Female Perpetrated Dyadic Psychological Aggression Predicts Relapse in a Treatment Sample of Men with Substance Use Disorders

This study examined whether female-to-male (FTM) psychological aggression predicted men’s relapse of substance use disorder (SUD) 6 months following substance use treatment. Men diagnosed with either a substance abuse or dependence disorder who had recently begun an SUD treatment program participated in the study with their female relationship partners (N = 173). Logistic regression was used to examine the relationship between baseline FTM psychological aggression and SUD relapse when controlling for baseline demographic, dyadic, substance abuse- and treatment-related variables, as well as frequencies of other male- and female-perpetrated aggressive dyadic behaviors. Higher frequencies of severe, but not minor, forms of FTM psychological aggression uniquely predicted an increased risk of relapse at 6 months follow-up. These data add to the developing research program highlighting the negative sequelae of female-perpetrated psychological aggression and also provide an empirical basis for targeting specific dyadic behaviors in the context of SUD treatment and relapse prevention.     

Navigating the System: A How-To Guide for Implementing a Kinship Navigator Program

This article describes key programmatic and evaluation elements that guided the implementation of the San Diego County YMCA Kinship Navigator Program. A 3-year demonstration project funded by the Administration on Children Youth and Families designed to build a regional navigator system in collaboration with the local child welfare agency to support kinship caregivers. Kinship caregivers (relatives and non-relatives) play a significant role in the well-being of the children in their care. The findings suggest that successfully implemented kinship navigator models are a viable preventive intervention for addressing the needs of kinship families.     

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms,Relationship Adjustment,and Relationship Aggression in a Sample of Female Flood Victims

This study tested a model examining the interrelationships among posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, intimate relationship adjustment, and intimate relationship aggression in a sample of 205 adult female flood victims. At the bivariate level, higher PTSD symptoms were associated with higher physical and psychological aggression victimization, poorer relationship adjustment, and higher physical and psychological aggression perpetration. Results from structural equation modeling (SEM) analyses indicated that relationship aggression victimization influenced aggression perpetration directly, and in the case of physical aggression, indirectly through its relationship with PTSD symptoms and relationship adjustment. The influence of PTSD symptoms on physical aggression perpetration was fully explained by poorer relationship adjustment. These findings extend prior work from other traumatized populations documenting associations between variables reflecting PTSD symptomatology and indices of relationship functioning, and indicate a need for further investigation in this area of inquiry. This research was supported in part by a grant to Patricia A. Resick from the National Institute of Mental Health (1-R01-MH55542).     

Population aging in Cuba

"This article presents a brief discussion of the primary aspects associated with aging of the Cuban population, from a demographic, socioeconomic and political perspective. The first issue discussed in the article is how international immigration has contributed to the aging process of the country's population, and the possible causes of this immigration. The author...points out the efforts that the country is making to deal with an accelerated increase in the sixties-plus population...." (SUMMARY IN ENG)     

Multiplex PCR and minisequencing of SNPs--a model with 35 Y chromosome SNPs

We have developed a robust single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) typing assay with co-amplification of 25 DNA-fragments and the detection of 35 human Y chromosome SNPs. The sizes of the PCR products ranged from 79 to 186 base pairs. PCR primers were designed to have a theoretical Tm of 60 +/- 5 degrees C at a salt concentration of 180 mM. The sizes of the primers ranged from 19 to 34 nucleotides. The concentration of amplification primers was adjusted to obtain balanced amounts of PCR products in 8mM MgCl2. For routine purposes, 1 ng of genomic DNA was amplified and the lower limit was approximately 100 pg DNA. The minisequencing reactions were performed simultaneously for all 35 SNPs with fluorescently labelled dideoxynucleotides. The size of the minisequencing primers ranged from 19 to 106 nucleotides. The minisequencing reactions were analysed by capillary electrophoresis and multicolour fluorescence detection. Female DNA did not influence the results of Y chromosome SNP typing when added in concentrations more than 300 times the concentrations of male DNA. The frequencies of the 35 SNPs were determined in 194 male Danes. The gene diversity of the SNPs ranged from 0.01 to 0.5.     

Quality of Laypersons' Assessment of Forensically Relevant Stimuli,

The current study examined the potential for cognitive bias in lay examiners' comparisons of footwear impressions within the technical review process while addressing limitations of previous research. Prior research has found inconsistent results regarding the extent to which cognitive bias may influence forensic comparisons, often asking non-experts to review forensic stimuli above their competency level. Furthermore, past research has largely ignored the potential for cognitive bias during the technical review process. In collaboration with the Miami-Dade Police Department's Forensic Services Bureau, we examined the effects of previous examiners' level of experience and prior knowledge of the previous examiner's decision on the technical review stage of footwear impression stimuli. Before lay examiners were presented with pairs of known match and nonmatch footwear impressions, they were either told that an expert or a novice had previously examined them and determined them to be either a match, nonmatch, or inconclusive (plus a no-information condition). Participants then evaluated each pair of footwear impressions to make their own determinations of match, nonmatch, or inconclusive. Results support the technical review process for all decision types, as known nonmatch stimuli were generally more difficult for lay examiners to assess than known match stimuli. Knowledge of a prior examiner's decision and status was observed only when the prior decision was inconclusive, suggesting the need for inclusion of inconclusive decisions in future research examining cognitive bias in forensic examination.