Overcoming barriers to suicide risk management

1. Nurses need to seek consultation if they have difficulties responding therapeutically to suicidal patients because of their religious and other anti-suicide values, uncomfortable feelings, inadequate knowledge, personal experience with suicide, and the weight of professional responsibilities. 2. Staff need to evaluate, document, and communicate patients' suicide risk to the health care team and monitor their suicidal messages and behavior. 3. Communicating inadequate medication or withdrawal symptoms promptly to a physician and following hospital policies about suicide monitoring and prevention, including providing continuous observation and a safe environment, are essential to risk management.     

Sexual assault and alcohol use: exploring the self-medication hypothesis

Though a link between sexual victimization and alcohol use has been well documented, the mechanisms underlying this relationship remain unclear. The current study used path analysis to examine the role of self-reported levels of psychological distress and the function of alcohol use as indirect pathways between adult sexual assault and alcohol use. Participants were 318 undergraduate female victims and nonvictims of adult sexual assault. Results showed that a history of sexual assault was associated with increased psychological distress, which in turn contributed to alcohol use via negative reinforcement. Taken together, these findings provided support for the hypothesis that women who have been sexually assaulted consume alcohol, in part, to self-medicate. The implications for future research are discussed.     

Coital debut: the role of religiosity and sex attitudes in the Add Health Survey

Recent reviews suggest that religiosity is associated with the delay of adolescent coital debut (Rostosky, Wilcox, Wright, Randall, in press; Wilcox, Rostosky, Randall, Wright, 2001). Few studies, however, have examined this association using longitudinal data to test theoretically driven models. We analyzed data from 3,691 adolescents (ages 15-21), testing the hypothesis that adolescent religiosity and sex attitudes (at Wave 1) predict later coital debut (at Wave 2) and that these predictive relationships vary by gender. Findings indicated that beyond demographic factors and number of romantic partners, religiosity reduced the likelihood of coital debut for both males and females. After accounting for the effects of religiosity, anticipation of negative emotions after coital debut (sex attitude factor 1) further reduced its likelihood for females and males. Finally, adolescent girls - but not boys - who anticipated positive emotions following sexual intercourse (sex attitude factor 2) were more likely to debut. While virginity pledge status was associated with coital debut for boys and girls, more conservative beliefs about sex appeared to mediate its effect. Finally, a significant interaction between race and religiosity indicated that African American adolescent males who had either signed a virginity pledge or were more religious were significantly more likely to debut than both White non-Hispanic males and African American males who were less religious and/or who had not signed a pledge. The implications of these results for adolescent pregnancy prevention programming are discussed.     

Violence against women with physical disabilities

This study explored risk factors for violence among a sample of adult women with physical disabilities. Fifty-six percent (100) of the 177 women participating in the study indicated a positive history of abuse. Of the women who reported abuse, most reported multiple abuse situations and abusers who were typically their male partners. In addition, only a small proportion of women sought and received adequate help. Women who indicated that they did not seek help were asked why this was the case. Their responses included: feeling that they could handle it themselves, having other sources of support available, being unaware of where to go, feeling embarrassed, feeling guilty about being a burden or that it was their fault, fear that abuser would come after them, fear of not being believed, and, to a lesser extent, concern that the shelter would lack appropriate accommodations. These findings highlight the importance of intervention strategies including advocacy activities for women with disabilities, activities with schools, activities to deter and prevent partner and caregiver violence, community awareness activities, and dissemination activities.     

The factors affecting a family's plan to change its financial situation

This study investigates the factors involved in changing a family's financial situation for 485 Midwestern households. High income families and those with high home equity levels have a smaller gap between their standards and levels of consumption. High income families are more satisfied with their financial situations than low income families. Those families with a large gap between their standards and levels of consumption are more dissatisfied with their financial situations. Older heads of households have higher satisfaction with their financial situations and are less likely to plan to change them. Large families are less satisfied with their financial situations than small families and are more likely to plan to change them.Sharon M. Danes is Assistant Professor and Family Resource Management Extension Specialist, Family Social Science Department, University of Minnesota, 275F McNeal Hall, 1985 Buford Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55108. Dr. Danes received her Ph.D. from Iowa State University and her current research interests include family management and family financial management.Earl W. Morris is Associate Professor, Department of Design, Housing, and Apparel, University of Minnesota, 368B McNeal Hall, 1985 Buford Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55108. Dr. Morris received his Ph.D. from Cornell University. His current research interests include rural housing.     

Satisfaction and role quality perceptions of farm women employed off the farm

The purpose of the study is to examine the relationships among perceptions of role quality on the farm and in the family, perceived financial need to work off the farm, and satisfaction with the balance of time away from and with family members for 187 employed farm women. Role quality perception variables measure the gap farm women experienced between actual and ideal farm and family roles. The perceived financial need to work is considered a constraint to satisfaction and an influence on role quality. OLS regression is the primary data-analysis technique. Employed farm women with large households are less satisfied with the balance of time away from and with family members. Those employed farm women who perceived a larger gap between their actual and ideal family roles are less satisfied with the balance between time away from and with family members.Her research interests include family decision making, labor force participation of women, and standards and levels of living.Her research interests are family work and environmental values in family decision making.     

Oppositional Consciousness: Its Manifestation and Development. The Case of People with Disabilities*

While resource mobilization theory has advanced our understanding of social movements, two questions require further explanation: (1) How do people come to define their situation as unjust and subject to change through collective action? (2) How is such an “oppositional consciousness” empirically studied? From field research among people with disabilities, I suggest that oppositional consciousness is manifested through the collective actions, symbols, and cultural artifacts constructed by a group. I propose that strong interpersonal ties among group members may not be necessary for an oppositional consciousness to develop. To understand how a dominated group develops an oppositional consciousness, rather than analyzing the strength of its members' social ties, we must examine the context and the nature of these ties: (1) the institutions in which their social interactions typically occur; (2) the socialization process they experience within these institutions; and (3) members' contact with the oppositional ideologies of other dominated groups.     

The Myth of Bodily Perfection

The paper identifies the myth of bodily perfection as one that permeates the dominant culture of late 20th century Western civilization, and points to ways in which the myth supports the creation of an illusory category of people called 'the disabled'. Grounded in an understanding of disability as socially constructed, and drawing on the experiences of women with disabilities, the paper further points to important differences in social expectations depending on whether one has disabilities that are visible or invisible. In discussions of disability, however, disabilities that are not visible are often ignored. It is concluded that this contributes to the widespread denial of disability and is oppressive.