Power of the Past, Celebrate the Present, Force of the Future-Part 5: A Look Into Our Next 50 Years . . .

The July 2018 issue of the NASN School Nurse, featured the first in a series of articles exploring the history, examining the present, and visioning the future of our organization in celebration of NASN's 50th anniversary. While Parts 1 through 4 of this series focuses on the past and present, Part 5 is the first of two articles presenting the force of the future. In developing the content for Part 5, the authors posed a question to past and current NASN Officers, State Directors, and other school nursing colleagues. Areas of identified importance are grouped into the following major headings: research, education, collaboration, advocacy, image, technology, and leadership.

Secure Base Priming Diminishes Conflict-Based Anger and Anxiety.

This study examines the impact of a visual representation of a secure base (i.e. a secure base prime) on attenuating experimentally produced anger and anxiety. Specifically, we examined the assuaging of negative emotions through exposure to an image of a mother-infant embrace or a heterosexual couple embracing. Subjects seated at a computer terminal rated their affect (Pre Affect) using the Affect Adjective Checklist (AAC) then listened to two sets of intense two person conflicts. After the first conflict exposure they rated affect again (Post 1 AAC). Following the second exposure they saw a blank screen (control condition), pictures of everyday objects (distraction condition) or a photo of two people embracing (Secure Base Prime condition). They then reported emotions using the Post 2 AAC. Compared to either control or distraction subjects, Secure Base Prime (SBP) subjects reported significantly less anger and anxiety. These results were then replicated using an internet sample with control, SBP and two new controls: Smiling Man (to control for expression of positive affect) and Cold Mother (an unsmiling mother with infant). The SBP amelioration of anger and anxiety was replicated with the internet sample. No control groups produced this effect, which was generated only by a combination of positive affect in a physically embracing dyad. The results are discussed in terms of attachment theory and research on spreading activation.

Need fulfillment in polyamorous relationships.

Polyamory is characterized by simultaneous consensual romantic relationships with multiple partners. Polyamory allows individuals to fulfill their relationship needs with multiple romantic partners, yet researchers have not identified how having needs met in one romantic relationship may be related to relationship outcomes in a concurrent relationship. Polyamorous individuals (N=1,093) completed online measures of need fulfillment, relationship satisfaction, and commitment for two concurrent romantic relationships. Participants reported high levels of need fulfillment and satisfaction in both relationships. Need fulfillment with one partner negatively predicted approximately 1% of the variance in relationship satisfaction with the other partner; however, there was no association between need fulfillment with one partner and commitment to the other. Generally, the findings suggest that polyamorous relationships are relatively independent of one another. This study provides initial evidence that polyamory may be a viable and fulfilling alternative way of conducting intimate relationships.

"Not just a dog": an attachment perspective on relationships with assistance dogs.

We explored individuals' relationships with an assistance dog from an attachment-theory perspective. We used both inductive and deductive thematic methods to analyze semi-structured interviews with 25 participants who had lost an assistance dog to retirement or death. Analyses revealed attachment processes of safe haven, secure base, and separation anxiety. Although attachment dynamics were an important feature of these relationships, caregiving was equally important. When confronted with the loss of their dog, almost all participants experienced intense grief. Most grief responses were consistent with the loss of a caregiving relationship. Findings suggest that grief is a natural response to the loss of a beloved companion who fulfilled fundamental needs for attachment and caregiving.

Patterns of abuse in male same-sex relationships.

Previous studies of abuse in male same-sex relationships have been limited by convenience samples and/or by incomplete assessments of partner abuse. We examined patterns of same-sex partner abuse in a random sample of 284 gay and bisexual men. Respondents reported on perpetration and receipt of physical, psychological, and sexual abuse over multiple time frames, as well as injuries resulting from abuse. Almost all respondents reported psychological abuse, more than one-third reported physical abuse, and 10% reported having engaged in unwanted sexual activity because of partner force or threats of force. More than half of recipients of partner violence reported sustaining injury. We found strong associations between different forms of abuse, and between severity of abuse receipt and perpetration.

Correlates of partner abuse in male same-sex relationships.

We investigated correlates of partner abuse in male same-sex relationships in a randomly selected community sample (N = 186). We included factors associated with abuse in heterosexual relationships, as well as factors of relevance to gay relationships. We assessed perpetration and receipt of partner abuse to examine whether variables were associated independently with abuse perpetration and/or receipt. Correlates of same-sex partner abuse were largely parallel to established correlates of heterosexual abuse. Income, education, and attachment orientation were associated with bidirectional partner abuse, and family violence and substance use were uniquely associated with victimization. Further, there were factors unique to same-sex partner abuse; HIV status and public outness were associated with bidirectional partner abuse, and internalized homophobia was uniquely associated with abuse perpetration.

Gender nonconformity, childhood rejection, and adult attachment: a study of gay men.

Several childhood factors are reported to be associated with a homosexual orientation in men, including gender nonconformity and rejection by parents and peers. The purpose of this study was to explore the associations between these childhood factors and attachment anxiety (the tendency to experience anxiety regarding potential loss and rejection in close relationships) and attachment avoidance (the tendency to avoid versus seek out closeness in relationships) in gay and bisexual men. A community sample of 191 gay and bisexual men completed questionnaires and an attachment interview. Gender nonconformity was significantly associated with paternal, maternal, and peer rejection in childhood. In addition, paternal and peer rejection, but not maternal rejection, independently predicted attachment anxiety. Peer rejection and, to a lesser extent, paternal rejection mediated the association between gender nonconformity and attachment anxiety. Finally, peer rejection mediated the association between paternal rejection and attachment avoidance. Findings highlight the role of gender nonconformity in contributing to childhood rejection and the importance of peer relationships in the socialization of gay men.

Gay and bisexual men's age-discrepant childhood sexual experiences.

This study examined childhood sexual abuse (CSA) in gay and bisexual men. We compared the conventional definition of CSA based on age difference with a modified definition of CSA based on perception to evaluate which definition best accounted for problems in adjustment. The sample consisted of 192 gay and bisexual men recruited from a randomly selected community sample. Men's descriptions of their CSA experiences were coded from taped interviews. Fifty men (26%) reported sexual experiences before age 17 with someone at least 5 years older, constituting CSA according to the age-based definition. Of these men, 24 (49%) perceived their sexual experiences as negative, coercive, and/or abusive and thus were categorized as perception-based CSA. Participants with perception-based CSA experiences reported higher levels of maladjustment than non-CSA participants. Participants with age-based CSA experiences who perceived their sexual experience as non-negative, noncoercive, and nonabusive were similar to non-CSA participants in their levels of adjustment. These findings suggest that a perception-based CSA definition more accurately represents harmful CSA experiences in gay and bisexual men than the conventional age-based definition.

The intergenerational transmission of relationship violence.

This study explored the intergenerational transmission of violence in a community sample. A telephone survey of 1,249 adults in the City of Vancouver assessed family-of-origin violence (father to mother, mother to father, father to self, and mother to self), as well as physical and psychological abuse in intimate relationships. All forms of family-of-origin violence were predictive of all forms of relationship abuse, consistent with a general social learning model of relationship violence. There was no evidence of gender-specific or role-specific patterns of transmission. For example, father-to-mother violence was not specifically predictive of men's perpetration and women's victimization in adult relationships. Nor was parent-to-self violence more predictive of victimization than perpetration. The methodological and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.