Weighing the Evidence: Social Desirability, Eating Disorder Symptomatology, and Accuracy of Self-reported Body Weight Among Men and Women

Although self-reported measurement of body weight is commonly accepted practice, this method may yield inaccurate estimates varying by respondent gender, body mass index, and eating disorder symptomatology. Given the gendered nature of idealized body weight in the U.S., we examined whether or not these variables and positive impression management are associated with inaccurate weight reporting among undergraduates. College women (n?=?107) and men (n?=?48) from a small liberal arts school in the Northeastern U.S. self-reported height and weight, completed the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire, Personality Assessment Inventory-Positive Impression Management scale, and three scales from the Eating Disorder Inventory-3, and were then weighed. Paired t-tests compared self-reported and measured body weight for men and women separately, and respondents were then categorized as under- or over-reporters by gender. Independent samples t-tests were conducted separately for men and women comparing weight under- and over-reporters on BMI, levels of eating disorder symptomatology, and social desirability. Results indicate discrepancies between self-reported and measured body weight were significant. Among those who over-reported weight, men exhibited greater over-reporting than did women. Weight under-reporting was associated with higher BMI, and for women, lower eating disorder symptomatology and higher social desirability scores. There may be inaccuracies in self-reported weight based on positive impression management, BMI, and eating disorder symptomatology, but these appear to differ by gender. Future research should explore the roles of personality, social desirability, and competing pressures for muscularity versus thinness in weight reporting accuracy among men and women.     

Racial Identity and Gender as Moderators of the Relationship Between Body Image and Self-esteem for African Americans

This study explored whether multiple dimensions of racial identity and gender moderated the relationship between body dissatisfaction and self-esteem for African American men and women (N?=?425) using an intersectional approach. Centrality (strength of identification with racial group), private regard (positive feelings about racial group), public regard (positive feelings others have about racial group), and gender moderated the relationship between body dissatisfaction and self-esteem for a sample of men (n?=?109) and women (n?=?316) college students from three regions of the United States. Body dissatisfaction was related to lower self-esteem only for those African Americans for whom race was less central to their identities. High private regard and low body dissatisfaction were synergistically associated with higher self-esteem. Similarly, low public regard and high body dissatisfaction were synergistically related to lower self-esteem. There was a positive main effect for assimilation ideology (emphasis on similarities between African Americans and Western society) on self-esteem; however it was not a significant moderator. The relationship between body dissatisfaction and self-esteem was stronger for women than for men. This study extends our knowledge of the ways in which racial attitudes and gender shape how African Americans experience their bodies and are related to self-esteem.     

Age and gender differences in negative affect—Is there a role for emotion regulation?

Elderly people report less negative affect than the young, and women report more negative affect than men. This study investigated whether age and gender differences in negative affect could be explained by emotion regulation, measured as defensiveness and rumination, while controlling for the influence of life events. One-hundred-and-ninety-five young (20–35 years) and 302 elderly (70–85 years) men and women completed the Emotional Control Questionnaire-Rehearsal, Marlowe–Crowne Social Desirability Scale, Profile of Mood States, Beck’s Depression Inventory and List of Recent Experiences. Hierarchical regressions with negative affects as dependent variables showed that age was reduced to non-significance when controlling for defensiveness, and gender was reduced to non-significance when controlling for the interaction between age and gender, which in turn was reduced when entering rumination. Life events also influenced the association between age and negative affect. The results indicate that age differences in negative affect are mediated by defensiveness and life events and that when these two influences are accounted for elderly people score higher on sadness. Gender differences in negative affect were due to the young women’s higher scores on negative affect and this is partly explained by rumination.     

Crossover,Degendering, or…? A Multidimensional Approach to Life-Span Gender Development

Inspired by Sandra Bem and subsequent theorists, we examine gender as a multidimensional construct that differs across adulthood to test claims made by two different theories of life-span gender development—that men and women cross over and become more like the other gender with age, and that aging involves degendering or viewing gender as a less central aspect of the self. Self-report survey data from a U.S. sample of men and women recruited from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (25–89 years, M age?=?47.38, SD?=?14.05) were used to investigate the extent to which stereotypically masculine traits; stereotypically feminine traits; androgyny; gender identification (i.e., identifying with one’s gender group and viewing this as a positive part of the self); and gender typicality (i.e., viewing oneself as a typical member of one’s gender group) differ between younger (i.e., under age 40), middle-aged (i.e., ages 40–59), and older men and women (i.e., age 60 and older) and by marital status. Results indicate that gender differences in stereotypically masculine and feminine personality traits exist, and that marital status moderates age and gender differences in traits. Among older men, those who are married are more likely to endorse stereotypically masculine traits, but also have higher androgyny scores than unmarried men. With age, both men and women perceive themselves as more typical examples of their gender group. Results are discussed as providing limited support for crossover theory, but not degendering.     

Gender Differences in Social Dominance Orientation: The Role of Cognitive Complexity

The present research examined the invariance hypothesis, which predicts lower levels of social dominance orientation (SDO) for women compared to men even when accounting for other factors. Previous research shows that gender linked variables mediate the gender difference in SDO. In two studies using undergraduates in the northeastern U.S., we tested mediation by cognitive complexity, a variable linked to social status but not to gender. Study 1 (n?=?117) found that women had higher levels of attributional complexity, but not need for cognition. Study 2 (n?=?206) further found that attributional complexity mediated the relationship between gender and SDO, suggesting that higher cognitive complexity due to low social status may be involved in gender differences in SDO.     

Japanese normative data for the Unhelpful Thoughts and Beliefs about Stuttering (UTBAS) Scales for adults who stutter

PurposeThis study reports Japanese normative data for the Unhelpful Thoughts and Beliefs about Stuttering (UTBAS) scales. We outline the translation process, and evaluate the psychometric properties of the Japanese version of the UTBAS scales.MethodsThe translation of the UTBAS scales into Japanese (UTBAS-J) was completed using the standard forward-backward translation process, and was administered to 130 Japanese adults who stutter. To validate the UTBAS-J scales, scores for the Japanese and Australian cohorts were compared. Spearman correlations were conducted between the UTBAS-J and the Modified Erickson Communication Attitude scale (S-24), the self-assessment scale of speech (SA scale), and age. The test-retest reliability and internal consistency of the UTBAS-J were assessed. Independent t-tests were conducted to evaluate the differences in the UTBAS-J scales according to gender, speech treatment experience, and stuttering self-help group participation experience.ResultsThe UTBAS-J showed good test-retest reliability, high internal consistency, and moderate to high significant correlations with S-24 and SA scale. A weak correlation was found between the UTBAS-J scales with age. No significant relationships were found between UTBAS-J scores, gender and speech treatment experience. However, those who participated in the stuttering self-help group demonstrated lower UTBAS-J scores than those who did not.ConclusionGiven the current scarcity of clinical assessment tools for adults who stutter in Japan, the UTBAS-J holds promise as an assessment tool and outcome measure for use in clinical and research environments.     

Commitment to Work, Care Giving and Seniority: The Case of Nursing

The current study examined whether differences in commitment to paid employment or different levels of private sphere responsibility between women and men could explain the gender segmentation of the paid work force. A survey of a composite sample (N?=?380) of Australian nurses showed that there were no significant differences between women and men in terms of commitment to paid employment although commitment was a predictor of seniority. Primary care-giving status also predicted seniority and women were more likely than men to have care-giving responsibility for dependents. Multiple logistic regression showed that, independent of gender, primary responsibility for care-giving to dependents, rather than commitment to paid employment, explained more of the differing chances for women and men of being in senior positions.     

Study of Sexual Concordance in Men and Women with Different Typologies of Adherence to the Sexual Double Standard

Background/ObjectiveSexual concordance (i.e., relationship between genital response and subjective sexual arousal) is higher in men than in women. Among the factors that could explain this difference would be the sexual double standard (SDS). Sexual concordance is examined by SDS typologies of adherence (egalitarian, man-favorable, and woman-favorable).MethodDuring exposure to a film with sexual content, genital response (penile circumference/vaginal pulse amplitude) and self-reported sexual arousal were recorded in 104 young adults (42 men and 62 women), distributed into SDS typologies of adherence on the basis of their scores on the Sexual Double Standard Scale.ResultsSexual concordance was obtained in men and women with egalitarian and man-favorable typology. Subjective sexual arousal explained a significant percentage of the variance in genital response in the egalitarian typology (men: R² = .32, p < .01; women: R² = .19, p < .05) and man-favorable typology (men: R² = .21, p < .05; women: R² = .23, p < .05).ConclusionsAgreement between genital responsiveness and subjective sexual arousal depends on DES adherence typology.     

Occupational segregation and psychological gender differences: How empathizing and systemizing help explain the distribution of men and women into (some) occupations

The proportion of men and women workers varies among occupation types. There are several factors that may contribute to occupational segregation by gender. Using a large U.S. sample (n = 2149), we examine the extent to which occupational segregation can be attributed to gender differences in empathizing and systematizing: Psychological dimensions which theorists argue represent meaningful differences between men and women. Of the eight occupational categories for which employee gender and occupation type were associated at the p < .01 level, four of these – Construction, Professional/Scientific/Technical fields, Management, and Education – were partially mediated by systemizing and/or empathizing scores, which typically accounted for 10–20% of the observed gender differences. For other areas, like Health, gender differences were not mediated by either measure.     

Antecedent variables of innovation behaviors in organizations: Differences between men and women

IntroductionRelevance of innovation behaviors for organizational success led to study its main individual, job-related and organizational antecedents. Moreover, research on differences in innovation between men and women showed inconclusive results. Ambidexterity (Bledow, Frese, Anderson, Erez, & Farr, 2009) and Zhou and Hoever (2014) call for combining contextual and personal characteristics in innovation research suggest that pathways and variables leading to innovation between men and women could be different.Objective(s)This study aims to analyze if men and women differ in the main antecedents for innovative behaviors. Thus, a moderating effect of gender on the relationship between innovative behaviors and their main antecedent variables is hypothesized. Results are of interest for promoting innovation and empowering women at work context.MethodIn a sample of 458 employees from 16 Spanish companies, we carried out hierarchical regression analyses on innovation behaviors, including as main antecedents academic level, proactive personality, job demands, organizational commitment, HR practices addressed to participation, and transformational leadership. In addition, interaction terms between gender and such antecedents were entered in regression analysis.ResultsProactive personality, HR participation practices, inspirational motivation, job demands and academic level significantly predicted innovative behaviors at their different phases. Moreover, gender moderated the relationship between generation of new ideas with academic level and organizational commitment, and between promotion of ideas with job demands and idealized influence. Organizational commitment promoted generation of ideas among women but not among men, whereas idealized influence is detrimental for women. Reversely, higher job demands stimulate promotion of ideas among men but were detrimental for innovation among women.ConclusionOur results suggest that innovation among women seems to be more sensitive to the influence of leadership and require more social support, whereas higher job demands are detrimental. These results suggest that innovation is more related to intrinsic variables (as self-confidence, empowerment and social processes) among women, whereas for men, it seems to be more related to work demands. Results could help companies to stimulate innovation, between both men and women.     

Measuring Hong Kong Undergraduate Students’ Attitudes Towards Transpeople

Hill and Willoughby’s (Sex Roles, 53:531–544, 2005) Genderism and Transphobia Scale (GTS), originally developed in Canada, was examined with a Hong Kong sample. Undergraduate students, 82 female and 121 male (total n?=?203), completed a Chinese version of the instrument. Overall scores and factor structure of the Hong Kong sample were compared with Hill and Willoughby’s Canadian data. Gender differences in transphobia were investigated, both in terms of the participants’ gender as well as the gender of the gender variant persons to whom GTS items referred. Transphobia was higher in Hong Kong than in Canada. The factor structure for Hong Kong differed from Canada. Five factors were identified (with a gender effect on Factors II and V). They were: I, Anti Sissy Prejudice; II, Anti Trans Violence; III, Trans Unnaturalness; IV, Trans Immorality; and V, Background Genderism. Hong Kong men were more transphobic than women. Gender variance in men was viewed less favourably than in women.     

Changing people’s attitudes and beliefs toward driving through floodwaters: Evaluation of a video infographic

Despite awareness of campaigns such as ‘Turn Around, Don’t Drown’ and the Australian state of Queensland’s ‘If It’s Flooded, Forget It’, people continue to drive through floodwaters, causing loss of life, risk to rescuers, and damage to vehicles. The aim of this study was to develop a video infographic that highlights the dangers of driving through floodwaters and provide safety tips to reduce the risk, and to evaluate its effectiveness in changing the beliefs and intentions of Australian adults toward this risky driving behaviour. This study adopted an online three-wave non-controlled pretest–posttest design. Australian licensed drivers (N = 201, male = 41, female = 160; M_age = 34.10) self-reported their demographic and psychological variables (intention, attitude, subjective norm, barrier self-efficacy, risk perception, anticipated regret, perceived susceptibility, and perceived severity) at baseline (T1), immediately post-intervention (T2), and at a one-month follow-up (T3). Messages in the video infographic were developed based on psychological theory and empirical evidence, using data on causal factors derived from coronial records and the findings of behavioural research. Results indicated that men had significantly higher intentions and attitudes and significantly lower barrier self-efficacy, risk perception, anticipated regret, perceived susceptibility, and perceived severity with respect to driving through floodwater than women. Statistically significant time x gender interaction effects were also found; attitude and subjective norm were significantly lower between T1 and T2 for both men and women but scores between T2 and T3 remained significantly lower for women only. In addition, perceived susceptibility and perceived severity scores were significantly higher in women across T1 and T2, with the difference maintained at T3. In contrast, there were no differences in scores across the three-time points for men. The implications of these findings for road safety and drowning prevention messages targeting drivers during floods are discussed.     

Between-teacher variance of students' teacher-rated risk for emotional,behavioral, and adaptive functioning

As schools increasingly adopt universal social, emotional, and behavioral screening, more research is needed to examine the effects of between-teacher differences due to error and bias on students' teacher-rated screening scores. The current study examined predictors of between-teacher differences in students' teacher-rated risk across one global and three narrow domains of behavioral functioning. Participants included 2450 students (52.1% male, 54.2% White) and 160 teachers (92.1% female, 80.3% White) from four elementary schools in one Southeastern U.S. school district. Teachers rated student behavior on the Behavior Assessment System for Children (Third Edition) Behavioral and Emotional Screening System (BESS)-Teacher Form and completed a survey about their training and perspectives of common behavior problems. Results of multilevel linear regression found between-teacher effects to be greater for internalizing risk scores (intraclass correlation = 0.23) than for externalizing risk scores (intraclass correlation = 0.12) or adaptive behavior scores (intraclass correlation = 0.14). Statistically significant student predictors in most models included student grade, gender, race and/or ethnicity, office discipline referrals, and course grades. We also detected effects of several teacher-level variables in one or more of the models, including teacher gender, teacher ratings of problem severity and concern for hypothetical children displaying behavior problems, and the covariance of random teacher intercept and teacher random slopes for students' office discipline referrals. Although these factors explained some teacher-level variance in students' risk scores, a notable amount of variance between teachers remains unexplained. Future research is needed to fully understand, reduce, and account for differences between teacher ratings due to error and bias.     

Body Image and Self-Esteem Across Age and Gender: A Short-Term Longitudinal Study

This study examined the relationship between body image and self-esteem across time and age for men and women. Participants were 150 men and 239 women aged between 20 and 86 years (M?=?59.73), recruited from the general population in Australia. They completed a questionnaire assessing self-esteem, body dissatisfaction, body importance, and a range of other domains of life satisfaction at baseline and 2 years later. Cross-sectionally, we found that higher self-esteem was associated with lower body dissatisfaction, but there was no consistent relationship between these variables across time for age and gender. Women were more dissatisfied with their bodies than men; yet, men placed greater importance on their appearance than women, and also reported high levels of body dissatisfaction.     

More of a (wo)man offline? Gender roles measured in online and offline environments

The increased availability of and access to the Internet has resulted in online psychological assessment becoming an attractive mode of collecting data. However, equivalence between online measures and their offline counterpart cannot be assumed. The aim of the current study was to examine for the first time the online and offline equivalence of a commonly employed measure of gender role orientation: the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) short-form. Participants (N = 372) completed the BSRI short-form either online (n = 244) or offline (n = 128). Equivalence was assessed through reliability measures and mean differences. Reliability analyses indicated good and comparable levels of internal consistency. There was no significant difference between femininity scores depending on mode of administration. However, masculinity scores were significantly higher when the BSRI short-form was administered offline. An additional and unexpected finding was that there was no significant difference between men and women’s masculinity scores. Explanations for the pattern of results seen are considered, including the possible role of social desirability. Future research should further consider conceptualisations of gender in the online environment. Given the findings reported here, it is recommended that researchers collecting gender role data online interpret their findings mindful of possible administration mode effects.     

Explicit or implicit situation awareness? Measuring the situation awareness of train traffic controllers

Previous research on situation awareness (SA) predominantly focused on its explicit, reasoned, conscious features rather than on the implicit, intuitive, unconscious aspects that are often identified with expert operators. This research investigated implicit levels of SA of train traffic controllers (TTCs) in order to contribute to the body of knowledge on rail human factors research and SA. A novel approach was used to uncover levels of implicit SA through a set of three analyses: (1) fairly low SAGAT values with correlations between SAGAT scores and multiple performance indicators; (2) negative correlations between work experience and SAGAT scores; and (3) structurally lower level-1 SA (perception) scores in comparison to level-2 SA (comprehension) scores in accordance with Endsley’s three-level model. Two studies were conducted: A pilot study – which focused on SA measurements with TTCs in a monitoring mode (N = 9) – and the main study, which involved TTCs from another control center (N = 20) and three different disrupted conditions. In the pilot study, SA was measured through the situation-awareness global assessment technique (SAGAT), perceived SA and observed SA, and performance was measured through punctuality and unplanned stops of trains before red signals. In the main study, SA was measured through SAGAT, and perceived SA and multiple performance indicators, such as arrival and departure punctuality and platform consistency, were assessed. In both studies, the set of three analyses showed consistent and persistent indications of the presence of implicit SA. Endsley’s three-level model and related SAGAT method can be constrained by the presence of these intuitive, unconscious processes and inconsistent findings on correlations between SAGAT scores and performance. These findings provide insights into the SA of TTCs in the Netherlands and can support the development of training programs and/or the design of a new traffic management system.     

Gender differences in marital quality and well-being in Chinese married adults

The present study addressed the issue of gender differences in marital quality and well-being in Chinese married men (N= 738) and women (N= 761). The results showed that males had significantly higher scores on the Chinese Dyadic Adjustment Scale and Chinese Kansas Marital Satisfaction Scale. While a longer duration of marriage was associated with higher levels of dyadic consensus and affectional expression in men, the duration of marriage was negatively related to marital adjustment and marital satisfaction in women. The data also showed that women displayed more psychiatric symptoms and midlife crisis problems and they had lower levels of positive mental health and perceived health status than men. While marital quality was positively related to well-being in both men and women, the impact of marital quality on well-being was generally found to be greater in women than in men.     

Gender Role Identity and Attitudes Toward Feminism

In this study we examined relationships among gender role identity, support for feminism, nontraditional gender roles, and willingness to consider oneself a feminist in a sample of college students (N=301). For female participants, we found positive relationships among higher masculinity on the PAQ (Personal Attributes Questionnaire), nontraditional attitudes toward gender roles, and the combined SRAI (Sex Role Attitudinal Inventory). A negative correlation was also found between lower scores on the PAQ masculinity–femininity index and the combined SRAI in women. For male participants, we found positive relationships among high femininity on the SIS (Sexual Identity Scale), willingness to consider oneself a feminist, positive attitudes toward the women's movement, and the combined SRAI. We also found a negative relationship between high masculinity on the PAQ and willingness to consider oneself a feminist in men. The implications of these findings for the feminist movement are discussed.     

Gender-related aspects of occupational prestige

Prestige of six occupational clusters was studied in relation to gender of the 369 college students who rated the prestige and to gender of imagined jobholders. Subjects rated on a scale of 1–5 the prestige of 30 occupations while envisioning women or envisioning men holding those jobs. Occupations were classified as either female professional, male professional, female nonprofessional, male nonprofessional, neutral professional, or neutral nonprofessional. Classification into these clusters was on the basis of percentage of women and men presently in each occupation and perception of each occupation's sex type, as well as whether college preparation was necessary. Prestige ratings were analyzed by a 2 (rater gender) × 2 (jobholder gender) × 6 (occupational cluster) repeated measures ANOVA. Main effects were obtained for gender (p < .05) and occupational cluster (p < .0001), as well as for the interactions of cluster and rater gender (p < .0001), cluster and jobholder gender (p < .0001), and the three-way interaction of cluster, rater gender, and jobholder gender (p < .01). The significant findings (particularly the interaction between occupational cluster and jobholder gender) seem to indicate that status is not inherent in sex-typed occupations, but is in part a function of the gender of the person imagined to be holding the job, and of the gender of the rater.