Bringing up condom use and using condoms with new sexual partners: Intentional or habitual?

Abstract

A prospective study of 94 Dutch adults who have casual sexual partners examined whether two important aspects of safe sex, namely bringing up condom use (BCU) and actual condom use (ACU) are intentional or habitual. For each of these aspects, a model based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB: Ajzen, 1991) was pitted against a similar model that was extended with a path from past to later BCU and ACU, respectively. The results suggest that bringing up the issue of condom use was equally predicted by intentions and past BCU. However, among people with casual partners, using condoms - and more importantly not using condoms - was especially predicted by past ACU, suggesting a strong habitual component. These results are discussed in terms of their implications for safe sex education and the use of theories in safe sex promotion campaigns.     

Demographic,health-related and psychosocial predictors of changes in depressive symptoms and anxiety in late middle-aged and older persons with fall-related injuries

Research on anxiety and depression after fall-related injuries to the extremities and its pre-fall determinants is scarce. The present study sought to examine change between pre-fall and post-fall anxiety and depression and its (pre-fall) predictors. Data were obtained from 181 Dutch persons, aged 57 and older, who sustained fall-related injuries between 1993 and 1997. Demographic (e.g. socio-economic status), health-related (e.g. number of chronic conditions), and psychosocial (e.g. social support, neuroticism) factors were determined in 1993 (prior to the fall). Depressive symptoms and anxiety were determined prior to the fall, and two, five and twelve months after the fall. Taking into account pre-fall anxiety and depression, pre-fall neuroticism was the most consistent, independent predictor of adverse changes in anxiety and depression. Other factors, including severity of the fall and age were not related to changes in anxiety and depression. Our prospective findings may be interpreted as support for the importance of personality for mental health outcomes in persons who have sustained fall-related injuries.     

Social Comparison,Inequity, and Absenteeism among Bus Drivers

Abstract

In this study, absenteeism among bus drivers is predicted on the basis of equity theory and social comparison theory. The number of objectively recorded absence spells (up to a maximum of 14 calendar days) is assessed in a sample of 116 bus drivers from a transport company in the Netherlands. Using the program LISREL, a social psychological model is developed (i.e. tested and revised). The study demonstrates the impact upon absenteeism of two social factors: (1) conflicts with superiors, which are associated with drivers' perception of investing more in the exchange relationship with the company than they receive in return; and (2) the perceived norms of colleagues regarding being absent from work. In addition to their impact upon absence behaviour, both social factors also seem to influence the personal norm regarding being absent. Unexpectedly, the personal absence norm is not significantly associated with absence behaviour. It is concluded that equity theory and social comparison theory enhance our understanding of absenteeism among bus drivers.     

Age and Gender Differences in Mate Selection Criteria for Various Involvement Levels

The present study investigated mate preferences for five different levels of relationship involvement—marriage, serious relationship, falling in love, casual sex, and sexual fantasies–among individuals of 20, 30, 40, 50, and 60 years of age. Consistent with an evolutionary perspective, men preferred mates who were higher in physical attractiveness than themselves, whereas women preferred mates who were higher in income, education, self–confidence, intelligence, dominance, and social position than themselves. The lower the level of relationship involvement, the lower were the preferred levels of education, physical attractiveness, and, particularly for males, preferred intelligence in comparison to oneself. For sexual fantasies, men and women preferred mates who were higher in physical attractiveness than those they preferred for real partners. There were few age differences in mate preferences, although older individuals set higher standards for a potential mate’s education.     

Caregiver burnout among intimate partners of patients with a severe illness: An equity perspective

In the present study, caregiver burnout among the intimate partners of 106 cancer patients and 88 patients with multiple sclerosis was assessed. This study examined how burnout is related to marital quality and perceptions of inequity in the relationship. LISREL analyses showed that higher perceptions of inequity are strongly associated with higher emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, and lower feelings of personal accomplishment. Intimate partners of both cancer patients and patients with multiple sclerosis are relatively likely to experience burnout when they feel that they do not invest or benefit enough in the exchange with their ill partner. The relationship between inequity and burnout held when general marital quality, gender, the duration of the illness, the physical and psychological condition of the ill partner, and support from other persons were controlled for. This study shows that perceptions of equity or balance in the relationship between patients and their intimate partners are important for preventing caregiver burnout and for enhancing positive caregiver experiences.     

Neuroticism and Reactions to Social Comparison Information Among Cancer Patients

In an experimental study neuroticism was examined as a moderator of breast cancer patients' affective reactions to social comparison information about a fellow patient. Fifty-seven women with breast cancer completed Eysenck's Personality Questionnaire and received social comparison information about a fellow patient who was either doing better (upward condition) or worse (downward condition) than themselves. As expected, patients showed more positive reactions to upward comparison information than to downward comparison information. Moreover, neuroticism was related to responding more negatively and less positively to social comparison information. Although respondents high and low in neuroticism did not differ in their reactions to downward comparison information, low neuroticism was associated with more positive responding to upward comparison information.     

The Division of Labor Among Egalitarian and Traditional Women: Differences in Discontent, Social Comparison, and False Consensus

We compared 118 egalitarian women (subscribers to the Dutch feminist magazine Opzij ) with 118 traditional women (subscribers to the widely read Dutch women's magazine Margriet ). On average, egalitarian women had a more equal division of household labor at home than did traditional women but experienced more discontent about the division of labor in their relationship. Egalitarian women with an unequal division of labor experienced more discontent than did traditional women with an unequal division of labor. Relative to traditional women, egalitarian women more often compared their own contribution to housework with their partner's contribution (relational comparison) and with other women's division of labor (referential comparison). Compared to traditional women, egalitarian women gave higher prevalence estimates of both the percentage of Dutch women doing virtually all housework and the percentage of women unhappy with the division of labor.     

The role of pain behaviour and family caregiver responses in the link between pain catastrophising and pain intensity: A moderated mediation model

Objectives: This study investigated the mediating role of pain behaviours in the association between pain catastrophising and pain intensity and explored the moderating role of family caregivers’ responses to pain in the link between pain behaviours and pain intensity.

Methods: The sample consisted of 154 chronic pain patients and their family caregivers. Patients completed questionnaires regarding pain intensity, pain catastrophising, pain behaviours and their caregivers’ responses to their pain. Family caregivers reported their responses to the patients’ pain.

Results: Pain catastrophising was associated with pain intensity (r = 0.37) and pain behaviours partly mediated this association. The positive association between pain behaviours and pain intensity was significant only if patients reported that their family caregivers showed high levels of solicitous (effect = .49) and distracting responses (effect = .58), and if caregivers reported to show high levels of solicitous responses (effect = .51). No support was found for negative responses as a moderator neither based on patients’ perception of negative responses nor based on caregivers’ perception of negative responses.

Conclusions: The findings are in line with the idea that family caregivers’ solicitous and distracting responses convey to patients that their condition is serious, which may reinforce patients’ pain and pain behaviours, especially in those who catastrophise.     

Assessment of psychopathology in 2‐ to 5‐year‐olds: Applying the Infant–Toddler Social Emotional Assessment

The information provided by parents is indispensable for the early identification of psychopathology; for this reason, developmentally appropriate, reliable, and valid questionnaires are needed to gather their information. This study was designed to examine the utility of the Infant Toddler Social Emotional Assessment (ITSEA), a parent‐report questionnaire covering a wide range of behavior and emotional problems and competencies, in preschoolers referred for child psychiatric evaluation. The fathers and mothers of 85 children (23.2% girls; age 15–57 months) with autism spectrum, externalizing, or internalizing disorders completed the ITSEA, the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL/2–3 and 4–18 versions), and the child domain of the Parenting Stress Index (PSI). The ITSEA showed good interrater reliability between parents, and validity was supported by significant correlations with corresponding CBCl and PSI domains. Evidence supporting the validity of the ITSEA for psychopathology was mixed across scales, with good diagnostic accuracy at the level of the broader psychiatric syndromes being achieved by the combination of subscales within the Externalizing, Internalizing, and Competence domains. The value of the ITSEA lies in the ability to systematically evaluate a wide range of problem behaviors and competencies. The ITSEA may be useful to create profiles of children's functioning in preschoolers referred for psychiatric assessment.