Health Psychology Commons^™

One Size Doesn’T Fit All: Attitudes Towards Work Modify The Relation Between Parental Leave Length And Postpartum Depression, Christine Y. Chang, Sabrina R. Liu, Laura M. Glynn

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between parental leave length and maternal depressive symptoms at six- and twelve-months postpartum and whether this relation was influenced by women’s attitudes towards leave, whether leave was paid or unpaid, and the reason they returned to work. The sample included 115 working women recruited during pregnancy as part of a larger longitudinal study. Analyses revealed that maternal attitudes toward leave influenced the association between leave length and depressive symptoms. Specifically, longer leaves were associated with increased depressive symptoms for women who missed their previous activities at work. Furthermore, women who missed work …

Intergenerational Risk And Resilience Pathways From Discrimination And Acculturative Stress To Infant Mental Health, Sabrina R. Liu, Curt A. Sandman, Elyssia Poggi Davis, Laura M. Glynn

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Preconception and prenatal stress impact fetal and infant development, and women of color are disproportionately exposed to sociocultural stressors like discrimination and acculturative stress. However, few studies examine links between mothers’ exposure to these stressors and offspring mental health, or possible mitigating factors. Using linear regression, we tested associations between prenatally assessed maternal acculturative stress and discrimination on infant negative emotionality among 113 Latinx/Hispanic, Asian American, Black, and Multiethnic mothers and their children. Additionally, we tested interactions between stressors and potential pre- and postnatal resilience-promoting factors: community cohesion, social support, communalism, and parenting self-efficacy. Discrimination and acculturative stress were related …

Can I Buy My Health? A Genetically Informed Study Of Socioeconomic Status And Health, Jennifer W. Robinette, Christopher R. Beam, Tara L. Gruenewald

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Background

A large literature demonstrates associations between socioeconomic status (SES) and health, including physiological health and well-being. Moreover, gender differences are often observed among measures of both SES and health. However, relationships between SES and health are sometimes questioned given the lack of true experiments, and the potential biological and SES mechanisms explaining gender differences in health are rarely examined simultaneously.

Purpose

To use a national sample of twins to investigate lifetime socioeconomic adversity and a measure of physiological dysregulation separately by sex.

Methods

Using the twin sample in the second wave of the Midlife in the United States survey …

Differences In Orgasm Frequency Between Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, And Heterosexual Men And Women In A U.S. National Sample, David Frederick, H. Kate St. John, Justin R. Garcia, Elisabeth A. Lloyd

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

There is a notable gap between heterosexual men and women in frequency of orgasm during sex. Little is known, however, about sexual orientation differences in orgasm frequency. We examined how over 30 different traits or behaviors were associated with frequency of orgasm when sexually intimate during the past month. We analyzed a large US sample of adults (N = 52,588) who identified as heterosexual men (n = 26,032), gay men (n = 452), bisexual men (n = 550), lesbian women (n = 340), bisexual women (n = 1112), and heterosexual women (n = …

What Keeps Passion Alive? Sexual Satisfaction Is Associated With Sexual Communication, Mood Setting, Sexual Variety, Oral Sex, Orgasm, And Sex Frequency In A National U.S. Study, David Frederick, Janet Lever, Brian Joseph Gillespie, Justin R. Garcia

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Passion and sexual satisfaction typically diminish in longer-term relationships, but this decline is not inevitable. We identified the attitudes and behaviors that most strongly differentiated sexually satisfied from dissatisfied men and women who had been together for at least three years (N = 38,747). Data were collected in 2006 from cohabiting and married men and women via an online survey on a major national U.S. news website. The vast majority of these participants reported being satisfied with their sex life during their first six months together (83% W; 83% M). Satisfaction with their current sex life was more variable, with …

Unequally Distributed Psychological Assets: Are There Social Disparities In Optimism, Life Satisfaction, And Positive Affect?, Julia K. Boehm, Ying Chen, David R. Williams, Carol Ryff, Laura D. Kubzansky

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Socioeconomic status is associated with health disparities, but underlying psychosocial mechanisms have not been fully identified. Dispositional optimism may be a psychosocial process linking socioeconomic status with health. We hypothesized that lower optimism would be associated with greater social disadvantage and poorer social mobility. We also investigated whether life satisfaction and positive affect showed similar patterns. Participants from the Midlife in the United States study self-reported their optimism, satisfaction, positive affect, and socioeconomic status (gender, race/ethnicity, education, occupational class and prestige, income). Social disparities in optimism were evident. Optimistic individuals tended to be white and highly educated, had an educated …

Increasing Parity Is Associated With Cumulative Effects On Memory, Laura M. Glynn

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this investigation was to determine if reproductive experience is associated with cumulative effects on human memory performance during pregnancy and if these effects persist into the postpartum period.

METHODS: Verbal recall memory performance was assessed in 254 women four times during pregnancy and at 3 months postpartum. The relation between parity and memory function was evaluated with hierarchical linear modeling and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA).

RESULTS: The data indicate that the previously documented adverse effects of pregnancy on memory performance are compounded with successive pregnancies. During gestation and postpartum, multiparity was associated with poorer memory function, …