Associations Between Primary Residence and Mental Health in Global Marginalized Populations.

Scholars suggest that marginalized people in non-urban areas experience higher distress levels and fewer psychosocial resources than in urban areas. Researchers have yet to test whether precise proximity to urban centers is associated with mental health for marginalized populations. We recruited 1733 people who reported living in 45 different countries. Participants entered their home locations and completed measures of anxiety, depression, social support, and resilience. Regression and thematic analyses were used to determine what role distance from legislative and urban centers may play in mental health when marginalized people were disaggregated. Greater distance from legislative center predicted higher anxiety and resilience. Greater distance from urban center also predicted more resilience. Thematic analyses yielded five categories (e.g., safety, connection) that further illustrated the impact of geographic location on health. Implications for community mental health are discussed including the need to better understand and further expand resilience in rural areas.

Courtesy stigma in mothers of children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: a preliminary investigation.

Mothers of children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder face an increased risk for depression, anxiety, and social isolation. In addition to stress due to children's behavior, mothers of children with ADHD may also feel stigmatized by their children's diagnosis. Fifty-one mothers participated in a study to assess attitudes toward ADHD. Although mothers of children with ADHD expected that parents of children without ADHD would hold harsh views of the disorder, this was not generally the case. This difference between perception and the actual self-reported views of mothers of children without ADHD supports the idea that mothers feel stigmatized but suggests that increased awareness might help mothers of children with ADHD feel less isolated.

Evidence for anomalous lateralization across domain in ADHD children as well as adults identified with the Wender Utah rating scale.

Two studies assessed the relation between ADHD symptomatology and correlates of cerebral dominance. In the first, laterality was examined in school children (N=57), 28 with ADHD. Parental reports of greater attentional symptoms were related to non-righthandedness, but teacher reports were related to anomalous laterality of foot, ear and eye, as well as hand. This suggests that the previously reported association between ADHD and non-righthandedness may not be unique, but instead indicative of a more general condition of anomalous lateralization. This possibility was examined in study two, in which 234 undergraduates were assessed. As expected, the 26 adults identified by the Wender Utah Rating Scale (WURS) as retrospectively reporting more ADHD characteristics were found to be generally male. Also, in a replication of study one, enhanced WURS scores were associated with anomalous lateralization beyond handedness. In this case, ADHD characteristics were associated with a shift away from a right bias for hand, foot, and ear, but not eye. Factor analysis of the extensive Steenhuis and Bryden handedness questionnaire was then undertaken to determine whether all aspects of handedness, or only a subset, are associated with ADHD. The factor analysis indicated that the retrospective reports of ADHD characteristics were associated with only two of the three dimensions. Though limitations such as the gender composition of the groups in study one tempers the conclusions, the results of both studies support previous findings that ADHD is associated with anomalous laterality, but also indicate that non-righthandedness is not an adequate characterization of this relationship.