Prospective analyses suggest that young mothers may not be capable of perceptually discriminating between different infant cry stimuli. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the perceptual and caregiving responses of adolescent mothers to different infant cry stimuli. Twenty-five primiparous adolescents and 39 nulliparous adolescents listened to segments of three different infant cry types that varied in the amount of high-pitched, hyperphonation contained in the acoustic structure. Participants rated their responses to the low- and high-risk cries on perceptual rating scales, and selected a caregiving behavior in response to these same cries. Analyses of Variance showed that both groups of participants perceived the infant cry segments as more arousing, annoying, distressing, loud, and sick-sounding as the amount of hyperphonation increased across cries. Results also showed that adolescent mothers did not perceive high-risk cries as more arousing, annoying, urgent, loud, and sick-sounding than adolescents who were not mothers. However, primiparous participants perceived hyperphonated and partially-hyperphonated cries as less annoying and less loud than nulliparous adolescents. This study did not find significant differences between primiparous adolescents' and nulliparous adolescents' caregiving experiences. Chi-square analyses indicated no significant differences between the participant groups' caregiving response choice frequencies to all three infant cry types. / Ph. D.

The first purpose of the current study was to analyze palpation and movement soreness via the visual analog scale (PVAS and MVAS, respectively) between accentuated eccentric loading (AEL) and traditional resistance training (TRAD) during a month of strength-endurance training. This was measured at the lower body (LB: gluteus maximus and vastus lateralis) and the upper body (UB: pectoralis major, anterior deltoid, and triceps brachii) every day of training (1-20 days) immediately before warming up and after finishing the training session. The MVAS was conducted at a self-selected fast speed. The second purpose was to measure perceptual responses between AEL and TRAD training using the short recovery stress scale (SRSS). The SRSS was measured every day of training, prior to the warmup. A total of 18 recreationally active participants were recruited (Males: n = 12, age 22.75 ± 4 years, BW: 89.42 ± 21.09 kg, BP 1RM: 104.67 ± 23.58 kg, relative BP 1RM: 1.19 ± 0.22, BS 1RM: 140.75 ± 39.17 kg, relative BS 1RM: 1.47 ± 0.30, Females: n = 6, age: 23.6 ± 4.5 years, BW: 64.3 ± kg, 10.8 kgs, BP 1RM: 51.7 ± 13.4 kg, relative BP 1RM: 0.80 ± 0.13, BS 1RM: 93.7 ± 18 kg, relative BS 1RM: 1.47 ± 0.30). Findings showed statistically lower LB soreness in AEL over time via MVAS (p < 0.05). PVAS showed significantly lower LB scores in AEL. The study concludes less soreness for AEL, specifically within the LB when compared to TRAD. Practitioners should not be concerned about excessive soreness when completing AEL. A statistical significant interaction of group and day for muscular stress was found for the SRSS. It appears that TRAD showed a faster decrease in muscular stress compared to the AEL over time. Additionally, physical performance capability and overall recovery increasing and overall stress decreasing reached statistical significant values as the study progressed. We conclude that AEL does not create any major differences compared to TRAD when assessed via the SRSS. Practitioners can use AEL to obtain certain training qualities without the expense of greater stress and somewhat lower recovery rates compared to TRAD.