Emergency and elective caesarean sections: comparison of maternal and fetal outcomes in a suburban tertiary care hospital in Puducherry

Background: The aim of the current study was to compare the maternal and fetal outcomes of emergency and elective caesarean deliveries.Methods: A prospective case comparative study was conducted at the Government Maternity Hospital, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Puducherry, from August 2005 to July 2006.Results: A total of 301 caesarean deliveries occurred during the study period. The percentages of the primi-gravida as well as the nulli-parous women were significantly higher among emergency caesarean section than that in elective caesarean section (χ2=12.52, P<0.0001). The percentages of previous caesarean sections was significantly higher among those who had elective caesarean than those had emergency caesarean section in the present delivery (χ2=14.73, P=0.0001). Among emergency caesarean section 25.8% had abdominal distension, whereas it was present only in 8.7% of the elective cases. Of the 16 new born with postnatal complications in the emergency group, 14 died, one had convulsion and the remaining one was a stillbirth. In the elective group there were 4 deaths.Conclusions: It was inferred that both elective and emergency caesarean imposes certain complications to the mother and the fetes.  However, maternal and fetal complications were felt very high in emergency caesarean than elective. Proper planning can help obstetric practitioners to avoid complications

Personal Relative Deprivation and Locus of Control

We investigated the relationship between personal relative deprivation (PRD)—resentment from the belief that one is worse off than people who are similar to oneself—and locus of control. Research has yet to comprehensively investigate whether PRD is associated with a tendency to favor external (vs.internal) explanations for self- and other-relevant outcomes. Eight studies (Ntotal = 6729) employed cross-sectional, experimental, and (micro)longitudinal designs and used established trait and state measures of PRD and loci of control. Participants higher in PRD adopted more external (vs. internal) explanations for others' outcomes while controlling for socio- demographics (e.g., socioeconomic status; Studies 1–4). This relationship was mediated by a lowered sense of personal control (Study 1) and evident in a cross-national sample of participants in Asia (Study 2). PRD is more robustly associated with external than internal explanations for self and other-relevant outcomes (Studies 5–8), and within-person changes in PRD are positively associated with within-person changes in external explanations (month-to-month and day-to-day; Studies 7–8). Findings indicate that PRD is positively associated with external locus of control independent of socioeconomic status, within and between people, and across cultures. This research highlights the implications of PRD for people's construal of the causal forces that govern their lives

The misasandry myth: An inaccurate stereotype about feminists' attitudes toward men

In six studies, we examined the accuracy and underpinnings of the damaging stereotype that feminists harbor negative attitudes toward men. In Study 1 (n = 1,664), feminist and nonfeminist women displayed similarly positive attitudes toward men. Study 2 (n = 3,892) replicated these results in non-WEIRD countries and among male participants. Study 3 (n = 198) extended them to implicit attitudes. Investigating the mechanisms underlying feminists’ actual and perceived attitudes, Studies 4 (n = 2,092) and 5 (nationally representative UK sample, n = 1,953) showed that feminists (vs. nonfeminists) perceived men as more threatening, but also more similar, to women. Participants also underestimated feminists’ warmth toward men, an error associated with hostile sexism and a misperception that feminists see men and women as dissimilar. Random-effects meta-analyses of all data (Study 6, n = 9,799) showed that feminists’ attitudes toward men were positive in absolute terms and did not differ significantly from nonfeminists'. An important comparative benchmark was established in Study 6, which showed that feminist women's attitudes toward men were no more negative than men's attitudes toward men. We term the focal stereotype the misandry myth in light of the evidence that it is false and widespread, and discuss its implications for the movement

COVID-19 cases correlate with greater acceptance coping in flexible cultures: A cross-cultural study in 26 countries

The current study examines whether the prevalence of COVID-19 cases and cultural flexibility correlate to one's use of acceptance coping across 26 cultures. We analyzed data from 7476 participants worldwide at the start of the first outbreak from March 2020 to June 2020. Results showed that cultural flexibility moderated the relationship between COVID-19 cases and individuals' acceptance coping strategies. Specifically, for cultures with high flexibility, COVID-19 cases correlated with more acceptance coping; for cultures with low flexibility, COVID-19 cases correlated with less acceptance coping. This result demonstrates how participants from flexible cultures can coexist with the realistic challenges and suffering faced during this pandemic

Cross-cultural study on decision making of German and Indian university students

The dissertation consists of an introduction and three empirical articles. The introduction gives the theoretical background, integrates the three articles, and elaborates on future research questions. The first article investigates the important decision in the lives of German and Indian university students to identify the important areas of decision making. The second article examines the structure of real life decision making and reveals the underlying factors of five major decision areas. The third article investigates the similarities and differences on decision making between German and Indian students using prior qualitative findings in a large quantitative survey

Son preference in India: shedding light on the north-south gradient

"Son preference is widespread in India and deep-rooted in its history. It is a matter of concern because it produces an imbalanced juvenile sex ratio. There are far fewer girls than boys. The figures vary greatly among the Indian states suggesting a major north-south gradient in son preference accompanied by a minor westeast gradient. The aim of this paper is to explain the regional pattern. We provide an application of the value of children-approach according to which the decision to have children is made on the calculus of benefits and costs related to children. In the light of the socioeconomic and sociocultural background in India, we propose that (potential) parents' expectations of benefits and costs are biased in favour of sons. This is suggested, therefore, as the key motivation for the preference for male offspring. However, region-specifics in the level of affluence, the educational level, the mode of production, the meaning and importance of religion, and the kinship regime are assumed to produce stronger son preference in north India compared to south India. This mediation-model is tested using the Indian sub-sample of the international Value of Children-study. Data were collected in Uttar Pradesh (northcentral India) and Puducherry (south-east India). Mothers aged 16 to 65 were interviewed in 2002 and 2010. Based on 1,173 respondents, a structural equation model was carried out to test the hypothesised composition effects related to the region and the mediating position of sex-specific benefits and costs. Initial findings confirm that the national son preference pattern is more likely to be found among north Indian mothers than south Indian mothers. As assumed, the sex-specific balance of benefits and costs contributes to the explanation of son preference. However, there is little evidence that the benefits and costs mediate between the region-specific socioeconomic and sociocultural profiles and son preference. Son preference is most pronounced among mothers of the north-urban sample after controlling for region-specific distributions of socioeconomic and sociocultural background variables. Variations in son preference across the regional sub-samples are partly explained by the respective background variables and the benefit and cost-structure. But independent regional effects continue to be significant and thus, a considerable part of the north-south gradient remains unclear." (author's abstract

Emergency and elective caesarean sections: comparison of maternal and fetal outcomes in a suburban tertiary care hospital in Puducherry

Background: The aim of the current study was to compare the maternal and fetal outcomes of emergency and elective caesarean deliveries.Methods: A prospective case comparative study was conducted at the Government Maternity Hospital, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Puducherry, from August 2005 to July 2006.Results: A total of 301 caesarean deliveries occurred during the study period. The percentages of the primi-gravida as well as the nulli-parous women were significantly higher among emergency caesarean section than that in elective caesarean section (χ2=12.52, P&lt;0.0001). The percentages of previous caesarean sections was significantly higher among those who had elective caesarean than those had emergency caesarean section in the present delivery (χ2=14.73, P=0.0001). Among emergency caesarean section 25.8% had abdominal distension, whereas it was present only in 8.7% of the elective cases. Of the 16 new born with postnatal complications in the emergency group, 14 died, one had convulsion and the remaining one was a stillbirth. In the elective group there were 4 deaths.Conclusions: It was inferred that both elective and emergency caesarean imposes certain complications to the mother and the fetes.  However, maternal and fetal complications were felt very high in emergency caesarean than elective. Proper planning can help obstetric practitioners to avoid complications

Differences in How Trait Emotional Intelligence Predicts Life Satisfaction: The Role of Affect Balance Versus Social Support in India and Germany

Şimşek, Ömer Faruk (Arel Author)In this study, we assessed cross-cultural differences in the extent to which general emotional intelligence is linked to life satisfaction and analyzed mediators of this relationship. We used data from an individualistic culture (Germany) and a collectivistic culture (India) and had university students respond to self-report measures of life satisfaction, positive and negative affect, emotional intelligence, perceived social support, and independent and interdependent self-construals. In line with our hypotheses, we found that Indian students reported less subjective well-being and emotional intelligence than German students. Emotional intelligence was associated with life satisfaction to a higher degree in Germany than in India. In Germany, independent but not interdependent self-construal was related to emotional intelligence; in India, both independent and interdependent self-construals were significantly associated with emotional intelligence. Results of structural equation modeling provided support for our hypotheses regarding mediational models in that the effect of emotional intelligence on life satisfaction was fully mediated by affect balance in Germany and by perceived social support in India

Cultural and psychological variables predicting academic dishonesty: a cross-sectional study in nine countries

Academic dishonesty has serious consequences for human lives, social values, and economy. The main aim of the study was to explore a model of relations between personal and cultural variables and academic dishonesty. The participants in the study were N = 2,586 individuals from nine countries (Pakistan, Israel, Italy, India, the USA, Peru, Romania, Ghana, and Poland). The authors administered the Academic Dishonesty Scale to measure academic dishonesty, the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale to measure distress, the Almost Perfect Scale – Revised to measure perfectionism, the Brief Self-Control Scale to measure self-control, and the Singelis Scale to measure independent self-construal. The results showed that the theoretical model was well fitted to the dataset in six countries: Pakistan, the United States, Romania, Ghana, Israel, and Poland. However, it was not well fitted in Italy, India, and Peru. Our results also showed that perfectionism significantly predicted academic dishonesty, but not in all countries. Self-control significantly predicted cheating, falsification, and plagiarism in the USA. Moreover, we found that distress was related to cheating o0nly in Ghana. Finally, independent self-construal predicted academic dishonesty. Our findings provide a cross-cultural contribution to the debate on academic dishonesty by highlighting its significant predictors and may inform interventions aimed at eliminating it. Our results can be used in preventing and curbing academic dishonesty. Knowledge on cross-cultural differences can be useful in international education for example, as an indicator accepting or relaxing attitude toward academic dishonesty in students from different countries