ATTITUDES TOWARD PROSTITUTION AS A FUNCTION OF ATTITUDES TOWARD FEMINISM IN COLLEGE STUDENTS

Eighty-nine male and female undergraduates completed the Attitudes toward Feminism Scale and the author-devised Attitudes Toward Prostitution Scale, which contained five factors. Profeminist attitudes were related to three out of five factors. Respondents scoring in a profeminist direction were more likely to view prostitution as reflecting exploitation and subordination of women, less likely to believe women become prostitutes out of economic necessity, and less likely to approve of decriminalization and legalization of prostitution. Gender differences also appeared that were not explained by differences in profeminist attitudes: women were more likely than men to disagree with decriminalization and legalization efforts and were more likely to view prostitution as reflecting exploitation and subordination.     

ATTITUDES TOWARD WOMEN IN TAIWAN AND CHINA

The goals of this article are to review published data from both English and Chinese sources on current attitudes toward women in Taiwan and China and to discuss issues in cross-cultural research that may affect the discovery and reporting of effects. Chinese women in both countries, when compared to men, had more liberal attitudes toward women, but women in China had more traditionally oriented attitudes than women in Taiwan. Yang's (1986) modernization theory was used to explain these results. There was also some overlap of gender roles in both cultures, with some traditional masculine (or feminine) roles played by the other gender. We propose that modernization may lead not only to greater gender equality but also to changes in the nature of gender roles, leading to greater gender-role overlap, in which it is advantageous for both men and women to have less distinctive gender-role characteristics. Finally, issues of construct validation, response sets, and alternative approaches to scale development are addressed, and suggestions for future research are offered.     

THE ATTITUDES TOWARD RAPE VICTIMS SCALE

The paper describes the construction of a 25-item Attitudes toward Rape Victims Scale (ARVS) designed to assess favorable and unfavorable attitudes with particular emphasis on victim blame, credibility, deservingness, denigration, and trivialization. Normative data are presented as well as the results of various psychometric analyses based on four independent studies and a variety of samples including university students, doctors, lawyers, social workers, psychologists, and police in Singapore, and university students in the United States. These analyses confirm the ARVS's reliability, validity and cross-cultural suitability. As attitudes to-ward rape victims have been implicated in the quality of victim care in legal, medical, and social spheres, it is proposed that the ARVS provides a valuable tool for applied research in victimology.     

ATTITUDES TOWARD WOMEN MEDIATE THE GENDER EFFECT ON ATTITUDES TOWARD SEXIST LANGUAGE

Studies of attitudes toward sexist language have consistently revealed a gender gap, with women considerably more supportive of inclusive language than men. The present study investigated this gender gap in the presence of attitudes toward women, a potential mediator variable. Participants were a convenience sample of 18- to 20-year-old college students ( N = 278). Most were European American/White (87%) women (60%). Data were collected using the Modern Sexism Scale, Neosexism Scale, Attitudes Toward Women Scale, and Inventory of Attitudes Toward Sexist/Nonsexist Language-General. The customary gender gap in attitudes toward sexist language was found in this sample. Regression tests of mediation, however, revealed that when measures of attitudes toward women were included in the analysis, the gender effect diminished by as much as 61% ( p <.01). These findings provide empirical evidence of a link between attitudes toward sexist language and the cultural construct, attitudes toward women.     

THE EFFECTS OF PERCEIVED JOB AVAILABILITY FOR WOMEN ON COLLEGE WOMEN'S ATTITUDES TOWARD PRESTIGIOUS MALE-DOMINATED OCCUPATIONS

This study investigated the effects of perceived job availability for women and sex role orientation on college women's evaluations of highly prestigious male-dominated occupations. In a mixed design, feminine, androgynous, and masculine women (as determined by the Personal Attributes Questionnaire) evaluated two professions described as providing good opportunities for women, two described as providing average opportunities, and two described as providing poor opportunities. Subjects were most likely to want to pursue occupations with good job availability for women and to expect the most intellectual stimulation and approval from others as a result of pursuing these occupations. In addition, sex role orientation was related to expectations concerning intellectual stimulation and approval from others but did not interact with level of job opportunity on any of the dependent measures.     

RACE AND SEX DIFFERENCES IN SEX ROLE ATTITUDES OF SOUTHERN COLLEGE STUDENTS

A sample of southern college students is used to investigate race and sex differences among nine Likert-type sex role attitudes. Results show that black and white men share a similar sex role orientation while black and white women also share a similar world view. There were only two instances where blacks were notably different from whites. First, blacks were more likely to feel that a woman's real fulfillment in life comes from motherhood, and second, blacks were more likely to feel that it was appropriate for a mother with school-age children to work.     

DEVELOPMENT AND TESTING OF THE ATTITUDES TOWARD FEMINISM AND THE WOMEN'S MOVEMENT (FWM) SCALE

This article outlines the development and testing of the Attitudes Toward Feminism and the Women's Movement (FWM) Scale, a brief measure of affective attitudes toward the feminist movement. Thurstone's (1959) method of equal-appearing intervals was used initially to create the final 10-item summated rating (Likert) scale. Establishment of internal consistency reliability and construct (convergent and discriminant) validity was determined on a sample of 117 female and male college students. Results suggested a highly internally consistent and valid attitudinal measure. Additional evidence for the validity of the FWM is discussed in terms of research in which it has been successfully used.     

ATTITUDES TOWARD COSMETIC SURGERY IN MIDDLE-AGED WOMEN: BODY IMAGE, AGING ANXIETY, AND THE MEDIA

Our study investigated factors that influence attitudes toward cosmetic surgery in middle-aged women. A sample of 108 women, aged between 35 and 55 years, completed questionnaire measures of body dissatisfaction, appearance investment, aging anxiety, media exposure (television and magazine), and attitudes toward cosmetic surgery (delineated in terms of general attitudes, social motivations, and actual consideration). Body dissatisfaction, appearance investment, aging anxiety, and both media variables predicted some facet of attitudes toward cosmetic surgery. Specifically, appearance investment, aging anxiety, and television exposure were unique predictors of endorsement of social motivations for cosmetic surgery, whereas body dissatisfaction, appearance investment, and television exposure were unique predictors of actual consideration of cosmetic surgery. Regression analysis revealed that the effects of media on cosmetic surgery attitudes were primarily direct. We concluded that there are multiple influences on attitudes toward cosmetic surgery for women of middle age.     

物质主义价值观量表在大学生群体中的修订

以449名大学本科生为被试,对物质主义价值观量表（MVS）进行中文版的修订,考察其信效度指标。探索性因素分析发现,修订后的量表具有与原量表基本相同的三个维度;验证性因素分析结果显示,MVS的三因素结构拟合较好;MVS的内部一致性信度为0．792,重测信度为0．830;MVS的效标关联效度良好。表明修订后的MVS具有较好的心理测量学属性,可作为测量我国大学生物质主义价值观的工具。     

TOWARD A STRESS SCALE FOR AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMEN

The current study seeks to understand the nature of stress among African-American women and to develop a preliminary stress measure for this population. The African-American Women's Stress Scale (AWSS) was derived by eliciting stressors from 47 African-American women. AWSS stressors reflect economic, role and relationship, work-related, and ethnic issues, and nearly half are ongoing situations rather than change events. The ability of the AWSS to relate to depression was examined in a second, nonoverlapping sample ( n = 68). Correlational analysis indicated correlations of .58-.70 between depression scores and scores on the AWSS. Findings provide support for the utility of the AWSS and underscore the inadequacy of stress models that are based on change or undesirable change.     

ATTITUDES TOWARD WOMEN, 1970–1995

The social climate for women has changed considerably since the Attitudes Toward Women Scale (AWS; Spence & Helmreich, 1972a) was developed in the early 1970s, but the pattern of change in AWS scores throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s is unclear. Published reports of data from 71 samples of American undergraduates responding to the AWS were located and analyzed for differences across time (1970–1995) and region (South and non-South). Women's AWS scores were strongly correlated with year of scale administration ( r = .78, p < .001), and men's scores showed a similar trend toward more liberal/feminist attitudes ( r = .60, p < .001). Scores show a steady trend toward more liberal/feminist attitudes, with no appreciable reversal or slowdown during the 1980s. Gender differences steadily increased from 1970 to 1985 and decreased from 1986 to 1995. Southern samples were marginally more conservative/traditional. The results are discussed in terms of generational differences, the effects of maternal employment on attitudes, and the individual's experience of cultural change.     

ATTITUDES TOWARD THE USE OF ANIMALS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH AND EDUCATION:

Abstract— This article reports the results of a national survey in which psychology majors were asked about the use of animals in psychological research and teaching. In general, the attitudes of psychology majors closely resembled the attitudes of practicing psychologists. Students tended to (a) support animal experiments involving observation or confinement, but disapprove of studies involving pain or death, (b) support mandatory pain assessments and the federal protection of rats, mice, pigeons, and reptiles, and (c) support the use of animals in teaching, but oppose an animal laboratory requirement for the psychology major. Opposition to the use of animals was greatest among women, among students at selective schools, and among students living in the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic region of the country.     

优秀幼儿教师与幼专学生性格特征的比较研究

采用Ｙ—Ｇ性格测验问卷,对优秀幼儿园教师和幼师高专学生共１５６人,进行了心理测评,展开了优秀幼儿园教师与幼师高专学生性格特征的比较研究。结果表明：幼儿教师的性格类型与其职业成就相关;Ｙ—Ｇ性格测验的Ｄ型性格类型为幼儿教师的理想性格类型;幼师高专学生与优秀幼儿园教师的性格特征间存在显著差异。整个测评研究结果,为幼师高专学校招生选拨及培养学生的工作提供心理学依据。     

THE STRUCTURE OF ATTITUDE TOWARD QUANTITATIVE CONCEPTS

The purpose of this study was to assess the dimensionality of attitude toward quantitative concepts. Subjects were 311 graduate students. The instrument employed was a semantic differential consisting of six quantitative concepts and 14 evaluative scales. The concepts were: Algebra, Statistics, Mathematics, Numbers, Calculations, and Formulas. An obliquely rotated principal factor analysis of the data yielded two categories of interpretable factors: (1) factors defined by all scales within one quantitative concept, and (2) factors defined by a sub-set of scales across quantitative concepts.