ABSTRACT
Stress leads to poor self-rated health for many black women because of racial and economic discrimination which results in psychological distress and restricted access to resources. Resilience factors such as self-care may be able to buffer the impact of stress; however, the role of self-care in reducing the effect of stress on self-rated health has not been explored. Self-care involves the utilization of self-awareness and agency to seek remedy for imbalance and to sustain equilibrium. Despite anecdotal exploration of these factors, there has not been a systematic investigation of whether self-awareness and agency indeed predict self-care. Subsequently, this study sought to provide evidence that self-awareness and resilience predict self-care, and self-care can mediate the negative relationship between stress and self-rated health. A cross-section of 223 black women living in the United States completed a battery of assessments of self-care, mindfulness, perceived stress, resilience, and self-rated health. Through a series of regression analyses exploring mediating effects, a path emerged. Findings indicate that awareness and resilience do predict self-care, and self-care mediates the negative relationship between stress and health. These analyses suggest that the role of stress on black women's health can be reduced by the implementation of awareness and resilience.
Subject(s)
Black or African American/statistics & numerical data , Health Status , Resilience, Psychological , Self Care , Stress, Psychological/psychology , Adult , Awareness , Cross-Sectional Studies , Female , Humans , Perception , United StatesABSTRACT
Overweight and obesity in schizophrenia are prevalent, affecting half to three-quarters of people with schizophrenia. Hyperphagia and increased meal size have also been implicated as significant contributors to the weight gain problem. Oxytocin has shown to play a role in appetite control in humans and is considered an anorexigenic peptide. This two-day, within-subjects, challenge study involved the examination of satiety after administration of 24â¯IU oxytocin (intranasal) vs. placebo in participants with a DSM-IV diagnosis of schizophrenia (Nâ¯=â¯16). Self reported satiety along with a preload-test meal paradigm were utilized as well as related laboratory measures (insulin, glucose, and leptin), and measures of taste and smell. There were no statistically significant differences between the groups on self-reported satiety or test meal consumption, insulin or glucose levels, or sensory measures. A significant treatment difference was found (Fâ¯=â¯5.22, dfâ¯=â¯1,97.6, pâ¯=â¯0.025), with a decrease in leptin in the oxytocin group post-administration, but no time effect (Fâ¯=â¯1.67, dfâ¯=â¯6,95.1, pâ¯=â¯0.180) or treatment by time interaction (Fâ¯=â¯1.36. dfâ¯=â¯3,4.16, pâ¯=â¯0.261). Despite the small sample and mostly negative findings, we encourage more work to use higher and repeated doses of oxytocin, and to further examine the effect of oxytocin on leptin in schizophrenia as this may be important for understanding both weight control and psychopathology.
Subject(s)
Oxytocin/therapeutic use , Satiation/drug effects , Schizophrenia/drug therapy , Administration, Intranasal , Adolescent , Adult , Appetite Depressants/administration & dosage , Appetite Depressants/blood , Appetite Depressants/pharmacology , Appetite Depressants/therapeutic use , Blood Glucose/metabolism , Cross-Over Studies , Double-Blind Method , Eating/drug effects , Female , Humans , Insulin/blood , Leptin/blood , Male , Middle Aged , Oxytocin/administration & dosage , Oxytocin/blood , Oxytocin/pharmacology , Schizophrenic Psychology , Smell/drug effects , Taste/drug effects , Time Factors , Young AdultABSTRACT
This study examined the relative roles of parents and peers in the psychosocial adjustment of African American youth (7-15 years old) from single mother homes (N = 242). Main effects of both positive parenting and peer relationship quality were found for youth depressive symptoms. In addition, a main effect of peer relationship quality and an interaction of Positive Parenting x Peer Relationship Quality emerged for youth externalizing symptoms. When mothers engaged in higher levels of positive parenting behavior, peer relationship quality was not associated with youth externalizing symptomatology. When mothers engaged in lower levels of positive parenting behavior, however, higher peer relationship quality was associated with greater youth externalizing symptomatology. Clinical implications and future research directions are discussed.
Subject(s)
Adaptation, Psychological , Black People/psychology , Mother-Child Relations , Parenting/psychology , Peer Group , Single Parent/psychology , Social Adjustment , Adolescent , Aggression/psychology , Child , Depression/diagnosis , Depression/psychology , Female , Humans , Internal-External Control , Juvenile Delinquency/psychology , Longitudinal Studies , Male , Personality Assessment , Risk FactorsABSTRACT
The current study examined whether child-reported maternal warmth and support moderated the association between knowledge of maternal illness and child psychosocial adjustment among 86 low-income, African American mothers with HIV/AIDS and their non-infected children. Mother-child relationship quality moderated the association between children's knowledge of maternal HIV/AIDS and children's externalizing, but not internalizing, difficulties. Consistent with the stress-buffering hypothesis, a warm and supportive mother-child relationship afforded a more robust buffer against externalizing difficulties for children who knew of their mother's illness than for children who did not. Clinical implications and future directions are discussed.
