Yakov M. Epstein

Use of the Internet as the only outlet for talking about infertility

OBJECTIVE To gather information about demographic characteristics, medical status, mode of Internet participation, and psychological well-being of participants whose only outlets (OOs) for talking about infertility are Internet medical and support forums and to compare them with persons who have additional outlets (AOs). DESIGN Prospective Internet-based survey. SETTING Website of a nonprofit international infertility organization. PATIENT(S) Five hundred eighty-nine persons submitting fully completed surveys. INTERVENTION(S) Internet-based survey with 134 items. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S) Survey of types of Internet participation, benefits of participation, self-assessed ability to cope with aspects of infertility, perceived stress, perceived support from relatives and friends, and 21-item Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), which is an instrument designed to measure depressive symptomatology. RESULT(S) Only-outlet and AO participants were comparable in their medical history and treatments. Only-outlet participants had less formal education, were less wealthy, and more likely to be homemakers. Compared with AO participants, OO participants were more depressed and got less real-world support while feeling more supported on the Internet. CONCLUSION(S) Used properly, the Internet can help people facing infertility by educating, empowering, and diminishing their feelings of depression. But the Internet can also be used inappropriately to withdraw from real-world interactions.

An Experimental Attack on Smoking (Attitude Manipulation in Restricted Environments, III)

Forty male cigarette smokers were Ss in a study which involved 24 hr of sensory deprivation (SD) and a brief antismoking message. On a measure of belief instability (errors in scaling the extremeness of statements about smoking), SD Ss showed more instability than controls; but the scores of Ss who heard the message were about equal, regardless of SD. Agreement with antismoking statements was highest in the SD-no message and message-no SD groups. While the message induced belief instability and attitude change under normal circumstances, it had the opposite effect in SD. This may have been due to the stimulus value of the message and/or to the overt nature of the manipulation attempt. In spite of this, three months later SD Ss (regardless of message) reported smoking significantly less than controls. The results relate the known cognitive effects of SD to its effects on persuasibility, further explore the cognitive uncertainty model of attitude change, and indicate the potential usefulness of SD as a tech...

Three Into Two Doesn't Go: A Follow-up on the Effects of Overcrowded Dormitory Rooms:

A follow-up study of students who, during their freshman year, were either placed two to a room or three to a room in a room designed for two persons was conducted two years later. In comparison to their performance during their sophomore and junior years, grade point averages of tripled students, but not of doubled students, were significantly depressed during their freshman year. Additionally, tripled students were less satisfied and more unhappy with their living conditions as freshmen than were doubled students. During their later college careers, all students, regardless of their freshman room assignment, were equally well adjusted to college, equally satisfied with college and performed equally well in their courses.

Penalty and interpersonal attraction as factors influencing the decision to help another person

Abstract Subjects in this experiment, who believed that they were involved in an impression-formation and decision-making task, were each confronted with a dilemma: they had to choose between (a) earning money for themselves while allowing another to be shocked, and (b) foregoing the profit in order to prevent the other from being shocked. One-half the subjects anticipated a penalty if they chose to allow the other to be shocked; the rest held no such anticipation. In addition there were three conditions of interpersonal attraction: Like, Dislike, and (a control) No manipulation. The data indicate that subjects who liked the other chose to help more often when they anticipated punishment, but less often when no punishment was anticipated. The reverse was true for subjects who disliked the other. Three interpretations of these findings are discussed.

The use of therapeutic interventions to reduce crowding-related arousal: A preliminary investigation

Studies of mass transportation crowding have universally shown that such crowding is arousing and often anxiety producing. Attempts to intervene to reduce arousal and anxiety have met with mixed results. In this study four therapeutically based interventions were used to reduce the arousal evoked by a laboratory analogue of mass transportation crowding. Subjects in the intervention conditions showed significantly fewer increases in pulse rate during crowding. Two of the intervention conditions showed significant decreases in skin conductance level when compared to subjects in an uninstructed crowded condition. An intervention which increased feelings of control over the environment resulted in a more positive view of the environment but did not decrease physiological arousal any more than interventions which did not increase perceived control.

Strategies for the Investigation of Crowding

A variety of methods for systematically investigating crowding have merged. These include studies of humans and animals in both laboratory and field settings. Each of these approaches is viewed as having unique strengths and limitations. The potential of these varying research strategies is explored and the need for appropriate caution in generalizing from the results obtained is noted. A recent attempt to study real world crowding in a natural experiment is commented on in detail.

The effects of prior gravidity on the outcomes of ovum donor and own oocyte cycles

OBJECTIVE To determine the effects of prior gravidity on hormonal parameters, medication regimen, oocyte parameters, fertilization, and clinical pregnancy rates (PRs) in donor and own oocyte cycles. DESIGN A retrospective study of 64 first-attempt ovum donor cycles and 102 first-attempt IVF and ZIFT cycles using own oocytes conducted during a 2.5-year time period. Analyses of covariance and t-tests using gravidity of oocyte source (gravida versus nulligravida) and controlling for sperm parameters were used to assess differences in hormonal, endometrial, medication, and demographic parameters and were performed separately for donor cycles and for own oocyte cycles. SETTING Private fertility center. PATIENTS In ovum donation cycles, oocyte parameters, medication administered, and hormonal parameters of 64 oocyte donors between the ages of 21 and 35, 34 of whom were never pregnant, i.e., nulligravida and 30 who had ever been pregnant, regardless of the outcome of that pregnancy, i.e., gravida, were studied. In own oocyte cycles, oocyte parameters, medication administered, and hormonal parameters of 102 women, 54 nulligravida and 48 gravida, between the ages of 23 and 44 were studied. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Medication requirements, hormonal response, seminal parameters, oocyte quality, fertilization, and clinical PRs. RESULTS For patients using their own oocytes, there were no significant differences in any of the parameters studied. In contrast, compared with their nulligravida counterparts, gravida oocyte donors had fewer poor quality oocytes, had more high quality oocytes that fertilized, had a higher proportion of their oocytes fertilize, and had a higher PR per transfer. CONCLUSION A prior history of gravidity is an important predictor of clinical pregnancy in donor oocyte cycles but not in cycles in which patients use their own oocytes. Oocyte recipients may wish to consider donor gravidity in selecting their donor.

Comment on Environmental Psychology and Social Psychology

This paper comments on Altmans description of environ mental psychology and its relation to social psychology. It sug gests that a distinction be made between environmental psychology and the field of environment and behavior. It argues that Altmans description of the distinguishing features of environmental psy chology represent the orientation of non-social psychologists in volved in the field while social psychologists in the field gen erally adhere to a more traditional orientation. In accord with Altmans position this paper suggests that social psychology and environmental psychology can mutually benefit one another and dis cusses ways in which they can do so.

Normative mediation of reactions to crowding

Previous research on short-term crowding had found that males and females react differently. In general, males respond to spatial restriction more negatively while females react more positively than their noncrowded counter-parts. Epstein and Karlin (1975) suggested that these differences are based on group processes rather than biological differences. The present study manipulated norms governing interaction levels in crowded groups of women. Results indicated that these norms influenced reactions to crowding as predicted. Women reacted most positively when interaction levels were high and most negatively when interaction levels were low.

Counseling couples in conflict about infertility: Issues and treatment

This article focuses on a set of disagreements that a couple experienced while pursuing infertility treatment. Aspects of conflict that are unique to this case and others that are common to most cases involving infertility are discussed. The thrust of the article is that conflict is an inevitable aspect of infertility, rather than the symptom of a troubled marriage. A therapist must understand the situational factors contributing to the conflict and help the couple learn to resolve it. Intervention procedures are noted that can help ameliorate infertility-related conflict.