They were labeled Cooperation/Attunement, Positivity, and Accessibility/Availability. Only Cooperation/Attunement consistently predicted home‐based attachment at 15 months and 2 years, and at comparable strength to the overall sensitivity score, suggesting that this construct may be central to sensitivity. At 18 months, compared to their primarily secure counterparts, different types of laboratory‐assessed insecure attachment were associated with different patterns of maternal behavior. Mothers in avoidant relationships (n = 18) were low on Cooperation/Attunement and Accessibility/Availability, but fairly high on Positivity. Mothers of disorganized infants (n = 11) were Cooperative/Attuned but somewhat less Positive toward, and less Accessible/Available to, their infants. A multidimensional approach to parental behavior may facilitate the identification of parenting precursors of insecure parent‐child relationships.