Communication patterns during marital conflict: A cross-cultural replication

This study examines the reliability and validity of the Communication Patterns Questionnaire (CPQ) from Christensen and Sullaway (1984). The CPQ is a relatively new questionnaire aimed at assessing marital communication at the dyadic level. It addresses communication patterns involving the behavior of both members of the dyad rather than just one partner. The CPQ permits the evaluation of communication in close relationships on three scales: (a) mutual constructive communication; (b) mutual avoidance of communication; (c) demand/withdrawal. Previous research among American samples has yielded empirical evidence concerning the reliability and validity of this instrument. The current study focuses upon whether the CPQ may also be applied to European subjects. To address this question, a German and a Swiss sample were used. Our results demonstrate that the questionnaire's reliability and validity also prove satisfactory among European samples. In both studies, communication avoidance and withdrawal were negatively correlated with relationship satisfaction.     

A cross-cultural examination of implicit attitudes toward shyness in Canada and China

The goal of this research was to explore implicit and explicit attitudes about shyness in Canada and Mainland China. In Study 1, Canadian undergraduate students (N = 650) completed a newly developed online version of the Implicit Association Test (IAT) focused on shyness, as well as questionnaires about their own shyness and explicit beliefs about shyness. Results suggested that Canadian university students automatically associated shyness with negative words. In Study 2, Chinese undergraduate students (N = 290) completed a newly developed Mandarin Chinese online version of the IAT related to shyness, as well as questionnaires of their own shyness explicit beliefs about shyness. Results indicated that Chinese students also automatically associated shyness with negative words, but differences were observed in the pattern of association with participants’ own shyness. Results are discussed in terms of the implications of attitudes toward shyness in both cultures.     

MMPI characteristics of professional prostitutes: a cross-cultural replication

The personality characteristics of 41 professional prostitutes in Brussels, Belgium, were examined using either a French- or a Flemish-language version of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). A comparison group of 96 nonprostitute women was recruited from among employees of an international airline. Age differences within the prostitute group were also examined. In some contrast to prior research findings, the prostitute group was significantly more deviant on several indicators of psychopathology. Also, older prostitutes were more deviant than younger ones. An appreciable number of the women in this profession are in need of psychological treatment.     

Clinician attitudes toward stuttering in the United States and Great Britain: A cross-cultural study

The attitudes toward stutterers and stuttering of 702 speech-language clinicians in the United States and Great Britain were studied. Three hundred seventy-one clinicians from six states in the U.S. and 331 clinicians from England and Wales completed the Clinician Attitudes Toward Stuttering (CATS) Inventory. Results of the study were analyzed in terms of differences and similarities in attitudes between the two groups with respect to the etiology of stuttering, early intervention, the effectiveness of stuttering therapies, various therapy techniques, stutterers and their personality, parents of stutterers, clinicians, and reactions of others to stutterers.     

Male physical attractiveness in Britain and Malaysia: A cross-cultural study

Three purported cues to perceived male physical attractiveness are the waist-to-chest ratio (WCR), body mass index (BMI) and the waist-to-hip ratio (WHR). This study examined the relative contribution of each cue in several socio-economically distinct populations. Ninety-five female participants from Britain and Malaysia were asked to rate a set of images of real men with known WCR, BMI and WHR. The results showed clear differences along a gradient of socio-economic development. In urban settings, WCR was the primary component of attractiveness ratings, with BMI playing a smaller role and WHR not reaching significance. In the rural setting, BMI was the primary predictor of attractiveness, with WCR playing a more minor role and WHR not reaching significance. In general, urban participants were more reliant on body shape and chose a relatively slim figure with an ‘inverted triangle’ shape; rural participants were more reliant on body weight and chose a heavier figure with a less triangular shape. These findings are discussed in terms of evolutionary psychological explanations of mate selection and sociological theories that emphasise the effect of resource scarcity on preferences for body shapes and sizes.     

The two-factor model of self-reported mood: a cross-cultural replication

The cross-cultural stability of a two-factor model of self-reported mood was studied in Israel. Sixty women and 25 men filled out a 58-adjective Mood Check List, everday for 45 consecutive days. Replicatory factor analyses demonstrated that the two-factor model of mood is applicable to both Israeli men and women and that this structure is consistent across American and Israeli cultures. Three implications of these findings are discussed. Replication of this structure in a diversified and unique culture, such as Israel, coupled with a previous replication in Japan (Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1984), is interpreted as lending considerable support to the assertion that this model of mood is cross-culturally consistent. Theoretical formulations and empirical findings derived and discovered in the U.S. can now be employed in planning and interpreting mood studies in Israel. The results of such studies can be incorporated within the general body of knowledge accumulating on this topic in the U.S.     

Sex differences in retention of verbal and spatial characteristics of stimuli: A cross-cultural replication

This study is a partial (omitting college students) replication of R. V. Kail and A. W. Siegel (Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 1977, 23, 341–347) in Ghana and Scotland on boys and girls with 4 and 7 years of education. After viewing sets of five or seven letters in a 4 × 4 matrix they remembered either (a) the letters, (b) positions of the letters, or (c) both letters and positions. Contrary to the results of the original study, no sex difference in relative recall of letters and positions was found. There was also evidence that verbal and spatial information is not always processed independently. A prediction that Scottish children would have better recall of positions was supported. The discussion notes the limitations of intracultural research as a basis for generalizations.     

Turkish adolescents' attitudes toward physical education

1,163 middle school students (586 girls, 577 boys; Grades 6-8) were selected through a stratified random sampling method to examine their attitudes toward physical education (PE) by grade, student's sex, sports participation characteristics, and teacher's sex. They were administered the Attitude Toward Physical Education Scale for Children. Factorial analysis of variance indicated that Grade 8 students' mean attitude scores were less positive than those of Grade 6 students, but the attitudes of boys and of sports participants were more positive than of girls and nonsports participants. Findings were similar regardless of the teacher's sex.     

Behavioral adjustment and the physical environment

The present paper focuses attention on attributes of the external environment and the capacities of living organisms to adjust to them. Environmental management involves “trade-offs” between the biological limits within which man can adjust to changes in his ecosystem and the social cost-benefits which he perceives as contributing to the quality of his life. Psychobiological mechanisms involved in the plasticity of behavior during acute and chronic exposures to such changes are analyzed and the limits they set on adjustment, discussed. Examples are given of research designed to study both the plasticity and the limits based upon the strategies of environmental epidemiology, clinical investigation, and experimental psychobiology.     

Infant responses and the physical environment

A longitudinal study of infants ( n =23) from 6 to 13 months was made to explore infants' responses to objects high on complexity and responsiveness compared to low-scored ones, and whether the high-scored objects were preferred. Further, it was explored to what extent individual differences of the infants represent a source of variation. The results showed that more than 50% of the total variance was accounted for by differences in object qualities, and about 25% by individual differences. High-scored objects were significantly more often preferred compared to low-scored ones irrespective of age.     

Reliability,validity, and cross-cultural comparisons for the simplified attitudes toward women scale

This article investigates the use of the simplified version of the Attitudes Toward Women Scale with 278 American adults taken from the general population. Normative data and estimates of internal consistency reliability are reported, both for the overall sample and for selected subgroups. Females are found to have more liberal sex role attitudes than males, younger people to have more liberal attitudes than older people, and those of higher social status to have more liberal attitudes than those of lower status, supporting the construct validity of the scale. A cross-cultural comparison is also made between the scores of British and American women.