Are There Gender Differences in the Relationship Between Academic Performance and Social Behavior?

A growing body of research suggests that peer-related communication skills and experiences may facilitate academic achievement, especially in the college environment. However, there is substantial evidence that men and women differ in peer-related interaction skills and patterns, suggesting that there may be gender differences in the relationship between academic performance and interaction with peers. Thus far, only one study has systematically examined this gender difference: that of Nezlek, Wheeler, and Rets. In their 1990 work, they reported data that they interpreted as supporting the existence of gender differences in the relationship between the scholastic performance of college students and aspects of their social interactions. The current article presents a reanalysis of their data, snowing that there are no gender differences in the relationship between academic achievement and social participation. This article also reports a study assessing gender differences in relationships between academic performance and loneliness, communication skills, and social acceptance. Participants (208 college students) completed the revised UCLA loneliness scale, tasks assessing five communication skills, and sociometric measures providing multiple indices of social acceptance. Cumulative grade point averages (GPAs) were obtained from the university registrar. Although several significant associations were detected between CPA and the loneliness and communication skill measures, no gender differences in the associations were found. The results are discussed in terms of relationships between the orientations that students exhibit toward peers and their studies.     

Depressed Adolescents and Comorbid Psychiatric Disorders: Are There Differences in the Presentation of Depression?

Patterns and correlates of comorbidity, as well as differences in manifest depressive profiles were investigated in a sample of depressed adolescents. A sub-sample of the youth were characterized as belonging to either a Pure depression group, an Internalizing group (depression and co-occurring internalizing disorders), or an Externalizing group (depression and co-occurring externalizing disorders). Item response theory (IRT) and differential item functioning (DIF) were used to assess whether the depressed adolescents from the different comorbidity groups presented with different depressive symptoms. Results indicated that the comorbidity groups were meaningfully distinct in terms of psychosocial correlates as well as showed differences in depressive symptom profiles as informed by DIF analyses. In particular, the comorbidity groups differed in terms of presentation of psychomotor changes and cognitive impairments. Implications for assessment are discussed.

Are There Specific Relationships Between Symptom Patterns and Interpersonal Problems Among Psychiatric Outpatients?

Associations between symptoms and interpersonal problems, assessed with the Symptom Checklist–90 (SCL–90–R) and the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems–64-item version (IIP–64), are examined in a large psychiatric outpatient sample. On the basis of the IIP–64 scores, the sample was divided into 8 subgroups, made up of different types of predominant interpersonal problems. These octant groups were used as independent variables in analyses testing hypothesized associations with symptom subscales of the SCL–90–R. In general, strong associations between symptoms and interpersonal problems were found. In addition, hostile and paranoid ideation symptoms displayed significant differences among octant groups, and were associated with interpersonal problems of the vindictive/self-centered kind. Phobic anxiety was associated with interpersonal problems of the socially inhibited kind. Assessing specific combinations of symptoms and interpersonal problems might be useful in treatment planning and evaluation.     

Korean American Adolescents’ Depression and Religiousness/Spirituality: Are There Gender Differences?

The purpose of this study was to examine depression and religiousness/spirituality (R/S) in Korean American adolescents with an interest in exploring gender differences. The sample consisted of 182 adolescents attending ethnic Catholic churches in the NY and NJ metropolitan area. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale, and R/S was measured by the Brief Multidimensional Measure of Religiousness/Spirituality. Results suggest no gender difference in depression, but a high rate of depression in both genders. Additionally, girls showed higher levels of Forgiveness and boys showed higher levels of Negative Religious Coping. Further, we found four R/S variables are associated with depression in each gender: Daily Spiritual Experiences, Forgiveness, Positive Religious Coping, and Negative Religious Coping for girls; and Forgiveness, Negative Religious Coping, Congregational Support, and Overall Self-Ranking for boys. Lastly, the four R/S variables together explained 20 % and 23 % of the variance in depression for boys and girls, respectively, with Forgiveness and Negative Religious Coping remaining significant for girls, and Negative Religious Coping staying significant for boys. The current findings are discussed along with limitations and directions for future research, and clinical implications.     

Are There Gender Differences in Emotion Comprehension? Analysis of the Test of Emotion Comprehension

This article examines whether there are gender differences in understanding the emotions evaluated by the Test of Emotion Comprehension (TEC). The TEC provides a global index of emotion comprehension in children 3–11 years of age, which is the sum of the nine components that constitute emotion comprehension: (1) recognition of facial expressions, (2) understanding of external causes of emotions, (3) understanding of desire-based emotions, (4) understanding of belief-based emotions, (5) understanding of the influence of a reminder on present emotional states, (6) understanding of the possibility to regulate emotional states, (7) understanding of the possibility of hiding emotional states, (8) understanding of mixed emotions, and (9) understanding of moral emotions. We used the answers to the TEC given by 172 English girls and 181 boys from 3 to 8 years of age. First, the nine components into which the TEC is subdivided were analysed for differential item functioning (DIF), taking gender as the grouping variable. To evaluate DIF, the Mantel–Haenszel method and logistic regression analysis were used applying the Educational Testing Service DIF classification criteria. The results show that the TEC did not display gender DIF. Second, when absence of DIF had been corroborated, it was analysed for differences between boys and girls in the total TEC score and its components controlling for age. Our data are compatible with the hypothesis of independence between gender and level of comprehension in 8 of the 9 components of the TEC. Several hypotheses are discussed that could explain the differences found between boys and girls in the belief component. Given that the Belief component is basically a false belief task, the differences found seem to support findings in the literature indicating that girls perform better on this task     

Are There Sex Differences in Interpersonal Perception at Zero Acquaintance? A Social Relations Analysis

This study used Kenny's (1994) Social Relations Model to examine sex differences in interpersonal perception among strangers. In the study, 25 groups of 4 male and 4 female college students who had been previously unacquainted rated themselves and each other on traits representing each of the Big Five personality factors. Consistent with previous studies, participants demonstrated high levels of consensus and self–other agreement for sociability. There were few sex differences in the process of perception at zero acquaintance (i.e., there were similar levels of consensus and self–other agreement regardless of the sex of the perceiver or the target). However, there were noteworthy sex differences in the content of these perceptions; women were rated as more cheerful, responsible, and intelligent than men, and compared to men, women rated others as more sociable and cheerful.     

Are There Atheists in Foxholes? Combat Intensity and Religious Behavior

After battle, the moral and mortality stresses influence different soldiers in different ways. Using two large-scale surveys of World War II veterans, this research investigates the impact of combat on religiosity. Study 1 shows that as combat became more frightening, the percentage of soldiers who reported praying rose from 42 to 72 %. Study 2 shows that 50 years later, many soldiers still exhibited religious behavior, but it varied by their war experience. Soldiers who faced heavy combat (vs. no combat) attended church 21 % more often if they claimed their war experience was negative, but those who claimed their experience was positive attended 26 % less often. The more a combat veteran disliked the war, the more religious they were 50 years later. While implications for counselors, clergy, support groups, and health practitioners are outlined, saying there are no atheists in foxholes may be less of an argument against atheism than it is against foxholes.     

What Are the Main Differences Between Behavioral and Systems Therapy with Couples? A Critical Account

This paper describes the main differences between behavioral and systems therapy with couples. To improve clinical decision making for a given case, the theoretical assumptions of the chosen treatment approach need to be clearly understood. Contrasting the two approaches will assist couple therapists in providing clinical services that better reflect the chosen theoretical framework. This paper reviews the common elements that can be found across models. A case example is presented to demonstrate the use of the therapy's theories and techniques.     

Pigeons and Children: What Are the Differences?

The Psychological Record -     

Are There Any Rules?

The ``model of rules' that Ronald Dworkin attacks is an absurdmodel of law, if rules are taken to be standards that have nounspecified counterinstances, and whose application isalways uncontroversial. Dworkin gives good reason to thinkthat there are no such standards or virtually none in (e.g.)English law. But the model of rules is not misconceived, asDworkin claims. Rather, it needs a better understanding of the idea of a rule. I argue that the view that the law of a community is a system of rules needs to meet an importantchallenge that Dworkin has raised for jurisprudence: to accountfor the fact that legal rights and duties are frequentlycontroversial. I give an account of social rules thatexplains why controversy over their application in particularcases is common, and can be deep. So controversy gives noreason to reject the model of rules.     

Are There Distinctively Moral Reasons?

A dogma of contemporary normative theorizing holds that some reasons are distinctively moral while others are not. Call this view Reasons Pluralism. This essay looks at four approaches to vindicating the apparent distinction between moral and non-moral reasons. In the end, however, all are found wanting. Though not dispositive, the failure of these approaches supplies strong evidence that the dogma of Reasons Pluralism is ill-founded.     

Are There Enough Injective Sets?

The axiom of choice ensures precisely that, in ZFC, every set is projective: that is, a projective object in the category of sets. In constructive ZF (CZF) the existence of enough projective sets has been discussed as an additional axiom taken from the interpretation of CZF in Martin-Löf’s intuitionistic type theory. On the other hand, every non-empty set is injective in classical ZF, which argument fails to work in CZF. The aim of this paper is to shed some light on the problem whether there are (enough) injective sets in CZF. We show that no two element set is injective unless the law of excluded middle is admitted for negated formulas, and that the axiom of power set is required for proving that “there are strongly enough injective sets”. The latter notion is abstracted from the singleton embedding into the power set, which ensures enough injectives both in every topos and in IZF. We further show that it is consistent with CZF to assume that the only injective sets are the singletons. In particular, assuming the consistency of CZF one cannot prove in CZF that there are enough injective sets. As a complement we revisit the duality between injective and projective sets from the point of view of intuitionistic type theory.     

How Close Are We? Measuring Intimacy and Examining Gender Differences

Many theorists agree that intimacy is a multidimensional concept consisting of several specific components: love and affection, personal validation, trust, and self‐disclosure. In this investigation, the authors tried to determine if 3 popular intimacy measures actually assess these 4 components and to see if women and men differ in their experiences of intimacy. Three hundred and sixty undergraduates completed the Miller Social Intimacy Scale (R. S. Miller & H. M. Lefcourt, 1982), the Personal Assessment of Intimacy in Relationships Scale (M. T. Schaefer & D. H. Olson, 1981), and the Fear of Intimacy Scale (C. J. Descutner & M. H. Thelen, 1991). Results of factor analyses supported the 4 specific components of intimacy. Multivariate analysis of variance results corroborated that women and men did vary in their experiences of intimacy.     

Are Gender Differences in Basic Human Values a Generational Phenomenon?

The Schwartz Value Survey (SVS) was administered to 979 Canadian knowledge workers to determine whether differences in value priorities between men and women differed significantly between members of the Baby Boomer generation and members of Generation X. Multivariate analysis of covariance controlling for education, income, and scale use revealed a significant gender-by-generation interaction, which signifies that the patterns of differences between men's and women's value priorities were different for Baby Boomers and Generation Xers. Four of the 10 SVS value types (i.e., power, tradition, universalism, and achievement) were associated with both gender and generation. A number of other value types were associated solely with generation. The findings suggest that both gender and generation are important variables in the study of values and should not be considered in isolation of each other.     

Are There Stable Factors in Preadolescent Girls’ Externalizing Behaviors?

Relatively little is known about the factor structure of disruptive behavior among preadolescent girls. The present study reports on exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of disruptive girl behavior over four successive data waves as rated by parents and teachers in a large, representative community sample of girls (N = 2,451). Five factors were identified from parent ratings (oppositional behavior/conduct problems, inattention, hyperactivity/impulsivity, relational aggression, and callous-unemotional behaviors), and four factors were identified derived from teacher ratings (oppositional behavior/conduct problems/callous-unemotional behaviors, inattention, hyperactivityimpulsivity, and relational aggression). There was a high degree of consistency of items loading on equivalent factors across parent and teacher ratings. Year-to-year stability of factors between ages five and 12 was high for parent ratings (ICC = 0.70 to 0.88), and slightly lower for teacher ratings (ICC = 0.56 to 0.83). These findings are discussed in terms of possible adjustment to the criteria for children's disruptive behavior disorders found in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders.

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Mother-to-Daughter Disclosure After Divorce: Are There Costs and Benefits?

To investigate the association between post-divorce mother-to-daughter disclosure regarding sensitive topics and adolescent daughters' adjustment and closeness to mother, we collected data from 62 adolescent girls within the first two years after their mother's divorce. Analyses revealed that most mothers in the current sample have disclosed to their daughters to some degree about the five sensitive topic areas studied. In accordance with structural family systems theory, we found that detailed mother-to-daughter disclosures regarding financial concerns, negativity toward ex-husband, job ups-and-downs, and personal concerns were clearly associated with greater daughter psychological distress, but not with greater feelings of mother-daughter closeness, as existing retrospective research would have predicted. Daughters' worrying about their mothers explained (mediated) the link between maternal disclosure and daughter's distress to some extent. We discuss methodological issues as well as the valuable contributions that future, more contextualized research could make to understanding the conditions under which detailed mother-to-adolescent disclosure may be more or less risky.