Bonnie H. Bowie

Understanding the Gender Differences in Pathways to Social Deviancy: Relational Aggression and Emotion Regulation

This study explored the associations among childhood emotion regulation, overt aggression, relational aggression, and adolescent deviant social behaviors. Data were drawn from the Family Health Project, a longitudinal study conducted over 4 years. The sample consisted of 111 children at Time 1 who ranged in age from 51/2 to 12 years at Time 1 and 8 to 14 years at Time 3. A significant finding was that, for girls, lower emotion regulation predicted later relational aggression (beta = -2.95, P < .05). Moreover, low prosocial skills coupled with relational aggression were associated with deviant social behaviors.

Emotion Regulation Related to Children's Future Externalizing and Internalizing Behaviors

PROBLEM Emotion regulation in children is a construct with important theoretical and clinical implications for healthcare providers, yet currently there is not a reliable and valid instrument that can be easily administered to young children. METHODS The study was based on interviews with 126 children ages 5.5-12 years from a longitudinal study conducted over 4 years. Reliability, internal construct, and discriminant and predictive validity were examined. FINDINGS The study was able to distinguish between two types of emotions, sadness and anger, and provided evidence that outcomes may be different for each of these emotion dysregulations. CONCLUSIONS This study provides empirical evidence that an interview with children as young as 5.5 years can provide researchers with a reliable and valid measure of emotion regulation.

The Role of Culture in Parents’ Socialization of Children’s Emotional Development

Parents’ emotion coaching of children and modeling of effective emotional responses are associated with children’s positive emotional development. However, much of the research in this area has been with European American families. This study examined parents’ self-reports about their emotion regulation patterns and coaching their children about emotions, across three racial and ethnic groups (African American, European American, and Multiracial), to determine how well these parental behaviors predicted their children’s self-reports of depressive and anxiety symptoms 18 to 24 months later (N = 99). For the African American families, a higher level of coaching about anger and sadness by mothers was linked with lower depressive symptoms in their children. A higher level of anger coaching by fathers within the Multiracial group was also associated with lower anxiety and depressive symptoms. This study supports the importance of cultural values, within racial and ethnic groups, in parenting approaches associated with children’s mental health outcomes.

Interventions to Improve Interactions between Drug Abusing Mothers and Their Drug-Exposed Infants: A Review of the Research Literature

&NA; Substance abuse during pregnancy continues to be a large public health problem throughout the United States. It has been established through several studies that healthy mother‐infant interactions are essential for optimal infant development. This relationship can be severely compromised when a mother is using drugs during and after pregnancy. A review of the literature was performed to ascertain what are the most effective interventions for enhancing mother‐infant interactions of drug‐abusing mothers. Ten studies were identified as meeting the criteria of using an intervention to enhance the mother‐infant interaction of drug‐abusing mothers and their infants. A synthesis of the findings suggests that abstinence is an important factor in determining success of interventions, as well as enhancing the mothers self‐esteem or self‐efficacy through education or a counseling process. In order to determine the best intervention, or combination of interventions for this high‐risk population, more research is needed.

Clinical performance expectations: using the "you-attitude" communication approach.

Clinical rotations can be very stressful for nursing students, particularly novice students. Clinical course objectives are normally written from the viewpoint of the faculty, using a specialized professional language that is unfamiliar to the new nursing student. The author discusses use of a communication approach, the You-Attitude, that considers and reflects the viewpoint of the reader and may be able to reduce student anxiety and help them better achieve course objectives.

Sibling Violence and Children Hospitalized for Serious Mental and Behavioral Health Problems

Violence between siblings is prevalent, can have long-lasting negative effects, and yet it is often dismissed as normal. This study explores sibling violence (SV) documented in medical records of children hospitalized in a psychiatric hospital. Retrospective chart review was conducted of all medical records of children ages 5 years to 12 years, living with a sibling in the home, admitted during the 2007 calendar year to a northwestern psychiatric hospital that serves a five state area (N = 135). Using a data collection tool, quantitative and qualitative data were extracted from the charts, and descriptive statistical analysis was used to identify patterns and trends. The records showed that 103 (76%) of the 135 patients perpetrated SV and 30 (22%) were victims of SV. Many of the patients perpetrating SV were also violent toward themselves and toward peers, mothers, and teachers. The majority of patients did not have a psychiatric diagnosis that included violent behavior as a criterion and most of the patients had one or more past adverse experiences. Findings suggest that children hospitalized with psychiatric problems should be screened for SV perpetration and victimization, that health care staff and parents should be educated about SV, and that further research is needed to better understand what constitutes SV, the context within which it occurs, and effects of non-protection by parents.

Economic Evaluations of Thrombophilia Screening Prior to Prescribing Combined Oral Contraceptives: A Systematic and Critical Review

BackgroundCombined oral contraceptives (COCs) increase the risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE), particularly among women with inherited clotting disorders. The World Health Organization classifies combined hormonal contraception as an “unacceptable health risk” for women with thrombogenic mutations but advises against universal thrombophilia screening before prescribing COCs given the low prevalence of thrombophilia and high screening costs.ObjectiveThrough the lens of lifetime costs and benefits, this paper systematically and critically reviews all published economic evaluations of thrombophilia screening prior to prescribing COCs.MethodsWe searched relevant databases for economic evaluations of thrombophilia screening before prescribing COCs. After extracting the key study characteristics and economic variables, we evaluated each article using the Quality of Health Economic Studies (QHES) and the Consolidated Health Economic Evaluation Reporting Standards (CHEERS) instruments.ResultsSeven economic evaluations of thrombophilia screening before prescribing COCs met our inclusion criteria. Only the two economic evaluations focusing exclusively on selective screening exceeded the 75-point threshold for high-quality economic studies based on the QHES instrument, whereas only one of these exceeded the 85% CHEERS threshold. Only three of the seven economic evaluations performed sensitivity analysis on key parameters. Most studies underestimated the benefits of thrombophilia screening by comparing one-time costs of genetic screening against benefits per person-year, thus implicitly assuming a 1-year duration of COC use, neglecting the long-term implications of VTE and/or neglecting the lifetime benefits of awareness of inherited thrombophilia.ConclusionOur review highlights the lack of methodologically rigorous economic evaluations of universal thrombophilia screening before prescribing COCs.

Somali Families’ Experiences of Parenting in the United States

The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of first-generation Somali families’ experiences of parenting in the United States to discover potential barriers to effective parenting with the goal to design supportive interventions. Using descriptive phenomenological design, 20 Somali families in Seattle, Washington, were interviewed. Interview transcripts were then analyzed using steps outlined by Colaizzi. The overarching theme that emerged was “Parenting: A Balancing Act,” which represents Somali parents trying to balance traditional cultural values and parenting traditions with dominant cultural expectations. Participants expressed fear of losing their children to American lifestyle choices, such as drugs or gangs, and misuse of the American system to turn on their parents. Parents also acknowledged the benefits of access to education and health care for children. To cope with the stressors of their new life, participants sought to preserve traditional cultural and religious values, thus strengthening their Somali community.

Perceived Discrimination and Children's Mental Health Symptoms

Perceived discrimination has been shown to be strongly associated with mental health outcomes, such as depression, anxiety, chronic stress, post traumatic stress disorder, and low self-esteem. This study (N = 88) examined the effects of perceived discrimination and its association with child mental health symptoms. African American children had a significantly stronger association between social stress and a sense of exclusion/rejection than Multiracial or European American children. Nurses need to assess and counsel families of color about their experiences with perceived discriminatory acts.

Using the Vulnerability Index® to Assess the Health Needs of a Homeless Community

ABSTRACT Compiling a health needs profile of a difficult-to-reach population such as the homeless can be challenging, particularly when using a community-based participatory research approach. In this article, we describe our experience using the Vulnerability Index® (VI), a questionnaire developed by 100,000 Homes Campaign to assess and prioritize individuals in need of housing based on their risk of mortality. We found the VI easy to administer and helpful in creating a health needs profile of participants.