MATERNITY LEAVE, ROLE QUALITY, WORK INVOLVEMENT, AND MENTAL HEALTH ONE YEAR AFTER DELIVERY

Employment status, maternity leave, and role quality were investigated as predictors of women's mental health one year after delivery. Homemakers and part-time and full-time employees did not differ on measures of depression, anxiety, anger, or self-esteem. There were no main effects of leave length. Distress was associated with job overload, role restriction, and infant distress. Leave length interacted with the relative salience of work and family, and employment status interacted with employment preference to predict distress. Depression was greatest among women relatively high in work salience when leaves were long. Anxiety and anger were greatest among women whose employment status was not congruent with their preferences. These interactions underscore the importance of individual differences in responses to leave and work.     

Stability of Q-sort attachment security from age two to five

The current report demonstrates reliability and stability of Q-sort attachment security in a sample of 46 mothers and their children seen by two observers at age two and again at age four to six years. Security scores were correlated between ages (r=.44), and a high proportion of item-by-item correlations between ages were also significant.     

Masculinity, femininity, and psychosocial adjustment in medical students: a 2-year follow-up

As part of a longitudinal study of medical students, relations between masculinity and femininity and psychosocial well-being were investigated over a 21-month interval. Of a class of medical students, 82% (N = 99) completed measures of masculinity and femininity during orientation and, 21 months later, completed a broad array of measures of psychological well-being, interpersonal functioning, humanistic attitudes toward patient care, and alcohol consumption. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses with interaction terms revealed main effects of masculinity on self-esteem, extraversion, and confidence, and main effects of femininity on hedonic capacity, interpersonal satisfaction, sharing of personal problems, and alcohol consumption. Little evidence for additive or balance androgyny formulations was found. Findings for masculinity were consistent with earlier findings from this study and others, but they were weaker in magnitude. Findings for femininity were surprisingly robust and enrich the construct validity of this measure. Measures of impaired mood and of alcohol and drug impairment were also studied in relation to masculinity and femininity. Both variables contribute to the prediction of depressed mood; femininity also contributes to the prediction of drug involvement. Neither scale has sufficient sensitivity or specificity to be used by itself as a test of impairment.     

Recognition of multiple-item probes

In the present study, we contrasted models in whichfamiliarity orstrength is the sole basis for recognition judgments (e.g., Gillund & Shiffrin, 1984) with models incorporating retrieval of specific information in a recall-like process (e.g., Humphreys, 1976, 1978; Humphreys & Bain, 1984). We also examined the possibility that an item’s “strength” is determined in part by the match between the verbal encoding contexts at study and at test. In two experiments, study items were presented in triplets. In Experiment 1 recognition was tested with all possible combinations of one-, two-, or three-item targets and distractors; in addition, three different decision criteria were employed in different lists. Experiment 2 included cued recognition among other test conditions. Recognition performance did not increase as more cues were added to the probe, a finding that is inconsistent with Humphreys’s model and other models of that type. Both studies were well fit by a version of the Search of Associative Memory model for recognition (Gillund & Shiffrin, 1984).     

Auditory grouping based on fundamental frequency and formant peak frequency

The perceptual grouping of a four-tone cycle was studied as a function of differences in fundamental frequencies and the frequencies of spectral peaks. Each tone had a single formant and at least 13 harmonics. In Experiment 1 the formant was created by filtering a flat spectrum and in Experiment 2 by adding harmonics. Fundamental frequency was found to be capable of controlling grouping even when the spectra spanned exactly the same frequency range. Formant peak separation became more effective as the sharpness (amplitude of the peak relative to a spectral pedestal) increased. The effect of each type of acoustic difference depended on the task. Listeners could group the tones by either sort of difference but were also capable of resisting the disruptive effect of the other one. This was taken as evidence for the presence of a schema-based process of perceptual grouping and the relative weakness of primitive segregation.     

Preliminary study of the relationship between guilt resolution and depression in a gerontological population

An individual interview process was used to investigate the relationship between proneness to depression in a gerontological sample and their evaluation of critical life incidents. High and low depressed individuals were asked to recall prideful and guiltful incidents from their past, and discrepancy scores were obtained between their past and present evaluations of those events. Limited evidence supported the hypothesis that individuals with higher proneness to depression showed a greater negative discrepancy in evaluations of critical life incidents. Subjects did not differ in the content of their recalled incidents as a function of guilt type or guilt referent.     

The example of Christ and voluntary active euthanasia

The Christian church's aversion to suicide need not inform its position on voluntary active euthanasia any more than it informs its understanding of the role Jesus played in securing his own death. When the ontological polarity of freedom and destiny is kept in balance and is in agreement spontaneously and independently, culpability for the death of Jesus should be assigned neither to him nor to those who sought his crucifixion. This correspondence of freedom and destiny results in a theonomous moment, transcending all guilt. Similarly, when one elects to die because that choice best corresponds with one's self-image, it is extremely doubtful that this act of faith can be made intelligible or justified to others. If Jesus is example and not merely redeemer, this understanding implies that all people should be afforded the same freedom in death that jesus was without incurring moral guilt.     

Keeping track of needs in communal and exchange relationships

Keeping track of needs in communal and exchange relationships was investigated in two experiments. In both, subjects could check to see if another person needed help. The first experiment tested the hypotheses that When there is no opportunity for the other to reciprocate in kind, keeping track of the other's needs will be greater if the person desires a communal relationship with the other than if the person desires an exchange relationship with the other. If the person desires an exchange relationship with the other, keeping track of the other's needs will be greater when an opportunity for the other to reciprocate in kind exists than when it does not. If a communal relationship is desired, the existence of an opportunity for the other to reciprocate in kind will not influence keeping track of the other's needs. The results of the first experiment supported all three hypotheses. The second experiment tested and found support for the hypothesis that even when nothing can be done to help the other, keeping track of the other's needs will be greater if a communal relationship is desired with the other than if an exchange relationship is desired.     

TEAM SPORTS FOR THE SEVERELY RETARDED: TRAINING A SIDE-OF-THE-FOOT SOCCER PASS USING A MAXIMUM-TO-MINIMUM PROMPT REDUCTION STRATEGY

A program to teach three severely retarded adults to use a side-of-the-foot soccer pass was evaluated. A 9-step stimulus-response chain was taught using forward chaining. In contrast to usual practice, intensive physical prompts were provided initially to teach each response component, then systematically faded. Approximately 20 lessons (trials) were presented in 20-min sessions. A multiple baseline across subjects design showed that the three trainees achieved the no-prompt criterion after 24, 29, and 22 sessions, respectively. Subanalyses indicated that successive response components were learned only after training was implemented. Follow-up data were obtained 57 and 276 days later in the training room and in a gymnasium; in both settings, criterion was achieved with fewer than three reinstructions.