Gender, Social Networks, and Contraceptive Use in Kenya

The social network approach has recently come to aid our understanding of the ongoing fertility transition in developing countries. This study adds to the growing literature in situating the role of geography and interaction with significant others—community and family members—in understanding Kenya's puzzling fertility transition. Findings indicate that, contrary to previous findings that kin networks are conservative and against innovative fertility behavior, the respondent families, especially in the more prosperous Central Province, are supportive of fertility innovation. Community wide networks are not as influential in directing fertility behavior as own family members are. Family members are the ones who bear the burden of raising children and, as such, are the ones on the forefront of encouraging behavior adjustment. Not all of the social networks significantly influenced use of contraception; however, interacting with healthcare and family-planning networks and friends and being advised to use contraception had a positive impact on using contraception in both regions.     

Using Dreams in Treating Couples' Sexual Issues

The authors demonstrate use of couples' dreams in couple therapy for problems with intimacy, sexuality, and fidelity. Condensation, symbolization, and projective identification are mechanisms that result in the conversion of emotional and relational pain into sexual symptomatology. Dreams use similar processes to hide and at the same time convey emotional issues, and so dream analysis with couples is particularly useful in exploring and treating dysfunctional sexual relationships. As in individual psychoanalysis and psychotherapy, dreams in couple therapy express the transference. The authors show how dream analysis renders the couple's shared transference for resolution in the treatment process.     

Gender, Sexual Experience, and the Sexual Double Standard: Evaluations of Female Contraceptive Behavior

The purpose of the present research was to compare men's and women's perceptions of female contraceptive behavior and investigate the relationship between sexual experience and these perceptions. One hundred forty-six predominantly Caucasion males (n = 76) and females (n = 70) were randomly assigned to one of three sexual scenarios in which a male provided the condom in a sexual encounter, a female provided the condom, or no condom was used. They were then asked to rate the female on several behavioral and personality measures and to complete a sexual experience scale. Results showed differences in the way men and women perceived the female target. A positive correlation was also found between sexual experience and more favorable perceptions of the sexually-prepared female.     

Responsibility and Control: The Basis of Sexual Decision Making

Cognitive, socialization, and situational dimensions are embodied in both the concept of decision making and the concept of locus of control. This article examines these dimensions as they relate to six important sexual questions. The results of an empirical study investigating the relationship between factors that influence adolescent sexual decision making and internal-external locus of control are reported. The practical implications for practicing counselors are outlined.     

Content Effects on Decision Making

How does the domain or subject matter of a decision problem affect the outcome of the decision? Although decision-making research typically dismisses content as merely a cover story, the present research shows that it plays a fundamental role in the decision process by influencing the information processing that underlies it. An experiment is reported in which the same basic decision problem was presented in several content domains (legal traffic tickets, academic course grades, stock investments, and casino gambling). The changes in content led to changes in both strategies and mental representations, which in turn led to changes in decision outcomes, even though measures of the subjective utilities of the options remained unchanged.     

Parental Gender Expectations by Socioeconomic Status and Nativity: Implications for Contraceptive Use

Parental gender expectations, which may be egalitarian or not, could vary by nativity and socioeconomic status. Parental gender expectations provide a model for children’s gender role attitudes and could also have effects on reproductive health over the life course, including women’s contraceptive choices. Yet, parental gender expectations are not often studied quantitatively. Using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, we examine how parental gender expectations in the United States vary by immigrant generation and socioeconomic status, whether parental gender expectations in adolescence are associated with young women’s contraceptive use, and if nativity moderates that relationship. Results show that parental gender expectations vary significantly by immigrant generation and parental socioeconomic status. Both first and second generation women are significantly less likely to have lived in households with equal gender expectations compared to the third generation. Higher socioeconomic status is associated with equal gender expectations. Among participants from households with equal gender expectations, the second generation is more likely than the third generation is to use a male-controlled contraceptive method versus no method. Using a nationally representative sample, our study demonstrates that parental gender expectations vary by nativity and by the socioeconomic context of the family in which they are embedded as well as have a unique effect on the contraceptive behavior of second generation women.     

The Effects of Decision Outcome Dispersion Upon Organizational Decision Making

The effects of varying decision outcome dispersion on organizational decision making were investigated under individual and group decision making conditions. Thirty-six female and pg]36 male subjects made decisions for organizational decision scenarios in which outcomes affected primarily the decision maker, people other than the decision maker, or a group of which the decision maker was a member. Subjects rated their levels of perceived risk and confidence in their decisions and made decisions within a simulated context of either a small or a large organization. Results indicated that subjects perceived significantly less risk and more confidence in their decisions when outcomes affected primarily themselves rather than others regardless of whether the decisions were made individually or by a group. Males perceived their decisions as significantly more risky than females. Induced organizational size did not significantly influence decision making.

     

Personal Control, Self-Efficacy in Sexual Negotiation, and Contraceptive Risk among Adolescents: The Role of Gender

Adolescents’ sexual decision making is shaped by normative ideas about “appropriate” sexual roles for women and men; consequently, the motivation and ability to engage in safer sex may be different for adolescent girls and boys. The aim of this study was to explore how social–psychological resources influence the behavior of girls and boys within the highly gendered and inequitable domain of sexual relationships. I used data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) to examine whether personal control and self-efficacy in sexual negotiation are associated with contraceptive risk (engaging in sexual intercourse or not using condoms) among adolescents and whether these associations differ for adolescent boys and girls. Results indicate that personal control and self-efficacy in sexual negotiation are significantly associated with safer sex behavior, and are often more important for girls than for boys in predicting contraceptive risk.     

Gender and Sexual Risk

Two hypotheses are evaluated in thisinvestigation of gender differences in the attitudinaland behavioral correlates of sexual risk. Thedifference in magnitude hypothesispredicts that the same factors are implicated for women and men butdifferences occur in the strength of correlates.Alternatively, women may engage in sexual risk fordifferent reasons than do men, leading to adifference in pattern hypothesis. We compared these possibilitieswith a sample of 576 primarily White, middle-class,never-married college students, most of whom werebetween 17 and 25 years of age. Analyses of loveattitudes, risk perception, sensation seeking, and riskbehaviors in other domains in relation to sexual riskbehavior showed some gender similarities as well asdifferences. Findings were more consistent with the difference in pattern hypothesis than with thedifference in magnitude hypothesis.     

权力、任务框架对自我和为他人决策时风险偏好的影响

采用情境回忆任务启动被试的权力,并引入收益和损失两种任务框架,综合考察权力高低、任务框架对自我决策和为他人决策时风险偏好的影响。结果表明:(1)在为他人决策中,启动高权力被试有更强的风险偏好,而自我决策中,高、低权力启动组被试风险偏好上无显著差异;(2)在为他人决策中,被试在收益框架和损失框架下的风险偏好差异不显著,而在自我决策中,损失框架下的风险偏好显著高于收益框架;(3)低权力启动的被试,在损失框架下,为他人决策的风险偏好要小于自我决策,而在收益框架下差异不显著;高权力启动的被试无论在收益框架还是损失框架,自我-他人风险决策都不存在显著差异。     

Exposition Effects on Decision Making: Choice and Confidence in Choice

Many of us believe that, after writing about a subject, we understand it more deeply. Studies in education indicate that writing does indeed enhance comprehension. Three experiments examined whether similar “exposition effects” exist for decision making. In these experiments, subjects were confronted with standard framing problems. Positive exposition effects would require that the influence of alternative frames on subjects' choices be diminished by exposition demands. Control subjects made choices under customary, non-exposition instructions. Others chose after writing rationales for their selections (exposition), after explicitly planning to write such rationales, or merely in anticipation of writing the rationales. Exposition reduced framing effects in each of the experiments. The magnitudes of the effects were greatest for subjects who wrote before choosing. Also, exposition markedly increased subjects' confidence that their choices were appropriate. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Improving Career Decision Making With Adults: Use of Portfolios

This article provides a model for developing a career portfolio process for use with high school students and adults functioning in various types of learning endeavors as they seek credentials or licenses for various careers.     

Regret in Decision Making

Decision research has only recently started to take seriously the role of emotions in choices and decisions. Regret is the emotion that has received the most attention. In this article, we sample a number of the initial regret studies from psychology and economics, and trace some of the complexities and contradictions to which they led. We then sketch a new theory, decision justification theory (DJT), which synthesizes several apparently conflicting findings. DJT postulates two core components of decision–related regret, one associated with the (comparative) evaluation of the outcome, the other with the feeling of self–blame for having made a poor choice. We reinterpret several existing studies in DJT terms. We then report some new studies that directly tested (and support) DJT, and propose a number of research issues that follow from this new approach to regret.     

Decision Development in Computer-Assisted Group Decision Making

New computer technologies to aid group communication and decision making are becoming increasingly widespread. This study analyzes how one such technology, a group decision support system (GDSS), affected how group decisions developed over time. The study contrasted decision paths in groups using the GDSS with groups using the same procedural structures incorporated in the GDSS manually and with groups using no procedural structures. A flexible phase mapping method was employed to map group decision paths. The resulting set of seven decision paths varied in both sequence and number of decision phases. An optimal matching procedure was used to compute similarity measures among the 40 paths, and cluster analysis and multidimensional scaling were used to generate an empirical taxonomy of decision paths. Results indicated that the nature of decision paths varied both across the three conditions and within conditions. The decision path types were also related to three outcome variables: consensus change, perceived decision quality, and decision scheme satisfaction. Results indicated that those decision paths that most resembled logical normative sequences had superior outcomes to those that did not.     

Transitions: Negotiating Sexual Decision Making in the Life of Students Attending a Christian University

This exploratory study analyzes the responses of 80 open-ended online surveys to examine the sexual beliefs and behaviors of college students aged 18–22 attending a Christian university in the northeastern region of the USA. This study investigates the transitions the participants encountered in relationship to their sexual beliefs and behaviors. The findings of this study indicate that many students at the beginning, middle, or end of their college transition are committed to abstaining from sexual intercourse until marriage. However, there is also a large minority of students who have not made this commitment. Although well over half of the participants self-reported that they would abstain from sexual intercourse until marriage, more than a third are comfortable with, are engaging in, or are contemplating premarital sex.     

The Effects of Gender on Career Decision Problems in Young Adults

The authors investigated gender differences in psychological problems in the career decision making (CDM) process of young adults. Specifically, problems with decision anxiety, life-goal awareness, luck-fate orientation, authority orientation, and secondary gain motivation were investigated. Methodology involved administering the Career Decision Diagnostic Assessment (CDDA) instrument to 1,006 college students from four universities. Results indicated no gender differences in global levels of problems in CDM. Women reported more problems with life-goal awareness and authority orientation than did men. Men reported more problems with secondary gain motivations than did women. The results are discussed in terms of implications for gender-differentiated career counseling.     

MAU决策辅助对个体与群体决策质量的影响

本研究用实验室研究方法对 MAU决策辅助对个体和群体决策质量的影响进行了比较研究 ,结果表明 :(1 )使用 MAU决策辅助时 ,群体决策不仅在信息利用上优于个体决策 ,而且在多数心理效标上也占优势 ;(2 )在 MAU方法的利用效率上 ,只在任务较难时 ,群体决策更优于个体决策 ,且群体决策时间明显长于个体决策 ;(3 )不使用 MAU决策辅助时 ,个体决策和群体决策在心理效标上无显著差异 ,但群体决策在信息加工效标上优于个体决策。     

The Gender Gap on Wall Street: An Empirical Analysis of Confidence in Investment Decision Making

We attempted to identify the personal characteristics that influence confidence in an investment decision in an experiment administered to 1,359 subjects nationwide. Multiple regression was used to control statistically for variation among subjects and to develop a model of investment decision confidence. The most striking finding was that women had significantly lower confidence in an investment task than men, after controlling for all other relevant variables and characteristics including the amount of the investment decision itself. Familiarity with and present attitude about investing in the stock market, college credit hours in accounting and finance, experience in evaluating common stocks, the current level of the stock market, and the investment decision itself (the amount to be invested) were also found to be significant. Age, value of personal portfolio, years of college, and years of business experience were not significant characteristics.     

行为决策中的后悔

后悔是行为决策领域中有关决策情感的最重要研究领域之一.后悔是一种基于认知的消极情感,当个体意识到或者想象出如果先前采取其他的行为,将产生更好的结果时,就会产生后悔情感.许多研究证据表明后悔将会影响人们的行为决策.本文简要回顾了后悔的定义和影响因素,结合研究者提出的不同后悔模型,从作为效应、后悔规避和不作为惯性等方面,具体介绍了后悔对决策行为的作用,并探讨了行为决策中后悔研究的未来发展方向.