Marital Status and Sex: Impact on Career Self-Efficacy

Bandura's (1977, 1986) self-efficacy theory served as the theoretical framework for examining the preferences of 214 individuals for either traditionally male or traditionally female occupations. An interaction between sex and marital status was found with regard to efficacy for traditionally female occupations. Married women scored higher than did married men, and unmarried women scored higher than did unmarried men for the traditionally female occupations. No difference between married and unmarried men or between married and unmarried women was indicated for the traditionally female occupations. A significannt main effect of sex, with men scoring higher than women, was found for both the traditionally male and traditionallyfemale occupations. Implications for further research as well as for career counseling and development are discussed.     

Parental Contributions to Preschoolers' Emotional Competence: Direct and Indirect Effects

The present study examines the contributions of (1) parental socialization of emotion and preschoolers' emotional interaction with parents to their emotional competence, and (2) parental socialization and child emotional competence to their general social competence. Both observational and self-report techniques were used to measure emotion socialization, emotional competence, and social competence of preschoolers (average age = 49.8 months) from 60 middle-socioeconomic-status families. Data were collected in both classroom and home settings. In general, the results suggest that parental modeling of expressive styles and emotional responsiveness to child emotions are important predictors of preschoolers' emotional competence and their overall social competence. Children whose parents were more affectively positive tended to display more positive emotion with peers, whereas children whose parents were more negative appeared less socially competent in the preschool. Parents who were better coaches of their children's emotions had children who understood emotions better. Age and sex moderated several of the study's key findings. The results are consistent with earlier research indicating that parental socialization of emotion impacts the child's emotional and social functioning both at home and in the preschool.     

父母元情绪理念、情绪表达与儿童社会能力的关系

对341名学前儿童及其父母进行问卷调查, 考察父母元情绪理念、情绪表达与儿童社会能力的直接与间接关系。结果表明：(1) 父亲情绪教导对儿童社会能力有促进作用, 而情绪紊乱对儿童社会能力有阻碍作用; 父亲的积极情绪表达对儿童社会能力有促进作用, 消极情绪表达则有负向作用; 此外, 父亲情绪教导、情绪紊乱除了对儿童社会能力具有直接作用外, 还通过其情绪表达对儿童社会能力具有间接影响。(2) 母亲情绪教导对儿童社会能力具有积极作用, 而情绪紊乱则具有消极影响; 母亲积极情绪表达对儿童社会能力有促进作用, 而消极情绪表达对儿童社会能力无显著预测关系; 母亲情绪教导通过其积极情绪表达对儿童社会能力具有间接促进作用。     

Marital Status and Gender Similarity in Marital Therapy

This analogue study was designed to examine the effects of therapists' marital status and therapist and participant sex on participants' perceptions of therapist and expectations for therapy. Each partner of 20 couples presenting for marital therapy at four outpatient counseling centers independently completed one of four protocols. The protocols differed only on the therapist's marital status and sex. Results revealed that neither therapist marital status nor therapist sex had an effect on participants' perceptions of therapists or therapy expectations. Female participants, however, perceived therapists as more trustworthy, attractive, and expert and had higher expectations for therapy than did male participants.     

Evaluating Marital Therapy: A Hospital and Community Study

The study investigated the application of marital therapy using three contrasting clinical approaches: conjoint treatment, couples groups, and treating the partner alone. Thirty-six couples comprised the research sample, with eighteen couples being treated in each of two NHS treatment settings. The duration of the treatment was ten weekly sessions each lasting one hour, and couples were followed up six months after termination. Outcome evaluations included marital satisfaction, sexual adjustment, and an assessment of target problems. The analysis of the results showed no significant difference between groups at the post-treatment and follow-up assessments. There was, however, a significant difference in the rates of change between experimental groups. The implications of these results are discussed.     

Marital Status,Home Environments,and Family Strain: Complex Effects on Preschool Children's School Readiness Skills

The current study examined the complex associations among marital status, home environments, and family strain (i.e. income, maternal depressive symptoms, social support, and parenting stress), as they predict preschool children's pre‐academic and social skills at 36 and 54 months. Findings from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (N = 897) showed that the home learning environment, which was significantly lower among single‐parent families, worked as a mediator to explain the relationship between single‐parent families and children's pre‐academic skills at 36 and 54 months. Additionally, parenting stress, which was significantly higher among single‐parent families, worked as a mediator to explain the relationship between single status and the home learning environment. Finally, moderation analyses showed that family income is important for improving the home social environment, and the home social environment is strongly associated with children's social skills in single‐parent families, but not in cohabiting families. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Attltudes Towards AIDS and Homosexuals: Gender, Marital Status, and Religlon

The current study investigates the relationship between fear of AIDS and homophobia. The role of gender, marital status, religion, and church attendance as possible mediating variables in the hypothesized relationship was also investigated. Responses of 507 subjects to questionnaires indicated that men and women reported the same level of fear of AIDS; however, men were more homophobic than women. There was no difference between single and married individuals in the level of fear of AIDS; but people who had never been married were more homophobic than married individuals. There was also no relationship between religiosity and fear of AIDS. There were, however, differences in levels of homophobia across denominations. Finally, there was a relationship between church attendance and both fear of AIDS and homophobia. The results are compared to those obtained by Bouton and his colleagues 5 years earlier and implications for educational programs designed to change attitudes toward AIDS and homosexuality are discussed.     

原生家庭父母冲突、 夫妻冲突解决模式与婚姻质量的关系:基于主客体互倚模型的分析

采用问卷调查法,对263对夫妻的原生家庭父母冲突、 夫妻冲突解决模式和婚姻质量进行测量.结果表明,(1)个体的原生家庭父母冲突与自身以及配偶的婚姻质量呈显著负相关;(2)丈夫的原生家庭冲突可以预测自身以及妻子的冲突解决模式,妻子的原生家庭冲突可预测丈夫的冲突解决模式;(3)丈夫夫妻冲突解决模式在双方原生家庭父母冲突对自...     

The Effects of Sex,Status, and Ability on Helping Behavior1

Protests against affirmative action articulate the concern that qualified white males will be subordinated to less qualified women and minorities. To examine the possibility that the reversal of traditional status relationships rather than competence inequity underlies resistance to affiimative action, a study was conducted in which subjects interacted with a male or female who was introduced as their supervisor or subordinate and as either higher or lower in ability than themselves. The results indicate that status, not ability, influences the frequency of helping women, whereas ability, not status, primarily influences helping behavior toward men. Specifically. female subordinates were helped more than females supervisors, regardless of ability, while high-ability males elicited more help than low-ability males, independent of status. Subsequent ratings revealed that although subjects acknowledged the greater competence of high-ability males, they did not evaluate high-ability females as more competent than themselves.     

Parental Marital Quality and Well-Being,Parent-Child Relational Quality,and Chinese Adolescent Adjustment

The linkages between parents’ report of marital quality and parental well-being and children’s report ofparent-child relational quality and adolescent psychological well-being in 378 Chinese families over 2 years were examined. Results revealed that (a) marital quality predicted parental well-being; (b) fathers’ marital quality and well-being predicted parent-child relational quality but mothers’ did not; (c) paternal influence appeared to be stronger than maternal influence on adolescent adjustment; and (d) both direct and indirect paths were found for the linkages between parental marital quality and well-being and adolescent psychological well-being.     

Evaluating Child Coping Competence: Theory and Measurement

Much of the research on children’s coping styles is based on a downward extension of adult coping theories. In a departure from this approach, coping competence theory seeks to account for children’s ability to cope with daily challenges on the basis of developmental research. The theory, which states that challenges call for distinct coping skills in the affective, social, and achievement domains, was evaluated with an ethnically diverse sample of preschoolers. The study relied on confirmatory factor analysis of a parent-completed measure of coping to test the 3-factor model underlying the theory, and related those factors to parent and teacher measures of child functioning. Results supported the 3-factor model of coping competence and showed that each domain of coping was negatively correlated with parent and teacher ratings of child disruptive behavior. Coping competence theory held across child sex and age. Findings provide support for a 3-factor model of coping competence in early childhood and for the validity of the new parent-completed measure of children’s coping styles refined in this study.     

Gender,Marital Status,and Alcohol Behavior: The Neglected Role of Religion

Substantial previous research indicates that married persons enjoy better mental and physical health than others. One prominent explanation for these patterns is that married persons practice better health behaviors, including lower levels of alcohol consumption, particularly heavy drinking. However, studies of marital status differences in health behaviors have ignored the role of religious homo/heterogamy and attendance, important potential confounding and moderating factors. Focusing on alcohol behavior, we analyze 1977–1994 General Social Survey data, finding that lower levels of drinking are especially pronounced among homogamous conservative couples, and to a lesser extent among mixed-faith unions with one conservative partner. Controlling for other background characteristics, nonconservatives married to nonconservatives do not consistently consume less alcohol than unmarried persons, suggesting that much of the apparent marital status effect on drinking is actually due to religious factors. Contrary to some prior theory and research, these patterns are broadly consistent for both men and women.     

Parental Marital Discord and Treatment Response in Depressed Adolescents

Evidence suggests that parental marital discord contributes to the development of internalizing and externalizing symptoms in children and adolescents. Few studies, however, have examined the association between parental marital discord and youth’s response to treatment. The present study examined the impact of interparental discord on treatment response in a randomized control trial of adolescents with major depression enrolled in the Treatment for Adolescents with Depression Study (TADS). Participants were 260 adolescents from two-parent households randomly assigned to one of four treatment groups: fluoxetine (FLX), cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), their combination (COMB), or placebo (PBO). Logistic regressions revealed that parental marital discord interacted with youth gender and co-morbid oppositionality symptoms to predict group differences in treatment response.     

Differential Effects of Family Stress Exposure and Harsh Parental Discipline on Child Social Competence

Low family socioeconomic status (SES) is a robust risk factor for adverse child outcomes, yet the specific processes that account for this risk are not fully understood. This study examines whether and how variation in two adverse factors, stressful life events and harsh parental discipline, affect children’s social competence within a high-risk environment, and whether some children are more vulnerable to these effects than others. Data were collected from 207 families of kindergarten children at risk for behavioral maladjustment. Children’s physiological regulation (respiratory sinus arrhythmia; RSA) measured during rest was examined as a moderator of risk exposure. Results indicate that both greater exposure to life stress and harsh discipline were correlated with lower social competence. Although children’s resting RSA was not a direct predictor of their social competence, it moderated the association between life stress and social competence. Greater exposure to life stress was more strongly associated with lower social competence among children with lower resting RSA. Higher RSA may help to buffer the effects of stress and facilitate appropriate social development. RSA did not moderate the effects of harsh discipline. This differential pattern of findings suggests that children’s physiological regulation can facilitate an effective response to situational stressors, but may be less efficacious in buffering against stress in the context of the parent-child relationship.     

Gender Differences in the Relationships between Parental Marital Conflict,Differentiation from the Family of Origin,and Children’s Marital Stability

Abstract

This study aimed to examine gender differences in the relationships between parental marital conflict, differentiation from the family of origin, and children’s martial stability. Data were collected from 453 married individuals in South Korea. The results revealed that parental marital conflict was directly related to children’s marital stability albeit only among married men. Emotional cutoff and family projection mediated the relationship between parental marital conflict and children’s marital stability among men and women, respectively. These findings can be used to develop gender-specific evidence-based interventions that enhance marital stability (e.g., programs for married and premarital couples).     

父母婚姻质量与儿童内化问题:父母情绪表达的中介作用与儿童迷走神经活动的调节作用

基于家庭系统理论与个体-环境交互理论,研究考察了父母情绪表达在父母婚姻质量与儿童内化问题关系中的中介作用,以及儿童迷走神经活动的调节作用。研究选取155名6~7岁小学儿童为被试,运用便携式生理多道记录仪采集儿童静息与任务状态下的心电（ECG）与呼吸率,换算出基线RSA与RSA反应作为迷走神经活动的指标,采用母亲报告的《婚姻质量问卷》、《家庭情绪表达问卷》和《儿童行为量表》测评父母婚姻质量、父母情绪表达及儿童内化问题。结果发现：（1）父母婚姻质量负向预测小学儿童内化问题;（2）父母消极、积极情绪表达在父母婚姻质量与小学儿童内化问题关系中起中介作用;（3）小学儿童迷走神经张力（基线RSA）调节父母消极情绪表达与儿童内化问题关系。研究结果表明父母婚姻质量不仅直接影响儿童内化问题,同时会通过父母情绪表达间接地影响儿童内化问题。另外,较高迷走神经张力能够缓冲父母消极情绪表达对儿童内化问题的影响。     

Relationship of Parental Alcoholism to Family-of-Origin Functioning and Current Marital Satisfaction

This study examined the relationship between parental alcoholism, family-of-origin functioning, and current marital satisfaction. Results indicated family-of-origin functioning is positively related to marital satisfaction. In addition, individuals with alcoholic parents reported lower family-of-origin functioning, and an interaction between gender and parental alcoholism was found for marital satisfaction.     

Competence,guilt, and victimization: Sex differences in attribution of causality in television dramas

Sex differences in attribution of causality are investigated in three types of television programs: prime-time family, violent, and daytime serial shows. Both frequency and type of causal statements were studied, using DeCharm's conceptualization of personal causation as origin-like (internal to the self) or pawn-like (external to the self). There were striking sex differences in violent programs, with males modeling more origin behavior and females modeling more pawn behavior. In soap operas there were no sex differences, but both origin and pawn ideas were expressed in terms of personal responsibility, with fewer references to more competent origin behaviors such as goal setting, planned decision making, or self-confidence. These findings have implications for differential socialization of competent coping skills for males and females.The authors would like to express appreciation to Katie Henry and Jennifer Mardoyan, who assisted with this research.