Actual differences and stereotypical perceptions in body image and eating disturbance: A comparison of male and female heterosexual and homosexual samples

In the present study, 32 homosexual males (HMM), 32 homosexual females (HMF), 32 heterosexual males (HTM), and 32 heterosexual females (HTF) completed measures of body image disturbance and concerns with weight and dieting from five different perspectives: self, and typical homosexual male, heterosexual male, heterosexual female, and homosexual female. Participants were primarily Caucasian. Results indicated that, in general, HMMs and HTFs showed greater actual concerns with appearance, weight, and dieting, and were perceived to possess greater body image disturbance and dieting concerns compared to HTMs and HMFs. Subjects also held various stereotypic misperceptions about certain target groups such that HTFs and HMMs were predicted to possess greater body image disturbance and be more concerned with weight and dieting than was actually true. In addition, subjects made accurate predictions about HTMs overall, but were inconsistent in their predictions of HMFs on these measures. Results are discussed in terms of possible variation in the degree of importance these attributes may have for members of these four populations and how such differences may lead to an increased risk for developing eating disorders among heterosexual females and homosexual males.     

Causal ambiguity and heterosexual affiliation

A male's decision to approach a physically attractive female stranger may be fraught with ambivalence. He is drawn by her beauty but he may fear rejection. The conflict lessens, however, if approach can occur under the guise of a motive other than desire to be with the attractive woman. This is because keeping one's true approach motive ambiguous may make direct personal rejection less likely. The effect of ambiguity on males' tendencies to approach females was explored in two experiments. In the first study, presented to subjects as a movie rating exercise, an excuse to sit with an attractive female confederate (a movie preference) was available to some subjects but not to others. As predicted, males only sat with the confederate when a reason for their affiliative behavior, other than her attractiveness, was available. In the second study, male-female dyads were run through the film rating paradigm with the female subjects in the role played by the confederate in Study I. The results of Study I were replicated for the dyads which included attractive females, as expected. The relationships between fear of failure and attributional ambiguity in social and achievement settings are examined. The tendency to discount a person's physical appearance as a cause of social behavior is discussed.     

Relationship quality of partners in heterosexual married, heterosexual cohabiting, and gay and lesbian relationships

The relationship quality of partners in 44 married, 35 heterosexual cohabiting, 50 gay, and 56 lesbian monogamous couples was studied. Each couple lived together and did not have children living with them. Relationship quality was dimensionalized as love for partner, liking of partner, and relationship satisfaction. Cohabiting partners had the lowest Love for Partner and Relationship Satisfaction scores. Differences were also found among partner types on: barriers to leaving the relationship, alternatives to the relationship, a belief that mindreading is expected in the relationship, masculinity, femininity, androgyny, dyadic attachment, shared decision making, and perceived social support from family. The four partner groups did not differ in psychological adjustment. For each type of partner, love for partner was related to many barriers to leaving the relationship and high dyadic attachment; liking of partner was related to few alternatives to the relationship, high dyadic attachment, and high shared decision making; and relationship satisfaction was related to many attractions, few alternatives, few beliefs regarding disagreement is destructive to the relationship, high dyadic attachment, and high shared decision making. Stepwise multiple regression procedures were used to identify the best set of predictors for each partner type. Results are discussed in the context of existing models of relationship quality.     

Women's aggression in heterosexual conflicts

Using a longitudinal design, prior experience with violence as a victim and opportunity to aggress were examined as predictors of college women's verbal and physical aggression toward romantic partners. Five additional categories of predictors identified in previous research (experienced and witnessed parental aggression during childhood, attitudes accepting of aggression, aggressive/impulsive personality attributes, psychopathology, and prior use of aggression) were also examined. Blockwise hierarchical regression analyses were performed to reveal the best predictors of verbal and physical aggression during the first year of college. Significant predictors of verbal aggression were prior use of verbal aggression in heterosexual conflicts during adolescence, witnessed parental aggression, level of adolescent sexual victimization, being a target of rational conflict strategies during adolescence, and use of physical aggression in romantic adolescent relationships, as well as self-reported verbal aggression as an index of personality, weak emotional ties, number of sexual partners, and approval of sexual intimacy in many types of relationships. Significant predictors of physical aggression were prior use of physical aggression during adolescence, witnessing and experiencing parental aggression, being a victim of physical aggression in adolescent romantic relationships, weak emotional ties, low levels of alcohol/drug use, and opportunity to aggress. A developmental model of aggression in which childhood experiences with family violence contribute to the likelihood of subsequent involvement in relationship violence seems appropriate. Past experience with aggression may be particularly important for women. Cultural expectations about women's roles do not provide the social support for female aggression that is provided for male aggression. Adolescent sexual victimizations and general involvement in conflictual relationships (as target and perpetrator) predicted subsequent verbal aggression, whereas experiencing family violence and sustaining physical aggression in romantic relationships predicted subsequent physical aggression. © 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

The relative severity of acts of physical violence in heterosexual relationships: An item response theory analysis

This study evaluated the structure of an expanded version of the physical violence scale of the Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS). A community sample of 1,092 randomly selected men and women reported on perpetration and receipt of 14 violent acts in their relationships. Item response theory analyses indicated that the violence items were unidimensional for recipient and perpetrator reports of men's and women's violence. There was convergence between severity of acts as reported by perpetrators and recipients for both men's and women's violence. Results indicated that adding together the number of different acts endorsed to form a total score is appropriate for both men's and women's violence. Total scores were strongly related to likelihood of injury, supporting the validity of CTS‐type measures to assess severity of violence.     

A test of the Zucherman heterosexual scales

Summary: Female and male undergraduate students enrolled in the introductory psychology course were administered the Zuckerman heterosexual scale as part of a larger battery of tests. The ordering of items for males was very similar to Zuckerman's with two minor exceptions. Female subjects, on the other hand, reported more sexual experiences of all kinds than did Zuckerman's sample, and two major differences in ordering Were noted. The coefficients of reproducibility for males and females were .928 and .954 respectively which were almost identical to those of Zuckerman. The rank-order correlation between the ranking of the items in the male and female scales was .958.     

An evaluation of empirical measures of source identification

Source identification refers to memory for the origin of information. A consistent nomenclature is introduced for empirical measures of source identification which are then mathematically analyzed and evaluated. The ability of the measures to assess source identification independently of identification of an item as old or new depends on assumptions made about how inconsistencies between the item and source components of a source-monitoring task may be resolved. In most circumstances, the empirical measure that is used most often when source identification is measured by collapsing across pairs of sources (sometimes called “the identification-of-origin score”) confounds item identification with source identification. Alternative empirical measures are identified that do not confound item and source identification in specified circumstances. None of the empirical measures examined provides a valid measure of source identification in all circumstances.     

Childhood photographs of homosexual and heterosexual men

20 homosexual men and 20 heterosexual men, including a pair of discordant identical twins, contributed photographs of themselves at 6 mo. to 6 yr. of age for judging on personality. 18 traits were rated successfully. Factor analysis yielded two factors, Extroversion and Toughness. Data for only 19 homosexual and 11 heterosexual men were usable for the t tests; no significant differences were found, although trends for the homosexual group suggested less Extroversion and less Toughness. For the twins, photographs the mother identified as the homosexual twin were rated as showing less Extroversion and less Toughness. In conclusion, no obvious differences were found in the ratings of homosexuals' childhood photographs but slight differences were hinted at.     

The influence of androgynous identification on heterosexual relations

The responses of androgynous and sex-typed students to a questionnaire were compared to explore the impact of sex typing on attitudes and behavior relevant to dating, marital and parental roles, and sexual intercourse. Extent of sex typing was associated with students' attitudes toward sharing dating expenses, sexual intercourse, full-time employment for wives, and wives taking primary responsibility for childrearing. Sex typing was also associated with students' behavior regarding the number of female-initiated dates, proportion of male and female initiation of sexual intercourse, and the frequency of sexual intercourse for males. Gender was more consistently related to the variables under investigation than was sex typing, however, and results are discussed with respect to possible limitations of the influence of androgyny on heterosexual relations.This research was part of a doctoral dissertation submitted to Purdue University. The author gratefully acknowledges the assistance of Art Fogel in data analyses, and Rick Allgeier, Donn Byrne, Don Lehr, and Winnie Shepard for their helpful suggestions regarding an earlier draft of this article.     

Accounts of sexual identity formation in heterosexual students

Very little research has focused on the ways that heterosexual people perceive their sexual identity. This paper explores heterosexual identity from the standpoint of an established identity model, that of James Marcia. Twenty-six heterosexual undergraduate students (14 men: 3 African-American, 1 Latino, and 10 White, and 12 women: 3 African-American, 1 Latina, and 8 White) wrote two-three page essays on how their sexual identities formed and how they influence their daily lives. Students could be categorized into all four of Marcia's identity statuses. Additionally, six common themes were noted in their essays: had never thought about sexual identity; society made me heterosexual; gender determines sexual identity; issues of choice versus innateness of sexuality; no alternative to heterosexuality; and the influence of religion.     

Fading to increase heterosexual responsiveness in homosexuals

Heterosexual responsiveness, measured by penile responses and reports of behavior, was strengthened in three homosexuals through a fading procedure. Using two slide projectors, colored slides of nude females were superimposed on colored slides of nude males. As the sexual response was emitted, the nude male was faded out and the nude female faded in. Heterosexual arousal decreased when the fading procedure was reversed or stopped and increased once again when fading was resumed. Homosexual arousal remained high during this experiment but had decreased in two subjects at follow-up. The results suggest that fading was responsible for altering stimulus control of sexual arousal and that aversive techniques may not be necessary in the treatment of sexual deviation.     

Nonmonotonic relation of autogynephilia and heterosexual attraction.

In this study I investigated the relation between normal heterosexual attraction and autogynephilia (a man's propensity to be sexually aroused by the thought or image of himself as a woman). The subjects were 427 adult male outpatients who reported histories of dressing in women's garments, of feeling like women, or both. The data were questionnaire measures of autogynephilia, heterosexual interest, and other psychosexual variables. As predicted, the highest levels of autogynephilia were observed at intermediate rather than high levels of heterosexual interest; that is, the function relating these variables took the form of an inverted U. This finding supports the hypothesis that autogynephilia is a misdirected type of heterosexual impulse, which arises in association with normal heterosexuality but also competes with it.     

Defensiveness, intimacy, and heterosexual attraction

A previous study by Dion and Dion (1975) revealed that highly defensive individuals were less likely to report having experienced romantic love than less defensive persons. The hypothesis that this finding might reflect differential reactions to interpersonal intimacy was directly examined in the present study using a self-disclosure paradigm. To assess subjects' defensiveness, undergraduate women first completed the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale. In a second session, subjects were exposed to high and low disclosing targets of the same and opposite sex and chose discussion topics for each target. On intimacy of self-disclosure, a “reciprocity effect” occurred: subjects chose more intimate topics for high vs low-disclosing targets. However, highly defensive women gave a less favorable self-presentation to male vs female targets. They also expressed less liking for high compared to low intimate targets and males vs females than less defensive subjects. The implications of these results for heterosexual attraction were discussed.