The associations between insecure attachment,rooming‐in,and postpartum depression: A 2 months’ longitudinal study

Postpartum depression (PPD) is the most common complication of childbearing, and recent studies have attempted to examine risk factors associated with it. The main study hypothesis was that a protective situational factor at a sensitive time period (full rooming‐in postpartum) would moderate the associations between insecure attachment dimensions and PPD. Three hundred twelve women, in either full or partial rooming‐in, participated in a longitudinal study at the maternity ward of a tertiary healthcare center. A Demographic questionnaire and the Experiences in Close Relationships Scale were administered at 1–4 days postpartum, and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression scale at 2 months postpartum. PPD was significantly associated with both anxious and avoidant attachment dimensions, but not with rooming‐in conditions. In addition, women in partial rooming‐in showed a positive correlation between insecure attachment dimensions and PPD, whereas no such correlation was found for full rooming‐in women. A situational factor such as full rooming‐in, which occurs at a critical time point for the mother–infant relationship, can moderate the association between maternal avoidant or anxious attachment dimensions and the mother's PPD levels. Postpartum practices, such as rooming‐in, can be personalized and thus beneficial in moderating personal risk factors for PPD.     

Mediation of Mothers’ Anxiety and Parenting in Children’s Behavior Problems during COVID-19

The outbreak of COVID-19 is affecting the lives of millions of families around the world. The current study was carried out in Israel, following the pandemic’s initial outbreak and during the resulting enforced quarantine, confining parents and children to their homes. A sample of 141 Israeli mothers with at least one child between the ages of 3 and 12 (M?=?6.92, SD?=?2.55) participated as volunteers. About half the sample (50.7%) consisted of girls. Most mothers were cohabiting with a spouse (93%). Mothers completed online questionnaires about their perceptions about the health and economic threats of COVID-19, availability of social support, their anxiety symptoms, hostile/coercive and supportive/engaged parenting behavior, and their children’s behavior problems. Results showed expected significant associations between the mothers’ reports about having little social support, their anxiety symptoms, hostile/coercive and supportive/engaged parenting behavior, and children’s externalizing problems. Likewise, expected significant associations were found between mothers’ perceptions about the health and economic threats of COVID-19, their anxiety symptoms, hostile/coercive parenting behavior, and children’s internalizing and externalizing problems. Importantly, maternal anxiety and hostile/coercive parenting behavior mediated the associations between lack of support, negative perceptions about the health and economic threats of COVID-19, and children’s behavior problems. These findings stress the importance of mothers’ mental health and parenting behaviors for children’s socioemotional adaptation in the context of COVID-19. Implications of the findings for family interventions intended to help parents and children at this time are suggested.

     

LOSING SAMMY: A CATALYST FOR EXITING AN ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIP

Abstract

Miscarriage is a relatively prevalent occurrence in our society. The reported incidence of this event indicates that 20% of all women experience a miscarriage. Women who have miscarried report friends and family responding in ways that seem to try to reduce the impact and importance of the event. This leaves the grieving woman with a sense of little support or understanding of what she had just experienced. Furthermore, the experiences reported by women who have had a miscarriage are quite different from those reported by other individuals who have experienced other types of loss such as a spouse, partner, parent, or friend. Women who have miscarried report a lack of recognition that they have experienced a loss. Little is known about how society views miscarriage or why individuals respond in such an apparently unsupportive manner to a woman who has had a miscarriage. The present work sought to determine whether miscarriage is an unrecognized loss and to assess the meaning of miscarriage to others. Although the results indicate miscarriage is viewed as a loss, it is a loss with minimal grounded or valuative meaning for others, which suggests that the cultural norm of silence surrounding early pregnancy and miscarriage should be lifted     

An attachment perspective on human-pet relationships: Conceptualization and assessment of pet attachment orientations

In a series of studies we used attachment theory as a framework to examine human-pet relationships. We proposed that, as in interpersonal relationships, people differ in their degree of anxious or avoidant attachment to their pets, and that these individual differences influence pet-related cognitions, emotions, and behavior. We constructed a self-report scale, the Pet Attachment Questionnaire (PAQ), and examined its factorial structure, associations with attachment patterns in human relationships (Studies 1-2), relation to explicit and implicit expectations concerning a pet (3-4), and reactions to the loss of a pet (5). We found that individual differences in pet attachment do occur in the domains of attachment anxiety and avoidance, and these differences contribute uniquely to the prediction of expectations about the pet and emotional reactions to its death.     

Perfectionism Dimensions and Dependency in Relation to Personality Vulnerability and Psychosocial Adjustment in Patients with Coronary Artery Disease

The present study sought to illuminate self-criticism and personal standards dimensions of perfectionism and dependency as specific cognitive-personality vulnerability factors that might contribute to a better understanding of numerous psychosocial problem areas that are relevant to coronary artery disease (CAD). One hundred and twenty-three patients diagnosed with clinically significant CAD completed self-report questionnaires. Zero-order correlations and factor analysis results revealed that self-criticism was primarily related to personality vulnerability (aggression/anger/hostility, Type D negative affectivity) and psychosocial maladjustment (depressive symptoms, worry, avoidant coping, support dissatisfaction), whereas personal standards was primarily related to adaptive coping (problem-focused coping, positive reinterpretation) and dependency was primarily related to worry. Hierarchical regression results demonstrated the incremental utility of self-criticism, personal standards, and dependency in relation to (mal)adjustment over and above aggression/anger/hostility, negative affectivity, and social inhibition. Continued efforts to understand the role of perfectionism dimensions and dependency in CAD appear warranted.     

The unraveling of a treatment paradigm: a followup study of the Milan approach to family therapy

A 2-year followup study was conducted to determine the efficacy and degree of satisfaction with Milan-style family therapy with families refractory to other treatment interventions. Fourteen families and 5 couples who received Milan-style family therapy participated in the study. Family outcome was found to be improved in 56% of parents and 89% of identified child-patients at followup. Improved self-outcome at followup was reported by 56% of fathers, 67% of mothers, and 78% of identified child-patients. A substantial percentage of fathers (68%) and mothers (59%) reported that at least one family member sought further therapy posttreatment. Factors associated with either parent's positive perception of the treatment in general included the time interval between sessions, experiencing the treatment as brief rather than long, and positive feelings for the group behind the mirror. Mothers who reported liking the treatment reported better family outcome. For mothers, disliking the treatment was related to family members seeking further treatment. The more negative the mothers' and fathers' spontaneous comments about therapy were, the more likely that a family member would seek further alternative psychotherapy. The outcome results are explained in terms of the treatment families' negative reactions to some aspects of the therapist's stance and to the group behind the one-way mirror, as in Milan-style therapy. The importance of modifying Milan-type therapy to foster a positive attitude toward the treatment procedures and the therapist's interventions is discussed.     

Shock-induced threat and biting by the turtle

Shock-induced biting and threat by the male painted turtle (Chrysemys picta marginata) were studied in three experiments. When restrained facing each other, the turtles threatened and bit other turtles in response to electric shock. Shock alone caused turtles to threaten an unshocked turtle; the movements of a shocked turtle were sufficient to cause an unshocked but restrained turtle to threaten. When the turtles were free to move, they avoided an encounter when shocked, even reversing a strong position preference in order to do so.     

The Role of Biodata and Intelligence in the Predictive Validity of Assessment Centres

The present study assessed three of Klimoski and Brickner's ¹ 1 See Klimoski and Brickner (1987) in reference list.
explanations for assessment centres' predictive validity: criterion contamination, the influence of biodata, and the effect of assessed intellectual level. Data were collected in a major Israeli industrial organisation on the job performance and advancement of 91 managers who had participated in an assessment centre four to seven years earlier. Little empirical support was garnered for Klimoski and Brickner's claims. Assessment centre scores were found to be similarly correlated in a significant fashion with both contaminated and uncontaminated criteria of later management performance. Although biodata and intelligence variables were correlated with assessors' evaluations, they did not notably contribute to the predictive validity of assessment centre scores. It seems that information reached by observing behaviours reflected during exercises and simulations are the main factors affecting the validity of assessment centres.