Predicting women's and men's reactions to geographic separation: relational interdependence matters

Participant sex and a theorized correlate of biological sex, relational interdependence, were tested as relative predictors of the extent to which daters 1) missed and 2) used emotional support to cope when geographically separated from their dating partners. One hundred twenty-four daters completed multiple measures of missing and coping during their colleges' winter breaks. Results from regression analyses indicated that levels of missing and seeking emotional support differed as a function of biological sex. Further, relational interdependence was reliably associated with missing and seeking emotional support in theoretically consistent ways. Mediation analyses highlighted the importance of considering relational interdependence or other individual differences that covary with biological sex when studying close relationship phenomena.     

College men's and women's reactions to hypothetical sexual touch varied by initiator gender and coercion level

A sample of 152 men and 152 women (mostly Caucasian) rated their reactions to a vignette in which the subjects were to imagine receiving an uninvited genital touch from a college acquaintance. The vignette was varied so that the acquaintance was of the opposite or the same gender as the subject, and the touch was either gentle or forceful. Results indicated that women anticipated strong negative effects from receiving opposite- or same-gender touch, whether gentle or forceful. Men anticipated almost no negative effects from either a gentle or forceful touch from a female acquaintance, but expected strong negative effects from a gentle or forceful touch from a male acquaintance. Regression analyses revealed that women's reactions to opposite-gender touch were mediated by beliefs in a male norm promoting casual sex, and feelings of violation and fear of harm. Men's reactions to opposite-gender touch were influenced by feelings related to sexual arousal. Men and women's reactions to same-gender touch were related to feelings of violation and harm.     

The effect of women's suggestive clothing on men's behavior and judgment: a field study

Numerous studies have shown that men overestimate the sexual intent of women based on their clothing style; however, this hypothesis has not been assessed empirically in a natural setting. This small field study measured the time it took for men to approach two female confederates sitting in a tavern, one wearing suggestive clothes and one wearing more conservative clothes. The behavior of 108 men was observed over 54 periods on 16 different nights in two different taverns. The time it took for the men to approach after initial eye contact was significantly shorter in the suggestive clothing condition. The men were also asked by male confederates to rate the likelihood of having a date with the women, and having sex on the first date. The men rated their chances to have a date and to have sex significantly higher in the suggestive clothing condition. Results are discussed with respect to men's possible misinterpretation that women's clothing indicates sexual interest, and the risks associated with the misinterpretation.     

Differences in women's and men's responses to domestic space

Men and women were surveyed about feelings toward and activities occurring in their own living rooms, kitchens, bathrooms, and bedrooms. In general, women recalled more activities than men did over all the rooms. For the living room, women were more concerned with room size and feeling cramped. For the kitchen, women described baking, ironing, and clothes washing more frequently and showed more concern with cooking and tidying up. However, men made more references to eating when describing the kitchen, showed greater concern with design, decorating, and building for the kitchen and bedroom, and made more explicit references to use of the bathroom toilet. Other results did indicate that women and men were both highly sensitive to and aware of their living space.This research was conducted while the author was a research fellow at the Psychology Department of Kings College, University of Aberdeen in Scotland. The author wishes to thank the following individuals for their help during various stages of the project: Christopher Creed, Philip Greenway, John Simon, and Derek Wakelin.     

A comparison of men's and women's consciousness-raising groups

This study contrasted the nature and function of consciousness-raising (CR) groups for men and women. Questionnaires were filled out by 61 individuals representing 10 CR groups. There were no significant differences between sexes in terms of rankings for services rendered by the CR groups. This suggests that consciousness-raising groups for men and women may be more alike than different. Combining sexes, it was found that emotional support was rated significantly higher than sociopolitical change and behavior change/advice. CR participants appear to be more concerned with the fulfillment of emotional and social needs in their groups and less concerned with behavioral and political change.     

Altruistic organizational citizenship behavior: context, disposition, and age

The authors proposed employee age as moderating the structural stability of altruistic organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) with regard to the influence of context-relevant attitudes and dispositional variables. Analyses of peer ratings of altruistic OCB in a sample of 96 U.S. nurses showed that the contextual variables of job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and trust in management were germane for the younger participants. The dispositional variable of moral judgment was a unique predictor of altruistic OCB among the older participants.     

Mood and organizational citizenship behavior: the effects of positive affect on employee organizational citizenship behavior intentions

This study, involving 139 employees from a variety of industries, organizations, and positions in Singapore, measured the effects of mood on the intentions of employees to contribute actions that are organizationally desirable but are not part of their formal job requirements (organizational citizenship behavior). After effects of established patterns of historical organizational citizenship behavior, demographic characteristics, and employee positive and negative affectivity had been controlled, stepwise regression analysis revealed that the amount of positive affect currently experienced by an employee significantly influenced the employee's intention to perform specific acts of organizational citizenship.     

Love and achievement motives in women's and men's suicide notes

It is often assumed that women kill themselves because of love and men because of achievement problems. The authors evaluated the suicide notes of 56 U.S. adult women and men with regard to love and achievement motives. Love themes were significantly more common than achievement themes, independent of sex and age. This suggests that, at least for U.S. adults who leave suicide notes, relationship concerns may be a dominant component of the motivation for suicide.     

The economic causes and consequences of Canadian citizenship

Immigrants ascend to citizenship at differential rates in Canada. This paper investigates the economic costs and benefits derived from citizenship to rationalize the differential rates of immigrant citizenship ascension. Canadian earnings evidence confirms the sizeable economic benefits of citizenship and a decomposition analysis attributes this benefit to self-selection, namely the more productive immigrants become Canadian citizens.     

When prosocial behavior becomes altruistic: An attributional analysis

Guided by Jones and Davis’ (1965) theory of correspondent inferences, an experiment was conducted to explore the conditions under which prosocial behavior is attributed to altruism. Some 14 vignettes were constructed to vary aspects of five general dimensions believed to underlie perceptions of altruistic behavior: Benefits or costs to the actor or the actor’s close kin; benefits to the recipient of help; behavior extending beyond usual helping roles and norms; intentionality of helping; and planful versus spontaneous helping. A total of 164 respondents evaluated the actor and his or her behavior on scales measuring altruism and praiseworthiness. As hypothesized, the first four dimensions consistently predicted judgments of altruism, while the fifth did not. Strengths and shortcomings of the vignette approach are discussed, as are directions for subsequent research.     

Judgments of men's and women's feelings during hypothetical social interactions

We studied college students' perceptions of how good/bad and how powerful/powerless men and women feel during hypothetical social interactions. Stimuli were constructed by combining each of 16 behaviors that fell into four categories (negative, low power, sexual, and help) with each of four dyads (male-male, male-female, female-male, female-female). Subjects made judgments about the likelihood of each behavior occurring, and about how actors and recipients felt when engaging in each of 16 behaviors. Three themes pervaded the results. First, subjects perceived men to feel more powerful than women whether behaving as actors or recipients—especially during interactions with women. Second, subjects perceived behaviors to be more likely, and actors and recipients to feel better and more powerful when the interaction pattern was consistent with gender role norms. Third, subjects perceived recipients' affective responses as being more polarized in opposite-sex than in same-sex dyads. Results from this research show that subjects' perceptions about feelings are largely consistent with the literature on social interaction and sex role stereotypes, and are similar for male and female subjects. In addition, our results provide a rich set of hypotheses concerning whether perceptions of feelings reflect actual feelings and are related to interaction participants' actual behavior.     

A latent profile analysis of Asian American men's and women's adherence to cultural values

The goal of this study was to identify diverse profiles of Asian American women's and men's adherence to values that are salient in Asian cultures (i.e., conformity to norms, family recognition through achievement, emotional self-control, collectivism, and humility). To this end, the authors conducted a latent profile analysis using the 5 subscales of the Asian American Values Scale-Multidimensional in a sample of 214 Asian Americans. The analysis uncovered a four-cluster solution. In general, Clusters 1 and 2 were characterized by relatively low and moderate levels of adherence to the 5 dimensions of cultural values, respectively. Cluster 3 was characterized by the highest level of adherence to the cultural value of family recognition through achievement, whereas Cluster 4 was typified by the highest levels of adherence to collectivism, emotional self-control, and humility. Clusters 3 and 4 were associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms than Cluster 1. Furthermore, Asian American women and Asian American men had lower odds of being in Cluster 4 and Cluster 3, respectively. These findings attest to the importance of identifying specific patterns of adherence to cultural values when examining the relationship between Asian Americans' cultural orientation and mental health status.     

Interpersonal trust and organizational citizenship behavior

This study investigates the relationship between certain individual level determinants of interpersonal trust and its impact on organizational citizenship behavior. The participants (N=303) were top, middle, and lower level executives from manufacturing and services sectors. The results indicate that interaction frequency, consistency, and competence are significant predictors of interpersonal trust. Interpersonal trust is positively associated with organizational citizenship behavior, and it also partially mediated the relationship between individual level factors and organizational citizenship behavior. The results imply that the development of trust at the interpersonal level may be used as a strategy to motivate the employees to engage in extra role behaviors to ensure improved individual and organizational performance.     

Beyond sex differences: Family and occupational roles' impact on women's and men's dreams

The question addressed is: do recent changes in the occupational roles of women, with their indirect influence on men's lives, have an impact on the dreams of women and men? Three groups of parents (N=96) including in equal numbers, mothers at home, wage-earning mothers and fathers, kept a dream diary from which two dreams per dreamer were content analyzed. Assuming continuity between daytime and dream experiences, it was hypothesized that differences in manifest dream content would be a function of single versus dual role enactment, rather than sex. Contrary to predictions, statistical analyses performed on selected dream variables did not yield significant differences between groups for pleasant and unpleasant emotions, friendly interactions and aggression. Dream characters, and the concerns they reflect, were found to vary, though, according to social roles. Commitment to their family was reflected above all in the mothers' at home dreams, while commitment to their profession took precedence in those of the wage-earning mothers. Comparable commitment to work and family was found among the fathers. Findings suggest that as gender differences in waking life decrease, so may differences in dreams.