Hunting and social behaviour of leopard seals (Hydrurga leptonyx) at Seal Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica

The hunting behavior of leopard seals Hydrurga leptonyx was monitored opportunistically at Seal Island, South Shetland Islands, during the austral summers from 1986/87 to 1994/95. Leopard seals used several methods to catch Antarctic fur seal pups Arctocephalus gazella and chinstrap penguins Pygoscelis antarctica, and individuals showed different hunting styles and hunting success. One to two leopard seals per year were responsible for an average of 60% of observed captures of fur seal pups. Leopard seals preyed on penguins throughout the summer, but preyed on fur seal pups only between late December and mid-February. Hunting behavior differed significantly between different locations on the island; fur seals were hunted only at one colony, and penguins were hunted in several areas. The relative abundance of prey types, size of prey in relation to predator, and specialization of individual leopard seals to hunt fur seal prey probably influence individual prey preferences among leopard seals. On five occasions, two leopard seals were seen together on Seal Island. Possible interpretations of the relationship between the interacting leopard seals included a mother-offspring relationship, a consorting male-female pair, and an adult leopard seal followed by an unrelated juvenile. In two incidents at Seal Island, two leopard seals were observed interacting while hunting: one seal captured fur seal pups and appeared to release them to the other seal. Observations of leopard seals interacting during hunting sessions were difficult to confirm as co-operative hunting, but they strongly implied that the two seals were not agonistic toward one another. The hunting success of individual leopard seals pursuing penguins or fur seals is probably high enough for co-operative hunting not to become a common hunting strategy; however, it may occur infrequently when it increases the hunting productivity of the seals.

Psychological and Support Characteristics of Parents of Child Sexual Abuse Victims: Relationship with Child Functioning and Treatment

Child sexual abuse continues to be a prevalent and complex problem in today’s society as it poses serious and pervasive mental health risks to child victims and their non-offending parents. The main objectives of this study were (a) to elucidate the psychological symptoms and support needs of parents of child sexual abuse victims as they present to group treatment, (b) to examine changes in psychological symptoms and support needs and their relationship with child functioning over the course of a parallel group treatment, and (c) to examine the impact of these factors on completion of group treatment. Participants included 104 sexually abused youth and their non-offending parent presenting to Project SAFE Group Intervention, a 12-session cognitive-behavioral group treatment for sexually abused children and their non-offending parents. This project had a unique advantage of utilizing a variety of demographic, parent-, and child-report measures, allowing for a more comprehensive examination of change in symptomatology and needs over the course of treatment. Several significant findings were noted, including the identification of four clusters of youth at pre-treatment, which were maintained at post-treatment; elevations on the CTQ Sexual Abuse scale; parents of youth sexually abused by a non-family member had significantly higher PSI-Restriction of Role subscale scores; parental expectations of a negative impact on their child were worse for older children; several parent characteristics predicted client treatment retention (e.g., older parents, lower SCL-90-R GSI scores); and an early age of onset of abuse also increased treatment retention. Future directions, recommendations, and limitations were discussed.

The Quality of Spousal Social Support as a Moderator of the Associations Between Child Maltreatment Severity and Adult Trauma Symptoms

Child maltreatment has been linked to a myriad of long-term difficulties, including trauma symptomatology. However, not all victims experience long-term distress. Thus, a burgeoning area of research focuses on factors that may impede or facilitate resiliency to the psychological correlates of child maltreatment. Specifically, the severity of the abusive acts may be associated with greater long-term difficulties. To date, however, with the exception of child sexual abuse, few studies have examined the severity of maltreatment as a risk factor in the development of trauma symptoms. In contrast, social support has been theorized to contribute to resiliency following abuse. However, to date, the majority of studies examining positive social support as a protective factor have relied on self-report measures of perceived social support, rather than observational measures of received social support. Moreover, no study to date has examined the role that negative social support (i.e, blaming, criticizing) may play in potentiating trauma symptoms among victims of child maltreatment. Because child maltreatment involves serious boundary violations by a trusted person, a marital relationship is an important domain in which to examine these constructs. That is, it may serve as an arena for the manifestation of psychological disturbances related to maltreatment. Thus, the present study examined whether observationally measured positive and negative spousal social support moderated the relationship between child maltreatment severity (i.e., sexual, physical, psychological abuse; neglect) and trauma symptomatology in women and men. Results indicated that the severity of each type of child maltreatment significantly predicted increased adult trauma symptomatology. Contrary to hypothesized outcomes, positive spousal social support did not predict decreased trauma symptomatology. However, negative spousal social support generally did predict increased trauma symptomatology. There were no consistent patterns of interactions between child maltreatment severity and either type of social support. Future directions for research will be discussed and clinical implications with regard to the intrapersonal and interpersonal functioning of child maltreatment victims will be highlighted.