Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

B Major

Publications and source records attributed to B Major.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Adolescents and adjustment to abortion: are minors at greater risk?

The authors tested the Supreme Court's assumption that minors are particularly susceptible to psychological distress following abortion. The responses of 38 minors (age < 18 years) were compared with those of 402 adults, 1 month and 2 years after an elective, 1st-trimester abortion. Minors were relatively less satisfied with their abortion decision and felt less benefit from the abortion than did adults 1 month postabortion, but they did not differ from adults in adjustment 2 years postabortion. Minors were not more depressed than adults at either time period, and their decision satisfaction and perceived benefit at both time periods did not suggest a population at risk. Age group differences in adjustment 1 month postabortion were explained by minors' reduced self-efficacy appraisals for coping, greater use of avoidant coping strategies, and greater perceived parental conflict. These findings challenge the Court's assumption that minors are particularly vulnerable to psychological harm following abortion.

Abortion, Induced↗
PubMed2001

Devaluing domains in response to threatening intergroup comparisons: perceived legitimacy and the status value asymmetry.

Group status and status legitimacy were tested as moderators of devaluing in response to threatening intergroup comparisons. In 3 experiments, participants received feedback comparing their in-group (based on school or gender) to a higher or lower status out-group. When the legitimacy of group status differences was assumed (Studies 1 and 2) or manipulated (Study 3), participants devalued the domain when their in-group compared unfavorably with a lower status out-group but did not devalue the domain when their in-group compared unfavorably with a higher status out-group. In Study 3, this status value asymmetry was eliminated when status differences were delegitimized. Mediational analyses suggested that the status value asymmetry was explained by the perceived utility of the domain for gaining status-relevant rewards.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Psychological responses of women after first-trimester abortion.

BACKGROUND: Controversy exists over psychological risks associated with abortion. The objectives of this study were to examine women's emotions, evaluations, and mental health after an abortion, as well as changes over time in these responses and their predictors. METHODS: Women arriving at 1 of 3 sites for an abortion of a first-trimester unintended pregnancy were randomly approached to participate in a longitudinal study with 4 assessments-1 hour before the abortion, and 1 hour, 1 month, and 2 years after the abortion. Eight hundred eighty-two (85%) of 1043 eligible women approached agreed; 442 (50%) of 882 were followed for 2 years. Preabortion and postabortion depression and self-esteem, postabortion emotions, decision satisfaction, perceived harm and benefit, and posttraumatic stress disorder were assessed. Demographic variables and prior mental health were examined as predictors of postabortion psychological responses. RESULTS: Two years postabortion, 301 (72%) of 418 women were satisfied with their decision; 306 (69%) of 441 said they would have the abortion again; 315 (72%) of 440 reported more benefit than harm from their abortion; and 308 (80%) of 386 were not depressed. Six (1%) of 442 reported posttraumatic stress disorder. Depression decreased and self-esteem increased from preabortion to postabortion, but negative emotions increased and decision satisfaction decreased over time. Prepregnancy history of depression was a risk factor for depression, lower self-esteem, and more negative abortion-specific outcomes 2 years postabortion. Younger age and having more children preabortion also predicted more negative abortion evaluations. CONCLUSIONS: Most women do not experience psychological problems or regret their abortion 2 years postabortion, but some do. Those who do tend to be women with a prior history of depression.

Abortion Applicants↗
PubMed1999

Abortion as stigma: cognitive and emotional implications of concealment.

This study examined the stigma of abortion and psychological implications of concealment among 442 women followed for 2 years from the day of their abortion. As predicted, women who felt stigmatized by abortion were more likely to feel a need to keep it a secret from family and friends. Secrecy was related positively to suppressing thoughts of the abortion and negatively to disclosing abortion-related emotions to others. Greater thought suppression was associated with experiencing more intrusive thoughts of the abortion. Both suppression and intrusive thoughts, in turn, were positively related to increases in psychological distress over time. Emotional disclosure moderated the association between intrusive thoughts and distress. Disclosure was associated with decreases in distress among women experiencing intrusive thoughts of their abortion, but was unrelated to distress among women not experiencing intrusive thoughts.

Abortion, Induced↗
PubMed1998

Mental models of attachment and coping with abortion.

This study explored the relationships between mental models of attachment and adjustment to abortion in 408 women undergoing a 1st-trimester abortion at a large free-standing abortion clinic. As expected, mental models of attachment were related to postabortion distress and positive well-being. These relationships were mediated by feelings of self-efficacy for coping with abortion, perceived support from a woman's male partner, and perceived conflict from this same source. Model of self and model of others interacted only in predicting perceived conflict and positive well-being. Model of self was more strongly related to the mediator and outcome variables than was model of others. The effects of model of self, however, were largely a reflection of the overlap between model of self and self-esteem.

Abortion, Induced↗
PubMed1998

Personal resilience, cognitive appraisals, and coping: an integrative model of adjustment to abortion.

We hypothesized that the effects of personality (self-esteem, control, and optimism) on postabortion adaptation (distress, well-being, and decision satisfaction) would be fully mediated by preabortion cognitive appraisals (stress appraisals and self-efficacy appraisals) and postabortion coping. We further proposed that the effects of preabortion appraisals on adaptation would be fully mediated by postabortion coping. Results of a longitudinal study of 527 women who had first-trimester abortions supported our hypotheses. Women with more resilient personalities appraised their abortion as less stressful and had higher self-efficacy for coping with the abortion. More positive appraisals predicted greater acceptance/reframing coping and lesser avoidance/denial, venting, support seeking, and religious coping. Acceptance-reframing predicted better adjustment on all measures, whereas avoidance-denial and venting related to poorer adjustment on all measures. Greater support seeking was associated with reduced distress, and greater religious coping was associated with less decision satisfaction.

Abortion, Induced↗
PubMed1997

Mixed messages: implications of social conflict and social support within close relationships for adjustment to a stressful life event.

The authors examined the impact of women's perceptions of negative (conflict) and positive (support) exchanges with their mothers, partners, and friends before having an abortion on negative (distress) and positive (well-being) indexes of adjustment after the abortion. Preabortion conflict and support from the partner predicted postabortion adjustment in the same affective domain: Conflict uniquely predicted distress, whereas support uniquely predicted well-being. Within-source interactions were observed between support and conflict from mothers and friends. Women who perceived high support from their mothers or friends were more distressed if they also perceived them as sources of high conflict than if they perceived them as sources of low conflict. Among women who perceived their mothers or friends as nonsupportive, no relationship was observed between conflict and distress. Cross-source buffering was not observed.

Abortion, Induced↗
PubMed1993

The stigma of overweight: affective consequences of attributional ambiguity.

Attributing negative outcomes to prejudice and discrimination may protect the mood and self-esteem of some stigmatized groups. Thus, the overweight may be low in self-esteem because they blame their weight, but not the attitudes of others, for negative outcomes based on their weight. In an experiment, 27 overweight and 31 normal weight college women received either positive or negative social feedback from a male evaluator. Relative to other groups, overweight women who received negative feedback attributed the feedback to their weight but did not blame the evaluator for his reaction. This attributional pattern resulted in more negative mood for these overweight women in comparison with other groups. Dimensions of stigma that may account for differences in the tendency to attribute negative outcomes to prejudice, and implications of these findings for weight loss programs and psychotherapy for the overweight, are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Gender patterns in social touch: the impact of setting and age.

This study examined the impact of age of participants and the setting in which touch occurred on gender patterns in 799 instances of observed intentional touch. Gender asymmetry, a pattern in which men are more likely to touch women than vice versa, was observed when touch between adults was examined but not when touch involving children was examined. Adult touch interactions occurring in public, nonintimate settings showed gender asymmetry, but adult touch interactions occurring in greeting or leave-taking settings did not. Cross-sex touch was more prevalent among adults, whereas same-sex touch was more prevalent when a child was involved. Implications for theoretical perspectives on gender and touch are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Perceived social support, self-efficacy, and adjustment to abortion.

Prior to their having a 1st trimester abortion, women's perceptions of social support from their partner, family, and friends and self-efficacy for coping were assessed. Depression, mood, physical complaints, and anticipation of negative consequences were measured after the 30-min recovery period. As predicted, perceived social support enhanced adjustment indirectly through its effects on self-efficacy. Women who perceived high support from their family, friends, and partners had higher self-efficacy for coping. Higher self-efficacy, in turn, predicted better adjustment on the psychological measures but not on the physical complaint measure. No direct path between social support and adjustment was observed. In addition, women who told close others of their abortion but perceived them as less than completely supportive had poorer postabortion psychological adjustment than either women who did not tell or women who told and perceived complete support.

Abortion, Induced↗
PubMed1989

Self-blame, self-efficacy, and adjustment to abortion.

The causal impact of attributions and coping self-efficacy on adjustment to abortion was examined. Two hundred and eighty-three women were randomly assigned prior to their abortion to 1 of 3 counseling interventions: 1 designed to alter attributions for unwanted pregnancy (ATT-INT), 1 designed to raise coping expectations (EXP-INT), or a control (standard counseling) group. Depression, mood, anticipated consequences, and physical complaints were assessed postabortion. Women in the ATT-INT or EXP-INT group were better adjusted immediately postabortion than women in the control group. The EXP-INT group was also less depressed than the ATT-INT group. Three individual difference factors were also related to better adjustment: high coping self-efficacy, low self-character blame, and low other-blame. Self-efficacy also predicted adjustment 3 weeks postabortion. Implications for theories of adjustment to major life events, therapeutic interventions to assist coping with such events, and public policy on abortion are discussed.

Abortion, Induced↗
PubMed1985

Attributions, expectations, and coping with abortion.

We examined cognitive predictors of coping with a negative life event. Women undergoing first-trimester abortion were, before the procedure, surveyed regarding their attributions for their pregnancy, expectations for coping, the meaningfulness of the pregnancy, and the degree to which the pregnancy was intended. After the abortion and again at a follow-up visit, we assessed affective state, physical complaints, anticipated negative consequences, and depression. As predicted, women who blamed their pregnancy on their character coped less well than low self-character blamers, but contrary to predictions, self-behavior blame was unrelated to coping. Women who had high coping expectations before the abortion coped much better than those with low coping expectations. Women who found their pregnancy highly meaningful, however, coped worse immediately after the abortion than did women who found their pregnancy less meaningful. Intentionality of the pregnancy was related to depression three weeks after the abortion, and women accompanied by their partner to the abortion clinic coped less well immediately after the abortion than women unaccompanied by their partner.

Abortion, Induced↗
PubMed1984

Overworked and underpaid: on the nature of gender differences in personal entitlement.

This research investigated gender differences in feelings of personal entitlement with respect to monetary payment for work performed. Two experiments were conducted to test the hypothesis that women's internal standards of fair pay for their work are lower than men's and to examine possible causes of this difference. In Experiment 1, men and women were asked to pay themselves in a private situation what they thought was fair pay for a fixed amount of work. Social comparison information was varied. As predicted, women paid themselves less money than men in the absence, but not the presence, of social comparison information. In Experiment 2, men and women were asked to do as much work as they thought was fair for a fixed, prepaid, amount of money. Subjects believed that their work was either monitored or unmonitored. Women worked significantly longer, did more work, and did more correct work than men in both public and private work settings. Furthermore, women, but not men, worked longer when they believed their work was monitored than when they believed it was unmonitored. Possible explanations for these gender differences are discussed.

Employment↗
PubMed1976

[Analysis of gestationally conditioned morbidity in the German Democratic Republic].

During the last years the analysis of the perinatal mortality with its casuistic and statistical aspect has gained importance as an instrument in organizing the health protection services for females. For further achievements in the ante-, intra- and postnatal care according to the social and scientific progress and to the needs of the people a sound knowledge of the morbidity structure is of great value. Relating to these points available data sources are analysed regarding their information contents and significance. Under the aspect of their prevalence the most important diseases during pregnancy are presented.

Female↗