The Dynamic Relationship between Unhealthy Weight Control and Adolescent Friendships: A Social Network Approach

Although adolescence marks a vulnerable stage for peer influence on health behavior, little is known about the longitudinal and dynamic relationship between adolescent friendship and weight control. The current study aims to explain these dynamic processes among a sample of 1156 American adolescents in grades 9–11 (48.6% girls, 23.4% European American, 25.2% African American) from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Stochastic actor-oriented models were fit to examine changes in friendship networks and unhealthy weight control across two waves. The findings support a bidirectional relationship where weight control predicts future friendship seeking and friendship seeking predicts future weight control. The findings also indicate that adolescents prefer friends with similar weight control patterns. Taken together, the results of the current study indicate that adolescent friendships play an integral role in the development of unhealthy weight control and thus can be used to identify adolescents at risk and serve as targets within preventive interventions.     

Being Superwoman: Low Income Mothers Surviving Problem Drinking and Intimate Partner Violence

We elucidate ways mothers think about behavior change related to heavy drinking and violent relationships. A purposive sample of 32 women, predominantly black and low income, were identified as engaging in both problem drinking on the AUDIT and experiencing severe partner violence on the Conflict Tactic Scale. Narratives from audiotaped Motivational Interviewing sessions conducted in an urban emergency department were transcribed, inductively coded and examined through the lens of feminist standpoint theory. Our analysis suggests motherhood is a powerful motivator for positive change, but multiple barriers combine to prevent self-protection and modification of adverse behaviors among this vulnerable population. Interventions to help low-income mothers dealing with relationship violence and substance abuse should also address the structural violence and substantive barriers these mothers face. Further work should examine the power of personal narratives related to being a good mother on women’s ability to improve life circumstances for themselves and their children.     

Bilateral First Rib Anomalous Articulations with Pseudarthroses Mimicking Healing Fractures in an Infant with Abusive Head Injury

Bilateral symmetric bone nodules were observed in the anterolateral first ribs of an infant with shaking injuries at autopsy. The location prompted diagnostic considerations of healing fractures versus anomalous articulations with pseudarthroses. The forensic pathologist worked with forensic anthropologists and pediatric radiologists to evaluate autopsy findings and compare premortem and postmortem X‐rays. Gross examination of the bones by the pathologist and anthropologists confirmed bilateral, callus‐like bone nodules in first‐rib locations associated with pseudarthroses. Histologic examination of one of the bones further showed features most consistent with pseudarthrosis, not a healing fracture. Radiologists then compared multiple premortem and postmortem radiographs that showed no remodeling of the bone over a 2‐week interval between the time of injury and death, which would be unexpected for a healing fracture in an infant. This multidisciplinary approach resulted in the appropriate diagnosis of pseudarthroses due to anomalous articulations, an uncommon finding in forensic pathology.     

The effect of line‐up administrator blindness on the recording of eyewitness identification decisions

Purpose. Line‐up administrators’ expectations have been shown to influence eyewitnesses’ identification decisions. Expectations may also influence administrators’ willingness to record witnesses’ decisions as positive identifications. Methods. Single‐ and double‐blind participant administrators presented a line‐up to a confederate witness, who identified either the suspect or a filler. Results. A hierarchical log‐linear analysis revealed an interaction effect of blindness and witness choice on participants’ recording of the identification: Single‐blind administrators were more likely to record the confederate's choice as a positive identification when the witness chose the suspect (vs. a filler), whereas double‐blind administrators’ records were not influenced by the witness's choice. An interaction between blindness and witness choice also emerged for participant administrators’ witness evaluations. Single‐blind administrators rated confederates who chose a filler as significantly less credible than those who chose a suspect; double‐blind administrators’ ratings were consistent across photo selection. Conclusions. Blindness influenced line‐up administrators’ record of line‐up outcomes. These results add to the growing body of research supporting the use of double‐blind line‐up administration.     

Helping at-risk youth overcome trauma and substance abuse through animal-assisted therapy

Animal-assisted therapy is a goal-oriented adjunct to traditional therapy programs. This type of therapy has benefitted many populations, including children, adolescents, and adults, in their recovery from a wide variety of physical and psychological traumas. Examples include patients who are undergoing rehabilitation related to major surgery, serious illness, or debilitating injury and patients who are receiving treatment to overcome substance abuse, physical abuse, and behavioral problems. The purpose of this article is to show how animal-assisted therapy has been used with at-risk youths who participate in a treatment program for a variety of traumatic experiences, including abuse and neglect, as well as criminality and substance abuse. In the therapy program, the youths work through a structured, goal-oriented curriculum with certified therapy dogs and volunteer handlers. Together they complete progressively advanced tasks in which the youths transfer skills learned about dog handling to understanding and modifying their own behavior. The overall aim is to help the youths develop positive life skills and facilitate positive social interactions to help break the cycle of crime, violence, or substance abuse.     

Benefits and burdens: Does it really matterWhat we allocate?

There is growing, evidence that allocation decisions concerning burdens and benefits are not processed equivalently. This paper suggests three dimensions on which information processing for resource allocations differs: status quo effects (individuals react more strongly to losses in status quo than to gains), resource valence effects (individuals react more strongly to resource allocations involving burdens than those involving benefits), and blame effects (individuals react more strongly to resource allocation decisions in which they exercise choice). Results of an empirical study confirm significant differences in the information processing of burdens and benefits, and also confirm the importance of psychological distance in the reactions of individuals to burdens and benefits allocations.For there is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.-Hamlet (William Shakespeare)