A Dyadic View of Support in Marriage: The Critical Role of Men’s Support Provision

This study examined how sensitive support provision and receipt were related to marital outcomes in a sample of 57 happily married, middle-class couples from the Midwestern U.S. To assess how observed supportive behaviors may be differentially associated with self-reported support satisfaction, marital love, and marital conflict for men and women, we utilized a series of Actor Partner Interdependence Models (APIM). This dyadic approach revealed significant gender differences regarding how the supportive role enacted (i.e., provider versus recipient) contributed considerably to marital outcomes. Specifically, husbands’ sensitive support provision significantly predicted both spouses’ support satisfaction. Additionally, husbands’ sensitive support provision was significantly associated with wives’ marital love. Wives’ reported conflict was predicted by the combination of both providing and receiving sensitive support. For husbands’ outcomes, husbands’ own sensitive support provision was most critically associated with their reporting greater love and less conflict. These findings reveal notable gender differences as men’s ability to provide sensitive support was critical not only to their wives’ marital outcomes, but to their own as well. Our results build upon and extend the literature implicating the importance of examining gender differences in supportive interactions in marriage. Moreover, our findings suggest that simultaneous consideration of spousal support receipt and provision is critical when seeking to understand how support is related to marital outcomes for men and women.     

Thought listing and endorsement measures of self-referential thinking in test anxiety

Abstract

The primary purpose of the present study was to examine cognitive reactions of high and low test-anxious subjects while performing a task of extreme difficulty. A sample of 44 subjects (28 females, 16 males) attempted a difficult analogies task and then reported their thoughts during the task. Subjects also completed the Sarason Test Anxiety Scale and several other self-report measures of their cognitive reactions to the task. Thought listings were classified according to their referent (self, task, or unrelated) and their valence (positive, negative, or neutral). Correlational analyses were then performed with the various measures and revealed an association between test anxiety and reports of negative thoughts involving the self. Test anxiety was not related significantly to the number of thoughts involving the task nor to actual performance on the task. However, test-anxious subjects did report more negative expectancies for their performance and greater cognitive interference during the task. Negative self-expectancies were also related to more negative self thoughts, fewer positive self thoughts, and fewer positive task-related thoughts. The results are interpreted as further evidence for both the role of negative self-related cognitions in the experience of test anxiety and the usefulness of unstructured measures in anxiety research.     

Color Vision in Alzheimer’s Patients: Can We Improve Object Recognition With Color Cues?

Sixty-three frail, elderly patients seen in a university-based outpatient geriatric assessment clinic were divided into three dementia diagnosis categories (Alzheimer’s disease, “other” dementias, cognitively intact) to investigate the use of color cues as memory aids. Recognition time was measured for three cues: (1) same color/different form; (2) same form/different color; and (3) different color/different form. Log transformed response times were longer for form cues (same color/different form) compared to color cues (different color/same form, p =.001; different color/different form, p <.001). No differences in log transformed response time were noted among dementia categories for each test condition. Color cues make a significant difference in short-term memory recall ability compared to form cues. Vivid color-coding the environment of a frail, elderly population may enhance short-term memory and improve functional ability. This may prove to be especially useful in long-term care settings, which provide services to a variety of people with differing cognitive abilities.     

Messages about sex in the workplace: A content analysis of primetime television

Because television has the potential to shape cultural beliefs about both sexual norms and appropriate workplace behavior, it seems important to examine TV’s portrayal of “sexual etiquette” in the workplace. In a content analysis of two episodes of every primetime comedy aired on all broadcast and cable networks during fall 2000, we coded every sexual remark and behavior made in a workplace scene. Across all networks, 85 percent of programs and one in four workplace interactions contained some type of sexual content. Overall, a viewer is likely to hear eleven sexual remarks and see two to three sexual behaviors in a workplace setting per hour; this jumps to twenty-three remarks and nine behaviors on cable networks. Sexual remarks were mostly explicit, made in an office setting, by White men, and were rarely (1.4%) about sexual harassment or discrimination. Although sexual content in the workplace was generally less common on broadcast than cable networks, a broadcast network (Fox) actually had the highest overall rate, with sexual content in 38 percent of workplace scenes. Given that research suggests that TV teaches youth about sexuality and cultivates sexual attitudes and beliefs consistent with televised portrayals, it is alarming that youth may learn from television that sex in the workplace is not only commonplace, but also to be tolerated and enjoyed.     

A Transcultural Integrative Model for Ethical Decision Making in Counseling

The Transcultural Integrative Ethical Decision‐Making Model in counseling addresses the need for including cultural factors in the process of ethical dilemma resolution. This transcultural model incorporates state‐of‐the‐art concepts from multicultural theory into an ethical decision‐making model that is adapted primarily from the Integrative Model developed by V. M. Tarvydas (1998). When appropriate, this transcultural model includes aspects of other ethical resolution models, such as R. R. Cottone's (2001) Social Constructivist Model and A. H. Davis's (1997) Collaborative Model. The proposed model is presented in a step‐by‐step, linear format that can be used by counselors facing ethical dilemmas in a variety of settings and with different cultural groups.     

Reasons or rationalizations: The role of principles in the moral dumbfounding paradigm

Moral dumbfounding occurs when people maintain a moral judgment even though they cannot provide reasons for it. Recently, questions have been raised about whether dumbfounding is a real phenomenon. Two reasons have been proposed as guiding the judgments of dumbfounded participants: harm-based reasons (believing an action may cause harm) or norm-based reasons (breaking a moral norm is inherently wrong). Participants in that research (see Royzman, Kim, & Leeman, 2015), who endorsed either reason were excluded from analysis, and instances of moral dumbfounding seemingly reduced to non-significance. We argue that endorsing a reason is not sufficient evidence that a judgment is grounded in that reason. Stronger evidence should additionally account for (a) articulating a given reason and (b) consistently applying the reason in different situations. Building on this, we develop revised exclusion criteria across three studies. Study 1 included an open-ended response option immediately after the presentation of a moral scenario. Responses were coded for mention of harm-based or norm-based reasons. Participants were excluded from analysis if they both articulated and endorsed a given reason. Using these revised criteria for exclusion, we found evidence for dumbfounding, as measured by the selecting of an admission of not having reasons. Studies 2 and 3 included a further three questions relating to harm-based reasons specifically, assessing the consistency with which people apply harm-based reasons across differing contexts. As predicted, few participants consistently applied, articulated, and endorsed harm-based reasons, and evidence for dumbfounding was found.     

An ultrasonic motion detector,with data on stare,restriction of movement,and startle

The ultrasonic motion detector can measure activity in free-ranging Ss; it may be useful in studies of arousal. This device records counts of activity per unit of time. Sixty Ss were run in three experiments to evaluate the convenience and usefulness of the technique.     

Perceptions of Partner Violence: How Aggressor Gender,Masculinity/Femininity,and Victim Gender Influence Criminal Justice Decisions

This study examines the extent to which perceptions of partner violence are influenced by aggressor gender and masculinity/femininity, and victim gender. Participants evaluated a case scenario depicting domestic assault. Results found charges were significantly higher and sentences significantly longer when the victim was female. Masculine aggressors were more likely to be perceived as having threatened bodily injury and as having initiated the assault compared to feminine aggressors. Masculine aggressors in heterosexual relationships were more likely to be identified as having initiated an assault compared to feminine aggressors in heterosexual relationships or individuals in same-sex relationships.     

Psychosocial mediators of a theory-based resistance training maintenance intervention for prediabetic adults

Objective: Examine psychosocial mediators of the effects of high vs. low-dose resistance training (RT) maintenance interventions among older (ages 50–69), overweight and pre-diabetic adults.

Design: Participants (N = 123) completed a three-month supervised RT initiation phase and were subsequently randomised (time 1) to high or low-dose six-month unsupervised RT maintenance interventions (time 2), followed by a six-month no-contact phase (time 3).

Main Outcome Measures: Online measures of putative mediators and RT behaviour.

Results: RT intervention condition (high vs. low dose) had significant effects on change from time 1 to time 2 in behavioural expectation, self-regulation and perceived satisfaction (f² = .04–.08), but not outcome expectancies, RT strategies or behavioural intentions (f² ≤ .02). Change in each of the putative mediators, except for outcome expectancies (f² ≤ .02), had significant effects on RT behaviour at times 2 (f² = .12–.27) and 3 (f² = .23–.40). In a multiple mediation model, behavioural expectation (f² = .11) and self-regulation (f² = .06) mediated the effects of RT intervention condition on time 2 RT behaviour, whereas perceived satisfaction did not (f² = .01). Self-regulation was a significant mediator of intervention effects on time 3 RT behaviour (f² = .11), but behavioural expectation and perceived satisfaction were not (f² = .04).

Conclusions: Findings suggest that behavioural expectation and self-regulation are appropriate targets for RT maintenance interventions among at-risk older adults.