Sexual Intimacy in First-time Mothers: Associations with Sexual and Relationship Satisfaction Across Three Waves.

New mothers often experience significant declines in their sexual and relationship satisfaction compared to pre-pregnancy, yet there has been limited research examining protective factors. Intimacy-defined as the degree of disclosure and perceived partner responsiveness in a relationship-has been identified as contributing to the positive adjustment of individuals coping with novel life stressors, as well as to general sexual and relationship satisfaction. However, it is unknown whether sexual disclosure and/or partner responsiveness are reciprocally related to sexual and relationship satisfaction. This study examined the longitudinal associations between sexual intimacy-that is, intimacy in the context of sex-and sexual and relationship satisfaction in first-time mothers. First-time mothers (N = 171) completed online measures assessing disclosure and perceived partner responsiveness specific to their sexual relationship, sexual satisfaction, and relationship satisfaction at 3, 6, and 12 months postpartum. Analyses were conducted with path analysis using a longitudinal panel mediation model. Greater perceived partner responsiveness in relation to sex at a prior wave predicted increases in both sexual and relationship satisfaction at the subsequent wave. Sexual disclosure did not contribute to sexual or relationship satisfaction over time; the results did not support a reciprocal model of sexual disclosure and perceived partner responsiveness, nor indirect effects of these variables on outcomes. Perceived partner responsiveness in relation to sex is positively related, and temporally precedes sexual and relationship satisfaction in first-time mothers.

Pivotal response treatment for preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder: Defining a predictor profile.

Behavioral characteristics of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who respond positively to Pivotal Response Treatment (PRT) have been described previously, based on single-subject design research. The present study examined several such characteristics, as well as positive affect, as predictors of expressive language (EL) gains in a representative sample of preschoolers with ASD (n = 57) enrolled in a PRT-based community early intervention program. Children's cognitive ability, positive affect, and levels of appropriate toy contact measured at the start of intervention each contributed significantly to the prediction of EL outcomes. Together these variables accounted for 40% of the total outcome variance. In addition, a profile of increased EL ability, positive affect and appropriate toy contact, and decreased social avoidance and stereotyped and repetitive vocalizations was associated with greater gains during intervention. Results are discussed in relation to their implications for understanding both the variable treatment response documented in children with ASD and how to tailor treatment to optimize individual benefit. Autism Res 2018, 11: 153-165. © 2017 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. LAY SUMMARY: The study examined behavior of 57 preschoolers who made the greatest and least gains from 1 year of a community Pivotal Response Treatment program. Using pre-treatment videos, we saw that children who made the most progress showed more language, positive affect, and appropriate interactions with toys, also less avoidance of people and fewer repetitive vocalizations. Behavior profiles can be used to match treatment to individual children's needs.

Sensory-motor deficits in children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder assessed using a robotic virtual reality platform.

BACKGROUND: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) is associated with a large number of cognitive and sensory-motor deficits. In particular, the accurate assessment of sensory-motor deficits in children with FASD is not always simple and relies on clinical assessment tools that may be coarse and subjective. Here we present a new approach: using robotic technology to accurately and objectively assess motor deficits of children with FASD in a center-out reaching task. METHODS: A total of 152 typically developing children and 31 children with FASD, all aged between 5 and 18 were assessed using a robotic exoskeleton device coupled with a virtual reality projection system. Children made reaching movements to 8 peripheral targets in a random order. Reach trajectories were subsequently analyzed to extract 12 parameters that had been previously determined to be good descriptors of a reaching movement, and these parameters were compared for each child with FASD to a normative model derived from the performance of the typically developing population. RESULTS: Compared with typically developing children, the children with FASD were found to be significantly impaired on most of the parameters measured, with the greatest deficits found in initial movement direction error. Also, children with FASD tended to fail more parameters than typically developing children: 95% of typically developing children failed fewer than 3 parameters compared with 69% of children with FASD. These results were particularly pronounced for younger children. CONCLUSIONS: The current study has shown that robotic technology is a sensitive and powerful tool that provides increased specificity regarding the type of motor problems exhibited by children with FASD. The high frequency of motor deficits in children with FASD suggests that interventions aimed at stimulating and/or improving motor development should routinely be considered for this population.