Factors That Differentiate Distressed and Nondistressed Marriages in Army Soldiers

Data from U.S. Army soldiers (N = 697) were analyzed to determine the factors that differentiate distressed from nondistressed relationships. Results show that most soldiers had relationship satisfaction scores that categorized them as nondistressed. In addition, soldiers in dual-military marriages had relationship satisfaction scores similar to those of soldiers in military-civilian marriages. Finally, several variables including rank, relocation status, relationship length, and relationship status differentiated distressed from nondistressed relationships. Implications for intervention programming and future research directions are discussed.     

Denied and disputed paternity in teenage pregnancy: topical structural analysis of case studies of young women from the Eastern Cape Province

There is a systematic absence of studies of denied paternity as experienced by young women in South Africa. This phenomenon is mentioned in publications as if it were a minor inconvenience that should be accepted by those affected. This paper is based on the topical structural analysis of case studies whose narratives were collected using face-to-face, semi-structured interviews conducted in a small rural town in the Eastern Cape province in South Africa. The findings show that denial and disputes of pregnancy by the participants’ boyfriends took different forms. The men implicated temporised by expressing disbelief about the news of the pregnancy, relocating and rejecting responsibility. Participants believed that denial of their pregnancy was a punishment for being careless, not taking contraceptives and falling pregnant. Constant worry from the unresolved paternity left the participants distressed. Resolution in most cases was not, as expected, followed by the man honouring payment of compensation. Reliable means of ascertaining paternity, other than paternal resemblance, such as DNA testing, should be made affordable and accessible in public health facilities to facilitate quicker recourse.     

Psychological Distress and Related Factors in Female College Students

Abstract

Objective: This study assessed the psychological distress in Spanish college women and analyzed it in relation to sociodemographic and academic factors. Participants and Methods: The authors selected a stratified random sampling of 1,043 college women (average age of 22.2 years). Sociodemographic and academic information were collected, and psychological distress was assessed with the Symptom Checklist-90–Revised. Results: This sample of college women scored the highest on the depression dimension and the lowest on the phobic anxiety dimension. The sample scored higher than women of the general population on the dimensions of obsessive-compulsive, interpersonal sensitivity, paranoid ideation, psychoticism, and on the Global Severity Index. Scores in the sample significantly differed based on age, relationship status, financial independence, year of study, and area of study. Conclusion: The results indicated an elevated level of psychological distress among college women, and therefore college health services need to devote more attention to their mental health.     

Over-the-Counter Medication and Herbal or Dietary Supplement Use in College: Dose Frequency and Relationship to Self-Reported Distress

Objective: A growing number of researchers have examined the use of over-the-counter (OTC) medications and herbal or dietary supplements among college students. There is concern about the efficacy and safety of these products, particularly because students appear to use them at a higher rate than does the general public. Participants and Methods: The authors administered surveys to college students (N = 201) to assess the frequency of use in the past week. Results: A substantial percentage reported using OTC medications (74.1%), herbal or dietary supplements (70.6%), or both concurrently (61.2%). Dose frequency of OTC medications was the best predictor of self-reported emotional distress in the past week. Higher doses of products containing pseudoephedrine or valerian were associated with self-reported anxiety. Conclusions: These data further reflect an increasing trend toward self-medication among college students. Investigators must conduct reliability and validity studies to evaluate the clinical utility of the measurement tool developed in this study.     

农村失独者的心理困境——基于江苏省若干案例的讨论

以结构主义建构论的理论视角,考察农村失独者心理困境产生的结构性原因和主体建构。因果报应信仰下的“指指点点”、社会安全网缺失的老年生活想象、生育底线下的“身后事”、农村熟人社会性质等构成了农村失独者对失独意义建构的结构性背景,其长时间且激烈的心理困境是失独意义建构的产物。农村失独者心理困境的出路,在于通过“同命人”的联谊互助,形成非正式社会网络,获得精神性社会支持,从而促进农村失独者的心理困境缓解和社会再融入。     

Neighborhood distress and school dropout: the variable significance of community context

Although a substantial body of recent research has examined the impact of neighborhood socioeconomic distress on youth socioeconomic attainment and urban social dislocations, few studies have determined under what conditions, and for what types of adolescents, neighborhood characteristics matter most. Drawing on theories of collective socialization, social capital, and social control, we develop hypotheses regarding the conditional nature of neighborhood effects on the risk of dropping out of high school, and we then test these hypotheses by estimating event history models based on data from the 1968–1993 waves of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. We find that, among African Americans, the detrimental impact of neighborhood socioeconomic distress on school dropout has increased significantly over the past quarter-century, a probable repercussion of the increasing geographic concentration of urban poverty. The negative effect of neighborhood distress on high school completion is particularly pronounced among black adolescents from single-parent households and among white adolescents from low-income families, results broadly consistent with Wilson’s claim that exposure to neighborhood poverty reinforces the damaging consequences of individual disadvantage. Supporting the social capital perspective, among both black and white adolescents the deleterious impact of neighborhood distress on school dropout is stronger for recent in-movers than for long-term residents. The impact of neighborhood disadvantage also varies significantly by gender for both racial groups and, among whites, is stronger for younger than older adolescents. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of these findings for theories of neighborhood effects.     

企业财务困境预警模型分析

借鉴国内外已经比较成熟的研究成果,将中国上市公司因财务状况异常而被特别处理（ST）作为企业陷入财务困境的标志,采用主成分分析方法确定模型变量,并利用Logit回归建立财务困境预警模型;然后用财务困境企业样本数据进行分析,并与财务正常企业的数据进行比较。分析结论表明,财务指标包含了预测财务困境的有用信息。     

宏观经济因素对企业财务困境风险的影响

从理论上看,整体的经济环境、通货膨胀水平、货币供应量、利率、汇率以及资本市场变量等宏观经济变量对企业财务困境风险有着不同方向和程度的影响。运用向量自回归、结构向量自回归模型、脉冲响应函数以及方差分解进行实证检验,结果表明国民生产总值、M2与财务困境风险程度负相关,实际利率水平与财务困境风险正相关,而通货膨胀水平、汇率与资本市场变量对财务困境的影响并不显著。     

An Evolutionary Psychological Investigation of Parental Distress and Reproductive Coercion During the “Coming Out” of Gay Sons

The lack of success of the “coming out” studies over the last three decades to explain and predict parental responses has motivated an evolutionary psychological reconceptualization. According to this reconceptualization, it was predicted that (a) biological mothers would experience more distress and apply more pressure on gay sons to change than would biological fathers and; (b) obligate investment for fathers on dependent sons would cause fathers to experience more distress and apply more pressure on gay sons to change than it would fathers without this obligate investment. In contrast, a cultural-norm hypothesis predicted that fathers would experience more distress and apply more pressure on gay sons to change than mothers. The majority of predictions were tested using 787 participants from two-biological parent families, who were drawn from a total sample of 891 participants from various family backgrounds. As predicted by the evolutionary hypothesis, biological mothers were reported to have been more distressed and coercive than biological fathers, in spite of a strong, societal expectation to the contrary. Furthermore, the results supported the obligate investment argument for paternal reactions. The model not only correctly explained and predicted parental behavior during coming out, but also was shown to unify within its theoretical framework discrepant results from the literature previously considered inconsistent.