Thriving in the shadow of the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake: Two studies on resilience in adolescents

The objective of the current study was to explore the relationship between resilience and psychological adjustment in Chinese adolescents who experienced the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Study 1 compared the scores and factor structures on the Resilience Scale for Chinese Adolescents for 1436 adolescents, who were divided into a high-adversity group and a low-adversity group. The results showed that resilience following exposure to an earthquake included cognitive and emotive components. In Study 2, 311 Chinese adolescents who resided in the most severely affected areas were surveyed at 15 months (T1) and 20 months (T2) following the earthquake. The results revealed that resilience mediated the relationship between positive future expectations at T1 and adjustment at T2.

Severe asthma and adherence to peak flow monitoring: longitudinal assessment of psychological aspects

BACKGROUND

Adherence in severe asthma is a difficult health problem. Although psychosocial factors may be responsible for non-adherence, few longitudinal studies have investigated their link with adherence, with most studies having focused on pharmacology.

METHODS

Sixty patients with severe asthma were recruited. Adherence was electronically monitored using peak flow measurements at entry and after 1 year of follow-up. Eysenck's Personality Inventory, Rotter's Locus of Control (LOC), and health control beliefs were all studied. Multiple logistic regression (MLR) was used for risk calculations.

RESULTS

Initially, subjects with poor adherence had an external LOC (P=.001) and a high extraversion score (P=.003) compared to those with good adherence. The lie score was high in all patients. Nocturnal awakenings were highly significantly correlated with poor adherence (P=.006). After 1 year, patient adherence, extraversion, and neuroticism remained unchanged. The LOC changed in subjects with poor adherence, showing a less "external" orientation (P=.007). The health parameters were better at the end of the study. By MLR analysis, externality, extraversion, and low social desirability were associated with poor adherence. Patients with poor adherence had a greater probability of nocturnal symptoms.

CONCLUSION

No specific personality type was associated with lack of adherence in the present study, but a high extraversion score, a low social desirability score, and a high level of externality were all predictors of poor adherence.

Interference of psychological factors in difficult-to-control asthma

BACKGROUND

Most patients with asthma can be controlled with suitable medication, but 5-10% of them remain difficult to control despite optimal management.

OBJECTIVE

We investigated whether patients with difficult-to-control asthma (DCA) or controlled asthma (CA) differ with respect to psychological factors, such as general control beliefs on life events.

METHODS

DCA was defined as an absence of control despite optimal management. Recent control was measured using the Asthma Control Questionnaire. General control beliefs were investigated using a Locus of Control scale (LOC).

RESULTS

Patients with DCA had a significantly higher external LOC as compared to patients with CA (P=0.01). In the DCA group, the hospital admission rate was highly significant in association with the external LOC (P=0.004) as compared to the internal LOC trend.

CONCLUSION

This study showed that patients with DCA had different general control beliefs which might have hampered their management and interfered with their therapeutic adherence. The present findings could enhance management of DCA in a clinical setting.

What Predicts Adjustment Among Law Students? A Longitudinal Panel Study

Although at the time of this article's publication, many anecdotes and cross-sectional studies had reported that law students experience significant distress during their 1st year, few researchers had controlled for prelaw school status (e.g., M. Garrison, B. Tomko, & I. Yip, 1996; L. Guinier, M. Fine, J. Balin, A. Bartow, & D. L. Stachel, 1994), and only a single group of researchers had explored a psychosocial factor that predicted these changes. The present authors tested 3 sets of potential predictors of adjustment: sources of stress, coping strategies, and relationship factors. The present data replicated declines in students' psychological health, physical health, and attitudes toward law over the 1st year of school. That result supports the generalizability and currency of previous studies. In contrast to other researchers, the present authors found few gender differences. Less relationship happiness, less emotional support, and use of less active coping tactics at the beginning of the year predicted poorer outcomes at the end of the year. Strain from academic pressures, lack of personal time, and social isolation were correlated with poorer outcomes.

Quality of life and its correlates in a community population in a Japanese rural area

Correlations of three aspects of quality of life (QOL) (health perception, life satisfaction, and self-confidence) with personality traits and early experiences were examined. Quality of life aspects were examined using 220 inhabitants in a rural community in Japan. Health perception was better among men than among women. Life satisfaction and self-confidence were better in people aged 55 or over than in those under 55. Among the current predictor variables, the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire neuroticism score was correlated with poor life satisfaction in the younger women; the extraversion score with the older women's health perception, the older men's life satisfaction, and the women's self-confidence; and the psychoticism score with the older men's life satisfaction. Among early life predictors, self-confidence was lower among those older men who had reported early parental loss. Childhood paternal overprotection was correlated with poor health perception in younger people and with good health perception in older women. Some negative life events experienced during childhood were correlated with poorer QOL measures in some subgroups, while positive life experiences were correlated with the older women's life satisfaction. These findings suggest that the three aspects of the QOL are discrete in their psychosocial correlates and that interventions on health education and care should take into account individual's psychosocial attributes.