Adult attachment,the transition to parenthood,and depressive symptoms

Testing a model suggested by J. Bowlby (1988), this study investigated how a personal vulnerability (attachment ambivalence) interacts with perceptions of deficient spousal support before and during a major life stressor (the transition to parenthood) to predict pre-to-postnatal increases in depressive symptoms. Highly ambivalent women who entered parenthood perceiving either less support or greater anger from their husbands experienced pre-to-postnatal increases in depressive symptoms at 6 months postpartum. The associations between these 2 prenatal interaction terms and pre-to-postnatal increases in depressive symptoms were mediated by perceptions of declining spousal support across the transition period. Moreover, for highly ambivalent women, the association between prenatal and postnatal depression scores was mediated by perceptions of the amount of support available from their husbands.     

Sociotropy and autonomy: an examination of interpersonal and work adjustment

One-hundred and sixty-five undergraduate students completed measures of sociotropy, autonomy, and adjustment. Autonomy was associated with poor social adjustment but was not associated with work role adjustment. Sociotropy failed to evidence a significant relation with work role or social adjustment. In past research, autonomy has primarily been theorized to contribute to depression when achievement needs are not met. Our results raise the possibility that autonomy may be linked to depression through the pathway of low social support and interpersonal difficulties. In addition, the results suggest that sociotropic individuals may not have objectively poor social adjustment despite their concerns regarding this area. Likewise, autonomous individuals may not have better or worse work adjustment despite their efforts to achieve.     

An ER-fMRI investigation of morphological inflection in German reveals that the brain makes a distinction between regular and irregular forms

The hypothesis that morphological processing is supported by a mental dictionary of stored entries plus a set of mental computations based on rules is examined using event-related fMRI. If a rules-plus-memory model () reflects the actual organization of the language faculty, two distinct patterns of brain activation should be observed for production of German irregular and regular noun and verb inflections. If a connectionist alternative to the rules-and-memory model (, and many others since), which seeks to explain the production of both irregular and regular forms within a single associative memory mechanism, is correct, there should be no neural differentiation between German regular and irregular inflection. The results we report support the existence of substantially differing patterns of activation for regulars vs. irregulars, an outcome that is consistent with the two-component rules-plus-memory account.     

Diagnostic status and symptomatic behavior of hard-to-manage preschool children in middle childhood and early adolescence

Followed 2 cohorts of hard-to-manage preschool children and comparison children without early problems to middle childhood and early adolescence. Children with early problems, especially problems that were still evident at school entry, were more likely to meet diagnostic criteria for an externalizing diagnosis at follow-up. Hard-to-manage children in Cohort 1 with problems that persisted from ages 3 through 9 years were much more likely to meet diagnostic criteria at age 13 than children whose early problems were less stable in elementary school. Similarly, hard-to-manage boys in Cohort 2 whose problems persisted at age 6 were more likely to meet criteria for an externalizing diagnosis at age 9 than hard-to-manage boys whose problems appeared less stable at age 6. Across cohorts, children with persistent problems had higher levels of symptoms and more varied symptoms at ages 3 and 4 and over the course of development.     

Private self-consciousness and the five-factor model of personality: distinguishing rumination from reflection

A distinction between ruminative and reflective types of private self-attentiveness is introduced and evaluated with respect to L. R. Goldberg's (1982) list of 1,710 English trait adjectives (Study 1), the five-factor model of personality (FFM) and A. Fenigstein, M. F. Scheier, and A. Buss's (1975) Self-Consciousness Scales (Study 2), and previously reported correlates and effects of private self-consciousness (PrSC; Studies 3 and 4). Results suggest that the PrSC scale confounds two unrelated, motivationally distinct dispositions--rumination and reflection--and that this confounding may account for the "self-absorption paradox" implicit in PrSC research findings: Higher PrSC scores are associated with more accurate and extensive self-knowledge yet higher levels of psychological distress. The potential of the FFM to provide a comprehensive framework for conceptualizing self-attentive dispositions, and to order and integrate research findings within this domain, is discussed.     

The surface form x problem size interaction in cognitive arithmetic: evidence against an encoding locus.

Sixty-four university students received simple addition problems with operands presented as arabic digits (e.g. 2 + 3, 8 + 6) or as English number words (two + three, eight + six). Operands either were displayed simultaneously or sequentially with the left operand appearing 800 ms before the right operand. Consistent with previous findings, word problems were slower than digit problems and this word-format cost was larger for large- than small-number problems. The central question addressed by this experiment concerned whether this Format x Size interaction arises during problem encoding processes or in subsequent retrieval or production processes. In the simultaneous condition, both operands would contribute to format-related differences in encoding, whereas in the sequential condition encoding differences would arise only in connection with the second operand. Critically, however, the Format x Size interaction did not differ between the sequential and simultaneous conditions, although the experiment had ample power to detect such an effect. The results argue that the Format x Size interaction does not arise during encoding, but instead arises during calculation or production processes.     

The Community Response to Rape: Victims' Experiences with the Legal, Medical, and Mental Health Systems

This research examined how the legal, medical, and mental health systems respond to the needs of rape victims. A national random sample of rape victim advocates (N = 168) participated in a phone interview that assessed the resources available to victims in their communities. as well as the specific experiences of the most recent rape victim with which they had completed work. Results from hierarchical and iterative cluster analysis revealed three patterns in victims' experiences with the legal, medical, and mental health systems. One group of victims had relatively positive experiences with all three systems, a second group had beneficial outcomes with only the medical systems, and the final group had difficult encounters with all three systems. Multinominal logistic regression was then used to evaluate an ecological model predicting cluster membership. Community-level factors as well as features of the assault and characteristics of the victims predicted unique variance in victims' outcomes with the legal, medical, and mental health systems. These findings provide empirical support for a basic tenet of ecological theory: environmental structures and practices influence individual outcomes. Implications for ecological theory and interventions to improve the community response to rape victims' needs are discussed.     

Prehension in children and adults: The effects of object size

Studies of visually goal-directed arm movements in adults have shown that various task constraints such as intention, context, and object properties affect different kinematic characteristics of the movement components (Jeannerod, 1984; MacKenzie et al., 1987; Marteniuk et al., 1987, 1990; Paulignan et al., 1991; Soechting, 1984). The purpose of the present study was to compare the effects of varying object size on the kinematics of reaching and grasping in both children and adults. Five children aged 9–10 years and five adults aged 18–24 years reached for and grasped three different sized cubes. Results revealed that object size had the same effect on the planning and control of reaching and grasping movements in children as in adults. Unlike adults, however, children in this age range spent more time in deceleration and reached peak aperture much later in the movement trajectory. The results were interpreted as immature integration of the visual and proprioceptive systems in 9–10 year olds. The implications of these findings for further examining developmental trends in prehension are discussed.PsycINFO classification: 2330     

Relationship of Parental Alcoholism to Family-of-Origin Functioning and Current Marital Satisfaction

This study examined the relationship between parental alcoholism, family-of-origin functioning, and current marital satisfaction. Results indicated family-of-origin functioning is positively related to marital satisfaction. In addition, individuals with alcoholic parents reported lower family-of-origin functioning, and an interaction between gender and parental alcoholism was found for marital satisfaction.