Individual and county-level religious participation, corporal punishment, and physical abuse of children: An exploratory study

Parental religiosity has been associated with corporal punishment. However, most of this research has focused exclusively on Christians and has not examined physical abuse. In addition, little is known about how the larger religious environment might be associated with discipline behaviors. In this exploratory study, we examine how individual- and county-level religious attendance are related to corporal punishment and physical abuse. We sampled and surveyed 3,023 parents of children aged 12 and younger from 50 mid-sized California cities. We used weighted Poisson models to calculate the frequency of corporal punishment and physical abuse in the past year. Parents who attend religious groups used corporal punishment more frequently than parents who did not attend religious groups. However, those who lived in counties with greater rates of religious participation used corporal punishment less frequently than those living in counties with lower rates of religious participation. There were no effects for religious participation on physical abuse at the individual or county level. This exploratory study suggests that parents who attend religious groups may be more likely to use some types of physical discipline with children. Religious groups could be imparting parenting norms supporting corporal punishment at the individual level. More research examining specific doctrines and faiths is needed to validate the study findings

Drug Use, the Drug Environment, and Child Physical Abuse and Neglect

Although drug use is considered a risk factor for child maltreatment, very little work has examined how the drug environment may affect physical abuse and neglect by parents. Utilizing information from a telephone survey with 2,597 respondents from 43 cities with valid police data on narcotics incidents, we analyzed the relationship between drug use, drug availability, and child maltreatment using multilevel models. City-level rates of drug abuse and dependence were related to more frequent physical abuse. Parents who use drugs in areas with greater availability of drugs reported more physical abuse and physical neglect. Emotional support was protective of all types of maltreatment. While most child welfare interventions focus on reducing parental drug use in order to reduce child abuse, these findings suggest environmental prevention or neighborhood strengthening approaches designed to reduce the supply of illicit drugs may also reduce child abuse through multiple mechanisms

Activity Spaces: Assessing Differences in Alcohol Exposures and Alcohol Use for Parents

This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in GeoJournal. The final authenticated version is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10708-019-10059-5.Parental alcohol use and alcohol outlet densities in residential areas are related to risk for child maltreatment. However, some parents spend significant time outside of their residential neighborhood. Thus, we may not be accurately assessing how alcohol environments are related to risks for problematic parenting. Here, we examine how residential environments and activity spaces are related to outlet density and whether drinking events in our sample of parents differ by location (e.g., routine vs. rare locations) and whether their children are present. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 60 parents living in four cities in the San Francisco Bay area who provided information on where they spent time, where they drank, and whether children were present. We constructed measures of activity spaces (e.g., convex hull polygons) and activity patterns (e.g., shortest network distance) and calculated outlet density in each. Density of alcohol outlets for residential Census tract was not related to density of the activity space and activity pattern measures. Alcohol use occurred more frequently (regardless of whether their children were present) inside activity spaces operationalized as convex hull polygons or two standard deviational ellipses. Measures that capture larger activity space areas (e.g., convex hull polygons, two standard deviational ellipses) may better model where people spend time, regardless of whether the location is routine or rare. By continuing to use activity spaces to explore relationships between outlet densities, drinking behaviors, and problems, we can start to ascertain those mechanisms by which outlets may affect local problems.National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (P60-AA-006282

Are community level prescription opioid overdoses associated with child harm? A spatial analysis of California zip codes, 2001–2011

Background: Non-medical prescription opioid use is increasing globally within high-income countries, particularly the United States. However, little is known about whether it is associated with negative outcomes for children. In this study, we use prescription opioid overdose as a proxy measure for non-medical prescription opioid use and ask the following: Do California communities with greater rates of non-medical prescription opioid use also have higher rates of child maltreatment and unintentional child injury? Methods: We used longitudinal population data to examine ecological associations between hospital discharges involving overdose of prescription opioids and those for child maltreatment or child injury in California zip codes between 2001 and 2011 (n = 18,517 zip-code year units) using Bayesian space-time misalignment models. Results: The percentage of hospital discharges involving prescription opioid overdose was positively associated with the number of hospital discharges for child maltreatment (relative rate = 1.089, 95% credible interval (1.004, 1.165)) and child injury (relative rate = 1.055, 95% credible interval (1.012, 1.096)) over the ten-year period, controlling for other substance use and environmental factors. Conclusions: Increases in community level prescription opioid overdoses between 2001 and 2011 are associated with a 2.06% increase in child maltreatment discharges and a 1.27% increase in discharges for child injury. Communities with higher rates of non-medical prescription opioid use may experience greater levels of child harms

Magnetization distribution and orbital moment in the non-Superconducting Chalcogenide Compound K0.8Fe1.6Se2

We have used polarized and unpolarized neutron diffraction to determine the spatial distribution of the magnetization density induced by a magnetic field of 9 T in the tetragonal phase of K0.8Fe1.6Se2. The maximum entropy reconstruction shows clearly that most of the magnetization is confined to the region around the iron atoms whereas there is no significant magnetization associated with either Se or K atoms. The distribution of magnetization around the Fe atom is slightly nonspherical with a shape which is extended along the [0 0 1] direction in the projection. Multipolar refinement results show that the electrons which give rise to the paramagnetic susceptibility are confined to the Fe atoms and their distribution suggests that they occupy 3d t2g-type orbitals with around 66% in those of xz/yz symmetry. Detail modeling of the magnetic form factor indicates the presence of an orbital moment to the total paramagnetic moment of Fe2+Comment: 7 pages, accepted for publication in Physical Review

Neighborhood market potentials for alcohol use and rates of child abuse and neglect

Background: Alcohol use can lead to child abuse and neglect even if the person using alcohol does not use heavily. Yet relatively few measures that reflect alcohol use are available at smaller geographic units. We assess whether the estimated level of total alcohol use per capita is related to measures of child abuse and neglect that include substantiated reports of maltreatment, total entries into foster care, and alcohol-related entries into foster care. Methods: Our sample consists of 326 Census block groups in Sacramento, California over three time points (978 space–time units). Administrative data for substantiations of child abuse and neglect and foster care entries are our outcomes. We create market potentials for alcohol use among 18- to 29-year-olds as our primary independent variable. Data are analyzed using Bayesian conditionally autoregressive spatio-temporal models. Results: Higher alcohol use potentials (as measured by total volume per capita of 18- to 29-year olds) are related to more children entering foster care due to drinking-related concerns by a parent or caregiver (RR = 1.032, 95% CI = [1.013, 1.051]), but not total substantiations for foster care entries. Neighborhoods with higher total volume of alcohol per 18- to 29-year-olds had more foster care entries when we used number of substantiations as the denominator (RR = 1.012, 95% CI = [1.0001, 1.023]) but were not related to foster care entries with alcohol misuse as a concern as a subset of all foster care entries. Conclusions: Higher estimated volume of alcohol use per capita among young adults (aged 18 to 29) was related to more children entering foster care due to alcohol-related concerns. Reducing alcohol supply in alcohol outlets, specifically through off-premise establishments, might reduce rates for all entries into foster care or other out-of-home placement and substantiated child abuse and neglect

Body Awareness: Construct and Self-Report Measures

OBJECTIVES:Heightened body awareness can be adaptive and maladaptive. Improving body awareness has been suggested as an approach for treating patients with conditions such as chronic pain, obesity and post-traumatic stress disorder. We assessed the psychometric quality of selected self-report measures and examined their items for underlying definitions of the construct. DATA SOURCES:PubMed, PsychINFO, HaPI, Embase, Digital Dissertations Database. REVIEW METHODS:Abstracts were screened; potentially relevant instruments were obtained and systematically reviewed. Instruments were excluded if they exclusively measured anxiety, covered emotions without related physical sensations, used observer ratings only, or were unobtainable. We restricted our study to the proprioceptive and interoceptive channels of body awareness. The psychometric properties of each scale were rated using a structured evaluation according to the method of McDowell. Following a working definition of the multi-dimensional construct, an inter-disciplinary team systematically examined the items of existing body awareness instruments, identified the dimensions queried and used an iterative qualitative process to refine the dimensions of the construct. RESULTS:From 1,825 abstracts, 39 instruments were screened. 12 were included for psychometric evaluation. Only two were rated as high standard for reliability, four for validity. Four domains of body awareness with 11 sub-domains emerged. Neither a single nor a compilation of several instruments covered all dimensions. Key domains that might potentially differentiate adaptive and maladaptive aspects of body awareness were missing in the reviewed instruments. CONCLUSION:Existing self-report instruments do not address important domains of the construct of body awareness, are unable to discern between adaptive and maladaptive aspects of body awareness, or exhibit other psychometric limitations. Restricting the construct to its proprio- and interoceptive channels, we explore the current understanding of the multi-dimensional construct and suggest next steps for further research

The Stroke Data Bank: Design, Methods, and Baseline Characteristics

The National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke Initiated the Stroke Data Bank, which is a Multicenter Project to Prospectively Collect Data on the Clinical Course and Sequelae of Stroke. Additional Objectives Were to Provide Information that Would Enable a Standard Diagnostic Clinical Evaluation, to Identify Prognostic Factors, and to Provide Planning Data for Future Studies. a Brief Description of the Structure and Methods Precede the Baseline Characterization of 1,805 Patients Enrolled in the Stroke Data Bank between July 1983 and June 1986. Two Thirds of These Patients Were Admitted within 24 Hours after Stroke Onset. Medical History, Neurologic History, and Hospitalization Summaries Are Presented Separately for the Following Stroke Subtypes: Infarction, Unknown Cause; Embolism from Cardiac Source; Infarction Due to Atherosclerosis; Lacune; Parenchy-Matous or Intracerebral Hemorrhage; Subarachnoid Hemorrhage; and Other. the Utility and Limitations of These Data Are Discussed. © 1988 American Heart Association, Inc

Gender and Aphasia in the Stroke Data Bank

Aphasia Was Present in 19.4% of the Men and 22.5% of the Women in the Stroke Data Bank. There Were No Gender Differences in Aphasia Incidence among the Intracerebral Hemorrhages. Aphasia Was More Frequent among Women with Infarcts (37.0%) Than Men (28.3%). When Stroke Mechanism Was Controlled For, There Was an Excess of Aphasia among the Women with Stroke Due to Cardiac Embolism. When Stroke Site Was Controlled For, There Were No Gender Differences in Aphasia Frequency. Wernicke′s, Global, and Anomic Aphasias Were More Common in Women Than Men; Broca′s Aphasia Was Somewhat More Common in Men. Although There Were No Gender Differences in Infarct Size overall, Men with Aphasia Had Larger Infarcts Than Women with Aphasia. Although Gender Differences Were Small, the Infarct Lesions Producing Aphasia in Men Were More Posteriorly Placed and the Infarct Lesions in Women Were More Anteriorly Placed, Suggesting Possible Gender Differences in the Positioning of the Language Zone in the Brain. © 1994 Academic Press, Inc

Body Awareness: a phenomenological inquiry into the common ground of mind-body therapies

Enhancing body awareness has been described as a key element or a mechanism of action for therapeutic approaches often categorized as mind-body approaches, such as yoga, TaiChi, Body-Oriented Psychotherapy, Body Awareness Therapy, mindfulness based therapies/meditation, Feldenkrais, Alexander Method, Breath Therapy and others with reported benefits for a variety of health conditions. To better understand the conceptualization of body awareness in mind-body therapies, leading practitioners and teaching faculty of these approaches were invited as well as their patients to participate in focus groups. The qualitative analysis of these focus groups with representative practitioners of body awareness practices, and the perspectives of their patients, elucidated the common ground of their understanding of body awareness. For them body awareness is an inseparable aspect of embodied self awareness realized in action and interaction with the environment and world. It is the awareness of embodiment as an innate tendency of our organism for emergent self-organization and wholeness. The process that patients undergo in these therapies was seen as a progression towards greater unity between body and self, very similar to the conceptualization of embodiment as dialectic of body and self described by some philosophers as being experienced in distinct developmental levels