Suchergebnisse

This study describes the development of the Worldview Analysis Scale (WAS), an instrument designed to assess the way in which people perceive, think, feel, and experience the world. Four studies were conducted to describe the scale development of the WAS and to assess its psychometric properties. Eight hundred sixteen African, African American, European, European American, and multiethnic participants served as the validation sample. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses provided evidence for seven subscales: materialistic universe, spiritual immortality, communalism, indigenous values, tangible realism, knowledge of self, and spiritualism. MANOVA analyses found evidence for cultural differences in worldview at the ethnic level of analysis. Results indicated favorable reliability, validity, and factor structure indices for the WAS. Applications of the WAS in culturally competent research, training, and psychotherapy are discussed.

AbstractResearch which indicates that adverse experiences influence hypothalamic‐pituitary‐adrenal (HPA) axis functioning illustrates the social environment 'getting under the skin'. The present study extended this literature by examining whether positive social forces within the caregiving environment can also impact cortisol functioning. We conducted a prospective investigation of over 300 youth, half of whom were White and half were Black. Attachment, bonding and parental rewards for positive behaviors were observed or reported by the youth as an 8th grader. Twelve repeated measures of salivary cortisol were examined six years later when youth were young adults (mean age 20). Race differences were explored. Stronger attachment, bonding and teen‐reported positive parenting were predictive of high waking cortisol and steeper diurnal slopes six years later. This effect was nonlinear and additive, such that youth whose social contexts were characterized by the strongest attachment, bonding and rewarding parental relationships had the highest waking cortisol. When effects were moderated by race, findings were such that links of positive parenting with HPA functioning were more consistent for White than Black youth. Findings suggest that positive aspects of the caregiving environment can also 'get under the skin' and these effects are additive across a range of caregiving indices. These findings dovetail with an emerging literature on the powerful role of social support for shaping the body's stress response system and are interpreted as consistent with the Adaptive Calibration Model which suggests that cortisol regulation can have adaptive significance. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/8evHXpt_TXM.

Purpose: To examine whether aerobic physical activity mediates the association between neighborhood walkability and overweight/obesity weight status among Latino adults and whether the relative contribution of this pathway linking neighborhood walkability and aerobic activity varies by level of neighborhood social cohesion. Design: Cross-sectional. Setting: National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) 2015. Sample: NHIS adult Latino participants ≥18 years of age (n = 4303). Measures: Neighborhood walkability, neighborhood social cohesion, body mass index, and aerobic physical activity. Analysis: To determine whether physical activity mediates the relationship of walkability with overweight/obese weight status, a simple mediation analysis was conducted. Additionally, a moderated mediation analysis was conducted to test whether neighborhood social cohesion had a moderating effect on this relationship. Results: On average, the sample was 41 years old, 51% were male, 34% had less than a high school education, and 57% were foreign-born. Neighborhood walkability was statistically significantly related to overweight/obese weight status (standardized effect= −0.05, standard error [SE] = 0.02, P = .01). The interaction between walkability and neighborhood social cohesion on physical activity was not significant (standardized effect = 0.06, SE = 0.03, P = .09). Thus, the indirect effect of walkability on overweight/obesity weight status through physical activity was not shown to be modified by neighborhood social cohesion. Conclusion: Other neighborhood environment factors may play a role in the contribution of neighborhood walkability to overweight/obese weight status among Latinos.