Belinda Campos

Romantic Love and Sexual Desire in Close Relationships

Drawing on recent claims in the study of relationships, attachment, and emotion, the authors hypothesized that romantic love serves a commitment-related function and sexual desire a reproduction-related function. Consistent with these claims, in Study 1, brief experiences of romantic love and sexual desire observed in a 3-min interaction between romantic partners were related to distinct feeling states, distinct nonverbal displays, and commitment- and reproductive-related relationship outcomes, respectively. In Study 2, the nonverbal display of romantic love was related to the release of oxytocin. Discussion focuses on the place of romantic love and sexual desire in the literature on emotion.

Familialism, social support, and stress: positive implications for pregnant Latinas.

This study examined the association of familialism, a cultural value that emphasizes close family relationships, with social support, stress, pregnancy anxiety, and infant birth weight. Foreign-born Latina (n = 31), U.S.-born Latina (n = 68), and European American (n = 166) women living in the United States participated in a prospective study of pregnancy in which they completed measures of familialism, social support, stress, and pregnancy anxiety during their second trimester. As expected, Latinas scored higher on familialism than European Americans. Familialism was positively correlated with social support and negatively correlated with stress and pregnancy anxiety in the overall sample. As predicted, however, the associations of familialism with social support and stress were significantly stronger among Latinas than European Americans. Moreover, higher social support was associated with higher infant birth weight among foreign-born Latinas only. Implications of cultural values for relationships and health are discussed.

Positive emotion and the regulation of interpersonal relationships

Contents: P. Philippot, R.S. Feldman, Preface. Part I:Basic Physiological and Cognitive Processes in the Regulation of Emotion. A. Bechara, A Neural View of the Regulation of Complex Cognitive Functions by Emotion. G. Stemmler, Physiological Processes During Emotion. P. Philippot, C. Baeyens, C. Douilliez, B. Francart, Cognitive Regulation of Emotion: Application to Clinical Disorders. Part II:Social and Motivational Aspects of Emotional Regulation. E.A. Butler, J.J. Gross, Hiding Feelings in Social Contexts: Out of Sight Is Not Out of Mind. M.N. Shiota, B. Campos, D. Keltner, M.J. Hertenstein, Positive Emotion and the Regulation of Interpersonal Relationships. E. Zech, B. Rime, F. Nils, Social Sharing of Emotion, Emotional Recovery, and Interpersonal Aspects. A. Fisher, A.S.R. Manstead, C. Evers, M. Timmers, G. Valk, Motives and Norms Underlying Emotion Regulation. Part III:Self-Presentation and Emotion Regulation. D.M. Tice, R.F. Baumeister, L. Zhang, The Role of Emotion in Self-Regulation: Differing Role of Positive and Negative Emotions. D. Hrubes, R.S. Feldman, J. Tyler, Emotion-Focused Deception: The Role of Deception in the Regulation of Emotion. S. Kitayama, M. Karasawa, B. Mesquita, Collective and Personal Processes in Regulating Emotions: Emotion and Self in Japan and the United States. Part IV:Individual Differences and the Development of Emotion Regulation. N. Eisenberg, T.L. Spinrad, C.L. Smith, Emotion-Related Regulation: Its Conceptualization, Relations to Social Functioning, and Socialization. S.D. Calkins, R.B. Howse, Individual Differences in Self-Regulation: Implications for Childhood Adjustment. C.A. Pauls, Physiological Consequences of Emotion Regulation: Taking Into Account the Effects of Strategies, Personality, and Situation. A.M. Kring, K.H. Werner, Emotion Regulation and Psychopathology.

The Faces of Positive Emotion Prototype Displays of Awe, Amusement, and Pride

Although several theorists posit the existence of multiple discrete positive emotion states,1–4 much empirical research on the nature and consequences of emotion considers only one: happiness.5–8 Studies of the facial display of emotion have documented universally recognized expressions of sadness, anger, fear, and other negative emotions, but have not differentiated among positive emotions.6 The Duchenne smile, which includes contraction of the orbicularis oculi as well as the zygomaticus major, is generally considered the sole reliable expression of positive affect. The goal of this study was to establish the features of facial and upper-body displays participants associate with the experience of distinct positive emotions. Although the full data set explores displays of 17 positive and negative emotions, only the data regarding awe, amusement, and pride displays are discussed here.

Familism and psychological health: the intervening role of closeness and social support

Familism, a cultural value that emphasizes warm, close, supportive family relationships and that family be prioritized over self, has been associated with psychological health. The goal of this work was to fill a gap in the literature on how familism contributes to psychological health. Drawing from conceptual links between familism and close relationship processes, we hypothesized that familism contributes to better psychological health by facilitating closeness and social support. A university sample of U.S. women and men of Latino (n = 173), European (n = 257), and Asian (n = 642) cultural backgrounds completed measures of familism, closeness to family members, general perceived social support, and psychological health as indexed by perceived stress, general mental health, and depressive symptoms. Structural equation multiple-group modeling analyses found direct effects of familism on closeness to family members and perceived social support and an indirect effect of familism on better psychological health via greater closeness to family members and greater perceived social support. These effects did not differ by cultural background. Consistent with previous research, however, Latinos reported the highest levels of familism of the three cultural groups, and women reported higher familism and support as well as poorer psychological health than men. Discussion is focused on the implications of these findings for understanding the association of familism with psychological health and the relevance of the familism construct for diverse U.S. groups.

Sharpening the Focus on Acculturative Change: ARSMA-II, Stress, Pregnancy Anxiety, and Infant Birthweight in Recently Immigrated Latinas.

Acculturation is conceptualized as a multidimensional process but is typically measured as a concurrent movement away from culture of origin as a new cultural orientation is obtained. In this study, the authors examined the overall and subscale scoring systems of the ARSMA-II, the most popular acculturation measure, for its associations with stress, pregnancy anxiety, and birthweight in a large sample of pregnant, Mexican-origin women from the Study for Hispanic Acculturation, Reproduction, and the Environment. As predicted, the ARSMA-IIs overall acculturation score and two orthogonal subscales, Mexican orientation and Anglo orientation, revealed differing patterns of associations with stress, pregnancy anxiety, and birthweight. Mexican orientation was negatively associated with stress, positively associated with pregnancy anxiety, and not associated with birthweight. Anglo orientation was positively associated with stress and negatively associated with birthweight. The gains to be made in understanding processes that may change with acculturation by incorporating multidimensional analyses of acculturation are discussed.

Sociodemographic Disparities in Advanced Ovarian Cancer Survival and Adherence to Treatment Guidelines

OBJECTIVE: To estimate whether race or ethnic and socioeconomic strata are independently associated with advanced-stage ovarian cancer–specific survival after adjusting for adherence to National Comprehensive Cancer Network treatment guidelines. METHODS: The design was a retrospective population-based cohort study of patients with stage IIIC–IV epithelial ovarian cancer identified from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results–Medicare database (1992–2009). Quartile of census tract median household income was used as the measure of socioeconomic status (quartiles 1–4). A multivariable logistic regression model was used to identify characteristics predictive of adherence to National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines for surgery and chemotherapy. Cox proportional hazards models and propensity score matching were used for survival analyses. RESULTS: A total of 10,296 patients were identified, and 30.2% received National Comprehensive Cancer Network guideline–adherent care. Among demographic variables, black race (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 1.53, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.22–1.92) and low socioeconomic status (quartile 1, adjusted OR 1.32, 95% CI 1.14–1.52) were independently associated with nonguideline care. Stratified multivariate survival analysis using the propensity score–matched sample (n=5,124) revealed that deviation from treatment guidelines was associated with a comparable risk of disease-related death across race–ethnicity: whites (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] 1.59, 95% CI 1.48–1.71), blacks (adjusted HR 1.66, 95% CI 1.19–2.30), Asian or Pacific Islanders (adjusted HR 1.52, 95% CI 0.99–1.92), and Hispanics (adjusted HR 1.91, 95% CI 0.98–3.72). Across socioeconomic status, deviation from treatment guidelines was also associated with a comparable risk of ovarian cancer mortality for quartile 1 (adjusted HR 1.69, 95% CI 1.47–1.95), quartile 2 (adjusted HR 1.63, 95% CI 1.42–1.87), quartile 3 (adjusted HR 1.51, 95% CI 1.32–1.73), and quartile 4 (adjusted HR 1.57, 95% CI 1.38–1.79). CONCLUSION: Adherence to treatment guidelines for advanced-stage ovarian cancer is associated with equivalent survival benefit across racial or ethnic and socioeconomic strata. Ensuring equal access to standard treatment is a viable strategic approach to reduce survival disparities. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: II

Impact of National Cancer Institute Comprehensive Cancer Centers on Ovarian Cancer Treatment and Survival

BACKGROUND The regional impact of care at a National Cancer Institute Comprehensive Cancer Center (NCI-CCC) on adherence to National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) ovarian cancer treatment guidelines and survival is unclear. STUDY DESIGN We performed a retrospective population-based study of consecutive patients diagnosed with epithelial ovarian cancer between January 1, 1996 and December 31, 2006 in southern California. Patients were stratified according to care at an NCI-CCC (n = 5), non-NCI high-volume hospital (≥ 10 cases/year, HVH, n = 29), or low-volume hospital (<10 cases/year, LVH, n = 158). Multivariable logistic regression and Cox-proportional hazards models were used to examine the effect of NCI-CCC status on treatment guideline adherence and ovarian cancer-specific survival. RESULTS A total of 9,933 patients were identified (stage I, 22.8%; stage II, 7.9%; stage III, 45.1%; stage IV, 24.2%), and 8.1% of patients were treated at NCI-CCCs. Overall, 35.7% of patients received NCCN guideline adherent care, and NCI-CCC status (odds ratio [OR] 1.00) was an independent predictor of adherence to treatment guidelines compared with HVHs (OR 0.83, 95% CI 0.70 to 0.99) and LVHs (OR 0.56, 95% CI 0.47 to 0.67). The median ovarian cancer-specific survivals according to hospital type were: NCI-CCC 77.9 (95% CI 61.4 to 92.9) months, HVH 51.9 (95% CI 49.2 to 55.7) months, and LVH 43.4 (95% CI 39.9 to 47.2) months (p < 0.0001). National Cancer Institute Comprehensive Cancer Center status (hazard ratio [HR] 1.00) was a statistically significant and independent predictor of improved survival compared with HVH (HR 1.18, 95% CI 1.04 to 1.33) and LVH (HR 1.30, 95% CI 1.15 to 1.47). CONCLUSIONS National Cancer Institute Comprehensive Cancer Center status is an independent predictor of adherence to ovarian cancer treatment guidelines and improved ovarian cancer-specific survival. These data validate NCI-CCC status as a structural health care characteristic correlated with superior ovarian cancer quality measure performance. Increased access to NCI-CCCs through regional concentration of care may be a mechanism to improve clinical outcomes.

Communalism Predicts Prenatal Affect, Stress, and Physiology Better than Ethnicity and Socioeconomic Status

The authors examined the relevance of communalism, operationalized as a cultural orientation emphasizing interdependence, to maternal prenatal emotional health and physiology and distinguished its effects from those of ethnicity and childhood and adult socioeconomic status (SES). African American and European American women (N = 297) were recruited early in pregnancy and followed through 32 weeks gestation using interviews and medical chart review. Overall, African American women and women of lower socioeconomic backgrounds had higher levels of negative affect, stress, and blood pressure, but these ethnic and socioeconomic disparities were not observed among women higher in communalism. Hierarchical multivariate regression analyses showed that communalism was a more robust predictor of prenatal emotional health than ethnicity, childhood SES, and adult SES. Communalism also interacted with ethnicity and SES, resulting in lower blood pressure during pregnancy for African American women and women who experienced socioeconomic disadvantage over the life course. The effects of communalism on prenatal affect, stress, and physiology were not explained by depressive symptoms at study entry, perceived availability of social support, self-esteem, optimism, mastery, nor pregnancy-specific factors, including whether the pregnancy was planned, whether the pregnancy was desired after conception, or how frequently the woman felt happy to be pregnant. This suggests that a communal cultural orientation benefits maternal prenatal emotional health and physiology over and above its links to better understood personal and social resources in addition to economic resources. Implications of culture as a determinant of maternal prenatal health and well-being and an important lens for examining ethnic and socioeconomic inequalities in health are discussed.

Culture and Teasing: The Relational Benefits of Reduced Desire for Positive Self-Differentiation

The authors hypothesized that teasing, a social interaction that benefits relational bonds at the expense of the self, should be viewed as more affiliative, and experienced as more pleasurable, by members of cultures that deemphasize positive self-differentiation. In four multimethod studies, Asian Americans attributed more affiliative intent to teasers and reported more positive target experience than did European Americans. Teaser behavior, attribution biases, and personality did not account for culture-related differences in teasing experience. Rather, childhood teasing may better prepare Asian American children to overlook a teases affront to the self in favor of its relational rewards. Implications of deemphasizing positive selfdifferentiation in social interaction are discussed.