Maternal Interaction Style in Affective Disordered,Physically III,and Normal Women

Affective style (AS) and communication deviance (CD) have been suggested as markers of dysfunctional family environments that may be associated with psychiatric illness. Studies have focused mainly on parental responses during family interactions when an offspring is the identified patient. The present study is unique in examining AS and CD in mothers with unipolar depression, bipolar disorder, or chronic physical illness, and in normal controls. The sample consisted of 64 mothers with children ages 8 to 16. Unipolar mothers were more likely to show negative AS than were any other maternal group. There were no group differences for CD. Chronic stress, few positive life events, and single parenting were associated with AS. CD was associated solely with lower socioeconomic status. Results suggest that dysfunctional interactions are determined not only by maternal psychopathology, but also by an array of contextual factors that are related to the quality of the family environment.     

Consumer Choices of Women in Residential Drug Treatment: An Analysis of Risk and Impulsivity1

The relationship between risk taking, impulsivity, temporal discounting, and shopping choices in an onsite token‐economy store was investigated with 10 women in a long‐term residential drug‐treatment center. Participants completed the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART), Eysenck Impulsivity Scale, and a delay discounting task, which were then correlated with the mean amount spent on slow‐ and fast‐moving consumer items for self, child, and household (cash‐and‐carry store items and catalog items). Of particular importance, purchases of slow‐ and fast‐moving items for the child seemed to mirror one another, suggesting that these women are valuing their children's well‐being (in terms of consumer goods) more highly than their own.     

Desire for control and optimistic time predictions

Halkjelsvik, T., Rognaldsen, M. & Teigen, K. H. (2012). Desire for control and optimistic time predictions. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 53, 499–505. Few studies have investigated individual differences in time predictions. We report two experiments that show an interaction between the personality trait Desirability of Control and reward conditions on predictions of performance time. When motivated to perform a task quickly, participants with a strong desire for control produced more optimistic predictions than those with a weaker desire for control. This effect could also be observed for a completely uncontrollable task. The results are discussed in relation to the finding that power produces more optimistic predictions, and extend this work by ruling out some previously suggested explanations.