“It Depends on What You Mean by ‘Disagree’”: Differences between Parent and Child Perceptions of Parent–Child Conflict

We examined a new structured interview of parent?Cchild conflict that assesses parent and child perceptions of behavioral conflict about daily life topics (e.g., doing chores, homework), and whether discrepancies exist on beliefs about these topics. In a sample of 100 parents and children ages 10 to 17?years (M?=?13.5?years, 52 males, 57?% African-American), informants could reliably distinguish between perceived behavioral conflicts and perceived discrepant beliefs about topics. These scores were also significantly related to questionnaire reports of parent?Cchild conflict. Parent and child questionnaire reports did not significantly differ, yet on the structured interview, parents reported significantly greater levels of perceived conflict and discrepant beliefs relative to child reports. Additionally, structured interview reports of conflict demonstrated incremental validity by relating to child self-reports of delinquent behaviors, when accounting for questionnaire conflict reports. The findings have implications for increasing understanding of the links between parent?Cchild conflict and psychosocial outcomes.     

It’s Not You,It’s Me: An Exploration of Mentoring Experiences for Women in STEM

Although the number of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) continues to grow, men still represent a significant majority of those employed in these industries. Mentoring programs have been identified as a useful tool to alleviate this gap and therefore have been developed in an effort to attract and retain women in STEM. However, research suggests that women are still being mentored less often than their male colleagues. To understand this issue in depth, 36 women holding managerial positions in STEM organizations in the United States and Canada were interviewed and their experiences with mentoring were discussed. The results suggest that women do have access and indeed find potential mentors but they perceive significant barriers that prevent these initial meetings from developing into long-term mentoring relationships. Specifically, four Barriers to the Development of Mentorship (BDM) were identified including: Need for Fit, Demonstrating Capability, Commitment of the Mentor, and Trust in the Mentor. BDM might help researchers and practitioners understand why women are under-mentored and consequently underrepresented in STEM workplaces. Implications of these findings are discussed, such as how to improve formal mentoring programs to overcome BDM and better serve women in STEM.

     

“Generative Co-Constructions”: An Exploration of the Analyst’s Influence and Desire: Commentary on Paper by Richard Almond

In this commentary on Almond’s (this issue) paper, in which he asks us to consider ways in which his personality/history/psychodynamics played a significant role in his younger women patients becoming pregnant, the author questions Almond’s premise that we can know what “real-life effects” we have on our patients, when so much that occurs in psychoanalysis happens in mutually unconscious and procedural realms. In addition, the author critiques Almond’s archaic and reductive conceptions of gender and sexuality, which feel particularly problematic as they interpenetrate with his fantasies of his impact and pivotal role in their pregnancies.     

“All About How You Couch It:” African American Fathers’ Visions of Interventions for their Sons

Journal of Child and Family Studies - The current study seeks to contribute to the growing yet limited literature informing intervention development tailored for African American fathers of sons...     

Quality of Life and Coping of Women Treated for Breast Cancer and Their Caregiver. What are the Interactions?

This longitudinal study analyzed the interactions between the quality of life and the coping strategies of 100 patients treated for breast cancer and their caregivers. Data were collected after diagnosis, at the end of treatment, and 6?months after treatment with the Quality of Life Questionnaire-C30 (QLQ-C30), Duke Health Profile and Ways of Coping Checklist for both patients and caregivers. The theoretical model was tested using a typology of patients and mixed model analyses. The quality of life of patients changed over time and no cluster effect was found. The influence of the sociodemographic characteristics, coping strategies (patients and caregivers) and the quality of life of caregivers on patient's quality of life were different according to the quality of life dimensions considered. To understand the adaptation of patients to their disease, it is therefore essential to look at whether the caregiver is capable of playing a supporting role.     

“'Cause You Can't Play This by Yourself”: Athletes' Perceptions of Team Influence on Their Precompetitive Psychological States

Although correlational studies indicate that team attributes are related to athletes' precompetitive psychological states, it is unknown how team members experience these relationships. The present study's purpose was to investigate athletes' perceptions of precompetitive team influence. Consequently, we worked from a constructivist realist position and used qualitative methods (interviews with competitive team-sport athletes). An inductive content analysis revealed that athletes perceived established and novel team characteristics and processes to influence their precompetitive psychological states. Athletes perceived these influences as both adaptive and maladaptive, and it appeared that they were qualified by contextual factors as well as intuitive regulatory attempts.     

Bereaved Parents' Perspectives on Informal Social Support: “What Worked for You?”

This study identified and explored the informal social supports that bereaved parents found helpful following the death of their primary school-aged child. Ten participants were interviewed using a semistructured interview schedule. Data were transcribed and analyzed using content and thematic analysis. Results indicate the existence of novel informal supports that enrich contemporary literature. Nine common characteristics of helpful support emerged from the analysis; the specifics of each depended on congruence with parents' unique framework of meaning. Parents also identified five ways to strengthen informal social support. Implications for health promotion research and practice in parental bereavement are discussed.     

A Theology of the Cross and Ministry in Our Time: How Do You Call a Thing What It Is When You Don't Know What the Thing Is?

Abstract :  This article explores our cultural context and the issues it raises for ministry and theology in our time, especially as it relates to a theology of the cross. By drawing on the work of Jean Baudrillard the article asserts that we live in a time of hyper-reality, when nihilism is ever-present under the thin crust of our entertainment and information-saturated society. In responding to this world, it is argued that a theology of the cross has too often been misappropriated to serve as justification for taking on either the style of a postmodern aesthetic, which provides people a brand in new, hip forms of ministry, or adopting a fundamentalist stance, which provides people with a foundation in a world where it seems there is nowhere stable to stand. By returning to Luther's Heidelberg disputation, it is argued that "calling a thing what it is" in thesis 21 is not a style or foundation, but the invitation to enter (and do theology and ministry) in the nihilism of despair. Therefore, ministry and theology in our time should begin in the nihilism (the nihilism of the crucified Christ).     

What Women Want: A Discussion of “Childless”

Rebecca Harrington’s “Childless” breaks the cultural and psychoanalytic silence about the idiosyncratic meanings of maternality—challenging our pronatalist assumptions. Following suit, this discussion questions our understanding of what women want. Freud was famously confounded by that question, and still, the psychological processes leading to decisions about motherhood are largely absent from psychoanalytic theory. Because of this, the heteronormative, socially agreed-upon dictum that women must be, and want to be, mothers remains locked in place. The conflation of feminine, woman, and motherhood serve to negate female subjectivity, limiting the possibilities for other creative pursuits. Contemporary psychoanalysis eschews the primary importance of instinctual drives yet has not challenged the notion of a maternal instinct that drives women to desire motherhood. The cultural and psychoanalytic silence about the complexities of reproduction and child-rearing has rendered individual women silent and their desires toward and away from motherhood unarticulated.     

Looking Good Versus Feeling Good: An Investigation of Media Frames of Health Advice and Their Effects on Women’s Body-related Self-perceptions

The present research had two goals: (1) to document how health advice is framed on the covers of women’s health magazines, and (2) to investigate whether exposure to appearance frames (i.e., do something in order to look better) affected women’s body-related self-perceptions compared to health frames (i.e., to do something in order to feel better). Study 1, a content analysis of 426 cover headlines on the five highest-circulating women’s health magazines in the United States, revealed that appearance frames were just as prevalent as health frames. Study 2, an experiment conducted on 103 U.S. undergraduate women, showed that those assigned to appearance frames reported more body shame and appearance-related motivation to exercise than women assigned to health frames.     

The Narratives of Shia Madurese Displaced Women on Their Religious Identity and Gender Citizenship: A Study of Women and Shi’as in Indonesia

Journal of Religion and Health - This article explores expressions in how the local Shi’as Muslim women refugees define and interpret their religious identity and gender citizenship in...     

Are We Still “Prisoners of Gender”?: An Overview of Current Psychoanalytic Theories on Women

The American Journal of Psychoanalysis -     

“You are What You Eat”: Nutritional Norms,Maternal Deviance,and Neutralization of Women's Prenatal Diets

This article uses neutralization theory to examine women's responses to prenatal nutritional norms. Based on 55 qualitative interviews with pregnant women, I explore women's prenatal nutritional narratives, their talk about food and nutrition. Women link healthful eating in pregnancy with the good mother ideal and construct identities as mothers through monitoring prenatal diets. When they violate nutritional norms, they are subject to charges of maternal deviance and use techniques of neutralization to protect their self-concept. I explore the excuses and justifications women offer for violations of prenatal nutritional norms and demonstrate how mundane behaviors are endowed with moral meaning in pregnancy.     

An Exploration of Rapists' Motivations as Illustrated by Their Crime Scene Actions: Is the Gender of the Victim an Influential Factor?

An aim of this paper was to examine if the rapist's motivations of anger and power as inferred from rape crime scene behaviours differentiates between rape victim genders. In addition, it was sought to analyse the resistance strategies employed by rape victims to investigate whether gender influences victim–offender behavioural interactions. A sample of 24 female and 12 male rape victims aged from 13 to 39 years were analysed. The data were extracted from the US National Crime Survey, which contained 12 reported cases of male rape. It was hypothesised that the theme of power would be evident from the rapists' behaviour as illustrated by the crime scene actions and victim–offender interaction. Smallest Space Analysis, a multi‐dimensional scaling technique, was employed to identify the themes present in the perpetration of rape. The crime scene actions illustrated several distinctions relating to the theme of power present in the offender's motives irrespective of the victim's gender. An additional finding was that victim resistance strategies differentiated between male and female rape victims. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.