Maternal Prenatal Stress and Other Developmental Risk Factors for Adolescent Depression: Spotlight on Sex Differences

Maternal stress during pregnancy has been linked to premorbid abnormalities associated with depression (e.g., difficult temperament, cognitive deficits) in offspring. However, few studies have looked across developmental periods to examine maternal stress during pregnancy and offspring depression during adolescence and whether these associations differ by sex. The current study used data from 1711 mother-offspring dyads (offspring sex: 49.8% male) in a longitudinal birth cohort study. Maternal narratives collected during pregnancy were qualitatively coded for stress-related themes by independent raters. Latent class analysis (LCA) identified distinct subgroups of offspring based on exposure to maternal prenatal stress and other developmental factors from the prenatal, childhood, and adolescent periods that have been associated with depression and/or maternal prenatal stress. LCA identified subgroups that were compared to determine whether and to what extent they differed on adolescent depressive symptoms. LCA revealed a subgroup of “high-risk” individuals, characterized by maternal factors during pregnancy (higher ambivalence/negativity and lower positivity towards the pregnancy, higher levels of hassles, lower maternal education and higher maternal age at birth, higher pre-pregnancy BMI) and offspring developmental factors (decreased cognitive functioning during childhood and adolescence, lower perceived parental support during adolescence, and higher levels of maternal depression during adolescence). High-risk females exhibited elevated conduct symptoms and higher birth order, while high-risk males exhibited decreased internalizing symptoms and lower birth order. Both high-risk males and females reported elevated depressive symptoms during adolescence relative to their “low-risk” counterparts.     

Sources of Sex Discrimination in Educational Systems: A Conceptual Model

A conceptual model is presented which relates numerous variables believed to contribute to sexism in American education. Discrimination is viewed as intervening between two sets of interrelated independent variables and the dependent variable of sex inequalities in educational attainment. The two sets of independent variables are 1) internal psychological-cognitive structures of individuals who participate in the educational system, and 2) the educational system itself. Six internal psychological-cognitive structures are emphasized: sex-role orientation, sex difference stereotypes, ego strength, self-concept, and educational and occupational expectations. Sex-role orientation changes are viewed as the key to significant change in the total system described by the model.     

五台山地区传统节日中的性别歧视

性别歧视在传统节日中表现在四个方面祭祀活动中的男尊女卑;节日食俗中的男人至上;节日礼仪对妇女的束缚;特殊禁忌对女性人格的亵渎。     

乙肝歧视:热过后的冷思考

乙肝歧视作为一个术语存在明显的语义学缺陷,在伦理学的视域中,乙肝歧视既非程序不公正,也非分配不公正,而是主体对客体缺少必要的仁慈。虽然通过医学手段彻底治愈乙型肝炎的时间无法准确地估测,但只要我们能够充分利用现有的医学和社会手段,就有望在30年左右的时间内将中国社会人群的乙肝病原携带率控制在1%以内,这大体上可看作是乙肝歧视的终结。     

乙肝歧视:热过后的冷思考

乙肝歧视作为一个术语存在明显的语义学缺陷,在伦理学的视域中,乙肝歧视既非程序不公正,也非分配不公正,而是主体对客体缺少必要的仁慈.虽然通过医学手段彻底治愈乙型肝炎的时间无法准确地估测,但只要我们能够充分利用现有的医学和社会手段,就有望在30年左右的时间内将中国社会人群的乙肝病原携带率控制在1%以内,这大体上可看作是乙肝歧视的终结.     

Sex differences on a measure of conformity: comments on a recent study

Reysen and Reysen's recent article made a contribution to understanding of sex differences by interpreting the results through the lens of conformity research. Reinterpretation could refer to differences in perceptual sensitivity. The results, then, are theoretically and empirically consistent with the literature.     

Extended Sex: An Account of Sex for a More Just Society

We propose an externalist understanding of sex that builds upon extended and distributed approaches to cognition, and contributes to building a more just, diversity‐sensitive society. Current sex categorization practices according to the female/male dichotomy are not only inaccurate and incoherent (attributing nonreproductive properties to differences in vaguely defined reproductive roles), but they also ground moral and political pressures that harm and oppress people. We argue that a new understanding of sex is due, an understanding that would acknowledge the variability and, most important, the flexibility of sex properties, as well as the moral and political meaning of sex categorization. We propose an externalist account of sex, elaborating on extended and distributed approaches to cognition that capitalize on the natural capacity of organisms to couple with environmental resources. We introduce the notion of extended sex, and argue that properties relevant for sex categorization are neither exclusively internal to the individual skin, nor fixed. Finally, we spell out the potential of extended sex to support an active defense of diversity and an intervention against sex‐based discrimination.     

Barriers to Women's Career Success: Human Capital, Career Choices, Structural Determinants, or Simply Sex Discrimination

Cet article aborde la question des évolutions divergentes de carrière attribuables au sexe chez les salariés britanniques. Des données ont été recueillies par questionnaires auprès de 457 d'entre eux pour évaluer plusieurs des explications apportées aux différences de salaire et de niveau hiérarchique entre hommes et femmes. L'importance relative de la discrimination due au sexe a été comparée à d'autres variables, à savoir: les dimensions de la personnalité, les qualités humaines utiles pour le poste, les aspects démographiques, le choix de carrière, les forces économiques du marché du travail et la structure des organisations. Les résultats ont montré que ces facteurs rendaient compte d'une part importante de la variance de la carrière, mais que plus de 55% des différences dans la réussite professionnelle des hommes et des femmes pouvaient être attribuées à la discrimination sexuelle.
This paper examines the gender gap in career success of men and women in the British labour force. Questionnaire data were collected from 457 British employees to assess several explanations for the gender differences in salaries and managerial level. The relative importance of sex discrimination was compared to alternative explanations, including: personality characteristics, job-relevant human capital attributes, demographic characteristics, career choices, labour market economic forces, and structural features of the organisations. The results revealed that although these factors explained a large amount of the variance in career success, over 55% of the gender gap in career success was attributed to sex discrimination.     

Sex differences in impulsivity: a meta-analysis

Men are overrepresented in socially problematic behaviors, such as aggression and criminal behavior, which have been linked to impulsivity. Our review of impulsivity is organized around the tripartite theoretical distinction between reward hypersensitivity, punishment hyposensitivity, and inadequate effortful control. Drawing on evolutionary, criminological, developmental, and personality theories, we predicted that sex differences would be most pronounced in risky activities with men demonstrating greater sensation seeking, greater reward sensitivity, and lower punishment sensitivity. We predicted a small female advantage in effortful control. We analyzed 741 effect sizes from 277 studies, including psychometric and behavioral measures. Women were consistently more punishment sensitive (d = -0.33), but men did not show greater reward sensitivity (d = 0.01). Men showed significantly higher sensation seeking on questionnaire measures (d = 0.41) and on a behavioral risk-taking task (d = 0.36). Questionnaire measures of deficits in effortful control showed a very modest effect size in the male direction (d = 0.08). Sex differences were not found on delay discounting or executive function tasks. The results indicate a stronger sex difference in motivational rather than effortful or executive forms of behavior control. Specifically, they support evolutionary and biological theories of risk taking predicated on sex differences in punishment sensitivity. A clearer understanding of sex differences in impulsivity depends upon recognizing important distinctions between sensation seeking and impulsivity, between executive and effortful forms of control, and between impulsivity as a deficit and as a trait.     

Sex and the Elderly:

Two persistent myths about aging are that sex is for the young and religion is for the old. Contrary to these popular beliefs, adults do not necessarily turn to religion as they age nor do they lose sexual interest or cease to be sexually active. This paper examines sex. gender and sexuality of the elderly in relation to religious beliefs and church/synagogue participation. Five megatrends related to sex and aging and their implications for the churchlsynagogue are discussed: (1) from youth to adult congregations- the demographic imperatives; (2) from male to female congregations; (3) from married to single; (4) from eitherlor to multiple choice; and (5) from exclusive to inclusive.     

Gender, Physical Attractiveness, and Sex Role in Occupational Treatment Discrimination: The Influence of Trait and Role Assumptions

A field experiment was designed to examine the role of gender trait assumptions in occupational treatment discrimination. Professional personnel consultants evaluated male or female employees who were physically attractive or unattractive and masculine, feminine, or androgynous. Consultants made decisions about promotion, opportunity for special training, delegation of work assignments, and a child care leave of absence request in masculine, feminine, and sex-neutral occupations. Decisions about career development were strongly influenced by gender trait information, rather than by gender or attractiveness. In contrast, females were more likely than males to be granted a child care leave without pay, regardless of sex role. The results supported the assumption that the congruence between gender traits and the occupational requirements mediates occupational sex discrimination. Only for decisions involving competing role demands stemming from faily circumstances was there evidence that beliefs about appropriate roles for the sexes mediate discrimination. Implications of these findings are discussed in terms of new approaches for reducing sex discrimination in the treatment of employees.     

Sex differences in self-disclosure: a meta-analysis.

A meta-analysis of 205 studies involving 23,702 Ss was conducted to determine whether there are sex differences in self-disclosure. Across these studies, women disclosed slightly more than men (d = .18). This effect size was not homogeneous across studies. Several moderator variables were found. Sex of target and the interaction effect of relationship to target and measure of self-disclosure moderated the effect of sex on self-disclosure. Sex differences in self-disclosure were significantly greater to female and same-sex partners than to opposite-sex or male partners. When the target had a relationship with the discloser (i.e., friend, parent, or spouse), women disclosed more than men regardless of whether self-disclosure was measured by self-report or observation. When the target was a stranger, men reported that they disclosed similarly to women; however, studies using observational measures of self-disclosure found that women disclosed more than men.     

Sex differences in romantic attachment: a meta-analysis

This article presents the first meta-analysis of sex differences in the avoidance and anxiety dimensions of adult romantic attachment, based on 113 samples (N = 66,132) from 100 studies employing two-dimensional romantic attachment questionnaires (Experiences in Close Relationships, Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised, and Adult Attachment Questionnaire). Overall, males showed higher avoidance and lower anxiety than females, with substantial between-study heterogeneity. Sex differences were much larger in community samples (bivariate D = .28) than in college samples (D = .12); web-based studies showed the smallest sex differences (D = .07) in the opposite direction. Sex differences also varied across geographic regions (overall Ds = .10 to .34). Sex differences in anxiety peaked in young adulthood, whereas those in avoidance increased through the life course. The relevance of these findings for evolutionary models of romantic attachment is discussed, and possible factors leading to underestimation of sex differences are reviewed.     

Sex Differences in Risk Taking: Repeated Sessions on a Computer-Simulated Task

Two experiments were conducted to investigate sex differences in risktaking behavior on a computer-generated and controlled task. Male and female subjects faced a video display of simulated mine fields with varying numbers and patterns of dots representing mines in the fields. In Experiment 1, they estimated the probability that a tank might successfully cross 100 mine fields when starting from an unknown point below each field. This was followed by the risk-taking task in which they decided whether to send a tank across each of the fields. The participants were tested on the risk-taking task once in Experiment 1 and over four separate sessions in Experiment 2. Scores, based on decision outcomes, and decision latencies were recorded. No significant sex differences were found in the participants' ability to estimate probabilities or in their total scores for decisions made on the risk-taking task. In low probability-of-success situations, women initially took greater risks than men but took longer to make their decisions; in all subsequent sessions, this pattern was reversed, with men taking greater risks and a longer time to make decisions. The findings support the growing body of evidence that men are more inclined to take risks than women in a variety of situations, indicate the importance of obtaining data over repeated sessions when investigating sex differences in risk taking, and demonstrate that computer-simulated tasks can provide a valid means for laboratory studies of sex differences in risk taking.     

Discrimination of the Second Generation: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Norway

A major question in labour market research is the extent to which discrimination in employments causes the disadvantages experienced by children of immigrants. This article contributes to the debate by utilising a correspondence test study in which pairs of equivalent résumés and cover letters—one with a Pakistani name and one with a Norwegian name—were sent in response to 900 job openings in the greater Oslo area. The results show that applicants with Norwegian names on average are 25 % more likely to receive a call back for a job interview than equally qualified applicants with Pakistani names. More refined analyses demonstrate that the effect of ethnic background on employment probabilities is larger among men than women and larger in the private sector than in the public sector, and important variations among the occupations included in the study are revealed. In an effort to separate the potentially conflating effects of gender and sector, all applications to gender-segregated occupations were removed from the analyses. Interestingly, the gender differences disappear when exclusively analysing discrimination in gender-integrated occupations by sector. In gender-integrated occupations in the private sector, the gender difference in fact is reversed, indicating that women with minority background are treated less favourably than are minority men in the private sector. These results suggest that the intersection of gender, ethnicity, and sector should be scrutinised more carefully in future field experiments.