Commentary on Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, and Contextual Factors in Extramarital Involvement

Extramarital Involvements (EMIs) attract significant societal attention, as exemplified by the revelation of former President Clinton's EMI. Depression, anxiety, and divorce are important sequelae of EMIs, though it will be important to learn which couples successfully cope with EMIs. Allen et al. (this issue) provide an excellent overview of the prevalence of EMIs and the problems in trying to ascertain accurate estimates thereof. The impact of a very close relationship even without explicit sexual contact was noted, and Allen et al. present a useful framework for organizing theoretical positions and data on EMIs. It is an excellent review for a clinician or researcher addressing EMIs.     

Extramarital Involvement: A Core Relationship Issue in Need of a Coherent Model, Comprehensive Research, and Empirically Based Intervention

Clinical interventions for extramarital involvement (EMI) have outpaced empirical knowledge about both risk factors for infidelity and effective treatments. Allen et al. (this issue) provide a systematic review of current knowledge organized around stages of the development of EMI and factors concerning the involved partner, the spouse, the couple's relationship, and the interpersonal context. Their review identifies significant gaps in knowledge for which research is needed. Because EMI has multiple determinants, conceptual models and research on it must be multivariate. This comment focuses on priorities for increasing knowledge about EMI, including (a) clarification of variation in definitions and personal standards for EMI through consideration of participants' subjective experiences as well as the views of outsiders (researchers, clinicians); (b) improved qualitative research using interview methods designed to minimize biased questioning by investigators and biased reporting by subjects, to tap individuals' internal experiences with the developmental process of EMI; (c) nonblaming research on characteristics of the noninvolved spouse and the couple's interaction that predict EMI; and (d) adaptation of generic preventive and relationship enrichment interventions for couples involving communication skill-building and psychoeducation, to include information about ways to "inoculate" relationships against commonly unexpected risks of EMI.     

Work,marriage, lifestyle,and changes in men's physical health

Using three waves of data for 320 men living in the rural Midwest, this study tested a model which proposed independent effects of work conditions and marital experiences on change in physical health through health behaviors. The findings support the hypothesized model. Both control over work and positive marital interactions reduced the probability of a risky lifestyle in terms of health related behaviors after controlling for family economic status. Risky lifestyle, in turn, was related to poorer self and spouse reported health after controlling for previous health status and family income. The findings underscore the importance of specific work and marital processes for men's physical health.This paper is based on collaborative research involving the Iowa Youth and Families Project at Iowa State University, Ames, and the Social Change Project at UNC-Chapel Hill. The combined research is supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (MH43270 and MH48165), the National Institute on Drug Abuse (DA05347), the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Program for Successful Adolescent Development among Youth in High-Risk Settings, a Research Scientist Award (MH00567), and the Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station. This is Journal Paper No. J15534 of the Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station, Ames, Iowa; Project No. 2931.     

Afferent G Units Responding to Mechanical,Thermal and Chemical Stimuli in Human Non-Glabrous Skin

C unit activity was recorded with microelectrodes from intact sensory fascicles in the human peroneal nerve. The analysis includes 46 afferent units with receptive fields predominantly on the dorsum of the foot and ankle. 16 units were tested quantitatively. Another 30 units were tested qualitatively by a combination of electrical and natural stimuli in the skin. This method was valuable for a reliable identification of activity in individual afferent C elements, when several C units with similar potential amplitudes responded to testing in the skin. The units were not spontaneously active at normal skin temperatures but one unit showed a low frequency discharge at a skin temperature of 22^o C. Cooling by ether evaporation was an inefficient stimulus except for 2 units. Gentle mechanical stimuli did not activate any of the units, whereas afferent C unit impulses were induced by moderately intense mechanical stimuli, noxious heat and various chemical irritants. The sensations produced by stimuli inducing intense afferent C unit activity were reported as “burning or delayed pain”, whereas stimuli eliciting low frequency activity often were reported as “itch”. It is concluded that polymodal C receptors, similar with “polymodal nociceptors” in the cat and monkey, are numerous in skin areas sparsely covered with hairs on the dorsum of the foot and ankle in man, whereas no low threshold C mechanoreceptors were identified. The experiments do not exclude the possibility that both delayed pain and burning itch sensations may be mediated by different impulse patterns from polymodal C receptors.     

Affective and Developmental Considerations in Couple Therapy: Introduction to the Special Series

This article introduces the special series on affective and developmental considerations in couple therapy. Although considerable evidence supports the efficacy of couple therapy, an equally sizable literature documents limits to current strategies for treating relationship distress. One factor limiting couple therapy involves the comorbidity of relationship distress with individual psychopathology, particularly affective disorders. Research also documents important developmental influences on couple functioning and therapy outcome. Articles comprising the special series address conceptual and strategic advances incorporating affective and developmental issues in treating relationship distress in general and specific couple problems in particular.     

城镇中学生人际敏感问题与家庭因素的关系

目的 了解城镇中学生人际敏感现状及其家庭因素,为早期家庭干预提供依据.方法 运用症状自评量表、父母教养方式量表和自编问卷,对722名城镇中学生进行调查.结果 人际敏感为(2.08±0.72)分;人际问题检出率为13.4%(男生10.8%、女生15.6%);初一为10.1%、高二为17.9%;初高中分别为10.6%和16...     

Opportunity for Control, Interpersonal Impacts, and Adjustment to a Long-Term Invasive Health Care Procedure

This study evaluated the effects of giving patients treatment-relevant choices, and the influence of provider-patient interpersonal behaviors, on patients' adjustment to and satisfaction with a protracted healthcare procedure. 102 patients receiving complete dentures were randomly assigned to a Decisional Control group, a No-Decisional Control group, or to a Treatment as Usual Control group. No main effects for the "control" manipulations were obtained, and interactions obtained between control conditions and patient dispositional differences in locus of control were not consistent with earlier findings. Dentists' and patients' interpersonal appraisals of each other, as measured by the Impact Message Inventory, were the most significant factors accounting for patient outcome differences. Consistent with previous research, the experience of oppressive interpersonal impacts both by patients (physician low friendliness) and dentists (patient low friendliness, high dominance, high hostility) were associated with poorer patient outcomes.     

研究生人格特征、社会支持与人际信任的关系

目的 探讨研究生人格特征、社会支持与人际信任的关系,为研究生心理健康教育提供参考.方法 采用社会支持评定量表、人际信任量表和艾森克人格问卷(EPQ),对云南155名研究生进行集体测查.结果 ①研究生社会支持总分在不同学校(F=4.161,P<0.01)和专业(F=2.644,P<0.01)之间差异显著;人际信任度在各个...     

焦虑性神经症患者投入超脱程度及相关因素研究

为了测量焦虑性神经症患者的认知 ,我们编制了精神超脱量表 ,并在大学生和社区人群中进行了信度和效度的检验[1] 。根据道家认知治疗的理论基础 ,焦虑性神经症患者应该存在认知偏差。那么这种偏差具体是什么 ,和患者的人格特征 ,A型行为特征和临床症状又有什么样的关系呢 ?为此我们对焦虑性神经症患者进行了对照研究 ,以验证在临床中发现的神经症患者的认知偏差及其临床意义。1　材料与方法1.1　研究对象患者来自 2 0 0 1年 2月至 2 0 0 2年 8月之间在某综合医院精神科门诊和某精神病院神经症病房就诊的焦虑性神经症患者 ,符合CCMD - 3中…     

大学生人格特质、人际信任与孤独感的关系研究

目的探讨大学生人格特质、人际信任与孤独感的关系。方法采用艾森克人格问卷简式量表中国版、人际信任问卷与孤独感问卷,对850名在校大学生进行调查。结果人格各维度与孤独感相关显著（r=0.527,P=0.003;r=0.225,P=0.008;r=-0.464,P=0.006）,人际信任与孤独感相关显著（r=-0.308,P=0.005）;精神质、神经质、内外向人格及人际信任对大学生的孤独感水平具有预测作用;精神质、神经质人格对孤独感具有直接影响作用,同时通过人际信任间接影响孤独感。结论人际信任在神经质人格与孤独感、精神质人格与孤独感之间均起到部分中介作用。     

上网爱好程度、人际信任与自尊的关系研究

信息化时代的到来使计算机已经不可避免地与人们的学习、工作和生活形成越来越紧的联系。随着网络普及和大众化进程的高速发展 ,个体与互联网 (ｉｎｔｅｒｎｅｔ)构成的单元 ,已经逐渐成为许多人全新的、不可或缺的基本生活形态之一。在这个单元中 ,登陆互联网的个体与互联网本身时刻保持交流与互动。这种交流与互动一方面表现为人对互联网的影响 ,另一方面 ,人们自身也在不断地受到互联网“静悄悄”的改变[1] 。在越来越频繁的人与互联网的交互作用中 ,个体的心理状况甚至人格特征会受到什么样的影响 ,以及发生什么样的变化 ,这个问题已经…     

Involvement of intestinal dendritic cells in oral tolerance, immunity to pathogens, and inflammatory bowel disease

Summary: Dendritic cells (DCs) are composed of a family of cells, now recognized to be essential for innate and acquired immunity. DCs at mucosal surfaces have a particular capacity to induce the differentiation of regulatory T cells producing interleukin‐10 (IL‐10) and transforming growth factor‐β (TGF‐β) in the steady state (non‐infected, non‐immunized), yet they retain the capacity to induce effector T cells in response to invasive pathogens. This decision between the induction of active immunity and tolerance will depend on the subpopulation of DC involved and the surface receptors engaged during DC activation and T‐cell priming. The local microenvironment will likely play an important role both in defining the DC phenotype and in providing direct signals to responding T cells. Furthermore, DCs in organized mucosal lymphoid tissues preferentially induce the expression of CCR9 and α4β7 on T cells, which results in T‐cell homing to the intestinal lamina propria. Finally, DCs may play an important role in the maintenance of abnormal intestinal inflammation either by driving pathogenic T‐cell responses in mesenteric lymph nodes or by acting to expand or maintain pathogenic T cells locally at sites of inflammation. In this review, a brief discussion of general issues of DC biology that are pertinent to mucosal immunity is followed by a more in‐depth discussion of the phenotype and function of DC populations in the intestine.     

Involvement of the cohesin protein, Smc1, in Atm-dependent and independent responses to DNA damage

Structural maintenance of chromosomes (SMC) proteins play important roles in sister chromatid cohesion, chromosome condensation, sex-chromosome dosage compensation, and DNA recombination and repair. Protein complexes containing heterodimers of the Smc1 and Smc3 proteins have been implicated specifically in both sister chromatid cohesion and DNA recombination. Here, we show that the protein kinase, Atm, which belongs to a family of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinases that regulate cell cycle checkpoints and DNA recombination and repair, phosphorylates Smc1 protein after ionizing irradiation. Atm phosphorylates Smc1 on serines 957 and 966 in vitro and in vivo, and expression of an Smc1 protein mutated at these phosphorylation sites abrogates the ionizing irradiation-induced S phase cell cycle checkpoint. Optimal phosphorylation of these sites in Smc1 after ionizing irradiation also requires the presence of the Atm substrates Nbs1 and Brca1. These same sites in Smc1 are phosphorylated after treatment with UV irradiation or hydroxyurea in an Atm-independent manner, thus demonstrating that another kinase must be involved in responses to these cellular stresses. Yeast containing hypomorphic mutations in SMC1 and human cells overexpressing Smc1 mutated at both of these phosphorylation sites exhibit decreased survival following ionizing irradiation. These results demonstrate that Smc1 participates in cellular responses to DNA damage and link Smc1 to the Atm signal transduction pathway.