In multivariate analysis, patients were more likely to disclose to at least one person (other than a partner) if they were divorced, separated or widowed (OR 6. There is growing evidence that conscious types of perseverative cognition (PC), such as worry and rumination, can increase healthrelevant physiological parameters, and that PC may mediate the prolonged physiological effects of psychological stress. There are, however, several indications that part of PC is unconscious and may be responsible for a considerable part of daily prolonged physiological activity. For example, worry itself appears to be associated with prolonged physiological effects, both during nocturnal sleep and in daily life, up to two hours after worry episodes. The existence of unconscious PC (UPC) is likely because most cognitive processes are (partly or entirely) unconscious. Moreover, several studies using subliminal (under awareness threshold) negative emotional stimuli suggest that unconscious emotional cognition increase amongst others amygdala activity and skin conductance level. We hypothesized that subliminal negative stimuli also increase more substantial, healthrelated parameters such as blood pressure. Showing this would imply crucial support for the notion that UPC can have healthrelevant physiological effects. Eighty college students anticipating an examination in the next two weeks, were shown either (1) subliminal negative words, such as "failure" and "stupid", (2) subliminal neutral words, (3) supraliminal (above awareness threshold) negative words, or (4) neutral supraliminal words, during a neutral computer task. For subliminal stimulation as masking procedure was used. Blood pressure was measured continuously using a Portapres Model-2. An awareness check ascertained that no subject could consciously perceive the subliminal stimuli Results indicated that while negative words decreased systolic blood pressure marginally significantly across awareness conditions (F(1,77)=2.265, p<.10), they did so clearly and significantly in the subliminal condition (p<.05), but hardly and nonsignificantly in the subliminal condition. Diastolic effects were in the same direction but nonsignificant. High trait anxiety but not high trait worry augmented these differential effects of awareness of negative stimuli. The effects could not be explained by conscious PC or mood. Concluding, the results suggest that unconscious but not (or to a lesser extent) conscious negative emotional information can increase blood pressure. This lends credibility to the hypothesis that unconscious emotional processing (UPC) may have physiological consequences, and warrants further studies, including real life studies, using available measures of unconscious emotion, to examine robustness and magnitude of similar effects in real life. Many who develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) ultimately recover. Recovered persons may, however, display "biological vigilance," or physiological reactions to trauma cues. We examined this using measures correlated with aging-related morbidity and mortality: circulating levels of C-reactive protein and plasma interleukin-6 (IL-6), along with stimulated IL-6 production. Apparently healthy, postmenopausal women with divorce histories completed interviews to assess current and lifetime PTSD in response to past intimate partner violence, or other traumatic events. Women, all without current syndromal PTSD, were classified by history of PTSD diagnosis: none (PTSD-; n=33), subthreshold (PTSD+s; n=18), or syndromal (PTSD+; n=12). Women attended two research visits; for each, a blood draw was followed by questionnaires that were either benign (Baseline Visit 1), or trauma-and PTSD-related, plus a diagnostic interview (Visit 2 Trauma Assessment). Mixed effects models tested effects for PTSD History, Visit, and the PTSD History x Visit interaction. For circulating IL-6 levels only, there was a trend for a PTSD History x Visit interaction, F(2,59.4) = 2.89, p=.06. Interleukin-6 responses to the two visits differed for PTSD-and PTSD+ women (p=.03). For PTSD-women, IL-6 levels were higher at Baseline than Trauma Assessment (p=.05). In contrast, for PTSD+ women, IL-6 levels were higher at Trauma Assessment than Baseline, although this difference did not reach statistical significance (p=.16). Further, at Baseline only, there was a trend (p=.06) for lower IL-6 levels among PTSD+ and PTSD+ s women, compared to PTSD-women. These preliminary results, limited by sample size, require replication. Tentatively, however, the pattern suggests that women with past syndromal PTSD may be characterized by baseline IL-6 hypoarousal, along with plasma IL-6 increases in anticipation of confronting trauma reminders. Supported by NIH R21AG024902. About 4% of the German population experience chronic tinnitus, but only a minority suffers from it to an extent affecting quality of life. In order to explain tinnitus related distress, the neurophysiological model predicts associations of the tinnitus signal with an activation in limbic structures in distressed compared to nondistressed tinnitus patients. The aim of the study was to test this hypothesis by identifying neural correlates of tinnitus annoyance. High and low distressed chronic tinnitus patients and healthy controls were examined in an emotional sentence task using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). During the task, participants evaluated the personal relevance of tinnitus related, general distress related and neutral sentences. As a result high but not low distressed tinnitus patients showed activations in the Gyrus cinguli and Insula in reaction to tinnitus related vs. neutral sentences. Similar effects were found comparing distress related and neutral sentences. Additionally high distressed tinnitus patients showed an activation in the Gyrus cinguli in favor of tinnitus related compared to distress related sentences. The effect seems to be a specific reaction to tinnitus related and not to generally distressing stimuli. So the results are in line with the neurophysiological model. This paper analyzes the trend of the youth homicide rate (age groups 15-24 and 25-34) in Mexico in last 30 years and seeks to identify the socioeconomic variables that better explain the geographical variations of youth homicide rate in Mexico in recent years. The basic information for this study was obtained from official sources; trends of homicide rates by age groups 15-24 and 25-34 between 1979 and 2007 were analyzed; for each Mexican state, homicide rates by each age groups analyzed in triennial 2005-2007 were calculated; through the use of multiple regression analysis (stepwise method) the variables that better explained the interstate variations in the homicide rates were identified. The results show that the homicide rate in both age groups have diminished in last 30 years, however these rates are relatively high in the international context. Furthermore, although the male homicide rates are clearly higher in both age groups, this excess of male mortality has been notoriously reduced. Moreover impunity, drug trafficking, social exclusion and firearms possession are key elements to understand the geographic variations of the youth homicide mortality in Mexico in the analyzed triennial. In particular, drug trafficking has a great importance to analyze the variations of the homicide rate in 25-34 years old group. The found regression model equations explain more of 50% of the geographic variations of the homicide rate in both age groups. In this context, findings suggest that if Mexican government wants to reduce the geographical disparities in youth homicide rates, needs to develop new strategies to combat drug trafficking, establish programs to restrict firearm possession, and implement structural reforms to reduce poverty, social marginalization and socioeconomic disparities among states. The present paper seeks to establish the prevalence and type of violence among adolescents enrolled in public high schools and to analyze the social and cultural factors associated with aggressor's condition. This is a cross-sectional, analytic type study. The data were gathered by questionnaire applied to 661 students enrolled in public high schools, during the period from December of 2008 to June of 2009. In the sample selection approach -random and multi-stage -it was considered the entirety of state's high schools of the metropolitan area of Guadalajara, Mexico. According to obtained data, 48% of students were involved in some kind of violent event; 25% as victims, and 15% within a double role: eventually either as victim or aggressor, it was found that 8 out of 100 students were aggressors. Within the aggressors group around 30% were women and 70% were men. In the multivariate analysis for both genders, three are the variables that better explain aggressor's status: gender (OR 1.8), to be victimized for the family (OR 2.6) and to be involved in situations that unchain a police detention (OR 3). Conclusion: Before entering school the adolescent has blended a series of family experiences (interfamilial violence) and peer relationships (participation in gangs exhibiting criminal records) -that allow to forecast what could be the way of relating with schoolmates. Although the school becomes the new scenario where the adolescent has the opportunity to play a role already learned, in turn, this could become the field where the necessary transformation of risk behaviors and/or the learning of styles for social affront are mediated. In this paper are presented some cognitive dimensions related to couple violence studied in a group of women involved in it. Violence is a major social problem in the current life around the world. Family violence is the most common and continual type and couple violence has the highest prevalence. In any case it is a risk for health, it produces stress that for long periods of time affecting the functioning of the Immunological System. Violence as an aversive situation, is expected to have an avoidance or escape reaction. But as a world mean, it takes a woman near to 15 years to go out of a violent relationship. Staying in a violent partner relationship, is considered codependency with the aggressor. Multiple factors are involved for staying in a violent partner relationship: cultural, social and personal. Is it possible to identify the cognitive and social factors related to couple violence in women that are involved in a violent relationship? Could these factors explain women codependency with the aggressor?