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Emerging-adult cortisol response during family interaction predicts change in emerging-adult anxious behavior during the transition to college (Gans & Johnson, in press). In the present study, we take an additional step toward integrating family systems research and physiology by including assessment of parent physiology. We collect salivary cortisol from parents and emerging adults during triadic family interaction. Emerging adults (N = 101) between the ages of 17 and 19 years were assessed at 3 time points across their first college year: the summer before college and the Fall and Spring semesters. Two parents accompanied the emerging-adult child to the summer assessment; all family members provided 4 saliva samples each at 20-min intervals. Later assessments of emerging adults included measures of internalizing behaviors. Parents' cortisol secretion patterns during family interaction predict their emerging-adult children's cortisol secretion pattern, parent perceptions of the family environment, and emerging-adult children's internalizing behavior during the college transition. Different patterns of results emerged for mothers' and fathers' cortisol response to family interaction and for families with sons or with daughters. The approach taken by this study provides a first step toward understanding how interrelationships among elements of physiology and family functioning contribute to adjustment during major life transitions. (PsycINFO Database Record

Emerging adult (EA) cortisol response during family interaction predicts change in EA anxious behavior during the transition to college (Johnson & Gans, in press). In the present study, we take an initial step toward integrating family systems research and physiology by including assessment of EA salivary cortisol collected during a triadic (mother-father-EA offspring) family interaction task. Emerging adults (N = 101) between the ages of 17 and 19 were assessed at 3 time points across their first college year: the summer before college, Fall and Spring semesters. Two parents accompanied the emerging adult child to the summer assessment; all family members provided 4 saliva samples each at 20-min intervals. Later assessments of emerging adults included measures of internalizing behaviors. EA's cortisol secretion patterns during family interaction predict observed and self-reported family relatedness, as well as patterns of internalizing behavior during the college transition. Observed family functioning appeared to moderate the relationship between EA cortisol response during family interaction and anxious behavior when adapting to college. Different patterns of results emerged, however, for EA men and women. The approach taken by this study provides a first step toward understanding how interrelationships among elements of physiology and family functioning contribute to later adjustment. (PsycINFO Database Record

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate our institutional experience with planned cesarean hysterectomy. Study Design: In this retrospective case-control investigation of a 16-year experience, 100 pregnant women who underwent planned cesarean hysterectomy were compared with 37 patients who underwent cesarean delivery followed by a hysterectomy performed within 6 months. Results: Women undergoing planned cesarean hysterectomy did not have any demonstrable increase in intraoperative or postoperative complications when compared with the cesarean delivery plus later hysterectomy group. Primarily as a result of significantly reduced hospital stay and shorter total operative time, there was a significant financial advantage associated with a single planned cesarean hysterectomy with respect to separate operations. Conclusions: A policy to undertake planned cesarean hysterectomy for carefully selected patients appeared to produce advantages without increasing risks for these patients. Secondarily, it provided resident physicians the opportunity to learn the operation with supervision and under controlled circumstances. (Am J Obstet Gynecol 1999;180:1385-93.)

This study used observational assessments of 57 2-parent families working and playing together when their eldest child was in kindergarten and again in Grade 4 to identify distinct patterns of family functioning derived from structural family systems theory for (a) cohesive, (b) separate, and (c) triangulated families. Little consistency in family type from early to middle childhood was indicated. No significant mean differences were found in teacher reports of children's externalizing behavior in their Grade 1 classrooms for children in cohesive or triangulated families. Fourth graders in triangulated families were seen as more aggressive at school than were their peers in cohesive or separate families. Changes in observed family functioning across a 4-year period (kindergarten to Grade 4) were also systematically linked to changes in teachers' ratings of children's externalizing behavior from Grades 1 to 4.