Changing times and continuing issues

This edition of the journal marks a change of editors. Over a five year period and more Olga van den Akker has seen the Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology develop, using her energy and enthusiasm to consolidate its position as a valued publication in which to present new findings. Her place has been taken by Colin Martin and we will jointly work to take the journal forward.

The selection of papers in the current edition of the journal is both diverse and challenging, a pleasing reflection of the unique area of academic and clinical endeavour we call reproductive psychology. Karen Goodall and colleagues' paper on mother's perceptions of the influence of health care professionals on their choice of second child delivery mode following a previous Caesarean section is timely and topical given the increasing rates of Caesarean section in the UK. Their paper illuminates the salient issues of abdication of control over the mode of second delivery when faced with a perceived lack of knowledge to make their own choice over delivery mode. Changing Childbirth (DH, 1993), which was published more than fifteen years ago and The National Service Framework for children, Young People and Maternity Services ( DH, 2004) and Maternity Matters (DH, 2007) published more recently, all emphasise the need for more flexible and individualised woman‐centred care. This paper raises important concerns about women's perceived self‐efficacy and the role of health professionals in relation to their birth choices.

Surgical procedures to reduce the size of the labia minora are becoming increasingly popular, though the psychological dimension to this concerning development, in what may be generally perceived as cosmetic surgery, remains poorly understood. Good psychology in this area requires the use of reliable measures with good face validity and Ros Bramwell and Claire Morland's paper seeks to address this fundamental issue with the report of the development of a genital appearance satisfaction scale. Importantly, self‐esteem was found to be a significant predictor of genital satisfaction and raises fundamental concerns as to how a surgical procedure may appropriately address an issue intrinsically related to this important psychological domain.

The evergreen Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) continues to be a screening tool of choice for the detection of possible cases of postnatal depression. Consistent with the utility of this short self‐report measure, translation and validation of the instrument into languages other than English continue to contribute to the evidence base regarding the psychometric properties of this scale. Leonardou and colleagues report the validation of the EPDS in a sample of Greek mothers. Validation and translation of instruments such as the EPDS are extremely useful in highlighting the fact that subtle, but possibly clinically relevant nuances exist in the way different populations respond to these questionnaire measures. This interesting paper reveals just that, good validity of the tool but also subtle differences representative of the cultural group of interest, with for example different cut‐off scores for this version of the instrument.

Miscarriage continues to be a distressing and unfortunate experience for many women hoping for a healthy baby, some of whom blame themselves (Callander et al, 2007). Compelling evidence exists to show that women who experience a miscarriage may have comparably poorer mental health, however, Ingrid Rowlands and Christina Lee's paper looking at the phenomenon of miscarriage in an Australian population reveals a more complex and psychologically‐rich pattern of correlations suggesting factors other than the miscarriage itself, may have a causal role to play in the mental health problems often seen in this group.

Depression during pregnancy represents a significant mental health problem for the woman concerned and for those charged with the identification and treatment of this presentation (Steadman et al, 2007). Surprisingly, little is known about the role of positive beliefs about rumination in depressed pregnant women. The novel and timely study conducted by Ali Isa Alfaraj and colleagues goes some way to addressing this vacuum in the literature and additionally, offers a useful insight into the possibility of new interventions targeting the positive beliefs about rumination which the researchers revealed to be associated with depression. The findings of this study will be of great interest to those readers interested in depressive disorder during pregnancy and the role of complex cognitive architecture in contributing to the presentation.

Much work has been conducted into the area of coping styles within the broad arena of health psychology. However, the role of coping styles in mediating the speculated relationship between unwanted pregnancy and child abuse risk has received relatively little attention. Christina Rodriguez' study on the mediating role of coping style between pregnancy desirability and child abuse potential presents compelling evidence for the important role of coping styles as a critical psychological dimension in this context. The implications of this study provide extremely useful reading for those health professionals seeking to engage with expectant mothers with unwanted pregnancies.

Attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a relatively new diagnosis that has received much research attention across many domains of social function and engagement, including issues as diverse as developmental aspects to forensic risk factors. Sarah Watkins and Eric Mash have conducted an illuminating study highlighting the role of sub‐clinical levels of ADHD in mothers of young infants and the influence of this on parental cognitions and behaviours. The findings of this study reveal that mothers who experience even sub‐clinical levels of ADHD may experience parenting cognitions and behaviours that may ultimately be detrimental to their infant's development. This study has elegantly identified an important area for future research that may have important implications for the psychological health of both mother and infant.

Finally, June Cho and colleagues' study of the mother‐infant interactions of a number of types of at‐risk and vulnerable infants focused explicitly on the possible role of gender effects on this vital relationships. Gender was observed to have little impact on the interaction between mother and infant in these vulnerable groups, though important differences in mother‐infant interaction were observed between mothers based on socio‐demographic variables.

The papers in this edition of the journal clearly reflect the diversity and range of submissions and the international engagement with research in reproductive psychology. In this particular edition authors from six countries have contributed and a continuum is represented that goes from satisfaction with genital appearance, the experience of miscarriage, through wellbeing and attitudes in pregnancy, to birth, postnatal wellbeing and early parent‐infant interaction. The diversity of submissions from a range of professional groups is to be celebrated as is the use of different methodologies employed in trying to understand attitudes, behaviour, relationships and causal mechanisms in this area of psychology and reproductive health.