The psychological precipitants of transient postpartum depression: A review

Studies reporting incidence rates for the “postpartum blues” (defined as atransient depressive episode occurring in the first 10-14 days after childbirth) are surveyed, and the methodological issues involved in collecting these data are considered. When women provide self-report ratings of depression on each day in the first postpartum week, the incidence of the blues is about 66%. Psychological factors found to be associated with the blues include a history of psychiatric disturbance or depression during pregnancy, menstrual distress, and a trouble-free pregnancy. Other factors not shown to be related to the blues include maternal age, socioeconomic status, prenatal anxiety, method of feeding, and whether the pregnancy was wanted. There is no evidence concerning the effect of the blues on maternal attachment, and the relationship between the blues and postpartum depression is unclear. There is discussion of the significance of the blues as a measure of the effectiveness of antenatal preparation and adjustment to the crisis of childbirth.     

Gender,role conflict,and the development of relativistic and dialectical thinking

Females have been found to experience greater role conflict. The present study explored whether this conflict fosters earlier social cognitive development. A battery of questionnaires, including a vocabulary test, a role conflict questionnaire, a role articulation questionnaire, and a questionnaire of social cognitive (i.e., absolute, relativistic, and dialectical) paradigm beliefs, was administered to a sample of 121 high-school freshmen, college freshmen, and college seniors. As predicted, females reported more role conflict, showed greater role articulation, and exhibited more advanced (i.e., relativistic and/or dialectical) social cognitive development. The role conflict questionnaire did not correlate with social cognition or mediate its relationship to gender, but future role articulation of family roles and the synthesis of family and work roles did. However, the causal relations were not unidirectional, and alternative hypotheses are discussed.     

Predictive Characteristics of Type A Behavior Among Working Men and Women

This study examined which motivation needs and job variables are associated with Type A/B behavior pattern for working women and men, and to what degree, if any, can these variables be used as predictors of Type A/B behavior pattern for each sex. Subjects were 797 working men and women (female, n = 439; male, n = 358) in 34 organizations in a metropolitan city in the West. Results showed that for both Type A women and men, the most significant factors were high levels of need for power, job commitment and hierarchical position. Job satisfaction was a significant predictor of Type B behavior pattern for both sexes. Need for achievement was a significant predictor of Type A behavior pattern for women but not for men. Age, working for a profit or nonprofit company, and level of education were significant predictors of Type A/B behavior for men but were not important contributors for women. Substantial differences between managers and nonmanagers were reported both within and between genders.     

Reaction to Self-Attributed Victim Responsibility: A Comparative Analysis of Rape Crisis Counselors and Lay Observers1

This research examined observers' reactions to sexual assault victims engaging in different forms of self-attributed responsibility. Theory and research suggests that behavioral responsibility contributes positively to the coping process of victims, whereas characterological responsibility impedes it. For observers in the present study, the expression of either type of self-responsibility by a rape victim resulted in a more negative impression of the victim's emotional well-being and greater attribution of responsibility to the victim in comparison to a victim relying solely on chance explanations. Moreover, this bias was evident among rape crisis counselors as well as lay observers. Discussion considered the implications of such biased perceptions for sexual assault victims and the need for a fuller understanding of the nature of self-attributions of responsibility by victims.     

Does manual asymmetry of right-handers change between six and nine years of age?

The development of manual asymmetry was studied in rhythmic tapping tasks and in repetitive timed tapping tasks on a sample of normal 6- and 9-year-olds. All subjects were right-handed. On all tappings tasks performance improved between 6 and 9 years of age. The right preferred hand induced better performance than the left non-preferred hand on all tasks except successive tapping on one key with the four fingers. On rhythmic tapping tasks the asymmetry in stability of rhythm favoring the right hand was more pronounced in younger than in older children. However, asymmetry in the discrepancy between the expected and the actual number of beats per trial on rhythmic tapping did not change with age. On the three repetitive timed tasks there was no change of asymmetry with age. These results are analyzed in the light of findings reported by other authors.     

ON BEING JUDGED ‘INTELLIGENT’

This paper proposes that we explore, not only the definition of intelligence, but also the way in which the judgment is made that someone is “intelligent ”or not, the rules that underlie behaviour in evaluation situations, and the way people protect themselves from judgment. For each of these issues it is proposed that we consider situations of both formal testing and everyday judgment, together with developmental aspects.     

“The grammar of action”: Sequence and syntax in children's copying

Progressions when copying shapes can be regarded as forming a path, with choices to be made at points along the path. Paths can be described in terms of rules that specify what to do at the start (e.g., start at the top rather than the bottom, with a vertical rather than a horizontal stroke) and in general (e.g., draw with a continuous line rather than a broken pattern). Such rules describe consistencies in the paths children and adults follow. They also allow us to describe age changes in terms of hierarchies of shifting rules, design differences in terms of conflict between rules, and errors (left-right reversals) in terms of the need to amend the usual rules. The results point to the advantages of treating graphic behavior as syntactic behavior and to the feasibility of using graphic tasks for the analysis of patterned or rule-governed activity.     

Dichotic speech perception: A comparison between stuttering and nonstuttering children

A stop consonant-vowel dichotic listening task was administered to 90 right- handed boys, 30 in each age group of 5, 7, and 9 yr. Half in each group were stutterers, half nonstutterers. Two and a half times as many stutterers as nonstutterers were found to display either a left-ear advantage (LEA) or no ear advantage (NEA). This finding suggested a greater tendency on the part of stutterers, as opposed to nonstutterers, for reversed or bilateral representation of the auditory speech areas of the brain. In addition, both stutterers and nonstutterers displayed significant developmental increases in the number of times they were able to identify both dichotic speech stimuli, thereby supporting the hypothesis of an age-related increase in children's total information processing capacity. The results are discussed in terms of the differences between stutterers and nonstutterers with respect to the issues of motor representation, cognitive modes, and higher-order linguistic processes.     

Is parenthood a desirable adult role? An assessment of attitudes held by contemporary women

The purpose of this study was to explore contemporary women's perception of parenthood. The attitudes toward parenthood of 213 undergraduate females enrolled in family or women's studies courses were measured by an 11-item Likert-type scale. Major findings include (a) the expectation that parenthood will be among the subjects' adult roles, but will be delayed; (2) a rejection of the idea that motherhood is a prerequisite to women's happiness and fullfillment; (3) a confused perception of the effect of parenthood on the male; and (4) a suggestion that although these young women intend to parent, they assess their preparation to do so as limited.