Sex typing and division of labor as determinants of marital change across the transition to parenthood

This investigation examines the proposition that wives who describe their personality in ways that deviate from sex stereotypes will become less positive and more negative about their marriage from before to after they become mothers, particularly when the transition to parenthood is accompanied by an increase in the traditionalism of marital roles. Sixty-one couples were studied longitudinally from the last trimester of pregnancy through the third postpartum month. The wives completed the Personal Attributes Questionnaire (Spence & Helmreich, 1978), which measures the extent to which they ascribe personality attributes stereotyped as "masculine" (i.e., instrumental, agentic) and "feminine" (expressive, affectional) to themselves, and several questionnaires assessing the marital relationship at both times of measurement. Results revealed that the more division of labor changed toward traditionalism, the greater the decline in wives' evaluations of the positive aspects of marriage and that changes in wives' evaluations of both positive and negative aspects of marriage can be significantly predicted by the interaction of the wives' expressivity and changes toward increased traditionalism in division of labor. Additional analyses showed that wives who do not ascribe female sex-typed attributes to themselves (relative to those who see themselves in sex-stereotyped ways) are more apt to evaluate their marriage less favorably from before to after parenthood when roles shift toward greater traditionalism.     

Modification of preschool sex-typed behaviors by participation in adult-structured activities

Earlier studies have shown the girls spend more time than boys in activities that are highly structured by adults. Structured activities may encourage feminine sex-typed behaviors such as compliance to adults; low-structure activities may encourage masculine sex-typed behaviors such as independence and assertiveness. In the present study the effects of high or low levels of adult structuring on children's social behavior during preschool free-play activities were tested in a field experiment carried out during an entire semester in one preschool classroom. For the first 15 minutes of free play, children were assigned to high- or low-structure activities. As predicted, when children were in high-structure activities, they exhibited high rates of bids for recognition and compliance to adults; in low-structure activities, they exhibited peer-directed leadership, bids for recognition, and compliance. There were no generalized effects of these treatments on their subsequent free choice of activities or social behavior. The study demonstrates powerful effects of naturally occurring variations in children's play activities on sex-typed social behaviors.     

When celebrities talk,children listen: An experimental analysis of children's responses to TV ads with celebrity endorsement

Two studies tested the effects of TV ads with celebrity endorsement on the product preference and understanding of 8- to 14-year-old boys. Study 1 compared two ads for a model racer. One had celebrity endorsement (by a famous race driver) and footage of real automobile racing featuring the celebrity (live action); the second had neither feature. Study 2 employed one ad for a different brand of model racer edited to generate a 2 (endorser presence) by 2 (inclusion of live racetrack action) factorial design. A total of 415 boys were exposed to one of the experimental ads or a control ad, embedded in a new animated children's adventure program. Preference for the advertised brand of model racer (pre- and postviewing) and a number of cognitive variables were assessed. Exposure to endorsement led to increased preference for the toy and belief that the celebrity was expert about the toy. Live action led to exaggerated estimates of the physical properties of the toy and the belief that the ad was not staged. The 8- to 10-year-olds associated the glamour of the endorser with the toy and were more reliant on his advice than were 11- to 14-year-olds. However, the two age groups were not differentially affected by the ads. Contrary to the speculation of many researchers, understanding about advertising intent and techniques and cynicism about ads had almost no influence on product preference after viewing.     

A computerized system for monitoring and controlling intracranial electrical self-stimulation behavior

An automated system for measuring intracranial self-stimulation behavior is described. The system consists of two Commodore 6502 microcomputers interfaced with a constant-current generator and a standard operant chamber. The system hardware allows sine- and square-wave stimulation. Stimulus intensity can be varied in 256 steps between 0 and 100, 0 and 500, or 0 and 1,000 /µA. The system programs, which are written in machine language, allow the control of various schedules of reinforcement, the counting of operant responses and reinforcements, the measurement of interresponse intervals, and the storage of the data on disk. The software is designed for the determination of the threshold of reinforcement, on the basis of the titration of postreinforcement pauses caused by changeover in schedule control between concurrent continuous reinforcement and fixed ratio schedules.     

Extinction-induced immobility in the water maze and its neurochemical concomitants in aged and adult rats: a possible model for depression?

Extinction of escape behavior in the water maze due to the removal of the platform, was hypothesized to induce a negative state, including the development of immobility, which is held to reflect a state of "despair" when measured in the forced swimming test. 27 aged and 8 adult animals (26 and 3 months old Wistar rats, respectively) were tested in the water maze during nine days with a platform hidden, followed by 7 days of extinction trials with the platform absent. As expected, both age groups developed immobility over the extinction trials, with the aged showing more than the adults. To examine whether the age difference in immobility was related to performance differences during acquisition, the aged were subdivided into superior, intermediate and inferior learners (n = 9 per group) on the basis of overall times to platform during acquisition, and compared with each other and the adults. Results showed that the aged inferior learners displayed the highest levels of immobility among the aged. Immobility scores were then correlated with post-mortem neurotransmitter contents in the hippocampus and ventral striatum. In the ventral striatum, levels of immobility were correlated with levels of acetylcholine, dopamine and the metabolite dihydroxyphenylacetic acid in the aged, and with norepinephrine in the adults. The data support the hypothesis that multiple extinction trials in the water maze result in immobility that may indicate "behavioral despair," and that striatal neurotransmitter systems correlate with the degree of its expression. The concept of extinction-induced despair is held to provide the promise of a conceptual and empirical model of human depression that is the consequence of loss of reinforcers.     

The connubial crucible: newlywed years as predictors of marital delight, distress, and divorce

This study showed that couples' newlywed marriages and changes in their union over the first 2 years foreshadow their long-term marital fate after 13 years. Consistent with the enduring dynamics model, differences in the intensity of newlyweds' romance as well as the extent to which they expressed negative feelings toward each other predicted (a) whether or not they were happy 13 years later (among those who stayed married) and (b) how long their marriage lasted prior to separation (for those who divorced). The results provide little support for the idea that emergence of distress (e.g., increasing negativity) early in marriage leads to marital failure but instead show that disillusionment--as reflected in an abatement of love, a decline in overt affection, a lessening of the conviction that one's spouse is responsive, and an increase in ambivalence--distinguishes couples headed for divorce from those who establish a stable marital bond.     

How young children spend their time: television and other activities.

Time-use diaries were collected over a 3-year period for 2 cohorts of 2- and 4-year-old children. TV viewing declined with age. Time spent in reading and educational activities increased with age on weekdays but declined on weekends. Time-use patterns were sex-stereotyped, and sex differences increased with age. As individuals' time in educational activities, social interaction, and video games increased, their time watching entertainment TV declined, but time spent playing covaried positively with entertainment TV. Educational TV viewing was not related to time spent in non-TV activities. Maternal education and home environment quality predicted frequent viewing of educational TV programs and infrequent viewing of entertainment TV. The results do not support a simple displacement hypothesis; the relations of TV viewing to other activities depend on the program content, the nature of the competing activity, and the environmental context.     

Consumer Preferences for the Predictive Genetic Test for Alzheimer Disease

The purpose of this study was to assess consumer preferences for predictive genetic testing for Alzheimer disease in the United States. A rating conjoint analysis was conducted using an anonymous online survey distributed by Qualtrics® to a general population panel in April 2011 in the United States. The study design included three attributes: Accuracy (40 %, 80 %, and 100 %), Treatment Availability (Cure is available/Drug for symptom relief but no cure), and Anonymity (Anonymous/Not anonymous). A total of 12 scenarios were used to elicit people’s preference, assessed by an 11-point scale. The respondents also indicated their highest willingness-to-pay (WTP) for each scenario through open-ended questions. A total of 295 responses were collected over 4 days. The most important attribute for the aggregate model was Accuracy, contributing 64.73 % to the preference rating. Treatment Availability and Anonymity contributed 20.72 % and 14.59 %, respectively, to the preference rating. The median WTP for the highest-rating scenario (Accuracy 100 %, a cure is available, test result is anonymous) was $100 (mean?=?$276). The median WTP for the lowest-rating scenario (40 % accuracy, no cure but drugs for symptom relief, not anonymous) was zero (mean?=?$34). The results of this study highlight attributes people find important when making the hypothetical decision to obtain an AD genetic test. These results should be of interests to policy makers, genetic test developers and health care providers.     

Open field habituation learning is improved by nicotine and attenuated by mecamylamine administered posttrial into the nucleus accumbens

Using the paradigm of habituation learning in the open field, we tested the effects of unilateral microinjections of the agonist nicotine (8.0, 40.0, and 80.0 microg) and the nicotine receptor antagonist mecamylamine (0.1, 1.0, 10.0 microg) into the core of the nucleus accumbens. When injected posttrial, that is, immediately after the first exposure to the open field, nicotine dose-dependently enhanced behavioral habituation during the test on the following day, indicating a facilitation of memory, whereas mecamylamine impaired habituation at the highest dose, but not at the two lower doses. When injected 5 h after the learning trial, nicotine (40 microg) and mecamylamine (10 microg) impaired habituation on the subsequent day. A control experiment did not provide evidence for possible proactive effects of mecamylamine. These findings are discussed with respect to the possible behavioral functions of cholinergic, and especially nicotinic, mechanisms in the nucleus accumbens. They may also be relevant for understanding cholinergic-linked psychopathologies such as Alzheimer's disease, since the nucleus accumbens is one of the sites where cholinergic neurons are lost in this neurodegenerative disease.