Structural gender differences in perceived social support

Gender is an important influence on support-relevant social interactions, however findings of studies on gender differences in social support are not definitive. Although differences between men and women in the various social support measures have been found in numerous studies, neither the cause nor the explanatory process is known. This study examines gender differences in the dimensionality of social support. A large sample (N=3210) from the general population of women (60%) and men aged between 18 and 65 years old (Mean AGE=34.1) responded to a brief scale with items assessing the distinct functions of the perceived availability of social support. Confirmatory factor analyses yielded one factor in the women's sample that measures global social support perceived, and two in the men's. The first factor in the men's sample measures emotional support (providing empathy, caring, validation of self-worth), and the second measures instrumental support (e.g. practical assistance or financial aid). We concluded that there are gender differences in the structure of perceived social support and that these differences can be explained by socialization experiences and social roles associated with gender.     

Book Reviews of Death,ritual and belief: the rhetoric of funerary rites (second edition) DOUGLAS J. DAVIES Continuum International Publishing Group,London, 2002, 320 pp. £17.99 (pb) ISBN 0 826 45484 4

This paper considers the role of Islamic scholars as non-statutory providers of support for individuals with issues of psychological distress and wellbeing. A qualitative phenomenological analysis of the experiences of six Imams (Islamic religious officials) who saw this type of support as being part of their role is presented. Four themes were identified: “Building a personal relationship with the ultimate authority”; “Treating the whole person”; “God's medicine” and “Duty bound to help”. Clinical implications for the current and potential relationship between this type of support and mental health and psychological services are presented and discussed.     

End notes: two unpublished presentations by Michael Fordham

Following the publication in this journal of two of Fordham's unpublished papers selected by James Astor (2010, 55, 5), the editors have asked me to select a further two. I have chosen two clinical pieces, one clinical notes and the other notes that refine his previous thinking, which Fordham wrote at the end of his life. Both are examples of the way Fordham continued throughout his analytic work to turn to patients as his primary source of learning. Fordham presented the first piece, ‘A case study’, to Parkside Clinic in 1988. Its subject is his last child patient, a nine‐year‐old boy with behaviour problems that destroyed the analytic frame. The second is clearly for an SAP (Society of Analytical Psychology) audience and written probably around 1992–93. It is titled ‘Some comments on transference and countertransference’ and contains material from the patient who has become known through papers in this journal as ‘K’. The two pieces are presented together within a commentary rather than separately with footnotes, in order to provide some context for Fordham's thinking in his late years.     

Proprioceptive impairment and postural orientation control in Parkinson's disease

Impairment of postural control is a common consequence of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Increasing evidences demonstrate that the pathophysiology of postural disorders in PD includes deficits in proprioceptive processing and integration. However, the nature of these deficits has not been thoroughly examined. We propose to establish a link between proprioceptive impairments and postural deficits in PD using two different experimental approaches manipulating proprioceptive information. In the first one, the subjects stood on a platform that tilted slowly with oscillatory angular movements in the frontal or sagittal planes. The amplitude and frequency of these movements were kept below the semicircular canal perception threshold. Subjects were asked to maintain vertical body posture with and without vision. The orientations of body segments were analyzed. In the second one, the postural control was tested using the tendon-vibration method, which is known to generate illusory movement sensations and postural reactions. Vibrations were applied to ankle muscles. The subject’s whole-body motor responses were analyzed from center of pressure displacements.In the first experiment, the parkinsonian patients (PP) were unable to maintain the vertical trunk orientation without vision. Their performances with vision improved, without fully reaching the level of control subjects (CS). In the second experiment, the postural reactions of the PP were similar to those of the CS at the beginning of the perturbation and increased drastically at the end of the perturbation’s period as compared to those of CS and could induce fall.These results will bring new concepts to the sensorimotor postural control, to the physiopathology of posture, equilibrium and falls in PD and to the role of basal ganglia pathways in proprioception integration. Nevertheless, in order to assess precisely the role played by sensorimotor integration deficits in postural impairments in PD, further studies establishing the links between clinical features and abnormalities are now required.     

Maternal provision of structure in a deliberate memory task in relation to their preschool children's recall

Strategic remembering emerges gradually during the preschool years. Socialization practices, specifically mother–child social interactions, might provide the foundation for the development of skills necessary for effective organization of information in memory. In the current study, 48 mothers and their 40-month-olds were engaged in the process of remembering (i.e., study and recall) categorically related picture stimuli in a laboratory context. Children’s recall was reliably predicted by the way in which mothers structured both the study and recall periods of the deliberate memory task. Specifically, maternal verbal and physical behaviors that focused on organization of items, such as sorting items into distinct groups and providing the name of a category, were most beneficial in supporting children’s memory. Moreover, some mothers employed a number of different mnemonic techniques that emphasized categorical connections among items, suggesting systematic approaches in the manner in which mothers help children to learn effective ways of remembering.     

EPIGENETICS,REPRESENTATION, AND SOCIETY

In recent decades, advances in the life sciences have created an unprecedentedly detailed picture of heredity and the formation of the phenotype where clusters of simplistic reductionist and deterministic views and interpretations have begun to lose ground to more complex and holistic notions. The developments in gene regulation and epigenetics have become a vivid emblem of the ongoing ‘softening’ of heredity. Despite this headway, the outlook and rhetoric widely popular in the twentieth century favoring the ‘gene’ in the ‘gene?genetic plasticity?phenotype?environment’ tetrad have not been successfully tackled but continue to exist in parallel with a new, equally monochromatic, viewpoint championing genetic plasticity. An examination of epigenetics and its presentation in the public sphere, open to a conversation with the social disciplines and philosophy, could address this dichotomy and contribute to the discourse. This article outlines key biological aspects of epigenetics and discusses the language, presentation and wider resonance of this field of life science research.     

Married Women’s Situational Use of Last Names: An Empirical Study

Situational last name use was examined in a sample of 600 married women who responded to a mail survey. The sample was selected from the faculty and staff of a state university in the Midwest with over-sampling of women whose last name differed from their husband’s last name. Overall, 12% of married women reported situational last name use. Women from all last name choices (e.g., changed to husband’s, kept birth surname) reported situational surname use, but the most common occurrence of this practice was among hyphenators. Situational users were most likely to use their husband’s last name in family situations and their birth surname in professional situations. Factors that increase situational last name use included full-time employment, higher levels of educational attainment, and an older age at marriage. Situational last name use by married women can be seen as a manifestation of ambiguity over identity with family and non-family roles.