Marital split-up and widowhood in old age: Differential impact on psychological and social well-being

Marital split-up and spousal loss are among the most stressful critical life events. Numerous studies have documented their detrimental effects on well-being, yet the large individual differences in psychological adaptation are still not well understood. Whereas in old age bereavement is normative and can be anticipated, divorce is an “off-time” transition for this age group. In contrast to bereavement which has been amply studied, research on later life divorce is still missing despite the increasing relevance of the topic due to the significant increase of divorces in older age. Based on a modified and extended view of Amato’s divorce-stress-adjustment model (2000), the aim of this contribution is to explore the differential impact of marital split-up and widowhood in older age on psychological (life satisfaction) and social well-being (social loneliness), and the adaptation to these critical life events. Our analyses are based on data gathered in a questionnaire study, which is part of the Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research LIVES. In a first step we compared three groups of individuals aged 60 to 75 years: a sample of 251 persons with a marital split-up (127 women; 123 men), a sample of 270 widowed persons (170 women; 100 men), and a group of 221 continuously married people (110 women; 111 men), which served as control group. In a second step, we investigated the role of socio-demographic variables, intrapersonal and interpersonal resources and variables of the context of loss as predictors for the psychological adaptation to a marital break-up and loss in old age. First results by ANCOVA indicate significant differences with regard to life satisfaction among the three groups, with divorced persons with the lowest scores, followed by the bereaved ones, and the married controls with the highest. Regarding social loneliness, divorced individuals report higher social loneliness than the bereaved group and the married controls (no significant difference between widowed and the married). In both loss groups, financial and intrapersonal resources, as well as the emotional valence of the loss are the most important predictors for the psychological and social adaptation. However, happiness in the past relationship is an important resource regarding the indicators for adaptation for the widowers, but not for individuals with a marital dissolution.

In Search of Political Influence: Strategic Choices and Media Coverage of Political Parties, Interest Groups and Social Movements in Western European Countries

Outside lobbying is a key strategy for social movements, interest groups and political parties for mobilising public opinion through the media in order to pressure policymakers and influence the policymaking process. Relying on semi-structured interviews and newspaper content analysis in six Western European countries, this article examines the use of four outside lobbying strategies – media-related activities, informing (about) the public, mobilisation and protest – and the amount of media coverage they attract. While some strategies are systematically less pursued than others, we find variation in their relative share across institutional contexts and actor types. Given that most of these differences are not accurately mirrored in the media, we conclude that media coverage is only loosely connected to outside lobbying behaviour, and that the media respond differently to a given strategy when used by different actors. Thus, the ability of different outside lobbying strategies to generate media coverage critically depends on who makes use of them.

Scent-marking behaviour and social dynamics in a wild population of Eurasian lynx Lynx lynx.

Scent-marking is widespread among mammals and has been observed in many felid species. Although the behaviour is well-described, little is known about its function in wild felid populations. We investigated patterns of scent-marking and its role in intra- and intersexual communication among resident and non-resident Eurasian lynx Lynx lynx by observing interactions among wild lynx at natural marking sites by means of infrared camera traps. Marking activity of resident animals showed a peak during the mating season and was lowest during the time when females gave birth and lactated. Both sexes scent-marked, but male lynx visited marking sites much more often than females and marked relatively more often when visiting a site. Most visits to marking sites were by residents but we also observed scent-marking by non-residents. Juveniles were never observed marking. We found no evidence of lynx regularly renewing scent-marks after a certain 'expiry date' but the presence of a strange scent-mark triggered over-marking. Males responded similarly to the presence of another individual's scent-mark, irrespective of whether it was the top- or the underlying scent-mark in a mixture of scent-marks they encountered. Our results suggest that marking sites could serve as 'chemical bulletin boards', where male lynx advertise their presence and gain information on ownership relationships in a given area. Females placed their urine marks on top of the ones left by resident males, but further studies are needed to explain the functions of over-marking in females.

Improving the dependability of research in personality and social psychology: Recommendations for research and educational practice

In this article, the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) Task Force on Publication and Research Practices offers a brief statistical primer and recommendations for improving the dependability of research. Recommendations for research practice include (a) describing and addressing the choice of N (sample size) and consequent issues of statistical power, (b) reporting effect sizes and 95% confidence intervals (CIs), (c) avoiding “questionable research practices” that can inflate the probability of Type I error, (d) making available research materials necessary to replicate reported results, (e) adhering to SPSP’s data sharing policy, (f) encouraging publication of high-quality replication studies, and (g) maintaining flexibility and openness to alternative standards and methods. Recommendations for educational practice include (a) encouraging a culture of “getting it right,” (b) teaching and encouraging transparency of data reporting, (c) improving methodological instruction, and (d) modeling sound science and supporting junior researchers who seek to “get it right.”

Disclosure attitudes and social acknowledgement as predictors of posttraumatic stress disorder symptom severity in Chinese and German crime victims

Objective: Only rare data exist comparing cross-cultural aspects of civilian traumatization. We compared prevalence rates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in German and Chinese crime victims, and investigated the cross-cultural effect of 2 interpersonal predictors. Method: German (n = 151) and Chinese (n = 144) adult crime victims were assessed several months postcrime. The parallel questionnaire set assessed PTSD symptom severity, disclosure attitudes, social acknowledgement, and demographic and crime characteristics. Results: German and Chinese participants differed significantly in their PTSD symptom severity. However, in both samples, disclosure attitudes and social acknowledgement predicted PTSD symptom severity with a similar strength, in addition to the effects of other PTSD predictors. Conclusions: The results suggest that interpersonal variables are predictors of PTSD symptom severity in both cultures and should be included in etiologic models of PTSD.

A common mechanism underlying food choice and social decisions

People make numerous decisions every day including perceptual decisions such as walking through a crowd, decisions over primary rewards such as what to eat, and social decisions that require balancing own and others’ benefits. The unifying principles behind choices in various domains are, however, still not well understood. Mathematical models that describe choice behavior in specific contexts have provided important insights into the computations that may underlie decision making in the brain. However, a critical and largely unanswered question is whether these models generalize from one choice context to another. Here we show that a model adapted from the perceptual decision-making domain and estimated on choices over food rewards accurately predicts choices and reaction times in four independent sets of subjects making social decisions. The robustness of the model across domains provides behavioral evidence for a common decision-making process in perceptual, primary reward, and social decision making.