The adaptation dynamics of chronic functional impairment: what we can learn from older adults with vision loss

This study used vision loss due to age-related macular degeneration to learn about adaptation processes related to chronic functional impairment, focusing on Horowitz and Reinhardt's (1998) concept of Adaptation to Age-related Vision Loss (AVL) as the outcome. We hypothesized that impacts of visual acuity on AVL are mediated by perceived functional vision losses and functional abilities, and tested for "adaptive" weakening of this impact with ongoing loss. Longitudinal data covering a one-year interval from samples with age-related macular degeneration gathered in New York (N = 361) and Heidelberg (Germany, N = 90) were used. We analyzed the hypothesized causal structure by modeling latent change scores, and checked if those with low, medium, and high levels of vision loss at baseline differ in the relations between one-year change scores. Results confirmed that impacts of vision loss on AVL are mediated by decline in functional ability. However, under the most severe levels of vision loss at baseline, functional decline showed only a minor impact on AVL change not explained by a lack of further decline in vision. Findings confirm the effectiveness of adaptation in terms of reduced reactivity to functional losses across increasing level of chronic impairment. Thus, adaptation, weakening the impact of chronic functional impairment on psychological outcomes over time with disease progression, deserves consideration in the study of psychological consequences of chronic physical health conditions in old age.     

Maternal employment and children's achievement in context: a meta-analysis of four decades of research

This meta-analysis of 68 studies (770 effect sizes) used random effects models to examine whether children's achievement differed depending on whether their mothers were employed. Four achievement outcomes were emphasized: formal tests of achievement and intellectual functioning, grades, and teacher ratings of cognitive competence. When all employment was compared with nonemployment for combined and separate achievement outcomes without moderators, effects were nonsignificant. Small beneficial effects of part-time compared with full-time employment were apparent for all achievement outcomes combined and for each individual achievement outcome. Significant sample-level moderators of the associations between maternal employment and achievement for all outcomes combined included family structure, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status; associations were positive when samples were majority 1-parent families and mixed 1- and 2-parent families, racially/ethnically diverse or international in composition, and not middle-upper class. Analyses of child gender indicated more positive effects for girls. Children's age was a significant moderator for the outcome of intellectual functioning. The identification of sample-level moderators of the relationship between maternal employment and children's achievement highlights the importance of social context in understanding work-family linkages.     

Parental Emotion Socialization in Clinically Depressed Adolescents: Enhancing and Dampening Positive Affect

This study compared parental socialization of adolescent positive affect in families of depressed and healthy adolescents. Participants were 107 adolescents (42 boys) aged 14 – 18 years and their parents. Half of the participants met criteria for major depressive disorder and the others were demographically matched adolescents without emotional or behavioral disorders. Results based on multi-source questionnaire and interview data indicated that mothers and fathers of depressed adolescents were less accepting of adolescents’ positive affect and more likely to use strategies that dampen adolescents’ positive affect than were parents of healthy adolescents. Additionally, fathers of depressed adolescents exhibited fewer responses likely to enhance the adolescents’ positive affect than were fathers of healthy adolescents. These findings build on those of previous work in examining parental responses to adolescent emotions, focusing on positive emotions and including both mothers and fathers.     

Awareness of aging: Theoretical considerations on an emerging concept

Humans are able to reflect on and interpret their own aging. Thus, as individuals grow older, calendar age may become increasingly a subjective variable. This theoretical paper proposes the concept of Awareness of Aging (AoA) as a superordinate construct that can serve an integrative function in developmental research on subjective aging. It is argued that the AoA construct can incorporate the theoretical components of other existing concepts by acknowledging that judgments of subjective aging tend to be made on an awareness continuum ranging from pre-conscious/implicit to conscious/explicit. We also argue that processes of AoA are inherently self-related processes and that AoA is a particular aspect of self-awareness that results in specific aging-related self-knowledge. Over time, aging individuals incorporate this self-knowledge into their self-concept and personal identity. We provide theoretical evidence showing that although all major theories of adult development and aging draw on phenomena related to AoA, the explicit incorporation of aging-related awareness processes has been missing. We also provide an overarching framework to illustrate in a heuristic way how AoA in combination and interaction with other influences affects developmental outcomes. Finally, we argue that attention to AoA-related processes has a number of societal and applied implications and thereby addresses issues of applied developmental psychology.     

Body Consciousness Across the Adult Years: Variations with Actual and Subjective Age

Age-related trends and predictors were explored with respect to three dimensions of adults’ body consciousness. Consistent with the notion that aging adults’ perceptions of their bodies are multidimensional and multidirectional, adults reported being more concerned about their external physical appearance (public body consciousness), more aware of their internal body sensations (private body consciousness), and more positive in their self-evaluations of their bodies (body competence). Moreover, consistent with the claim that such attitudes are multi-determined, the present research found that aging adults’ personal anxiety about aging and their subjective age identities were significant predictors of variations in their body consciousness. Moreover, the predictive value of these psychological variables rivaled the predictive value of chronological age.

Follow-up survey of pregnancies with diagnoses of chromosomal abnormality

A small clinical survey was undertaken at East Carolina University School of Medicine to examine the factors which influenced the decisions of five families to continue pregnancies after a chromosomal abnormality was detected. Little has been published concerning the psychosocial effects after continuing pregnancies in which the fetus was diagnosed with a chromosome abnormality by amniocentesis. In order to identify the factors that influenced their decisions, an interview with each couple was undertaken using a 25-part questionnaire. This paper addresses the method of interviewing, case material, and background concerning each couple and the summary of the results.     

“work ethic” in pigeons: Reward value is directly related to the effort or time required to obtain the reward

Stimuli associated with less effort or with shorter delays to reinforcement are generally preferred over those associated with greater effort or longer delays to reinforcement. However, the opposite appears to be true of stimuli thatfollow greater effort or longer delays. In training, a simple simultaneous discrimination followed a single peck to an initial stimulus (S+_FR1 S−_FR1) and a different simple simultaneous discrimination followed 20 pecks to the initial stimulus (S+_FR20 S−_FR20). On test trials, pigeons preferred S+_FR20 over S+_FR1 and S−_FR20 over S−_FR1. These data support the view that the state of the animal immediately prior to presentation of the discrimination affects the value of the reinforcement that follows it. This contrast effect is analogous to effects that when they occur in humans have been attributed to more complex cognitive and social factors.