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This study examined the effects of minority stress on the physical health of lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals (LGBs). Participants ( N  = 396) completed baseline and one year follow-up interviews. Exposure to stress and health outcomes were assessed with two methods: a subjective self-appraisal method and a method whereby two independent judges externally rated event narratives using standardized criteria. The odds of experiencing a physical health problem at follow-up were significantly higher among LGBs who experienced an externally rated prejudice event during the follow-up period compared to those who did not. This association persisted after adjusting for experiences of general stressful life events that were not related to prejudice. Self-appraised minority stress exposures were not associated with poorer physical health at 1-year follow-up. Prejudice-related stressful life events have a unique deleterious impact on health that persists above and beyond the effect of stressful life events unrelated to prejudice.

Trans individuals (e.g. trans men and women, non-binary, gender fluid) are at higher risk for mental health concerns, in part due to marginalization. Previous work has documented the effects of social support and community engagement on health outcomes. However, individuals' perceptions of community engagement effects may point to opportunities for intervention. This mixed methods study examines trans individuals' perceived effects of participating in trans communities on health outcomes. Semi-structured in-person interviews were conducted with 20 individuals, and 60 individuals participated in cross-sectional online surveys. Perceived discrimination had a strong negative association with self-assessed mental health. Effects of participation included a) positive: contextualization and normalization of experience, self-appraisal, safety, and relief; and b) neutral/negative: energy drain and stigmatization. Effects of not participating included loneliness, depression, isolation, hiding identity, and losing resources. Both discrimination and non-participation in trans communities had negative effects on mental health. Though community participation is often discussed as positive for marginalized populations, it may be important to include possible negative effects (such as energy drain) in research.

Lay perceptions of “successful aging” are important for understanding this multifaceted construct and developing ways to assist older adults to age well. The purpose of this qualitative study was to obtain older adults' individual perspectives on what constitutes successful aging along with their views regarding activities and interventions to enhance its likelihood. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 22 community-dwelling adults older than 60 years. Participants were recruited from retirement communities, a low-income senior housing complex, and a continued learning center in San Diego County, CA. Interview transcripts were analyzed using a “Coding Consensus, Co-occurrence, and Comparison” grounded theory framework. The mean age of participants was 80 years (range: 64–96 years), with 59% being women. Two primary themes were identified as key to successful aging, i.e., self-acceptance/self-contentment (with subthemes of realistic self-appraisal, a review of one's life, and focusing on the present) and engagement with life/self-growth (with subthemes of novel pursuits, giving to others, social interactions, and positive attitude). A balance between these two constructs seemed critical. A need for interventions that address support systems and personally tailored information to make informed decisions and enhance coping strategies were also emphasized. Older adults viewed successful aging as a balance between self-acceptance and self-contentedness on one hand and engagement with life and self-growth in later life on the other. This perspective supports the concept of wisdom as a major contributor to successful aging. Interventions to enhance successful aging may include those that promote productive and social engagement along with effective coping strategies.

ABSTRACTObjectiveBecause of inconsistent findings regarding the relationship between sleep quality and cognitive function in people with age-related memory complaints, we examined how self-reports of sleep quality were related to multiple domains of both objective and subjective cognitive function in middle-aged and older adults. DesignA cross-sectional study involving analysis of baseline data, collected as part of a clinical trial. MeasurementsTwo hundred and three participants (mean age = 60.4 [6.5] years, 69.0% female) with mild memory complaints were asked to rate their sleep quality using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and their memory performance using the Memory Functioning Questionnaire (MFQ), which measures self-awareness of memory ability. Neurocognitive performance was evaluated using the Continuous Performance Test (CPT), Trail Making Test, Buschke Selective Reminding Test, and the Brief Visuospatial Test – Revised (BVMT-R). ResultsTotal PSQI scores were significantly associated with objective measures of sustained attention (CPT hit reaction time by block and standard error by block) and subjective memory loss (MFQ frequency and seriousness of forgetting). The PSQI components of (poorer) sleep quality and (greater) sleep disturbance were related to (worse) sustained attention scores while increased sleep latency and daytime sleepiness were associated with greater frequency and seriousness of forgetting. ConclusionsSleep quality is related to both objective measures of sustained attention and self-awareness of memory decline. These findings suggest that interventions for improving sleep quality may contribute not only to improving the ability to focus on a particular task but also in reducing memory complaints in middle-aged and older adults.

Classic theories of self-development suggest people define themselves in part through internalized perceptions of other people's beliefs about them, known as reflected self-appraisals. This study uses functional magnetic resonance imaging to compare the neural correlates of direct and reflected self-appraisals in adolescence (N = 12, ages 11-14 years) and adulthood (N = 12, ages 23-30 years). During direct self-reflection, adolescents demonstrated greater activity than adults in networks relevant to self-perception (medial prefrontal and parietal cortices) and social-cognition (dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, temporal-parietal junction, and posterior superior temporal sulcus), suggesting adolescent self-construals may rely more heavily on others' perspectives about the self. Activity in the medial fronto-parietal network was also enhanced when adolescents took the perspective of someone more relevant to a given domain.

Self-appraisal after a life-altering event is a critical process for individuals, often comprised by assigned labels that may not align with an individuals’ perceptions of themselves or of their situation. Existing research within this victim-survivor dichotomy largely rests in the interpersonal violence space, with a victim assuming legal recourse and wrongdoing, and a survivor associating with positive personal characteristics like grit and resilience. Much existing literature on self-appraisal after interpersonal injury is heavily concentrated within the sexual violence literature, and this study applies these concepts to a sample of Black men injured by firearms. Ten Black men enrolled in a hospital-based violence intervention program (HVIP) were interviewed to understand how they label their experience of firearm injury, and if their perceptions aligned with common labels seen among other populations and/or in other areas of study (e.g., cancer, domestic violence). Each participant assigned themselves their own label, with three labels emerging: survivor, victim and survivor, and neither victim nor survivor. The results illustrate the nuance of experiences beyond the victim-survivor dichotomy, and how labels and personal identities may shift following injury into new terms and considerations of resilience and trauma processing. More research is warranted to understand the factors that shape self-labeling within this population, including influences of masculine norms, racialized stereotypes, community context, and availability of services. Findings support public awareness campaigns to reframe surviving violence as a strength, and for community partners and practitioners to increase access to culturally competent and trauma-informed mental healthcare.

Recruitment of adequate numbers of doctors to psychiatry is difficult. To report on career choice for psychiatry, comparing intending psychiatrists with doctors who chose other clinical careers. Questionnaire studies of all newly qualified doctors from all UK medical schools in 12 qualification years between 1974 and 2009 (33 974 respondent doctors). One, three and five years after graduation, 4-5% of doctors specified psychiatry as their first choice of future career. This was largely unchanged across the 35 years. Comparing intending psychiatrists with doctors who chose other careers, factors with a greater influence on psychiatrists' choice included their experience of the subject at medical school, self-appraisal of their own skills, and inclinations before medical school. In a substudy of doctors who initially considered but then did not pursue specialty choices, 72% of those who did not pursue psychiatry gave 'job content' as their reason compared with 33% of doctors who considered but did not pursue other specialties. Historically, more women than men have chosen psychiatry, but the gap has closed over the past decade. Junior doctors' views about psychiatry as a possible career range from high levels of enthusiasm to antipathy, and are more polarised than views about other specialties. Shortening of working hours and improvements to working practices in other hospital-based specialties in the UK may have reduced the relative attractiveness of psychiatry to women doctors. The extent to which views of newly qualified doctors about psychiatry can be modified by medical school education, and by greater exposure to psychiatry during student and early postgraduate years, needs investigation.

Social Anxiety Disorder is highly prevalent among children and leads to poor long-term outcomes if left untreated. Theoretical models of anxiety differ in whether children with Social Anxiety Disorder experience objective social skills deficits, negative self-interpretation biases, or some combination of the two. This pilot study evaluated evidence in support of the “deficit” and “bias” models. Approval was obtained from the ethics committee of a large private university in Cambridge, MA, USA, and data collection was completed in 2015. We recruited 68 parent-child dyads for a study in which anxious children (with Social Anxiety Disorder) and non-anxious children underwent a child-adapted version of the Trier Social Stress Test. Children were aged 8-14, 67.6% male, and self-identified as 54.4% White, 7.4% Black, 4.4% Latinx, 13.2% Asian, 14.7% multiethnic, and 5.9% “other” or no response. Performance ratings were obtained from children, their parents, and external observers. We found evidence of both specific social skills deficits and self-appraisal biases in anxious children. Anxious children struggled with signs of physical discomfort but not with actual speech content. Although children were generally able to accurately evaluate their social performance, older anxious children were most self-critical. Parents were similarly accurate in appraisals of their children’s social performance. Anxious children responded favorably to positive feedback with improved self-evaluations of performance and decreased anxiety. Findings suggest that a comprehensive “integrated” theoretical model of Social Anxiety Disorder should include both skills deficits and self-appraisal biases. Highlights This parent-child dyadic study utilized a behavioral paradigm – the Trier Social Stress Test – to examine social skills deficits and self-appraisal biases in anxious children from the perspective of multiple reporters (child, parent, and external observer). We found evidence of both specific social skills deficits and self-appraisal biases in anxious children. Parents of anxious children were not hypercritical or inaccurate in appraisal of their children’s social skills. Our study supports a comprehensive “integrated” theoretical model of anxiety.

Teachers are the most important resource in any school system. However, operating at the intersection of knowledge, skills, and the transmission capacity of values through reflective practice can be challenging. This study focuses on the experience and challenges of teachers in higher education institutions (HEIs) in Ethiopian public universities when it comes to reflective practice. To achieve our objective, we used a descriptive survey research design with a mixed research approach to collect primary data from 140 HEIs teachers (127 male and 13 female) at four public universities in Ethiopia. We employed a random sampling technique and utilized questionnaires, and interviews. We used two types of questions to gather data: one to assess the teachers’ experience with reflective practice and levels of instruction, and the other to identify problems and instruction levels. Qualitative data were analyzed through subject description, while quantitative data were tested using descriptive, Pearson correlation, and univariate analysis of ANOVA statistics. The results indicate that the experience of HEIs teachers reveals significant associations in all favorable aspects of reflective practice components (i.e., reflection-in-action, reflection-on-action, reflection-with-action, and self-appraisal). However, some teachers agreed or disagreed that they faced challenges in their teaching experience. Some problems encountered were agreed upon, while others were not. Based on these findings, we provide recommendations for improvement.

PurposePolice officers face a unique and challenging occupational experience and report elevated mental disorder symptoms relative to the general population. While gender differences appear to be present in police mental health, this study aims to find which factors foster and promote resilience in these workers and how gender may relate to police resilience.Design/methodology/approachThe present study was designed to explore how protective factors, sexual harassment and personality dysfunction impacted resilience among police officers (n = 380; 44% women). Furthermore, gender differences were also examined on these factors as well as on resilience rate.FindingsMen and women police officers did not differ significantly in terms of resilience, protective factors and overall experiences of sexual harassment behaviors; yet, policewomen subjectively reported having experienced more sexual harassment in the past 12 months than policemen. Men reported greater personality difficulties than women, according to the alternative Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) model for personality disorders. Personality dysfunction was the most robust predictor of poor resilience (ß = −0.465; p < 0.001).Originality/valuePersonality fragilities appear to have an important negative impact on the resilience of police officers, over and above protective factors and gendered experiences. Interventions targeting emotion regulation, self-appraisal and self-reflection could help promote resilience and foster well-being in this population.