The Nature of Attachment Relationships and Grief Responses in Older Adults: An Attachment Path Model of Grief

BACKGROUND: Various researchers have theorized that bereaved adults who report non-secure attachment are at higher risk of pathological grief. Yet past findings on avoidant attachment representations and grief have yielded limited and contradictory outcomes. Little research has been conducted with older adults to identify the psychological processes that mediate between self-reported attachment representations and the patterns of grief. OBJECTIVE: To examine the impacts of avoidant attachment and anxious attachment dimensions on emotion and non-acceptance, in response to the loss of a conjugal partner, and the mediating effect of yearning thoughts. DESIGN: Men (N = 21) and women (N = 68) aged 60 years and above who had lost a partner within the last 12 to 72 months were invited to participate. Participants rated their levels of yearning thoughts about the deceased, emotions and non-acceptance on the Texas Revised Inventory of Grief (TRIG-Present), and their type and level of general romantic attachment on the Experiences In Close Relationship questionnaire (ECR). RESULTS: Structural equation modelling (SEM) indicated that individuals who reported higher levels of avoidant attachment reported less emotional responses and less non-acceptance. SEM also showed that individuals who reported higher levels of anxious attachment reported greater emotional responses and greater non-acceptance. SEM further indicated that these relationships were mediated by yearning thoughts. CONCLUSION: People adopt different grief coping patterns according to their self-reported attachment representations, with the nature of their yearning thoughts influencing the process. Grief therapy may be organized according to individual differences in attachment representations

State trust in middle childhood: an experimental manipulation of maternal support

A

Conservation of the role of INNER NO OUTER in development of unitegmic ovules of the Solanaceae despite a divergence in protein function

The P-SlINO::SlINO-GFP transgene continues to be expressed after fertilization during the onset of fruit development. A-C: Ovules from P-SlINO::SlINO-GFP plants. D, E: Ovules from control plants. Images A (confocal) and B (DIC overlaid with GFP channel) show expression in the outer cell layer in an ovule post-anthesis. C-E are images of the surface cells of the integument of ovules taken from 3–4 mm fruits. C and D are images taken on an epifluorescence microscope (Axioplan) using a Chroma GFP filter set 41017 (Chroma, Bellows Falls, VT). E is a dark-field image of the same ovule in D. These images show expression is present in developing fruit. Scale bar in B represents 20 μm, scale bar in E represents 20 μm in C-E. (TIF 4435 kb

Cultural Aspects of Attachment Anxiety, Avoidance, and Life Satisfaction: Comparing the US and Turkey

Attachment insecurity can interfere with the experience, expression, and benefits of positive emotions, including happiness and life satisfaction (LS). However, both the pattern and effects of insecure attachment orientations on LS vary across cultures. Considering that attachment anxiety is higher in collectivist cultures and attachment avoidance is relatively high in individualistic cultures, the present chapter elaborates on the idea that anxious and avoidant attachment would have varying effects on LS in individualistic and collectivistic cultural contexts. Study 1 (N = 2456) involved a community sample of married couples in Turkey and demonstrated that attachment avoidance was a stronger predictor of LS than attachment anxiety in Turkish collectivist context. Study 2 tested the hypothesis that the roles of attachment anxiety and avoidance in predicting LS would vary between collectivistic and individualistic cultures. Mothers’ adult attachment dimensions and LS in Turkey (N = 89) and the United States (N = 91) were measured. As expected, results indicated that LS was predicted only by attachment avoidance in Turkey and by attachment anxiety in the United States. These findings are in line with the cultural fit hypothesis, suggesting that culturally incongruent attachment orientations have a stronger negative impact on individuals’ LS

Adult Romantic Attachment, Negative Emotionality, and Depressive Symptoms in Middle Aged Men: A Multivariate Genetic Analysis

Adult romantic attachment styles reflect ways of relating in close relationships and are associated with depression and negative emotionality. We estimated the extent to which dimensions of romantic attachment and negative emotionality share genetic or environmental risk factors in 1,237 middle-aged men in the Vietnam Era Twin Study of Aging (VETSA). A common genetic factor largely explained the covariance between attachment-related anxiety, attachment-related avoidance, depressive symptoms, and two measures of negative emotionality: Stress-Reaction (anxiety), and Alienation. Multivariate results supported genetic and environmental differences in attachment. Attachment-related anxiety and attachment-related avoidance were each influenced by additional genetic factors not shared with other measures; the genetic correlation between the attachment measure-specific genetic factors was 0.41, indicating some, but not complete overlap of genetic factors. Genetically informative longitudinal studies on attachment relationship dimensions can help to illuminate the role of relationship-based risk factors in healthy aging

Cancer Cell Invasion Is Enhanced by Applied Mechanical Stimulation

Metastatic cells migrate from the site of the primary tumor, through the stroma, into the blood and lymphatic vessels, finally colonizing various other tissues to form secondary tumors. Numerous studies have been done to identify the stimuli that drive the metastatic cascade. This has led to the identification of multiple biochemical signals that promote metastasis. However, information on the role of mechanical factors in cancer metastasis has been limited to the affect of compliance. Interestingly, the tumor microenvironment is rich in many cell types including highly contractile cells that are responsible for extensive remodeling and production of the dense extracellular matrix surrounding the cancerous tissue. We hypothesize that the mechanical forces produced by remodeling activities of cells in the tumor microenvironment contribute to the invasion efficiency of metastatic cells. We have discovered a significant difference in the extent of invasion in mechanically stimulated verses non-stimulated cell culture environments. Furthermore, this mechanically enhanced invasion is dependent upon substrate protein composition, and influenced by topography. Finally, we have found that the protein cofilin is needed to sense the mechanical stimuli that enhances invasion. We conclude that other types of mechanical signals in the tumor microenvironment, besides the rigidity, can enhance the invasive abilities of cancer cells in vitro. We further propose that in vivo, non-cancerous cells located within the tumor micro-environment may be capable of providing the necessary mechanical stimulus during the remodeling of the extracellular matrix surrounding the tumor

Diet-related chronic disease in the northeastern United States: a model-based clustering approach

Background: Obesity and diabetes are global public health concerns. Studies indicate a relationship between socioeconomic, demographic and environmental variables and the spatial patterns of diet-related chronic disease. In this paper, we propose a methodology using model-based clustering and variable selection to predict rates of obesity and diabetes. We test this method through an application in the northeastern United States. Methods: We use model-based clustering, an unsupervised learning approach, to find latent clusters of similar US counties based on a set of socioeconomic, demographic, and environmental variables chosen through the process of variable selection. We then use Analysis of Variance and Post-hoc Tukey comparisons to examine differences in rates of obesity and diabetes for the clusters from the resulting clustering solution. Results: We find access to supermarkets, median household income, population density and socioeconomic status to be important in clustering the counties of two northeastern states. The results of the cluster analysis can be used to identify two sets of counties with significantly lower rates of diet-related chronic disease than those observed in the other identified clusters. These relatively healthy clusters are distinguished by the large central and large fringe metropolitan areas contained in their component counties. However, the relationship of socio-demographic factors and diet-related chronic disease is more complicated than previous research would suggest. Additionally, we find evidence of low food access in two clusters of counties adjacent to large central and fringe metropolitan areas. While food access has previously been seen as a problem of inner-city or remote rural areas, this study offers preliminary evidence of declining food access in suburban areas. Conclusions: Model-based clustering with variable selection offers a new approach to the analysis of socioeconomic, demographic, and environmental data for diet-related chronic disease prediction. In a test application to two northeastern states, this method allows us to identify two sets of metropolitan counties with significantly lower diet-related chronic disease rates than those observed in most rural and suburban areas. Our method could be applied to larger geographic areas or other countries with comparable data sets, offering a promising method for researchers interested in the global increase in diet-related chronic disease

Attachment to mother and father at transition to middle childhood

The present study investigated concordance between representations of attachment to mother and attachment to father, and convergence between two narrative-based methods addressing these representations in middle childhood: the Manchester Child Attachment Story Task (MCAST) and the Secure Base Script Test (SBST). One hundred and twenty 6-year-old children were assessed by separate administrations of the MCAST for mother and father, respectively, and results showed concordance of representations of attachment to mother and attachment to father at age 6.5 years. 75 children were additionally tested about 12 months later, with the SBST, which assesses scripted knowledge of secure base (and safe haven), not differentiating between mother and father attachment rela- tionships. Concerning attachment to father, dichotomous classifications (MCAST) and a continuous dimension cap- turing scripted secure base knowledge (MCAST) converged with secure base scriptedness (SBST), yet we could not show the same pattern of convergence concerning attach- ment to mother. Results suggest some convergence between the two narrative methods of assessment of secure base script but also highlight complications when using the MCAST for measuring attachment to father in middle childhood