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Biomedical subjects

A Caspi

Publications and source records attributed to A Caspi.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources
PubMed1989

Continuities and consequences of interactional styles across the life course.

Behavior patterns can be sustained across the life course by two kinds of person-environment interaction. Cumulative continuity arises when an individual's interactional style channels him or her into environments that themselves reinforce that style, thereby sustaining the behavior pattern across the life course through the progressive accumulation of its own consequences. Interactional continuity arises when an individual's style evokes reciprocal, sustaining responses from others in ongoing social interaction, thereby reinstating the behavior pattern across the individual's life course whenever the relevant interactive situation is replicated. Using archival data from the Berkeley Guidance Study (Macfarlane, Allen, & Honzik, 1954), we present evidence for the operation of these two continuity-promoting processes by identifying individuals who were ill-tempered, shy, or dependent in late childhood and then tracing the continuities and consequences of these interactional styles across the subsequent 30 years of their lives in the domains of work and family. The importance of the sociocultural context in mediating these continuities and consequences is stressed.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1988

Ventricular fibrillation in a patient with 'silent' mitral valve prolapse.

A patient with clinically silent mitral valve prolapse experienced an episode of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest due to ventricular fibrillation. This arrhythmia was easily replicated in the electrophysiology laboratory and despite treatment with amiodarone alone and amiodarone in combination with propranolol. Amiodarone in combination with quinidine prevented the induction of ventricular fibrillation and proved effective during a 3-year follow-up period. Even though a clear-cut relationship between the arrhythmias and mitral valve prolapse cannot be established, this case suggests that sudden death can occur in patients with mitral valve prolapse but without the known risk factors for the development of sudden death.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Linking person and context in the daily stress process.

In this study we combined daily diary data with interview data to investigate individual differences in the impact of stressful daily events on mood. Using a sample of 96 women in an urban community, we examined perceived neighborhood quality and major life events as possibly potentiating the effects of stressful daily events, and we viewed social supports as potentially buffering this daily process. Results confirmed that the presence of chronic ecologic stress (neighborhood perceptions) exacerbated the immediate effects of stressful daily events on mood and also increased the likelihood of enduring effects of daily stressors on next day's mood. Contrary to expectations, previous exposure to major life events decreased the impact of stressful daily events. The availability of social supports, although not buffering the impact of stressful daily events on mood, did mitigate the enduring effects of these events on next day's mood. This study also presents a method for analyzing daily time-series data, while correcting for potential problems of autocorrelated error terms. As such, this study represents a significant advance over previous analytic approaches to time-series data in the study of the stress process.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Personality in the life course.

Using elements borrowed from psychology, sociology, and history, this article outlines a conceptual framework for the analysis of personality in the life course. It is proposed that the interactional framework toward which personality psychology aspires may be conceived of as a sequence of interactions of personality with age-graded roles and social transitions in historically changing environments. To the extent that one can (a) identify the age-graded role paths in the social structure, (b) select the age-relevant situations in which these roles are enacted, and (c) identify measures relevant to the culture pattern across these age-relevant situations, it should be possible to uncover the coherence of personality--ways of approaching and responding to the world--across time and in diverse situations. Each of these steps is delineated and then illustrated with a longitudinal study of explosive, undercontrolled children. This is not an effort to articulate a theory of personality development but to outline the parameters of social life--temporal and situational--to which personality research should attend.

Achievement↗
PubMed1987

Everyday problem solving in adulthood and old age.

We examined everyday problem solving in adulthood and compared it with traditional measures of cognitive abilities. In the first phase of the research, we describe the construction of an inventory to assess problem solving in situations that adults might encounter in everyday life and examine raters' judgments of effective responses to the problems. In the second phase, adults (N = 126) between the ages of 20 and 78 were administered the inventory and tests of verbal and abstract problem-solving abilities. Results indicated modest but significant positive correlations between performance on the inventory and traditional ability tests. The examination of age differences revealed that performance on the Everyday Problem-Solving Inventory and verbal ability test increased with age, whereas performance on a traditional problem-solving test declined after middle age. In addition, education was unrelated to everyday problem solving, highly related to verbal ability, and moderately related to traditional problem solving. Results are discussed in relation to pluralistic conceptions of intelligence and theories of adult intellectual development.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1985

Rupture of chordae tendineae associated myxoma of the left atrium.

Mitral insufficiency is unusual in patients with left atrial myxoma. A patient with myxoma of the left atrium presented with acute pulmonary edema due to ruptured chordae tendineae. Both lesions were unequivocally demonstrated by echocardiography, permitting emergency surgical correction to be undertaken without recourse to angiographic studies. Despite the rarity of acute mitral regurgitation due to rupture of chordae tendineae in association with left atrial myxoma, with only one such case previously reported, an etiologic relationship between the two disorders can be postulated. The association between the two thus should not be unexpected.

Aged↗
PubMed1985

Linking family hardship to children's lives.

The impact of drastic income loss on children is mediated by a number of family adaptations, including the shift toward more labor-intensive households and altered relationships. Using newly developed codes on parenting behavior during the Great Depression, this study investigates the role of parental behavior (rejecting, nonsupportive) in linking economic hardship to children's lives in the Oakland Growth Study. The results extend beyond those reported in Children of the Great Depression by showing that economic hardship adversely influenced the psychosocial well-being of girls, but not boys, by increasing the rejecting behavior of fathers. The parenting behavior of mothers did not vary significantly by income loss. In addition, the rejecting influence of hard-pressed fathers was more pronounced in relation to less attractive daughters, as judged by physical features. Attractive daughters were not likely to be maltreated by their fathers, no matter how severe the economic pressure. These outcomes on family mediation and conditional effects underscore the importance of viewing economic decline in relation to both the child's characteristics and parenting behavior. An understanding of the effects of economic decline in children's lives requires knowledge of parent and child behavior within the family and life course.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1984

Extensive endocardial mapping during sinus rhythm and ventricular tachycardia in a patient with arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia.

A 38 year old man with arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia underwent electrophysiologic study with extensive endocardial mapping of the right ventricle. During sinus rhythm, markedly reduced amplitude with or without prolonged duration was noted in multiple electrograms of the right ventricle. Delayed activation of the right ventricular outflow tract electrogram was present. Two clinical types of ventricular tachycardia with a left bundle branch block configuration and either an inferior or a superior axis were induced by ventricular stimulation. Endocardial activation sequence during the tachycardias suggested that the tachycardia with an inferior axis originated near the infundibulum, while that with a superior axis originated near the midinferior area of the right ventricle. Both areas have been previously shown to be frequently impaired in right ventricular dysplasia.

Adult↗