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Introduction: Many Veterans with PTSD struggle with symptoms of social dysfunction, including isolation [1] and physical violence [2]. Current Veterans Affairs (VA) treatments effectively decrease posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) [3, 4, 5, 6], but do not directly target social dysfunction. In the current study, we investigate deficits in two potential mechanisms: trust and social responsiveness. We propose to use the iterated Trust Game [7, 8]– an economic exchange task that operationalizes trust and social responsiveness– to investigate differences due to PTSS severity. We will also investigate changes after treatment using the Trust Game in a dataset of Veterans undergoing residential treatment for PTSD at a VA Medical Center. We hypothesize that those with greater PTSS severity will show deficits in trust or social responsiveness, and these deficits will assuage with PTSS improvement after treatment. Methods: We analyze a cross-sectional dataset of combat-exposed Veterans (n = 153) and a dataset undergoing residential treatment for PTSD (n = 36). PTSS are measured using the PTSD CheckList (PCL). Each Veteran plays a ten-round variant of the iterated Trust Game. Each round involves exchange between the Veteran (or “investor”) who is endowed $20 each round, and a “trustee”, in whom the investor may entrust any portion of the $20. The investment is tripled before being sent to the trustee, and the trustee may return any proportion. Trust is operationalized as investment, and social responsiveness is operationalized as the ability of the trustee’s changes in response to the investor—“trustee reciprocity”—to predict changes in the investor’s next round investment. We investigate the two potential mechanisms in the cross-sectional dataset. To determine the relationship between trust and PTSS, we regress investment onto PCL. To investigate the relationship between social responsiveness and PTSS, we regress round change in investment onto the interaction of PCL and trustee reciprocity. We next investigate the impact of treatment in the residential treatment dataset. To determine the impact of PTSS improvement on trust, we regress change in investment onto PCL score change (posttreatment–pretreatment). To determine the impact of treatment-related change on social responsiveness, we regress round change in investment onto the interaction of change in PCL (posttreatment–pretreatment), visit, and trustee reciprocity. Results: In the cross-sectional dataset, higher PTSS correlates with decrease in trust, operationalized as investment (β1 = −0.002, p = 0.003, n = 153). Increase in trustee reciprocity correlates with increase in round change in investment (β1 = −0.25, p < 0.001, n = 153), indicating Veterans were socially responsive. There was no PTSS-related variation in social responsive- ness (0 < β3 < 0.001,p = 0.5,n = 153). In the residential treatment dataset, less PTSS improvement correlated with decrease in trust after treatment (β1 = −0.006, p = 0.015, n = 36). Veterans were socially responsive (β1 = 0.39,p < 0.001,n = 36), with a decrease in responsiveness at posttreatment (β5 = −0.29,p = 0.001, n = 36) and a greater decrease posttreatment in those with less improvement in PTSS (β7 = −0.01, p = 0.02, n = 36). Conclusions: In the cross-sectional dataset, trust decreased with higher PTSS, while social responsiveness did not change with PTSS severity. This suggests that Veterans with more severe PTSS show deficits in trust, but not social responsiveness, and supports deficit trust as a mechanism for the social dysfunction observed in Veterans with PTSD. In the residential treatment dataset, both trust and social responsiveness decreased with less improvement in PTSS after treatment. This suggests that Veterans whose PTSS do not improve with treatment experience further decline in mechanisms of social functioning after discharge. In the absence of a control group, it is hard to determine whether this decline is due to symptom-related order effect, or unsuccessful treatment itself. These findings suggest decreased trust, but not social responsiveness, is a mechanism of social dysfunction observed in PTSD. Further investigation into mechanisms of social dysfunction and treatment-related change in Veterans with PTSD, the iatrogenic effects described, and the way these effects can be minimized is also necessary. These findings lend support to treatments that directly target social dysfunction in the context of treatment-resistant post- traumatic stress disorder.

Terrorism originating in the North Caucasus region has been one of the Russian government’s most significant security concerns for at least the past twenty years. Chechen women who join terrorist groups pose a significant and unique threat to the Russian Federation. These women are the so-called "Black Widows" or shahidki and their lethality should not be underestimated. This report seeks to unpack the possible motivating factors that drive a Chechen woman to become a "Black Widow". I explain the three most commonly proposed scholarly explanations for why women, in this case Chechen women, turn to terrorist acts, and then analyze which reasons are the most plausible in the present-day. After establishing the necessary context regarding Russian-Chechen relations—from Imperial Russia to present-day—and an overview of the concepts of terrorism and radical jihadist ideology—this report delves into an analysis of the factors that can pull a Chechen woman to turn to terrorism. Next, I provide quantitative data to illustrate how women suicide bombers in Chechnya, and abroad, are a significant and deadly concern. Finally, I offer my concluding thoughts and suggestions for future research

Terrorism originating in the North Caucasus region has been one of the Russian government’s most significant security concerns for at least the past twenty years. Chechen women who join terrorist groups pose a significant and unique threat to the Russian Federation. These women are the so-called "Black Widows" or shahidki and their lethality should not be underestimated. This report seeks to unpack the possible motivating factors that drive a Chechen woman to become a "Black Widow". I explain the three most commonly proposed scholarly explanations for why women, in this case Chechen women, turn to terrorist acts, and then analyze which reasons are the most plausible in the present-day. After establishing the necessary context regarding Russian-Chechen relations—from Imperial Russia to present-day—and an overview of the concepts of terrorism and radical jihadist ideology—this report delves into an analysis of the factors that can pull a Chechen woman to turn to terrorism. Next, I provide quantitative data to illustrate how women suicide bombers in Chechnya, and abroad, are a significant and deadly concern. Finally, I offer my concluding thoughts and suggestions for future research

Durante los años conciliares, la evolución de la sociedad holandesa hacia la izquierda está marcada por el desarrollo de una cultura joven y de flower power, pero también por las manifestaciones estudiantiles y por un endurecimiento de la acción sindical. Este cambio se traduce en la Iglesia católica en la aparición de comunidades de base y parroquias críticas. Los ejemplos analizados en el artículo, ponen de manifiesto sus preocupaciones: modernización de la liturgia pero también crítica de la sociedad y contestación del funcionamiento eclesial –particularmente el celibato eclesiástico y los obstáculos puesto a la intercomunión entre católicos y protestantes–. Ampliamente mediatizada, especialmente a través del grupo de sacerdotes contestatarios, la Septuaginta, la experiencia de izquierdas del catolicismo holandés tuvo un gran eco internacional alrededor de los años 60-70, antes de perder su base social y declinar rápidamente.