Separating past and future autobiographical events in memory: Evidence for a reality monitoring asymmetry

After thinking about the past and imagining the future, how do people separate these real and imagined events in memory? We had subjects engage in past and future autobiographical elaboration, then later take memory tests that required them to recollect these earlier generated events. In Experiment 1, testing memory for previously generated past or future autobiographical events led to fewer source memory confusions than did an elaborative control task, suggesting that the distinctive features of autobiographical elaboration improved subsequent retrieval monitoring accuracy. In Experiment 2, we directly compared retrieval monitoring accuracy for previously generated past and future autobiographical events and found that subjects made fewer source confusions when searching memory for future events. This asymmetry suggests that the features characterizing future elaborations (e.g., cognitive operations) were used more effectively during reality monitoring than were the features characterizing past elaborations (e.g., perceptual details), and has implications for future-oriented theories of memory.     

An Interpersonal Analysis of Adult Attachment Style: Circumplex Descriptions, Recalled Developmental Experiences, Self-Representations, and Interpersonal Functioning in Adulthood

Previous research suggests that the structure of adult attachment is dimensional, but the specific dimensions remain unclear. Given its relational nature, studies should examine attachment structure in association with conceptually related interpersonal constructs. The interpersonal model ( Kiesler, 1996 ) provides an integrative framework to examine this structure and associations between dimensions of attachment security (i.e., Anxiety and Avoidance) and: 1) the dimensions of the interpersonal circumplex, 2) the five‐factor model of personality, 3) recollections of mothers and fathers, and 4) current self‐processes and adult social functioning. In two samples of undergraduates, the Anxiety and Avoidance dimensions were associated with a hostile‐submissive interpersonal style. Canonical correlation analyses revealed that dimensions representing combinations of Anxiety and Avoidance, and roughly corresponding to the dimensions from Secure (i.e., low Anxiety and Avoidance) to Fearful (i.e., high Anxiety and Avoidance) attachment and from Preoccupied (i.e., high Anxiety and low Avoidance) to Dismissive (i.e., low Anxiety and high Avoidance) attachment related to the interpersonal constructs. The Secure to Fearful dimension (i.e., overall attachment security) seemed to share relatively more variance with the interpersonal constructs. These dimensions were associated with theoretically consistent characteristics, recollections of early experiences with parents, self‐representations, and social functioning.     

Reproductive Health CHOICES for Young Adults with Sickle Cell Disease or Trait: Randomized Controlled Trial Outcomes over Two Years

Interventions to assist reproductive health decision-making in populations affected by sickle cell disease (SCD) or trait (SCT) lack proven efficacy over time. Our aim was to compare effects of CHOICES, a Web-based multimedia education program on implementing informed reproductive plans, and usual care education (e-Book) on reproductive knowledge, intention, and behavior over 24 months. We randomized 234 participants with SCD (n?=?138) or SCT (n?=?96) (age 18–35 years, 35 % male, 94 % African American) to CHOICES and e-Book groups. Participants completed a sickle cell-specific reproductive measure before and four times after the intervention (6, 12, 18 and 24 months). Compared to the e-Book group the CHOICES group had significantly more improvement in knowledge over time (p?=?.004) but not intention (p?=?.18) or behavior (p?=?.69). At baseline, 114 (48.7 %) participants reported having partners who would not put the couple at risk for their children inheriting SCD. Of the 116 (49.6 %) at-risk participants, a higher poroportion of those who were in the CHOICES group chose partners that reduced their risk by the last visit than the e-Book group (p?=?.04). Study findings provide important insights for designing a national trial of the CHOICES intervention focusing on subjects whose partner status puts them at risk for having a child with SCD.     

Marital status and quality in middle-aged women: Associations with levels and trajectories of cardiovascular risk factors.

The current study compared cardiovascular risk profiles and trajectories (i.e., within-person changes) of women who were married or cohabitating and who had high relationship satisfaction with those of women with moderate or low satisfaction and with those of women who were single, divorced, and widowed. Participants were 493 women from the Healthy Women Study, a prospective investigation of health during and after the menopausal transition. Risk factors were measured across more than 5 occasions and 13 years, on average. Data were analyzed using a multilevel modeling technique. Overall, women in relationships with high satisfaction had lower levels of biological, lifestyle, and psychosocial risk factors when compared with the other groups. In some cases, women in satisfying marriages also showed a lower risk trajectory on risk factors relative to other women. Hence, marriage appears to confer health benefits for women, but only when marital satisfaction is high.     

Occupation and subclinical carotid artery disease in women: are clerical workers at greater risk?

The current study examined cardiovascular risk factors and carotid atherosclerosis in 362 women (ages 42-50 years) who were working in clerical, blue-collar, or white-collar jobs or who were not employed. Risk factors were measured premenopausally and ultrasound measures of carotid atherosclerosis were obtained approximately 11 years later. Clerical and blue-collar workers had more atherogenic profiles on physical, behavioral, and psychosocial risk factors when compared with white-collar and nonemployed women. Clerical workers had greater carotid intima-media thickness relative to all other groups and more focal plaque when compared with white-collar workers. Risk factors and workplace characteristics did not account for the greater carotid atherosclerosis observed in clerical workers. Further research is needed to investigate why clerical work may increase cardiovascular risk.