Self-Ratings and Projected Ratings of Sex Role Attitudes

To ascertain the veridicality of projected attitudes toward sex role behavior, 74 male and 74 female undergraduates filled out the Attitudes Toward Women Scale (AWS) using three different targets: self, typical female classmate, and typical male classmate. Analyses of variance on respondents' total AWS scores and on the six AWS subscale scores showed significant interactions between sex of respondent and sex of target for all seven variables. Since the directions of the interactions were not consistent across subscales, the results indicated the methodological necessity of using measurements which examine a variety of specific subclasses of sex role behaviors (rather than using unidimensional scale or total test scores) when stereotypic sex role attitudes are sought. In general, both sexes were found to have a fairly accurate perception of women's attitudes, but both sexes consistently perceived the typical male as more conservative than the male self-ratings justified.     

Should men treat women? Dilemmas for the male psychotherapist: psychoanalytic and developmental perspectives

A spate of sexual abuse cases predominantly involving male psychotherapists with female patients as their victims raises serious questions about the ethics of cross-gender therapeutic dyads. Although such abusive situations must be highlighted as ethically aberrant, they may well represent a type of intrusive harm or hostile neglect which ensues on a continuum in the psychotherapeutic treatment of many female patients by male clinicians. I argue that the difficulties for men in empathically understanding women stem not only from certain misconceptions about women's development but especially stem from a paucity of understanding concerning men's psychology, a dearth of gender-sensitive information about the differences between boy's and girl's/men's and women's development, and a consequent difficulty for male psychotherapists to engage in the type of productive self-analysis that would ameliorate this gender-biased myopia. Recent psychoanalytically oriented child development/family research and innovative revisions of psychoanalytic theory are used to highlight some of the often overlooked, yet salient aspects of men's development as it is differentiated from women's. Specifically addressed is the possibility of a male, gender-linked vulnerability for a normative traumatic abrogation of the early holding environment with predictable sequelae in later intimate relationships, including the psychotherapeutic encounter. As the "confusion of tongues" between men's and women's development comes to light, is translated, and is empathically understood, new hope may be found for male therapists and their patients. An opportunity for enhanced therapeutic efficacy within an ethical and genuinely caring depth psychology may then be generated.     

Inferring sexual interest from behavioral cues: Effects of gender and sexually relevant attitudes

Research has found that men impute more sexual meaning to others' behavior than do women. However, little research has examined the possibility that men and women share perceptions of the sexual connotativeness of certain behaviors but diverge in their perceptions of other behaviors. In Study 1, 162 male and 186 female undergraduates, predominantly Caucasian, rated the degree to which each of 27 behaviors of male and female targets connoted a desire for sexual intercourse. Multivariate analyses of variance revealed that, whereas men perceived all but two of the female target behaviors more sexually than women, men and women differed in their perceptions of the sexual connotativeness of only about half of the male target behaviors. A factor analysis revealed three factors for both male and female target behaviors, reflecting mundane dating behaviors, romantic behaviors, and sexual behaviors. Relative to women, men perceived only the mundane dating behaviors more sexually, although regression analyses showed these effects to be moderated by subjects' attitudes toward women. Study 2 examined the extent to which sexually relevant attitudes (e.g., sex role stereotyping, adversarial sexual beliefs, and rape myth acceptance) moderate subjects' perceptions of the sexual connotativeness of the behaviors. Men, particularly those who endorsed traditional, sexually relevant attitudes, were more likely than women to impute sexual meaning to the behaviors. The implications of this for dating situations are discussed.The author wishes to thank Mark Leary and two anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions on earlier versions of this article.     

A Decade of Feminist Influence on Psychotherapy

The last decade has seen some major impacts of feminism on the institution of psychotherapy regarding theories, treatment techniques, and assessment instruments. The changes in attitudes toward women as therapists and as clients have reflected the general advances of the women's movement in that women clients are more likely to seek women therapists and to receive treatments specifically developed for crises affecting women such as rape, pregnancy and domestic violence. The difficulties in designing empirical studies to demonstrate bias in psychotherapy have resulted in a confusing state of the art because only the higher-order interactions have consistently been significant. Attempts of some women to resist changes brought about by the women's movement and the apathy and levity of others have also presented problems in the path of progress. However, movement toward the long-range goal is encouraging when one compares the writing on women and psychotherapy in recent professional journals with examples from the 1960s.     

EFFECTS OF WOMEN'S STUDIES COURSES ON GENDER-RELATED ATTITUDES OF WOMEN AND MEN

Attitudes about feminism, gender equality, and gender differences were assessed for male and female students enrolled in three women's studies courses and four control courses at the beginning and end of an academic semester. Compared to control students, women's studies students agreed more with feminist and equality items, and disagreed more with gender difference items, at the beginning of the term. Nonetheless, belief in gender differences decreased among men, but not women, enrolled in women's studies courses. Additionally, women's studies courses produced increased feminist attitudes among women, but decreased feminist attitudes among the small sample of men in the study.     

Relationship between sex-role attitudes and attitudes toward violence among incarcerated male juvenile offenders

The purpose was to investigate the relationship between sex-role attitudes, as measured by the Attitudes Toward Women Scale for Adolescents, and attitudes toward violence, as measured by the Attitudes Toward Violence Survey, among 81 incarcerated male juvenile delinquents. No association was found between sex-role attitudes and sensitivity toward violence; however, a statistically significant relationship emerged between sex-role attitudes and propensity toward violence. Specifically, offenders who reported the most traditional attitudes toward women's rights and roles were more apt to report that they would engage in violent acts if they were certain of not being punished. Implications are discussed.     

Clients’ perceptions of personal psychotherapy or counselling for therapists

The purpose of this study was to examine clients’ opinions of therapists’ personal use of psychotherapy or counselling. Participants in this study, a nationwide sample of clients recruited through Amazon’s MTurk system, were asked to complete an online survey assessing their attitudes towards treatment use by therapists as well as their general attitudes towards psychological help-seeking and perceptions of stigma (social and self) with psychological treatments. In this study, we found that clients generally had positive views about therapists’ personal use of psychotherapy or counselling. Although overall positive attitudes were found, the results from repeated measures ANOVAs indicated that attitudes depended somewhat on whether the therapist had sought out treatment as part of a training requirement for self-enrichment, or for the treatment of a psychological problem. In addition, participating clients were less supportive of therapists disclosing a treatment use history with their clients. Regression analyses also indicated that attitudes towards treatment use by therapists were significantly predicted by general help-seeking attitudes and perceptions of stigma (social and self), but attitudes towards disclosure were not. The findings from this study have important implications regarding therapist treatment use and disclosure in practice.     

Accuracy and Bias in Stereotypes about the Social and Political Attitudes of Women and Men

In three experiments examining the accuracy of gender stereotypes about attitudes, male and female participants estimated the attitudes of men or women on items that had been administered in the General Social Survey to assess attitudes on social and political issues. Demonstrating moderate stereotypic accuracy were correlations between (a) participants' estimates of these attitudes and (b) the criterion attitudes of male and female survey respondents and sex differences in the criterion attitudes. Nevertheless, analyses of discrepancies between the estimated and criterion attitudes revealed a systematic bias by which participants consistently underestimated men's support for female-stereotypic positions on issues. Further analyses of these data suggested that this error rose from perceptions that men would oppose policies that favored women's interests. In contrast, perceived female group interest functioned as a cue to accuracy in estimating women's attitudes.     

The effects of ethnicity and perceived power on women's sexual behavior

To aid development of programs to prevent HIV transmission in women, differences in sexual attitudes and behavior were examined among women who described themselves as dominant in their relationship with a male partner, sharing dominance equally with a male partner, or being dominated by a male partner. Ethnic differences were also examined among these three groups. Results indicated that perceived dominance was a significant predictor of women's personal empowerment (self-efficacy and outcome expectancies) with regard to sexual decision-making in their current relationship and safer sex behaviors. Ethnic differences were found between African American and White women in personal empowerment and safer sex behavior. Perceived dominance did not appear to affect African American and White women differently.     

Death of a Clinician: The Personal, Practical and Clinical Implications of Therapist Mortality

Death is inevitable and yet in US culture the discussion of death is somewhat taboo. Marriage and Family therapists are trained in the implications of grief and loss for clients who lose loved ones and yet examination of the impact of therapist mortality on clients is lacking in the clinical literature. This article examines ways that private practice therapists can both protect their client’s confidentiality and mitigate the impact of therapist sudden death on their clients with planning and forethought. In addition, the factors influencing the lack of empirical research on this topic is discussed in the context of social mores on death and how therapists’ own denial of mortality may impact their ability to connect with clients through the pain of grief and loss. Recommendations are made for therapists to evaluate their own attitudes towards mortality and develop a plan for client care in the event of their death.     

Body attitudes and eating behaviors of female clothing sales personnel

Recent research suggests that social standards for ideal female beauty are related to negative body-image and dieting among young women. We hypothesized that women who work in settings that emphasize physical appearance (women's fashion clothing sales) would have more disturbed body attitudes and eating behaviors than college women. Sales personnel (n = 21) and students (n = 25) answered questions about their occupational status, weight, and demographic characteristics, and completed the Body-esteem Scale and the Eating Disorder Inventory. Weight and scores on the two scales were similar in both groups except that sales personnel reported more dissatisfaction with their body parts on the Body dissatisfaction scale of the Eating Disorder Inventory. Among sales personnel, those who perceived their appearance to be of greater importance in their work also reported more concern about dieting and weight, as reflected on the Drive for thinness subscale of the Eating Disorder Inventory. Results are discussed with regard to situational influences on women's body attitudes and their implications for eating behaviors.     

Feminist ideology as a predictor of body dissatisfaction in women

A relationship between feminist attitudes and body satisfaction has been suggested in the literature, but has received no empirical support. Multiple regression analyses were performed on a sample of 200 primarily Caucasian women. Results indicated that after controlling for certain known predictors of body dissatisfaction, the Physical Attractiveness(PA) subscale of the CFIS was negatively related to both General and Specific Body Dissatisfaction, but that the total CFIS score was not. These findings suggest that women's feminist attitudes regarding physical attractiveness relate significantly to body satisfaction, but an overall feminist identification does not. Applications of this finding may contribute to the reduction of women's excessive concerns with their bodies. The authors wish to thank Adele LeMaire for her assistance with the data collection.     

THE EGALITARIAN RELATIONSHIP IN FEMINIST THERAPY

Feminist therapy has revolutionized clinical practice and offered a model of empowerment for all therapy approaches. However, the long-assumed claim that feminist therapists are more likely to engage in power-sharing behaviors with their clients has not been supported by published quantitative research. In the current study, 42 female therapists who were asked whether or not they self-identified as feminist therapists completed measures assessing their use of feminist therapy behaviors (Feminist Therapy Behavior Checklist) and power-sharing behaviors (Therapy with Women Scale). One of each therapists' current female clients completed measures assessing her perceptions of both treatment collaboration (Working Alliance Inventory) and power-sharing behaviors (Client Therapy with Women Scale). As hypothesized, participants who identified as feminist therapists were more likely to report engaging in power-sharing behaviors when compared to participating therapists who did not. Furthermore, as hypothesized, clients of feminist therapists were more likely to report that their therapists engaged in power-sharing behaviors.     

Beyond artificial, sex-linked distinctions to conceptualize female sexuality: comment on Baumeister (2000)

The authors comment on three aspects of R. F. Baumeister's (2000) theoretical article on female sexuality. Questioning the predominance of nature versus cultural factors in accounting for sexual outcomes for men and women, the authors draw attention to the similarities (as opposed to differences) in the sexual attitudes, behaviors, and responses of men and women, and directly question the suggestion of "controlling" women's sexual attitudes, behaviors, responses, etc. to meet social needs for change.     

Age at menarche and digit ratio (2D:4D): relationships with body dissatisfaction, drive for thinness, and bulimia symptoms in women

This study examined the hypothesis that lower prenatal androgen exposure and earlier puberty are associated with more dysfunctional eating attitudes and behaviors. Relationships between both age at menarche (AAM) and 2D:4D (a marker of prenatal androgen exposure), and EDI-2-Body Dissatisfaction, EDI-2-Drive for Thinness, and EDI-2-Bulimia scores, were examined in women using correlations and regressions. Earlier menarche was associated with higher drive for thinness after controlling for BMI and negative affect, but only in women who were not exclusively heterosexual. Higher 2D:4D was associated with higher Bulimia and Body Dissatisfaction scores, but only in exclusively heterosexual women, and relationships disappeared when covariates were controlled. Later AAM and higher 2D:4D were unique predictors of higher Bulimia scores for exclusive heterosexuals when BMI was controlled. These findings suggest future research should examine sexual orientation as a mediator or moderator of prenatal and postnatal organizational hormonal effects on women's disordered eating attitudes and behaviors.     

From "in the air" to "under the skin": cortisol responses to social identity threat

The authors examined women's neuroendocrine stress responses associated with sexism. They predicted that, when being evaluated by a man, women who chronically perceive more sexism would experience more stress unless the situation contained overt cues that sexism would not occur. The authors measured stress as the end product of the primary stress system linked to social evaluative threat-the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal cortical axis. In Study 1, female participants were rejected by a male confederate in favor of another male for sexist reasons or in favor of another female for merit-based reasons. In Study 2, female participants interacted with a male confederate who they learned held sexist attitudes or whose attitudes were unknown. Participants with higher chronic perceptions of sexism had higher cortisol, unless the situation contained cues that sexism was not possible. These results illustrate the powerful interactive effects of chronic perceptions of sexism and situational cues on women's stress reactivity.     

Modeling the Longitudinal Direct and Indirect Effects of Attitudes,Self‐Efficacy,and Behavioral Intentions on Practice Behavior Outcomes of Suicide Intervention Training

The purpose of this study was to use a longitudinal path analysis to test attitudes toward suicide prevention, self‐efficacy, and behavioral intentions as mediators/moderators of clinical skill development over time following suicide intervention training. Results support a direct effect of attitudes on practice behaviors and self‐efficacy, but no moderating effect. Self‐efficacy performed as a mediator of practice behaviors over time. Behavioral intention had a direct effect on practice behaviors and mediated the relationship between attitudes and practice behaviors. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Hooking up: Gender differences, evolution, and pluralistic ignorance

"Hooking-up" - engaging in no-strings-attached sexual behaviors with uncommitted partners - has become a norm on college campuses, and raises the potential for disease, unintended pregnancy, and physical and psychological trauma. The primacy of sex in the evolutionary process suggests that predictions derived from evolutionary theory may be a useful first step toward understanding these contemporary behaviors. This study assessed the hook-up behaviors and attitudes of 507 college students. As predicted by behavioral-evolutionary theory: men were more comfortable than women with all types of sexual behaviors; women correctly attributed higher comfort levels to men, but overestimated men's actual comfort levels; and men correctly attributed lower comfort levels to women, but still overestimated women's actual comfort levels. Both genders attributed higher comfort levels to same-gendered others, reinforcing a pluralistic ignorance effect that might contribute to the high frequency of hook-up behaviors in spite of the low comfort levels reported and suggesting that hooking up may be a modern form of intrasexual competition between females for potential mates.     

Perceptions of cotherapists as a function of therapist sex roles and observer sex roles

These two studies examined how therapist sex-role behaviors and subject sex roles influence perceptions of cotherapists conducting marital therapy. As hypothesized, ratings of therapist competence, strength, and impact varied directly with verbal dominance. Contrary to expectations, this effect was not stronger for female therapists than for male therapists. However, verbally dominant females were seen as less in charge than verbally dominant males. Reversal of traditional instrumental and expressive sex-role styles was more salient for male therapists than for females. Nontraditional therapist sex-role styles were seen as providing a greater learning experience than traditional styles. As predicted, androgynous subjects rated male and female therapists equal in competence and strength, and were equally comfortable with each. Sex-typed males and females demonstrated a preference for the female therapist, rating her higher in competence and strength. These studies suggest that cotherapists' attention to the models they present should encompass sex-role behaviors and styles.An earlier draft of this article was presented as a paper at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, Toronto, August 1978.