Registration of cancer in girls remains lower than expected in countries with low/middle incomes and low female education rates.

BACKGROUND: A decade ago it was reported that childhood cancer incidence was higher in boys than girls in many countries, particularly those with low gross domestic product (GDP) and high infant mortality rate. Research suggests that socio-economic and cultural factors are likely to be responsible. This study aimed to investigate the association between cancer registration rate sex ratios and economic, social and healthcare-related factors using recent data (1998-2002). METHODS: For 62 countries, childhood (0-15 years) cancer registration rate sex ratios were calculated from Cancer Incidence in Five Continents Vol IX, and economic, social and healthcare indicator data were collated. RESULTS: Increased age standardised cancer registration rate sex ratio (M:F) was significantly associated with decreasing life expectancy (P=0.05), physician density (P=0.05), per capita health expenditure (P=0.05), GDP (P=0.01), education sex ratios (primary school enrolment sex ratio (P<0.01); secondary school enrolment sex ratio (P<0.01); adult literacy sex ratio (P<0.01)) and increasing proportion living on less than Int$1 per day (P=0.03). CONCLUSION: The previously described cancer registration sex disparity remains, particularly, in countries with poor health system indicators and low female education rates. We suggest that girls with cancer continue to go undiagnosed and that incidence data, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, should continue to be interpreted with caution

Why Robots Should Be Social: Enhancing Machine Learning through Social Human-Robot Interaction.

Social learning is a powerful method for cultural propagation of knowledge and skills relying on a complex interplay of learning strategies, social ecology and the human propensity for both learning and tutoring. Social learning has the potential to be an equally potent learning strategy for artificial systems and robots in specific. However, given the complexity and unstructured nature of social learning, implementing social machine learning proves to be a challenging problem. We study one particular aspect of social machine learning: that of offering social cues during the learning interaction. Specifically, we study whether people are sensitive to social cues offered by a learning robot, in a similar way to children's social bids for tutoring. We use a child-like social robot and a task in which the robot has to learn the meaning of words. For this a simple turn-based interaction is used, based on language games. Two conditions are tested: one in which the robot uses social means to invite a human teacher to provide information based on what the robot requires to fill gaps in its knowledge (i.e. expression of a learning preference); the other in which the robot does not provide social cues to communicate a learning preference. We observe that conveying a learning preference through the use of social cues results in better and faster learning by the robot. People also seem to form a "mental model" of the robot, tailoring the tutoring to the robot's performance as opposed to using simply random teaching. In addition, the social learning shows a clear gender effect with female participants being responsive to the robot's bids, while male teachers appear to be less receptive. This work shows how additional social cues in social machine learning can result in people offering better quality learning input to artificial systems, resulting in improved learning performance

Denver Family Development Study, 1980-1992

This study investigated the development of marital distress and examined the effects of preventative approaches to marital discord. One hundred and fifty-six couples planning marriage were recruited for a study of relationship development. Each couple participated in two pre-assessment laboratory sessions during which they completed several self-report measures and engaged in videotaped interaction sessions. Questionnaires focused on relationship satisfaction and expectations; interaction sessions consisted of couples either discussing the most important problem in their own relationship or a hypothetical marital dispute (selected from the Inventory of Marital Conflicts). During half of these interaction sessions, couples used a "communication box" to regulate and rate their interaction. This mechanism forced the participants to take turns speaking and allowed the listener to rate the communication s/he just heard. After pre-assessment, eighty-six couples were offered the opportunity to participate in the Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program (PREP), which is a 5-week relationship enhancement program focused around communication and problem-solving skills. Thirty-three couples completed the program, nine partially completed the program and 43 declined participation. The thirty-three couples who participated became the experimental group, while the 43 who declined and the 70 who were not offered intervention served as control groups. All couples then participated in a post-assessment laboratory session which included self-report measures and interaction sessions similar to those in the pre-assessment. Participants were followed up every year in the laboratory for the next ten years (or until divorced or separated). Follow-up sessions included self-report measures and interaction tasks similar to those in the pre- and post- assessment phases. The Murray Research Archive has 255 videotapes from 63 couples' interaction sessions. The Murray Archive also maintains numeric file data and transcripts of the couple interaction sessions from these 63 couples, and numeric file data from the Interactional Dimensions Coding System (IDCS) data

Couples Relationship Education and Couples Therapy: Healthy Marriage or Strange Bedfellows?

This paper focuses on issues sparked by the Couples Relationship Education (CRE) field moving toward a more clinical model to meet the needs of an increasing number of distressed couples coming to CRE programs. We review the concerns raised and recommendations made by Bradford, Hawkins, and Acker (2015), most of which push CRE toward a more clinical model. We address these recommendations and make suggestions for best practices that preserve the prevention/education model underlying research‐based CRE. The three main issues are couple screening, leader training, and service delivery models. Our suggested best practices include: conducting minimal screening including the assessment of dangerous levels of couple violence, training leaders with key skills to handle issues raised by distressed couples as well as other couples who may place additional burdens on leaders, providing referrals and choices of programs available to participants at intake and throughout the CRE program, and adding (rather than integrating) clinical services to CRE services for couples who desire additional intervention. Finally, throughout the paper, we review other key issues in the CRE field and make recommendations made for future research and practice

Observed Communication and Relationship Quality in Female Same-gender Couples.

Relationship interventions typically focus on reducing destructive communication patterns between partners. However, a dearth of research exists regarding communication dynamics within female same-gender (FSG) couples. The current study sought to expand basic science on communication dynamics within FSG couples with the overarching goal of informing relationship interventions. Participants included 102 adult FSG couples who provided self-report data and participated in observational communication tasks. Actor–partner interdependence models (Kenny, Kashy, & Cook, 2006) were used for analyses predicting relationship adjustment, dedication, and psychological aggression. Findings suggest that actors’ negative and positive communication patterns were associated with relationship quality outcomes. Negative communication demonstrated stronger associations with relationship quality and psychological aggression compared with positive communication, and partner’s positive communication was associated with psychological aggression. Overall, results suggest that communication processes traditionally addressed by relationship interventions would likely be beneficial to focus on with FSG couples. Clinical implications are discussed, including how to incorporate cultural competence into relationship interventions for FSG couples

Marital therapy, retreats, and books: the who, what, when, and why of relationship help-seeking

When doubts creep in and marriages begin to falter, where do couples turn for assistance? In a longitudinal study of 213 couples over the first 5 years of marriage, results indicated relationship help-seeking was relatively common, with 36% of couples seeking some form of outside help during this period. Individual and relationship difficulties predicted increased use of relationship books and marital therapy in the following year; therefore, these behaviors appear to be important outlets for relationship assistance. In contrast, attending marriage retreats/workshops was related only to demographic variables. Results of the present study suggest that the most common types of relationship help-seeking by community couples are understudied and likely underutilized in the dissemination of empirically based marital interventions

Can Marriage Education Mitigate the Risks Associated with Premarital Cohabitation?

This study tested whether relationship education (i.e., the Prevention and Relationship Education Program; PREP) can mitigate the risk of having cohabited before making a mutual commitment to marry (i.e., \u27precommitment cohabitation\u27) for marital distress and divorce. Using data from a study of PREP for married couples in the U.S. Army (N = 662 couples), we found that there was a significant association between precommitment cohabitation and lower marital satisfaction and dedication before random assignment to intervention. After intervention, this precommitment cohabitation effect was only apparent in the control group. Specifically, significant interactions between intervention condition and cohabitation history indicated that for the control group, but not the PREP group, precommitment cohabitation was associated with lower dedication as well as declines in marital satisfaction and increases in negative communication over time. Furthermore, those with precommitment cohabitation were more likely to divorce by the 2-year follow-up only in the control group; there were no differences in divorce based on premarital cohabitation history in the PREP group. These findings are discussed in light of current research on cohabitation and relationship education; potential implications are also considered

The effect of the transition to parenthood on relationship quality: an 8-year prospective study

This longitudinal study examined the effect of the birth of the 1st child on relationship functioning using data from 218 couples (436 individuals) over the course of the first 8 years of marriage. Compared with prebirth levels and trajectories, parents showed sudden deterioration following birth on observed and self-reported measures of positive and negative aspects of relationship functioning. The deterioration in these variables was small to medium in size and tended to persist throughout the remaining years of the study. Mothers and fathers showed similar amounts of change after birth. The amount of postbirth deterioration in relationship functioning varied systematically by several characteristics of the individual, the marriage, and the pregnancy itself. In a group of couples who did not have children, results indicated more gradual deterioration in relationship functioning during the first 8 years of marriage without the sudden changes seen in parents, suggesting that the results seen in the parent sample may be due to birth