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Two underlying mechanisms, emotion dysregulation and negative internalized beliefs, were examined as potential mediators of the association between childhood psychological maltreatment (PM) and depression in emerging adult women. PM was assessed as a multi-faceted construct including aspects of psychological abuse (e.g., corrupting) and psychological neglect (e.g., emotional unresponsiveness) that occurred by parents. Female undergraduates (n=771) completed anonymous, retrospective, self-report surveys assessing childhood PM, current depressive symptoms, emotion dysregulation (lack of emotional clarity and regulation strategies), and negative internalized beliefs (mistrust, shame, and defectiveness). Psychological maltreatment was represented as four subtypes of psychological abuse or neglectful behavior: Emotional Non-Responsiveness, Spurning/Terrorizing, Corrupting, and Demanding/Rigid (i.e., controlling behavior). Both emotion dysregulation and negative internalized beliefs significantly mediated the link between childhood PM and depressive symptoms, accounting for approximately 68% of the variance in symptomatology. Findings suggest the importance of focusing intervention on development of emotion regulation capacity including emotional awareness and regulatory strategies, as well as a focus on core negative beliefs including shame, defectiveness, and mistrust of others. Implications for future research are discussed., (Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

An 8-month prospective study examined behavioral, personality, and psychological variables thought to increase vulnerability for college women's experience of rape and verbal sexual coercion. Participants were 276 college women who completed self-report surveys. During 1 academic year, 9.5% of women were raped and 11.7% reported verbal sexual coercion. Elevated levels of sexual concerns, dysfunctional sexual behavior, and impaired self-reference were associated with both verbal sexual coercion and rape. Alcohol and marijuana use increased risk only for rape, whereas self-criticism and depression increased risk only for verbal coercion. Findings suggest that multiple aspects of sexuality, such as shame regarding sexuality and using sex to meet nonsexual needs, may increase risk for both types of sexual victimization. Results support conclusions that rape and verbal sexual coercion have both shared and unique risk factors. Implications for future research and intervention programs are discussed.

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate factors affecting zona pellucida (ZP) solubility in bovine embryos during hatching in vitro. In Exp. 1, the relationship between blastocoelic expansion and ZP solubility was determined. Day-6 embryos (n = 42) with good or excellent quality grades were cultured (Cultured embryos), whereas embryos of fair quality (Not-cultured embryos) were immediately placed in .2% SDS, and the time required for complete dissolution of the ZP (ZPDT) was determined. For Cultured embryos, ZPDT was determined after 192 h of in vitro development. Zona pellucida dissolution time was greater (P < .05) in Not-cultured embryos than in Cultured embryos and negatively correlated (P < .01) with changes in embryonic surface area. In Exp. 2, the effects of suppressing plasminogen activator (PA) activity and blastocoelic expansion on hatching and ZP solubility were examined. Day-6 embryos (n = 99) were cultured in medium containing 0, 10, or 100 IU/mL of human PA inhibitor-2 (PAI-2) and incubated for 24 to 44 h in medium containing 0, .1, or .5 nM ouabain. Percentages of embryos hatching were not different (P > .05) among 0, 10, and 100 IU/mL of PAI-2; however, more (P < .05) embryos hatched after exposure to 0 and .1 nM ouabain than to .5 nM ouabain. Embryonic PA activity was suppressed (P < .05) by PAI-2, whereas exposure to ouabain did not affect (P > .05) PA activity. Mean ZPDT did not differ (P > .05) following culture in medium containing PAI-2 or exposure to ouabain.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)