Negotiating Gender and Sexuality: A Qualitative Study of Elite Women Boxer Intersecting Identities and Sport Psychology Implications

There is a lack of research on the social construction of gender and sexuality in elite women's boxing and the social psychological implications. Building on research that theorizes gender and sexuality as intersecting identities, this study explored elite women boxers' (n = 10) identities in relation to inclusion and marginalization on the Canadian National Boxing Team. Constructionist thematic analysis identified a central theme, “boxing as empowering and constraining,” encompassing multiple meanings of gendered identities related to physicality and sexualities. These were tied to inclusion and exclusion. Sport psychology recommendations are made for facilitating sport climates that encourage intersecting identity expression.     

Developing Praxis: Mobilising Critical Race Theory in Community Cultural Development

Race remains a significant issue in the lives of many people in Australia. For example, Indigenous Australians lives continue to be marked by social and economic disadvantage and everyday experiences of exclusion. Within this context, the Community Arts Network Western Australia promote social change and the empowerment of Indigenous groups through community cultural development. With an emphasis on community strengths and resources, community arts practice is employed to create, promote, and improve opportunities for participation, network development and empowerment. In this article, we explore these projects from a community psychology orientation, which is committed to developing opportunities for inclusion and also exposing the workings of power in everyday settings. Although there have been many positive outcomes that have resulted from the different activities with communities, there have also been significant barriers to transformative practice, in particular, issues of racialisation and continuing colonisation. We discuss our efforts aimed at understanding racism, which have included engaging with critical race theory and whiteness studies within the context of Indigenous and non‐Indigenous partnerships for change. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

More than One Way to be Happy: A Typology of Marital Happiness

This study utilized observational and self‐report data from 57 happily married couples to explore assumptions regarding marital happiness. Suggesting that happily married couples are not a homogeneous group, cluster analyses revealed the existence of three types of couples based on their observed behaviors in a problem‐solving task: (1) mutually engaged couples (characterized by both spouses' higher negative and positive problem‐solving); (2) mutually supportive couples (characterized by both spouses' higher positivity and support); and (3) wife compensation couples (characterized by high wife positivity). Although couples in all three clusters were equally happy with and committed to their marriages, these clusters were differentially associated with spouses' evaluations of their marriage. Spouses in the mutually supportive cluster reported greater intimacy and maintenance and less conflict and ambivalence, although this was more consistently the case in comparison to the wife compensation cluster, as opposed to the mutually engaged cluster. The implications of these typologies are discussed as they pertain to efforts on the part of both practitioners to promote marital happiness and repair marital relations when couples are faced with difficulties.     

The Capacity for Emotional Growth

As the AIDS epidemic continues to spread throughout Australia, the incidence of infection is moving from the major risk group of middle-aged gay men to involve bisexual men, women, and youth. Because of their age, the latter group has unique problems lacking formal legal and social recognition and access to established institutions. The Albion Street Centre, a screening clinic for the AIDS virus, provides medical management and psychosocial services to infected youth. A major component of the psychosocial facilities is an emotional support group. This article reviews the literature relating to support groups and suggests why this therapeutic approach is especially useful for youth who have come into contact with the AIDS virus. The nature of the support group is detailed with particular reference to important issues and suggestions made for future developments during its operation.     

The insidious (and ironic) effects of positive stereotypes

The present research demonstrates that positive stereotypes – though often treated as harmless, flattering and innocuous – may represent an especially insidious means of promoting antiquated beliefs about social groups. Specifically, across four studies (and one replication), the authors demonstrate that exposure to positive stereotypes towards African Americans (i.e., they are superior athletes) are at once both especially unlikely to arouse skepticism and emotional vigilance while also especially likely to produce antiquated and harmful beliefs towards members of the target group (compared to both baseline conditions and exposure to negative stereotypes), including beliefs in the biological (or “natural”) underpinnings of group differences and, ironically, the application of negative stereotypes.     

Rorschach Responses in Healthy,Community Dwelling Older Adults

Five predicted relationships between age and intellectual level and 16 Rorschach variables were examined through a cross-sectional analysis of 47 healthy, community-dwelling elderly men and women. Subjects were compared by age and intellectual level using gender, level of medication, and scores on the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) and the Geriatric Social Readjustment Questionnaire (GSRQ) as covariates. Screening tests for psychiatric and physical illness, recent life events, and hearing and vision loss were administered, In contrast to prior research suggesting changes in Rorschach scores with differences in age and intellectual level, only one significant difference was found for these variables. The data suggest that age and intellectual level may contribute less to Rorschach responses than was previously thought.     

National Trends in Prayer Use as a Coping Mechanism for Depression: Changes from 2002 to 2007

To analyze national trends in the use of prayer among individuals with depression, we adopted a cross-sectional design with data from the adult Alternative Medicine supplement of the National Health Interview Survey 2002 and 2007. Prayer use and depression were combined into 4 categories: (a) prayed in the past 12 months and depressed; (b) prayed in the past 12 months and not depressed; (c) never prayed but depressed; and (d) never prayed and not depressed. Chi-square tests and multinomial logistic regressions were performed to analyze group differences. All analyses were adjusted for the complex sample design and conducted in SAS-callable SUDAAN. Use of prayer for depression was steady at 6.9 % across time; however, general prayer increased significantly between 2002 and 2007 (40.2 vs. 45.7). Women, aged 50–64, unmarried, with high school education were more likely to use prayer while depressed compared to those who were neither depressed nor prayed. Lifestyle behaviors (e.g. alcohol, smoking, exercise) were also associated with prayer use and depression. Prayer use for depression remained steady with unique relationships occurring among those who smoke, use alcohol, and have irregular exercise. Individuals’ use of prayer as a potential complementary treatment for depression suggests that it is critical for mental and physical health treatment providers to be aware of the use of prayer as a coping resource.     

Psychopathic traits and men’s anger response to interpersonal conflict: A pilot study

Psychopathy is associated with emotional dysfunction that impedes the experience of emotions such as fear and sadness and has been purported to facilitate violent behavior. However, findings relative to the association between psychopathy and anger have not been reliably substantiated. Theorists have proposed that psychopathy predisposes one to experience greater frustration and anger, whereas other experts have suggested that there is no convincing evidence for this assertion. In the present study, we tested the relationship between psychopathy subfactors and anger subsequent to conflict or non-conflict interactions. Sixty-eight collegiate-men completed the Self-Report Psychopathy Scale and read vignettes depicting either a conflict or non-conflict scenario and were asked to imagine themselves in the situation. Following presentation of the vignettes, participants completed a lexical-decision-task assessing affective states. Results indicated that the psychopathy subfactors demonstrated strong differential associations, where Factor 1 showed negative and Factor 2 showed positive association with anger activation in response to interpersonal conflict. Findings are discussed in terms of the importance of anger as a facilitator of violence in some psychopathic individuals.