Gender Differences in Adolescent Depression: Gender-Typed Characteristics or Problem-Solving Skills Deficits?

This study explored gender differences indepressive symptoms during adolescence in relation withgender-typed characteristics, problem-solving abilities,and stressful life events. Participants were 306 white French-speaking adolescents (142 men and164 women) from upper middle-class families enrolled ina high school in the Trois-Rivières area ofQuebec. Participants ranged in age from 14 to 17 years, with a mean age of 15.3 years (SD = .95). Theycompleted the French versions of the Beck DepressionInventory (BDI), the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI), theProblem-Solving Inventory (PSI), and the Life Event Questionnaire (LEQ) during a regularclass. Depressed participants distinguished themselvesfrom nondepressed participants on all variables exceptfor expressivity. Instrumentality was negatively correlated with depression for boys and for thetotal sample. Scores on all three subscales of the PSIcorrelated with depression, and with scores on the LEQ,with the exception of In the Last Yearsubscale for boys. A path analysis was conducted usingscores on the BDI as the dependent variable. Subjectiveproblem-solving abilities act as a mediating variablebetween instrumentality and depression. Instrumentality, expressivity, and problem-solving abilitiesexplained a significant portion of the variance of theBDI.     

Analysis of Self-Reported Motives for Task-Related Helping: Implications for an Integrated Theory of Helping

Purpose

In organizations where work is complex, dynamic and interdependent, maintaining an environment where employees offer help to one another is essential for organizational effectiveness. This research is aimed at understanding the antecedent motives underlying task-related interpersonal helping.

Design/Methodology/Approach

The research took an atypical approach by asking employees directly to explain in their own words why they would, or would not, help co-workers with work-related problems. Content analysis yielded five categories of motives for helping. The qualitative motive categories were able to explain variance in quantitative scales assessing respondents’ affect, attitudes, organizational perceptions, and demographics.

Findings

Employees who gave altruistic reasons for helping (i.e., helping was a personal value or a contribution to the team) reported performing more helping behaviors, expressed greater organizational commitment, and perceived more organizational justice than did employees who expected reciprocity for helping, or whose help was contingent.

Implications

No existing theory of helping explains the total collection of motives identified in this research. We encourage researchers to develop integrated theories capable of explaining the totality of motives for task-related helping. Our research identities several essential parameters of such integrated theories and provides guidance for carrying out the task of theory integration.

Originality/Value

This phenomenological research is the only empirical investigations into task-related helping based on respondents’ own reasons for helping. It also is one of the few to incorporate both qualitative and quantitative methodologies.     

Secondary attachments and adolescent self concept

This study examined the popular notion that crushes or secondary attachments to celebrity figures are an important aspect of self-concept development during adolescence. In a repeated measures design, 79 male and female 5th, 8th, and 11th graders and college sophomores completed a set of personality scales, first describing themselves and later, describing the favorite celebrity. Repeated measures multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVA) analysis of self-object congruence revealed no significant main or interaction effects for the type of attachment, gender, or age of subject. Significant within subject effects were obtained for the repeated measures factor (self-object congruence). Overall, students perceived their attachment objects to be more agentic, yet less expressive and emotionally vulnerable than themselves. MANOVA analyses indicated that males and older students perceived their attachment objects to be higher in agency than expressivity, whereas females and younger students perceived their attachment objects to be higher in expressivity than agency. These data indicate that the function served by secondary attachments in the development of self-concept may be quite similar for adolescent males and females.     

Sex differences in the relation of children's height and weight to academic performance and others' attributions of competence

The purposes of the present study were to examine the relation of elementary-school girls' and boys' height and weight to (a) teachers' and peers' perceptions of the children's independence and academic, athletic, and social competence; and (b) children's achievement test scores and grades. Teachers rated kindergarteners' through fourth graders' competence both at the beginning of the school year and four months later; first and third graders rated their peers' competence once midyear. In general, size and/or bulk were positively related to teachers' attributions of competence, grades, and achievement test scores for boys, especially for the older boys. Heaviness was negatively related to teachers' ratings of females' competence (especially athletic competence and especially for older girls). Moreover, large size (height not controlling for weight) was positively related to younger but not older children's nominations of males for athletic ability. The results are discussed in terms cultural stereotypes and their implications for the development of children's competence.     

The relationship of sex-role identity,life style,and mental health in suburban american homemakers: 1. Sex role,employment and adjustment

Prior research has suggested that a traditional feminine role may be a mental health liability for women. The present study investigates whether adjustment difficulties among homemakers may be a function of discrepancies between life roles and sex-role orientation. Subjects were 97 suburban mothers divided into full (N=59) and part-time (N=38) homemaker groups. Each subject was given the Bem Sex Role Inventory and SCL-90-R, which yields nine symptom scores and an overall adjustment index. A 4 (sex-roles) by 2 (homemaker status) ANOVA for overall adjustment was carried out. Significant differences were found only for sex roles, androgynous subjects showing significantly less symptomatology than undifferentiated subjects. In a stepwise multiple discriminant analysis, to predict sex roles from the nine symptom scores, masculine and androgynous groups reported symptoms of depression, anxiety, and interpersonal sensitivity much less frequently than feminine and undifferentiated subjects. High masculinity among this group of women (masculine or androgynous sex-role orientation) thus appears as a key factor related to adjustment, whereas life role-sex role consistency does not.     

Auditory stimulus intensity gradients and response to methylphenidate in ADD children

Using an auditory stimulus intensity paradigm, we obtained both event related potentials (ERPs) and press and release reaction times (RT) from a large sample of children with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). The ERP gradients to three tone intensities were used to classify the children as augmenters (steep gradients), moderates, or reducers (shallow or negative gradients). The RT data were used to classify the children as strong or sensitive, following neo-Pavlovian guidelines. The children were then cross-classified on these two dimensions and compared on cognitive, behavioral, and performance measures. The groups were also compared in response to two dosage levels of methylphenidate. Based on prior studies, we hypothesized that: 1. ERP augmenters would respond as well to the low as high dose but that reducers would respond better to high than low dose; and II. sensitive types (RT measure) would do better on the higher dose and strong types on the low dose. The first hypothesis was confirmed on a performance task but not on behavioral ratings. At the lower dose, augmenters improved most and reducers least on a 10-minute coding task presumed to require sustained attention. There was no support for the second hypothesis either in ratings or performance. The ERP augmentation measure was significantly related to teacher rated attentiveness; i.e., reducers and moderates were rated more adversely. The RT sensitivity measure tended to be related to achievement; i.e., strong types had lower reading and spelling scores. The ERP and RT sensitivity measures were not significantly correlated.     

Androgyny,depression, and self-esteem in irish homosexual and heterosexual males and females

An examination was made of the following research questions: (a) Do Irish homosexuals and heterosexuals differ in the frequency of their classification in sex-role categories? (b) Is sexual orientation related to psychological adjustment? (c) Is androgyny related to psychological adjustment? Subjects were 112 Irish men and women who were administered Bem's Sex-Role Inventory, Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale, Zung's Self-Rating Depression Scale, and a questionnaire. Results indicated that Irish homosexuals were classified more frequently than Irish heterosexuals as androgynous. Homosexuals did not differ from heterosexuals in self-esteem or depression scores. Among these Irish subjects, psychological sex-role category is a more powerful influence on psychological health than actual sexual orientation. It is not whether you are homosexual or heterosexual that affects your psychological health, but how you perceive your own psychological masculinity and femininity.     

Asian Indian Immigrant and White American Maternal Emotion Socialization and Child Socio-Emotional Functioning

Previous research provides an inadequate account of parental emotion socialization and its relation to child functioning among ethnic minority groups in the United States. This study compared reports of Asian Indian immigrant and White American mothers’ emotion socialization and examined relations between mothers’ emotion socialization and child outcomes in these two groups. Indian immigrant (n = 34) and White American (n = 38) mothers completed measures of child behavior problems and social competence, as well as self-report measures of two types of emotion socialization, responses to children’s negative emotions and emotion expressivity. Children completed a self-report measure of social competence. Results revealed that Indian immigrant mothers were more likely than White American mothers to report responding nonsupportively to their children’s negative emotions. However, reports of mothers’ nonsupportive responses were not related to child outcomes in the Indian immigrant group. In the White American group, reports of mothers’ nonsupportive responses were positively related to child behavior problems. Mothers’ self-reported negative emotion expressivity was positively related to child behavior problems and negatively related to mother-rated child social competence for Indian immigrants, while no significant relation was found between mothers’ negative emotion expressivity and child outcomes for White Americans. Moderation analyses were performed with these variables but were nonsignificant. Results are discussed in the context of cultural influences on emotion socialization and subsequent impact on child functioning.     

Competing on all fronts: Achievement orientation and disordered eating

Strikingly high prevalence rates of symptoms of disordered eating among college women have been documented. The question arises as to whether one aspect of the college experience, achievement orientation, is associated with disordered eating. Competing hypotheses may be generated regarding the relationship between achievement orientation and disordered eating, with arguments for either a positive or negative relationship. The Work and Family Orientation Questionnaire (WOFO) and the Disordered Eating Symptoms Scale (DESS) were administered to 668 female undergraduate college students. Multivariate analysis of the WOFO subscales revealed that women with high levels of disordered eating obtained significantly higher scores on the Competitiveness subscale than women with low DESS scores. These findings support hypotheses of a positive relationship between competitiveness and disordered eating.     

Graduating from high school: The role of gender-related attitudes,self-concept and goal clarity in a major transition in late adolescence

An 11-month longitudinal study (T1: N = 520, M _age = 19 years) investigated the role of gender-related self-concept and goal clarity during the transition period surrounding graduation from upper secondary school in Switzerland. The first assessment took place a few months before graduation and assessed participants' gender-related self-concept (instrumentality, expressivity), gender-role attitudes, goal clarity, and job-related aspirations. Despite the high level of education, gender-related differences in attitudes and self-concept showed that boys endorsed more traditional gender-role attitudes than girls. Relationships between gender-related self-concept and attitudes showed different patterns for girls and boys. Regarding adaptation to the transition, gender-related self-concept predicted change in career-related goal clarity, which, in turn, predicted an increase in life satisfaction over time. Our results highlight the important role of instrumentality, expressivity, and career-related goal clarity during the transition of graduating from high school.     

Chinese Short Form of the Personal Attributes Questionnaire: Construct and Concurrent Validity

This paper evaluated the construct and concurrent validity of a Chinese short form of the Personal Attributes Questionnaire, which measures instrumentality and expressivity as independent traits. In Study 1, 293 Hong Kong Chinese undergraduates completed the scale. Factor analysis revealed two independent factors, instrumentality and expressivity. In Study 2, 269 Hong Kong Chinese undergraduates completed the scale together with the dominance and nurturance scales of the Personality Research Form and Gudykunst’s Self-Construal Scale. Exploratory factor analysis replicated the bidimensional structure of the scale. Instrumentality correlated with independent self-construal and dominance, whereas expressivity correlated with interdependent self-construal and nurturance. Gender differences in item scores overall conformed to theoretical expectations. The findings indicate that the scale produces valid and reliable scores.     

Trauma exposure is associated with increased context-dependent adjustments of cognitive control in patients with posttraumatic stress disorder and healthy controls

Recent evidence has suggested that posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with alterations in prefrontal-cortex-dependent cognitive processes (e.g., working memory, cognitive control). However, it remains unclear whether these cognitive dysfunctions are related to PTSD symptomatology or trauma exposure. Furthermore, regarding cognitive control, research has only focused on the integrity of selected control functions, but not their dynamic regulation in response to changing environmental demands. Therefore, the present study investigated dynamic variations in interference control, in addition to overall interference susceptibility and working memory (WM) performance in matched groups of 24 PTSD patients and 26 traumatized and 30 nontraumatized healthy controls. The Simon task was used to measure overall interference susceptibility and the flexible adjustment of cognitive control, on the basis of the occurrence of response conflicts (conflict adaptation effect). WM performance was assessed with the forward and backward digit span tasks. Since we have previously shown that trauma exposure per se is associated with reduced hair cortisol concentrations (HCC), we further explored whether PTSD/trauma-related cognitive alterations are related to HCC in proximal 3-cm hair segments. The results revealed that PTSD patients and traumatized controls showed significantly more pronounced conflict adaptation effects than nontraumatized controls. Moreover, the conflict adaptation effect was positively related to the number of lifetime traumatic events and the frequency of traumatization. The groups did not differ in overall interference susceptibility or WM performance. Exploratory analyses revealed no association between HCC and the observed cognitive differences. These results suggest that context-driven control adjustments constitute a sensitive correlate of trauma exposure, irrespective of PTSD.     

The effects of assertiveness training on the nontraditional role assumption of geriatric nurse practitioners

The Nurse Practitioner movement has been an important element in upgrading health care for the elderly, principally by reducing costs and increasing availability. One central concern in this movement is the ability of Nurse Practitioners [NPs] to break out of the restricted and repressed role of nurse. The teaching of assertive behavior has been an accepted method of assisting NPs in this role change. This study evaluates the effects of assertiveness training using a measure of role assumption in addition to the typical self-report attitude measures. Three cohorts of NP students (N=59) were evaluated with a pre-post administration of attitude measures of assertiveness and a six-month follow-up to measure role assumption. Although the training did have a significant impact on the attitude measures, the impact on nontraditional role assumption was minimal. Policy implications are discussed.     

A brief scoring method for voice stress analysis

The Psychological Stress Evaluator (PSE) detects inaudible frequency changes in the human voice, and it is claimed that the pattern of these changes can provide a measure of psychophysiological arousal. A few studies have given some support to this hypothesis, but further clarifica tion is needed. One major technical problem in this research is that the traditional scoring esyStem is unreliable unless considerable numbers of scores are taken and averaged , The paper presents a conveniently brief scoring system which has fair reliahility, and which correlates significantly with a measure of Critical Flicker Fusion Threshold.     

Real or imagined incomplete lateralization of function in females?

Visual field effects for 30 normal familial right-handed females were investigated with 4-point random forms known to be recognized more accurately in the right visual field by normal familial right-handed males, and the relationship between spatial ability and various performance patterns was examined. The forms were presented 2 deg in the left or right visual field. After a 10-sec delay, the subject decided whether or not a form exposed in central vision was the same as the stimulus. Incomplete lateralization of function appeared to be supported by the finding of no field differences. An alternative explanation was discussed since visual field superiority was significantly correlated with WAIS Block Design scores scaled for age, females with relatively low scores showing a right visual field superiority and females with relatively high scores showing a left visual field superiority. The experiment was repeated with 30 familial right-handed males. A significant right visual field superiority was obtained, but visual field superiorities were not correlated with measures of visuo-spatial or verbal ability.     

Negative Recurrent Thinking as a Moderator of the Relationship Between Perceived Stress and Depressive Symptoms

Both perceived stress and negative recurrent thinking (rumination and worry) have been associated with depressive symptoms. However, no research to date has investigated the association between perceived stress and negative recurrent thinking. In the present study we aimed to explore whether perceived stress and negative recurrent thinking are associated and whether negative recurrent thinking moderates the relationship between perceived stress and depressive symptoms. A convenience sample of 273 undergraduate students completed the Perceived Stress Scale, the Ruminative Responses Scale-10, the Penn State Worry Questionnaire and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale 2 weeks prior to sitting mid-year examinations. Correlation analyses showed that perceived stress, rumination and worry were positively and significantly associated with depressive symptoms and that perceived stress was positively and significantly associated with rumination and worry. A moderation analysis confirmed that negative recurrent thinking moderated the relationship between perceived stress and depressive symptoms. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

The Relation of Self-Supporting Personality,Big Five Personality and Depression

Self-supporting personality (SSP) is an indigenous Chinese personality concept. It is assumed to be a protective personality factor with regard to depression. In the present study, self-supporting personality traits are assumed to be similar to Big Five personality traits or facets of the Five Factor Model to a considerable degree, but also to contain some tendencies or dispositions which are related to depression in ways that go beyond either the Big Five factors or their sub-factors. The relation of self-supporting personality, Big Five personality, and depression was examined in a sample of 439 Chinese undergraduate students using the Self-Supporting Personality Scale for Adolescent Students (SSPS-AS), the Mandarin Chinese version of Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R), and the Chinese Version of Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS). Results from the correlation analysis revealed that most SSP traits were significantly correlated with the Big Five personality dimensions and sub-dimensions, but the correlation between personal flexibility and either the Big Five dimensions or their sub-dimensions were modest at best. Results from the hierarchical linear regression analyses showed that interpersonal responsibility, interpersonal openness, and personal independence negatively predicted depression, even after controlling for demographic variables and the Big Five personality, however, the explained variance decreased sharply. These results support the hypothesis that despite some overlap with the Big Five personality, self-supporting personality is related to depression in additional ways that the Big Five personality dimensions or their sub-dimensions are not.     

Gender,instrumentality, and expressivity: Moderators of the relation between stress and psychological symptoms during adolescence

Examined the roles of gender, instrumentality, and expressivity as moderator of the relations between stressful events and psychological symptoms in samples of junior high (n = 93), senior high (n = 140), and college students (n = 145). Female adolescents in all three samples reported more overall negative events than did males. Females in the junior and senior high samples reported more negative interpersonal stresses than did males. However, there were no indications in any of the samples of a stronger relation between negative events and psychological symptoms for adolescent females than males. Further, there was little evidence that instrumentality or expressivity moderated the relations between negative events and psychological symptoms. In each sample, certain stresses were most strongly related to psychological symptoms: family stresses in the junior high, peer stresses in the senior high, and academic stresses in the college sample. Implications of the findings for developmental changes in stress during adolescence are discussed.     

Emotional and Behavioral Problems Among Impoverished Kenyan Youth: Factor Structure and Sex-Differences

Data on youth emotional and behavioral problems from societies in Sub-Saharan Africa are lacking. This may be due to the fact that few youth mental health assessments have been tested for construct validity of syndrome structure across multicultural societies that include developing countries, and almost none have been tested in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Youth Self-Report (YSR), for example, has shown great consistency of its syndrome structure across many cultures, yet data from only one developing country in Sub-Saharan Africa have been included. In this study, we test the factor structure of YSR syndromes among Kenyan youth ages 11–18 years from an informal settlement in Nairobi, Kenya and examine sex-differences in levels of emotional and behavioral problems. We find the eight syndrome structure of the YSR to fit these data well (Root Mean Square Error of Approximation = 0.049). While Kenyan girls have significantly higher internalizing (Anxious/Depressed, Withdrawn/Depressed, Somatic) problem scores than boys, these differences are of similar magnitude to published multicultural findings. The results support the generalizability of the YSR syndrome structure to Kenyan youth and are in line with multicultural findings supporting the YSR as an assessment of emotional and behavioral problems in diverse societies.