Friendships of older men and women: exchange patterns and satisfaction

In this study we examined the relation between perceived equity of exchanges and friendship satisfaction for a sample of 110 older men and women. Respondents were interviewed concerning their relationship with their best friend and one other friend in their support network. Perceived equity was a significant predictor of friendship satisfaction only in the case of the other friend. In addition, results showed that men were involved in more equitable friendships than were women. Discussion focuses on the importance of equity consideration and gender differences in the friendships of older adults.     

Reciprocal relationships between value orientation and motivational interference during studying and leisure

Background. Motivational interference is defined as the amount of impairment in a target activity due to the incentives of a non‐chosen attractive alternative. The amount to which pupils experience motivational interference while studying or while performing a leisure activity in a school–leisure conflict situation is seen as depending on the values they attach to achievement and well‐being. At the same time, values may also be effects of frequent experience of motivational interference in the respective areas. Aims. The study is aimed at investigating the reciprocal relationship between personal value orientations and the experience of motivational interference during studying and leisure. Sample. A total of 363 pupils (sixth to eighth graders at the time of first measurement) completed the same questionnaire twice in a 2‐year interval. Method. The questionnaire included measures of achievement and well‐being value orientation and the experience of motivational interference during studying and during leisure in school–leisure conflicts. For this, two scenarios were created. In regression analyses, achievement and well‐being value orientations as well as their interaction terms were used as predictors for experience of motivational interference at t₂ while controlling for experience of motivational interference at t₁, and vice versa. Additionally in path models, these relations were tested in an integrative way. Results. Pupils' achievement value orientations were connected to differential changes in experiencing motivational interference during leisure and during studying in one scenario but only for pupils low or medium in well‐being value orientation. Conversely, experience of motivational interference at t₁ was related to changes in value orientations 2 years later. High motivational interference during studying led to an increase in well‐being value orientation, while high motivational interference during leisure was followed by a decrease in well‐being value orientation and an increase in achievement value orientation. Overall, path models supported these results. Conclusions. The results are discussed in terms of value change and are linked to self‐control and motivation research.     

Marital satisfaction, recovery from work, and diurnal cortisol among men and women.

DESIGN: Multilevel modeling was used to model relationships between salivary cortisol, daily diary ratings of work experiences, and Marital Adjustment Test scores (Locke & Wallace, 1959), in a sample of 60 adults who sampled saliva 4 times per day over 3 days. RESULTS: Among women but not men, marital satisfaction was significantly associated with a stronger basal cortisol cycle, with higher morning values and a steeper decline across the day. For women but not men, marital satisfaction moderated the within-subjects association between afternoon and evening cortisol level, such that marital quality appeared to bolster women's physiological recovery from work. For both men and women, evening cortisol was lower than usual on higher-workload days, and marital satisfaction augmented this association among women. Men showed higher evening cortisol after more distressing social experiences at work, an association that was strongest among men with higher marital satisfaction. CONCLUSION: This work has implications for the study of physiological recovery from work, and also suggests a pathway by which marital satisfaction influences allostatic load and physical health.     

Phenomenology of life satisfaction among elderly men: quantitative and qualitative views

Standardized measures of subjective well-being were compared with qualitative analysis of life satisfaction from 100 elderly men (70 years and older) from New Delhi, India, and London, England. 3 structured measures were used, Life Satisfaction Index (A), Cantril Self-Anchoring Ladder, and a one-item happiness question. Qualitative data were obtained from semistructured interviews covering past and present experiences. Meaning units were extracted from interview protocols, emerging themes were identified for each respondent, and overall summaries were written for English and Indian samples. Groups did not differ significantly on any of the structured measures, but showed marked differences in the qualitative analysis. Limitations of structured measures of subjective well-being are discussed in terms of "context-stripping," both in data collection and data analysis.     

The relationship between leisure satisfaction and life satisfaction of adolescents concerning online games

Increasing evidence indicates adolescents are likely to occupy their leisure time with online games. This study investigates the influences of leisure satisfaction on life satisfaction among adolescent online gamers. The self-completed market survey questionnaire employed is comprised of two sections: the first is Internet usage frequency, while the second employs two measures-the Leisure Satisfaction Scale (LSS) and the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), Data were gathered in a medium-sized metropolitan section of north Taiwan and interviews took place at a Cyber Café. Youths (totaling 134) between the ages of 13 and 18 voluntarily participated in the research. Results revealed significant positive relationships between physiological and aesthetic dimensions of leisure satisfaction and life satisfaction. However, the educational dimension of leisure satisfaction has a significant negative influence on life satisfaction. Findings also reveal a significant negative relationship between web surfing frequency and life satisfaction in adolescents. This suggests possible explanations for these results and discusses the implications.     

Inverse gender gap in Germany: social dominance orientation among men and women

Across cultures studies show that men score higher on social dominance orientation than women. This gender gap is considered invariant, but conflicting explanations are discussed: Some authors refer to evolutionary psychology and perceive the gender gap to be driven by sociobiological factors. Other authors argue that social roles or gender-stereotypical self-construals encouraged by intergroup comparisons are responsible for attitudinal gender difference. In Study 1 we analyzed sex differences in social dominance orientation in three German probability surveys (each n > 2300). Unexpectedly, the analyses yielded an inverse gender gap with higher values for social dominance orientation in women than in men. Interactions with age, education, political conservatism, and perceived inequity indicated that the inverse gender gap can be mainly attributed to older, conservative, (and less educated) respondents, and those who feel they get their deserved share. In Study 2 we replicated the well-known gender gap with men scoring higher than women in social dominance orientation among German students. Results are interpreted on the basis of biocultural interaction, which integrates the sociobiological, social role, and self-construal perspectives. Our unusual findings seem to reflect a struggle for status by members of low-status groups who consider group-based hierarchy the most promising option to improve their status. While younger women take advantage of a relational, feminine self-construal that leads to lower social dominance orientation in young women than in young men, older women are supposed to profit from an agentic self-construal that results in stronger social dominance orientation values. Specific characteristics of the culture in Germany seem to promote this strategy. Here, we discuss the female ideal of the national socialist period and the agentic female social role in the post-war era necessitated by the absence of men.     

An examination of sex differences in social support among older men and women

This paper is designed to empirically investigate sex differences in social support. Several types of sex differences are examined, including quantity and quality of support, the relationship between quantitative and qualitative measures of support, the number and source of support provided and received, and the relative predictive power of quality and quantity of support on well-being. The data are taken from the Supports of the Elderly, a national survey of older people (Kahn and Antonucci, 1984). Included in the present study are 214 men and 166 women ranging in age from 50 to 95 who are married and have at least one child. The analyses reveal that women have larger networks and receive supports from multiple sources, while men tend to rely on their spouses exclusively. Men report greater satisfaction with marriage than women. Quantitative supports are more related to qualitative supports for women than for men. For both sexes, the quality of support rather than the quantity of support has significantly greater effects on well-being; both the quantity and quality of social support have a greater impact on the well-being of women compared to men.     

Personal investment predictors of life satisfaction among physically active middle-aged and older adults

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between the social psychological components of personal investment and life satisfaction among 85 middle-aged and older men and women participating in a structured exercise program. Specifically, we examined the degree to which personal incentives for exercise, perceptions of a sense of self, and the congruency between the exercise program and the participants' goals, predicted life satisfaction. Multiple regression analyses revealed that the social psychological variables reflecting personal investment accounted for 52% of the variance for life satisfaction in physically active middle-aged and older adults. The personal investment theory is supported as a framework for investigating psycho-social predictors of situational outcomes such as life satisfaction.     

Relationships among experience level and value orientation and the performance of paraprofessional telephone counselors

The effectiveness of indigenous paraprofessional helpers is thought to be partially due to the similarity in style and values between then and their clients. However, there is a concern that as they gain experience in an agency, their identification may shift from the clients to the agency. Also, there is a question as to how effective paraprofessionals (selected due to their shared values with a target population) are with value-dissimilar clients. Truax and Carkhuff's scales of facilitative conditions as well as a technique functioning scale were used to assess the helping behavior of paraprofessional telephone counselors at three levels of experience in response to value-similar and value-dissimilar simulated calls. The results indicate that performance generally improved with training and experience and that instead of a uniform deterioration with dissimilar value calls, a complex relationship existed between performance, values, and experience level.     

Sex-role orientation,identity formation,and self-esteem in college men and women

Contrasting hypotheses that psychological androgyny (Bem, 1974, 1975) would be associated with (1) identity confusion and a lack of personal integration or (2) identity achievement and high levels of integration were tested. Sex-role orientation, ego-identity status, and self-esteem were determined for 111 college men and women. The results support the second hypothesis, that high levels of masculinity and femininity (androgynous orientation) are conducive to identity achievement and high self-esteem. In contrast, low levels of masculine and feminine characteristics (undifferentiated sex-role orientation) were associated with uniformly low self-esteem and a lack of personal integration (identity diffusion). Sex-typing was most often associated with premature identity commitments and a lack of personality differentiation (identity foreclosure) and with high self-esteem in males but low self-esteem in females. Cross-sex-typing was associated with high levels of self-esteem and identity achievement in females, but with somewhat lower self-esteem in males and either unsuccessful (diffusion) or transitional (moratorium) levels of identity resolution.This research was supported by University of Missouri Summer Research Fellowship 3694-1100. The author would like to express his gratitude to Mona Asbed, Richard Baker, Sheila Ginsburg, Keith Shaw, and Marsha Whitson for conducting and rating the identity status interviews.     

Father absence,sociosexual orientation,and same-sex sexuality in women and men

A recent evolutionary theory of female sexual fluidity suggests that women may not have sexual orientations in the same sense that men do, and that women's apparent sexual orientation may instead be a byproduct of their sociosexual orientation. One developmental factor that has consistently been shown to influence sociosexual orientation is father absence in childhood. Consistent with the prediction of the theory, the analyses of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) data show that father absence significantly increases women's, but not men's, same-sex sexuality in adulthood, whether it is measured by self identity, sexual behaviour, or romantic attraction. Further consistent with the theory, the association between father absence and same-sex sexuality in women is entirely mediated by their sociosexual orientation.     

Aggressive behavioral characteristics,hormones, and sexual orientation in men and women

Aggressive behavioral characteristics were assessed in groups of men and women by a self-report instrument, the Aggression Inventory, in which adult males reported more physical and verbal aggression than did females. Furthermore, males had higher scores on measures of impulsiveness and lack of frustration tolerance than did females, while women were more likely to avoid confrontation. In a second study, groups of male and female homosexuals and heterosexuals completed this Aggression Inventory after having blood samples taken to assay resting levels of testosterone (T) and estradiol (E). Groups of subjects within each gender were closely matched in terms of age, education, and vocational interests. Women were matched for the same time in their menstrual cycle (early follicular phase). Among men, homosexuals were indistinguishable from heterosexuals on all measures of aggression. Lesbians did not differ from heterosexual women on any aggression subscale except physical aggression, in which the homosexual women had lower scores. T and E were positively correlated with several indices of aggressive behavioral characteristics in men but were negatively correlated with those same measures in women.     

Sex-role orientation and intimacy status in men and women

Sex-role orientation based on combined t-ratio/median-split scoring of Personal Attributes Questionnaire data was investigated in relation to intimacy status in a sample of university alumini with an average age of 25 years. There was no significant sex difference in sex-role orientation or social status. As expected, androgyny was associated with the preintimate status in both men and women. Contrary to prediction, androgyny was also associated with the less intimate statuses of merger in men and pseudointimate in women; sex-typing was associated with the most intimate status in both sexes. All sex-typed individuals were involved in long-term, heterosexual partnership varying in level of intimacy.Part of this research was included in a presentation at the Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, Montreal, September 1980. The author thanks Susan Krauss Whitbourne for providing advice and intimacy status ratings for this research.     

Relationships between general self-efficacy,planning for the future,and life satisfaction

In this study we investigated relationships between general self-efficacy, the propensity to plan for the future, the consideration of future consequences, and overall life satisfaction. The sample consisted of 242 university students, with ages ranging from 16 to 31 (M = 18.5, SD = 1.7). Participants completed the New General Self-Efficacy Scale (NGSES), the Continuous Planning Scale (CPS), the Consideration of Future Consequences Scale (CFCS), and the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS). Analyses demonstrated that all variables were significantly intercorrelated, with general self-efficacy being most strongly related to the SWLS, followed by the CFCS and the CPS. Implications are discussed.     

Nonverbal zero-acquaintance accuracy of self-esteem,social dominance orientation,and satisfaction with life

Two samples of undergraduates judged the personalities of strangers (either six men or six women) after viewing a 30 s, silent video clip of each target. We evaluated the accuracy of five traits, three of which were not previously studied in zero-acquaintance research (self-esteem, social dominance orientation (SDO), and satisfaction with life (SWL); we also tested masculinity and femininity). We compared these five new traits to a baseline of accuracy for extroversion. People reached consensus on self-esteem, SDO, and SWL, though accuracy was higher and more consistent for male targets. Significant self-other agreement was obtained only for SWL, for male targets. We replicated past studies by demonstrating zero-acquaintance accuracy for masculinity but not femininity.     

Situational shifts in sex role orientation: Correlates of work satisfaction and burnout among women in special education

A battery of instruments dealing with job stress and satisfaction and social role traits was administered to 78 female special educators. Social role orientation (instrumental, expressive, balanced, undifferentiated), as measured by a modified version of the Bem Sex Role Inventory, was determined for each teacher. The relationship between social role orientation and job stress and satisfaction was examined. Shifts in teachers' social role composition from off the job to on the job were examined regarding four indices of stress and satisfaction. A balanced social role orientation on the job was associated with higher levels of job satisfaction and lower levels of job stress. Higher levels of instrumentality on the job and off the job and higher levels of expressivity on the job and off the job were associated with higher levels of personal accomplishment and lower levels of depersonalization.     

Parental antecedents of sex-role orientation in college men and women

Parental modeling and reinforcement antecedents of masculine, feminine, androgynous, and undifferentiated sex-role orientation were tested for 228 college men and women using self and parent versions of the Bem Sex Role Inventory and the Parent Behavior Form. Parent scale differences indicated that psychological androgyny is associated with high levels of masculinity and femininity in both parents, with high levels of warmth and involvement, particularly with the same-sex parent, and, in females, with maternal cognitive/achievement encouragement. Sex typing occurred where both parents modeled traditional sex-role attributes and, for females, with extreme closeness with father in the absence of maternal cognitive/intellectual encouragement. An undifferentiated sex-role orientation was associated with low emotional and cognitive involvement with father in males and with an undifferentiated but emotionally involved mother in females. Finally, cross-sex typing in both sexes was associated with parental rejection, low feminity in both parents, and an absence of warmth or cognitive encouragement from either parent. These findings confirm and expand those of an earlier study for androgynous subjects, but differ markedly for cross-sex-typed subjects.     

Neural activity,neural connectivity,and the processing of emotionally valenced information in older adults: links with life satisfaction

This study examines whether differences in late-life well-being are linked to how older adults encode emotionally valenced information. Using fMRI with 39 older adults varying in life satisfaction, we examined how viewing positive and negative images would affect activation and connectivity of an emotion-processing network. Participants engaged most regions within this network more robustly for positive than for negative images, but within the PFC this effect was moderated by life satisfaction, with individuals higher in satisfaction showing lower levels of activity during the processing of positive images. Participants high in satisfaction showed stronger correlations among network regions—particularly between the amygdala and other emotion processing regions—when viewing positive, as compared with negative, images. Participants low in satisfaction showed no valence effect. Findings suggest that late-life satisfaction is linked with how emotion-processing regions are engaged and connected during processing of valenced information. This first demonstration of a link between neural recruitment and late-life well-being suggests that differences in neural network activation and connectivity may account for the preferential encoding of positive information seen in some older adults.     

Reward,affect, and young children's motivational orientation

In this study we examined the proposition that the detrimental effect of reward on young children's intrinsic motivation may be due to increased negative affect associated with performing the target task under expected reward conditions. Fifty-six children were randomly assigned to one of three non-reward mood induction conditions (positive, negative, neutral) or to a reward, neutral mood induction condition. Children then played an attractive game. Subsequent intrinsic interest was measured in a free-choice period in which rewards were neither forthcoming nor expected and children could freely choose to play with the target game or with other toys. It was found that rewards produced a less positive mood state, which subsequently was related to lowered intrinsic interest in the free-choice situation. In general, the results for the reward/neurtral mood condition paralleled those for the non-reward/negative mood condition. It was concluded that instrumental rewards may induce a temporary negative mood state in young children that can undermine intrinsic motivation.This research was sponsored in part by a Faculty-Grant-in-Aid (No. 420893) from Arizona State University, and by a Faculty Release Award from the Department of Family Resources and Human Development, both to the first author. The authors would like to express their appreciation to Barry Arbuckle, Anna Burke, Mia Nymoh, Darlene Richmond, Phil Swanson, and Irma Vega for their assistance in data collection.     

Loneliness and life satisfaction of boys with developmental coordination disorder: the impact of leisure participation and perceived freedom in leisure

A theoretical model linking motor ability with perceived freedom in leisure, participation in team sports, loneliness, and global life satisfaction was tested using linear confirmatory path analysis. Participants were 173 boys aged 10-13 years who filled in self-report questionnaires about perceived freedom in leisure, loneliness, and global life satisfaction. Parents of boys completed 7-day diaries and 12-month retrospective recall questionnaires about their son's leisure-time activity participation. Results of path analyses confirmed that the fit of the hypothetical model was consistent with predictions. The inferred direct pathways of influence between both total loneliness and global life satisfaction on motor ability were in the expected directions (i.e., inverse and positive relationships, respectively). Perceived Freedom in Leisure (PFL) and participation in team sports were two intermediate variables indirectly influencing these relationships. Although PFL was identified as a motivational process influencing participation levels in team sports it was noted that other psychological and environmental factors must also be considered when evaluating child-activity-environment fit for boys with developmental coordination disorder.