The health of employed women and men: work,family, and community correlates

Research into clarifying the relationship between social roles and health has increasingly focused on studying the particular circumstances in which occupying multiple roles may enhance or diminish well‐being. This study examined the association between a general measure of well‐being—self‐rated health—and the perceived quality of work, family and community in a sample of employed urban‐dwelling Canadians in a mid‐size city, and whether the nature of the association differed for men and women. Few gender differences were found in the perceived quality of work, family and community. However, men and women differed significantly in the specific type of quality measures associated with general health. For women, satisfaction with one's partner/spouse and in the money available to meet basic family needs had a stronger association with self‐rated health. For men, the significant correlates were satisfaction with family relationships (other than one's partner) and the community physical environment. For both women and men, a more socially cohesive community was associated with better self‐rated health. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Self-perception of health and fitness among French and Tunisian men and women

This work examines the effects of sex and culture on physical self-perceptions. The aim was to compare the perception of physical fitness of French and Tunisian men and women. 400 individuals ages 20 to 35 years assessed their own fitness, endurance, strength, flexibility, body composition, and health according to specific category scales by completing a questionnaire. In general, the Tunisian group rated themselves higher than the French group. It appears that perceived physical fitness was related mainly to perceived endurance for both groups. Some disparities were observed between the two nationalities. Analysis showed an interaction between sex and culture (French vs Tunisian). For French men and women and Tunisian men, perceived physical fitness was more associated with perceived endurance, whereas for Tunisian women, perceived physical fitness was more strongly associated with flexibility. These data show that self-perception of physical fitness is a dimension which varies between individuals from different cultures.     

Gender differences in the perception of women in magazine advertising

Male and female college students (N=137) rated 10 control and 10 target magazine advertisements for appeal and for the perceived sexism displayed in the ads. Males did not differ in their ratings of target and control ad appeal. Females rated target ads as less appealing than control ads, and gave target ads lower appeal ratings than did males. Females also rated target ads as more sexist than did males, although both sexes rated target ads as more sexist than control ads. All subjects also completed the Attitudes Toward Women Scale, on which females displayed more liberal attitudes than males.     

How Alluring Are Dark Personalities? The Dark Triad and Attractiveness in Speed Dating

Dark Triad traits (narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism) are linked to the pursuit of short‐term mating strategies, but they may have differential effects on actual mating success in naturalistic scenarios: Narcissism may be a facilitator for men's short‐term mating success, while Machiavellianism and psychopathy may be detrimental. To date, little is known about the attractiveness of Dark Triad traits in women. In a speed‐dating study, we assessed participants' Dark Triad traits, Big Five personality traits, and physical attractiveness in N = 90 heterosexual individuals (46 women and 44 men). Each participant rated each partner's mate appeal for short‐ and long‐term relationships. Across both sexes, narcissism was positively associated with mate appeal for short‐ and long‐term relationships. Further analyses indicated that these associations were due to the shared variance among narcissism and extraversion in men and narcissism and physical attractiveness in women, respectively. In women, psychopathy was also positively associated with mate appeal for short‐term relationships. Regarding mating preferences, narcissism was found to involve greater choosiness in the rating of others' mate appeal (but not actual choices) in men, while psychopathy was associated with greater openness towards short‐term relationships in women. Copyright © 2016 European Association of Personality Psychology     

The Role of Hostile and Benevolent Sexism in Women's and Men's Perceptions of the Menstruating Woman

Perceptions of menstruating women were studied in a sample of 244, predominantly European American, college freshmen. Both women and men rated the menstruating woman, as compared with the average woman, as higher on the Neuroticism factor from Lippa's (1991) measure of the Big Five personality factors. Men also rated her as lower on the Openness, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness factors, and women rated her lower on the Extraversion factor. Women rated her as perceiving herself as less masculine and more feminine. Both women and men rated her as less "energized" and "sexy," but more "irritable,""sad," and "angry." In addition, men rated her as less "clean and fresh,""nurturing," and "reasonable," and more "spacey" and "annoying." Significant relationships were found between negative impressions of the menstruating woman and the Hostile Sexism Scale ( Glick & Fiske, 1996 ). Although most ratings by men and women were negative, women perceived the menstruating woman as more "maternal,""strong," and "trustworthy."     

Exercise, pain, perceived family support, and quality of life in Korean patients with ankylosing spondylitis

Relations of habitual exercise and pain, perceived family support, and the quality of life in patients with functional class II for ankylosing spondylitis were explored. In a cross-sectional study perceived pain, family support, and quality of life were compared for 30 patients (23 women and 7 men whose mean age was 28.3 yr.+/-8.6 yr.) practicing exercise regularly and for 38 sedentary patients (31 women and 7 men whose mean age was 27.2+/-6.7 yr.). Exercising patients reported significantly lower pain, greater perceived family support, and increased quality of life than their sedentary peers. Pain ratings were significantly negatively correlated with the quality of life in both groups (r = -.26 in exercisers and r = -.50 in sedentary patients) and control group's perceived family support was significantly correlated .44 with quality of life. These results encourage further study of the associations of habitual exercise with perceived pain, family support, and quality of life.     

Facial resemblances between heterosexual, gay, and lesbian couples

Researchers have noted a physical resemblance (homophily) between human sex partners. To date, these studies and their related interpretations have been based on heterosexual couples. The present study compared physical resemblances between gay, lesbian, and heterosexual couples, using 40 photographs of each from national newspapers, which were rated by 34 men and 56 women (M age = 53 yr., SD = 12.1). Half the photographs were of actual couples and half were randomly mixed within each group. Actual couples were rated as significantly more similar in appearance than random pairings of people. Ratings of similarity were significantly higher (indicating greater perceived homophily) for gay couples than heterosexual couples, while there was no statistically significant difference in similarity ratings between lesbian couples versus gay and heterosexual couples. The results were interpreted in terms of evolutionary and parental imprinting hypotheses.     

Sexual activity is inversely related to women’s perceptions of the facial attractiveness of unknown men

A study was conducted to assess whether individual differences in sexual activity during the past 30 days, in particular penile–vaginal intercourse (PVI; which is associated with measures of relationship quality), are related to the perception of the facial attractiveness of unknown men. Forty-five women reported the frequency of a variety of sexual behaviors and rated the facial attractiveness and friendliness of 24 men. Women who reported more frequent orgasm from masturbation rated men as less friendly. This finding might be reflective of the more anti-social attitude associated with more frequent masturbation. The results also show that women who engaged more frequently in most kinds of sexual behavior, not only PVI, considered unknown men to be less facially attractive. That is, individuals who engage more frequently in a variety of sexual behaviors with their partner perceived unknown men as less attractive and thereby may be less susceptible to the lure of other (or if the only sexual behavior is masturbation, any) men.     

Sexual activity is inversely related to women’s perceptions of the facial attractiveness of unknown men

A study was conducted to assess whether individual differences in sexual activity during the past 30 days, in particular penile–vaginal intercourse (PVI; which is associated with measures of relationship quality), are related to the perception of the facial attractiveness of unknown men. Forty-five women reported the frequency of a variety of sexual behaviors and rated the facial attractiveness and friendliness of 24 men. Women who reported more frequent orgasm from masturbation rated men as less friendly. This finding might be reflective of the more anti-social attitude associated with more frequent masturbation. The results also show that women who engaged more frequently in most kinds of sexual behavior, not only PVI, considered unknown men to be less facially attractive. That is, individuals who engage more frequently in a variety of sexual behaviors with their partner perceived unknown men as less attractive and thereby may be less susceptible to the lure of other (or if the only sexual behavior is masturbation, any) men.     

Fame and the social self: The need to belong,narcissism, and relatedness predict the appeal of fame

The present online survey study (Amazon’s MTurk; n = 371) investigated links between three different social self-concepts (the need to belong, narcissism, and relatedness) and the appeal of fame. We examined fame attitudes using a newly-devised fame appeal scale (yielding three factors: Visibility, Status and Prosocial), as well as with two items probing frequency of fame fantasizing and perceived realism of becoming famous. Results show that higher belongingness needs were associated with increased appeal of all three fame factors, as well as increased frequency of fantasizing about fame (accounting for age and gender). Narcissism was associated with increased appeal of Visibility and Status, more time spent engaged in fame fantasy, and greater perceived realism of future fame. Finally, Relatedness predicted increased appeal of the Prosocial fame factor only. Findings illuminate the socioemotional underpinnings of fame appeal and the individual differences that may render certain aspects of fame particularly alluring.     

GI Joe or Average Joe? The impact of average-size and muscular male fashion models on men's and women's body image and advertisement effectiveness

Increasing body size and shape diversity in media imagery may promote positive body image. While research has largely focused on female models and women's body image, men may also be affected by unrealistic images. We examined the impact of average-size and muscular male fashion models on men's and women's body image and perceived advertisement effectiveness. A sample of 330 men and 289 women viewed one of four advertisement conditions: no models, muscular, average-slim or average-large models. Men and women rated average-size models as equally effective in advertisements as muscular models. For men, exposure to average-size models was associated with more positive body image in comparison to viewing no models, but no difference was found in comparison to muscular models. Similar results were found for women. Internalisation of beauty ideals did not moderate these effects. These findings suggest that average-size male models can promote positive body image and appeal to consumers.     

What you see is what you want to get: Perceived abilities outperform objective test performance in predicting mate appeal in speed dating

Are intelligent, creative, and emotionally competent people more desirable? Evolution-based theories and studies on the ideal partner suggest that they are. We aimed to assess whether verbal, numerical, and spatial intelligence, creativity, and intra- and interpersonal emotional competence are associated with higher real-life mate appeal. In speed dates, 87 women and 88 men met up to 14 members of the opposite sex (2188 observations). While only one measured ability—women’s creativity—was significantly associated with mate appeal, ability perceptions by speed-dating partners could broadly predict mate appeal. Effects of perceived and measured abilities were substantially reduced after controlling for physical attractiveness. These results suggest that the investigated abilities play a lesser role in initial attraction than proposed in the past.     

Effects of stimulus characteristics and sex of subject on perceived emotion

To determine the influence of pupil size, eye size, sex of stimulus face, and sex of subject on perceived emotion, 308 college students filled in missing features on stimulus faces. Each face was independently rated by two male judges on a continuum of negative to positive emotion. Analysis indicated that sex of subject was the only variable to affect perceived emotion. Women (n = 175) tended to draw faces that were judged to be more positive than faces drawn by men (n = 133).     

Effects of sexual attitudes and physical attractiveness on person perception of men and women

A sample of 180 males and 180 females completed person perception measures for stimulus women who varied in physical attractiveness and permissiveness of sexual attitudes. The results indicated that both physical attractiveness and sexual attitudes had strong effects on peson perception. Physically attractive stimulus women were rated higher than the unattractive stimulus women on a physical appeal factor and an item measuring interpersonal attraction. The sexually conservative women were rated higher on an evaluative factor, lower on a personability factor, and higher on the interpersonal attraction item than the sexually permissive stimulus women. It was also found that the effects of physical attractiveness were greater for males than for females and that women rated the sexually permissive stimulus women less favorably than did men.     

Salivary cortisol concentrations, stress and quality of life in women with endometriosis and chronic pelvic pain

The objective of this study was to evaluate the perceived stress index, quality of life, and hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis activity in women with endometriosis and chronic pelvic pain. For the study, 93 women with endometriosis and 82 healthy women volunteered. The visual analogue scale (VAS) (0=no pain; 10=severe pain) was used to determine pain intensity; the perceived stress questionnaire (PSQ) defined stress index, and the health-related quality-of-life (HRQOL)-SF-36 questionnaire was used to evaluate quality of life. Salivary cortisol was measured at 0800, 1600, and 2000 h and the awakening cortisol response was assessed to evaluate the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis activity. The results show that women with endometriosis and chronic pelvic pain of moderate intensity (4.1+/-0.58, mean+/-SEM) have higher levels of perceived stress (0.55+/-0.01 versus 0.42+/-0.01, p<0.05), a poorer quality of life expressed as lower scores for all items of the inventory and hypocortisolism. Lower levels of salivary cortisol were observed in all three samples collected, as well as in the awakening cortisol response, for women with endometriosis (0.19+/-0.09 microg/dl) when compared with controls (0.78+/-0.08 microg/dl, p<0.05 l), and it was independent of pain intensity and Mental health (MH) scores in SF-36. We concluded that women with endometriosis and chronic pelvic pain show low concentrations of salivary cortisol and a high level of perceived stress, associated with a poor quality of life. Whether the hypocortisolism was an adaptive response to the aversive symptoms of the disorder or a feature related to the etiology of endometriosis remains to be elucidated.     

Can Perceivers Identify Likelihood to Sexually Harass?

We investigated how men who differ in theirlikelihood to sexually harass (LSH) are perceived bythemselves and others. In Study 1, 36 Caucasian maleparticipants, who were paid for their participation, were videotaped being interviewed by asubordinate female. Participants rated her performanceand then responded to self-report attitudinal andpersonality scales. Higher LSH men reported moretraditional attitudes toward women's roles, a less femininepersonality, and lower competency ratings for the femaleinterviewer. Study 2 investigated whether participantscould differentiate between high and low LSH men from videoclips. Eighty-one male and 76female Caucasian participants, who were fulfilling acourse requirement, rated high LSH men (compared to lowLSH men) as (1) higher in LSH, (2) more masculine, (3) less feminine, and (4) more traditionaltoward women's roles than low LSH men. Implications ofthis ability to detect likelihood to sexually harass arediscussed.     

Gender differences in marital quality and well-being in Chinese married adults

The present study addressed the issue of gender differences in marital quality and well-being in Chinese married men (N= 738) and women (N= 761). The results showed that males had significantly higher scores on the Chinese Dyadic Adjustment Scale and Chinese Kansas Marital Satisfaction Scale. While a longer duration of marriage was associated with higher levels of dyadic consensus and affectional expression in men, the duration of marriage was negatively related to marital adjustment and marital satisfaction in women. The data also showed that women displayed more psychiatric symptoms and midlife crisis problems and they had lower levels of positive mental health and perceived health status than men. While marital quality was positively related to well-being in both men and women, the impact of marital quality on well-being was generally found to be greater in women than in men.     

Oculomotor adjustments in darkness and the specific distance tendency

Two experiments were performed to investigate the relationship between the oculomotor adjustments assumed in total darkness and perceived distance under reduced visual conditions. Experiment I compared the dark focus of accommodation with the perceived distance of a monocular light point presented in a dark environment. Experiment II compared the convergence angle assumed in darkness (dark convergence) with the perceived distance of the light point. Both accommodation and convergence were found to assume intermediate values in darkness. Perceived distance of the monocular light point was significantly correlated with dark convergence and unrelated to the dark focus of accommodation. It was suggested that ocular vergence is a major determinant of perceived distance under reduced visual conditions, and thus provides a possible mechanism for the specific distance tendency.     

DOES CLEAVAGE WORK AT WORK? MEN, BUT NOT WOMEN, FALSELY BELIEVE CLEAVAGE SELLS A WEAK PRODUCT

We examined whether men, but not women, would be distracted by a female sales representative's exposed cleavage, leading to greater perceived efficacy for a weak, but not for a strong product. A community sample of 88 men and 97 women viewed a video of a female pharmaceutical sales representative who (a) had exposed cleavage or dressed modestly and (b) pitched an ineffective or effective product. Although men were not more distracted or persuaded by cleavage, they gave the cleavage-exposed (versus nonexposed) sales representative more favorable hiring recommendations in the ineffective-drug condition and less favorable ratings in the effective-drug condition. Women generally rated the sales representative similarly regardless of cleavage exposure. On a postexperimental questionnaire, men, but not women, believed that female sales professionals ought strategically to use sex appeal to distract from a weak (but not a strong) product.