A cross-culture study of wife abuse

A study of correlates of the incidence of wife beating in primitive societies indicated that it was found to be more common in societies in which brutality and cruelty were more common. In addition, wife beating was more common in societies in which the status of women was considerably inferior to the status of males. Societies with a high incidence of wife beating also had a high divorce rate.     

Female suicide and wife abuse: a cross-cultural perspective

Data from a number of societies, including North America, indicate that wife abuse may be one of the most significant precipitants of female suicide. Anthropological analysis indicates that in some societies female suicide is a culturally recognized behavior that enables the weak to influence the strong and/or take revenge on those who oppress them. Case studies from West New Britain Province in Papua New Guinea and comparisons with data from other societies suggest that if a woman's support group does not defend her when she is the victim of violence that passes the bounds of normative behavior, her suicide may be revenge suicide, intended to force others to take vengeance on the abusive husband. Research focused on the relationship between domestic violence and female suicide should be a priority of anthropologists as well as suicidologists.     

Self-esteem as a predictor of attitudes toward wife abuse among Muslim women and men in Canada

This study was designed (a) to assess attitudes toward wife abuse in a sample of Muslim women and men in Canada and (b) to assess whether those attitudes were influenced by self-esteem. Results suggested that, as in general North American samples, the Muslim women and men did not differ from each other on levels of self-esteem. Also consistent with general North American samples, the Muslim women's and men's attitudes toward wife abuse were related to their self-esteem, with higher self-esteem scores predicting stronger attitudes against wife abuse, independent of gender. However, the results also revealed that the Muslim men had significantly more lenient attitudes toward wife abuse compared with the Muslim women and with North American norms.     

Work stressors, Chinese coping strategies, and job performance in Greater China

The aim of this research was to jointly test effects of work stressors and coping strategies on job performance among employees in the Greater China region. A self-administered survey was conducted to collect data from three major cities in the region, namely Beijing, Hong Kong, and Taipei (N = 380). Four important work stressors were assessed: heavy workload, organizational constraints, lack of work autonomy, and interpersonal conflict. We used a four-factor model of Chinese coping strategies composed of hobbies/relaxation, active action, seeking social support, and passive adaptation. Job performance was indicated by both task performance (quantity of work, quality of work, job knowledge) and contextual performance (attendance, getting along with others). We found that: (1) work stressors were related to job performance. Specifically, workload had a positive relation with quantity of work, whereas organizational constraints had negative relations with quantity of work and attendance. In addition, interpersonal conflict had a negative relation with getting along with others. (2) Chinese positive coping strategies were positively related to job performance. Specifically, seeking social support had positive relations with quantity of work and getting along with others, whereas active action had positive relations with attendance and job knowledge. (3) Chinese passive adaptation coping behaviors were negatively related to job performance. Specifically, passive adaptation had negative relations with quantity of work, quality of work, and getting along with others. The present study thus found joint effects of work stressors and coping behaviors among Chinese employees in the Greater China region, encompassing three sub-societies of mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Differential effects of Chinese positive and passive coping strategies were also noted. Most importantly, all these effects were demonstrated on multiple indicators of job performance, a rarely studied but important strain variable from the organizational point of view.     

Attributions related to wife abuse: A comparison of the perceptions of volunteer advocate-counselors and marriage and family therapists

Attributions related to wife abuse held by advocate-counselors working in women's shelter home settings and marriage and family therapists were compared. The major finding was that the two groups were surprisingly similar in their attributions even though their theoretical backgrounds and training were considerably different. Implications for practice and training are presented.     

The legitimation of wife abuse among women: The impact of belief in a just world and gender identification

Past research has found that when victims are ingroup members, observers’ social identification interacts with general belief in a just world (GBJW) to predict judgments about those victims. In this correlational study (N = 284 women, ages from 18 to 80) we aimed to test whether and how women’s explicit endorsement of BJW, both personal belief in a just world (PBJW) and GBJW, interacts with their identification as women to predict wife abuse legitimization.We predicted and found that the interaction between PBJW and social identification predicted legitimization of wife abuse. Specifically, for highly identified women, PBJW was positively associated with wife abuse legitimization, for less identified women, PBJW was not associated with wife abuse legitimization. This interaction was significant above and beyond other variables associated with this phenomenon: hostile and benevolent sexism, empathy (cognitive and emotional), and social desirability. On the contrary, the interaction between GBJW and social identification was a nonsignificant predictor of legitimization of wife abuse. These results contribute to reconceptualize the role of PBJW and GBJW on judgments about victims and to highlight the importance of considering the victimization situations in the social context and the social groups in which they actually occur.     

The transvestite and his wife

This study reports the analysis of a transvestite man through focusing on his marital interaction and his wife's complementary behavior to his perversion. In his marriage, this patient dramatically recapitulated many of his infantile core conflicts, fixations, and traumas associated with his cross-dressing. These were: (1) the marital crisis which brought him into analysis and its associations with his split gender identifications; (2) his wife's ability to force him into cross-dressing on cue; (3) the extent to which his cross-dressing was dependent on the degree of psychic separateness he felt from his wife; and (4) his and his wife's complementary transvestite fantasies. Both this man and his wife's attempted to use their marriage as a cure for resolving their complementary transvestite problem. The extent to which they were able to accomplish this before the husband's "breakdown" (brought about by the wife's affair) was examined. The nature of his transvestite transference--what was termed his "John Wayne transference"--provided him with the ideal vehicle for the transferential working-through of the many aspects of his transvestite pathology. The continuance of a strong positive and unanalyzed transference after the formal end of the analysis was commented upon.     

Work and nonwork stressors,negative affective states,and pain complaints among firefighters and paramedics

Prior research has suggested that occupational stressors may contribute to the etiology, progression, and chronicity of pain problems in workers. This study used anonymous survey methods to assess the prevalence and frequency of self-reported pain symptoms and their relationships to demographic variables, sources of occupational stressors, nonwork stressors and affective distress in a large sample (N2000) of employed career public sector firefighters and paramedics. The findings were consistent with those of previous studies of high strain workers. More than 95% of the firefighter/paramedic sample reported at least one pain complaint (using a 1 week assessment time frame). A hierarchical multiple regression analysis entering demographic, occupational, and nonwork stressors, as well as measures of negative affective states targeting total pain scores, yielded significant relationships. Five occupational stressors were associated with respondent pain complaints. The results also suggest that negative affective states mediated the relationships between work and nonwork variables, and pain complaint outcomes. The implications of these findings for the development of preventive interventions for firefighters and paramedics as well as other emergency service workers are considered.     

Work social supports, role stressors, and work-family conflict: The moderating effect of age

The current study examined whether important distinctions are masked if participant age is ignored when modeling relationships among constructs associated with the work-family interface. An initial omnibus model of social support, work role stressors, and work-family conflict was tested. Multiple groups analyses were then conducted to investigate possible age differences in the patterns of relationships among these constructs for three age groups (28 and under, 29-45, and 46 and older). Several constructs in the model, including role stressors, social support, and work-family conflict, demonstrated mean level differences across the three age groups. Of greater significance, the relationships of some sources of social support and work-family conflict with other constructs in the model differed as a function of age group. Results suggest that conclusions drawn from the omnibus model take on a slightly different and more complicated meaning in the multiple groups analysis. These results have implications for how future research on the work-family interface should be conducted.     

“鬼妻”事件引起的思考

最近,时见报端及因特网有关娶"鬼妻"或配阴婚(所谓娶"鬼妻"或配阴婚,就是为死亡的单身男子配一个女人,双方以夫妻名义合葬)在一些农村地区盛行的报道,让人感到不安。     

Farm stressors

The first section of this paper examines stressors in farm environments. The literature discussed concerns questionnaire surveys of general farm stressors, familial stressors in farm environments, such as role incongruence and conflict, and extrafamilial farm stressors. The discussion of extrafamilial stressors emphasizes financial stressors and the current farm financial crisis. Based on the implications of the farm stressor literature, the second section of the paper considers directions that community psychologists and others might take in working in farm areas. These directions are considered in terms of different types of programs aimed at preventing or alleviating farm financial stress.