Communities coping with change: A conceptual model

Changing economic, political, environmental, and social conditions continue to have a cumulative impact on Australian regional communities, and in many instances, rural communities are being forced to initiate their own strategies in order to remain economically and socially viable. However, while communities respond in differing ways to similar change events, as do individuals, research examining the change process has largely been undertaken at the individual level. This article reports on an investigation of the characteristics that moderate a community's ability to manage change and the types of collective coping strategies communities employ to deal with change events. A model of community change process was used as the framework to examine the links between community characteristics, appraisal of change events (forest restructuring and tourism), and the use of collective strategies in three communities in Western Australia. Findings suggest that a community's mobilization of strategies is dependent on the collective assessment of the change event, the nature of the event, and the characteristics of the community. The implications for intervention through policy and community development are discussed briefly. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comm Psychol 32: 201–216, 2004.     

Parents’ Nonstandard Work Schedules and Child Well-Being: A Critical Review of the Literature

This paper provides a comprehensive review of empirical evidence linking parental nonstandard work schedules to four main child developmental outcomes: internalizing and externalizing problems, cognitive development, and body mass index. We evaluated the studies based on theory and methodological rigor (longitudinal data, representative samples, consideration of selection and information bias, confounders, moderators, and mediators). Of 23 studies published between 1980 and 2012 that met the selection criteria, 21 reported significant associations between nonstandard work schedules and an adverse child developmental outcome. The associations were partially mediated through parental depressive symptoms, low quality parenting, reduced parent–child interaction and closeness, and a less supportive home environment. These associations were more pronounced in disadvantaged families and when parents worked such schedules full time. We discuss the nuance, strengths, and limitations of the existing studies, and propose recommendations for future research.     

Australian parents’ work–family conflict: accumulated effects on children’s family environment and mental health

Purpose

Many parents struggle to balance their work and family responsibilities. Yet, little research in the field of social psychiatry has explored the emergence of work–family conflict (WFC) as an important social determinant of mental health, particularly for children. The current study used longitudinal Australian population-based data to investigate the impact of parents’ accumulated experiences of work–family conflict on children’s mental health. Levels of parent psychological distress, marital satisfaction and parenting irritability were examined as potential explanatory factors within the family environment.

Methods

The study used five waves of data from the Australian Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC), a representative community sample of Australian children and their parents. Analyses were restricted to coupled, employed mothers (1903) and fathers (1584) who reported their WFC levels in all five waves. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was used to examine the association between accumulated experiences of work–family conflict across all time-points (AWFC) and children’s mental health at wave 5. Family environment factors were assessed as possible explanatory mediators.

Results

There was a significant association between AWFC and children’s mental health at wave 5. Parent psychological distress, marital satisfaction and parenting irritability were all found to significantly explain this association (accounting for 66% of the total effect).

Conclusions

Children whose parents have ongoing or accumulated difficulties managing their work and family responsibilities are more likely to have poorer mental health. This has important implications for family-friendly work arrangements and demonstrates the need to further understand the intergenerational impacts of parents’ jobs on their children’s psychological wellbeing.

     

Aspirin esterase of gastric mucosal origin.

The enzyme, aspirin esterase, which converts acetylsalicyclic acid to the less toxic salicyclic acid, was found to be present in gastric mucosal specimens obtained from surgically resected tissue. The enzyme was found to be stable to storage and active at two pH optima. Alcohol in the reaction mixture produced a net effect of slowing the rate of aspirin hydrolysis; this was attributable to a marked inhibitory effect on aspirin esterase activity which was not completely counteracted by the increased rate of spontaneous breakdown of aspirin by alcohol. Age, sex, or gastric disease state of the patient from whom the tissue was obtained, did not significantly alter the level of enzyme activity measured, nor were different levels obtained from body or antral mucosa. In patients with gastric ulcer, those with a previous history of regular aspirin consumption did not show significantly different levels from those without such a history. It is concluded that aspirin esterase activity of gastric mucosa is not alone a significant factor in any role acetylsalicyclic acid may play in the etiology and natural history of chronic peptic ulcer.     

Randomised trial of the effects of four weeks of daily stretch on extensibility of hamstring muscles in people with spinal cord injuries

The aim of this assessor-blind randomised controlled trial was to determine the effect of four weeks of 30 minute stretches each weekday on extensibility of the hamstring muscles in people with recent spinal cord injuries. A consecutive sample of 16 spinal cord-injured patients with no or minimal voluntary motor power in the lower limbs and insufficient hamstring muscle extensibility to enable optimal long sitting were recruited. Subjects' legs were randomly allocated to experimental and control conditions. The hamstring muscles of the experimental leg of each subject were stretched with a 30 Nm torque at the hip for 30 minutes each weekday for four weeks. The hamstring muscles of the contralateral leg were not stretched during this period. Extensibility of the hamstring muscles (hip flexion range of motion with knee extended, measured with a 48 Nm torque at the hip) of both legs was measured by a blinded assessor at the commencement of the study and one day after the completion of the four-week stretch period. Changes in hamstring muscle extensibility from initial to final measurements were calculated. The effect of stretching was expressed as the mean difference in these changes between stretched and non-stretched legs. The mean effect of stretching was 1 degree (95% CI -2 to 5 degrees). Four weeks of 30 minute stretches each weekday does not affect the extensibility of the hamstring muscle in people with spinal cord injuries.     

Neurophysiological correlates of memory for experienced and imagined events

Changes in slow cortical potentials within EEG were monitored while autobiographical memories of experienced and imagined event were generated and then held in mind for a short period. The generation of both kinds of memory led to significantly larger negative dc shifts over left versus right frontal regions, and this was interpreted as a reflection of substantial left frontal activation. The generation phase was also associated with greater right versus left negative dc shifts over posterior occipital regions. This pattern replicates and extends previous findings from our laboratory. In addition, however, experienced memories were associated with significantly larger negative dc shifts over occipito-temporal regions than imagined events. Furthermore, during the hold-in-mind period, imagined events led to larger negative dc shifts over left frontal regions than experienced events. These findings suggest that memories for imagined and experienced events may share control processes that mediate construction of memories but that they differ in the types of content of the memories: memories of experienced events contain sensory-perceptual episodic knowledge stored in occipital networks whereas memories for imagined events contain generic imagery generated from frontal networks.     

MINORITY IN THE MAJORITY: COMMUNITY ETHNICITY AS A CONTEXT FOR RACIAL BULLYING AND VICTIMIZATION

The present study explored the relationships between individual ethnicity and community ethnicity factors and the prevalence of racial bullying. It was hypothesized that individuals belonging to the majority ethnic group in a community were less racially victimized than in a community in which they were minority members. Data were collected from 20,021 students in Grades 6 to 10 as part of the 2009/2010 Health Behaviour in School‐aged Children Survey, from Geographical Information Systems data, and from census data. Community diversity was associated with prevalence of racial victimization, although relationships differed by type of religious organization. Those of East/Southeast Asian, Caucasian, and South Asian ethnicity were more likely to be racially victimized in communities in which they were the minority ethnic group than when they were in the majority group. The importance of considering ethnicity characteristics that are related to racially focused bullying in the community context is discussed.