Hispanic Adolescents With Severe Substance Abuse Issues: Parental Involvement, Acculturation-Related Factors and Attachment

The main objective of the study was to investigate the relationship between parent-related, acculturation-related, and substance use-related variables found within individual, familial/parental, peer and school adolescent ecological domains, in a clinical sample (i.e. adolescents who met criteria for a Diagnostic Statistical Manual-IV [DSM-IV] clinical diagnosis of substance abuse/dependence) of Hispanic adolescents from Miami, Florida. The sample for this study consisted of 94 adolescent-mother pairs. The adolescent sample was 65% male, and 35% female, with a mean age of 15 years. More than half of the adolescents were born in the United States (60%) and had resided in the U.S. for an average of 12 years; 80% of the caregivers (primarily mothers) were foreign-born and lived in the U.S. for an average of 21 years. Correlation and hierarchical regression were used to answer the research questions. The findings indicate that the hypothesized model and corresponding anticipated effect of the relationship between parental school and peer involvement on adolescents’ frequency of alcohol, marijuana and cocaine use was not supported by the data. Parental “acculturation-related” variables did not explain any of the variance in adolescent substance use frequency in this sample. Mediation and moderation models were not supported either. However, some interesting relationships were found: The larger the acculturation gap, the lower the parental involvement in school tended to be (r = -.21, p < .05). Adolescents who experienced a greater acculturation gap with their parents (-.81, p >.01) had an earlier onset of marijuana (-.33, p < .01) and cocaine use (r = -.24, p .05), they also reported using marijuana more frequently than females (.21, p >.05).

The Effects of Peer Teaching of Infant Massage on General Self-Efficacy and Mother Infant Attachment Among Mothers in a Residential Rehabilitation Facility for Drug Addiction and Substance Abuse

Approximately 200 million people, 5% aged 15-64 worldwide are illicit drug or substance abusers (World Drug Report, 2006). Between 2002 and 2005, an average of 8.2% of 12 year olds and older in the Miami, Fort Lauderdale metropolitan areas used illicit drugs (SAMHSA, 2007). Eight percent of pregnant women, aged 15 to 25, were more likely to have used illicit drugs during pregnancy than pregnant women aged 26 to 44. Alcohol use was 9.8% and cigarette use was 18% for pregnant women aged 15 to 44 (SAMHSA, 2005). Approximately a quarter of annual birth defects are attributed to the exposure of drugs or substance abuse in utero (General Accounting Office, 1991). Physical, psychological and emotional challenges may be present for the illicit drug/substance abuse (ID/SA) mother and infant placing them at a disadvantage early in their relationship (Shonkoff & Marshall, 1990). Mothers with low self efficacy have insecurely attached infants (Donovan, Leavitt, & Walsh, 1987). As the ID/SA mother struggles with wanting to be a good parent, education is needed to help her care for her infant. In this experimental study residential rehabilitating ID/SA mothers peer taught infant massage. Massage builds bonding/attachment between mother and infant (Reese & Storm, 2008) and peer teaching is effective because participants have faced similar challenges and speak the same language (Boud, Cohen, & Sampson 2001). Quantitative data were collected using the General Self-Efficacy and Maternal Attachment Inventory-Revised Scale before and after the 4-week intervention program. A reported result of this study was that empowering ID/SA mothers increased their self-efficacy, which in turn allowed the mothers to tackle challenges encountered and created feelings of being a fit mother to their infants. This research contributes to the existing database promoting evidence-based practice in drug rehabilitation centers. Healthcare personnel, such as nurse educators and maternal-child health practitioners, can develop programs in drug rehabilitation centers that cultivate an environment where the ID/SA rehabilitating mothers can peer teach each other, while creating a support system. Using infant massage as a therapeutic tool can develop a healthy infant and nurture a more positive relationship between mother and infant.

The use of a magnetic attachment in a removable partial denture of a patient with periodontal tissue loss

O uso dos magnetos em prótese parcial removível é uma alternativa viável para eliminar a estrutura metálica que pode interferir na estética sem perder retenção e estabilidade. Os magnetos podem ser recomendados para pacientes com perda de tecido periodontal, desde que eles diminuam a transmissão de forças ao dente remanescente. O objetivo deste relato de caso clínico foi apresentar uma alternativa de tratamento protético para dentes pilares comprometidos periodontalmente e descrever as vantagens e desvantagens do uso dos magnetos em prótese parcial removível sobre os pontos de vista funcionais, biológicos e estéticos.

Attachment, psychological functioning, and resilience within the street involved youth populations: describing youth who access community agency support

Youth homelessness is defined within the literature as youth who have left their homes and are living independent of parental figures and/or caregivers, have no stable residence or source of income, and lack access to the supports needed to make the challenging transition into adulthood (Canadian Observatory on Homelessness, 2015). Previous research studying homeless (or street-involved) youth has primarily focused on risk factors hindering the development of this population, and has largely ignored resilience, coping, and help-seeking behaviours. The current study examined the attachment styles (both categorically and dimensionally), psychological functioning, resilience, and help-seeking behaviours in street-involved youth of St. John’s, Newfoundland. Face-to face interviews were completed over a four-month period with 63 youth (42 males, 21 females) aged 15-29 (Mage = 20.00), recruited from a local community organization providing outreach services to street-involved youth. Results revealed the disproportionate struggles of the street-involved youth population, and highlighted higher levels of attachment insecurity, psychological distress and lower resilience compared to normative peers. Findings also showed a significant difference in psychological functioning, overall resilience, and emotional reactivity based on individual attachment style. In an exploratory model of help-seeking, a positive relationship was found between overall resilience (defined as a sense of mastery and sense of relatedness) and frequency of community service access. However, contrary to predictions, no relationships were found between frequency of community service access and attachment, psychological functioning, or emotional reactivity. Implications of the present findings in development of interventions for street-involved youth are discussed, in addition to strengths and limitations of the present research, and suggested areas of future inquiry.

Mellow Parenting : systematic review and meta-analysis of an intervention to promote sensitive parenting

Acknowledgements For part of the preparation period for this article, AM was supported by an NHS Research Scotland Career Research Fellowship. AM, LT, and PW have been involved in previous research into Mellow Parenting as well as other parenting programmes and have collaborated with the Mellow Parenting charity. PW has had travel and subsistence expenses reimbursed for attendance at a Mellow Parenting conference; otherwise the authors have not received financial recompense for any of these activities. We thank the Mellow Parenting charity for their advice about conducting this review.

Mellow Parenting : systematic review and meta-analysis of an intervention to promote sensitive parenting

Acknowledgements For part of the preparation period for this article, AM was supported by an NHS Research Scotland Career Research Fellowship. AM, LT, and PW have been involved in previous research into Mellow Parenting as well as other parenting programmes and have collaborated with the Mellow Parenting charity. PW has had travel and subsistence expenses reimbursed for attendance at a Mellow Parenting conference; otherwise the authors have not received financial recompense for any of these activities. We thank the Mellow Parenting charity for their advice about conducting this review.

From ‘poor parenting’ to micro-management:coalition governance and the sponsorship of arm’s-length bodies in the United Kingdom, 2010–13

The delegation of public tasks to arm’s-length bodies remains a central feature of contemporary reform agendas within both developed and developing countries. The role and capacity of political and administrative principals (i.e. ministers and departments of state) to control the vast network of arm’s-length bodies for which they are formally responsible is therefore a critical issue within and beyond academe. In the run-up to the 2010 General Election in the United Kingdom, the ‘quango conundrum’ emerged as an important theme and all three major parties committed themselves to shift the balance of power back towards ministers and sponsor departments. This article presents the results of the first major research project to track and examine the subsequent reform process. It reveals a stark shift in internal control relationships from the pre-election ‘poor parenting’ model to a far tighter internal situation that is now the focus of complaints by arm’s-length bodies of micro-management. This shift in the balance of power and how it was achieved offers new insights into the interplay between different forms of governance and has significant theoretical and comparative relevance. Points for practitioners: For professionals working in the field of arm’s-length governance, the article offers three key insights. First, that a well-resourced core executive is critical to directing reform given the challenges of implementing reform in a context of austerity. Second, that those implementing reform will also need to take into account the diverse consequences of centrally imposed reform likely to result in different departments with different approaches to arm’s-length governance. Third, that reforming arm’s-length governance can affect the quality of relationships, and those working in the field will need to mitigate these less tangible challenges to ensure success.

Putting together phylogenetic and ontogenetic perspectives on empathy.

The ontogeny of human empathy is better understood with reference to the evolutionary history of the social brain. Empathy has deep evolutionary, biochemical, and neurological underpinnings. Even the most advanced forms of empathy in humans are built on more basic forms and remain connected to core mechanisms associated with affective communication, social attachment, and parental care. In this paper, we argue that it is essential to consider empathy within a neurodevelopmental framework that recognizes both the continuities and changes in socioemotional understanding from infancy to adulthood. We bring together neuroevolutionary and developmental perspectives on the information processing and neural mechanisms underlying empathy and caring, and show that they are grounded in multiple interacting systems and processes. Moreover, empathy in humans is assisted by other abstract and domain-general high-level cognitive abilities such as executive functions, mentalizing and language, as well as the ability to differentiate another's mental states from one's own, which expand the range of behaviors that can be driven by empathy.

Opening Basement Membrane Gaps During C. elegans Uterine-Vulval Attachment

The basement membrane (BM) is a highly conserved form of extracellular matrix that underlies or surrounds and supports most animal tissues. BMs are crossed by cells during various remodeling events in development, immune surveillance, or during cancer metastasis. Because BMs are dense and not easily penetrable, most of these cells must open a gap in order to facilitate their migration. The mechanisms by which cells execute these changes are poorly understood. A developmental event that requires the opening of a BM gap is C. elegans uterine-vulval connection. The anchor cell (AC), a specialized uterine cell, creates a de novo BM gap. Subsequent widening of the BM gap involves the underlying vulval precursor cells (VPCs) and the π cells, uterine neighbors of the AC through non-proteolytic BM sliding. Using forward and reverse genetic screening, transcriptome profiling, and live-cell imaging, I investigated how the cells in these tissues accomplish BM gap formation. In Chapter 2, I identify two potentially novel regulators of BM breaching, isolated through a large-scale forward genetic screen and characterize the invasion defect in these mutants. In Chapter 3, I describe single-cell transcriptome sequencing of the invasive AC. In Chapter 4, I describe the role of the π cells in opening the nascent BM gap. A complete developmental pathway for this process has been elucidated: the AC induces the π fate through Notch signaling, after which the π cells upregulate the Sec14 family protein CTG-1, which in turn restricts the trafficking of DGN-1 (dystroglycan), a laminin receptor, allowing the BM to slide. Chapter 5 outlines the implications of these discoveries.

An evaluation of the implications of the best interests of the child principle in the context of same-sex parenting in Ireland

Same-sex parenting is by no means a new phenomenon but the legal recognition and acceptance of gay and lesbian couples as parents is a relatively recent development in most countries. Traditionally, such recognition has been opposed on the basis of the claim that the best interests of children could not be met by gay and lesbian parents. This thesis examines the validity of this argument and it explores the true implications of the best interests principle in this context. The objective is to move away from subjective or moral conceptions of the best interests principle to an understanding which is informed by relevant sociological and psychological data and which is guided by reference to the rights contained in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Using this perspective, the thesis addresses the overarching issue of whether the law should offer legal recognition and protection to gay and lesbian families and the more discrete matter of how legal protection should be provided. It is argued that the best interests principle can be used to demand that same-sex parenting arrangements should be afforded legal recognition and protection. Suggestions are also presented as to the most appropriate manner of providing for this recognition. In this regard, guidance is drawn from the English and South African experience in this area. Overall, the objective is to assess the current laws from the perspective of the best interests principle so as to ensure that the law operates in a manner which adheres to the rights and interests of children.

Maternal-Fetal Attachment and Health Behaviors among Women with HIV/AIDS

Background: Mothers with HIV often face personal and environmental risks for poor maternal health behaviors and infant neglect, even when HIV transmission to the infant was prevented. Maternal-fetal attachment (MFA), the pre-birth relationship of a woman with her fetus, may be the precursor to maternal caregiving. Using the strengths perspective in social work, which embeds MFA within a socio-ecological conceptual framework, it is hypothesized that high levels of maternal-fetal attachment may protect mothers and infants against poor maternal health behaviors. Objective: To assess whether MFA together with history of substance use, living marital status, planned pregnancy status, and timing of HIV diagnosis predict three desirable maternal health behaviors (pregnancy care, adherence to prenatal antiretroviral therapy–ART, and infant’s screening clinic care) among pregnant women with HIV/AIDS. Method: Prospective observation and hypothesis-testing multivariate analyses. Over 17 consecutive months, all eligible English- or Spanish-speaking pregnant women with HIV ( n = 110) were approached in the principal obstetric and screening clinics in Miami-Dade County, Florida at 24 weeks’ gestation; 82 agreed to enroll. During three data collection periods from enrollment until 16 weeks after childbirth (range: 16 to 32 weeks), participants reported on socio-demographic and predictor variables, MFA, and pregnancy care. Measures of adherence to ART and infant care were extracted from medical records. Findings: Sociodemographic, pregnancy, and HIV disease characteristics in this sample suggest changes in the makeup of HIV-infected pregnant women parallel to the evolution of the HIV epidemic in the USA over the past two decades. The MFA model predicted maternal health behaviors for pregnancy care (R2 = .37), with MFA, marital living status, and planned pregnancy status independently contributing ( = .50, = .28, = .23, respectively). It did not predict adherence to ART medication or infant care. Relevance: These findings provide the first focused evidence of the protective role of MFA against poor maternal health behaviors among pregnant women with HIV, in the presence of adverse life circumstances. Social desirability biases in some self-report measures may limit the findings. Suggestions are made for orienting future inquiry on maternal health behaviors during childbirth toward relationship and protection.

Sleep Quality as a Mediator of the Relationship Between Attachment Anxiety and Health Outcomes During Romantic Conflict

Attachment anxiety, or a fear of abandonment by those close to you, is an important predictor of many individual and interpersonal outcomes. Individuals high in attachment anxiety are more likely to experience physical illness due to disrupted immune functioning and deregulated stress responses. I was interested in examining potential mechanisms accounting for why individuals high in attachment anxiety are more likely to become ill. One variable that has been demonstrated to mediate the relationship between stress and health is sleep quality. As attachment anxiety is characterized by the experience of stress and worry over abandonment by romantic partners, I predicted sleep quality would mediate the relationship between attachment anxiety and health. Further, I predicted attachment anxiety would interact with romantic threat, in that individuals high in attachment anxiety who perceive threat to their relationships would have poor sleep quality (compared with individuals low in attachment anxiety and individuals high in anxiety who do not perceive threat) which would mediate the most unhealthy outcomes. I tested these hypotheses using three online diary studies. In the first two studies, participants completed a seven-night diary describing their sleep quality, health, and interaction with their partner. In Study 3, I surveyed participants once a week for eight weeks to examine longer-term health outcomes. Sleep quality did indeed mediate the relationship between attachment anxiety and various health outcomes over one week (Study 2), and showed a trend towards mediating effects over two months (Study 3). Interestingly, however, attachment anxiety did not interact with perceived romantic threat to predict health in the mediation analyses. Implications for sleep as a mediating variable are discussed, as well as the lack of attachment anxiety by romantic threat interaction.

Understanding alexithymia in female adolescents: the role of attachment style

Adults with alexithymia retrospectively report emotional difficulties with caregivers during childhood. However, the association between attachment style and alexithymic traits may be evident at an earlier stage than adulthood, i.e. during adolescence. Sixty school-based healthy females aged 9–18 years (mean 14.08, SD 2.71 years) participated in an Attachment Style Interview (ASI) and completed the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). Greater levels of alexithymia were exhibited by both anxious and avoidant insecurely attached groups compared to securely attached participants. Fear of separation (characteristic of anxious attachment style) predicted both overall alexithymia scores and the specific alexithymic trait of ‘difficulty identifying feelings’ (DIF). Constraints on closeness (an avoidant attachment attitude) predicted ‘difficulty describing feelings’ (DDF). Low felt attachment to primary caregiver was a predictor of ‘externally oriented thinking’ (EOT). These findings indicate that features of anxious and avoidant insecure attachment styles are differentially related to the separate facets of alexithymia in female adolescents. Specifically, the findings concerning fear of separation may reflect the adolescent struggle for autonomy and the resulting effects on the affect regulation system. Our results also suggest that the normative differentiation of the emotional and cognitive aspects of alexithymia may occur on a developmental trajectory.

Comparing long-term placements for young children in care: Does type of placement really matter?

This paper presents findings from the third phase of a longitudinal study, entitled Care Pathways and Outcomes, which has been tracking the placements and measuring outcomes for a population of children (n = 374) who were under the age of five and in care in Northern Ireland on the 31st March 2000. It explores how a sub-sample of these children at age nine to 14 years old were getting on in the placements provided for them, in comparative terms across five placement types: adoption; foster care; kinship foster care (with relatives); on Residence Order; and living with birth parents. This specifically focused on the development of attachment and self-concept from the perspective of the children, and behavioural and emotional function, and parenting stress, from the perspective of parents and carers. Findings showed no significant placement effect from the perspective of children, and a statistically weak, but descriptively compelling, effect from the perspective of parents. The findings challenge the notion of adoption as the gold standard in long-term placements, specifically from the perspective of children in terms of their parent/carer attachments and self-concept, and highlight what appears to be the central importance of placement longevity for delivering positive longer-term outcomes for these children, irrespective of placement type.