Sexual Harassment and Victimization from Four Other Types of Interpersonal Aggression in Ghana: A Cycle of Victimization

The aim of the study was to investigate victimization from sexual harassment, and level of emotional distress due to it, are associated with four other types of victimization. A questionnaire was completed by 280 female university students and lecturers in Ghana. The mean age was 26.7 years (SD = 6.2). The questionnaire included scales for measuring frequency of sexual harassment, emotional distress due to sexual harassment, physical punishment during childhood, victimization from peer aggression at school, and victimization from intimate partner aggression. Respondents who were more than average victimized from sexual harassment scored significantly higher on physical punishment during childhood, victimization from peer aggression at school (revictimization), and victimization from intimate partner aggression (multiple victimization).When frequency of sexual harassment was controlled for, emotional distress caused by sexual harassment correlated positively with victimization from peer aggression at school, and victimization from verbal intimate partner aggression, thus suggesting sensitization to aggression. Victimization from sexual harassment was associated with higher levels of both previous and simultaneous victimization from other types of aggression, thus corroborating the principles of both revictimization and multiple victimization. The finding does not suggest that sexual harassment in all cases is associated with other types of victimization.Keywords: sexual harassment, revictimization, emotional distress, Ghan

Physical Punishment at School in Three Educational Systems in Pakistan

A questionnaire was completed by 1,100 students (550 girls, mean age 13.3 years, SD 1.0; 550 boys, mean age 14.1, SD 1.0) from three types of schools in Pakistan; Urdu medium, Elite English medium, and Madrassa. It included scales measuring frequency of victimisation from physical punishment by a teacher, physical injuries from being punished by a teacher, negative feelings after physical punishment by a teacher, reasons for being punished by a teacher, and acceptance of physical punishment at school. Boys had significantly more often been victimised from physical punishment than girls, with boys from Madrassas being more often victimised than all other groups. Students from English medium schools scored significantly lower on all scales than students from the other schools. Girls reported a significantly more accepting attitude towards physical punishment at  school than boys. Students from Urdu medium schools scored significantly highest on acceptance of physical punishment at school, while boys from English mediums schools reported the significantly lowest level of acceptance. For both girls and boys, acceptance of physical punishment at school was positively correlated with the other scales

The Association between Intimate Partner Rape and Victimisation from Intimate Partner Controlling Behaviour and Physical Aggression in a Ugandan Sample

The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between victimisation from intimate partner rape and two types of intimate partner aggression. A questionnaire was completed by 609 females and 420 males in Uganda. The age range was between 16 and 94 years. The mean age was 31.5 (SD 10.9) for females, and 34.4 (SD 11.3) for males. The questionnaire included scales for measuring the frequency of victimisation from intimate partner rape, controlling behaviour, and physical aggression from an intimate partner. Females had been significantly more often victimised from intimate partner physical aggression than males. No significant difference was found between females and males on victimisation from intimate partner controlling behaviour. Victimisation from physical aggression and controlling behaviour from a partner were also highly correlated with each other for both females and males. Respondents who had been more than average victimised from intimate partner rape scored significantly higher than others on victimisation from intimate partner controlling behaviour and intimate partner physical aggression. The association between victimization from intimate partner rape and victimisation from intimate partner controlling behaviour and physical aggression followed the same pattern for females and males

Life at school in Australia and Japan: the impact of stress and support on bullying and adaptation to school

In this international, comparative study, path analysis was used to examine eight different aspects of Japanese and Australian students' experiences of school life in relation to their effect on adaptation to school. Adaptation was constructed to include information on enjoyment of school, feelings of belonging to school, and relationships with other students. Two separate path models were tested to compare questionnaire data from over 3000 Australian and 6000 Japanese students across Years 5-10. The questionnaire was developed collaboratively by the authors to examine issues of common concern in both countries. Issues that related to the impact on adaptation to school of stress and support: family teachers, peers and school work, as well as bullying were of particular interest. Lack of support and the influential effect of stress were found to exert direct negative effects on adaptation to school, especially for high school students in Japan and Australia. The path results also confirmed the stressful effects of bullying in both countries. The finding of a strong relationship between bullying others and being victimised is discussed in the paper. Finally, the differences and similarities between Japanese and Australian students' perceptions of school life are extrapolated

Cognitive mediators of the effect of peer victimization on loneliness

The impact of stress on psychological adjustment may be mediated by cognitive interpretations (i.e., appraisals) of events for individuals. Defining characteristics of loneliness suggest that appraisals of blame, threat, and perceived control may be particularly important in this domain. AIMS: To evaluate the extent to which cognitive appraisals (perceived control, threat, and blame) can mediate the effect of peer victimization on loneliness. SAMPLE: One hundred and ten children (54 boys, 56 girls) aged 8-12 years attending mainstream schools in Scotland. METHOD: Self-report measures of peer victimization, appraisal, and loneliness. RESULTS: Perceived control partially mediated the effects of peer victimization on loneliness, but neither blame nor threat were mediators. All three measures of control were significantly associated with loneliness at the bivariate level, but only perceived control was significant when the appraisals were entered as predictors in a hierarchical multiple linear regression. CONCLUSIONS: The results highlight the importance of research designs assessing multiple categories of appraisal. Furthermore, they suggest that intervention efforts aiming to combat feelings of loneliness within a peer victimization context should address children's appraisals of perceived control

Outcomes of Childhood Aggression in Women

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/75752/1/j.1749-6632.1996.tb32553.x.pd

The impact of direct and indirect bullying on the mental and physical health of Italian youngsters.

The aim of the present study was to determine the extent to which direct and indirect bullying and victimization at school affects the mental and physical health of 661 Italian boys and girls, aged 11 to 15 years old. The impact of bullying and victimization is assessed by taking into account the relative buffering effect of a positive relationship with one or both parents. Internalizing symptoms such as withdrawn behaviors, somatic complaints, and anxiety and depression, measured with the self-administered Youth Form of the Achenbach's Child Behavioral Checklist, are indicators of maladjustment. Multiple regression analyses revealed that being a girl is a strong significant risk factor for all internalizing symptoms. Being a victim of indirect bullying is the strongest predictor of withdrawn behaviors, somatic complaints, and anxiety/depression, independent of direct victimization, which significantly predicts somatic complaints, anxiety, and depression, but not withdrawn behaviors. Bullying others directly by hitting, threatening, or calling names is not a significant predictor the poor mental and somatic health of youngsters, whereas indirect bullying (spreading rumors or not talking to someone on purpose) does significantly predict anxiety and depression, as well as withdrawn behaviors. The negative impact of victimization and bullying is buffered by youngsters' positive relationship with one or both parents. Recommendations are provided with regard to possible intervention strategies underlying the importance of distinguishing between different forms of bullying and victimization and providing social support in each different case. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc

Naturally occurring circadian rhythm and sleep duration are related to executive functions in early adulthood

Experimental sleep deprivation studies suggest that insufficient sleep and circadian misalignment associates with poorer executive function. It is not known whether this association translates to naturally occurring sleep patterns. A total of 512 of full-term-born members of the Arvo Ylppö Longitudinal Study [mean age = 25.3, standard deviation (SD) = 0.65] (44.3% men) wore actigraphs to define sleep duration, its irregularity and circadian rhythm (sleep mid-point) during a 1-week period (mean 6.9 nights, SD = 1.7). Performance-based executive function was assessed with the Trail-Making Test, Conners’ Continuous Performance Test and Stroop. The self-rated adult version of Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function was used to assess trait-like executive function. We found that performance-based and self-reported trait-like executive function correlated only modestly (all correlations ≤0.17). Shorter sleep duration associated with more commission errors. Later circadian rhythm associated with poorer trait-like executive function, as indicated by the Brief Metacognitive Index and the Behavior Regulation Index. Those belonging to the group with the most irregular sleep duration performed slower than others in the Trail-Making Test Part A. All associations were adjusted for sex, age, socioeconomic status and body mass index. In conclusion, naturally occurring insufficient sleep and later circadian rhythm showed modest associations with poorer executive function. Shorter habitual sleep duration was associated with lower scores of performance-based tests of executive function, and later circadian rhythm was associated mainly with poorer trait-like executive function characteristics. Our findings suggest additionally that sleep duration and circadian rhythm associate with different domains of executive function, and there are no additive effects between the two

RNA Sequencing of Human Peripheral Blood Cells Indicates Upregulation of Immune-Related Genes in Huntington's Disease

Huntington's disease (HD) is an autosomal dominantly inherited neurodegenerative disorder caused by a trinucleotide repeat expansion in the Huntingtin gene. As disease-modifying therapies for HD are being developed, peripheral blood cells may be used to indicate disease progression and to monitor treatment response. In order to investigate whether gene expression changes can be found in the blood of individuals with HD that distinguish them from healthy controls, we performed transcriptome analysis by next-generation sequencing (RNA-seq). We detected a gene expression signature consistent with dysregulation of immune-related functions and inflammatory response in peripheral blood from HD cases vs. controls, including induction of the interferon response genes, IFITM3, IFI6 and IRF7. Our results suggest that it is possible to detect gene expression changes in blood samples from individuals with HD, which may reflect the immune pathology associated with the disease

Electrical activity-triggered glucagon-like peptide-1 secretion from primary murine L-cells

Glucagon like peptide 1 (GLP-1) based therapies are now widely used for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. Developing our understanding of intestinal GLP-1 release may facilitate the development of new therapeutics aimed at targeting the GLP-1 producing L-cells. This study was undertaken to characterise the electrical activity of primary L-cells and the importance of voltage gated sodium and calcium channels for GLP-1 secretion. Primary murine L-cells were identified and purified using transgenic mice expressing a fluorescent protein driven by the proglucagon promoter. Fluorescent L-cells were identified within primary colonic cultures for patch clamp recordings. GLP-1 secretion was measured from primary colonic cultures. L-cells purified by flow cytometry were used to measure gene expression by microarray and quantitative RT-PCR. Electrical activity in L-cells was due to large voltage gated sodium currents, inhibition of which by tetrodotoxin reduced both basal and glutamine-stimulated GLP-1 secretion. Voltage gated calcium channels were predominantly of the L-type, Q-type and T-type, by expression analysis, consistent with the finding that GLP-1 release was blocked both by nifedipine and ω-conotoxin MVIIC. We observed large voltage-dependent potassium currents, but only a small chromanol sensitive current that might be attributable to KCNQ1. GLP-1 release from primary L-cells is linked to electrical activity and activation of L-type and Q-type calcium currents. The concept of an electrically excitable L-cell provides a basis for understanding how GLP-1 release may be modulated by nutrient, hormonal and pharmaceutical stimuli