Adolescent pregnancy: effects of family support, education, and religion on the decision to carry or terminate among Puerto Rican teenagers

Why do some pregnant teenagers decide to carry to term while others terminate their pregnancy? This study examined the influence of family relationships and support, religion, and education on the decision to carry or to abort. A nonrandom sample of 43 pregnant Puerto Rican teenagers (21 who carried and 22 who aborted) were interviewed in 1982 using a 34-item interview schedule. It was found that girls in the carry group were more significantly influenced and supported by family and friends than were those in the abort group. Fathers were the least influential persons in both carry and abort groups, while mothers were the most influential in the carry group, and sisters in the abort group. Brothers, boyfriends, and best friends were more influential for carry girls than for abort girls. Contrary to expectations, girls in the abort group reported a greater degree of religiosity than did those in the carry group. Further, girls who received strong support from family and friends reported a higher degree of satisfaction with their decision than did those who received less support. Finally, girls in the abort group were more likely to continue their education than were those in the carry group. Overall, the findings of this study have immediate implications for research and counseling services. Practitioners should focus on the girls in conjunction with their families in order to achieve better results in both treatment and preventive services.     

Visual information processing speed in hypnotized and nonhypnotized subjects

Using a backward-masking paradigm with a bias-free and ceiling-free psychophysical task, we tested hypnotized and control subjects for speed of visual information processing. Approximately half of each group received visual imagery suggestions in an attempt to influence attention. Imagery produced no significant differential effect. Although an absence of a hypnotizability-performance relationship was in keeping with findings of a previous study, those subjects in the present study who performed under hypnosis were, as a group, significantly superior to the other subjects in speed of information processing.     

A Psychoneuroimmunologic Perspective on AIDS Research: Questions,Preliminary Findings,and Suggestions1

Starting with the premise that research questions emanating from the fields of psychoneuroimmunology and behavioral medicine may provide critical information for understanding and treating acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), we provide brief backgrounds on psychoneuroimmunology and on AIDS. Previously, Solomon had generated 25 hypotheses based on the thesis that the immune and central nervous systems are intimately linked. Eight hypotheses from his list are presented as particularly relevant to AIDS. From these hypotheses, we derived a set of 12 new questions to be addressed in research on AIDS. Evidence and illustrations from studies in the literature, from our own research on psychoimmunologic relationships and psychosocial factors related to outcome, and from clinical examples is discussed for each question. Finally, suggestions are offered to address some of the problems in conducting psychoneurologic research.     

Contrasts in the self-esteem of unwed teenage mothers

The self-esteem of 93 unmarried females between the ages of fourteen and nineteen was measured upon entry into several state-sponsored training programs. Some significant differences were discovered concerning the impact of early motherhood on these individuals. The symbolic importance of motherhood, as a passage into adult status, and the intervening effects of normative group anchorage may mediate between individuals' cognitive ability and their level of self-esteem.     

Variations on the Ramsey test: More triviality results

The purpose of this note is to formulate some weaker versions of the so called Ramsey test that do not entail the following unacceptable consequenceIf A and C are already accepted in K, then if A, then C is also accepted in K. and to show that these versions still lead to the same triviality result when combined with a preservation criterion.     

The effects of continuous phonation on Xenon-inhalation air curves (of the kind used in deriving regional cerebral blood flow)

Regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) may be measured with inhalation techniques that use end-expired values of radioactivity to estimate the isotope concentration in arterial blood. These end-expired data are used as an input function in a mathematical equation to derive rCBF. End-expired air is assumed normally to be in equilibrium with the arterial blood at the alveolar surface of the lung during regular (passive) breathing; this assumption may not be valid during continuous phonation. We therefore have analyzed breathing (inhalation/exhalation) patterns and end-expired radioactivity (¹³³Xe) during (1) speaking, (2) singing, and (3) humming of the national anthem, and also during (4) passive breathing. Statistically significant differences in breathing patterns were measured between a group of nonmusicians and two groups of musicians (singers) during the phonation tasks: The nonmusicians breathed more often (and more rapidly) and exhibited less variability in their breathing patterns than did the musicians. Notwithstanding these differences, the shapes of smoothed functions derived from the end-expired values were not influenced appreciably during phonation (except possibly during talking). The latter finding suggests that estimates of rCBF derived with these data should not be confounded seriously because of the continuous phonation.     

Accelerated development of cardiac sympathetic responses in spontaneously hypertensive (SHR) rats

The functional development of cardiac and adrenal medullary responses to reflex activation of the sympathetic nervous system was studied in preweanling spontaneously hypertensive (SHR) and Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) normotensive rats. Pups of the two strains received injections of insulin or saline at 2, 4, 8, 12, or 16 days of age and were sacrificed 3 h later. Insulin administration produces a significant decrease in circulating levels of glucose which in turn results in a centrally mediated increase in sympathetic outflow. The induction of ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) in heart and the depletion of epinephrine from the adrenal medulla served as tissue markers of functional sympathetic neurotransmission. WKY and SHR pups had comparable levels of ODC activity in heart under basal conditions. In contrast, levels of catecholamines in the adrenals were greater in SHR pups at 2 and 4 days of age. Following insulin administration, SHR pups exhibited a greater induction of cardiac ODC activity at 2, 4, and 8 days of age compared to age-matched WKY controls. However, there were no differences between SHR and WKY pups in the magnitude of the adrenal medullary response to insulin-induced hypoglycemia. These alterations in sympathetic-target tissue development during the first postnatal week of life may contribute in part to the higher arterial pressures maintained by SHRs throughout the lifespan.     

Sexual experience and preference for males or females in the female rat

The influence of sexual experience on preference behavior was investigated in adult female rats. In the first experiment, preference behavior for sexually active males versus estrous females was investigated in female rats who were experienced with mounting behavior. Preference of these mount experienced females was compared to preference of females who were naive in this respect. Mount experience with estrous females induced a female-directed preference in ovariectomized female rats, irrespective of whether the females were treated with OIL or with testosterone-propionate (500 micrograms TP, injected once 48 h prior to testing). Sexually naive, OIL-treated females did not show a preference for males or females, but TP induced a preference for a male. Individual differences in mount frequency were not correlated with preference behavior. In the second experiment, the influence of experience with feminine sexual responses on preference behavior was investigated. OIL-treated and TP-treated females oriented equally toward males and females when they had been given the opportunity to copulate with males prior to the preference tests. The results strongly suggest that prior sexual experience is an important determinant of preference behavior. The female's behavior during sexual interactions was, however, not predictive of later preference.