To date, little empirical data exists examining the psychological experience of survivors of child sex trafficking in the form of prostitution, nor does current scientific data suggest how American women and children are recruited into the sex trade and sold for sex within the United States. This qualitative research study analyzed the narratives of interviews with 6 survivors of child and adolescent sex trafficking to assess factors that influenced their ability to survive, leave the sex trade, and reintegrate back into the community. Data were analyzed with an ecological systems model and a number of patterns emerged within participants’ microsystems, mesosystems, and macrosystems. In the survivor microsystem, participants’ insecure attachments led to their vulnerability to recruitment; within the mesosystem unsafe relationships contributed to increased emotional insecurities; in the macrosystem, participants were raised in environments that desensitized them to prostitution. In regard to escape and resilience, in the survivor microsystem participants left the sex trade because of pregnancy or mental health symptoms; in this mesosystem, participants needed safe relationships and increased self-worth; at the level of the macrosystem, once participants left the industry they began processing their traumatic experiences through the mental health system. These data provide unprecedented insights into the psychological effects that the sex trade has on the individuals involved, shedding light on an unexplored issue that has a profound, yet furtive presence in the United States.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between mindfulness, spousal attachment, and marital satisfaction. The national sample included 104 married adults aged 19–66. Results indicated partial support for the mediating effect of spousal attachment on the relationship between trait mindfulness and marital satisfaction. Although the relationship between trait mindfulness and marital satisfaction demonstrated in the current study is not the first of its kind, these results provide preliminary support for the role of spousal attachment as the mechanism through which trait mindfulness may contribute to greater marital satisfaction. These findings suggest that mindful attunement to one’s partner may promote the activation and growth of neural circuitry associated with safety, security, and positive affect within the romantic relationship, that mindfulness training may have beneficial effects for couples' therapy and relationship enhancement, and that mindfulness training could help foster healthy spousal attachment.
In-depth interviews with local Haitian volunteers trained in a psychological disaster recovery program called Health Support Team (HST) provide insight into the psychosocial outcomes resulting from their engagement with the program. Qualitative interviews were conducted with four male Haitian participants who had survived the January 2010 Haiti earthquake and had worked as HST volunteers for at least 6 months. Interviews were analyzed using narrative inquiry analysis, which allows individuals to discover and disclose a deeper meaning in their experience and enables the researchers to access more detailed data. Previous research supports the claim that volunteerism provides many important psychological benefits, and the results of the present study suggest that among survivors of large-scale disasters, volunteerism is beneficial as a means of increasing psychological resilience and facilitating personal recovery. Results and themes of our analysis included a reported increase in both hope and purpose for the respondents. Findings suggest that volunteerism on the part of members of the surviving community following large-scale disaster increases resilience among the volunteers and further contributes to their recovery.
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