Two Gay Men Seeking Two Lesbians: An Analysis of Xinghun (Formality Marriage) Ads on China’s Tianya.cn

China has an estimated 30 million gay population, many of whom marry unknowing heterosexual partners due to family and societal pressure. Some pursue an alternative by entering Xinghun, also known as formality marriage or fake marriage, between a gay man and a lesbian. Such relationships are asexual and formulated solely for familial, social, and reproductive purposes. Analyzing 150 Xinghun ads posted on Tianya.cn, this is an exploratory study of an unique relationship behavior, to shed light on the lived experiences of this traditionally voiceless minority group. The qualitative theme analysis found that the ads emphasized some traits that are consistent with traditional Chinese values such as filial piety, compatibility, and traditional gender roles. The ads also showed the advertisers negotiating ways for their private sexual identity and public social identity to coexist. On the one hand, clarity in one’s sexual orientation and the commitment to one’s same-sex relationship was offered and sought after as a desirable trait; on the other hand, the advertisers emphasized that they did not live the stereotypical gay lifestyle and that they were private about their sexual preference. The ads illustrate the existence of a subculture of Chinese gays and lesbians, trying to cope with heteronormative social and cultural expectations, and to negotiate between the public and the private, between sexual activities and sexual identity, and between “playing gay” and “being gay.” Future research directions are discussed.     

Contending with Violence: Female Prostitutes' Strategic Responses on the Streets

Female street prostitutes often work within environments where violence is a prominent feature of daily life. Consequently, they experience high rates of physical and sexual assault. While scholars debate whether they are victims or empowered agents, we find neither category accurately captures their experiences with work-related violence. Drawing on interviews and informal conversations with 17 female street prostitutes, we illustrate they engage in four nuanced types of strategies in response to violence, which are shaped by the options available to them. We also find each type has an external or internal foci that holds implications for their own criminality.     

The impact of the opinions of others on variety‐seeking behavior

One reason for consumer variety‐seeking behavior is interpersonal motivation. Building on previous theories, we suggest that the different information types of interpersonal sources influence the variety‐seeking behavior of individuals. Two laboratory experiments are conducted to examine the influence of the opinions of others on such behavior. The results support the author's contention that to derive more enjoyment from a shared product, an individual will make choices congruent with the opinions of others in online information. The managerial implications and study limitations are also discussed.     

Construction of Circumplex Scales for the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems

We constructed a set of circumplex scales for the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (IIP; Horowitz, Rosenberg, Baer, Ureno, & Villasenor, 1988). Initial scale construction used all 127 items from this instrument in two samples of university undergraduates (n = 197; n = 273). Cross-sample stability of item locations plotted against the first two principal components was high. A final set of eight 8-item circumplex scales was derived from the combined sample (n = 470) and cross-validated in a third university sample (n = 974). Finally, we examined the structural convergence of the IIP circumplex scales with an established measure of interpersonal dispositions, the Revised Interpersonal Adjective Scales (IAS-R; Wiggins, Trapnell, & Phillips, 1988). Although both circumplex instruments were derived independently, they shared a common Circular space. Implications of these results are discussed with reference to current research methods for the study of interpersonal behavior.     

Interpersonal Subtypes in Social Phobia: Diagnostic and Treatment Implications

Interpersonal assessment may provide a clinically useful way to identify subtypes of social phobia. In this study, we examined evidence for interpersonal subtypes in a sample of 77 socially phobic outpatients. A cluster analysis based on the dimensions of dominance and love on the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems–Circumplex Scales (Alden, Wiggins, &; Pincus, 1990 Alden, L. E. and Phillips, N. 1990. An interpersonal analysis of social anxiety and depression. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 14: 499–513. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) found 2 interpersonal subtypes of socially phobic patients. These subtypes did not differ on pretreatment global symptom severity as measured by the Brief Symptom Inventory (Derogatis, 1993 Derogatis, L. R. 1993. Brief Symptom Inventory: Administration, scoring, and procedures manual , (4th ed.), Minneapolis, MN: NCS Pearson Assessments, Inc.  [Google Scholar]) or diagnostic comorbidity but did exhibit differential responses to outpatient psychotherapy. Overall, friendly-submissive social phobia patients had significantly lower scores on measures of social anxiety and significantly higher scores on measures of well-being and satisfaction at posttreatment than cold-submissive social phobia patients. We discuss the results in terms of interpersonal theory and the clinical relevance of assessment of interpersonal functioning prior to beginning psychotherapy with socially phobic patients.     

Modeling Stability and Change in Borderline Personality Disorder Symptoms Using the Revised Interpersonal Adjective Scales–Big Five (IASR–B5)

In order to test the hypothesis that anal character traits would be reflected in taking a tough stance in regard to the behavior of teenagers and social welfare recipients, two scales measuring anality and social severity, respectively, were developed. An adult nonstudent sample of 562 respondents was administered both instruments in person to person interviews. Modest support for the hypothesis was revealed in the correlation of anality with severity.     

Free viewing perceptual asymmetries for judgment of brightness and quantity: dependence on stimulus orientation

Previous research has indicated that normals exhibit strong leftward biases during free-viewing perceptual judgments of brightness and quantity. When participants view two symmetrical objects and they are forced to choose which object appears darker or more numerous, participants usually select the stimulus with the relevant feature on the left side. The present study investigated the possibility that these perceptual asymmetries are dependent on scanning a stimulus horizontally across the midline by administering a task with two rectangular reversed stimuli presented either horizontally or vertically. When the stimuli were presented horizontally (crossing the midline), participants exhibited leftward biases, but these biases disappeared when the stimuli were presented vertically. This result supports the position that free-viewing perceptual asymmetries are dependent on scanning the stimuli across the midline.     

Organizational Tenure Diversity as Predictors of Combat Performance in ROK Army

Drawing on the upper-echelons theory and diversity issues, this study examines the relationships between top management team (TMT) organizational tenure, tenure diversity, and combat performance. The study is based on of Korea Combat Training Center (KCTC) that is designed for training and evaluation of the battalion combat power. Findings indicate that battalions with higher levels of TMT tenure have a positive effect on combat performance. Tenure diversity of TMT has a negative effect on combat performance. In addition, results showed that the negative relationships between tenure diversity of TMT and combat performance are attenuated by commander’s shared experience with other TMT members.     

Reaction Time Distribution Analysis of Neuropsychological Performance in an ADHD Sample

Differences in reaction time (RT) variability have been documented between children with and without Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Most previous research has utilized estimates of normal distributions to examine variability. Using a nontraditional approach, the present study evaluated RT distributions on the Conners’ Continuous Performance Test in children and adolescents from the Multimodal Treatment Study of ADHD sample compared to a matched sample of normal controls (n = 65 pairs). The ex-Gaussian curve was used to model RT and RT variability. Children with ADHD demonstrated faster RT associated with the normal portion of the curve and a greater proportion of abnormally slow responses associated with the exponential portion of the curve. These results contradict previous interpretation that children with ADHD have slower than normal responding and demonstrate why slower RT is found when estimates of variability assume normal Gaussian distributions. Further, results of this study suggest that the greater number of abnormally long RTs of children with ADHD reflect attentional lapses on some but not all trials.