San Francisco State University

About: San Francisco State University is a education organization based out in San Francisco, California, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Planet. The organization has 5669 authors who have published 11433 publications receiving 408075 citations. The organization is also known as: San Francisco State & San Francisco State Normal School.

Manganese exposure and cognitive deficits: a growing concern for manganese neurotoxicity.

Abstract: This symposium comprised five oral presentations dealing with recent findings on Mn-related cognitive and motor changes from epidemiological studies across the life span. The first contribution highlighted the usefulness of functional neuroimaging of the central nervous system (CNS) to evaluate cognitive as well as motor deficits in Mn-exposed welders. The second dealt with results of two prospective studies in Mn-exposed workers or welders showing that after decrease of Mn exposure the outcome of reversibility in adverse CNS effects may differ for motor and cognitive function and, in addition the issue of plasma Mn as a reliable biomarker for Mn exposure in welders has been addressed. The third presentation showed a brief overview of the results of an ongoing study assessing the relationship between environmental airborne Mn exposure and neurological or neuropsychological effects in adult Ohio residents living near a Mn point source. The fourth paper focused on the association between blood Mn and neurodevelopment in early childhood which seems to be sensitive to both low and high Mn concentrations. The fifth contribution gave an overview of six studies indicating a negative impact of excess environmental Mn exposure from air and drinking water on children's cognitive performance, with special attention to hair Mn as a potential biomarker of exposure. These studies highlight a series of questions about Mn neurotoxicity with respect to cognitive processes, forms and routes of exposure, adequate biomarkers of exposure, gender differences, susceptibility and exposure limits with regard to age.

Religious Involvement, Social Support, and Health Among African-American Women on the East Side of Detroit

Abstract: A growing body of evidence suggests that religious involvement is protective to both mental and physical health1–15 This finding has been consistent across studies despite differences of samples, designs, methodologies, measures of religious involvement, health outcomes and population characteristics. Despite widespread recognition of the complexity of religious involvement, much of this research has assessed religious involvement by a single measure, most often religious affiliation or frequency of church attendance.3,6,16–19 Prior research that has included multiple indicators of religious involvement has begun to: clarify what dimensions (and indicators) are most salient to health outcomes; suggest mechanisms that may account for associations between religious involvement20; and assist in understanding how dimensions of religious involvement are differentially related to health concerns.1 For example, subjective religious involvement (e.g., faith or religious belief) may influence physical health through encouraging behaviors that reduce health risks, such as avoidance of smoking, alcohol consumption, drug use.20 On the other hand, nonorganizational religious involvement (e.g., prayer or bible reading) may positively influence mental health through encouraging emotions such as hope and forgiveness and physical health through potential effects on physiologic processes. Greater specificity in the independent and dependent variables in research on religion and health will help clarify how religious involvement influences health. There are a variety of mechanisms through which religion may exert a positive influence on health. For example, many scholars agree that membership in religious communities may enhance social resources in ways that are beneficial for health.20–25 Considerable evidence shows that social support is associated with better mental and physical health,26–31 yet researchers have only recently begun to document the role of social support in religion and health.32 Recent research has found that those who attend church more frequently have a greater number of social ties and interactions, rate their social ties more positively, and benefit from more frequent exchanges of goods, services, and information, than do those who attend church less frequently.20–25,32–34 The conceptual framework that guides this study is adapted from a multidimensional model of religious involvement described in the literature3,6,7,16,35 and from a stress process model that reflects longstanding evidence of a strong, negative association between stressors and health.36 The context-specific stress process model used in these analyses was developed using a community-based participatory process that engaged community residents in discussions about stressors, as well as “things that make it not so bad” in their own lives and the lives of other east side Detroit residents.37 Community residents' identification of different forms of religious involvement as important buffers against the adverse effects of stress on health reinforced the importance of using a multidimensional model of religious involvement.35,36 This article explores the relationship between religious involvement and health among African-American women on the East Side of Detroit. This study was conducted using a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach. To our knowledge, there have been no CBPR studies to date that have explored the role of religion in health. We describe the use of a CBPR approach to enhance the relevance of study findings for the community.15 We extend previous research on religion and health by using multiple indicators of religious involvement and health to examine the direct effects of religion on health and the mediating role of social support in the relationship between religion and health, while controlling for a number of correlates of religious involvement.

Racial and Ethnic Minority College Students' Stigma Associated with Seeking Psychological Help: Examining Psychocultural Correlates.

Abstract: Many college students underuse professional psychological help for mental health difficulties. The stigma associated with seeking such help appears to be one of the reasons for this underuse. Levels of psychological distress and past use of counseling/psychotherapy have been found to be important correlates of stigma associated with seeking psychological help (Obasi & Leong, 2009; Vogel, Wade, & Haake, 2006). For racial and ethnic minorities, the hindering effects of self-stigma and perceived stigmatization by others on treatment seeking may further be compounded by their relationships with their own ethnic groups, with other ethnic groups, and with the dominant society. This study used structural equation modeling (SEM) to test a model that explored the effects of psychological distress and psychocultural variables (i.e., ethnic identity, other-group orientation, perceived discrimination) on perceived stigmatization by others and self-stigma for seeking psychological help, controlling for past use of counseling/psychotherapy. The sample consisted of 260 African American, 166 Asian American, and 183 Latino American students. SEM multigroup analyses indicated measurement invariance, but partial structural invariance, across racial/ethnic groups. Across all 3 groups, higher levels of psychological distress and perceived racial/ethnic discrimination, respectively, predicted higher levels of perceived stigmatization by others for seeking psychological help, which, in turn, predicted greater self-stigma for seeking psychological help. Higher levels of other-group orientation predicted lower levels of self-stigma of seeking psychological help across groups. Higher levels of ethnic identity predicted lower levels of self-stigma of seeking psychological help only for African Americans. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Culture and Emotion: The Integration of Biological and Cultural Contributions*

Abstract: In this article, the authors integrate the seemingly disparate literature on culture and emotion by offering a biocultural model of emotion that offers three premises heretofore not introduced in the literature: (1) emotions need to be distinguished from other affective phenomena, (2) different types of emotions exist, and (3) within any emotion different domains can be studied. Previous controversies have occurred because writers have called all affective states “emotion” without regard to the type or domain of emotion sampled. The authors argue that not all affective states should be called emotion, that emotions that may be biologically innate are different than those that are not, and that different domains of emotion are more relatively influenced by biology or culture. The authors offer researchers a terminology—biological versus cultural emotions, Priming Reactions, Subjective Experience, and Emotional Meanings—provide hypotheses concerning the relative contributions of biology and culture, review ...