resilience

This month I successfully proposed my dissertation project to my committee (now the real work begins!). As suggested by the title, my project will investigate the way in which low feelings of belongingness and high feelings of burdensomeness interact to increase suicide ideation among older adults. The study is based on a theory developed by Thomas Joiner, PhD and his students at Florida State University.

Thanks to my committee for their very helpful comments and suggestions: Daniel Segal, PhD; Frederick Coolidge, PhD; Sara Qualls, PhD; Molly Maxfield, PhD; and Aditi Mitra, PhD.

Note: Anyone experiencing a suicidal crisis can contact the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

As we are getting ready for the fall semester to begin, one of the administrators in our department asked the returning grad students for "wisdom" to pass on to the new students. My advice was this:

"Real" life doesn't stop because you're in grad school. Travel to somewhere new... climb a mountain... cultivate relationships outside of school... learn how to brew beer... have a baby... whatever it is that makes you happy. These are the things that will keep you going when grad school starts to drive you crazy and will make you a better psychologist in the long run.

Fortunately, our department encourages us to practice self-care on a regular basis, which has given me "permission" to take a break from work every now-and-then and enjoy the beautiful Colorado scenery. I recently hiked Quandary Peak, elevation 14,265 feet (see the photo taken at the summit), my third "14er." Very few experiences take me away from school, both physically and mentally, like standing on top of the world!

"This Emotional Life" is a 3-part series that aired for the first time on PBS this week.

Hosted by Daniel Gilbert, a social psychologist at Harvard and author of "Stumbling on Happiness," the series did a nice job of explaining some pretty sophisticated psychological concepts, using cutting-edge research and interviews with a diverse group of individuals.

Part 1 focused on social connections and their impact on human
emotion. Part 2 explored different human emotions from anger to anxiety
to despair.  Part 3 dealt with various aspects of happiness, including socioemotional selectivity theory. 

Thought I'd share this piece from the DailyOM about transitioning through life's phases. I especially love the last sentence about changing as we grow older: "When we anchor our identity in our spiritual nature, we understand that physical change does not change who we are, but only offers another perspective from which to experience, understand, and celebate life."

This week-end I hiked to the top of Pikes Peak with 2 friends from school and one of our professors to raise money for the Brain Injury Association of Colorado. We trained for the hike all summer and the fact that climbing a really big mountain is a great metaphor for graduate school wasn't lost on any of us. Here's what the hike taught me:

- Adequate preparation before you begin is useful (e.g., having the right equipment, knowing at least a little bit about what you are getting yourself into)

- The path can be really steep at first, but eventually it levels off a bit

- There are often many different routes you can take to get to the top

- You never know what is around the next corner and there may be many obstacles blocking your path along the way

- Having others with you on the journey makes the whole adventure more fun

- There will always be others who are climbing more slowly and more quickly than you, so it's helpful to focus on going your own pace

- It's easy to get bogged down by what is right in front of you and lose sight of the reasons for why you are climbing

- Finally, it takes a lot of determination and persistence to reach the summit, and the only way to get there is to take it one step at a time.

I successfully defended my thesis last Friday. Although it was somewhat nervewracking, the meeting went really well. It felt more like a discussion than a presentation by the end and I got lots of good feedback and suggestions from my committee. The next step is to try to publish a journal article using the findings from the study.

The gist of the results is that problem- and emotion-focused coping appear to be adaptive, whereas dysfunctional coping appears to be somewhat less related to resilience to suicide. Implications of the study are that some coping strategies may serve as protective factors against suicide and coping strategies should be evaluated as part of a thorough assessment of at-risk older adults.

Thanks again to my committee for their guidance and to those who participated in the study.

In my Psychology of Aging II class the semester, we've been learning about late-life development as well as common concepts of "successful" aging. I'm always interested in learning about older adults who defy the dreary stereotypes of late life and seem to be aging well. This story about the oldest college basketball player ever is one example of a remarkable senior who is doing just that.

Older adults have a disproportionally high rate of completed suicide as compared to the general population, but relatively little is known about the extent to which coping styles and beliefs serve as protective factors against suicide in this population.

We had a group of community-dwelling older adults complete questionnaires on coping, reasons for living, and suicidal ideation. Some of the findings include:

- Suicidal ideation had a significant negative relationship with both problem- and emotion-focused coping and a significant positive relationship with dysfunctional coping.

- Suicidal ideation had a significant negative relationship with survival and coping beliefs, responsibility to family, child-related concerns, and total reasons for living score and a significant positive relationship with fear of suicide.

The findings suggest that a full assessment of coping styles and reasons for living should be part of a thorough evaluation of at-risk older adults. Future research should test the extent to which interventions that bolster coping skills and reasons for living reduce suicidal ideation and suicidal behaviors.

A substantial literature has documented that sexual abuse relates to suicidal behaviors but relatively less is known about resilience to suicide, especially cognitive deterrents to suicide.

The present study investigated the effects of a history of sexual victimization on reasons for living. Female participants (N = 138; M age = 24.4 years, SD = 7.3 years; range = 18 to 53 years; 79% Caucasian) completed the Sexual Experiences Survey (SES) and the Reasons For Living (RFL) Inventory. According to SES responses, participants were classified into 5 mutually exclusive groups: no victimization, sexual contact, sexual coercion, attempted rape, and rape. ANOVAs showed that degree of sexual victimization had a significant effect on the RFL Total scale and 2 subscales (Survival and Coping Beliefs; Moral Objections). The general pattern was that mean RFL scores in the no victimization group were significantly higher than the mean scores in the sexual coercion and rape groups.

An implication is that having a history of sexual victimization, especially sexual coercion and rape, limits one’s later reasons for not committing suicide. Bolstering these modifiable deterrents to suicide should be part of suicide prevention efforts among at-risk women.

I love coming across individuals who have figured out how to age successfully, whether I know them personally or learn about them in some other way.

Adolph "Sonny Boy" Kiefer is most likely the swimming legend you never heard of. A gold-medal winner in the 1936 Olympics, his swimming career was cut short by World War II. He went on to become a naval officer, invent the nylon swimsuit, and faciliate the construction of public pools across Chicago. Today, at age 90, he swims 45 minutes every morning before going into his office!