Sadly,you made me earn it: The effect of responsibility attributions for sadness on food indulgence

This article addresses the mixed findings of prior studies regarding hedonic food indulgence in sadness. Building upon the idea that self‐licensing may underlie the effect of sadness on food indulgence, the current research identifies responsibility attributions, namely, whether consumers attribute the cause of their sadness to themselves or to others, as an important factor that may affect sense of deservingness, and consequently affect hedonic food consumption in sadness. Four experiments show that sadness enhances food indulgence more when consumers attribute the responsibility for their sadness to others rather than to themselves. Specifically, findings show that (a) when self‐responsibility attributions are unlikely, sadness increases chocolate consumption; (b) sadness leads to a greater sense of deservingness and enhanced food indulgence when people hold others rather than themselves responsible for their sadness; and (c) the responsibility attribution effect on food indulgence in sadness is more pronounced at high levels of sadness and when the event that triggered one's sadness is significant. These findings contribute to our understanding of the factors that influence food indulgence in sadness.     

Factor structure of the Smith irrational beliefs inventory: results of analyses on six independent samples

This study reports the results of six factor analyses (alpha factoring, direct oblimin rotation, Delta= .4) on six items from the Smith Irrational Beliefs Inventory. Six independent samples of 1851 college students (521 men, 1,280 women, 50 sex unstated) were tested. Three factors emerged with identical content for each analysis. Distorted Egocentrism was defined by two items reflecting feelings of entitlement and the naive assumption that events should always turn out favorably the way one desires; Task Exaggeration/Catastrophizing was defined by two items directly depicting a tendency to view challenges as overwhelming and catastrophic; and Isolated Low Self-esteem was defined by two items expressing the feeling that one has unacceptable feelings that could lead to isolation or rejection. Previous research on other irrational belief inventories has yielded inconsistent results, with multifactorial solutions emerging for clinical samples and unifactoral solutions for student samples. That the present six factor analytic studies yielded a consistent multifactoral set of irrational beliefs for a very large student sample suggests that factors do emerge when items are initially screened and the subject population is carefully defined.     

The “feminine mystique” in male-dominated jobs: A comparison of attitudes and background factors of women in male-dominated versus female-dominated jobs

This paper examines various background factors plus success and work-related atttudes of 324 women as aggregated into one of three groups: those women working in male-dominated jobs, those in female-dominated jobs, and those in relatively sex-ratio balanced jobs. Overall results show that women holding male-dominated jobs are more likely to be older, better educated, have fathers with higher educational levels, and are more likely to be childless as compared to women in female-dominated jobs. Holding age and education constant, women in male-dominated jobs usually rated definitions of success as more important to their feelings of well-being than did women in female-dominated jobs. With these same constants, there were few differences in work attitudes among the three groups, but contrary to expectations, women in female-dominated jobs rated the importance of their work higher than did women in male-dominated jobs. The variables best predicting whether a woman held a male-dominated job were college attainment, problems related to sex discrimination, the age of the participant, her feelings toward achieving a very high salary, her feelings of the importance of her work, and her feelings about becoming an authority in her job.     

Gender differences in rival characteristics that evoke jealousy in response to emotional versus sexual infidelity

Previous research has shown that in men jealousy is evoked more by a rival's status‐related characteristics than in women, whereas in women jealousy is evoked more by a rival's physical attractiveness than in men. The present study examined whether the occurrence of this gender difference depends upon the type of infidelity one's partner engages in, i.e., emotional or sexual infidelity, and whether these types of jealousy evoke different emotional responses. An experiment was conducted using hypothetical jealousy situations with a 2 (participant gender: male vs. female) × 2 (rival physical attractiveness: high vs. low) × 2 (rival dominance: high vs. low) × 2 (type of infidelity: sexual vs. emotional) mixed‐factor design. Jealousy evoked by emotional infidelity was primarily characterized by feelings of threat, and jealousy after sexual infidelity was primarily characterized by feelings of betrayal and anger. Following emotional infidelity, in men, a rival's dominance, and in women, a rival's physical attractiveness, evoked feelings of threat but not feelings of anger‐betrayal. In contrast, after sexual infidelity, in men, but not in women, a rival's physical attractiveness evoked feelings of betrayal‐anger but not anxiety or suspicion.     

Tracking the Emotional Cost of Immigration: Ethno-religious Differences and Women’s Mental Health

The challenges of the settlement process can at times give way to persistent feelings of sadness, loneliness, and despair for immigrant women. Based on analysis of the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada, this article shows that immigrant women’s self-reported experiences of mental health vary at arrival and over the course of the settlement process because of the intersection of pre- and post-migration factors. The results show how ethnic origins and religious differences intersect with women’s main activities in Canada and influence multiple mental health trajectories. Immigrant women strategically pursue different post-migration pathways because some are more likely to find the social interactions of employment contexts emotionally distressing while for others shouldering responsibilities for full-time care work in the home leads to mental health problems. Still others who study to retrain or get a Canadian degree find the experience detrimental to their emotional health. However, these very same activities can be conducive to mental well-being for women with different ethno-religious backgrounds. The results illustrate that the intersection of ethnicity, religion, and gender in a stratified Canadian society is complex and produces a range of mental health outcomes. Concerns are raised about the high emotional toll of racialized Canadian workplaces and the stress that some employed Muslim women report. An awareness of influences on immigrant women’s mental health can assist employers and public service providers as well as members of cultural associations and religious groups in providing appropriate social support for them in the early months and years after arrival.     

Parenting contributors to early emerging problem behaviour in children of mothers in methadone maintenance treatment

This study explored whether variations in parenting provided by mothers with substance‐abuse disorders are related to behaviour problems in their young children and whether specific parenting practices are associated with specific types of behaviour problems. Mother‐reported and observational assessments were used to examine contributions of parenting behaviour and home environment to internalizing and externalizing behaviour problems in 150 preschool children of mothers receiving methadone‐maintenance treatment for heroin addiction. In multivariate analyses, mother‐reported child externalizing behaviour was related to greater maternal harshness and to mother history of illicit drug use during pregnancy but not other features of substance use and treatment history. Observer‐coded child internalizing behaviour was related to less maternal sensitivity and less provision of learning activities in the home. Additionally, mother report of her own psychopathology symptoms was related to mother‐reported, but not observer‐coded, child internalizing and externalizing problems. Findings suggest that women in substance abuse treatment should receive parenting interventions and that interventions should focus on increasing maternal sensitivity, reducing harshness, and providing children with cognitively stimulating environments. Findings also suggest that the need for attention to ongoing mental health problems of women in substance abuse treatment—both for their own well‐being and the well‐being of their children.

Highlights

• This study explored whether variations in parenting provided by mothers with substance‐abuse disorders are related to behavior problems in their young children.
• Maternal harshness was related to child externalizing behavior, low sensitivity, and low provision of learning opportunities to child internalizing problems.
• Findings suggest that women in substance abuse treatment should be provided access to parenting interventions.

     

Gender differences in power and self-disclosure in dating and married couples

The relationship between power and self-disclosure was studied for 20 dating and 20 married couples. Power and self-disclosure scales (of feelings and of accomplishments) were constructed and administered individually. We hypothesized that: (1) Women disclose more about feelings than men. (2) Men disclose more about accomplishments than women. (3) Power is positively correlated with disclosure of accomplishments. (4) Power is negatively correlated with disclosure of feelings and weaknesses. (5) Dating men are more powerful than dating women, but there are no gender differences in power in marriage. Hypotheses 1,3, and 5 were supported. Hypotheses 2 and 4 were rejected. Our findings revealed that there were no differences in power or disclosure of accomplishments between men and women for the total group. However, a significant interaction was found between gender and marital status for power. Dating men had more power than dating women, but married women had more power than married men. Last, women disclosed more feelings than men across both groups.     

Satisfaction with care among low-income female outpatients

Patient satisfaction correlates with important health behaviors and outcomes. Little is known about satisfaction in disadvantaged populations of different racial/ethnic backgrounds. The current study evaluated demographic and psychological correlates of patient satisfaction among a low-income, multiethnic sample of female outpatients attending cervical cancer screening. Participants included 338 African American, Latina, and white women ages 18 - 49 years attending University of Texas Medical Branch Regional Maternal & Child Health Clinics. Data were obtained via self-report and chart review. Patient satisfaction was assessed using the Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire (PSQ). Total PSQ scores reflected two distinct underlying subscales (satisfaction and dissatisfaction), which differed from the original factor structure of the PSQ. Satisfaction was predicted by patient beliefs that their health is self-determined, beliefs that doctors control their health, self-esteem, and education. Dissatisfaction was predicted by patient beliefs that good health is a matter of chance/luck, self-esteem, social desirability, and income. Higher self-esteem, education, and beliefs that health is controlled by oneself or doctors correlated with higher satisfaction with care in the clinic setting. Understanding the influence of patient characteristics on perceptions of care is important for physicians to foster relationships with patients that increase feelings of satisfaction, decrease dissatisfaction, and ultimately, improve health outcomes.     

Cultural differences in the relationship between parenting and children's behavior

Parent and teacher data for 14,990 children from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth were used in multilevel analyses to examine the relationship between ethnicity, children's aggression and emotional problems, and parenting. Using parent and teacher report, relationships between ethnicity and child behavior were present but modest. The association between parental harshness and child aggression differed between ethnic groups and across informants. Using teacher report of outcomes, parental harshness was positively related to child aggression in European Canadian families but negatively related in South Asian Canadian families. For all ethnic groups, parental harshness was positively related to children's aggression when parent report of outcomes was used, but relationships varied in strength across ethnic groups. The relationship of parental harshness with child emotional problems did not differ across groups, irrespective of informant. The results are discussed within the context of an ecological model of parenting.     

Emotion During Pregnancy and Delivery as a Function of Repression-Sensitization and Number of Childbirths

Two hundred pregnant women were asked, before and after child delivery, to fill out a questionnaire about their feelings during pregnancy and childbirth. A day after delivery, they filled out the revised repression-sensitization (R-S) scale (Byrne, Barry, and Nelson, 1963). Results of the study showed four factors in the women's feelings during pregnancy and child delivery: (1) feelings of pain and anxiety during pregnancy, as well as evaluation of the pain they had suffered during delivery; (2) anxiety in the labor room; (3) fear of giving birth to a defective child: and (4) pain in the labor room. Repressors scored lower on the first three-factors than sensitizers; no significant differences were found between them in the fourth factor. Repressors also indicated that the birth pangs would influence them to postpone their next pregnancy to a lesser extent than did sensitizers. However, both indicated the same actual length of waiting time till their next pregnancy. A possible difference in time perspective between the two groups was suggested to explain this apparent inconsistency. Results also showed that primiparae scored lower on the first factor and higher on the fourth factor than did muitiparae.     

Superego aspects of entitlement (in rigid characters)

Dynamic conflict among feelings of entitlement, defectiveness, and deprivation is discussed from the perspective of superego defense against dangerously aggressive (and sexual) wishes. These negative feelings and negative self-images are exploited so as to appease the superego in the face of one's hostile aggression: that one is justified, that there are extenuating circumstances for one's hatred and destructiveness. The "oral" clamor of deprivation and entitlement, together with dependency, submissiveness, and defensive uncertainty, serve a screening function for hostile aggressive wishes, from any developmental level. Typically, attitudes of entitlement are contradictory, unclear, and wavering, because of conflict between differing ego ideal images, and conflict between superego, and ego and id, about the sadistic extractiveness in these attitudes. Attitudes of entitlement are contributed to by past trauma, deprivation, abuse, teasing overstimulation coupled with neglect, or alternating indulgence and deprivation, as well as identification with certain parental attitudes--exploitation and extractiveness--and denial of the need for the superego to assess reality accurately.     

How Low Can You(r Power) Go? It Depends on Whether You are Male or Female

Three online experiments were conducted to determine whether gender differences in feelings of power are most evident in objectively lower or higher power situations (total n?=?1360; Studies 1 and 2: 238 and 771 U.S. MTurk respondents respectively; Study 3: 351 Canadian university students). We focused on evaluating whether men’s and women’s responses were in line with a cushioning account, whereby the higher power generally accorded to men as a group essentially serves as a back-up power source for men in lower power positions. We also evaluated support for a ceiling account, whereby women’s feelings of power are limited in higher power positions. Results were consistent with the cushioning account: Men reported feeling more powerful than women did when imagining or recalling occupying a lower power position and in a control baseline, but no gender difference was evident under higher power conditions. Results further revealed that women’s feelings of power were more variable across lower versus higher power positions than were men’s and indicated that women’s feelings of power are quite responsive to situationally afforded high power when it is available. Overall our findings suggest that occupying a higher power role eradicates gender differences in feelings of power that are otherwise evident and thus has an equalizing effect.

     

Spatial distance regulates sex-specific feelings to suspected sexual and emotional infidelity

The present study investigates the hitherto neglected influence of the spatial distance between the jealous person, the partner, and a potential rival as a proximate contextual factor regulating emotion intensity. The study tested four predictions. (1) The jealousy mechanism responds with mild negative feelings at most as long as the partner is close to the jealous person. (2) The negative feelings increase when the partner is far from the jealous person but the rival is close. (3) The most uncomfortable feelings result when the partner and the rival are close together and both far from the jealous person. (4) Based on the evolutionary psychological considerations, men report stronger negative feelings than women when suspecting sexual infidelity. Conversely, women report stronger negative feelings than men when suspecting emotional infidelity. The results confirmed predictions 1 and 4. Reversing predictions 2 and 3, the close rival consistently elicited the most uncomfortable feelings. Implications and limitations of the present study are discussed and suggestions for future research are provided.     

Emotional communication in close relationships

Emotional communication patterns characterizing interactions between partners in close relationships were investigated by asking 29 couples who were married or living together to engage in a videotaped discussion of a problem they were having in their relationship. In a later experimental session, partners identified specific communications that they believed had an important influence on the discussion and then rated the communications in terms of the feelings the communicator intended to convey and the recipient's reactions. Partners attempted to reciprocate both the positive and negative feelings that they perceived their partner to express toward them. However, only negative feelings were actually reciprocated. This was because subjects were sensitive to differences in the negative feelings their partners reported expressing and interpreted those feelings correctly, but they were inaccurate in perceiving their partners' expressions of positive feelings. Men (but not women) interpreted their partners' failures to express love as an indication of hostility, whereas women (but not men) interpreted their partners' lack of hostility as an indication of love. These and other results were conceptualized in terms of a general model of emotional communication. Parameters of the model pertaining to the hostility of partners' communications were often related to women's satisfaction with their relationship and their beliefs about relationships in general. However, they were unrelated to men's satisfaction and general beliefs. This suggested that women are generally more adversely affected by overt expression of hostility than are men.     

Adventures with the “Plastic Man”: Sex Toys, Compulsory Heterosexuality, and the Politics of Women’s Sexual Pleasure

While previous studies have addressed symbolic implications of lesbian dildo usage and quantitative findings about women’s vibrator use, little research has assessed women’s subjective feelings about using sex toys. This study draws upon qualitative interviews with twenty women from diverse ages and backgrounds to illuminate six themes in women’s narratives about sex toys: (1) emphasis on non-penetrative use of phallic sex toys; (2) embarrassment about disclosing use to partner(s); (3) personifying vibrators and dildos as male; (4) coercion and lack of power when using sex toys; (5) embracing sex toys as campy, fun, and subversive; and (6) resistance to sex toys as impersonal or artificial. Emerging patterns revealed that queer women more often constructed sex toys as subversive, fun, and free of shame while heterosexual women more often believed most women self-penetrate with sex toys, that sex toys threatened male partners, and they described more coercion involving sex toys. This article explores implications for sexual identity and sex toys, along with women’s negotiation of the “masculine” presence of sex toys in their narratives about using sex toys.     

Are Gender Differences in Vocational Interests Universal?: Moderating Effects of Cultural Dimensions

Are men and women more similar or different in their interests in careers? This question has propelled decades of research into the association between gender and vocational interests. However, our understanding of this question in an international context remains limited. In this study, we examined gender differences in vocational interests across national and cultural contexts by exploring whether national cultural dimensions would be associated with gender differences in the structure and mean levels of vocational interests in people/things, ideas/data, and prestige. Our findings support similarity in the structure of vocational interests for men and women across 42 countries based on two major models on interests. General trends of gender differences in interests emerge such that in comparison to men, women tend to report a large preference for working with people (versus things; d = 1.04), and smaller preferences for working with ideas (versus data; d = 0.29) and with prestige (d = 0.18). National cultural dimensions appear to moderate gender differences in interests beyond the influences of national gender inequality. Specifically, gender differences in interests in people (versus things) tend to be larger in countries of higher uncertainty avoidance and higher indulgence whereas gender differences in ideas (versus data) tend to be larger in countries of higher indulgence, uncertainty avoidance, and lower power distance. This study highlights how a better conceptualization of the influences of culture can inform vocational psychologists, gender studies researchers, and career counselors’ work with men and women in understanding their vocational interests.

     

Sex differences in feelings attributed to a woman in situations involving coercion and sexual advances.

This study investigated sex differences of feelings attributed to a woman in situations involving varying degrees of coercion and sexual advances. Sixteen vignettes (12 dealing with sex and coercion, 4 dealing with coercion only) were rated on 17 semantic differential scales by 59 undergraduates (44 females, 15 males) and 45 graduate students (18 females, 27 males). The 16 vignettes yielded factors of Sexual Flattery/Overtures, Sexual Aggressiveness, and Violence. Factor analyses of the 17 semantic differential scales yielded factors of Helplessness, Aversiveness, and Threat. High agreement was found between males and females in both the graduate and undergraduate samples on the relative intensity of feelings attributed to the woman across the sex/coercion vignettes for the three dimensions of Helplessness, Aversiveness, and Threat. Even more importantly, systematic differences between males and females on intensity of attributed feelings across the semantic differential factors were independently replicated using the graduate and undergraduate samples. Analyses of variance revealed that males showed significantly greater attributions on the factors Helplessness and Threat on scenes mainly dealing with sexual flattery/overtures, whereas they showed significantly less attributions on the factor Aversiveness on scenes dealing with sexual aggressiveness and rape. In short, while there was strong agreement between men and women, there were also replicated significant systematic differences with men overestimating the psychological impact of less intense incidents and underestimating the psychological impact on women of more intense incidents.     

Representing Radcliffe: Perceptions and Consequences of Social Class

Using retrospective data from a sample of women who graduated from Radcliffe College in 1964, this paper examines the perceptions (what women notice) and consequences (how it makes them feel) of social class during college in these women's lives. The majority of women acknowledged that social class was salient at Radcliffe by stating so directly, by noticing members of different class groups, and/or by mentioning their own class backgrounds. In addition, women consistently perceived two markers of social class: exclusivity and the differences between public and private high school graduates. Surprisingly, there were no differences by social class background in the rates of these perceptions; social class indicators were equally apparent to women from different social class backgrounds. However, most commonly among women from working-class backgrounds, there were psychological consequences of social class that were manifested in feeling bad about themselves. In order to understand the psychology of social class most fully, it seems important to distinguish between perception and consequence in the psychological study of social class, and to pay attention to the impact not only of people's backgrounds, but of social class cues in the environments in which they operate.     

Emphatic inaccuracy in husband to wife aggression: The overattribution bias

Is husbands’ wife‐directed aggression related to unusual accuracy (hypersensitivity) or to bias (being likely to inappropriately infer criticism or rejection) when they infer women’s critical/rejecting thoughts and feelings? Results of a study using the empathic accuracy paradigm and signal detection analyses revealed that the greater the husbands’ bias to overattribute criticism and rejection to the thoughts and feelings of women they had never met, the more the husbands reported behaving in a verbally aggressive way toward their own wives. This finding discourages the conclusion that maritally aggressive men are uniquely provoked by their own female partners, and instead suggests that they are biased to overattribute criticism and rejection to women in general. The strength of this overattribution bias correlated negatively with the men’s accuracy in inferring the actual content of the women’s thoughts and feelings. On the other hand, the husbands’ thematic accuracy (their ability to accurately specify which of the stimulus women’s thoughts and feelings really were critical or rejecting) was associated with their self‐reported marital satisfaction.