Sex differences in household labor time a comparison of rural and urban couples

A sample of 440 full-time employed couples from 11 states was examined to determine the differences between time spent on housework by husbands and wives in rural and urban areas. More time is spent in housework in rural families than in urban families because time spent in housework is greater for rural women than for urban women, while rural and urban husbands' times do not differ. Education of spouses, job status differentials, and age of the younger child do not significantly interact with rural-urban residence and sex of the spouse. However, family income does significantly influence the relationship between time spent on housework for rural and urban husbands and wives.     

Stimulus redundancy and immediate recall

This study examined immediate recall in two stimulus prefix and two stimulus suffix conditions and in a condition that combined a prefix and suffix. Suffixes and the combination of a prefix with a suffix interfered more with recall overall than did prefixes. Performance in each of the conditions that included a prefix was significantly better overall than in appropriate control conditions, in which interference was augmented by a redundant element in recall. It was suggested that prefixes and suffixes lie operationally on a continuum and that their effects result from the subject's inability to dissociate the redundant element from the memory series. However, the location of redundancy imposes different processing requirements that differentially influence recall.     

What Does Diffusion Tensor Imaging Reveal About the Brain and Cognition in Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders?

Over the past 5 years, Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) has begun to provide new evidence about the effects of prenatal alcohol exposure on white matter development. DTI, which examines microstructural tissue integrity, is sensitive to more subtle white matter abnormalities than traditional volumetric MRI methods. Thus far, the available DTI data suggest that white matter microstructural abnormalities fall on a continuum of severity in Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). Abnormalities are prominent in the corpus callosum, but also evident in major anterior-posterior fiber bundles, corticospinal tracts, and cerebellum. These subtle abnormalities are correlated with neurocognitive deficits, especially in processing speed, non-verbal ability, and executive functioning. Future studies using larger samples, increasingly sophisticated DTI methods, and additional functional MRI connectivity measures will better characterize the full range of abnormalities in FASD. Ultimately, these measures may serve as indices of change in future longitudinal studies and in studies of interventions for FASD.     

Neuropsychological functioning in kleptomania

Kleptomania is characterized by the failure to resist impulses to steal objects not needed for personal use or their monetary value. The objective of this study was to examine cognitive and executive functioning in subjects with kleptomania. Fifteen women with a primary DSM-IV diagnosis of kleptomania underwent a detailed psychiatric examination, including measures of kleptomania severity, and a battery of neuropsychological tests that emphasized executive functions. Correlational analyses were computed between measures of kleptomania severity and tests of executive functioning. Kleptomania subjects reported a mean duration of illness of 17.9 years and shoplifting a mean of 1.7 times per week. All subjects reported an inability to resist urges to shoplift. Neuropsychological testing revealed group mean test scores within 0.5 standard deviations of normative standards for age. Five subjects (33.3%), however, had below-average performance on at least one measure of executive functioning, and 4 (26.7%) had below-average scores on two executive measures. Correlational analyses revealed a statistically significant correlation between kleptomania severity and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test performance (r=-0.693, p=0.004). As a group, subjects with kleptomania did not demonstrate deficits on neuropsychological testing. Greater kleptomania symptom severity, however, was correlated with impairment in executive functioning.     

Racial bias in behavioral assessment of children's social skills

The social skills of 20 second- and sixth-grade students were assessed by 20 trained raters using the Social Skills Test for Children (SST-C). Rater and child characteristics were examined to determine whether differences in social skills ratings were due to the race of the rater or the race of the children being rated or due to the interactive effects of these characteristics, which would suggest racial bias in the ratings procedure. The results showed that the race of the rater did affect some behavioral observations. Black raters gave higher scores than white raters on four behavioral categories: response latency, appropriate assertion, effective assertion, and smiling. White raters gave higher scores for head position and gestures. The results of this study replicated earlier findings of significant differences in social skills ratings due to the race and age of the child being rated. The results also showed modest racial bias effects in that black and white raters scored black and white children differentially on two behavioral categories: overall skill ratings and smiling. These results suggested that most behavioral categories of the SST-C were not systematically affected by racial bias. However, the most subjective rating, overall skill, did evidence racial bias effects. This finding is consistent with previous data showing that subjective ratings may be most affected by racial bias.     

Children's television viewing with family members

The amount of time children view television with other family members was examined. The sample of 151 children was 6 through 17 yr. of age. Data were gathered by personal interviews conducted in the home. Analysis showed that children spent 75 min. per day (65% of their viewing time) watching television with family members, most often a sibling. When children did watch television with a parent, the parent was most likely the father. Rarely did the entire family view together.     

The relationship between reduplicated babble onset and laterality biases in infant rhythmic arm movements

This study examined changes in rhythmic arm shaking and laterality biases in infants observed longitudinally at three points: just prior to, at, and just following reduplicated babble onset. Infants (ranging in age from 4 to 9 months at babble onset) were videotaped at home as they played with two visually identical audible and silent rattles presented at midline for 1.5 min each. Rate of rattle shaking increased sharply from the pre-babble to the babble onset session; but there was no indication that this increase was specific to the right arm. This finding suggests that the link between babble onset and increased rhythmic arm activity may not be the product of language-specific mechanisms, but is rather part of a broader developmental process that is also perceptual and motor.