‘I think motherhood for me was a bit like a double‐edged sword’: the narratives of older mothers

It is assumed in Western society that women want to become mothers. This desire is situated within the ideology of the ‘perfect mother’. However, feminists have highlighted contradictions between this ideology and the reality of mothering. A trend towards later motherhood has recently been identified. Delayed motherhood has been associated with a number of advantages such as a sense of psychological readiness, however this may mask some of its negative aspects. The aim of the study reported here was to explore the transition to, and lived experience of, delayed motherhood. Five women who were over 30 prior to the birth of their first child were interviewed. A narrative analysis at the personal, interpersonal and societal levels was conducted. At the personal level, diverse stories which contained both problems in adapting to motherhood and also progressive aspects of positive experiences and integration of maternal identities were told. At the interpersonal level, the prominence of the ‘double‐edged’ tone conveyed maternal ambivalence. At the societal level, dominant ideologies of the ‘good mother’ and normative development were identified. Though the women actively constructed their stories and attempted to resist dominant representations, this analysis emphasises the need for more realistic portrayals of delayed motherhood. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Inhibition of the Endothelial Isoform of Nitric Oxide Synthase Impairs Long-Term Memory Formation in the Chick

Previous studies with general inhibitors of nitric oxide synthase have yielded variable and contradictory results with respect to their effects on memory. This may have been due to differential effects of blocking the various isoforms of this enzyme. We show that day-old chicks trained on a single-trial passive-avoidance task suffered significant memory loss from ~40 min post-training following post-training intracranial administration of a potent inhibitor of eNOS. Administration of a specific nNOS or iNOS inhibitor at the same time had no effect on retention, although a role for either of these isoforms when administered at a different time after learning has yet to be fully investigated. The onset of memory loss following eNOS inhibition is the same as observed following general NOS inhibition, which suggests that amnestic effects observed in previous studies using nonspecific inhibitors may be attributable to blocking the function of eNOS. The findings indicate that eNOS may play a role in memory formation for this task, which is at least distinct from any role that may be played by nNOS.     

Equivalency and reliability of vectors of g-loadings across different methods of estimation and sample sizes

We examine the variability in g-loadings with particular focus on the differential stability (i.e., rank order inconsistencies) of the vector of loadings due to sample size and method of estimation. Our results, based on 1600 factor-analyses, show that different methods of estimation require different sample sizes to achieve the same level of stability in loadings. However, all methods examined yielded reliable vectors when sample sizes of N = 400 were used. Some methods yielded reliable vectors with sample sizes of N = 200. Such results provide guidelines for choosing an appropriate sample size when g-loadings are of interest.     

Contributions of psychopathic, narcissistic, Machiavellian, and sadistic personality traits to juvenile delinquency

The aim of this study was to assess the relative contributions of psychopathic, narcissistic, Machiavellian, and sadistic traits to delinquent behaviors in adolescents. Participants were 615 high-school students who completed self-report questionnaires. Psychopathic, narcissistic, Machiavellian, and sadistic traits were moderately correlated suggesting they may be overlapping but distinct constructs. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted to control for other socio-familial or psychopathological risk factors. Psychopathic and sadistic traits were independent predictors of delinquent behaviors in boys only. These findings suggest the importance of studying the role of sadistic traits in juvenile delinquency.     

Detectable Neuropsychological Differences in Early Preclinical Alzheimer’s Disease: A Meta-Analysis

The development of methods for in vivo detection of cerebral beta amyloid retention and tau accumulation have been increasingly useful in characterizing preclinical Alzheimer’s disease (AD). While the association between these biomarkers and eventual AD has been demonstrated among cognitively intact older adults, the link between biomarkers and neurocognitive ability remains unclear. We conducted a meta-analysis to test the hypothesis that cognitively intact older adults would show statistically discernable differences in neuropsychological performance by amyloid status (amyloid negative = A-, amyloid positive = A+). We secondarily hypothesized a third group characterized by either CSF tau pathology or neurodegeneration, in addition to amyloidosis (A+/N+ or Stage 2), would show lower neuropsychology scores than the amyloid positive group (A+/N- or Stage 1) when compared to the amyloid negative group. Pubmed, PsychINFO, and other sources were searched for relevant articles, yielding 775 total sources. After review for inclusion/exclusion criteria, duplicates, and risk of bias, 61 studies were utilized in the final meta-analysis. Results showed A+ was associated with poorer performance in the domains of global cognitive function, memory, language, visuospatial ability, processing speed, and attention/working memory/executive functions when compared to A-. A+/N+ showed lower performances on memory measures when compared to A+/N- in secondary analyses based on a smaller subset of studies. Results support the notion that neuropsychological measures are sensitive to different stages of preclinical AD among cognitively intact older adults. Further research is needed to determine what constitutes meaningful differences in neuropsychological performance among cognitively intact older adults.     

Diagnostic Accuracy of Memory Measures in Alzheimer’s Dementia and Mild Cognitive Impairment: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

With an increasing focus on biomarkers in dementia research, illustrating the role of neuropsychological assessment in detecting mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer’s dementia (AD) is important. This systematic review and meta-analysis, conducted in accordance with PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses) standards, summarizes the sensitivity and specificity of memory measures in individuals with MCI and AD. Both meta-analytic and qualitative examination of AD versus healthy control (HC) studies (n = 47) revealed generally high sensitivity and specificity (≥ 80% for AD comparisons) for measures of immediate (sensitivity = 87%, specificity = 88%) and delayed memory (sensitivity = 89%, specificity = 89%), especially those involving word-list recall. Examination of MCI versus HC studies (n = 38) revealed generally lower diagnostic accuracy for both immediate (sensitivity = 72%, specificity = 81%) and delayed memory (sensitivity = 75%, specificity = 81%). Measures that differentiated AD from other conditions (n = 10 studies) yielded mixed results, with generally high sensitivity in the context of low or variable specificity. Results confirm that memory measures have high diagnostic accuracy for identification of AD, are promising but require further refinement for identification of MCI, and provide support for ongoing investigation of neuropsychological assessment as a cognitive biomarker of preclinical AD. Emphasizing diagnostic test accuracy statistics over null hypothesis testing in future studies will promote the ongoing use of neuropsychological tests as Alzheimer’s disease research and clinical criteria increasingly rely upon cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and neuroimaging biomarkers.     

Death anxiety and sexual risk-taking: different manifestations of the process of defense

College students(n = 162) completed measures of death anxiety and sexual risk-taking, with a thought listing procedure in-between. Those who completed the death anxiety measure first (Death Salient condition) reportedgreater willingness to engage in high-risk sexual behavior than the Non-Death Salient group. This result was consistent with the hypothesis that evoking death anxiety would produce denial-based defensive activity. Also, Death Salient participants reporting more death thoughts were lower on risk-taking, as predicted. Interestingly, Death Salient participants reporting stressful thoughts about issues unrelated to personal mortality (displacement) were also less willing to engage in high-risk sexual behavior. The results are discussed in relation to a new, avowal-based model of the process of psychological defense.     

Imagining the End of Life: On the Psychology of Advance Medical Decision Making

Near the end of life, individuals often become too ill to express their wishes about the use of life-sustaining medical treatment. Instructional advance directives (i.e., livings wills) are widely advocated as a solution to this problem based on the assumption that healthy people can predict the types of medical treatment they will want to receive if they become seriously ill. In this paper, we review a large body of research from the psychological and medical literatures that challenges this assumption. This research demonstrates that across a wide variety of decision contexts people show limited ability to predict their affective and behavioral reactions to future situations. We outline several ways that policy and law regarding the use of advance directives could be informed by this research, and suggest a number of issues involved in advance medical decision making that could benefit from additional empirical and conceptual attention.

Emotion Regulation in Adolescent Well-Being and Positive Education

Emotion regulation (ER) becomes increasingly important across adolescent development, and promotes psychological flexibility, resilience and well-being in youth. Positive education programs (PEPs) combine academic training with positive psychology interventions (PPIs) to increase well-being and reduce mental ill-health. Despite considerable overlap between PPIs and ER models, the role and relevance of ER to PEPs remains unclear. This review aimed to evaluate the relationship of ER to PEPs targeting adolescents. First, to evaluate the relationship of ER to domains of well-being targeted by school-based PPIs. Second, to examine whether school-based PPIs can improve adolescents’ ER capacity. Third, to evaluate the role of ER in well-being outcomes of PEPs. Results support the relevance of ER to domains of well-being outlined by the revised PERMA model, including positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, and health. ER can influence the degree to which students benefit from PEP participation. It remains to be determined whether ER capacity is improved as a result of exposure to positive education programs. Findings are limited by the small and heterogeneous group of interventions examined, and the use of inconsistent ER measures. Further research of the role of ER in positive education may contribute to greater understanding of the mechanisms underlying their effectiveness and further promote the psychological well-being of adolescents.     

Understanding and predicting parental decisions about early childhood immunizations.

This research investigated the factors that influence decisions about immunizations. Women in the third trimester of pregnancy (N=195) rated their likelihood of immunizing their child; stated their reasons for and against immunizing; and rated their perceptions of the benefits and risks of immunization, feelings of responsibility, and anticipated regret if harm occurred. Immunization status was determined at follow-up. Stepwise regression analyses demonstrated that immunization decisions are strongly influenced by omission bias factors such as anticipated responsibility and regret variance (which explained more than 50% of variance). It is suggested that parents may benefit from antenatal decision aids that address omission bias and encourage them to assess benefits and risks of immunizations on the basis of scientific evidence.