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A model of social stress in dominant mice: effects on sociosexual behaviour.

The possibility of socially stressing the dominant/aggressive member of a pair of male mice is tested. Male mice (NMRI outbreed strain) were housed in pairs to assess dominant and subordinate roles by agonistic interactions and urine-marking test. Social stress for dominant males consisted in 30 min/day of exposure to their subordinate partner interacting with a female in the adjacent compartment of the cage, for 9 days. Results showed that dominance status was maintained. Behavioural observations indicated that neither the subordinates nor the dominant males habituated to this experimental procedure. At the end of the chronic stress, dominant animals were given the opportunity to interact for 30 min with a female in their compartment. Results indicated that stressed dominants showed impairment in their sexual behaviour and were more oriented towards the physical environment in comparison with control dominants. The behavioural response to apomorphine (0.25 mg/kg) indicated an alteration of the dopaminergic functioning in socially stressed dominant mice. This study suggests that the characteristics of the stressor and the effects of the chronic social stress could be different, according to male social status.

Animals↗

Molecular insight into patterns of colony composition and paternity in the common mole-rat Cryptomys hottentotus hottentotus.

We report the discovery of intraspecific variation in both colony composition and patterns of paternity in two populations of the social common mole-rat Cryptomys hottentotus hottentotus. These two populations represent the mesic and arid habitat extremes of the species' broad ecological range in South Africa. Until recently colonies of the common mole-rat were thought to consist of familial groups whereby all colony members were the offspring of a monogamous reproductive pair. The remaining colony members were thought to forego reproduction until both social and ecological conditions favoured dispersal and opportunities for independent outbreeding. Results from genetic assignment tests using microsatellite markers indicate that while colony composition is dominated by familial groups, colonies within both populations included both adult and subadult foreign conspecifics. Analysis of parentage reveals that the social organization of C. h. hottentotus is not that of strict monogamy; paternity of offspring was not assigned consistently to the largest, most dominant male within the colony. Moreover, a number of significantly smaller males were found to sire offspring, suggesting a sneak-mating strategy by subordinate within-colony males. Extra-colony extra-pair paternity (ECP) was also found to characterize C. h. hottentotus colonies, occurring with similar frequencies in both habitats. Both dominant established breeding males and subordinate males were identified as siring young in nonsource colonies. Furthermore, established breeding males were found to sire extra-colony young in the same season as siring young within their source colonies. We discuss the significance of these results within the context of the divergent ecological regimes characterizing the two sites and observe that our results revisit the accuracy of using behavioural and morphological characters, which have structured the basis of our understanding of the behavioural ecology of this species, as indicators of breeding status in mark-recapture studies.

Animals↗

Workplace violence. A focus on verbal abuse and intent to leave the organization.

PURPOSE: To describe the experience of verbal abuse in a large multihospital system and determine the relationship of verbal abuse with intent to leave the organization. DESIGN: Descriptive correlational design using mailed questionnaires. SAMPLE: Randomized sample of 1000 nurses received questionnaire; 46% response rate, with a final useable sample of 461 surveys. FINDINGS: Of the respondents, 91% had experienced verbal abuse in the past month. The physician was the most frequent source of verbal abuse, followed by patients, patient families, peers, supervisors, and subordinates. More than 50% of the sample did not feel competent in responding to verbal abuse. Amount of abuse and intent to leave were significantly related (r = .211, p < .01). DISCUSSION: Organizations must adopt zero-tolerance policies for professional verbal abuse. Education and coaching are needed to help nurses to improve their skills when responding to patient-to-nurse and professional-to-professional verbal abuse.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

Sex differences in yolk hormones depend on maternal social status in Leghorn chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus).

Maternal hormones are known to be present in avian eggs and can have beneficial effects on chick development. Recently, differences in avian yolk steroid concentrations between the sexes have been demonstrated, and in this context steroids have been proposed to be part of the avian sex-determining mechanism. In our study, we show that it is very unlikely that androgen concentrations alone are the decisive part of the sex-determining mechanism. We found that sex-specific differences in the yolk hormones strongly depend on the social rank of the mother. First, dominant females, but not subdominant females, allocated significantly more testosterone to male eggs than to female eggs. Second, subordinate females increased the testosterone concentrations of female eggs. This pattern of yolk hormone deposition can be functionally explained. In polygynous species such as the chicken, reproductive success is more variable in males than in females. Parental investment in sons or daughters is therefore expected to occur in direct relation to parental rearing capacities. We found that the social status of a hen was indeed negatively correlated with her maternal capacities (for example, body mass, egg mass). Differential androgen deposition might thus provide a mechanism for adaptive maternal investment depending on both the sex of the egg and the social status of the mother.

Androgens↗

Interpretations couched in the poetic style.

In addition to the issues of content, timing and depth of interpretation in the service of enabling insight, recall, or deepening of the analytic regression, we might consider the more intangible manner, or style, in which the interpretation is offered. Several writers (Fenichel 1941, Glover 1955, Kris 1951, Ornstein and Ornstein 1975) have raised the possibility that what the patient receives and absorbs of the analyst's communications is not only a function of what is said but, on a more subtle level, how it is said. When interpreting, the analyst often subordinates image to idea, so that what emerges is treatise, polemic, or catechism-anything but revelation or a deeper vision. In contrast, in poetry we experience the most effective, the most concentrated and emotionally textured communication man has, as yet, devised. It is through richly layered imagery that the poet works to create those fusions of echoed meanings that can set off landslides of resonating associations in readers. Can we, then, learn from the poet, for our interpretive interventions, something about the art of expression? This paper addresses an issue of style of interpreting, one of concretizing images of the patient's underlying psychic states.

Communication↗

The impact of moderate daily alcohol consumption on aggression and the formation of dominance hierarchies in rats.

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVE: Group-housed male rats form social hierarchies, and under these conditions, it has been reported that subordinate (SUB) rats consume more alcohol than dominant (DOM) rats. We tested the hypothesis that a history of drinking alcohol would cause SUB rats to consume even greater amounts of alcohol. METHODS: Male Long-Evans rats were trained to drink 10% alcohol or a sucrose/quinine solution equal in calories for 1 h/day using a sucrose-fading procedure. Subsequently, rats were housed in colonies (four males, two females) in a visible burrow system (VBS) for 14 days. Individual control male rats were housed in a tub cage with one female. Rats were removed from the VBS (or control environment) daily and given 1 h to drink alcohol or sucrose/quinine. RESULTS: Colonies given daily access to sucrose/quinine formed clear DOM/SUB relationships in all measured parameters. Alcohol-drinking colonies failed to establish a dominance hierarchy and displayed little aggression, with an average of 14.6 +/- 6.1 offensive attacks compared with 58.5 +/- 12.3 attacks carried out by DOM sucrose/quinine rats. During VBS housing, alcohol and sucrose/quinine intake decreased independent of housing environment or social status. CONCLUSIONS: Contrary to prior reports of the effect of alcohol on aggressive behavior, moderate daily alcohol intake before and during VBS housing reduced aggression and precluded the formation of a dominance hierarchy in rats.

Aggression↗

The relevance of Rawls' principle of justice for research on cognitively impaired patients.

An ethical conflict arises when we must perform research in the interest of future patients, but that this may occasionally injure the interests of today's patients. In the case of cognitively impaired persons, the question arises whether it is compatible with humane healthcare not only to treat, but also to use these patients for research purposes. Some bioethicists and theologians have formulated a general duty of solidarity, also pertaining to cognitively impaired persons, as a justification for research on these persons. If one examines this thesis from the theory of justice according to John Rawls, it is revealed that such a duty of solidarity cannot necessarily be extrapolated from Rawls' conception of justice. This is at least true of Rawls' difference principle, because according to the difference principle only those measures are justifiable which serve the interest of the respective least well off. Those measures which would engender additional injury for the least well off could not be balanced by any utility according to Rawls. However, John Rawls' difference principle is subordinate to the first principle, which is that each person has an equal right to the most extensive basic liberty compatible with the same liberty for others. These "primary goods" are determined by the freedom and integrity of the person. This integrity of decisionally impaired persons would be in danger if one would abstain from research and thus forego the increase in knowledge related to their disease. Thus one could conclude, at least from Rawls' first principle, that society must take on a duty to guarantee the degrees of freedom for cognitively impaired persons and thus also support the efforts for their healing.

Bioethical Issues↗

Display rule "regulators": the relationship between supervisors and worker emotional exhaustion.

This field study examined the effect of supervisory regulation of display rules--the rules about what kind of emotion to express on the job (R. Ekman, 1992; A. Rafaeli & R. I. Sutton, 1987)--on the emotional exhaustion of subordinates. On the basis of a sample of 940 call center employees, the authors found that worker emotional exhaustion varied across supervisors within jobs, suggesting that emotion work is influenced at the supervisory, rather than job, level. Moreover, the authors found that the importance supervisors place on interpersonal job demands of their workers was positively related to worker emotional exhaustion. Worker career identity moderated the interpersonal-job-demands--emotional-exhaustion relationship, but self-efficacy did not. Study conclusions and suggestions for future research are provided.

Adult↗

Social structure and ethanol consumption in the laboratory rat.

When mixed-sex groups of rats in established colonies were given free access to 4% and then 8% ethanol solutions, relative ethanol consumption for individual subjects was consistent over the two solutions, with some subordinate males consuming much more ethanol than any of the dominant males. Overall, subordinate male consumption was significantly higher than that of dominants, suggesting that the social stress of subordination may be a factor in ethanol consumption. Offensive attack was reduced under 8% consumption conditions, compared to the pre-ethanol level. The significant negative correlation between initial offense level and the level of offense seen under 8% ethanol consumption agrees with previous work suggesting that more offensive males show a differential decline in offense with ethanol. Female colony members consumed significantly more ethanol than males, with some suggestion of increased drinking in response to social stresses. This pattern of results suggests that the colony situation may provide an important model for investigation of the relationship between social stress and ethanol consumption.

Aggression↗

DNA fingerprinting in relation to male dominance and paternity in a captive colony of tammar wallabies (Macropus eugenii).

The tammar wallaby has a polygynous mating system in which the dominant male usually controls initial access to oestrous females by mating first and then guarding the female from the advances of other subordinate males. In this study we used DNA fingerprinting with a human 3' hypervariable region (HVR) alpha globin probe to examine the paternity of pouch young progeny from 13 female tammars that were given continual access during the breeding season to a group of four sexually mature males. Constant individual-specific DNA profiles were observed for each animal. Paternity for 22 pouch young was successfully assigned using visual and computer-based analyses. However, no statistical difference was observed between the number of young sired by any of the four males (chi 2 = 2, d.f. = 3, P > 0.1). Mate guarding by the dominant male in our captive breeding group was not, therefore, sufficient to prevent successful subsequent matings by subordinates nor to enhance the genetic contribution of this male to the next generation. In each analysis, visual and computer assignments of paternity coincided, and these concurred with the results of a relatedness test which found that a large number of DNA bands were shared by sires and their progeny. The results from this paternity study show that first mating and subsequent mate guarding by the dominant male tammar wallaby in our captive group do not significantly skew the outcome of paternity towards this male and away from other males that subsequently mate with each female.

Animals↗

Significance of initial emotional state for neuroimmunomodulation in conditions of activation and blockade of 5-HT(1A) receptors.

Experiments performed on male CBA mice immunized with sheep erythrocytes at a dose of 5 x 10(8) cells showed that the selective agonist of serotonin 5-HT(1A) receptors 8-OH-DPAT (1 mg/kg) suppresses the immune response in aggressive animals. In mice demonstrating the submissive type of behavior, formed during 10 days of experience of defeats, activation of 5-HT(1A) receptors with 8-OH-DPAT had no effect on the immune response. However, treatment with the selective 5-HT(1A) receptor blocker WAY-100635 stimulated the immune response, but only in submissive mice. These data lead to the conclusion that activation and blockade of 5-HT(1A) receptors have different effects on the immune response in CBA mice depending on the initial emotional state of the animals, due to different activities of neurotransmitter systems, particularly the serotoninergic, in aggressive and submissive mice.

8-Hydroxy-2-(di-n-propylamino)tetralin↗

Rank-related maternal effects of androgens on behaviour in wild spotted hyaenas.

Within any hierarchical society, an individual's social rank can have profound effects on its health and reproductive success, and rank-related variation in these traits is often mediated by variation in endocrine function. Maternal effects mediated by prenatal hormone exposure are potentially important for non-genetic inheritance of phenotypic traits related to social rank, and thus for shaping individual variation in behaviour and social structure. Here we show that androgen concentrations in wild female spotted hyaenas (Crocuta crocuta) are higher during late gestation in dominant females than in subordinate females. Furthermore, both male and female cubs born to mothers with high concentrations of androgens in late pregnancy exhibit higher rates of aggression and mounting behaviour than cubs born to mothers with lower androgen concentrations. Both behaviours are strongly affected in other mammals by organizational effects of androgens, and both have important effects on fitness in hyaenas. Therefore, our results suggest that rank-related maternal effects of prenatal androgen exposure can adaptively influence offspring phenotype in mammals, as has previously been shown to occur in birds. They also suggest an organizational mechanism for the development of female dominance and aggressiveness in spotted hyaenas, traits that may offset the costs of extreme virilization.

Aggression↗

Two-species asymmetric competition: effects of age structure on intra- and interspecific interactions.

1. The patterns of density-dependent resource competition and the mechanisms leading to competitive exclusion in an experimental two-species insect age-structured interaction were investigated. 2. The modes of competition (scramble or contest) and strength of competition (under- to overcompensatory) operating within and between the stages of the two species was found to be influenced by total competitor density, the age structure of the competitor community and whether competition is between stages of single or two species. 3. The effect of imposed resource limitation on survival was found to be asymmetric between stages and species. Environments supporting both dominant and subordinate competitors were found to increase survival of subordinate competitors at lower total competitor densities. Competitive environments during development within individual stage cohorts (i.e. small or large larvae), differed from the competitive environment in lumped age classes (i.e. development from egg-->pupae). 4. Competition within mixed-age, stage or species cohorts, when compared with uniform-aged or species cohorts, altered the position of a competitive environment on the scramble-contest spectrum. In some cases the competitive environment switched from undercompensatory contest to overcompensatory scramble competition. 5. Such switching modes of competition suggest that the relative importance of the mechanisms regulating single-species population dynamics (i.e. resource competition) may change when organisms are embedded within a wider community.

Aging↗

The development of opiate addiction in the rat.

Opiate intake was studied in rats, which were given free choice between water and etonitazene (ETZ) solutions (2, 4, and 8 mg/l) for 30 weeks. After an abstinence of 19 weeks, the opiate was reoffered. The long-term course of intake could be subdivided in three phases: a period of controlled intake (25 weeks), a period of increasing consumption (week 25-30), and the stage of drug addiction (retest). During controlled intake, environmental and individual variables reversibly influenced ETZ intake (high intake in socially deprived and in subordinate rats, low intake in group-housed and in dominant rats). After 25 weeks of situation-specific intake, the rats spontaneously increased ETZ consumption. In the retest after long-term ETZ-abstinence, their intake was strongly increased compared to both their own intake before and to that of drug-naive controls. ETZ intake could no longer be influenced by environmental, gustatory, or individual factors ("loss of control") indicating opiate addiction. In contrast, rats that have formerly had forced administration by means of a 2 mg/l ETZ solution did not become addicted. Signs of opiate withdrawal, however, occurred in both series of forced and voluntary intake. Principles of the temporal development of opiate addiction are compared with those described previously for ethanol addiction.

Animals↗

Culture and community in the therapeutic community: implications for the treatment of recovering substance misusers.

This paper critically discusses the conceptualization and structure of the therapeutic community employed for the treatment of substance misuse in America. The predominant American model, the concept-house model, is criticized on the grounds that the therapeutic milieu of these treatment agencies is contaminated by their subordinance to the influences of the larger American society. These influences include: the predominance of the medical model, the agency as an agent of service delivery, capitalism and inequity, implicit views of human nature, and stratification of social structure. The thesis of this paper is that treatment personnel in therapeutic communities must develop increased sensitivity to the larger cultural factors which influence the construction of the therapeutic community. It is argued that problems within the American culture play a significant role in the etiology of substance misuse. Therefore, treatment personnel must be careful to avoid constructing therapeutic communities which too closely mirror the larger culture. This cultural influence in therapeutic communities functions to maintain long-term substance misuse problems within the individual and the nation.

Behavior, Addictive↗

Gender differences in vulnerability to social stress: a Darwinian perspective.

This article offers a theoretical framework based on evolutionary thinking designed to clarify relationships between social stress and mental illness, including the origin of gender differences in vulnerability to stress. From a Darwinian perspective, stress is an interference with evolved behavioral strategies. Human behavior is organized around the pursuit of biological goals, and any social event that interferes with these evolved strategic goals may constitute a stressor. The response to such interference -- the stress response -- is made up of physiological, psychological and behavioral components. These components determine how individuals deal with those social events that were likely to reduce inclusive fitness in the ancestral environment. Evolved gender differences in commitment to goals play a role in determining individual differences in response to stressors. When a social stressor interferes with achieving a biological goal, its harmful impact will depend primarily on the importance of the goal to an individual, and the importance assigned to different goals by an individual does not depend exclusively on personal variables and cultural values. Two evolutionary theories are relevant to gender differences in vulnerability to social stress: sexual selection theory and life history theory. Clinical data from patients suffering from depression triggered by social stress are reviewed to test predictions derived from these theories.

Animals↗

Roles of outcome expectations and self-efficacy in preschoolers' aggression.

The present study examined preschool boys' beliefs for the outcome of aggression and their perceptions of self-efficacy for aggressive behaviors. 23 preschoolers (mean age 6.3 yr.; 12 aggressive boys and 11 nonaggressive boys) were presented stories about provocative situations and asked about three expectations for aggression: positive outcomes, peer rejection, and morality. Another 18 preschoolers (mean age 6.3 yr.; 9 aggressive boys and 9 nonaggressive boys) rated their self-efficacy for four strategies: aggression, verbal persuasion, seeking help from a teacher, and withdrawal. Aggressive preschoolers did not expect a negative outcome in the form of peer-rejection in response to aggression as much as nonaggressive boys, although the groups did not differ in their expectations of positive outcomes and morality. Also, aggressive preschoolers were more confident about aggression in situations including teasing or criticism but less confident about verbal persuasion than nonaggressive preschoolers.

Aggression↗

Bullying among Australian school children: reported behavior and attitudes toward victims.

The extent of bullying among Australian school children and attitudes toward victims of bullying were investigated in a survey of Australian school children between the ages of 6 and 16 years (n = 685) and their teachers (n = 32). Approximately 1 child in 10 was subjected to peer group bullying. Boys reported being bullied more often than girls, who tended to be more supportive of victims. With increasing age, there was a slight but significant decline in reported bullying; notably, however, attitudes toward victims became less supportive. Attitudes toward victims were examined in detail by using a reliable and validated 20-item Likert scale. Factor analyses of the children's responses yielded three interpretable factors: a tendency to despise the victims of bullies; general admiration for school bullies; and avowed support for intervention to assist the victim. An understanding of such attitudes is desirable for designing effective intervention programs.

Adolescent↗