The biparental care system of the California mouse, Peromyscus californicus

Most knowledge of parent-offspring relations in mammals is derived from studies of mother-infant interactions. Male parental care has been less well studied. We explored maternal and paternal behavior of the California mouse, Peromyscus californicus. Six pairs of parents and their young were videotaped continuously for 12 hours/day, on alternate days from Days 1 to 31 postpartum. Males exhibit all parental activities and to the same extent as displayed by mothers, except lactation. Male parental behavior begins on the day of birth. Mothers and fathers spend substantial and equivalent amounts of time in the nest and in physical contact with pups throughout lactation. Males devote more time than females to licking pups, although females engage in more pup anogenital licking. Mothers nurse for at least 4 weeks, and fathers and mothers both build nests and carry young. The biparental care system of Peromyscus californicus affords an opportunity to develop a broader, more complete view of parent-offspring relations.     

Measuring the social climate of congregate residences for older people: Sheltered Care Environment Scale

We developed the Sheltered Care Environment Scale (SCES) to provide researchers and practitioners with a practical means of assessing the social climate in congregate residential settings for the elderly. The SCES, a 63-item yes/no questionnaire that can be completed by residents and staff members of a facility, taps their perceptions of seven dimensions of the social environment. These dimensions concern the quality of relationships, the personal growth orientation present in the facility, and maintenance and change of the social system. The SCES discriminates among settings, has moderate to high internal consistency and split-half reliability, and is sensitive to environmental change against a backdrop of relative stability over time. The SCES reflects actual, agreed-on qualities of a setting and is relatively unaffected by characteristics of the respondent. Normative data are available from a national sample of 244 facilities representing the variety of residential settings available to the elderly.     

Further observational data on the behavioral and social world of institutions for the aged

This study is an extension of previous observational work on the social ecology of dependence and independence in the institutionalized elderly. Observations of everyday, naturally occurring interactions between elderly residents of two different long-term institutions and their social partners were extended such that, aside from the identification of type of behavior, the dyadic form and continuity of each behavior was specified. The following were among the major results: (a) Previously found interaction patterns between elderly residents and their social partners, replicated in both a nursing home and a home for the chronically ill, supported the notion of discrepant social ecologies for dependent versus independent behaviors of residents: (b) specification of each behavioral act as to its dyadic form underscored the fact that the interactions were controlled largely by social partners and not by the elderly residents; (c) coding continuity or discontinuity of behavior suggested that independent behaviors were maintained by chaining; and (d) elderly residents in the home for the chronically ill evinced, as expected, more dependence-related behaviors.     

Old-age deficits in the sense of smell as gauged by thresholds, magnitude matching, and odor identification

Twenty elderly subjects (70-90 years old) and 20 young control subjects (18-24 years old) underwent three kinds of olfactory testing: absolute thresholds to three odorants (d-limonene, iso-amyl butyrate, benzaldehyde), magnitude matching of these odorants to salt tastes, and odor identification of 30 common substances. For all three odorants elderly subjects' mean threshold significantly exceeded that of the young by about ninefold for d-limonene, about threefold for benzaldehyde, and about twofold for iso-amyl butyrate. These threshold differences predict approximate concentration differences necessary to arouse the same estimated odor strength above the threshold for the elderly and the young. Young subjects also scored better than the elderly in odor identification, even when subjects were given four alternatives from which to select the correct label. Unimpaired olfactory functioning is uncommon in the elderly; correlational tests show that as a group the young have better olfactory ability and show more interindividual uniformity.     

Time went by so slowly: Overestimation of event duration by males and females

In three experiments, 469 subjects watched a short videotape of a bank robbery and later estimated the duration of the tape. Subjects invariably overestimated the durations. Accuracy of time estimation was unrelated to amount of free recall (Experiment 1) or accuracy of memory (Experiment 2). Females overestimated to a greater degree than males (Experiments 2 and 3). A more stressful version of the event produced greater overestimates than a less stressful version (Experiment 3). The relationship between induced arousal and time estimation appears to be different for men and women.     

Radial localization in the aged

Elderly subjects were 41% less accurate than young subjects in localizing a point in the frontal plane. The decline could be ascribed neither to an age difference in image formation or skill acquisition nor to a difference in motivational level or trace retention. Evidently the "ambient" or "transient" visual system is compromised at an elementary level. Reasons why this deficit may not be compounded at more complex levels of spatial processing are suggested.     

Interventions with care givers of dementia patients: comparison of two approaches

We compared the effect of two approaches, family counseling and support groups, for relieving the stress and burden experienced by care givers of dementia patients. Both treatments are designed to implement features of a stress-management model that have been identified in prior research with this population: providing information about the patient's disease and its effects on behavior, teaching behavioral problem solving for managing difficult behavior, and identifying potential support for care givers. Subjects were primary care givers of dementia patients living in the community; they included husbands, wives, daughters, and other relatives. Although subjects in the treatment groups made significant gains over time, they did not differ from wait-list subjects who showed similar improvements. One-year follow-up interviews indicated that gains made during the treatment period were maintained.     

Preliminary Steps in the Development of a Screening Instrument To Assess Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

The authors demonstrate the complexities and processes involved in constructing a screening test for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Discussion includes item development, field testing, and preliminary results.