Course and Severity of Maternal Depression: Associations with Family Functioning and Child Adjustment

Number of lifetime episodes, duration of current episode, and severity of maternal depression were investigated in relation to family functioning and child adjustment. Participants were the 151 mother–child pairs in the Sequenced Treatment Alternatives to Relieve Depression (STAR*D) child multi-site study. Mothers were diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder; children (80 males and 71 females) ranged in age from 7 to 17 years. Measures of child adjustment included psychiatric diagnoses, internalizing and externalizing symptoms, and functional impairment. Measures of family functioning included family cohesion, expressiveness, conflict, organization, and household control; parenting measures assessed maternal acceptance and psychological control. Children of mothers with longer current depressive episodes were more likely to have internalizing and externalizing symptoms, with this association being moderated by child gender. Mothers with more lifetime depressive episodes were less likely to use appropriate control in their homes.

Organized Activity Participation and Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms: Reciprocal Relations during Adolescence

The aim of this prospective study was to examine the relations between organized activity involvement and internalizing and externalizing symptoms across four years of high school. Participants were 240 adolescents who varied in their risk for psychopathology. Information about adolescents’ activity involvement and internalizing and externalizing symptoms were provided by both self- and mother-reports. Structural equation modeling revealed that the prospective models fit the data well. In addition to showing that activity involvement and psychopathology were quite stable over the high school years, we found reciprocal effects for activity involvement and internalizing symptoms at some, although not all, time points. Specifically, controlling for prior symptoms and risk (i.e., maternal depression history), more activity involvement in tenth grade predicted fewer internalizing symptoms in eleventh grade, which then predicted more activity involvement in twelfth grade. No reciprocal relations were found for externalizing problems. These findings highlight the importance of examining internalizing symptoms as both a predictor and outcome of activity involvement during adolescence.

Consent in escrow: opting to opt in

In this paper, we reply to Taylor''s (2015) peer commentary on consent-in-escrow. Specifically, we clarify the utility of this novel approach, the way in which it minimizes risks to participants, and how it differs from existing opt-out methods. We further explore its potential use in fields beyond disaster research.     

Bridging philosophical and practical implications of incidental findings in brain research

Empirical studies and ethical-legal analyses have demonstrated that incidental findings in the brain, most commonly vascular in origin, must be addressed in the current era of imaging research. The challenges, however, are substantial. The discovery and management of incidental findings vary, at minimum, by institutional setting, professional background of investigators, and the inherent differences between research and clinical protocols. In the context of human subjects protections, the challenges of disclosure of unexpected and potentially meaningful clinical information concern privacy and confidentiality, communication, and responsibility for follow-up. Risks, including a blurring of boundaries between research and clinical practice, must be weighed against the possible benefit to subjects and a moral duty to inform. Identification and examination of these challenges have been met by scientific interest and a robust, interdisciplinary response resulting in the pragmatic recommendations discussed here.     

Fused in combat: Gender relations and armed conflict

Do gender relations change through conflict? How might conflict itself be fuelled by aspects of gender identity? A recently completed research project that combined oral testimony with more conventional research methods concluded that conflict has undoubtedly given women greater responsibilities, and with them the possibility of exerting greater leverage in decision making and increasing their political participation. The research sheds light on the role of ordinary citizens as 'actors' responding to crisis, and describes how gender identities are woven into a complex web of cause and effect in which war can be seen as a 'conflict of patriarchies'.