Induced abortion and intimate relationship quality in the Chicago Health and Social Life Survey.

OBJECTIVES: To examine associations between abortion and relationship functioning. STUDY DESIGN: Independent variables included abortion in a previous relationship and abortion in a current relationship. Perceptions of quality-of-life changes associated with terminating the relationship, conflict, aggressiveness and sexual dysfunction were the outcome measures. METHODS: Data were derived from interviews with an ethnically diverse urban sample of men (n=658) and women (n=906). Surveys were conducted in person using computer-assisted personal interview technology by the National Opinion Research Center affiliated with the University of Chicago, USA. RESULTS: For men and women, the experience of an abortion in a previous relationship was related to negative outcomes in the current relationship; perceptions of improved quality of life if the current relationship also ended and intimate partner violence. Experience of an abortion within a current relationship was associated with 116% and 196% increased risk of arguing about children for women and men, respectively. Among females, experience of an abortion within a current relationship was associated with increased risk for various forms of sexual dysfunction (122-182%), increased risk of arguments about money (75%), increased risk of conflict about the partner's relatives (80%), and increased risk of arguing about the respondent's relatives (99%). Men whose current partners had experienced an abortion were more likely to report jealousy (96% greater risk) and conflict about drugs (385% greater risk). CONCLUSION: Abortion may play a vital role in understanding the aetiology of relationship problems.

Women's preferences for information and complication seriousness ratings related to elective medical procedures.

OBJECTIVE: To study the preferences of patients for information related to elective procedures. METHODS: A survey was carried out using a sample of 187 women. The majority of whom were on a low-income, who obtained obstetric or gynaecological services at St Joseph Regional Medical Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, while they were in a waiting room. RESULTS: Many of the complications, including those that are uncommon and less serious, were considered to be relevant to the medical decisions of most patients. Average seriousness ratings associated with complications of various elective procedures were in the range of moderate to high. A frequency of complications of 1:100 or higher would factor into most women's elective treatment decisions. Women indicated a preference for receiving as much or more information pertaining to complications associated with particular elective obstetric or gynaecological procedures as other elective procedures. CONCLUSION: Most women wish to be informed of risks and treatment alternatives, rate many complications as serious, and are likely to use information provided to make elective treatment decisions.

Deception, power, and self-differentiation in college students' romantic relationships: an exploratory study.

The relationships among deception, power, and self-differentiation in college students' romantic relationships were explored. As hypothesized, lower total deception scores were found to significantly predict higher self-differentiation scores. Both men and women reported that men held significantly more power in their relationships. A secondary analysis revealed that men were significantly more likely than women to indicate they would be inclined to use deceptive strategies. Counter to the hypotheses, a significant negative correlation was not detected between power scores and omission scores, and positive relationships between power scores and contradiction scores were not found.

Abortion attitudes as determinants of perceptions regarding male involvement in abortion decisions.

Abortion decisions have a potentially meaningful effect on the lives of men. Previous research suggests that both men and women generally believe that men have the right to be involved in such decisions. However, very little research attention has been devoted to identifying individual difference correlates of discrepant levels of endorsement for male involvement in abortion decisions. The extent to which abortion attitudes (on a pro-choice to pro-life continuum), conceptualization of abortion as strictly a female issue, and interest in the issue operate as effective predictors of the appropriate level of male involvement in abortion decisions was examined in a sample of 1,387 college students. Results of a multiple regression analysis revealed that 44% of the variance in male involvement scores was explained by the predictor variables.

PIP: A survey was conducted among 1387 psychology students (429 men and 908 women) to explore correlates of perceptions of male involvement in abortion decisions by focusing on abortion attitudes on a pro-choice to pro-life continuum and on interest in the issue. Data collected through an Abortion Attitudes Survey, Interest in Abortion Survey, Abortion as a Female Issue Assessment, and Male Involvement in Abortion Decisions Scale. Results showed that more than half of the respondents held pro-life attitudes. The data further suggested that 14.3% of the students possessed relatively radical pro-choice attitudes, whereas 17.4% of the students expressed relatively radical pro-life attitudes. Furthermore, college students in the sample rated abortion as the most acceptable alternative in cases of rape and physical or mental deformity of the fetus. Abortion attitudes and opinions regarding the extent to which abortion should be conceptualized as strictly female issue were found to operate as effective predictors of perceptions regarding the appropriate level of male involvement in abortion decisions. Furthermore, the tendency to view abortion as an entirely female issue was inversely related to the level of male involvement deemed appropriate in abortion decisions.

Attitudes toward the level of men's involvement in abortion decisions.

College students completed a questionnaire that assessed their attitudes toward the level of male responsibility in abortion decisions. Overall, both men and women thought that men should have some degree of involvement in the abortion decision. However, as expected by the first hypothesis, men indicated a desire for more responsibility in the abortion decision than women thought the men should have. A second hypothesis predicted women would feel more strongly than men that abortion was strictly a woman's issue. Contrary to the hypothesis, women tended to disagree that abortion was strictly a women's issue. Implications of the findings are discussed.

Pigmented villonodular synovitis: correlation of angiographic and histologic findings.

Pigmented villonodular synovitis has a variable histologic appearance, Jaffe and others propose this reflects maturation of the process with the early cellular hypervascular phase giving way to subsequent hyalinization and fibrosis. A case of avascular pigmented villonodular synovitis in the foot was encountered and surgically verified. Eight cases of the disease were then reviewed and graded subjectively for their cellularity, vascularity, and fibrosis. The avascular case was the most hyalinized and "mature" of the group. Two other cases with the typical findings of a hypervascular arteriogram were histologically less hyalinized. These findings suggest a possible role for arteriography in determining the natural history of the disease and support Jaffe's view of its evolution.