Angus McLachlan

The longitudinal effects of midwife‐led postnatal debriefing on the psychological health of mothers

To assess the effect of midwife‐led postpartum debriefing on psychological variables, 149 women were recruited in the third trimester of their pregnancy and were randomly assigned to treatment and control conditions. Women in the treatment group received midwife‐led postpartum debriefing within 3 days postpartum, whereas women in the control group did not receive formalised debriefing. Background information and psychological variables were assessed in the prepartum, and birthing information was gathered 2 days postpartum. The psychological variables, plus a measure of birth trauma, were re‐assessed at 1 month, and again, together with a measure of parenting stress, at 3 months postpartum. Although the majority of women reported positively on their debriefing experience, statistical analyses indicated that only on the measure of dyadic satisfaction was there some suggestion that debriefing was effective. There were no significant differences between the treatment and control groups on measures of personal information, depression, anxiety, trauma, perception of the birth, or parenting stress at any assessment points, postpartum. On the other hand, the effect of medical intervention on womens perceptions of their birthing was evident, with women who experienced more medical intervention reporting more negative perceptions of their birthing than women who had experienced less medical intervention. Surprisingly, this difference was more marked among the women who had been debriefed than among the control group. Generally, the results did not support midwife‐led debriefing as an effective intervention postpartum.

Elements of sensation seeking and their relationship with two aspects of humour appreciation—perceived funniness and overt expression

The relationship between sensation seeking and the variables of perceived funniness of humour and overt expression of humour was investigated. The Arnett Inventory of Sensation Seeking [AISS; Arnett, Personality and Individual differences 16 (1994) 289] and two experimental variants of the Situational Humour Response Questionnaire (Martin & Lefcourt, 1984) were administered to 186 students aged between 18 and 47 years. Results revealed that, compared to low sensation seekers, high sensation seekers reported perceiving a variety of situations as being more funny and displaying more overt expression of humour in those situations. Additionally, partial correlation analyses indicated that self-assessments of overt expression of humour were significantly related to scores on the intensity sub-scale of the AISS but not with scores on the novelty sub-scale. The situation was reversed for perceived funniness, with a significant partial correlation between scores on that sub-scale and those on the novelty sub-scale but no partial correlation between intensity and perceived funniness. It was concluded that perceiving events as being funny offered sensation seekers a novel source of stimulation and that displaying overt expression of humour offered sensation seekers an additional mode of experiencing intense stimulation.

A Self-Categorization Theory Perspective on Adolescent Boys’ Sexual Bullying of Girls

This preliminary study applied Self-Categorization Theory (SCT) to the sexual bullying of high school girls by boys. Seventy-five Year 9 boys responded to vignettes portraying sexual bullying in which gender was a more or a less salient feature of the social context described. As predicted, boys were more likely to engage in sexual bullying when gender was more salient. Masculine sex role was not correlated with engagement in sexual bullying. Controlling for social desirability, pro-bullying attitude was predictive of such engagement, but only when the social context rendered gender less salient. This suggests the power of the perceived social context for determining which individual characteristics will gain expression. It is concluded that SCT is a promising avenue for advancing understanding of bullying, a field of research that has previously largely lacked a theoretical focus.

Concerns of our Students: A Cross‐institutional Study

Abstract This study investigated the concerns experienced by students from two Australian tertiary institutions. Randomly‐selected samples of 342 Ballarat College of Advanced Education students and 208 Gold Coast College of Advanced Education students reported the extent to which each of 42 factors had caused them concern since being at college. Consistent with the research findings of Sarros and Densten (1989) and others, respondents were more concerned over academic and course‐related matters than over a range of personal, interpersonal and practical factors. Levels and‐patterns of concern were found to vary between sub‐groups of the student samples. Follow‐up surveys of the academic staff in each of the two institutions suggested that academics are biased in their perceptions of student concerns. Discussion focuses upon the generalizability and practical significance of the findings.

Exploring Asynchrony as a Theoretical Framework for Understanding Giftedness: A Case of Cognitive Dissonance?

Asynchrony is a theoretical construct that views the intellectually gifted child as inherently vulnerable because of disparities arising from the mismatch between his or her chronological age and mental age. Such disparities, for example, between wanting to belong but being intellectually out of step with peers, are said to give rise to a psychological experience of discomfort or tension and to impact upon developing self-concept. Though the theory has been little subjected to empirical research, it does bear strong similarities to the well-established, but broader-based, psychological theory of cognitive dissonance. This article develops a model of asynchrony as a particular case of cognitive dissonance. As such, it may assist understanding of some children’s experiences of giftedness, though more research is needed to examine this theory.