Feedback between psychological science and policy in the context of same-sex couples

Psychological science informed recent policy changes granting increased rights for same-sex couples. Understanding that the link between science and policy goes both ways, how should policy inform the next generation of research concerning same-sex couples and sexual minority individuals? This article presents ways that psychological research influenced marriage policy and then puts forth suggestions for future research for the attention of scholars, funders, and policymakers. These include examinations of minority stress in the age of marriage equality; new stressors for same-sex couples including legal divorce; relationship expectations and experiences for emerging adults; and the potential impact of marriage equality for mixed-sex couples including a further challenge to strict gender roles in marriage. The article ends by acknowledging the need for continued application of research to emerging policy questions affecting same-sex couples and sexual minority individuals

BEMAS: User\u27s Manual, 2nd Edition

This paper is a user\u27s manual for BEMAS, a BE lief MA intenance System. BEMAS is a menu driven system which provides an easy to use interface between a user and a knowledge base. Given a set of data, and a set of rules, BEMAS will help the user to identify an object by analyzing the properties of that object. Data can be added and deleted at any time, either directly or by deleting beliefs on which the data is dependent. BEMAS maintains the relations and dependencies between data using a dynamic dependency net. BEMAS also has the capability to make inferences using incomplete information while still maintaining knowledge base integrity

Social change and relationship quality among sexual minority individuals: Does minority stress still matter?

Objective: This study examined whether positive changes in social attitudes and policies surrounding sexual minority relationships have translated to diminished deleterious effects of minority stress on relationship quality. Background: Sexual minority emerging adults now come of age at a time of greater equality and acceptance than previous generations. Research has demonstrated consistent negative effects of stigma—theorized as minority stress—on relationship quality for sexual minority individuals. However, given the improving social climate, questions remain regarding whether minority stress has the same deleterious effects on the romantic relationships of sexual minority emerging adults. Method: Five-hundred forty-nine individuals in relationships drawn from a US national probability sample completed a survey containing validated measures of minority stressors and relationship satisfaction. Responses from emerging adults (aged 18–25) were compared to two cohorts who came of age during the HIV/AIDS crisis (aged 34–41) and post Stonewall (aged 52–59). Results: Emerging adults were more satisfied with their relationships than older cohorts. Experiences of everyday discrimination were associated with decreased relationship satisfaction for all cohorts; however, felt stigma, stigma concealment, and internalized stigma were associated with lower relationship satisfaction for older but not younger cohorts. Conclusion: Findings illustrate the continued but shifting role of minority stress and provide the first evidence that social and policy changes may have translated into more positive relationship experiences for sexual minority emerging adults

Healthcare Stereotype Threat in Older Adults in the Health and Retirement Study

Introduction Healthcare stereotype threat is the threat of being personally reduced to group stereotypes that commonly operate within the healthcare domain, including stereotypes regarding unhealthy lifestyles and inferior intelligence. The objective of this study was to assess the extent to which people fear being judged in healthcare contexts on several characteristics, including race/ethnicity and age, and to test predictions that experience of such threats would be connected with poorer health and negative perceptions of health care. Methods Data were collected as part of the 2012 Health and Retirement Study (HRS). A module on healthcare stereotype threat, designed by the research team, was administered to a random subset (n=2,048 of the total 20,555) of HRS participants. The final sample for the present healthcare stereotype threat experiment consists of 1,479 individuals. Logistic regression was used to test whether healthcare stereotype threat was associated with self-rated health, reported hypertension, and depressive symptoms, as well as with healthcare-related outcomes, including physician distrust, dissatisfaction with health care, and preventative care use. Results Seventeen percent of respondents reported healthcare stereotype threat with respect to one or more aspects of their identities. As predicted, healthcare stereotype threat was associated with higher physician distrust and dissatisfaction with health care, poorer mental and physical health (i.e., self-rated health, hypertension, and depressive symptoms), and lower odds of receiving the influenza vaccine. Conclusions The first of its kind, this study demonstrates that people can experience healthcare stereotype threat on the basis of various stigmatized aspects of social identity, and that these experiences can be linked with larger health and healthcare-related outcomes, thereby contributing to disparities among minority groups

LA-ICP-MS/MS improves limits of detection in elemental bioimaging of gadolinium deposition originating from MRI contrast agents in skin and brain tissues

© 2018 Elsevier GmbH A novel analytical method to detect the retention of gadolinium from contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in tissue samples of patients is presented. It is based on laser ablation - inductively coupled plasma - triple quadrupole - mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS/MS). Both Gd and P were monitored with a mass shift of +16, corresponding to mono-oxygenated species, as well as Zn, Ca, and Fe on-mass. This method resulted in a significantly reduced background and improved limits of detection not only for phosphorus, but also for gadolinium. These improvements were essential to perform elemental bioimaging with improved resolution of 5 μm x 5 μm, allowing the detection of small Gd deposits in fibrotic skin and brain tumour tissue with diameters of approximately 50 μm. Detailed analyses of these regions revealed that most Gd was accompanied with P and Ca, indicating co-precipitation