Megan Conrad

Pregnant women often turn to the internet as a primary source of pregnancy-related information. However, there is great concern about the accuracy of health-related information on the internet, mak...

The current study investigated the role of multiple psychological factors in predicting women’s subjective birthing experiences.An online prospective survey methodology was conducted with women in ...

Snakes and spiders commonly elicit fear. However, despite the pervasiveness of these fears in adulthood, little is known about how they develop in early childhood. Informal learning environments, like zoos, allow for observation of parent–child conversations about these animals. Such naturalistic conversations may contain negative talk and may be one mechanism for the development of fears. In Study 1, we interviewed 241 preschool-aged children about snakes and spiders. In Study 2, 15 parent–child conversations were observed at a zoo. Across studies, we found that participants provided less positive (Study 2) and more negative (Study 1) information about snakes and spiders than other animals, and that children reported more fear (Study 1). Our results highlight the availability of negative information about snakes and spiders, and we discuss how we can use children’s early experiences in informal learning settings to teach them about animals without contributing to the development of early fears.

Although there is a large and growing literature on children’s developing concepts of illness transmission, little is known about how children develop contagion knowledge before formal schooling begins and how these informal learning experiences can impact children’s health behaviors. Here, we asked two important questions: first, do children’s informal learning experiences, such as their experiences reading storybooks, regularly contain causal information about illness transmission; and second, what is the impact of this type of experience on children’s developing knowledge and behavior? In Study 1, we examined whether children’s commercial books about illness regularly contain contagion-relevant causal information. In Study 2, we ran a pilot study examining whether providing children with causal information about illness transmission in a storybook can influence their knowledge and subsequent behavior when presented with a contaminated object. The results from Study 1 suggest that very few (15%) children’s books about illness feature biological causal mechanisms for illness transmission. However, results from Study 2 suggest that storybooks containing contagion-relevant explanations about illness transmission may encourage learning and avoidance of contaminated objects. Altogether, these results provide preliminary data suggesting that future research should focus on engaging children in learning about contagion and encouraging adaptive health behaviors.

Objective: In the current study, we explored the relationship between a woman’s personality, epidural use and perceptions of the labour and birth experience. Background: Having a positive birthing experience is relevant to predicting a range of important outcomes including mother–infant bonding, fertility rates and delivery interventions. However, limited research has addressed the kinds of individual differences that may affect a woman’s subjective birthing experience. Methods: One hundred and twenty-five women were surveyed about subjective aspects of the labour and birthing experience of their first-born child, including use of epidural, perceived pain, anxiety, self-capacity and positive experiences. The women also completed the Big Five personality inventory, which measures five dimensions of stable personality characteristics. Results: Results show that four of the Big Five personality traits were found to correlate to the four different aspects of the labour and birth experience, and that these relationships were largely moderated by a woman’s decision to have an epidural. Conclusion: These findings add to the limited body of research on the relationships between personality and the labour experience. They also highlight the importance of considering pain management decisions in understanding this relationship. Future research in this area may provide a new way for doctors, midwives and doulas to tailor support and intervention for women during the birthing process based on individual differences to help more women have positive birthing experiences.