Lack Of Prior Research Research Articles

Childhood trauma and adult interpersonal relationship problems in patients with depression and anxiety disorders.

IntroductionAlthough a plethora of studies have delineated the relationship between childhood trauma and onset, symptom severity, and course of depression and anxiety disorders, there has been little evidence that childhood trauma may lead to interpersonal problems among adult patients with depression and anxiety disorders. Given the lack of prior research in this area, we aimed to investigate characteristics of interpersonal problems in adult patients who had suffered various types of abuse and neglect in childhood.MethodsA total of 325 outpatients diagnosed with depression and anxiety disorders completed questionnaires on socio-demographic variables, different forms of childhood trauma, and current interpersonal problems. The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) was used to measure five different forms of childhood trauma (emotional abuse, emotional neglect, physical abuse, physical neglect, and sexual abuse) and the short form of the Korean-Inventory of Interpersonal Problems Circumplex Scale (KIIP-SC) was used to assess current interpersonal problems. We dichotomized patients into two groups (abused and non-abused groups) based on CTQ score and investigated the relationship of five different types of childhood trauma and interpersonal problems in adult patients with depression and anxiety disorders using multiple regression analysis.ResultDifferent types of childhood abuse and neglect appeared to have a significant influence on distinct symptom dimensions such as depression, state-trait anxiety, and anxiety sensitivity. In the final regression model, emotional abuse, emotional neglect, and sexual abuse during childhood were significantly associated with general interpersonal distress and several specific areas of interpersonal problems in adulthood. No association was found between childhood physical neglect and current general interpersonal distress.ConclusionChildhood emotional trauma has more influence on interpersonal problems in adult patients with depression and anxiety disorders than childhood physical trauma. A history of childhood physical abuse is related to dominant interpersonal patterns rather than submissive interpersonal patterns in adulthood. These findings provide preliminary evidence that childhood trauma might substantially contribute to interpersonal problems in adulthood.

Exploring the Use of Virtual World Technology for Idea-Generation Tasks

While the potential value of Virtual World Technologies (VWTs) lies in their promise to facilitate communication through new and novel forms of collaboration, there is a lack of prior research that examines how VWTs compare to other types of information and communication technologies (ICT) commonly used to support collaborative work. This study investigates the effects of VWTs on group ideation outcomes; specifically, it compares the use of Second Life to a chat environment for idea generation tasks. As hypothesized, groups using VWTs for an idea generation task generated significantly more unique ideas and enjoyed using the environment more than the chat environment. Contrary to our predictions, no significant difference between the two environments was observed for satisfaction, group cohesion, and social presence.

Credit card balances and repayment under competing minimum payment regimes

Although much research has been done on financial literacy and the use of credit cards, ours is the first to focus on the mathematics of competing credit card minimum payment regimes. The lack of prior research is surprising because the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency does not specify exactly what form a credit card minimum payment should take, and yet we show that competing credit card minimum payment regimes have significantly different impacts on both the rate of accumulation and level of credit card debt and also on the time taken to pay that debt off. We give closed-form solutions for the balance owing under competing repayment regimes and two spending scenarios. In addition, we discuss the policy implications for credit card and banking regulators and the personal finance implications for individual consumers using credit cards.

The Interrelationship between Diabetes and Depression

Both diabetes and depression are highly prevalent health problems that have a negative impact on various aspects of health, quality of life, and mortality. It has been well documented that depression is more common among people with diabetes than among the general population. Although the exact nature of the relationship between diabetes and depression is not fully understood, the bidirectional relationship of these two diseases has been suggested.1) A meta-analysis by Mezuk et al.2) showed that depression is associated with a 60% increased risk of type 2 diabetes and type 2 diabetes is associated with 15% increased risk of depression. Depression is associated with biochemical changes including increased activity of counter-regulatory hormones, altered glucose transport function, and increased production of proinflammatory cytokines, which contribute to insulin resistance, beta islet cell dysfunction, and ultimately diabetes. Depression is also associated with unhealthy behaviors including smoking, physical inactivity, and hypercaloric diets, which are risk factors for the development of diabetes. In patients with diabetes, the psychosocial burden of having a chronic illness may result in development of depression.3,4) Comorbid depression in patients with diabetes is related to poor glycemic control, higher severity of diabetic complications, increased risk of cardiovascular diseases, higher functional disability, and higher all-cause mortality.5) In the present issue, Sung et al.6) investigated the relationship between diabetes and depressive symptoms among Korean women using a nationally representative data of Korean. They obtained the data from the fifth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination survey 2010-2011, which consisted of 6,572 Korean women aged 30 years and over. They found that diabetes has a relationship with depressive symptoms but that patients with diabetes were less likely to be treated for their depression. The result that women with diabetes have a higher likelihood of having depressive symptoms is consistent with findings from previous research. However, the authors report that there is a lack of prior research on the treatment of depression in individuals with diabetes. Gill et al.7) investigated the prescription of antidepressant medications for patients with medical comorbidities including diabetes in the primary care setting using electronic health record data. They found that primary care physicians prescribed antidepressant medication less aggressively for patients with multiple comorbidities, although there was no significant difference in the antidepressant medication prescription for diabetes alone. Patients with medical comorbidities may be already taking multiple medications for management of comorbid medical diseases so additional medications may increase their burden in relation to potential side effects and cost. Low rates of depression treatment in patients with diabetes may be related to a concern about the adverse metabolic effects of antidepressant medication.8) However, Sung et al.'s study is a cross-sectional design which does not prove causality. Although they described that diabetes is associated with an increased risk of depressive symptoms, the direction of relationship between diabetes and depressive symptoms was unclear. One limitation of this study was that depressive symptoms were assessed by the Patient Health Questionnaire-2 with low specificity, not by a formal depression diagnostic interview. The comorbidity of diabetes and depression is associated with significantly higher morbidity, disability, and mortality beyond those due to either diabetes or depression alone.9) Sung et al.6)'s study suggests that diabetes and depression frequently exist together and there is a possibility that depression treatment is suboptimal in patients with diabetes. Therefore, it should be emphasized that the coordinated care system which optimizes diagnosis and treatment of depression in patients with diabetes is necessary.

The Role of Relationally Embedded Network Ties in Resource Acquisition of British Nonprofit Organizations

As nonprofit and charity organizations face increasing competition, there have been growing interests in how nonprofit organizations conduct commercial activities to raise funds as well as grow their business. However, there is lack of prior research about market-oriented and/or commercial activities in the context of nonprofit business. This study examines the process of how nonprofit organizations use relationally embedded network ties to acquire financial, human, and human capital resources to fulfill their social mission and achieve business growth. The study investigates commercial activity of three U.K.-based nonprofit organizations using the case study method. The findings contribute to insights into components of network ties for acquiring three different network resources of financial, human, and human capital. Nonprofit organizations leverage social mission to improve their ability to acquire network resources. The findings also suggest the charity and social mission of nonprofit business enhance trustworthiness in relationally embedded network ties for resource acquisition.

Information and communication technology adoption and diffusion in micro-enterprises: the case of techno-savvy home-based businesses

The effective use of ICTs for business activities is of significant interest in a digital economy. This paper examines the adoption and diffusion of ICTs by micro home-based businesses (HBB) from an empirical study of 522 firms. Key findings include very high levels of internet, e-mail and cell phone usage for HBBs’ business activities; and increasing website adoption levels with increasing geographic sales reach (from local, regional, national, to international). In spite of micro size and limited resources, many of these HBB were techno-savvy and capable of utilising the full range of ICTs to facilitate electronic business communications and online transactions. These findings are significant given the lack of prior research on the HBB sector and the scale of micro-enterprises in economies around the globe.

The dark side of successful knowledge management initiatives

PurposeThis paper aims to cast the spotlight on a class of KM initiatives whose very success has ironically bred negative consequences not usually detected in the short‐term or on the surface.Design/methodology/approachGrounded theory approach was adopted in this paper since there is a lack of prior research in this area. Data was collected primarily through face‐to‐face interviews with personnel using purposive sampling. In addition to the interviews, archival data in the form of annual reports, web sites, in‐house publications and e‐mail correspondences were collected.FindingsA typological framework which identifies four archetypes of KM initiatives, their success and dark side is developed. In particular, the dark sides include competency trap hyperbolic discounting dogmatism and social alienation and opportunistic behaviors and ethically‐questionable practices.Research limitations/implicationsGiven the exploratory nature of this study and the limited cases involved, the findings may likely be influenced by the peculiarities of the case, including the nature of the organizations, the state of the KM initiatives and the sentiments of the stakeholders at the point of data collection.Practical implicationsThe message of this paper for practitioners is not to be easily contented with the early and outward form of success, but be cognizant and pre‐empt the dysfunctional outcomes as the KM initiative progresses.Originality/valueThis paper is one of the earliest efforts to examine the dark side of successful KM initiatives, a subtle KM implementation issue that receives little attention from practitioner and scholars alike.

Improving fitness of dually diagnosed adults.

Lack of prior research led to this study on the effect of a physical fitness program combined with a token economy reinforcement system on the physical fitness of 22 dually diagnosed adults of a day-treatment program. Between pre- and posttests, subjects participated in a 12-wk, training program of 40 to 45 min. of exercise three times a week. Subjects received tokens after each session in which they participated actively. Analysis indicated significant differences between pre- and posttest scores for muscular endurance, cardiorespiratory endurance, and flexibility but not for body composition.

The Lamentable Side of Researching in Chile

Language problems and cultural differences are only two of several barriers to empirical research in Chile, reports Professor Rothman of Smith College. Others, which he encountered, are red tape, the lack of prior research that is of behavioral orientations, and an unwillingness among Chileans to share data or engage in co operative research.