Postpartum exuberance: Not all women in a highly positive emotional state in the postpartum period are denying depression and distress

The question addressed in this study was whether or not mothers who scored low on self-report depression scales—so-called “deniers”—were denying their symptoms and suffering from an illusion of mental health. The findings did not support the interpretation that low-scoring mothers were denying other symptoms. Rather, low-scoring mothers: 1) experienced a wide range of emotions and similar levels of positive emotions compared to mid-symptom mothers; 2) changed their reported levels of depressive symptoms over the course of the study; 3) reported a variety of symptoms at levels similar to those of mothers in the mid symptom range; and 4) were affected negatively by having a diagnosis of depression, in a manner similar to mothers in the mid and high symptom groups. Furthermore, low symptom mothers consistently reported the most positive profiles of maternal adaptation with higher levels of maternal self-esteem and a high ratio of self-reported positive to negative affect. Thus, they appeared to be experiencing a heretofore underdescribed highly positive normal postpartum state that we have labeled “postpartum exuberance.” Postpartum exuberance, as well as a compromise of affective functioning associated with any lifetime diagnosis of depression regardless of the mothers' current level of depressive symptoms, highlights the complexity of emotional reactivity during the postpartum period. © 1997 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health     

Adaptive procedures in psychophysical research

As research on sensation and perception has grown more sophisticated during the last century, new adaptive methodologies have been developed to increase efficiency and reliability of measurement. An experimental procedure is said to be adaptive if the physical characteristics of the stimuli on each trial are determined by the stimuli and responses that occurred in the previous trial or sequence of trials. In this paper, the general development of adaptive procedures is described, and three commonly used methods are reviewed. Typically, a threshold value is measured using these methods, and, in some cases, other characteristics of the psychometric function underlying perceptual performance, such as slope, may be developed. Results of simulations and experiments with human subjects are reviewed to evaluate the utility of these adaptive procedures and the special circumstances under which one might be superior to another.     

EEG asymmetry and sleep mentation during REM and NREM

The hypothesis that dreaming is mediated by the right hemisphere was evaluated by monitoring EEG power asymmetry during REM and NREM sleep, and obtaining mentation reports when short-term temporal shifts in the EEG indicated relative left- or right-hemispheric dominance. Content analyses provided no support for the right-hemisphere hypothesis; indeed, some scales showed higher content during relative left-hemispheric dominance. In contrast to earlier reports, no difference between REM and NREM in EEG asymmetry was observed.     

Husbands' involvement in female gender-typed household chores

Using data from the National Survey of Children (sample is 89% White, 9% Black, 2% Hispanic or other), this paper examines levels and correlates of husbands' involvement in traditionally female household chores. Analyses reveal that the vast majority of wives assume primary responsibility for these daily and non-daily tasks. Only about one-fifth of husbands are involved fully in these activities. OLS and logistic regression models show that structural and ideational variables with respect to women are the strongest predictors of men's involvement. Resource, time availability, socialization, and life course models of husbands' household labor all garner significant support, and family process is a significant factor as well. This study demonstrates important interactive effects between predictors, thus suggesting the need for synthesizing various theoretical perspectives on the household division of labor.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the American Sociological Assocation Annual Meeting, August 23–27, 1991, Cincinnati. The author gratefully acknowledges Sampson Blair and Beth Anne Shelton for helpful comments and Marc Hallee for research assistance.     

INCREASING AUTISTIC CHILDREN'S DAILY SPONTANEOUS SPEECH

We investigated the effectiveness of teaching parents of 3 autistic boys to use a time delay procedure to increase their children's appropriate spontaneous speech in several naturally occurring daily settings (e.g., saying “good morning” in the morning). Generalization across settings and within settings across persons and locations was assessed. Variation in the children's spontaneous speech was also assessed. In addition procedural errors in the parents' use of time delay were calculated. Results indicated that all children increased their daily spontaneous speech and generalized their speech to other locations and persons.