The nature of connections: young fathers and their children

The purpose of this study was to examine the involvement of young fathers with their children at entry to a fatherhood program and at subsequent follow-up. Thirty-eight young fathers participated in this analysis. Using open-ended questions at intake and subsequent follow-up, they were asked to describe in their own words their relationships with their children. A thematic analysis was used to explore their self-reported statements. Three themes emerged from the analysis: Positive Emotionality, Accessibility, and Engagement. A comparison between thematic categories at intake and follow-up revealed that the most dramatic shift occurred in regard to Engagement. A third of the young fathers shifted from describing Positive Emotionality at intake to the more active process of Engagement at follow-up. The area that showed little change between intake to follow-up was related to Accessibility. These findings may suggest that for young fathers, becoming more involved with their children is a process which can be facilitated by participating in a fatherhood program.     

Perceived stress and physiological dysregulation in older adults

We use a population-based representative sample of older Taiwanese to investigate links between respondents' perceived levels of stress and a broad set of biological measures. These biomarkers were collected at a single time (2000) and reflect sympathetic nervous system (SNS)-activity, hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA)-activity, immune function, cardiovascular function, and metabolic pathways. We model the relationship between perceived stress and (1) extreme values for each of 16 individual biological indicators; and (2) a measure of cumulative physiological dysregulation based on the full set of biomarkers. We consider two measures of perceived stress, one derived from the 2000 interview and the second based on data from three interviews (1996-2000). Age and sex-adjusted models reveal significant associations between measures of perceived stress and extreme values of cortisol, triglycerides, interleukin-6 (IL-6), dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHEAS) and fasting glucose. Examined individually, numerous biomarkers, including those pertaining to blood pressure and obesity, are not significantly related to perceived stress. Jointly, however, the measure of cumulative physiological dysregulation is associated with both the level of perceived stress at a given time and to a longitudinal measure of perceived stress. Some results suggest that the relationship between level of perceived stress and physiological response is stronger for women than men.     

BIOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE AS A DETERMINANT OF CUE COMPETITION

Abstract— Many researchers have noted the similarities between causal judgment in humans and Pavlovian conditioning in animals. One recently noted discrepancy between these two forms of learning is the absence of backward blocking in animals, in contrast with its occurrence in human causality judgment. Here we report two experiments that investigated the role of biological significance in backward blocking as a potential explanation of this discrepancy. With rats as subjects, we used sensory preconditioning and second-order conditioning procedures, which allowed the to-be-blocked cue to retain low biological significance during training for some animals, but not for others. Backward blocking was observed only when the target cue was of low biological significance during training. These results suggest that the apparent discrepancy between human causal judgment and animal Pavlovian conditioning arises not because of a species difference, but because human causality studies ordinarily use stimuli of low biological significance, whereas animal Pavlovian studies ordinarily use stimuli of high biological significance, which are apparently protected against cue competition.     

A novel radiant heat test for assessing pain threshold in human subjects: Measurement stability

New methodologies to assess analgesic response in humans are needed to better integrate preclinical and clinical data. In the present study we examined the test-retest stability of an innovative radiant heat methodology compared with an electrical stimulation methodology. For the radiant heat task, a modified rodent tail flick apparatus was used. The latency for finger withdrawal was recorded. For the electrical stimulation tasks, subjects placed two fingers on two electrodes from which they received a brief series of increasingly intense electrical stimulations. Maximum stimulus intensity (in milliamps) delivered was recorded. On each of 4 test days, the subjects received five test trials with a 10-min interval between trials. All the subjects were tested twice on each apparatus in a counterbalanced design. Finger withdrawal latencies for the radiant heat task did not differ significantly across test trials or test days. Finger withdrawal scores for electrical stimulation increased significantly across test trials as well as test days. These data show that the radiant heat method generates consistent latencies across trials and days, whereas shock produces trends over time. The radiant heat task, which is convenient to operate and inexpensive to build, appears promising as a reliable test of pain threshold in humans.     

Child's Play: A Multidisciplinary Perspective

Competition obscures the realities and significance of play, in particular, the bodily play originating in infancy and typical of young children. A multidisciplinary perspective on child's play elucidates the nature of child's play and validates the distinction between competition and play. The article begins with a consideration of ethological research on play in young human and nonhuman animals, proceeds to a consideration of psychological research on laughter as a primary kinetic marker of play, and ends with a philosophical examination of the foundational moral significances of child's play. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.