Bilinear and Multidimensional Cultural Orientations and Indigenous Family Process among Korean Immigrant Mothers and Fathers.

This study examined how parental cultural orientations and family process are related among Korean immigrant parents (272 mothers, and 164 fathers, =436) and how the relationship varies across fathers and mothers. Multiple scales were used to assess bilinear, multidimensional cultural orientation towards both the culture of origin and mainstream culture. The dimensions of language, identity, and cultural participation as well as the number of years living in U.

Impact of youth cultural orientation on perception of family process and development among Korean Americans.

Objectives: This study examined how cultural orientations influence youth perception of family processes in Korean American families and how these family processes, in turn, predict depressive symptoms and antisocial behaviors among youth. Family processes were examined separately for maternal and paternal variables.

Method: This study used survey data from Korean American families living in the Midwest (256 youth and their parents) across 2 time periods, spanned over a year.

Preservation and Modification of Culture in Family Socialization: Development of Parenting Measures for Korean Immigrant Families.

This study aims to describe the family socialization beliefs and practices of Korean immigrant parents through testing psychometric properties of several newly developed items and scales to assess the major components of the Korean traditional concept of family socialization, . These new measures were examined for validity and reliability. The findings show that Korean immigrant parents largely preserve their traditional and core parenting values, while also showing meaningful, yet not very dramatic, signs of adopting new cultural traits.

Is Asian American Parenting Controlling and Harsh? Empirical Testing of Relationships between Korean American and Western Parenting Measures.

Asian American parenting is often portrayed as highly controlling and even harsh. This study empirically tested the associations between a set of recently developed Korean measures and several commonly used Western parenting measures to accurately describe Asian American family processes, specifically those of Korean Americans. The results show a much nuanced and detailed picture of Korean American parenting as a blend of Western authoritative and authoritarian styles with positive and-although very limited-negative parenting.

Workplace response of companies exposed to the 9/11 World Trade Center attack: a focus-group study.

The terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 (9/11) left workplaces in pressing need of a mental health response capability. Unaddressed emotional sequelae may be devastating to the productivity and economic stability of a company's workforce. In the second year after the attacks, 85 employees of five highly affected agencies participated in 12 focus groups to discuss workplace mental health issues.

The course of postdisaster psychiatric disorders in directly exposed civilians after the US Embassy bombing in Nairobi, Kenya: a follow-up study.

Purpose: While disasters are common in Africa, disaster studies in Africa are underrepresented in the published literature. This study prospectively examined the longitudinal course of psychopathology, coping, and functioning among 128 directly exposed Kenyan civilian survivors of the 1998 US Embassy bombing in Nairobi.

Methods: The Diagnostic Interview Schedule/Disaster Supplement assessed predisaster and postdisaster psychiatric disorders and variables related to coping, functioning, safety, and religion near the end of the first and third postdisaster years.

The business of healing: focus group discussions of readjustment to the post-9/11 work environment among employees of affected agencies.

Objective: Understanding postdisaster workplace adjustment may help guide interventions for postdisaster emotional functioning and recovery.

Methods: One to two years after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, 12 focus groups were conducted with 85 employees of companies directly affected by the 9/11 attacks on New York City, to discuss mental health issues surrounding return to the workplace after the disaster.

Results: Risk communication, tension between workplace productivity and employees' emotional needs, and postdisaster work space were topics discussed in the focus groups.

Acculturation and the Family: Core vs. Peripheral Changes among Korean Americans.

The traditional cultural characteristics are challenged and negotiated in the process of acculturation; some characteristics are discarded, others are maintained, still others may get strengthened, new characteristics from the new cultures are adopted, and possibly a new hybrid of a culture of family socialization may emerge. The focus group interviews conducted with Korean-American parents and their children attest to the complexity of this process mixed with core and peripheral changes. The study findings show that Korean-American families appear to live more distinctly in the Korean culture than the mainstream Western culture, and the parental cultural adaptation is, at least at this point, minimal.

Comparison of post-disaster psychiatric disorders after terrorist bombings in Nairobi and Oklahoma City.

Background: African disaster-affected populations are poorly represented in disaster mental health literature.

Aims: To compare systematically assessed mental health in populations directly exposed to terrorist bombing attacks on two continents, North America and Africa.

Method: Structured diagnostic interviews compared citizens exposed to bombings of the US Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya (n=227) and the Oklahoma City Federal Building (n=182).

Drosophila serpin 4 functions as a neuroserpin-like inhibitor of subtilisin-like proprotein convertases.

The proteolytic processing of neuropeptide precursors is believed to be regulated by serine proteinase inhibitors, or serpins. Here we describe the molecular cloning and functional expression of a novel member of the serpin family, Serine protease inhibitor 4 (Spn4), that we propose is involved in the regulation of peptide maturation in Drosophila. The Spn4 gene encodes at least two different serpin proteins, generated by alternate splicing of the last coding exon.

Orchestrating development and function: retrograde BMP signaling in the Drosophila nervous system.

Recent work has shown that bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) growth factors regulate development of the larval neuromuscular junction (NMJ) of Drosophila. Intriguingly, the same BMP growth factors also influence the expression of circulating hormones that modulate the physiological properties of NMJs. Together, the results suggest that retrograde growth factor signaling by BMPs integrates neuromuscular development and function at both local and global levels in the animal.

Abelson tyrosine kinase is required to transduce midline repulsive cues.

Tyrosine phosphorylation-dependent signaling cascades play key roles in determining the formation of an axon pathway. The cytoplasmic Abelson tyrosine kinase participate in several signaling pathways that orchestrate both growth cone advance and steering in response to guidance cues. Here, a genetic approach is used to evaluate the role for Abelson in growth cones during a decision to cross or not to cross the Drosophila embryonic midline.

Constitutively active myosin light chain kinase alters axon guidance decisions in Drosophila embryos.

Conventional myosin II activity provides the motile force for axon outgrowth, but to achieve directional movement during axon pathway formation, myosin activity should be regulated by the attractive and repulsive guidance cues that guide an axon to its target. Here, evidence for this regulation is obtained by using a constitutively active Myosin Light Chain Kinase (ctMLCK) to selectively elevate myosin II activity in Drosophila CNS neurons. Expression of ctMLCK pan-neurally or in primarily pCC/MP2 neurons causes these axons to cross the midline incorrectly.