Nigerian Women's Quest for Role Fulfillment

This article examines the nexus between Nigerian women's struggle for role fulfillment and adult education. The women in the study experienced staggering disparities between their illiteracy and their optimal role expectations. As middle-aged workers and mothers of large families, they undertook self-initiated study in adult evening classes. Through the modality of the Focus Group Discussion Method (FGD), the women revealed their role-related problems and the specific ways by which adult education had empowered them to be self-actualizing in their traditional roles.     

A Multi-Case Report of the Pathways To and Through Genetic Testing and Cancer Risk Management for BRCA Mutation-Positive Women Aged 18–25

Much of the extant literature addressing the psychosocial aspects of BRCA1/2 mutation testing and risk management aggregates mutation carriers of all ages in study recruitment, data analysis, and interpretation. This analytic strategy does not adequately address the needs of the youngest genetic testing consumers, i.e., women aged 18–25. Despite low absolute cancer risk estimates before age 30, BRCA1/2 mutation-positive women aged 18–25 feel vulnerable to a cancer diagnosis but find themselves in a management quandary because the clinical utility of screening and prevention options are not yet well defined for such young carriers. We present three cases, selected from a larger study of 32 BRCA1/2 mutation-positive women who completed or considered genetic testing before age 25, to demonstrate the unique developmental, relational and temporal influences, as well as the challenges, experienced by very young BRCA mutation-positive women as they complete genetic testing and initiate cancer risk management. The first case describes the maturation of a young woman whose family participated in a national cancer registry. The second addresses the experiences and expectations of a young woman who completed genetic testing after learning that her unaffected father was a mutation carrier. The third case highlights the experiences of a young woman parentally bereaved in childhood, who presented for genetic counseling and testing due to intense family pressure. Together, these cases suggest that BRCA1/2-positive women aged 18–25 are challenged to reconcile their burgeoning independence from their families with risk-related support needs. Loved ones acting in ways meant to care for these young women may inadvertently apply pressure, convoluting family support dynamics and autonomous decision-making. Ongoing support from competent healthcare professionals will enable these young women to remain informed and receive objective counsel about their risk-management decisions.     

Race/ethnicity and sexual orientation: intersecting identities

Racial/ethnic minority women who come to identify as lesbian must confront the norms and expectations of both the majority and minority cultures in which they live. This article reports findings from a diverse sample of nearly 450 women and examines the effects of race/ethnicity on sexual identity development in African American, Latina, and White lesbians. African American and Latina respondents differed little in the timing and disclosure of lesbian identity; comparisons between women of color and White women revealed substantial variability. Findings are discussed in terms of their implications for practice with lesbians of color.     

MILFS and Matrons: Images and Realities of Mothers’ Sexuality

Motherhood and sexual appeal are rarely linked in Western culture. There seems to be a notion that once a woman has children she is first and foremost an example, and must be responsible and conservative in a culturally specific way. Most women become mothers at some point in their lives and this is a major physical, emotional, and role transition, one that many women struggle with privately given societal ideals of a ??good?? mother. Despite its essential role in motherhood and life, and the health benefits known to be associated with sexual activity, public expression of sexuality is still primarily associated with being young, childless, and unmarried. Using a social constructionist perspective, we look at the ways in which acceptable expressions of mothers?? sexuality are defined and negotiated by contemporary women. Based on in-depth interviews with fifty women in their 20s, 30s, and 40s, we discuss women??s images of mothers?? sexuality and the ways in which motherhood impacts women??s experiences of sexuality. We find that for most mothers interviewed, the way they felt about sex, their sexual appeal, and their level of sexual desire changed after having children. Coupled with the fatigue and responsibility associated with being a new mother, women felt disconnected from their sexuality for a period of time.     

Exploring Women Track and Field Athletes' Meanings of Muscularity

Women athletes often struggle with attaining the muscular body needed to compete successfully, while at the same time negotiating expectations to conform to a lean and toned ideal. The purpose of this study was to explore women track and field athletes’ meanings of muscularity. Four adult and four adolescent women participated in focus groups and one-on-one interviews, exploring issues surrounding the body, including ideals and expectations. The participants also took photographs to represent their perceptions of their own muscularity. Four themes emerged: (a) many faces of muscularity, (b) a blurred line between appearance and performance, (c) a culture of comparison, and (d) a journey towards self-acceptance. Muscularity was identified as a complex and context specific experience, reflecting the multiple meanings of muscularity and the periods of struggle on the journey towards self-acceptance of the body.     

Shifting Sexual Boundaries: Ethnicity and Pre-marital Sex in the Lives of South Asian American Women

Immigrants and their children engage in several forms of boundary making as a means of developing a sense of belonging in America. Second-generation Americans are at the crossroads between meeting their parents’ cultural expectations and selecting new ethnic options that may conflict with ancestral traditions. Women’s sexuality has often been a site for contesting and conforming to ethnic boundaries. This article examines a case study of second-generation South Asian American adult women’s pre-marital sexual behavior to understand how cultural expectations about sex shapes the ways in which they construct ethnic boundaries. Much of the literature on women’s sexuality in immigrant communities in America has focused on married women or constraints placed on women’s virginity. This study highlights a nuanced perspective for understanding how migration to the U.S. creates cultural shifts in ethnic communities by examining how the American born daughters of immigrants define their ethnicity through their pre-marital sexual encounters.     

Being female in the eighties and nineties: Conflicts between new opportunities and traditional expectations among white,middle class,heterosexual college women

The eighties and nineties would appear to be an ideal time for a young woman to come of age in American society. Legal barriers to opportunity have been virtually eliminated, and attitudes toward women seem to reflect greater cultural appreciation of their abilities and needs. However, there are indications that females are presented with conflicting images which nurture new career-related expectations while simultaneously stressing traditional expressions of femininity, especially marriage and motherhood. The research in this article explores the dynamics of conflicting demands on young women through a survey conducted at a small liberal arts college with students who are predominantly white and heterosexual, from middle and upper income families. (Only three percent of the students are from minority backgrounds.) Issues explored involve spousal obligations, salary differentials, marriage-career aspirations, responsibilities toward young children, and perceived degree of liberalism-conservatism pertaining to the place of women in society. The article concludes with a focus on the dilemma posed by new opportunities through structural change and the coexistence of cultural lag in the form of traditional norms of femininity.     

Was it a phase? Young women's relinquishment of lesbian/bisexual identities over a 5-year period

There have been many anecdotal accounts of individuals who self-identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual only to relinquish these identities later. The current study examines this phenomenon among a sample of young nonheterosexual women who underwent 3 interviews over a 5-year period. Over a quarter of these women relinquished their lesbian/bisexual identities during this period: half reclaimed heterosexual identities and half gave up all identity labels. These women did not differ from those who maintained lesbian/bisexual identities regarding the age at which they underwent sexual identity milestones, the factors that precipitated their sexual questioning, or their recollection of childhood "indicators" of same-sex sexuality. Women who relinquished their identities for heterosexual identities had smaller ratios of same-sex to other-sex attractions across the 5-year assessment period, but their attractions did not significantly change. Only 1 woman described her previous same-sex identification as a phase; the rest emphasized changes in how they interpreted or acted on their attractions.     

Perceived discrimination in the context of multiple group memberships

This study examined the joint impact of gender and ethnicity on expectations of general discrimination against oneself and one's group. According to the double–jeopardy hypothesis, women of color will expect to experience more general discrimination than men of color, White women, and White men because they belong to both a low–status ethnic group and a low–status gender group. Alternatively, the ethnic–prominence hypothesis predicts that ethnic–minority women will not differ from ethnic–minority men in their expectations of general discrimination because these expectations will be influenced more by perceptions of ethnic discrimination, which they share with men of color, than by perceptions of gender discrimination. All results were consistent with the ethnic–prominence hypothesis rather than the double–jeopardy hypothesis.     

Preadolescents' categorization of gender and ethnicity at the subgroup level in memory

The statement matching paradigm was used to examine how 10‐ to 13‐year‐olds categorized adults when both ethnicity and gender varied across targets. Forty‐seven children watched a PowerPoint presentation of a conversation involving two Black men, two Black women, two White men and two White women. Each slide displayed the speaker's picture, name and the statement made. The children then were asked to determine who made each statement. The pattern of errors in their assignments was examined to assess how they spontaneously categorized the adults. More within‐ethnicity within‐gender errors (e.g. assigning a statement made by a White woman to the other White woman) were made than any other type of error. This implies that the targets were categorized at the subgroup level. In contrast to findings for adults, the children did not also categorize at the more global level of gender above and beyond the subgroup categorization.     

Burning or Building Bridges

SUMMARY

Among the population of physically abused women who present individually in therapy, there is a portion who struggle with their indecisiveness about whether or not they should work toward resolving or terminating their heterosexual relationship. This paper will examine clinical methods that are employed through individually based systemic therapy to assist women who find themselves in such confusing and perilous situations. Due to the complexity of the problem” emphasis is placed on addressing salient issues efficiently and non-judgmentally. Central to treatment is client engagement and the challenging of constraining client beliefs.     

Recoupling in Mid‐Life and Beyond: From Love at Last to Not So Fast

Divorce rates have dropped in the United States, except for couples over 50 where they are rising steeply, along with rates of late‐life recoupling. Both stepcouples and their young adult and adult children in new older stepfamilies are often surprised to find themselves facing many of the same challenges that younger stepfamilies do. Some challenges are even intensified by the decades‐long relationships and additional layers of extended family that come with recoupling after mid‐life. Stepfamilies formed in later life must also negotiate decisions about estate planning and elder care among stakeholders who often have sharply divergent agendas before there is time to establish trusting relationships. This article describes the “normal” challenges facing stepcouples who come together over age 50. It provides evidence‐informed guidance for therapists in meeting these challenges on three levels of clinical work: Psychoeducational, Interpersonal, and Intrapsychic/Intergenerational. As in younger stepfamilies, “family therapy” must usually begin in subsystems—often the adult stepcouple and parent–adult child. The article then describes a particularly fraught subgroup of recouplers: over‐50 fathers and their new partners, where the dad's young adult or adult daughter is very unhappy with his new relationship. In these latter stepfamilies, father–daughter repair must precede stepfamily bonding. Stepfamilies that are preceded by a partner's death and those that begin with affairs are also discussed. Finally, some “easy wrong turns” for therapists are described.     

Weight Halo Effects: Individual Differences in Perceived Life Success as a Function of Women's Race and Weight

The question of whether or not life success halo effects occur for weight for Black and White women was examined in an experiment using a 2 (race of woman) × 2 (weight of woman) × 2 (sex of participant) design and measures of perceived life success, attractiveness, and personality. The thinner White woman was expected to receive higher life success, attractiveness, and personality ratings than the heavy White woman. However, the heavy Black woman was expected to receive higher ratings than the thinner Black woman. The results were consistent with expectations. These results are discussed in terms of prior research on beauty, weight, and stereotyping.     

Psychosocial and health consequences of adolescent depression in Black and White young adult women.

Depression in adolescent girls may result in negative consequences in young adulthood. The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) was administered to 1,727 Black and White girls ages 16 to 18 years who participated in the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's Growth and Health Study. Three years later, women in the depressed groups were more likely to be current smokers, had attained a lower level of education, and reported lower self-worth relative to the nondepressed group. Body dissatisfaction, eating concerns, and loneliness were greater in the depressed groups. Relative to Black women, White women who were moderately depressed during adolescence reported more health care services utilization in young adulthood. Prevention efforts for depressed adolescents should be broadly focused to improve young adult outcomes.     

Reconstructing Hymens or Constructing Sexual Inequality? Service Provision to Islamic Young Women Coping with the Demand to be a Virgin

In Islamic culture, there is an imperative demand that women should be virgins on their wedding night. Service providers in The Netherlands are increasingly confronted by Islamic young women who find themselves in serious difficulties because they are no longer virgins, and are about to enter a forced or arranged marriage. These young women report a diversity of problems such as loneliness, social isolation, depression, despair, suicidal feelings, identity problems and serious conflicts with parents. In this article we focus attention on the circumstances that can result in these types of difficulties, and also critically consider the kinds of help that young Islamic women are given. Attention is paid to the question of whether existing forms of service provision, especially surgical reconstruction of the hymen, take sexual and other inequalities into account.     

Becoming a Caregiver: Experiences of Young Adults Moving into Family Caregiving Roles

Journal of Adult Development - While the vast majority of family caregivers struggle to find balance between different roles in their lives, young adult caregivers are faced with the atypical...     

Experiences of young adult women with emotionally absent fathers

This study explored the experiences of young adult women (n = 11) who grew up with emotionally absent fathers. The women (White: Afrikaans) were between the ages of 20 and 31 (5 were married, 1 was engaged, 1 was in a relationship, and 4 were single). The participants completed in-depth interviews regarding their retrospective perceptions of emotionally absent father experiences and the related effects on them. Data were thematically analyzed. Findings indicated that the participants experienced difficulty in sharing emotions with their fathers and fathers did not show affection or express their love. The participants perceived their fathers to have shown no interest, approval or acknowledgement of them, and viewed them as untrustworthy. They also believed that relationship qualities with their fathers influenced how they related to men in general. Father emotional absence negatively impacts on daughter's emotional well-being.     

Adolescence,Identity, and the Bernardone Family

Adolescence is viewed in this article both as a chronological period between puberty and early adulthood and as any time in the life cycle when an individual explores im-portant life-alternatives with the aim of making commitments. Hence, both a 15-year-old and a 30-year-old may find themselves "adolescing." Erikson viewed the chronological era of late adolescence as crucial for the individual's construction of an initial identity: Asense of who one is, based on who one has been, and who one imagines oneself being in the future. I describe individuals as being in 1 of 4 identity "statuses" according to where they are in the process of identity formation: identity achievement, moratorium, foreclosure, or identity diffusion. Identities are not con-structed in a vacuum; they are both facilitated and constrained by social and interpersonal contexts. Furthermore, identity formation is just 1 of 8 psychosocial developmental tasks, all of which involve intergenerational mutuality. That is, adults rely on children to confirm them in their growing sense of generativity, and children rely on adults to aid them in their developmental tasks of trust, autonomy, initiative, industry, and identity. The developmental crises of both parental generativity and ad-olescent/young adult identity are illustrated by reference to one of Assisi's best known families: Pietro, Pica, and Francesco (later to become St. Francis Bernardone.