Infants' face-recognition by primiparous and multiparous women

We have compared the ability of 49 primiparous and 75 multiparous women to recognize photographs of their newborn infants. In line with previous research on infant cries, we found that multiparous women who had been with their infant 0.5 to 5.0 hr. were significantly more successful in recognizing their infants' photographs than primiparous women with comparable exposure to their newborns. For women who had not been with their infants more than 5 hr., parity was not related to recognition. We propose that the transient performance deficit of the primiparous women indicates a short-lived impairment of perceptual/cognitive skills associated with their more stressful childbearing experience.     

Parents' expectations and perceptions of infant temperament: “Pregnancy status” differences

At approximately 16 weeks of pregnancy, 41 couples (14 primiparous and 27 multiparous, 13 of whom anticipated a cesarean delivery) completed Bates, Freeland, and Lounsbury's (1979) Infant Characteristic Questionnaire (ICQ), modified to ask about expectations of infant characteristics. Significant group differences were found in three of the four ICQ factors. The multiparous parents expecting a vaginal delivery had the lowest scores, indicating expectations of temperamentally “more optimal” babies. A similar pattern of results was obtained from late pregnancy and 3–4 months postpartum administrations of the ICQ. In general, factor scores of the primiparous and cesarean parents did not differ. Significant correlations were obtained in comparisons of the scores from the two prenatal administrations and, for the multiparous parents, in the prenatal to postpartum comparisons. The results indicate that parity and childbirth experience affect parents' expectations and perceptions of infant temperament.     

Further investigation of the validity and reliability of the photographic figure rating scale for body image assessment

Previous studies have not fully investigated the psychometric properties of the Photographic Figure Rating Scale (PFRS). In 2 studies, we report on the test-retest reliability and convergent validity of ratings derived from the PFRS. In Study 1, 322 female university students in Britain provided self-ratings on the PFRS and objectively measured body mass index (BMI); a subsample of 132 women also completed the task after 5 weeks. In Study 2, 243 women from the community in Austria completed the PFRS along with a battery of other body image scales. Results of Study 1 showed that ratings on the PFRS had good test-retest reliability (all rs > .87) and good convergent validity in relation to BMI. Results of Study 2 showed that PFRS-derived body dissatisfaction scores were significantly correlated with a range of body image variables. These results provide evidence for the convergent validity and good test-retest reliability of the PFRS.     

Further Investigation of the Validity and Reliability of the Photographic Figure Rating Scale for Body Image Assessment

Previous studies have not fully investigated the psychometric properties of the Photographic Figure Rating Scale (PFRS). In 2 studies, we report on the test–retest reliability and convergent validity of ratings derived from the PFRS. In Study 1, 322 female university students in Britain provided self-ratings on the PFRS and objectively measured body mass index (BMI); a subsample of 132 women also completed the task after 5 weeks. In Study 2, 243 women from the community in Austria completed the PFRS along with a battery of other body image scales. Results of Study 1 showed that ratings on the PFRS had good test–retest reliability (all rs > .87) and good convergent validity in relation to BMI. Results of Study 2 showed that PFRS-derived body dissatisfaction scores were significantly correlated with a range of body image variables. These results provide evidence for the convergent validity and good test–retest reliability of the PFRS.     

Memory in pregnancy and post‐partum: Item specific and relational encoding processes in recall and recognition

It has been recently proposed that pregnant women would perform memory tasks by focusing more on item‐specific processes and less on relational processing, compared to post‐partum women (Mickes, Wixted, Shapiro & Scarff, 2009 ). The present cross‐sectional study tested this hypothesis by directly manipulating the type of encoding employed in the study phase. Pregnant, post‐partum and control women either rated the pleasantness of word meaning (which induced item‐specific elaboration) or named the semantic category to which they belonged (which induced relational elaboration). Memory for the encoded words was later tested in free recall (which emphasizes relational processing) and in recognition (which emphasizes item‐specific processing). In line with Mickes et al.'s ( 2009 ) conclusions, pregnant women in the item‐specific condition performed worse than post‐partum women in the relational condition in free recall, but not in recognition. However, compared to the other two groups, pregnant women also exhibited lower recognition accuracy in the item‐specific condition. Overall, these results confirm that pregnant women rely on relational encoding less than post‐partum women, but additionally suggest that the former group might use item‐specific processes less efficiently than post‐partum and control women.     

Maternal depressed mood and perceptions of child temperament

Research has suggested that women who experience postpartum depression are subsequently more likely to perceive their preschool-aged children as temperamentally difficult and maladjusted. However, previous studies have not controlled for the effects of concurrent depression levels on maternal ratings of child temperament or evaluated the accuracy of maternal reports. In the present study we assessed maternal and paternal ratings of child temperament 2 years after subjects had participated in a study of postpartum depression. The findings indicate that correlations between postpartum depression and subsequent child temperament ratings were accounted for statistically by concurrent levels of depression. Although fathers' ratings corroborated some aspects of maternal perceptions, levels of parental agreement were only moderately high. Moreover, discrepancies between the parents' reports were significantly associated with maternal depression, indicating that parental disagreement is more likely when the wife is dysphoric.     

RAISING MALE PRIVILEGE AWARENESS AND REDUCING SEXISM: AN EVALUATION OF DIVERSITY COURSES

Research examining the impact of women's studies courses provides evidence of student changes such as greater agreement with feminist and egalitarian attitudes, lower prejudice against women, and increased activism. Using a pre- and posttest design, the current studies assess students' awareness of male privilege, prejudice against women, support for affirmative action, and identification as feminist following courses with and without gender content. In Study 1, students taking a course entitled Psychology of Race and Gender completed identical surveys during the first and last weeks of the semester. Study 2 included students in Psychology of Women, Introduction to Women's Studies, and courses not addressing gender. Participants in diversity and women's studies courses in both studies exhibited more male privilege awareness and support for affirmative action at the end of the semester compared to pretest. However, the change in women's studies students' support for affirmative action and sexism levels was not significantly different from students in comparison courses. Women's studies students completed their courses with greater self-identification with feminism in contrast to non–women's studies students.     

Maternal Depressed Mood and Perceptions of Child Temperament

Research has suggested that women who experience postpartum depression are subsequently more likely to perceive their preschool-aged children as temperamentally difficult and maladjusted. However, previous studies have not controlled for the effects of concurrent depression levels on maternal ratings of child temperament or evaluated the accuracy of maternal reports. In the present study we assessed maternal and paternal ratings of child temperament 2 years after subjects had participated in a study of postpartum depression. The findings indicate that correlations between postpartum depression and subsequent child temperament ratings were accounted for statistically by concurrent levels of depression. Although fathers' ratings corroborated some aspects of maternal perceptions, levels of parental agreement were only moderately high. Moreover, discrepancies between the parents' reports were significantly associated with maternal depression, indicating that parental disagreement is more likely when the wife is dysphoric.     

Sleep in Women: A Review

Sleep complaints are common in women, and women are more likely to suffer from insomnia than men. Multiple factors across a woman's lifespan, including hormonal changes, age‐related physiological changes, psychosocial factors, the presence of sleep disorders, and physical and mental health conditions, can contribute to complaints of poor sleep in women. This article reviews the literature on the characteristics of, and contributing factors to, subjectively and objectively measured sleep during the menstrual cycle, pregnancy, and post‐partum period, as well as the menopausal transition and postmenopause. Evidence from both subjective and objective measurements supports the presence of chronic sleep fragmentation associated with pregnancy, acute sleep deprivation during labour and the immediate post‐partum periods, as well as disrupted sleep during the first few months after childbirth. While there is evidence for menstrual cycle and menopause related sleep disturbance based on women's self report, findings from objectively measured sleep have been mixed. Observational and intervention studies on the relationship between sleep and women's psychological well‐being suggest that underlying causes of sleep disturbance across a woman's lifespan are often multi‐factorial. Comprehensive assessments and targeted interventions are needed in managing sleep problems in women. Cognitive behavioural interventions have been shown to reduce sleep complaints during the perinatal and menopausal periods, and improvements in sleep are likely to lead to improvements in women's overall well‐being.     

Predicting and understanding mothers' infant-feeding intentions and behavior: testing the theory of reasoned action

The present study examines the applicability of Fishbein and Ajzen's theory of reasoned action to the prediction and understanding of how primiparous and multiparous mothers intended to feed their infants and how they actually fed these infants during the 6 weeks following delivery. Measures of attitudes to behavior, subjective norms, and behavioral intentions were taken during the last trimester of pregnancy. Behavior was assessed by self-report 6 weeks postpartum. In most respects the findings supported the theory of reasoned action. However, attitudes to behavior were found to make an independent and significant contribution to the prediction of infant-feeding behavior, and the previous behavior of multiparous mothers explained an independent and significant proportion of variation in their behavioral intentions. The relative importance of the attitudinal and normative components of the theoretical model tended to vary according to whether the mothers had direct experience of the criterion behavior. Further analysis revealed that mothers who breast-fed during the 6-week postpartum period differed from those who bottle-fed exclusively during this period on a number of behavioral beliefs, outcome evaluations, and normative beliefs, and on one measure of motivation to comply. The implications of these findings for the theory of reasoned action are discussed.     

Posttraumatic growth after childbirth: a prospective study

A growing body of research has examined the potential for positive change following challenging and traumatic events, this is known as posttraumatic growth (PTG). Childbirth is a valuable opportunity to extend previous work on PTG as it allows the role of different variables to be considered prospectively. The aim of this study was to prospectively examine correlates of PTG after birth, including sociodemographic and obstetric variables, social support and psychological distress, using a prospective, longitudinal design. A total of 125 women completed questionnaires during their third trimester of pregnancy and 8 weeks after birth. At least a small degree of positive change following childbirth was reported by 47.9% of women; however, average levels of growth were lower than generally reported in other studies. A regression model of age, type of delivery, posttraumatic stress symptoms during pregnancy and general distress after birth significantly predicted 32% of the variance in growth after childbirth. The strongest predictors of growth were operative delivery (β 0.23-0.30) and posttraumatic stress symptoms in pregnancy (β 0.32). These findings emphasise the importance of assessing pre-event characteristics when considering the development of PTG after a challenging event.     

Mother parity as a main and moderating influence on early mother-infant interaction

This study investigated main and moderating effects of mother parity on maternal attitudes and behaviors. In a sample of 87 mothers with 5-month-old infants, relations between determinants of parenting (maternal personality, marital quality, infant negative emotionality) and maternal behavior and attitudes (sensitivity, self-efficacy, mother-reported infant temperament) were examined as a function of parity. Results revealed both main and moderating effects of parity. Multiparous mothers reported higher self-efficacy, whereas primiparous mothers reported more of an increase in marital ambivalence following the baby's birth. The relations of self-efficacy, sensitivity, and mother-reported infant temperament to a laboratory measure of infant crying all differed by parity. In addition, for primiparous mothers, negative personality traits related to reported infant temperament, and for multiparous mothers, marital ambivalence and maternal sensitivity appeared to reflect a compensatory process. These results suggest that parity contributes to explaining how differing family systems influence development during infancy.     

Characteristics of memories for traumatic and nontraumatic birth

Evidence for memory characteristic differences between trauma and other memories in non‐clinical samples is inconsistent. However, trauma is frequently confounded with the event recalled. This study compares trauma and nontrauma memories for the same event, childbirth, in a non‐clinical sample of 285 women 4–6 weeks after birth. None of the women met diagnostic criteria for post‐traumatic stress disorder. Traumatic birth, defined by the DSM‐5 event criterion, was reported by 100 women. The ratings of some memory characteristics did not differ between memories for traumatic and nontraumatic birth: All were rated highly coherent and central to women's lives, with moderate sensory memory. However, women who experienced traumatic births reported more involuntary recall, reliving, and negative/mixed emotions. Thus, trauma memories differed from nontrauma memories. In this non‐clinical sample, this is likely to be due to encoding during trauma rather than the distinctive memory profile for memories retrieved by those experiencing trauma symptoms.     

Posttraumatic growth after childbirth: A prospective study

A growing body of research has examined the potential for positive change following challenging and traumatic events, this is known as posttraumatic growth (PTG). Childbirth is a valuable opportunity to extend previous work on PTG as it allows the role of different variables to be considered prospectively. The aim of this study was to prospectively examine correlates of PTG after birth, including sociodemographic and obstetric variables, social support and psychological distress, using a prospective, longitudinal design. A total of 125 women completed questionnaires during their third trimester of pregnancy and 8 weeks after birth. At least a small degree of positive change following childbirth was reported by 47.9% of women; however, average levels of growth were lower than generally reported in other studies. A regression model of age, type of delivery, posttraumatic stress symptoms during pregnancy and general distress after birth significantly predicted 32% of the variance in growth after childbirth. The strongest predictors of growth were operative delivery (β 0.23–0.30) and posttraumatic stress symptoms in pregnancy (β 0.32). These findings emphasise the importance of assessing pre-event characteristics when considering the development of PTG after a challenging event.     

Creating and undermining social support in communal relationships: the role of compassionate and self-image goals

In 2 studies, the authors examined whether relationship goals predict change in social support and trust over time. In Study 1, a group of 199 college freshmen completed pretest and posttest measures of social support and interpersonal trust and completed 10 weekly reports of friendship goals and relationship experiences. Average compassionate goals predicted closeness, clear and connected feelings, and increased social support and trust over the semester; self-image goals attenuated these effects. Average self-image goals predicted conflict, loneliness, and afraid and confused feelings; compassionate goals attenuated these effects. Changes in weekly goals predicted changes in goal-related affect, closeness, loneliness, conflict, and beliefs about mutual and individualistic caring. In Study 2, a group of 65 roommate pairs completed 21 daily reports of their goals for their roommate relationship. Actors' average compassionate and self-image goals interacted to predict changes over 3 weeks in partners' reports of social support received from and given to actors; support that partners gave to actors, in turn, predicted changes in actors' perceived available support, indicating that people with compassionate goals create a supportive environment for themselves and others, but only if they do not have self-image goals.     

Postnatal debriefing: have we thrown the baby out with the bath water?

Postnatal debriefing is offered by 78% of maternity services in the UK despite little evidence from randomised controlled trials (RCTs) that it is effective. RCTs in this area have applied debriefing as a prophylactic to all or high risk women, rather than as a treatment for women who request it. This pragmatic trial therefore evaluated existing postnatal debriefing services that provide debriefing as a treatment for women who request it. Forty-six women who met criterion A for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and requested debriefing 1.3–72.2 months (median 16 weeks) postpartum completed measures of depression, PTSD, support and negative appraisals of the birth before and one month after debriefing. Women were compared with others who gave birth in the same hospitals during the same time period (n = 34), who met criterion A for PTSD but had not requested debriefing. Results showed PTSD symptoms reduced over time in both groups but greater decreases were observed in women who attended debriefing. Debriefing also led to reduction in negative appraisals but did not affect symptoms of depression. Therefore, results suggest providing debriefing as a treatment to women who request or are referred to it may help to reduce symptoms of PTSD.     

Goal reconstruction and depressive symptoms during the transition to motherhood: evidence from two cross-lagged longitudinal studies.

Two cross-lagged longitudinal studies were carried out to investigate the extent to which the adjustment of personal goals to match the particular stage-specific demands of the transition to motherhood has consequences for women's depressive symptoms. In Study 1. 348 women filled out a revised version of Little's (1983) Personal Project Analysis and a revised version of Beck's Depression Inventory (A. T. Beck. C. H. Ward. M. Mendelsohn, L. Mock, & J. Erlaugh. 1961) 4 times: during early pregnancy, 1 month before childbirth, 3 months after childbirth. and 2 years after childbirth. In Study 2. 140 women who reported high levels of fear of childbirth filled out identical measures during early pregnancy, 1 month before childbirth, and 3 months after childbirth. The results showed that an increase in family-related goals during pregnancy and after the birth of the child predicted a decline in women's depressive symptoms. By contrast, an increase in self-focused goals predicted an increase in women's depressive symptoms.     

"DEVELOPING A SCALE TO MEASURE THE DIVERSITY OF FEMINIST ATTITUDES"

This article reports two studies aimed at developing a new scale of attitudes toward women, incorporating six theoretically derived perspectives: conservative; liberal, radical, socialist, and cultural feminist; and women of color (womanist). In Study 1, an initial pool of 306 items was given to 117 respondents. Selection of 10 attitudinal and 3 behavioral items from each perspective for the final scale was based chiefly on item-total correlations. In Study 2, the Feminist Perspectives Scale was administered to 344 respondents and showed reasonable reliability and validity. For Femscore, a composite of five feminist attitudinal subscales, Cronbach's alpha was .91; test-retest correlations were .91 at 2 weeks and .86 at 4 weeks. Empirical data provided generally good support for the six perspectives, and factor analysis produced partial support for the six-perspective structure.     

Continuity and correlates of emotions and motives in self-defining memories

Two studies examined emotions and motives in self-defining memories. In Study 1, participants recalled five self-defining memories (four recent and one earliest childhood), rated their emotions and motives during each memory, and completed a set of personality measures. A subset of participants provided a second set of memories, as well as emotion and motive ratings, approximately 2 weeks after the initial session. Results suggest that emotions and motives are moderately stable across memories and over time and show theoretically meaningful relations with self-esteem, narcissism, and affective dispositions. Study 2 extended the findings of Study 1 to a longitudinal context. Emotions and motives coded from self-defining memories were associated with changes in personality, well-being, and academic performance over a 4-year period.     

Depression during and following pregnancy: quality of family relationships

Fifty-four primiparous women were administered the Zung Self-rating Depression Scale and the Objective Social Perception Inventory during the last trimester of pregnancy. Four to 8 weeks postpartum, they again responded to the SRDS. A poor relationship with the husband, as rated during pregnancy, was significantly associated with depression during pregnancy and was also predictive of depression after childbirth. No parallel association between relationship with the mother and depression pre- or postpartum was noted.