Association of Victimization by Sex among Public Facing Bus and Subway Transit Workers, New York City.

Federal data indicate that assaults on transit workers resulting in fatalities or hospitalizations tripled between 2008 and 2022. The data indicated a peri-pandemic surge of assault-related fatalities and hospitalizations, but assaults with less dire outcomes were not recorded. In collaboration with the Transport Workers Union, Local 100, we conducted an online survey in late 2023 through early 2024 of New York City public-facing bus and subway workers that focused on their work experiences during the 2020-2023 period of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Impact of occupational exposure to COVID-19 on the physical and mental health of an essential workgroup: New York City transit workers.

Background And Purpose: Early on in the COVID-19 pandemic, New York City (NYC) vowed to “keep the subways running” despite the lack of plans in place for protecting the health and well-being of transit workers. This study was designed to assess the impact of employment during the early phase of the pandemic on this essential frontline workforce.

Methods, Settings, And Study Participants: A convenience sample of members (stratified by job title) of the NYC Transport Workers Union, Local 100, was recruited in August 2020 to participate in an anonymous, cross-sectional, internet-based survey.

Food Insecurity and Adolescent Psychosocial Adjustment: Indirect Pathways through Caregiver Adjustment and Caregiver-Adolescent Relationship Quality.

Household food insecurity is associated with youth behavioral problems, yet few studies have examined potential mechanisms that underline this association, particularly among adolescents. The Family Stress Model (FSM) states that food insecurity potentially impacts adolescent psychosocial adjustment indirectly through its effects on parental psychological functioning and parenting. The current study examined data from the Children, Welfare, and Families study (N = 687, 53% female, M of child at baseline = 11.

A randomized controlled trial of group cognitive remediation therapy for anorexia nervosa: Effects on set-shifting tasks for inpatient adults and adolescents.

Objective: The aim of this randomized controlled trial with a parallel design was to evaluate the effect of brief, cognitive remediation therapy (CRT) for anorexia nervosa (AN) on set-shifting.

Method: Two hundred seventy-five inpatient adults and adolescents with AN (mean age = 23.1; SD = 12.

A Randomized Controlled Trial Assessing the Efficacy of Group Psychological First Aid.

A randomized controlled trial assessed the efficacy of group psychological first aid (PFA) by comparing the Johns Hopkins RAPID-PFA model with a group conversation condition in 119 participants using the state version of State Trait Anxiety Scale and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedules. Both groups showed similar baseline scores, and after watching a distressing 5-minute video, both groups showed similar significant increases in state anxiety scores and negative affect scores, as well as similar decreases in positive affect scores. However, compared with the group conversation condition, the RAPID-PFA group evidenced significantly lower state anxiety scores at postintervention and at 30-minute delay.

Household Food Insecurity in Early Adolescence and Risk of Subsequent Behavior Problems: Does a Connection Persist Over Time?

Objective: Household food insecurity is common among U.S. families, and adolescents are almost twice as likely as school-aged children to be food insecure.

Registered Replication Report: Dijksterhuis and van Knippenberg (1998).

Dijksterhuis and van Knippenberg (1998) reported that participants primed with a category associated with intelligence ("professor") subsequently performed 13% better on a trivia test than participants primed with a category associated with a lack of intelligence ("soccer hooligans"). In two unpublished replications of this study designed to verify the appropriate testing procedures, Dijksterhuis, van Knippenberg, and Holland observed a smaller difference between conditions (2%-3%) as well as a gender difference: Men showed the effect (9.3% and 7.

Premonitory Urge for Tics Scale (PUTS): replication and extension of psychometric properties in youth with chronic tic disorders (CTDs).

Individuals with chronic tic disorders (CTDs) frequently describe aversive subjective sensory sensations that precede their tics. The first aim of the present study was to explore the psychometric properties of a standardized self-report measure to assess premonitory urges in CTDs, The Premonitory Urge for Tics Scale (PUTS), by replicating the analyses of Woods et al. (J Dev Behav Pediatr 26:397-403, 2005) using a sample twice the size of theirs.

Political Affiliation, Probable PTSD, and Symptoms of Depression in Iraq and Afghanistan Combat Veterans: A Pilot Study.

Ideological commitment of military personnel has been associated with mitigating trauma and protecting mental health. This pilot study assessed whether Democratic and Republican political affiliation differentially predicted probable posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and symptoms of depression in 62 male Iraq and Afghanistan combat veterans. The Liberalism-Conservatism Scale, the PTSD Checklist-Military Version (PCL-M), and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) were assessment measures.

Do resettlement variables predict psychiatric treatment outcomes in a sample of asylum-seeking survivors of torture?

Purpose: Mental health clinicians who work with asylum seekers provide services to patients who face stressful everyday living conditions. However, little is known about how these problems potentially impact psychiatric treatment within these populations. The purpose of this study was thus to examine whether resettlement factors predict outcomes of a mental health intervention for a sample of asylum-seeking survivors of torture.

Item analysis of the Leeds Dependence Questionnaire in community treatment centers.

The present study extends the item-level psychometric information of the Leeds Dependence Questionnaire (LDQ; Raistrick et al., 1994) that has been purported to measure psychological dependence and the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems-10th edition substance dependence criteria. Prior research on the LDQ has not established item-level properties or the degree of differential item functioning (DIF) by gender and substance type.

The Potential Efficacy of Psychological First Aid on Self-Reported Anxiety and Mood: A Pilot Study.

The authors explored the efficacy of a randomized controlled trial to assess the potential benefits of psychological first aid (PFA) compared with a social acknowledgement condition in a sample of 42 participants who spoke about a stressful life event. Demographics and standardized questionnaires, including the state version of the State Trait Anxiety Inventory Scale and the Brief Profile of Mood States, assessed anxiety and mood state. Those in the PFA group evidenced significantly lower anxiety scores at 30-minute postdisclosure than at baseline and, although not significant, showed lowered distressed mood compared with baseline at 30-minute postdisclosure.

Mass fatality preparedness among medical examiners/coroners in the United States: a cross-sectional study.

Background: In the United States (US), Medical Examiners and Coroners (ME/Cs) have the legal authority for the management of mass fatality incidents (MFI). Yet, preparedness and operational capabilities in this sector remain largely unknown. The purpose of this study was twofold; first, to identify appropriate measures of preparedness, and second, to assess preparedness levels and factors significantly associated with preparedness.

Emergency preparedness in a sample of persons with disabilities.

Objective: The objective of this study was to characterize emergency preparedness in this vulnerable population, and to ascertain the role of the personal assistant (PA) and the potential impact of prior emergency experience on preparedness efforts.

Design: Cross-sectional Internet-based survey conducted in 2011.

Setting: Convenience sample.

Identifying personality-related problems in living: the multi-context problems checklist.

The Multi-Context Problems Checklist (MCPC) is a new measure of personality-related problems designed for a young adult population. Previously published problem checklists either have little supporting empirical documentation to support their validity or focus on specific kinds of difficulties in specific contexts (e.g.

Mass transit ridership and self-reported hearing health in an urban population.

Information on prevalence and risk factors associated with self-reported hearing health among mass transit riders is extremely limited, even though evidence suggests mass transit may be a source of excessive exposure to noise. Data on mass transit ridership were collected from 756 study participants using a self-administered questionnaire. Hearing health was measured using two symptom items (tinnitus and temporary audiometric threshold shift), two subjective measures (self-rated hearing and hearing ability), and two medical-related questions (hearing testing and physician-diagnosed hearing loss).

Quality of college students' same-sex friendships as a function of personality and interpersonal competence.

The aim of the current study was to investigate personality traits and interpersonal competencies as predictors of the quality of same-sex friendships in young adulthood. Undergraduate students (N = 176), who attended a mid-Atlantic U.S.

Maladaptively high and low openness: the case for experiential permeability.

The domain of Openness within the Five-Factor Model (FFM) has received inconsistent support as a source for maladaptive personality functioning, at least when the latter is confined to the disorders of personality included within the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR; APA, ). However, an advantage of the FFM relative to the DSM-IV-TR is that the former was developed to provide a reasonably comprehensive description of general personality structure. Rather than suggest that the FFM is inadequate because the DSM-IV-TR lacks much representation of Openness, it might be just as reasonable to suggest that the DSM-IV-TR is inadequate because it lacks an adequate representation of maladaptive variants of both high and low Openness.

The ecological validity of clinical tests of visuospatial function in community-dwelling older adults.

Little is known about the relation between measures of visuospatial function and daily functioning in community-dwelling older adults. The current study addresses this gap in the literature. Forty individuals with mean (SD) age and education of 78.

To leave an area after disaster: how evacuees from the WTC buildings left the WTC area following the attacks.

How people leave a devastated area after a disaster is critical to understanding their ability to cope with risks they face while evacuating. Knowledge of their needs for communications about these risks is particularly crucial in planning for emergency responses. A convenience sample of 1,444 persons who survived the World Trade Center (WTC) attacks on September 11, 2001 were surveyed to ascertain their initial and ultimate destinations once they had left the buildings, how they arrived there, the role of types of obstacles they encountered, and the need for information and the seeking of other people as potential factors in influencing the process of leaving immediately.

Factors associated with the ability and willingness of essential workers to report to duty during a pandemic.

Objective: To determine essential workers' ability and willingness to report to duty during a serious pandemic outbreak and to identify modifiable risk factors.

Methods: Workers (N = 1103) from six essential workgroups completed an anonymous, cross-sectional survey.

Results: Although a substantial proportion of participants reported that they would be able (80%), fewer would be willing (65%) to report to duty.