The Experiences of Heterosexual Women Married to Gay or Bisexual Men

The purpose of this study was to better understand the experiences of heterosexual women who were married to gay or bisexual men. This survey looked at what led these women to marry their husbands, how they fell after they found out about their husband\u27s newly identified sexual orientation, and how they coped with this revelation. A mixed-method approach was taken in this study with 27 closed-ended questions. Three of the questions were open ended. This 30-question surv ey was utilized in order to gather data on each subject\u27s experience of coping with their husband or partner’s coming out process. It consisted of three conceptual areas: respondents’ attitudes toward morality of homosexuality, factors which led to their attraction and marriage to their gay or bisexual spouses, and their coping strategies once it was revealed the male spouse was gay or bisexual. If being gay or bisexual was seen as positively as being straight, mixed-orientation marriage would likely not exist to the same degree it does today. With a conservative estimate of nearly four million people in such marriages, this problem is widespread, but little empirical evidence exists which reflects the experiences of heterosexual wives and their gay or bisexual husbands. A majority (58%) of the women in this study revealed they felt angry, resentful, and less attractive, while only 24% indicated relief and understanding once they understood their husbands were gay or bisexual. Although no statistically significant relationship was found between the wives\u27 level of religious affiliation and their attitudes toward the morality of same-sex relationships, it is interesting to note that 43% of the women considered themselves religious-spiritual, while 80% of them felt that same-sex relationships were moral. Nearly a quarter o*\u27 the women in this study indicated that the two most important factors in the decision to marry or partner, even above physical and intellectual traits, were related to the treatment they received from these males as well as the attitudes and values these men portrayed

Recent Developments in the History of Science and Christianity

Nancy Pearcey gave the first President\u27s Convocation address at Dordt College on January 15, 2002. Her article below was given as a special lecture during her visit to Dordt. The following articles were parts of a discussion panel held in response to her lecture

Perceived stress and salivary biomarkers in educators: comparison among three stress reduction activities

Background: The teaching profession is a potentially stressful occupation with up to 30% of all novice teachers leaving the profession and annual teacher turnover is higher when compared with turnover of all other occupations. This study investigated the effects of a one-time stress reduction activity (meditation, yoga, or aerobic exercise) in university and K-12 educators who were part of one-day seminar on Stress Reduction. Methods: Participants (N = 26) self-selected their stress reduction activity, completed a demographic questionnaire, educator stress self-assessment tool, and visual analogue scales indicating current stress levels. Salivary cortisol and amylase levels were measured before, immediately after, and 30 minutes after completion of the stress reduction activity. Results: Three (time) by three (activity) mixed factorial ANOVAs were computed for salivary analytes. The ANOVA for cortisol revealed a significant interaction (F (4, 66) = 3.60, p = .01). Comparisons showed significant differences with the aerobic exercise group having significantly higher cortisol levels at the 30-minute post-activity level when compared to the meditation (p \u3c .05, Cohen’s d = .74) and yoga groups (p \u3c .05, Cohen’s d = .52). Conclusion: Overall, the one-time activity of meditation and yoga showed lowered salivary cortisol levels at 30-minutes post-activity when compared to aerobic exercise activity. Additional research to examine the effects of stress reduction on educators in the work setting is needed

General Anxiety and Overeating in Undergraduate Students

Existing research on the relations between anxiety and overeating is multifaceted, contradictory, and often focused on clinical, non-diverse populations. This is an exploratory study to clarify the relationship between anxiety and eating behaviors in a group of undergraduate students with a wide range of weights and mental health statuses. Specifically, this study primarily assesses relationships among general anxiety and overeating patterns. The overeating patterns assessed are binge-eating, uncontrolled eating, and emotional eating. This study supplements the primary research focus by adding the following variables: self-regulation, cognitive restraint, body mass index (BMI), and body satisfaction. Through an online questionnaire, 390 male and female participants aged 18-62 anonymously answered 73 questions. Results supported the study’s primary hypothesis of a significant, positive relationship between overeating patterns and general anxiety in both male and female undergraduate students. In women, results fully supported the second hypothesis that body satisfaction is negatively correlated with each of the following variables: general anxiety, overeating patterns, and cognitive restraint. In men, results supported the second hypothesis except body satisfaction had no significant correlation with uncontrolled eating and cognitive restraint. The main findings paired with the additional results indicate that general anxiety is strongly associated with disordered overeating patterns. These findings add to the existing literature and may enhance public awareness surrounding the relationship between unhealthy eating patterns and mental health while providing a better understanding of obesity as it relates to anxiety

Understanding the social difficulties and the distribution of other putative maintenance mechanisms of childhood anxiety disorders.

Anxiety disorders are common in childhood and have a significant negative effect on functioning. Although cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is an effective treatment for many children with anxiety disorders, a significant number of children retain a diagnosis after treatment. Furthermore, children with social anxiety disorder (SAD) have worse outcomes from generic forms of CBT than children with other anxiety disorders. This is likely to be at least partly because the putative maintenance mechanisms that are targeted in CBT are not yet well understood in the context of childhood anxiety disorders in general and SAD in particular. Notably, better outcomes are found for child SAD when treatment includes social skills training, despite mixed evidence for the presence of social skills deficits in socially anxious children. However, this literature is difficult to interpret given measurement issues caused by an overlap in the observable behaviours of social skills deficits and social anxiety. This thesis aims to first establish whether there are subgroups of children with anxiety disorders characterised by particular profiles of the mechanisms targeted in generic CBT programmes (including social skills deficits) within a sample of children who have been diagnosed with a clinical anxiety disorder. The second aim is to explore the relationship between social anxiety and social skills difficulties in more depth. This will be achieved by investigating the relationship between social anxiety and the social cognitions that underlie social skills in order to overcome limitations of previous research which confounded measurements of social anxiety and social skills themselves. The findings suggest that clinically anxious children cluster into three groups according to the putative maintenance mechanisms of childhood anxiety disorders, but that these do not neatly align with existing diagnostic categories. In addition, the findings suggest that social skills difficulties may be present in only a small proportion of children with SAD, but that underlying difficulties in specific aspects of complex Theory of Mind (ToM; i.e. identifying the intentions of others in complex interactions) may be related to SAD more broadly. These findings have implications for the use of specific treatments for children with SAD, targeting their understanding of complex social interactions, rather than general social skills. In addition, these findings identify key variables that warrant further examination to improve understanding of the maintenance of anxiety disorders in children

Low-threshold motor units can be a pain during experimental muscle pain

Neural control of muscle force while experiencing muscle pain is not fully understood yet. The idea of a differential modulation of the activity across the entire motor unit (MU) pool is highly attractive. However, while lower discharge rates of MUs during low‐force contractions in the presence of pain have been previously observed, much uncertainty remains regarding alterations of the firing behaviour of higher‐threshold MUs

Simulated motion negatively affects motor task but not neuromuscular performance

The objectives of this thesis were 1) to describe how motor task and neuromuscular performance is affected by various types of environmental perturbations and 2) to examine the effects of simulated motion on motor task and neuromuscular performance, conduct an experiment to examine the effects of one hour of simulated ship motion on motor task and neuromuscular performance. Sixteen males participated in two one-hour experimental testing conditions; 1) motion and 2) control. Motor task performance was measured through a simple reaction time and computerized visuomotor accuracy tracking task, while neuromuscular performance was measured through maximal voluntary contractions, voluntary activation, evoked muscle contractile properties and biceps brachii electromyography of the elbow flexors. Results indicated that motor task but not neuromuscular performance was affected by simulated motion due to ongoing sensorimotor adaptation that results in an overload of cognitive resources

The Relationship of Test Anxiety with Other Anxieties, Stress, and Emotion Dysregulation

Test anxiety is a type of performance anxiety where people experience elevated physiological and emotional distress in the presence of an examination. Cortisol is the primary stress hormone that is triggered when humans encounter stress in their environment. Various sex hormones have been shown to affect cortisol levels as well as general anxiety symptoms. Estrogen is an important sex hormone that facilitates the development and maintenance of the female reproductive system and has been found to impact cognition. We were interested in whether cortisol levels prior to participation in a fear conditioning experiment could predict an individual’s perceived test anxiety. As sex and estrogen levels could impact cortisol, we also investigated these variables as well. Based on previous literature, we hypothesized that people with higher cortisol levels prior to participation in an experiment would have high self-reports of test anxiety and that high estradiol levels could mediate this relationship by decreasing overall cortisol. Data were obtained as part of a larger study investigating the impact of reproductive hormones on fear conditioning. Cortisol and estrogen levels were assayed via saliva samples collected from each participant prior to fear conditioning when anxiety, such as that experienced during an exam, could be triggered due to the anticipation of study participation. Participants also self-reported their test anxiety using the Westside Test Anxiety Scale along with other self-report scales. For our analysis, cortisol was used as a predictor variable for test anxiety scores with estrogen levels in women also included. In a further analysis, test anxiety levels were found to be positively correlated with related variables including total stress and anxiety, emotion dysregulation, and state and trait anxiety. Implications of this study are important for the general public given how essential test-taking is for people navigating the academic and professional world