Letters From V: Adolescent Personality Development in Sociohistorical Context

Systematic content analysis of personal documents is used to assess the course of personality development in one adolescent female exposed to traumatic historical and personal events, as well as more normative life changes. Seventy-one letters written by a young girl to her former teacher over a 9-year period comprise the data for this study. Our analyses assess the normal developmental processes of preoccupation with identity formation and the establishment of intimate relationships, as well as responses to life changes (emigration, marriage, pregnancy). Overall, results suggest that despite serious challenges and losses, this individual experienced normal personality development throughout her trying adolescence. In addition, particular life events affected the course of that development. Factors which may have facilitated her resilience are discussed.     

Regulatory Fit and Persuasion: Basic Principles and Remaining Questions

How can researchers and practitioners use regulatory fit theory to increase the effectiveness of their attempts to change attitudes and behavior? In this article, we extract from the literature a set of basic processes by which fit can influence persuasion and describe different methods for inducing fit. Regulatory fit can influence persuasion by: (i) making message recipients feel right during message reception; (ii) increasing recipients’ strength of engagement with the message, which contributes to processing fluency; and (iii) influencing elaboration likelihood. Integral methods induce fit within the persuasion situation (as with framing of message arguments, source delivery style, and decision means), whereas incidental methods induce fit independent of the persuasion situation. We discuss common difficulties researchers may encounter with these techniques, and clarify existing confusions about regulatory fit and regulatory focus theory. Throughout, we highlight important questions that must be addressed to attain a complete understanding of regulatory fit.     

Linking Femininity, Weight Concern, and Mental Health among Latina, Black, and White Women

Studies examining women's appearance ideals and weight concern have predominantly relied on samples of White women. This study addresses this oversight, examining the different relations among embodied femininity, weight concern, and depressive symptomatology that exist for different groups of women. Using a nationally representative sample of women between the ages of 18 and 45, bivariate analyses were conducted using three samples of Latina, Black, and White women. When sample size allowed, a multivariate model was tested (i.e., for Black and White respondents). Results confirm, as hypothesized, different patterns of relations between embodied femininity, weight concern, and depressive symptomatology for each of the samples. At the bivariate level, embodied femininity, weight concern, and depressive symptomatology were positively intercorrelated among Latina respondents. Whereas weight concern fully mediated the relation between embodied femininity and depressive symptomatology for the White respondents, the mediational model was not borne out for the Black respondents. For the latter, although embodied femininity and weight concern were related, weight concern was unrelated to depressive symptoms. Both of these patterns are discussed, as well as the need for greater empirical sensitivity to various constructions of femininity among women of different ethnicities.     

Suicidality,Self‐Harm,and Body Dissatisfaction in Transgender Adolescents and Emerging Adults with Gender Dysphoria

Prevalence of suicide attempts, self‐injurious behaviors, and associated psychosocial factors were examined in a clinical sample of transgender (TG) adolescents and emerging adults (n = 96). Twenty‐seven (30.3%) TG youth reported a history of at least one suicide attempt and 40 (41.8%) reported a history of self‐injurious behaviors. There was a higher frequency of suicide attempts in TG youth with a desire for weight change, and more female‐to‐male youth reported a history of suicide attempts and self‐harm behaviors than male‐to‐female youth. Findings indicate that this population is at a high risk for psychiatric comorbidities and life‐threatening behaviors.     

Objectification in Heterosexual Romantic Relationships: Examining Relationship Satisfaction of Female Objectification Recipients and Male Objectifying Perpetrators

Sex Roles - Sexual objectification is one of most the common manifestations of discrimination against women in Western societies; however, few studies have examined objectification in the context...     

Does Reintegration Stress Contribute to Suicidal Ideation Among Returning Veterans Seeking PTSD Treatment?

Although posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other psychiatric symptoms are well‐established risk factors for suicidal ideation among returning veterans, less attention has been paid to whether the stress of reintegrating into civilian society contributes to suicidal ideation. Utilizing a sample of 232 returning veterans (95% male, mean age = 33.63 years) seeking PTSD treatment, this study tested whether reintegration difficulties contribute to suicidal ideation over and above the influence of PTSD symptoms, depression symptoms, and potential substance misuse. Logistic regressions indicated that reintegration stress had a unique effect on suicidal ideation over and above PTSD and depression symptoms. Reintegration stress interacted with substance misuse to predict suicidal ideation, such that the effect of reintegration stress on suicidal ideation was much larger for those with potential substance misuse. Exploratory analyses also examined which types of reintegration difficulties were associated with suicidal ideation, and found that difficulty maintaining military friendships, difficulty getting along with relatives, difficulty feeling like you belong in civilian society, and difficulty finding meaning/purpose in life were all significantly associated with suicidal ideation, beyond the effects of psychiatric symptoms and potential substance misuse. Findings highlight the importance of addressing reintegration stress for the prevention of suicide among returning veterans. Implications for treatment are discussed.     

Some supplementary methods for the analysis of WAIS-IV index scores in neuropsychological assessment

Objectives. To develop supplementary methods for the analysis of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV) in neuropsychological assessment. Design and Methods. Psychometric. Results. The following methods are made available: (a) provision of traditional confidence intervals (CIs) on index scores, (b) expression of the endpoints of CIs as percentile ranks; (c) quantification of the number of abnormally low index scores exhibited by a case and accompanying estimate of the percentage of the normative population expected to exhibit at least this number of low scores; (d) quantification of the reliability and abnormality of index score deviations from an individual's index score mean (thereby offering an alternative to the pairwise approach to index score comparisons available in the WAIS-IV manual); (e) provision of CIs on an individual's deviation scores or pairwise difference scores, (f) estimation of the percentage of the normative population expected to exhibit at least as many abnormal deviations or abnormal pairwise differences as a case; and (g) calculation of a case's Mahalanobis distance index (MDI), thereby providing a multivariate estimate of the overall abnormality of an index score profile. With the exception of the MDI, all the methods can be applied using tables provided in this paper. However, for ease and speed of application, and to reduce the possibility of clerical error, all the methods have also been implemented in a computer program. Conclusions. The methods are useful for neuropsychological interpretation of the WAIS-IV.     

Why Fat is a Feminist Issue

The proposition that fat is a feminist issue is almost an axiom within the feminist literature. And yet, different feminist scholars see fat as a feminist issue for radically different reasons. An analysis of mainly U.S. research suggests that for some, fat is a symptom of underlying distress and compulsive eating as a coping mechanism for this gendered anguish. For others, higher rates of “obesity” among poor women and women of color is a scandalous form of environmental injustice necessitating policy interventions to combat obesity in these populations. Others have argued that fat is a feminist issue because the fear of being or becoming fat tyrannizes average-size and relatively thin women, limiting their quality of life and often leading to eating disorders. In contrast, Fikkan and Rothblum (2011) argue that fat is a feminist issue because fat women are subjugated to bias, discrimination and abuse precisely because they are fat women. Unlike other approaches, they put actual fat women at the heart of their analysis, comparing their experience to that of both thin women and to fat men. They rightly signal the importance of examining how the social experiences of fat people vary by sex, social class, race/ethnicity, and sexual orientation, among other factors. While emphasizing the importance of their perspective, this article advocates that this line of feminist analysis be pushed even further.