2 results
Pre-loss personal factors and prolonged grief disorder in bereaved mothers
- Richard D. Goldstein, Carter R. Petty, Sue E. Morris, Melanie Human, Hein Odendaal, Amy Elliott, Deb Tobacco, Jyoti Angal, Lucy Brink, Hannah C. Kinney, Holly G. Prigerson, for the PASS Network
-
- Journal:
- Psychological Medicine / Volume 49 / Issue 14 / October 2019
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 09 November 2018, pp. 2370-2378
-
- Article
- Export citation
-
Background
Identifying characteristics of individuals at greatest risk for prolonged grief disorder (PGD) can improve its detection and elucidate the etiology of the disorder. The Safe Passage Study, a study of women at high risk for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), prospectively examined the psychosocial functioning of women while monitoring their healthy pregnancies. Mothers whose infants died of SIDS were followed in bereavement.
MethodsPre-loss data were collected from 12 000 pregnant mothers and analyzed for their associations with grief symptoms and PGD in 50 mothers whose infants died from SIDS, from 2 to 48 months after their infant's death, focusing on pre-loss risk factors of anxiety, depression, alcohol use, maternal age, the presence of other living children in the home, and previous child loss.
ResultsThe presence of any four risk factors significantly predicted PGD for 24 months post-loss (p < 0.003); 2–3 risk factors predicted PGD for 12 months (p = 0.02). PGD rates increased in the second post-loss year, converging in all groups to approximately 40% by 3 years. Pre-loss depressive symptoms were significantly associated with PGD. Higher alcohol intake and older maternal age were consistently positively associated with PGD. Predicted risk scores showed good discrimination between PGD and no PGD 6–24 months after loss (C-statistic = 0.83).
ConclusionsA combination of personal risk factors predicted PGD in 2 years of bereavement. There is a convergence of risk groups to high rates at 2–3 years, marked by increased PGD rates in mothers at low risk. The risk factors showed different effects on PGD.
9 - The Psychobiological Basis of Cooperative Breeding in Rodents
- Edited by Nancy G. Solomon, Miami University, Jeffrey A. French, University of Nebraska, Omaha
-
- Book:
- Cooperative Breeding in Mammals
- Published online:
- 21 October 2009
- Print publication:
- 13 March 1997, pp 231-266
-
- Chapter
- Export citation
-
Summary
Introduction
Cooperative mating systems require coordinated reproductive efforts among the members of a breeding unit. To achieve coordinated reproduction, cooperative mammalian species commonly possess mechanisms for reproductive and social suppression, limiting the number of reproductive individuals present and establishing a social hierarchy that provides structure for the breeding unit. Cooperative breeding systems are probably formed as a result of two primary factors: (1) ecological conditions that do not favor independent reproduction of subordinate members of the breeding unit, and/or (2) conditions under which the successful production of offspring by a breeding unit requires the effort of an extended family. The proximate factors resulting in philopatry, reproductive suppression, and alloparental behavior by subordinate members of the breeding unit are the topics of this chapter.
The importance of sociality and cooperative behavior to successful reproduction is particularly apparent in “monogamous” mammals, including animals as diverse as prairie voles (Carter, Getz, & Cohen-Parsons 1986; Carter & Getz 1993), Mongolian gerbils (Swanson 1985), elephant shrews (Rathbun 1979), dwarf mongoose (Rood 1980), aardwolves (Richardson 1987), and some New World primates, including marmosets and tamarins (Abbott et al. 1989; Snowdon 1990; Abbott 1993). Monogamy has been characterized by a complex of features including high levels of social behavior and pair bonds, exclusion of strangers from the family, biparental care, reproductive suppression of subordinate members of a family group, incest avoidance, and reduced sexual dimorphism (Kleiman 1977; Dewsbury 1981, 1988; Mendoza & Mason 1986).