Images of black women among anglo college students

Previous research on popular images of women and of minority groups has looked almost solely at images of minority men and of white women. This article presents survey data on images of black women among 256 white non-Hispanic college undergraduates, using a modified Katz/Braly scale. The article explores the nature, distribution, correlates, and emotional evaluations of these images and the implications of these images for black women's lives. Images of black women differed substantially from those of American women in general. Most commonly, black women were characterized as loud, talkative, aggressive, intelligent, straightforward, and argumentative. In addition, students rated positive traits less positive and negative traits less negative when exhibited by black women than by American women in general, apparently because of their expectations for black women's behavior.This paper has benefited from the comments of Verna Keith, Wade Smith, and, most especially, Mary Benin. This research was partially supported by Arizona State University Women's Studies Summer Research Awards Program.     

Socialization and career orientation among black and white college women

In a study of career orientation among black and white college women, support was found for hypotheses derived from postulates of Rotter's Social Learning Theory. Compared to whites, (1) blacks were less likely to expect the level of work involvement preferred; (2) blacks expected more employment; and (3) blacks were more likely to prefer less employment than they realistically expected. Antecedents of career expectation were categorized as internal, external, or neutral. As hypothesized, variables expressive of external control predicted level of career expectation among blacks, whereas variables expressive of internal control predicted high career expectations among whites.     

Holland's theory and college educated working black men and women

The main concern of this study was to investigate differences between college educated working men and women employed in traditional occupations who took the Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI) and the Self Directed Search (SDS). The VPI and the SDS were administered to 109 black college educated workers in three of Holland's environmental categories (Realistic, Investigative, and Enterprising). In general, the findings for the three VPI and SDS scales and for these occupational groups indicate that black women when compared to black men in the same occupation tend to report similar mean raw scores. Black men and women in the same occupation seem to be far more similar than different.     

Fear of success,achievement-related motives and behavior in black college women1

This study was designed to test the hypothesis, derived from past research, that Fear of Success should be an insignificant motivational determinant among black college women. Fifty-five black undergraduates from Radcliffe College participated in two one-hour sessions where motive and performance measures in a series of achievement-related situations were obtained. Among middle-class women, nAchievement was the major positive determinant of the achievement-related behaviors under investigation while Fear of Success, measured by Horner's new experimentally derived scoring system, facilitated rather than inhibited performance. For women of working-class origin, Fear of Success exerted the strongest influence on behavior and inhibited achievement-striving in nontraditional directions. The findings among middle-class women support the prevailing opinion that black women are more achievement-oriented than their white counterparts, but the results for working-class women challenge the findings of earlier studies based upon the original measure of Fear of Success imagery and suggest that an internalized conflict over achievement and feminine identity may be a salient motivation among some black women.     

Perceived racism and vascular reactivity in black college women: moderating effects of seeking social support.

This quasi-experimental study explored the association of perceived racism and seeking social support to vascular reactivity in a college sample of 110 Black women. Perceived racism and seeking social support were assessed via self-report, and vascular reactivity was measured before and during a standardized speaking task. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that perceived racism was positively related to changes in systolic blood pressure. These analyses also indicated that seeking social support moderated the relationship between perceived racism and systolic blood pressure changes. This interaction effect persisted after controlling for several potential confounders. Follow-up regression analyses showed that perceived racism was positively associated with reactivity among participants who were low in seeking social support. A significant relationship was not observed between perceived racism and systolic blood pressure changes among participants who were high in seeking social support. Perceived racism and seeking social support were not significantly associated with changes in diastolic blood pressure. These findings highlight the importance of examining psychosocial factors that may mitigate the hypothesized relationship between perceived racism and reactivity.     

The college recruitment interview: Topical content and applicant reactions*

The present study investigated several issues concerning organizations' use of the campus interview for applicant evaluation and recruitment. Results indicated that: (1) recruiters showed little agreement on which topics should be covered in the interview; (2) individual recruiters failed consistently to cover topics they believed were important; (3) applicants reported the most frequently mentioned content dealt with non-academic issues of university life and extracurricular activities; (4) applicants reacted more favourably to interview content concerning general job qualifications. Implications of the findings for recruitment interview effectiveness are discussed.     

Motivation to manage among women: Studies of business managers and educational administrators

Studies were undertaken in a department store and in four school districts to determine if managerial motivation is related to management success indexes and whether female managers have less managerial motivation than males. The measure of managerial motivation used was the Miner Sentence Completion Scale. Managerial motivation did prove to be significantly related to the success of female managers, but no consistent differences in the managerial motivation of male and female managers were found. The results are interpreted in terms of their implications for the vocational guidance of females and for research in the area of managerial talent supplies.     

Perspectives on achieving via interpersonal competition between college men and college women

The beliefs of college students about (a) choices they would make when presented with opportunities to achieve by competing with persons of the other gender and (b) the consequences of such achievement choices were assessed. Drawn from a population of predominantly upper middle-class students, with a minority enrollment of 14.7%, 83 men and 84 women were presented with vignettes which depicted (a) either a challenge for a first violin in an orchestra or a Ping-Pong match at a party and (b) events related to the opportunity to become class valedictorian. Multivariate analytic techniques were employed, and overall the results indicated that men seemed less willing than women to compete against the other gender, and women seemed to view the consequences about such competition as more positive than men. In the violin and Ping-Pong vignettes, men indicated that they, more than women, would be criticized for playing to win and that, if a woman played to win, her male opponent would feel more ridiculed than respected. In the valedictorian vignette, women indicated that men who decided to compete would feel more pleasure than guilt, whereas women who decided to compete would feel more guilt than pleasure. The results are discussed in terms of conceptualizing achievement choices as more situational than static or gender linked.The authors wish to thank David A. Cole, University of Notre Dame, for statistical advice, Chau T. Wong, University of Notre Dame, for assistance in data analysis, Kathleen L. Davis, University of Tennessee, and Michael J. Patton, University of Missouri, for reading and commenting on early versions of this paper and undergraduates from the University of Notre Dame for working on this project.     

Theory,Philosophy, and Descriptive Research

Abstract

With its international constituency, the Seventh-day Adventist Church has a large a membership that primarily comprises non-native English speakers. Students have had challenges in understanding and appreciating the writings of one of the church’s co-founders, Ellen White. The purpose of this study was to analyze the Testimonies for the Church and to quantitatively identify the difficulties with comprehending White’s writing. The results reveal that the readability is consistent with a middle school reading level; the text is moderately formal in nature; the sentiment of the text is neutral; and White’s writing style varies little over time.     

A semistructured interview with parents-to-be used during pregnancy: Preliminary data

The aim of this paper is to describe The Clinical Interview for Parents during Pregnancy (CGG—Colloquio per Genitori in Gravidanza). The interview was developed in the context of a longitudinal research study, carried out in the first 2 years of the child's life. The study was aimed at investigating fathers' attitudes and behavior toward child care and the possible influence of these attitudes and behavior on the child's current and future development. This was also compared with mothers' attitudes and behaviors. This work provides the background rationale for the content of the CGG and the discussion of the interview. The CGG was administered to 90 middle-class Italian couples expecting their first baby, who were recruited from childbirth classes to participate in the study. The sample did not include women at risk during pregnancy. We chose to investigate three areas: couples' ability to foresee their own function after the child's birth; the activities they expected to share with their baby; their capacity to anticipate their child's physical and psychological characteristics. Responses were subjected to quantitative content analysis. We describe the utility of such analysis. Finally, we review clinical and research meanings and applications of the CGG. © 1997 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health     

Achievement-related expectations and aspirations in college women

Two hundred unmarried female undergraduates (129 juniors, 71 seniors) participated in an investigation of the thesis that achievement in women is hindered by depressed occupational and educational aspirations, which are in turn influenced by a cluster of a cluster of achievement-related expectations. The study examined correlations among five achievement-related expectations (sex-role conception, expectations about the consequences of role-inappropriate achievement, expectations for success, peer expectations, and perceived discrimination), occupational and educational aspirations, and indices of past achievement and ability. The data support the hypothesized relation between expectations and aspirations. Sex-role conception, expectations of positive consequences from success, expectations of negative consequences from success, expectations for success, female peer expectations, and perceived discrimination were each significantly related to aspirations (p<.05 or above, in all cases). The implications of these findings, along with the high intercorrelations of expectation variables and results from path and factor analyses, are that there is considerable consistency in what women expect from themselves and their social environment, and that these expectations influence women's aspirations.This article is based in part on a dissertation submitted by the author to the faculty of the University of Colorado in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the doctoral degree. This research was supported by National Institute of Mental Health Grant #2TO1MH0661316PO. The author gratefully acknowledges the assistance of Drs. D. Wayne Osgood, Lawrence Severy, Kathleen Wells, John Forward, and Mr. Robert Burton in the preparation of this article, and Brynn Beacom, her research assistant, in the conduct of the study.     

Hookups and sexual regret among college women

Research has suggested that women are prone to sexual regrets of action. In the present study, the authors examined "hooking up" as a predictor of sexual regret in 152 sexually active college women. Results indicate that two sexual behaviors were particularly predictive of participants' regret: (a) engaging in sexual intercourse with someone once and only once and (b) engaging in intercourse with someone known for less than 24 hr. Noncoital hookups (performing and receiving oral sex) were not significantly related to regret, indicating that college women may be underestimating the health risks associated with oral sex. Although hookups are a common feature of contemporary college life, the results counter the popular assumption that hookups are inconsequential for college women. The authors discuss the preventative health implications of their findings.     

Sex roles and fertility in college women

A study was conducted to examine the relationship of sex-role acceptance to actual and desired fertility. Two samples of women (105 undergraduates and 40 members of a women's organization) were administered the Bem Sex-Role Inventory and a questionnaire which assessed the women's behavioral acceptance of traditional female sex roles. The behavioral measures were sex-typed college major for the undergraduates and employment status for the women's organization sample. In addition, vocational interests were measured and related to fertility for the women's organization sample. Multiple regression analyses indicated that behavioral measures of sex-role acceptance accounted for more variance in predicting desired and actual fertility than did the Bem Sex-Role Inventory.     

Temperament and loving-styles in college women: associations with eating attitudes

The purpose of the present study was to examine the associations of temperament and love attitudes with eating behaviors in 190 college-aged nonclinical women who completed a survey that included measures of temperament, loving-style, and eating attitudes. Certain temperament and loving-style variables showed significant statistical association with scores on eating attitudes. Specifically, both obsessive and game-playing love-styles were related to the Dieting and Bulimia-Food Preoccupation dimensions of the eating scales, while temperamental fear and anger were related to bulimia and oral control. The role of interpersonal relationships and self-perceptions of temperament may provide a useful perspective for understanding the etiology of eating disorders.     

Predictors of scientific majors for black and white college students

The differences in the personality and social backgrounds of science and non-science majors were assessed for 91 black and 109 white natural, social, and nonscience college majors. Subjects were administered the 16PF, Bem Sex-Role Inventory, and the Attitude Toward Women Scale, and data were collected on birth order, number of siblings, and social class level. Natural science majors were of a higher social class, had higher intelligence test scores, were more reserved, sober, practical, and male sex-role oriented than the social and non-science majors. Blacks and females resembled their white or male counterparts when categorized by college major.     

Motives, involvements, and leadership among black college students

Thematic Apperceptive measures of achievement, affiliation, and power motives, together with consensual judges’ ratings for several clusters of attitudes, beliefs, and actions, and objective data on office-holding were obtained from thirty-eight Black undergraduate university students Overall, need for Power was related to holding office, being rated as influential, and participating in the Black Repertory Theatre. Among Northern-reared Blacks, need for Power related to ratings of activity in the extramural Black community and distrust of the System, among Southern-reared Blacks, need for Power and need for Achievement related to ratings of Pragmatism.