Gender Traits and Self-Concept as Indicators of Problem Eating and Body Dissatisfaction Among Children

The present study was designed to examine the role of gender traits, body mass index (BMI), and self-concept in predicting levels of problem eating and body dissatisfaction among both girls and boys aged between 8 and 10 (85% were Anglo-Australian Caucasian, 15% were Caucasians from non-English backgrounds). Two hundred and two children completed questionnaires, which examined problem-eating attitudes and behaviors, body dissatisfaction, gender traits, and self-concept. Children's height and weight were measured to determine children's BMI. Gender traits predicted problem eating for boys but not for girls. Self-concept was found to predict problem eating for both boys and girls. BMI was also a predictor of problems for girls. The only predictor of body dissatisfaction for boys and girls was BMI. The findings are discussed in light of previous research, which has been conducted, on adolescents. Further studies are needed to understand more fully the development of problem eating and body dissatisfaction before the onset of puberty and adolescence.     

Gender Role Self-Concept and Gender-Typed Communication Behavior in Mixed-Sex and Same-Sex Dyads

The focus of this study was the relation between both gender role self-concept and gender role attitudes with gender-related behavior of interacting partners. We observed gender-typed communication behaviors of mixed-sex and same-sex dyads and measured gender role self-concept and gender role attitudes. Thirty mixed-sex dyads, 19 women dyads, and 15 men dyads participated in a behavior observation study. The results revealed that the activation of gender role self-concept varies depending on the gender of the interacting people. Furthermore, we found that context and gender of the interacting persons moderated the relation between self-concept and behavior. Participants' gender role attitudes did not correlate with their own behaviors but did with their partners' behaviors.     

Associations between Physical Self-Concept and Anticipated Guilt and Shame: The Moderating Role of Gender

Body-related emotions have been identified as important predictors of mental and physical health. Evaluations of the physical self are inextricably linked with body-related emotions. However, little research has addressed how physical self-concept is associated with anticipated emotions and how associations may differ between men and women. The current study examined associations between physical self-concept and anticipated guilt and shame and examined gender as a moderator of these associations. The sample consisted of 353 Canadian undergraduate students (55% female; M_age?=?21.94. range?=?18–64). Participants read a hypothetical scenario commonly associated with guilt and shame experiences and were asked to anticipate their emotional experience when imagining themselves in the scenario. Participants also indicated their gender and completed a measure of physical self-concept. Gender moderated the relationship between physical self-concept and anticipated shame but not guilt. Specifically, there was a negative association between physical self-concept and anticipated shame for women but not for men. Findings are consistent with the notion that gender role socialization shapes the emotional experiences, specifically feelings of shame, of men and women differently. The results demonstrate that even imagining a situation that runs counter to societal ideals for women’s bodies as thin and toned coincides with the anticipation of shame among adult women with more negative physical self-concept.

     

Manipulating Self-Complexity with Communication Role Assignment: Evidence for the Flexibility of Self-Concept Structure

This article reports an experimental technique for manipulating self-complexity, a characteristic of self-concept organization related to affective reactivity. The assignment of different communication roles is examined as a possible manipulation of self-complexity. In Experiment 1, participants who expected to transmit information about themselves (transmit group) had lower self-complexity than participants who expected to receive information about themselves (receive group). In Experiment 2, an additional communication role condition was included as a control group. Following the self-complexity manipulation and assessment, we observed affective reactions to feedback on academic ability. The mean self-complexity of the receive and control groups did not differ, and both exceeded the mean of the transmit group. Affective reactivity did not differ among the groups and was not significantly correlated with self-complexity. The implications of the self-complexity manipulation are discussed in terms of the flexibility and functionality of self-concept structure.     

Gender Traits and Cognitive Appraisal in Young Adults: The Mediating Role of Locus of Control

The present study examined the relationships between masculine and feminine traits, measured using the Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI), and the way young adults appraise events (i.e., as threats or as challenges). We hypothesized that the locus of control (LOC)—i.e., individuals’ perceived control over the events that affect them—mediated these relationships. We tested these assumptions on two student samples from the French-speaking part of Switzerland (N?=?123 and N?=?504). Regression analyses demonstrated that, as expected, agentic masculine traits were positively related to challenge appraisals, and negatively to threat appraisals. LOC mediated these relationships, but most strongly among female participants. A different pattern was found for femininity. Feminine traits were positively related to increased challenge appraisals, but only in female participants of Sample 2. They were also related, in some cases, to increased threat appraisals. Furthermore, in line with previous research, LOC did not mediate the relationship between feminine traits and cognitive appraisal. Overall, the present results confirm that masculine and feminine stereotypical traits differ in their consequences for the way young adults appraise events in their everyday life.     

Gender Role Flexibility in Early Adolescence: Developmental Change in Attitudes, Self-perceptions, and Behaviors

Gender role flexibility has been conceptualized as a multi-dimensional construct that consists of attitudes, self-perceptions, and behaviors. The present study was designed to examine the developmental trajectory of gender role attitude flexibility, self-perception flexibility, and gender-typed behavioral flexibility during early adolescence. One hundred and thirty six male and female sixth grade students completed the Children’s Occupations, Activities, and Traits Scale (Liben & Bigler, 2002) during the fall and spring of their first 2 years of middle school and they kept monthly after-school activity diaries, which were coded for gender stereotypicality. Each component of flexibility exhibited a different pattern of developmental change consistent with the multi-dimensional view of gender role flexibility.     

Gender and Identity: The Intersection of Structure,Content, and Context

The purpose of the present study was twofold: (1) to review empirical studies published between 1966-1995 utilizing J. E. Marcia's [(1966) “Development and Validation of Ego Identity Status,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 3, pp. 551–558] identity status paradigm for the purpose of observing any patterns of gender difference on issues related to identity structure, content, and context; (2) to present results of a single empirical study that examined the question of possible gender differences in how relationships are used in the identity formation process. Results of the review indicated few gender differences in identity structure, content, developmental process, and context; only the domains of sexuality and family roles may hold greater salience for women than men. Results from the single empirical investigation found identity status, rather than gender, to be associated with how relationships were used in the identity formation process. A discussion of possible future research directions on gender and identity status is presented.     

Parental Monitoring and Adolescent Risk Behaviors: The Moderating Role of Adolescent Internalizing Symptoms and Gender

Parental monitoring can reduce adolescents’ engagement in risky behaviors; however, adolescents’ internalizing symptoms may alter the effectiveness of parental monitoring. The current study examines independent and interactive effects of maternal and paternal monitoring, adolescent’s internalizing symptoms, and adolescent gender on sexual behaviors and substance use with data from 659 of the 15-year-olds enrolled in the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. Results suggest girls who experienced less maternal monitoring and more internalizing symptoms—both independently and interactively—engaged in more risky sexual behaviors. Greater substance use was associated with less maternal and paternal monitoring for girls and boys, more internalizing symptoms for girls, and interactively with less maternal and paternal monitoring depending on girls’ levels of internalizing symptoms. The current study highlights the unique influences of mothers’ and fathers’ monitoring efforts on adolescent risky behavior based on the adolescent’s level of internalizing symptoms.     

家庭环境影响青少年人格特质的性别差异

对855名青少年学生用家庭环境量表和中国人人格量表进行测试,结果表明：青少年的家庭环境对其人格特质的影响,存在显著的性剐差异;家庭亲密度和组织性是影响男孩人格特质的重要家庭环境因素,而家庭道德宗教观是影响女孩人格特质的重要家庭环境因素。新的家庭教育模式应充分考虑到家庭环境影响孩子人格特质的性别差异。     

Sorority and Fraternity Membership and Religious Behaviors: Relation to Gender Attitudes

This study was designed to explore gender attitudes and religious behaviors among sorority/fraternity (S/F) and non-S/F undergraduates. Two hundred and seventy-nine participants completed the Gender Attitude Inventory (GAI, a multidimensional gender attitudes instrument), items that assessed religious behaviors (i.e., attendance in a place of worship and frequency of prayer), and a measure of social desirability. Overall, it was found that fraternity members, compared to sorority and non-S/F members, held more stereotypical gender attitudes. Specifically, the results suggest that fraternity members tend to accept stereotypical beliefs about women and male heterosexual violence toward women; endorse casual sex by women; reject women's political leadership; oppose women's rights; and believe in differential work roles. Attendance in a place of worship and prayer were related to greater disapproval of casual sex by women. Non-S/F members who prayed at least weekly reported slightly higher condemnation of homosexuality than S/F members did.     

Race and Gender Differences in Self-efficacy: Assessing the Role of Gender Role Attitudes and Family Background

Research suggests race is associated with unique family structures and gender attitudes. Yet, extant research fails to examine how different gender role attitudes and family structures related to race impact other aspects of life. Self-efficacy refers to one’s belief in his or her abilities to achieve certain outcomes (Bandura, Self-efficacy: The exercise of control, Freeman, New York, p. 3, 1997). Using a sample of 486 traditional undergraduate college students from an American university in the middle south, we examine gender and race differences in self-efficacy and the impact of sex role attitudes and family structure on self-efficacy. We argue that gender differences in gender role attitudes and their impact on self-efficacy is moderated by race. For all but white males, sex role liberalism is positively related to self-efficacy. Mother’s full time employment is positively related to self-efficacy for whites. Implications for theory and future research are discussed.     

Effects of Exposure to Sexual Content in the Media on Adolescent Sexual Behaviors: The Moderating Role of Multitasking with Media

Young audiences frequently combine media use (e.g., television viewing) with other activities (e.g., homework); this is referred to as multitasking. This research uses longitudinal data to examine the moderating role of multitasking by examining the effects of exposure to sexual content in the media on adolescents' sexual behavior. Consistent with the predictions based on the limited capacity approach, there was a significant multitasking by exposure interaction suggesting that multitasking reduces the impact of media. More specifically, the effect of exposure to sexual content in the media on sexual behavior was significantly greater among light multitaskers than among heavy multitaskers.     

Cognitive Factors in Fibromyalgia: The Role of Self-Concept and Identity Related Conflicts

Fibromyalgia is a syndrome characterized by the presence of diffuse and chronic musculoskeletal pain of unknown etiology. Clinical diagnosis and the merely palliative treatments considerably affect the patient's experience and the chronic course of the disease. Therefore, several authors have emphasized the need to explore issues related to self in these patients. The repertory grid technique (RGT), derived from personal construct theory, is a method designed to assess the patient's construction of self and others. A group of women with fibromyalgia (n = 30) and a control group (n = 30) were assessed using RGT. Women with fibromyalgia also completed the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire and a visualanalogue scale for pain, and painful tender points were explored. Results suggest that these women had a higher present self-ideal self discrepancy and a lower perceived adequacy of others, and it was more likely to find implicative dilemmas among them compared to controls. These dilemmas are a type of cognitive conflict in which the symptom is construed as "enmeshed" with positive characteristics of the self. Finally, implications of these results for the psychological treatment of fibromyalgia are suggested to give a more central role to self-identity issues and to the related cognitive conflicts.     

Threat to Parental Role: A Possible Mechanism of Altered Self-Concept Related to Carrier Knowledge

Researchers and clinicians have suggested that learning one is a carrier for a genetic disorder has the potential to alter self-concept. Concerns about self-concept have influenced the development of policies regarding the availability of carrier testing for minors and the informed-consent process. A literature review identified three mechanisms through which self-concept has been proposed to be affected: altered perception of genetic identity, diminished social identity, and an altered perception of health. This paper presents a conceptual framework developed from identity theory and the self's response to threat to propose a fourth mechanism: threat to the parental role. Clarification of the role of self-concept, the threat to self-concept related to carrier knowledge, and coping behaviors activated in response to this threat would help to target appropriate genetic counseling interventions.     

Cognitive Factors in Fibromyalgia: The Role of Self-Concept and Identity Related Conflicts

Fibromyalgia is a syndrome characterized by the presence of diffuse and chronic musculoskeletal pain of unknown etiology. Clinical diagnosis and the merely palliative treatments considerably affect the patient's experience and the chronic course of the disease. Therefore, several authors have emphasized the need to explore issues related to self in these patients. The repertory grid technique (RGT), derived from personal construct theory, is a method designed to assess the patient's construction of self and others. A group of women with fibromyalgia (n = 30) and a control group (n = 30) were assessed using RGT. Women with fibromyalgia also completed the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire and a visual-analogue scale for pain, and painful tender points were explored. Results suggest that these women had a higher present self–ideal self discrepancy and a lower perceived adequacy of others, and it was more likely to find implicative dilemmas among them compared to controls. These dilemmas are a type of cognitive conflict in which the symptom is construed as “enmeshed” with positive characteristics of the self. Finally, implications of these results for the psychological treatment of fibromyalgia are suggested to give a more central role to self-identity issues and to the related cognitive conflicts.     

A Gender Role Workshop Focused on Sexism,Gender Role Conflict,and the Gender Role Journey

A 6-day gender role workshop for adult men and women, using the phases of the gender role journey, is presented. The workshop's curriculum and process are described, including its assumptions, norms, and media. Movie clips, music, music videos, and academic content were used to promote participants' learning in both the cognitive and affective domains. Systematic follow-up evaluations of participants ( N =84) in three separate workshops are reported using Likert scaled questions. These evaluations assessed participants' personal learning, emotional reactions, and the workshop's overall impact over l-month and 1-and 2-year follow-up periods. Results indicate that participants were affected personally and professionally over the various time periods.