Psychological Adjustment Among Adult Children of Alcoholics: A Cross-Cultural Study

In this study, we compared Hispanic and Caucasian college students identified as adult children of alcoholics in terms of psychological adjustment using the Diagnostic Inventory of Personality and Symptoms (DIPS; Vincent, 1985). Results of the study suggested that, among college students, Caucasian men seem to be at a greater risk for using alcohol and drugs than Caucasian women or Hispanic men and women.     

Body Image: Gender,Ethnic, and Age Differences

Abstract

Using figure drawings (E. Fallon & P. Rozin, 1985), 120 male and female U.S. college students–African American, Hispanic, and Caucasian–indicated their current and ideal figures, the figures that they considered most attractive to the opposite sex, and the opposite-sex figures most attractive to themselves. Dissatisfaction with body shape was greater among the women regardless of ethnicity. Both the men and the women misjudged which shapes the opposite sex would rate as most attractive: The women guessed that the men preferred shapes thinner than those that they actually reported. The African American women had the most accurate perceptions of what the men found attractive, whereas the Caucasian women had the most distorted views. The men guessed that the women preferred shapes bulkier than those that they actually indicated. These findings may be relevant to the lower incidence of eating disorders among African American women and the higher incidence of such disorders among Caucasian women.     

The Body Esteem of Hmong and Caucasian Young Adults

This study investigated race and gender differences among 73 Hmong American and 80 Caucasian American college students. Racial differences were found only among the women, with Hmong women holding more positive attitudes toward weight concern body items and expressing less interest in changing these body items than Caucasian women. There were no gender differences among the Hmong, and the gender differences among Caucasians involved weight concern. Increased body mass was correlated with negative body attitudes among Caucasian and Hmong women and among Hmong men, whereas increased body mass was correlated with positive upper-body attitudes among Caucasian men.     

Factors Affecting the Career Aspirations of Asian Americans

The authors compared the career considerations of a group of Asian American college students (52 men and 72 women) with a comparison group of Caucasian students (95 men and 151 women) using an Occupations List. The results revealed that Asian American students were more likely to have considered Investigative occupations and less likely to have considered Enterprising and Conventional occupations than were the Caucasian students. There were also differences in the career considerations of the two racial groups in terms of the prestige level and gender traditionality of the occupations. The implications of the findings for theory and practice are discussed.     

Body image: gender, ethnic, and age differences

Using figure drawings (E. Fallon & P. Rozin, 1985), 120 male and female U.S. college students--African American, Hispanic, and Caucasian--indicated their current and ideal figures, the figures that they considered most attractive to the opposite sex, and the opposite-sex figures most attractive to themselves. Dissatisfaction with body shape was greater among the women regardless of ethnicity. Both the men and the women misjudged which shapes the opposite sex would rate as most attractive: The women guessed that the men preferred shapes thinner than those that they actually reported. The African American women had the most accurate perceptions of what the men found attractive, whereas the Caucasian women had the most distorted views. The men guessed that the women preferred shapes bulkier than those that they actually indicated. These findings may be relevant to the lower incidence of eating disorders among African American women and the higher incidence of such disorders among Caucasian women.     

Do College Students’ Gender-typed Attitudes About Occupations Predict Their Real-World Decisions?

We investigated US college students’ gender-typed attitudes about occupations for themselves as a predictor of their real-world decisions regarding an academic major and intended future career. We also investigated US college students’ attitudes about the appropriateness of gender-typed occupations for other men and women. The sample (N = 264) was mostly Caucasian and was drawn from a large state university in the Mid-Atlantic region of the US. An established self-report measure (see Liben and Bigler 2002) was used to assess attitudes about occupations for the self and other people. Gender-typed majors and intended careers were categorized using a coding scheme that was developed for the study. College students preferred gender-stereotypical occupations for themselves. Women’s, but not men’s, preferences for gender-typed occupations predicted their decisions about their academic major and the career they intended to pursue. Both men and women reported that men should only hold masculine occupations, but that women should hold both masculine and feminine occupations. We discuss the implications of our results for understanding the gender gap in occupations in the US, such as the underrepresentation of women in STEM careers and barriers for men in stereotypically female occupations.     

Sexual Hookups and Alcohol Consumption Among African American and Caucasian College Students: A Pilot Study

This study investigated college students’ sexual hooking up and its associations with alcohol consumption for men and women; furthermore, potential differences related to ethnicity were investigated. Students at a midsized southeastern university who identified as Caucasian or African American (N = 227) completed a survey assessing sexual behavior, demographics, and alcohol consumption. Heavy drinking was associated with ever hooking up, number of hookup partners, hookup frequency, and level of sexual contact during hooking up for Caucasian students, but not for their African American peers. Among Caucasians, moderate drinking men reported more intense sexual contact during hookups than their female peers who were moderate drinkers; sexual contact levels were more similar for men and women who were either nondrinkers or heavy drinkers. Limitations and strengths are discussed, as are ideas for future studies on hooking up and for educational efforts to protect against potentially negative outcomes of hooking up.     

The swimsuit becomes us all: ethnicity, gender, and vulnerability to self-objectification

Self-objectification theory posits and past research has found that Caucasian women's body image is negatively affected by a stigma of obesity and sociocultural norm of thinness that leads women to self-focus from a critical external perspective. However, research in this area is limited by its methodology and the restricted demographic composition of its study participants. The current study tested 176 men and 224 women of Caucasian, African American, Hispanic, and Asian American descent in a situation that induced a state of self-objectification (e.g., wearing a one-piece Speedo bathing suit) or that served as a control condition (e.g., wearing a sweater). Contrary to previous research, when put in a self-objectifying situation, men and women of every ethnicity experienced negative outcomes (e.g., lower math performance) that parallel those previously found for Caucasian women.     

Cross-cultural differences in female university students' attitudes toward homosexuals: a preliminary study

62 Caucasian, 61 Hispanic, and 44 Asian female undergraduates completed the Index of Homophobia by Hudson and Ricketts, seven items from the Attitudes Toward Lesbians and Gay Men Scale by Herek, and three questions on Affectional Orientation toward homosexuals from D'Augelli and Rose. Overall, familiarity with homosexuals as measured by self-reported number of homosexual friends correlated negatively with scores on the homophobia measures, but there were no significant differences among the groups' reported number of homosexual friends. Asian students scored significantly higher on the homophobia measures than Caucasian students. Both Asian and Hispanic students endorsed the statement significantly more often than Caucasian students that the university would be better if only heterosexuals attended. No significant differences in scores were found regarding attitudes toward lesbians versus gay men.     

Gender and the Perception of Diversity and Intimidation Among University Students

This study investigated gender differences inthe perceptions of university students about admissionsand curriculum policies around diversity, and theexperience of intimidation. A random sample of 340 students were interviewed by telephone. Theparticipants were 54% male, 46% female; and 18% AfricanAmerican, 5% Hispanic, 19% Asian/Pacific Islanders, and58% Caucasian. The analysis found that more women than men experienced intimidation based ongender, religion, and academic ability, and that much ofthe intimidation is attributed to other students. Womenwere more supportive than men of admissions policies that have social goals. Two sociodemographiccharacteristics (African American, female) wereassociated with support for courses that emphasizecultural diversity among undergraduates. Sexist messagesfrom the broader society communicated by studentsand others in the academic environment and internalizedbywomen — as well as the diffusion effect acrossthe domains of gender, academic ability, and religion— explain the results.     

Relationships of Employment Status,Gender Role,Insult, and Gender with Use of Influence Tactics

Previous research indicates that men and womenuse different tactics to influence others. This paperexamines the worth of using personality andenvironmental variables to study phenomena that havebeen previously studied with gender as a variable.Study One examined the relationship between gender roleand choice of influence tactics for 31 male and 103female, mostly Caucasian college students. Study Two examined the role of traditional versusprofessional employment status on 104 female collegegraduates' choices of influence tactics. Consistent withthe hypothesis that gendered personality variables and environments would act in much the same wayas gender itself, students demonstrating masculinegender role characteristics and women employed intraditionally male settings reported a greaterlikelihood of using stereotypically male patterns ofinfluence. Students demonstrating feminine gender rolecharacteristics and women employed in traditionallyfemale settings reported a greater likelihood of using stereotypically female patterns of influence.The importance of studying personality and environmentalvariables relative to gender is discussed.     

Masculinity,Femininity, and Hispanic Professional Women's Self-Esteem and Self-Acceptance

The literature suggests that whereas women experience unique challenges with self-esteem, Hispanic professional women experience an additional challenge of balancing majority culture values with a more family-oriented ethnic identity. This study investigated differences in self-esteem, self-acceptance, masculinity, femininity, and locus of control among Hispanic professional women, non-Hispanic professionals, scientists, college students, clients, and victims of domestic violence. Masculinity scores were significantly higher for Hispanic professional women, and self-acceptance scores were significantly lower than for other women professionals.     

THE RELATIONSHIP OF GENDER AND ETHNICITY TO SELF-SILENCING AND DEPRESSION AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS

This study expands on the initial work with the Silencing the Self Scale (STSS; Jack, 1991) by presenting data using a more diverse, nonclinical sample. Included were both men and women ( n = 604) who were African American, Asian, Caucasian, and Hispanic. It was expected that women would be more self-silencing than men, and that there would be ethnic differences. There were three principal findings: (a) men were more self-silencing than were women on the STSS; (b) there was a main effect for ethnicity on the STSS, with Asians expressing the highest levels of self-silencing; and (c) there was a positive correlation between self-silencing and depression for all ethnic/gender groups.     

BODY IMAGE AND DISORDERED EATING AMONG ASIAN AMERICAN AND CAUCASIAN COLLEGE STUDENTS

Using a sample of Caucasian and Asian American college students, this research examined gender differences within race and race differences within gender with respect to a wide range of body image and disordered eating variables. Results indicated that: (a) regardless of race, women reported more problem attitudes and behaviors than did men; (b) gender differences were similar for Asian Americans and Caucasians, although Caucasians evidenced slightly more gender differences than did Asian Americans; (c) for men, race made no difference; and (d) for women, some race differences were found, with Caucasian women engaging in more dieting and binging behavior and Asian American women reporting lower self-esteem and less satisfaction with their racially defined features. Suggestions for future research are made, and implications are discussed.     

Relationships between Separate and Connected Knowing and Approaches to Learning

This study explored whether connected and separate ways of knowing were related to deep and achieving approaches to learning in a sample of White/Caucasian and Mexican-American community college students in the Southwestern and Midwestern United States. Two hundred forty-one students (72 men and 169 women) completed the Attitudes Towards Thinking and Learning Survey (ATTLS) and the Shortened Study Process Questionnaire (SSPQ). No significant differences in separate (SK) and connected knowing (CK) were found between White and Mexican-American students. However, men scored higher than women on separate knowing (SK) and lower on connected knowing (CK). In addition, both CK and SK were significantly related to a deep approach to learning; only CK was significantly related to achieving approach.     

Temporal distance and discrimination: an audit study in academia

Through a field experiment set in academia (with a sample of 6,548 professors), we found that decisions about distant-future events were more likely to generate discrimination against women and minorities (relative to Caucasian males) than were decisions about near-future events. In our study, faculty members received e-mails from fictional prospective doctoral students seeking to schedule a meeting either that day or in 1 week; students' names signaled their race (Caucasian, African American, Hispanic, Indian, or Chinese) and gender. When the requests were to meet in 1 week, Caucasian males were granted access to faculty members 26% more often than were women and minorities; also, compared with women and minorities, Caucasian males received more and faster responses. However, these patterns were essentially eliminated when prospective students requested a meeting that same day. Our identification of a temporal discrimination effect is consistent with the predictions of construal-level theory and implies that subtle contextual shifts can alter patterns of race- and gender-based discrimination.     

Military and Civilian Undergraduates: Attitudes Toward Women,Masculinity, and Authoritarianism

The influence of civilian and military college environments and undergraduates' sex on gender role attitudes and authoritarianism was investigated. Three hundred thirteen male and 69 female, primarily white middle-class students at the United States Naval Academy, United States Air Force Academy, Reserve Officer Training Corps, and a civilian university participated. Approximately 7% were Hispanic, 6% African-American, and 5% Asian-American. Military students had the most traditional authoritarian beliefs and gender role attitudes. When men only were analyzed, USNA males were the most traditional in their attitudes toward women and in antifemininity attitudes. ROTC men were the most traditional in authoritarianism and in status beliefs. All military-affiliated men held more traditional toughness attitudes than did civilian men. USNA men had the most traditional attitudes toward women as compared to the USNA females and civilian females and males.     

University faculty gender roles perceptions

Gender role preferences for Ideal Woman and Ideal Man and perceptions of Most Women, Most Men and Self were surveyed in 400 faculty women and men, of which 83% were Caucasian, 9% Hispanic, 4% African-American, and 3% Asian. Both women and men faculty preferred an androgynous Ideal Woman, but a masculine Ideal Man. Similarly, faculty women described themselves as androgynous, while men described themselves as masculine. Both women and men perceive Most Women and Men as sex-typed. Women and men faculty preferences and perceptions were generally very similar.