Two studies examined the association between depressive symptoms and romantic involvement in adolescence and tested the hypothesis that romantic involvement is associated more strongly with symptoms among adolescents who have a more preoccupied style of relating, compared to adolescents who have a less preoccupied style of relating. Study 1 (N = 96 early adolescent females) examined concurrent associations and Study 2 (N = 80 late adolescent males and females) examined longitudinal associations. In both age groups, romantic involvement was associated with greater depressive symptoms and this was most true among adolescents with a preoccupied style of relating. Implications for models of depression and adolescent romantic functioning are discussed.

Given the positive benefits associated with interpersonal forgiveness, the current investigation examined the tendency to forgive in romantic relationships. Two studies tested the hypothesis that the tendency to forgive mediates the association between attachment models of self and other and relationship satisfaction in dating (n = 184) and marital relationships (n = 96). In addition, the extent to which the tendency to forgive predicts forgiveness of an actual transgression was examined among married couples. The tendency to forgive partially mediated the relation between model of other (relationship partner) and satisfaction for those in dating relationships and for husbands. For those in marital relationships, the tendency to forgive partially mediated the relation between model of self and satisfaction. In addition, for wives, endorsing a greater tendency to forgive was related to forgiveness of an actual transgression, regardless of the severity of that transgression. For husbands, endorsing a greater tendency to forgive was related to forgiveness of an actual transgression, but only for more severe transgressions. Results are discussed in terms of who is more likely to forgive and the role that the tendency to forgive plays in romantic relationships.

More than 40% of US military veterans have a life-time history of alcohol use disorder. Veterans with a life-time history of alcohol use disorder have substantial comorbid psychiatric burden, including elevated rates of suicidal ideation and attempts. Certain socio-demographic (e.g. younger age, male sex, lower education) and clinical (e.g. trauma burden, history of depression) characteristics are associated with increased risk of AUD.

Introduction Little is known about the relationship between moral distress and mental health problems. We examined moral distress in 2579 frontline healthcare workers (FHCWs) caring for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) patients during the height of the spring 2020 pandemic surge in New York City. The goals of the study were to identify common dimensions of COVID‐19 moral distress; and to examine the relationship between moral distress, and positive screen for COVID‐19‐related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, burnout, and work and interpersonal functional difficulties. Method Data were collected in spring 2020, through an anonymous survey delivered to a purposively‐selected sample of 6026 FHCWs at Mount Sinai Hospital; 2579 endorsed treating COVID‐19 patients and provided complete survey responses. Physicians, house staff, nurses, physician assistants, social workers, chaplains, and clinical dietitians comprised the sample. Results The majority of the sample (52.7%–87.8%) endorsed moral distress. Factor analyses revealed three dimensions of COVID‐19 moral distress: negative impact on family, fear of infecting others, and work‐related concerns. All three factors were significantly associated with severity and positive screen for COVID‐19‐related PTSD symptoms, burnout, and work and interpersonal difficulties. Relative importance analyses revealed that concerns about work competencies and personal relationships were most strongly related to all outcomes. Conclusion Moral distress is prevalent in FHCWs and includes family‐, infection‐, and work‐related concerns. Prevention and treatment efforts to address moral distress during the acute phase of potentially morally injurious events may help mitigate risk for PTSD, burnout, and functional difficulties.

Although positive and negative attitudes toward a transgressor are related to increased and decreased forgiveness, respectively, prior research has failed to investigate forgiveness among those who feel both positively and negatively toward a transgressor. Therefore, the authors examined such ambivalence and its relationship to forgiveness. It was hypothesized that spouses with ambivalent attitudes toward their partner will be less forgiving of a partner transgression because such an event is likely to prime the negative component of their ambivalence. Because ruminating about a transgression also has the potential to prime the negative component of one's ambivalence, an interaction between rumination and ambivalence was predicted. Data from 87 married couples showed that greater attitudinal ambivalence toward the partner was associated with decreased forgiveness only when husbands and wives thought about the transgression frequently; ambivalence was not related to forgiveness in the absence of rumination. The implications of these findings for understanding forgiveness in marriage and for increasing forgiveness among married couples are discussed.

Objective To examine whether trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are differentially associated with binge and hazardous patterns of drinking among women and men. Methods Secondary analysis of the Wave 2 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC); the analytic sample included 31,487 respondents (54.6% female) without past-year alcohol abuse/dependence. Participants’ trauma-exposure/PTSD status was characterized as: no exposure to trauma in lifetime (reference), lifetime trauma exposure, PTSD before past-year, or past-year PTSD. Past-year binge and hazardous drinking were examined with multinomial logistic regression models (past-year abstinence was modeled as the non-event); models included the main effects of trauma-exposure/PTSD status and gender, the trauma-exposure/PTSD status-by-gender interaction, psychiatric comorbidity, and socio-demographic covariates. Results The gender-specific effects of trauma, before past-year PTSD, and past-year PTSD were significantly elevated for all drinking behaviors in women (range of odds ratios (ORs)=1.8–4.8), and for some drinking behaviors in men (range of ORs=1.3–2.0), relative to no trauma exposure. Trauma exposure was more strongly associated with high-frequency binge drinking, low-frequency binge drinking, and non-binge drinking among women as compared to men. Past-year PTSD was also more strongly associated with low-frequency binge drinking and non-binge drinking among women compared to men. Findings for hazardous drinking followed a similar pattern, with significant gender-related differences in ORs for hazardous drinking and non-hazardous drinking observed with respect to trauma exposure and past-year PTSD. Conclusion Mental health practitioners should be mindful of the extent to which trauma-exposed individuals both with and without PTSD engage in binge and hazardous drinking, given the negative consequences associated with these patterns of drinking.

Abstract-The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Department of Defense's (DOD) recently published and updated Department of Veterans Affairs/Department of Defense VA/ DOD Clinical Practice Guideline for Management of PostTraumatic Stress includes irritability, severe agitation, and anger as specific symptoms that frequently co-occur with PTSD. For the first time, the guideline includes nine specific recommendations for the assessment and treatment of PTSDrelated anger, irritability, and agitation. This article will review the literature on PTSD and its association with anger and aggression. We highlight explanatory models for these associations, factors that contribute to the occurrence of anger and aggression in PTSD, assessment of anger and aggression, and effective anger management interventions and strategies.

The purpose of this study was to examine the role of prenatal cocaine exposure and associated risk factors on infant reactivity and regulation at 7 months of infant age. Participants consisted of 167 mother-infant dyads participating in an ongoing longitudinal study of prenatal cocaine exposure, who completed the arm-restraint procedure at the 7-month assessment (87 cocaine exposed, 80 noncocaine exposed). We hypothesized that cocaine exposed infants would display higher arousal or reactivity and lower regulation during a procedure designed to arouse anger/frustration. Results indicated that cocaine exposed infants were more reactive to increases in the level of stress from trial 1 to trial 2 but exhibited no change in the number of regulatory strategies as stress increased, unlike the control group infants. Infant birth weight moderated the association between cocaine exposure and infant regulation. Among cocaine exposed infants, those with lower birth weight displayed higher reactivity compared to those with higher birth weight. Contrary to expectations, there were no indirect effects between cocaine exposure and infant reactivity/regulation via environmental risk, parenting, or birth weight. Results are supportive of a teratological model of prenatal cocaine exposure for infant reactivity/regulation in infancy.