Parenting and temperament as predictors of prosocial behaviour in Australian and Turkish Australian children

This study investigated the direct and indirect roles of parenting, child temperament and sociocultural context in predicting prosocial behaviour as identified by behavioural assessments and parent and teacher ratings. Comparisons of Australian children and Turkish children living in Australia allowed examination of cultural similarities and differences in levels of prosocial behaviours and in their predictors. Participants were 153 Australian 4–6‐year‐old children and 58 children with a Turkish background recruited from childcare centres serving low‐ and middle‐class communities. Turkish and Australian children were similar in their levels of prosocial development, but the factors that predicted prosocial behaviour were somewhat different. Hierarchical multiple regression showed that maternal warmth and child persistence predicted prosocial behaviour for the Australian sample. For the Turkish sample, obedience‐demanding behaviour had a facilitating effect upon prosocial development. The results are discussed in relation to cultural norms and their impact on children through parenting practices.     

Appearance investment in Australian brides-to-be

The present study examined the appearance concerns of 440 engaged women recruited from bridal websites across Australia. Participants completed a short online questionnaire incorporating measures of appearance investment, dietary restraint, and their pre-wedding beauty preparation plans. Overall, brides-to-be reported similar levels of both facets of appearance investment (self-evaluative salience and motivational salience) to normative samples. High appearance investment and dietary restraint were significantly related to a greater number of pre-wedding beauty, diet, and exercise regimes. Furthermore, pre-wedding plans were predicted differently by the two facets of appearance investment. Specifically, self-evaluative salience predicted wedding weight discrepancy, while motivational salience was a significant predictor of both appearance-related and exercise/eating behaviors. Results indicate that reducing the focus on appearance surrounding weddings and promoting a healthier bridal weight ideal may be useful in discouraging harmful appearance altering behaviors and attitudes (e.g., tanning, surgery, desire to lose weight) among women with high appearance investment.     

Negation on the Australian Plan

Journal of Philosophical Logic - We present and defend the Australian Plan semantics for negation. This is a comprehensive account, suitable for a variety of different logics. It is based on two...     

The dialectic of Australian Catholic education

Australian Catholic schools are enjoying extensive popularity, with schools in general experiencing maximum enrolment capacities. The irony in this phenomenon is that Catholics are being attracted to non‐Catholic schools, and many non‐Catholics are seeking enrolment in Catholic schools. Moreover, the vast majority of Catholics in Catholic schools (parents, students, teachers) are not practising and those that do often hold a plurality of views in faith and morals that are inconsistent with Church teaching. Given this reality, the aims of the Australian Catholic school need to be re‐examined.     

Publication rates of Australian academic psychologists

This study focused on publication rates of Australian academic psychologists. A random selection of 12 of the 36 Australian universities with psychology programs produced a total of 272 academics with the academic ranks of lecturer, senior lecturer, associate professor, or professor. A search of the PsycINFO database provided lists of publications for each academic. Using all listed publications except corrections and dissertations, the search found approximately a doubling pattern for number of publications going up each step of the rank ladder. Academics from universities that are members of the research‐intensive Group of Eight universities had significantly higher publication averages at every rank than academics at other universities. Male academics had higher publication rates than female academics, but gender differences accounted for only a small amount of variance in the number of publications. The publication rates have potential value in allowing academic psychologists to compare their publication rate with that of their peers, in helping universities make hiring and promotion decisions, and in helping organisations that provide research grants evaluate the publications records of grant applicants.     

Workaholism and divorce among Australian psychologists

A study of Australian psychologists compared scores on workaholism components among those who were divorced and those who were married. No differences were found.     

Subminimal Negation on the Australian Plan

Journal of Philosophical Logic - Frame semantics for negation on the Australian Plan accommodates many different negations, but it falls short on accommodating subminimal negation when the language...     

Gender role stereotyping in Australian radio commercials

Most previous research into gender role stereotypes in the mass media has concentrated on television or print. Only one content analysis (Furnham & Schofield, 1986) has examined radio content, finding patterns of bias in British radio commercials consistent with, though less marked than, those in television commercials. The present study sought to determine whether similar patterns obtain in another Western country’s radio commercials collected approximately a decade later. Over 100 Australian radio ads were content analyzed, and results very similar to those of the earlier study were obtained. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for studies of gender role development and audience reactions to media content. We are grateful to Elyse Frankel and Jason Low for assistance in data coding and checking, and to two anonymous reviewers for constructive commentaries on an earlier version.