RESILIENCE IN LOW-INCOME, EMPLOYED, AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN

This study focuses on resilience in poor women and asks the question: In the face of a lifetime of adversity, stress, and poverty, what are the factors that enable some poor women to lead positive and productive lives? Fifty low-income, urban, African American women were interviewed, and factors that contribute to their resilience were explored. Specifically, we examined the influence of supportive and problematic social ties, downward social comparison, and self-efficacy on resilience, as measured by scales designed to assess well-being. In addition, the participants' perceptions of factors that contribute to their resilience were elicited. The women in the sample were between the ages of 19 and 54, were employed at least 20 hours per week, and had at least one child below the age of 13 at home. Multiple regression analyses revealed that problematic social ties and downward social comparison together predicted over 48% of the variance in resilience.     

作为非洲人的美洲黑人

我是谁 ?有一天 ,一只刚出壳的小鹰在它的母亲飞过一个养鸡场时从它母亲的爪子中跌落下来。这只小鹰在这个养鸡场和小鸡一起长大 ,接受了小鸡的习惯和行为。它像小鸡那样吃食 ,像小鸡那样走路 ,而且像周围的小鸡那样过日常生活。有一天 ,一只老鹰飞过鸡场 ,也许是一只母鹰在寻找这只失去的小鹰。这只老鹰停歇在一根树枝上向下看着养鸡场 ,看到了这只从母亲爪子中跌落的小鹰。老鹰向小鹰喊道 :“小鹰 ,你能听见我吗 ?”小鹰心想自己是一只小鸡 ,所以没有回答树上老鹰的呼唤。然而 ,老鹰继续在叫它 :“喂 ,下面的小鹰。”最后 ,鸡场里的小鹰心…     

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF WOMEN AND CONSERVATISM

Although one goal of the psychology of women has been to enhance the status of women through social change, this goal has seldom been realized. Theory and research in the psychology of women have focused on gender differences and the personality of women rather than the society that oppresses women. As a result, this research has tended to blame women for their position in society and helped maintain the status quo, which can inhibit the struggle for equality by the women's movement. This process is demonstrated with reference to research on women and achievement. The causes and consequences of the focus on gender differences are discussed and recommendations made for a psychology of women in the service of women.     

THE DISEMPOWERING EFFECTS OF MEDIA VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN ON COLLEGE WOMEN

This study investigated the disempowering effect of exposure to media violence against women on female students. An initial study involving 284 female students described the development and evaluation of two forms of a scale measuring disempowerment. The second study investigated the effect of media violence using a Solomon Four-Group experimental design. Fifty-seven female students were divided into four groups that were shown video clips depicting scenes of violence directed either toward female or male victims. Half the groups completed the first form of the disempowerment scale prior to the viewing. All groups completed the second form of the scale after the viewing. Analysis confirmed that completion of the pretest scale did not differentially affect the participants viewing the female-victim clips. The results of the main analysis revealed that exposure to media aggression against women heightens feelings of disempowerment in female viewers.     

APPEARANCE SELF-ATTITUDES OF AFRICAN AMERICAN AND EUROPEAN AMERICAN WOMEN: MEDIA COMPARISONS AND INTERNALIZATION OF BEAUTY IDEALS

African American (AA) women have reported less body image disturbance than European American (EA) women, but questions remain about the nature and extent of this difference. This study examined differences in the body image of 80 AA women and 89 EA women with an improved methodology that controlled for body size, distinguished between satisfaction with and importance of body features, and included nonweight (e.g., hair texture, skin color) as well as weight-related features. Results provide evidence that, in contrast to AA women, EA women (a) were more dissatisfied with both weight and specific appearance features, (b) compared themselves more often to media beauty figures and internalized Western beauty standards more, and (c) showed a significant relation between media comparisons and body dissatisfaction. Internalization of Western beauty ideals was related to body dissatisfaction in both groups of women.     

THE ORIGINS AND ACTIVITIES OF APA's DIVISION OF THE PSYCHOLOGY OF WOMEN

The activities of APA's Division of the Psychology of Women are traced from the origins of the Division in 1973 to the present. Division 35 evolved in response to pressures relating to the status of women in psychology as well as concerns about the content and practice of the psychology of women. The Division has fostered significant research on the psychology of women, been an important organizing base for women psychologists in their quest for visibility and influence, and provided institutional sup-port for issues of diversity in psychology and society.     

THE EFFECT OF QUALITY CIRCLE INITIATION ON MOTIVATION TO ATTEND QUALITY CIRCLE MEETINGS AND ON TASK PERFORMANCE

The motivation to attend quality circle (QC) meetings and the task performance of 47 quality circles over a three-year period were examined as a function of quality circle initiation (self- vs. management-initiated) in a field study. Motivation to attend meetings was operationally defined as the number of members per QC (QC size) and the attendance rate at QC meetings. Task performance reflected the number of projects completed and the amount of time required to complete the project. The results of a MANOVA suggested that QC initiation had significant impacts on motivation to attend meetings in that self-initiated QCs had more QC members than had management-initiated QCs. Further, management-initiated QCs solved more work-related problems and solved their problems significantly faster than did self-initiated QCs. The effect of QC initiation on the number of projects completed failed to reach significance, however, when QC size was controlled as a covariate. Further, a high attendance rate at QC meetings was associated with a low quantity of projects completed in self-initiated QCs and a slow speed of problem solving in management-initiated QCs. Some implications related to the effectiveness of QCs are discussed.     

DIONYSIUS AND SOME LATE MEDIEVAL MYSTICAL THEOLOGIANS OF NORTHERN EUROPE

Though the authority of Dionysius as a virtually apostolic theological source remains unchallenged in the late Middle Ages, ownership of his inheritance is much disputed, in connection with two issues of “mystical theology” principally. The first controversy (broadly between “Intellectualist” and “affectivist” readings of Dionysius' Mystical Theology) concerns whether the soul, united to God by grace, is made one with God principally by knowledge or by love. The second controversy is well exemplified by the disagreement between Jean Gerson and Denys the Carthusian as to whether Ruusbroec's account of the nature of that union of the soul with God amounts to a heretical extinction of the identity of the created soul. But both Gerson's critique of Ruusbroec and Denys the Carthusian's rebuttal of it are equally superficial, and the theologies of Eckhart and Nicholas of Cusa show why: Eckhart and Cusa retained, while Gerson and Denys had lost, their grip on the “dialectics” of “sameness” and “difference” expounded in Mystical Theology.