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Purpose This brief report examined associations between animal consumption and intimate partner aggression in a sample of undergraduates. Two possible explanatory variables for these associations, depressive symptoms and speciesism, were also examined. Methods Participants included 245 undergraduate students who provided electronic consent and completed a one-time anonymous survey. Results Results indicated that animal consumption was associated with higher use of physical and psychological intimate partner aggression, even after accounting for other correlates. Animal consumption was also associated with higher speciesism, and speciesism was associated with higher use of physical and psychological intimate partner aggression. Conclusions Results extend findings from prior studies documenting links between animal consumption and negative outcomes and further suggest that speciesism may play a role in understanding links between animal consumption and intimate partner aggression.

Post-9/11 veterans frequently experience diminished mental health following military service. Life meaning is related to better mental health in veterans, yet its mechanism of action is unknown. A meaning-making model suggests that life meaning can reduce perceived stress, thus enhancing mental health. The present study tested this meaning-making model by predicting multiple dimensions of mental health (i.e., symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder, anxiety, insomnia, and depression, and mental health quality of life) from life meaning as mediated by perceived stress.The present study was a secondary analysis of a 12-month observational study of 367 post-9/11 veterans. Participants completed demographic and health surveys at baseline, 6-month, and 12-month follow-ups. A multivariate mediation model was created predicting changes in dimensions of mental health from 6 months to 12 months.Higher life meaning at baseline predicted changes in all dimensions of mental health between 6 and 12 months, an effect mediated by changes in perceived stress between baseline and 6 months.Across dimensions of mental health, the meaning-making model was supported. Understanding post-9/11 veteran mental health from this theoretical perspective may help better tailor healthcare efforts and enhance veteran health overall.

Resilience is highly relevant in the context of cancer, and understanding how survivors adapt and potentially thrive following their diagnosis and treatment may provide insights into better supports and interventions to promote healthier survivorship. In this paper, we characterize two different ways to conceptualize and study resilience in cancer survivorship, as a trait and as a process. We focus specifically on the transition from active treatment to post-treatment survivorship. We present data from 225 cancer patients transitioning from active treatment (baseline assessment) to early survivorship (6-month follow-up). Results demonstrate that resilience assessed as a trait at baseline was unrelated to changes in survivors’ mental or physical wellbeing at follow-up, but did predict a decline in social satisfaction and spiritual wellbeing over time. However, when resilience is conceptualized as a dynamic process, the sample showed substantial resilience on multiple aspects of wellbeing. We suggest that different ways of conceptualizing resilience--as a trait versus as a dynamic process--may lead to very different conclusions and discuss future research directions for cancer survivors and for science of resilience.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a prevalent issue among veteran populations. Strength at Home (SAH) is a 12-week cognitive behavioral and trauma-informed group intervention shown to reduce IPV among veterans via a randomized controlled trial and several implementation and pilot studies. The program is currently being implemented nationally in the Department of Veterans Affairs, with initial data showing that clients evidence significant reductions in physical and psychological IPV, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, and alcohol misuse. The present study explored the subjective experience of veterans who participated in SAH during this rollout. Following their final group session, participants completed a treatment satisfaction survey. A qualitative thematic analysis of 291 surveys was conducted to evaluate (a) if SAH led participants to pursue other intervention; (b) what participants perceived as most beneficial about the program; (c) what participants perceived as least beneficial about the program; and (d) the ways in which SAH impacted their lives. These evaluations shed light on which aspects of the program may be most and least impactful, which may be utilized to modify and enhance the SAH program to best address the needs of individuals using and experiencing IPV.

Objectives US military veterans face many challenges in transitioning to civilian life; little information is available regarding veterans' reintegration experiences over time. The current study characterized veterans' postdeployment stressful life events and concurrent psychosocial wellbeing over one year and determined how stressors and wellbeing differ by demographic factors. Methods Recent Post-911 veterans (n = 402) were assessed approximately every three months for 1 year. Participants were 60% men, primarily White (78%), and 12% Latinx; the average age was 36 years. Results The frequency of stressful events decreased over time but was higher for men and minority-race veterans (independent of time since separation). Veterans reported high mean levels of posttraumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and insomnia symptoms, which improved slightly over time. Minority-race and Latinx veterans had higher symptom levels and slower rates of symptom reduction. Conclusion Veterans remain distressed in their overall transition to civilian life. Interventions to promote resilience and help veterans manage readjustment to civilian life appear urgently needed.

Stress is often associated with poor diet in young adulthood. However, very few studies have examined whether snacking on non-nutritious sweet or salty "comfort food" is directly linked with daily stress, a common intervention target. Further, trait mindfulness, a psychological resource that may be enhanced by psychological training and regular practice, has yet to be tested as a moderator of daily stress-eating linkages. This 11-day daily diary study examined multilevel linkages between daily stress appraisals and comfort food eating in undergraduates. Daily stress appraisals positively predicted comfort food eating at the between-, but not within-person, level. Mindfulness moderated these effects, such that only more mindful participants demonstrated a negative association between within-person stress and comfort food eating. Results illustrate that chronic stress exposure and acute stress reactivity relate differently to eating behavior. Mindfulness and chronic stress may be key intervention targets for non-clinical groups at risk for unhealthy eating.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been associated with intimate partner violence (IPV) across a range of populations. This chapter summarizes theoretical models attempting to explain these associations, with an emphasis on social information processing models that describe how trauma impacts the ways in which we interpret and process our social worlds, core themes that may underlie trauma and abusive behavior, and emotion regulation difficulties. Possible mediators and moderators of this relationship are also discussed, including traumatic brain injury (TBI), neuropsychological deficits, substance use, depressive symptoms, and relationship conflict. Finally, we describe the literature on IPV interventions. While the literature is characterized by a lack of randomized controlled trials, small treatment effects, and flawed research designs, more promising trauma-informed intervention approaches are emerging that provide some reason for optimism.

Interpersonal depression theories posit that excessive submissiveness in social interactions perpetuates negative mood. Correspondingly, many psychotherapies postulate that improvement can be facilitated by patient-therapist interactions. However, few studies have tested in-session patient and therapist behaviors that should, in theory, associate with depression reduction. Addressing this gap, the present study examined such associations in interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT). We hypothesized that decreases in patients´ submissive interpersonal impacts on their therapist would be associated with greater depression reduction, as would increases in therapists´ friendly submissive impacts on their patient; theoretically, such therapist behavior would pull for patients to complement it with adaptive assertiveness, thereby disrupting their submissive tendencies. Data derived from an open trial of 16 IPT sessions for adults with major depression. Patients (N = 119) and therapists (N = 39) rated the others´ interpersonal impacts at Sessions 3 and 16 via the Impact Message Inventory. Patients rated their depression on the Beck Depression Inventory-Second Edition after each session. As predicted, multilevel modeling revealed that decreases in patients´ submissive impacts were associated with greater concurrent depression reduction (p = .03) and lower posttreatment depression level (p = .03). Also, although therapists did not differ in their change in friendly submissive impacts, thus precluding a test of the influence of such change on outcome, a greater average level of therapist friendly submissiveness related to lower posttreatment depression (p = .008). Results support interpersonal depression theories and the therapeutic benefit of specific patient and therapist change processes in IPT. Fil: Coyne, Alice E.. University of Massachusetts Amherst; Estados Unidos Fil: Constantino, Michael J.. University of Massachusetts Amherst; Estados Unidos Fil: Gómez Penedo, Juan Martín. Universidad de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina Fil: Gnall, Katherine E.. University of Massachusetts Amherst; Estados Unidos Fil: Ravitz, Paula. University of Toronto; Canadá Fil: McBride, Carolina. University of Toronto; Canadá