Pregnancy loss and suicidal behavior: Investigating the mediating role of depressive mood.

BACKGROUND: Pregnancy loss is arguably a traumatic and stressful life event that potentially impacts the emotional and behavioral health of those who experience it, especially adolescents. Research assessing this relationship has primarily focused on adult women populations. METHODS: Using data from National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, a cross-sectional research design was employed to investigate whether pregnancy loss outcomes are associated with depressive mood and suicidal behavior (i.e., suicidal thoughts and suicide attempt) among adolescent girls (N = 6, 913). We also investigated the mediating effect of depressive mood. Initially, an all-encompassing pregnancy loss variable was used, which included abortions and miscarriages. Acknowledging the differences between these pregnancy loss outcomes, we created separate measures for each. RESULTS: Using the all-encompassing pregnancy loss variable, findings from logistic regression analyses showed that pregnancy loss is positively and significantly associated with depressive mood and suicidal behaviors. Depressive mood mediated the relationship between pregnancy loss and suicidal behaviors. Miscarriage was positively and significantly associated with suicidal thoughts as well as attempting suicide. Depressive mood mediated the relationship between miscarriage and suicidal thoughts, while only partially mediating the relationship between miscarriage and suicide attempt. No significant effects were observed for abortion on outcomes of interest. LIMITATIONS: Cross-sectional analyses were performed limiting our ability to make casual inferences. CONCLUSIONS: Pregnancy loss is associated with depressive mood and suicidal behavior, especially among adolescent girls who experience a miscarriage. Adolescent pregnancy and pregnancy loss should remain a focus of scholars and health professionals.

Culture, ethnicity, and children's facial expressions: a study of European American, Mainland Chinese, Chinese American, and adopted Chinese girls.

This investigation extends previous research documenting differences in Chinese and European American infants' facial expressivity. Chinese girls adopted by European American families, nonadopted Mainland Chinese girls, nonadopted Chinese American girls, and nonadopted European American girls responded to emotionally evocative slides and an odor stimulus. European American girls smiled more than Mainland Chinese and Chinese American girls and scored higher than Mainland Chinese girls for disgust-related expressions and overall expressivity. Adopted Chinese girls produced more disgust-related expressions than Mainland Chinese girls. Self-reported maternal strictness, aggravation, positive expressiveness, and cultural identification correlated with children's facial responses, as did number of siblings and adults in the home. Results suggest that culture and family environment influences facial expressivity, creating differences among children of the same ethnicity.

A Review of the Effectiveness of HIV Sexual Risk Prevention Interventions in Adult Prison Inmates.

This article reviews the effectiveness of HIV sexual risk prevention programs among adult prison inmates. A database search was performed to identify studies that used HIV sexual risk prevention programs with incarcerated adults. Of the 234 articles identified, 9 met the inclusion criteria. In addition, 5 articles were found containing supporting information for the 9 studies reviewed, increasing the number of articles reviewed to 14. All studies reported a significant increase in knowledge or a decrease in high-risk behaviors among the inmates at the conclusion of the interventions. Common limitations included a lack of a theoretical framework used in developing the interventions, a lack of process evaluations to measure program fidelity, and a lack of validity and reliability reporting for the study surveys. However, programs and interventions targeting HIV and sexual risk reduction appear to improve the knowledge of HIV prevention and reduce risk in the adult prison inmate population.