Kara I. Gabriel

Capture–recapture (CRC) is a method of population estimation pioneered in biology that allows the surveyor to approximate the proportion of individuals who evaded sampling efforts (i.e., captures) based on repeated samples from the same population. The current national standard for estimating homelessness is a single-day enumeration called the point-in-time (PIT) count. By using a local community action agency’s homeless outreach program and a cold weather shelter as two distinct sampling sources to capture data using CRC methodology, the current study sought to estimate the homeless population in Kittitas County, Washington, and compare CRC with PIT count estimates. Four months of data collection for the two sampling sources yielded an estimate of 115 (95% CI [93, 137]) homeless individuals in the county using CRC methodology. The PIT count conducted in the same year sampled 61 individuals, supporting the idea that cross-sectional enumeration (i.e., PIT counts) underestimate the homeless population and could be supplemented by CRC methods, particularly in rural areas where resources to conduct PIT counts may be limited. Greater accuracy in homelessness enumeration may aid in advocacy efforts, provide baseline data for researching interventions designed to reduce homelessness, and yield statistics to better guide legislative and policy initiatives.

Animal-care workers are at risk of compassion fatigue (i.e., experiencing burnout and secondary traumatic stress [ STS ]) which has been shown to adversely impact employee wellbeing, organizational productivity, and caregiving quality in other caregiving fields. The current cross-cultural analysis explored compassion fatigue among 46 primate sanctuary workers across three continents who completed the Professional Quality of Life (ProQOL) scale and Trauma-Informed Organizational Culture ( TIOC ) survey, and answered questions about their work. Higher compassion satisfaction ( CS ) and lower compassion fatigue were observed in primate care workers compared to previously published animal-care worker samples. CS negatively correlated with burnout whereas burnout positively correlated with STS . Workplace support positively correlated with CS while supervisory and peer support negatively correlated with burnout. Lastly, African-residing respondents had higher burnout and STS than did European- and North American-residing respondents and more often mentioned conservation concerns and recovery and release of animals as important elements of their work.

Environmental enrichment provides mental stimulation and minimizes abnormal behaviors in captive animals. In captive chimpanzees, individual animals may vary in the ways in which they benefit from enrichment or use enrichment devices, so investigating nuances in enrichment use may improve the welfare of captive chimpanzees. In the current study, three ethograms measuring distinct features of enrichment use (i.e., enrichment object, manipulation behavior, and social context) were evaluated by coding videos of captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest in Cle Elum, WA. A total of 732 min and 58 s of video footage was coded from a larger video archive (i.e., 2054 videos) of enrichment use that spanned a decade. A principal component analysis (PCA) revealed that different categories of enrichment objects were more often associated with specific manipulation behaviors and social contexts, suggesting that enrichment objects might fulfill different behavioral and social needs in captivity. Specifically, toy objects were associated with active tactile behaviors in affiliative contexts while oral behaviors were used with foraging objects in solitary contexts. Additionally, individual chimpanzees showed unique preferences for enrichment objects, indicating that caregivers of captive chimpanzees should consider individual needs instead of a “one size fits all” approach to enrichment provisions.

Background: Reducing stigma could improve well-being and decrease discrimination toward persons with mental illness. Aim: The current study investigated the impact of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) knowledge and the characteristics of a person suffering from PTSD symptoms on stigmatization. Method: University students (n = 560) read one of twelve vignettes describing someone with PTSD symptoms who varied by gender, military status, and precipitating trauma. Then, participants rated their own responses to the person in the vignette (i.e. personal stigma), their perception of how others would respond (i.e. perceived stigma), and their comfort with the person in different social settings (i.e. social distance) followed by a PTSD Knowledge Questionnaire. Results: PTSD knowledge was associated with decreased personal stigma and increased willingness to socialize with individuals in the vignettes. The precipitating trauma of the person in the vignette influenced perceived stigma ratings, lowering perceived stigma for those who had experienced a rape as opposed to a car accident. Neither the gender nor military status of the person in the vignette affected stigmatization. Conclusions: The current findings underscore the importance of mental health education in reducing stigma and indicate that the type of precipitating trauma affects attitudes toward those with PTSD symptoms.

Shifts toward naturalistic zoo enclosures in the last decades of the 20th century prompted research findings that perceptions of animals were influenced by their environment. The current study replicated and expanded upon that prior work. University students (n = 1,253) viewed animals in wild, naturalistic, front cage bar, or back cage bar settings with a name-only control and rated each animal on 11 semantic characteristics. Exploratory factor analysis of those ratings revealed underlying constructs of aesthetic appeal, docility, and vigor. Women perceived animals as more aesthetically appealing than did men. Perceptions of docility increased and vigor decreased as the naturalness of the environment declined. Measures of nature relatedness and environmental motives were not altered by viewing different environments but those traits influenced perceptions of aesthetic appeal. The current findings show that environment alters some but not all of the elements of how animals are perceived by the public.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the most commonly diagnosed endocrine disorder in women of reproductive age, with phenotypes including ovarian and metabolic dysfunction. Women with PCOS also show increased rates of mental illness, dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, and altered responsiveness to stressors that may contribute to the higher rates of mental illness, specifically depression and anxiety. Animal models of PCOS have provided insight into the ovarian and metabolic mechanisms that underlie the syndrome and several models have been used to study the behavioral consequences associated with PCOS in the laboratory. Several studies in rodent models of PCOS demonstrate changes in anxiety-like behavior, but researchers often neglect to report procedural details or behavioral data crucial to interpreting the differences observed in those studies. Additionally, the impact of potential HPA dysregulation in animal models of PCOS may influence behavioral findings, although only three studies to date have examined this. As such, researchers should consider and report stress-associated variables (e.g. time of day, light/dark cycle, light intensity, housing, procedures to control experimenter and litter effects) that may influence depression- and anxiety-like behaviors in rodents. This review will summarize the behavioral and HPA-related studies in women with PCOS and rodent models of the disease, and provide considerations for future studies.

Dextromethorphan (DXM) is a widely available antitussive that has, at elevated dose levels, euphoric and dissociative effects. This article presents the reported patterns and preferences of DXM use, and perceptions of DXM use among adult members of an online DXM community. Analyses were conducted of quantitative and qualitative responses from nine female and 43 male individuals, aged 18–63 years old. All respondents reported illegal and DXM drug use, beginning, on average, at 15.7 and 17.1 years of age, respectively. The majority of respondents first heard about DXM online or from a friend, preferred to use DXM alone, ingested substances concurrently with DXM to modify its effects, had not been to an emergency room or arrested because of their DXM use, and used DXM for its dissociative and mind-altering effects. DXM was perceived as safe and in no need of further regulation with only 14% of respondents mentioning DXM’s addictive qualities. Findings from this sample of adult DXM users reveal a sophisticated subculture in which users report using DXM specifically to induce changes to their mental state and use a variety of substances to modify or enhance DXM’s effects.

To further the potential for applied personality studies, we present a methodology for assessing personality in nonhuman animals without a priori assumptions, using behavioral measures to discriminate personality survey results. Our study group consisted of 12 free-ranging, provisioned, adult Tibetan macaques Macaca thibetana at the Valley of the Wild Monkeys, China. We asked familiar Chinese park guards and scientists to rate each of the 12 macaques using 27-item personality surveys. We also recorded behavioral observations (> 100 hrs) from August–September, 2012. The personality surveys showed reliability in 22 of the items that were then utilized in a principal component analysis that revealed five components: Insecurity, Reactivity, Boldness, Sociability, and Leadership. Prior personality research on Macaca show comparable components. In order to determine which behaviors would best predict those five personality components, we conducted discriminant analyses using behavioral measures as predictors. We found that behavioral measures of avoidance, lunging, fear-grinning, self-directed behaviors, touching, proximity and chasing could significantly predict personality component scores in certain situations. Finally, we analyzed the effects of situation (provisioning and tourists) and found situation influenced proximity and rates of avoidance and self-directed behaviors. Wider implementation of this methodology may permit long-term analysis of personality using behavioral proxies for established personality traits, in particular on research investigating the effects of tourism and provisioning on personality.

: Public acceptance of genetic modification (GM) technologies may be essential to their continued development, yet few studies have investigated the manner in which demographic and educational factors predict support for GM research. The current study examined attitudes toward animal research and GM in ~400 university undergraduates enrolled in introductory or upper-level psychology courses with material on animal experimentation. Results revealed that men were more accepting of animal and GM research than were women. Enrollment in upper-level psychology classes that addressed specific topics in animal research did not directly predict support for GM research, but such enrollment was associated with increased endorsement of the validity of animal research, which then contributed to acceptance of GM scenarios. The current findings highlight the impact of educational variables on support for animal research, which may then influence attitudes toward GM research.

The current experiment investigated real three-dimensional (3D) objects with regard to performance on a mental rotation task and whether the appearance of sex differences may be mediated by experiences with spatially related activities. 40 men and 40 women were presented with alternating timed trials consisting of real-3D objects or two-dimensional illustrations of 3D objects. Sex differences in spatially related activities did not significantly influence the finding that men outperformed women on mental rotation of either stimulus type. However, on measures related to spatial activities, self-reported proficiency using maps correlated positively with performance only on trials with illustrations whereas self-reported proficiency using GPS correlated negatively with performance regardless of stimulus dimensionality. Findings may be interpreted as suggesting that rotating real-3D objects utilizes distinct but overlapping spatial skills compared to rotating two-dimensional representations of 3D objects, and real-3D objects can enhance mental rotation performance.