The Counterintuitive Relationship between Telomerase Activity and Childhood Emotional Abuse: Culture and Complexity.

BACKGROUND: A burgeoning literature has found relationships between telomere length, telomerase activity, and human health and longevity. Although some research links a history of childhood adversity with shortened telomere length, our review found no prior research on the relationship between child maltreatment history and telomerase activity in adulthood. We hypothesized a negative relationship between child maltreatment and telomerase activity and hypothesized that the association would be moderated by sex. METHODS: These relationships were tested on a sample of 262 Hong Kong Chinese adults (200 females versus 62 males) with mild to moderate depression. RESULTS: Counterintuitively, emotional abuse was positively associated with telomerase activity, while other maltreatment types were non-significant. The positive relationship between emotional abuse and telomerase activity was significantly moderated by the sex of the participant. CONCLUSIONS: We advance two possible explanations for this finding (1) a culturally informed resilience explanation and (2) a homeostatic complexity explanation. The two explanations are not mutually exclusive. This trial is registered under Hong Kong Clinical Trial Register number HKCTR-1929. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: Emotional abuse was significantly positively associated with telomerase activity. There are at least two non-mutually exclusive explanations for the findings. Simply put, either (1) in the cultural context of Hong Kong emotional abuse was not a risk factor, and/or (2) the conceptualization of telomerase activity as a straightforward indicator of longevity is overly simplistic. The first story we might term a "resilience explanation" while the second we might call a "homeostatic complexity" story.

Intimate Partner Sexual Violence and Mental Health Indicators Among Chinese Emerging Adults.

Intimate partner sexual violence (IPSV) among emerging adults, including heterosexuals and sexual minorities in the Chinese population, is poorly understood. Focusing on college students, the objectives of the present study were to estimate the prevalence of IPSV among Chinese emerging adults, examine the association between sexual orientation and IPSV, and evaluate the mental health and quality of life of survivors of IPSV. Data were collected from four university campuses in Hong Kong. A total of 1,015 participants were included in the data analysis. The prevalence of IPSV as identified by Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS)-2 was 12.1%. There was no gender difference in the prevalence of IPSV. Multiple logistic regression found that being older; having experienced childhood sexual abuse and having a smoking habit; and belonging to a sexual minority were factors associated with IPSV. Multiple linear regression found that IPSV survivors were more likely to have higher levels of anxiety and depression, more severe psychosomatic symptoms, and poorer quality of life in three domains: psychological, social relationships, and environment when compared with those without IPSV experience. The documented factors underscored the importance of awareness that men and sexual minorities might incur IPSV, which should receive more attention in IPSV prevention programs. Also, interventions for IPSV survivors should be targeted at improving their mental health and quality of life and sex education should place more emphasis on sexual consent and sexual health in dating relationships.

Regulating the traditional kinship care practice in Ghana: Reflections from young people with kinship care experience.

BACKGROUND: Kinship care has become a favourable alternative care option for orphans and vulnerable children without adequate parental care in Ghana. However, kinship care practices in Ghana are considered informal cultural practices without formal regulations. The absence of formal regulations could have consequences on the health and development of children due to the lack of proper supervision and empirical assessment of children's needs. In line with recent policy discussions on mechanisms to regulate informal kinship care practices, this study aimed to identify how the State could be involved in improving kinship care experience for children. METHODS: Qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted with 22 young persons (aged 18-23) who had been received into kinship care to share their experiences on how the State could be involved in improving kinship care experience for children. Narratives from the young people were analysed following the constructivist grounded theory approach. RESULTS: Introduction of a welfare scheme for kinship caregivers, policy on child care, provision of start-up capital and training for caregivers, were measures suggested by the young people to improve kinship care practice. Providing start-up capital to kinship caregivers was identified to mitigate caregivers' unemployment challenges, which could have ripple effects on the well-being of children by escalating caregiver stress. CONCLUSION: The study's findings suggest that the State has a significant role to ensure that caregivers are equipped with the needed resources to provide adequate care for children. Regulating kinship care practices should embrace a strength-based empowerment model that builds on the capacity of the caregivers to ensure better outcomes for children. Studies that explore the views of policy makers and caregivers in a larger sample may yield promising results to complement the current findings.

Validation of the scale for assessing the psychological vulnerability and its association with health of intimate partner violence victims in Chinese young adult population.

The Women's Experience with Battering (WEB) scale is a self-report instrument that uses a 10-item Likert-type scale to measure IPV victims' cognitive and affective experience of battering. This study aimed to validate the Chinese version of the WEB scale using gender-neutral questions, Experience of Battering Scale (Chinese) (EBS-C), to assess the psychological vulnerability of victims of intimate partner violence (IPV). The study adopted a range of methods, including translation and back translation, expert reviews, cognitive debriefing, and test-retest reliability assessment. The EBS-C was validated in a purposive convenience sample of 718 Chinese-speaking participants (male = 362; female = 356) aged 18-24 (mean age = 21.4) in Hong Kong. The results of CFA showed a good model fit: CFI = .97, TLI = .96, RMSEA = .05, SRMR = .03. The EBS-C was also found to be significantly associated with the Revised Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS2; r = .13-.17, p < .01), depression (BDI-II: r = .15, p < .01), anxiety (GAD-7: r = .17, p < .01), interpersonal support (ISEL-12: r = -.27, p < .01), relationship satisfaction (RAS: r = -.36, p < .01), and self-esteem (RSES: r = -.22, p < .01). The study demonstrated the EBS-C to be a reliable and valid measure for assessing the psychological vulnerability of IPV victims. It is thus useful for identifying the risks such individuals face by assessing their experience of fear, danger, and disempowerment in the intimate relationship relative to abusive incident-based measures alone. The EBS-C will also be useful for developing effective treatments to address the psychological vulnerability resulting from IPV and will facilitate cross-cultural comparative research aimed at enriching our knowledge of IPV victimization.

Trust as a mediator in the relationship between childhood sexual abuse and IL-6 level in adulthood.

Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) has been shown to predict the coupling of depression and inflammation in adulthood. Trust within intimate relationships, a core element in marital relations, has been shown to predict positive physical and mental health outcomes, but the mediating role of trust in partners in the association between CSA and inflammation in adulthood requires further study. The present study aimed to examine the impact of CSA on inflammatory biomarkers (IL-6 and IL-1ß) in adults with depression and the mediating role of trust. A cross-sectional survey data set of adults presenting with mood and sleep disturbance was used in the analysis. CSA demonstrated a significant negative correlation with IL-6 level (r = -0.28, p<0. 01) in adults with clinically significant depression, while trust showed a significant positive correlation with IL-6 level (r = 0.36, p < .01). Sobel test and bootstrapping revealed a significant mediating role for trust between CSA and IL-6 level. CSA and trust in partners were revealed to have significant associations with IL-6 level in adulthood. Counterintuitively, the directions of association were not those expected. Trust played a mediating role between CSA and adulthood levels of IL-6. Plausible explanations for these counterintuitive findings are discussed.

Freeing Chinese Abused Women From Stereotype: A Pretest-Posttest Comparison Study on Group Intervention in Refuge Centers.

OBJECTIVE: The efficacy of heal-change group (HCG) intervention-brief trauma-recovery group intervention applying a gender-specific cognitive behavioral approach-for Chinese-abused women in refuge centers was examined in a pretest-posttest comparison study. METHODS: A total of 100 women at three refuge centers in Hong Kong participated. Among them, 50 women from two centers joined the HCG and 50 women from the remaining center participated in a comparison mutual support group. Participants and interviewers were blinded to the group assignment. Both groups were six sessions long. Linear regression analyses were performed using the intention-to-treat framework. RESULTS: Significant improvements in PTSD symptoms (overall mean change of -1.6, p < .001; subdomain scores; p < .001 to < .01) and depressive symptoms (BDI-II mean change; p < .01) were recorded in the intervention group. CONCLUSION: The results suggest HCG is beneficial to Chinese-abused women. Further research is needed to determine the intervention's effectiveness in improving longer-term outcomes in these women.

Bone Mineral Density, Balance Performance, Balance Self-Efficacy, and Falls in Breast Cancer Survivors With and Without Qigong Training: An Observational Study.

PURPOSE: A deterioration in bone strength and balance performance after breast cancer treatment can result in injurious falls. Therefore, interventions need to be developed to improve the bone strength and balance ability of breast cancer survivors. This cross-sectional exploratory study aimed to compare the bone mineral density (BMD), balance performance, balance self-efficacy, and number of falls between breast cancer survivors who practiced qigong, breast cancer survivors who did not practice qigong, and healthy individuals. METHODS: The study included 40 breast cancer survivors with more than 3 months of qigong experience, 17 breast cancer survivors with no qigong experience, and 36 healthy controls. All the participants underwent dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scans to measure their lumbar spine, total hip, femoral neck, and total radius BMDs. The participants also underwent a timed one-leg stand test to measure their single-leg standing balance. The participants' balance self-efficacy was assessed using the activities-specific balance confidence scale, and the number of falls experienced by each participant was assessed in a face-to-face interview. RESULTS: The lumbar spine, total hip, femoral neck, and total radius BMDs were similar between the 3 groups ( P > .05). The breast cancer-qigong group outperformed the breast cancer-control group by 27.3% when they performed the one-leg stand test on a foam surface ( P = .025), and they also had a higher balance self-efficacy score ( P = .006). Nevertheless, the numbers of falls were comparable between the 3 groups ( P > .05). CONCLUSION: Qigong may be a suitable exercise for improving the balance performance and balance self-efficacy of breast cancer survivors.