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It Takes a Village: An Examination of Social Relationships and Mental Health
Get PDFSocial relationships are impactful to mental health and well-being, both positively and negatively. Different sources of support vary in their ability to meet our needs and ultimately influence our well-being. While research has examined aspects of supportive and harmful social relationships and mental health, much of this work is cross-sectional or limited to a single source of support. This dissertation aimed to better elucidate the relationship between social relationships and mental health by integrating multiple theoretical perspectives and multiple sources of support, in a series of three empirical studies in order to inform theory and interventions targeting mental health of high-risk groups.
Veterans are at increased risk of suicide relative to their civilian counterparts. Study 1 examined an acute indicator of suicide risk, agitation, and its temporal associations with social support from spouse, family, and friends over a 9-month period using three-wave cross-lagged panel models in a sample of employed veterans (SERVe). Results revealed preliminary support for a reciprocal association between agitation and some sources of support, with directionality of cross-lagged effects varying across sources. Agitation was impacted by one’s relationships with family, whereas family support predicted subsequent agitation. For coupled veterans, spousal support predicted subsequent agitation. Social support from friends was not related to agitation longitudinally, illuminating nuances in the temporal associations between agitation and social support from spouse, family, and friends.
Marital transitions, widowhood or divorce, are incredibly stressful for older adults and have long-term impacts on mental health and well-being. Study 2 also took a longitudinal approach to examining social relationships and mental health by examining support and strain from multiple sources (spouse, family, friends, and children) as predictors of depressive symptom trajectories prior to and following a marital transition using latent piecewise growth curve modeling. Social strain did not emerge as a significant predictor of depressive symptom trajectories post-marital transition. Social support from spouse was related to more difficult mental health recoveries after transition, whereas social support from friends was related to a quicker adjustment. These results provide additional evidence for the importance of a strong friend network to mitigate the detrimental effects of marital transitions on mental health among older adults adjusting to widowhood or divorce.
Military-connected individuals are at increased risk for mental health disorders and adverse behavioral health outcomes but are less likely to seek help for mental health problems than physical health problems. Previous research indicates that social support, mental health stigma, and organizational barriers to care impact service member behavioral health and treatment seeking for many military-connected individuals. Study 3 aimed to elucidate the interactive effects of social relationships and suicide risk factors on behavioral health care utilization, utilizing a sample of active-duty soldiers who participated in the Resilience-Supportive Leadership Training (RESULT) study. Main effects models revealed that perceived partner responsiveness, stigma, and barriers to care were all associated with less frequent behavioral health treatment use. For coupled participants, perceived partner responsiveness attenuated the effects of stigma and barriers to care on treatment use, evidenced by results of moderation models. Study 3 findings highlight the important role spouses play in the process of treatment seeking and utilization among this high-risk sample. Taken together, this series of studies provides evidence for the importance of including distinct sources of social support when examining the interactive effects of mental health and social relationships over time, ultimately informing future interventions targeting social relationships to improve mental health and as inform barriers and facilitators to seeking behavioral health care
Alternative Shelter Evaluation Report
Get PDFThis report summarizes research by Portland State University’s Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative for the Joint Office of Homeless Services on the cost, participant experiences, and client outcomes in village-style and motel shelters as compared to each other and to traditional, congregate shelters
Does El Niño affect MJO-AR connections over the North Pacific and associated North American precipitation?
No full textThis study investigates how the El Niño phase (EN) of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) influences the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) modulation of cool-season North Pacific atmospheric rivers (ARs) and associated AR-landfall North American precipitation between 1980 and 2020. EN changes the key drivers of MJO-AR connections by shifting MJO-driven convection east of 180° in MJO phases 6–8 and extending the northern Pacific subtropical jet eastward. Under these conditions, the MJO tropical-extratropical teleconnection is triggered east of 180° in phases 7–8, and a persistent cyclonic flow anomaly develops along the United States west coast. Anomalous northeastward integrated water vapor transport (IVT) within the cyclonic flow coupled with the MJO convection over the western (phase 7) and central (phase 8) Pacific increases AR frequency, shifting it to the east over regions that do not show a relationship with EN or MJO alone. Besides enhancing AR activity, EN background conditions increase the number of AR events, their lifetime, and mean intensity from MJO phases 6 through 8, as well as the number of MJO active days, AR initiations, and ARs making landfall over North America in phases 8 − 1. The positive precipitation anomalies and increased frequency of extreme precipitation events associated with landfalling North Pacific ARs related to MJO are also shifted to the east in EN, enhancing and extending rainfall over western North America in phases 6 − 1. Results provide new insight into the drivers of AR activity and associated precipitation along the west coast of North America with implications for improving subseasonal-to-seasonal predictions
Identifying Competencies of the ACT Program Nurse Using the DACUM Method
No full textThe nurse role on an Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) team requires a specialized set of skills in psychiatric community-based care. While the ACT model has existed for fifty years, no nationally recognized standard curriculum to train ACT nurses has been developed. The ACT Nursing Project described in this paper aimed to create a competency-based on-board training program using the Developing a Curriculum (DACUM) method. Eight ACT nurses from three states served as the expert panel to create a DACUM chart detailing the full set of nine duties and 127 tasks required of ACT nurses. To verify the DACUM results, 57 ACT nurses from four states completed a survey and confirmed that 80% of the tasks identified by the expert panel were also performed by the validation sample of ACT nurses. This paper describes how the DACUM duties and tasks provided the framework to develop onboard training curriculum for ACT program nurses. The next step is to pilot the onboard training curriculum to newly hired ACT nurses to ensure they are equipped to meet the complex needs of people living with serious mental illness, and to increase their competency, job satisfaction and decrease the high annual turnover rate among ACT nurses
Barriers and Variable Spacing Enhance Convective Cooling and Increase Power Output in Solar PV Plants
No full textWhen the temperature of solar photovoltaic (PV) modules rises, efficiency drops and module degradation accelerates. Thus, it is beneficial to reduce module operating temperatures. Previous studies of solar power plants have illustrated that incoming flow characteristics, turbulent mixing, and array geometry can strongly impact convective cooling, as measured by the convective heat transfer coefficient h. In the fields of heat transfer and plant canopy flow, previous work has shown that system-scale arrangement modifications—e.g., variable spacing, barriers, or windbreaks—can passively alter the flow, enhance turbulent mixing, and influence convection. However, researchers have not yet explored how variable spacing or barriers might enhance convective cooling in solar power plants. Here, high-resolution large-eddy simulations model the air flow and heat transfer through solar power plant arrangements modified with missing modules and barrier walls. We then perform a control volume analysis to evaluate the net heat flux and compute h, which quantifies the influence of these spatial modifications on convective cooling and, thus, module temperature and power output. Installing barrier walls yields the greatest improvements, increasing h by 3.4%, reducing module temperature by an estimated 2.5 °C, and boosting power output by an estimated 1.4% on average. These findings indicate that incorporating variable spacing or barrier-type elements into PV plant designs can reduce module temperature and, thus, improve PV performance and service life
Gangism: An \u27Elementary Form of Religious Life\u27
Get PDFThis study is intended to examine the question: could gangs be a form of religion? The study will examine Steven Cureton\u27s ethnographic case study of a street gang as found in his work titled Hoover Crips (2008), where I will then analyze the findings within the sociological framework of Emile Durkheim’s theory of religion as set forth in his classic book titled Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1912).
This exploration faces challenges as the terms “gang” and “religion” are both hotly contested, and discussions on each have largely occurred independently, leaving a significant gap for this research to address. This study seeks to demonstrate that there are many interesting similarities between gangs and religion, and that in these similarities there may be answers that help explain otherwise questionable gang behavior and activity. This research provides an alternative perspective that challenges the contemporary (mis)understanding of urban street gangs
Histone Changes as a Response to Lactic Acid Selection in Cells of Austrofundulus limnaeus
Get PDFThe killifish Austrofundulus limnaeus is an extremophile native to small temporary ponds of Venezuela. Normal embryonic development of A. limnaeus is segmented into up to three stages of metabolic depression (diapause), and both developing and diapausing embryos can survive long bouts of the complete absence of oxygen (anoxia) by using anaerobic metabolic pathways. While there has been much focus on how mutations in DNA drive evolution, environmental stress can cause heritable changes to histone post-translational modifications (hPTMs) in multiple species. However, this evolutionary role of hPTMs has never been studied in A. limnaeus. Additionally, the possible evolutionary role of extracellular lactate via histone lactylation has never been studied in any species to our knowledge. To study these phenomena at the cellular level, we will force PSU-AL-WS40NE cells to undergo artificial selection. PSU-AL-WS40NE, is a neuroepithelial cell line that was isolated from embryonic A. limnaeus tissue explant. These cells can survive for 49 days without oxygen while accumulating lactate at a lower rate than mammalian cells. In mammalian cells, 25mM extracellular sodium lactate is sufficient to increase histone lactylation. However, our preliminary data has indicated that 30mM-100mM sodium lactate is not a strong selection pressure, while similar concentrations of lactic acid are lethal to the vast majority of cells. This suggests acidity may be an important component for selection and preconditioning. Therefore, repeated lactic acid exposure will be used as an artificial selection pressure to derive cells with a greater tolerance to high concentrations of extracellular lactate, and therefore potentially greater anoxia tolerance. Should a new cell line be developed, changes in hPTMs will be quantified to assess their potential role in driving changes in gene expression
Improved Genome Maintenance and DNA Replication in the Anoxia Tolerant Annual Killifish
Get PDFTimely and faithful replication of the genome is a requirement for cell survival and proliferation, with errors in this process leading to cancers and cell death. DNA replication during exposure to stressful conditions can lead to increased mutational burden, with collapsed replication forks causing mutations leading to cancers due to loss of repair capabilities during these exposures. Learning how stressful DNA replication takes places can lead to a better understanding of how resistant cancers survive similar conditions, like hypoxic tumor microenvironment, direct irradiation, and DNA damaging chemotherapeutics. Using an extremophile model, Austrofundulus limnaeus, which can survive these genotoxic stressors could provide valuable insights. Previous work has shown that the annual killifish can withstand high levels of DNA damage and continue DNA replication through this damage. Through QIBC I hoped to elucidate the mechanisms used to replicate through this damage. High activity of ATR during anoxia and recovery suggests that active maintenance of replication forks is occurring during anoxic exposure, and through continued work I hope to determine if the annual killifish can maintain strict control of replication and repair seen to be lost in other organisms during stressful conditions
Online or In-Person: What Mode of Conversation Makes People Feel the Most Socially Connected?
Get PDFSince the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, people have been spending significantly more time online. Today, people spend an average of 6 hours and 58 minutes online every day, and much of this time is spent socializing via various platforms. Many studies have examined the benefits and risks of socializing online, but few studies have examined online conversations specifically. In this study I aim to uncover the differences in perceived social connection based on the medium of conversation. To do this, I will administer the Connectedness During Conversations Scale (CDCS) to a sample of Portland State University students (N=80). The CDCS is a 14-item questionnaire that is broken down into 4 subsections (shared reality, partner responsiveness, participant interest, affective experience) and measures perceived social connectedness. Each participant will be asked to complete the survey twice; once for a recent in-person conversation they had, and the second time for a recent online conversation they had. I predict that online conversations will score higher in the 4 subsections than in-person conversations. Gaining a better understanding of the mechanisms that promote connectedness in conversations can guide the development of future social media platforms and loneliness interventions
Locating Vitamin D Receptors (VDRs) in Annual Killifish, Austrofundulus Limnaeus
Get PDFAustrofundulus limnaeus, a species of annual killifish found in unpredictable temporary habitats in South America, has a profound ability to survive long periods without water and oxygen. This tolerance is associated with the ability to enter metabolic dormancy associated with diapause. Entrance into diapause and tolerance of environmental stress is governed by an interplay of genetic and environmental factors. The vitamin D receptor (VDR) is among these factors and plays a crucial role in determining if an embryo will enter diapause or actively develop. My work aims to identify the genomic locations of VDR proteins in the A. limnaeus genome under conditions that induce diapause and those that do not. This study will provide insight into molecular processes that support metabolic dormancy and survival of extreme environmental stresses