“Stroppy Bitches Who Just Need to Learn How to Settle”? Young Single Women and Norms of Femininity and Heterosexuality

The (older) single woman has evoked numerous negative sociocultural stereotypes in recent (Western) history, with “being single” a fraught position for (heterosexual) women. Have shifts toward gendered equality changed this stereotype? We interviewed 21 young heterosexual women in Aotearoa (New Zealand) about their experiences of being single. We focused on young adulthood (ages 25–35), a time when having children might be a particularly salient concern. Women’s experiences of being single were inextricable from their wider experiences of heterosexuality and pressures to enact a “desirable” femininity. A thematic analysis identified four patterned sets of pressures, which we conceptualised as rules that govern hetero-relating: (a) pressures and expectations surrounding beauty standards, (b) (allowing for) aspects of male control and superiority, (c) acceptable/unacceptable gendered standards of sexuality, and (d) eventual and mandatory (heterosexual) coupling (by a “certain” age). Participants remained largely subject to traditional ideas around heterosexual gender roles, with identifiable punishments for “unfeminine” behaviour. Many women did articulate resistance and critique, even as most also expressed complicity. In this context, singledom was constructed as a “defective’ state,” even if desired, suggesting it remains a complex and precarious position to occupy.     

Adopted Individuals’ Views on the Utility and Value of Expanded Carrier Screening

Adoptees may not have family medical history and ethnicity information. Carrier screening assesses reproductive risk. Expanded carrier screening (ECS) screens for many genetic conditions regardless of a patient’s knowledge of family history and ethnicity. This study aimed to better understand the opinions and attitudes of adopted individuals on the use of ECS in determining a patient’s reproductive genetic risks. Specifically, the study assessed how adopted individuals feel that results of ECS may be useful to them and whether adoptees feel that meeting with a genetics professional in the process of undergoing ECS would be useful. Adult adoptees (N?=?124) were recruited online. Their opinions on ECS were explored. The majority reported they had never been offered carrier screening (92%). The majority of adoptees wanted ECS (76%). Neither the amount of contact with biological relatives nor having medical knowledge about biological relatives was significantly associated with adoptees’ desire to pursue ECS. There was a significant positive correlation between adoptees of higher education levels and the amount they would pay for ECS (p?=?0.004). The majority of participants (95%) indicated a genetics professional would be helpful when undergoing ECS. The findings suggest this population may want ECS and support from genetics healthcare professionals. Advocacy for genetic counseling and testing for adoptees appears justifiable.     

Post-Visit Reinforcement of Zoo Conservation Messages: The Design and Testing of an Action Resource Website

Wildlife tourism attractions such as zoos are uniquely placed to make an impact on people’s everyday environmentally responsible behaviors. However, research suggests that visitors who leave such sites with a heightened awareness and good intentions rarely translate their intentions into post-visit environmental actions. This article reports on the development of a website-based action resource designed to reinforce, complement, and extend zoos’ on-site conservation messages and support visitors’ translation of environmental behavioral intentions into actions. The effectiveness of the website in encouraging post-visit engagement in environmental behavior was tested using an experimental design with a follow-up sample of 475 zoo visitors across four sites in three countries. The group that had accessed the website scored significantly higher on a behavior change index than the group that had not accessed the website. Website features identified as most effective in engaging visitors and maximizing their uptake of environmentally sustainable behavior are discussed.     

Examining How Romantic Relationship Quality Influences Individual Psychological Distress Over Time for Men and Women

Poor relationship quality can increase an individual’s psychological distress. There is substantial debate regarding the influence of relationship quality for men and women. Some have found that women’s psychological distress is affected more by poor relationship quality compared to men. Others have found that psychological distress is equally affected for men and women, but it may look different—depressive symptoms for women and total alcohol consumption for men. In this study we examined how men and women differed in changes in relationship quality and changes in psychological distress. Then, we examined how changes in one manifestation of psychological distress and changes in relationship quality were related and how this association differed for men and women. Women reported lower initial relationship quality and total alcohol consumption but higher initial depressive symptoms. Men and women only differed on changes in total alcohol consumption, with women decreasing less than men over 25 years. Finally, both changes in total alcohol consumption and changes in depressive symptoms were related to changes in relationship quality for women, but not men. The reverse direction did not differ by gender, although change in depressive symptoms was related to change in relationship quality. Implications for future research are discussed.     

Representational coexistence in the God concept: Core knowledge intuitions of God as a person are not revised by Christian theology despite lifelong experience

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review - Previous research has shown that in the minds of young adult religious adherents, acquired theology about the extraordinary characteristics of God (e.g.,...     

Who Do You Think You Are? Evolving Ethical Meaning Making

People must develop ways to determine and manage acceptable and unacceptable behaviors within their communities, although not all communities create the same ethical systems. Understanding differences in ethical systems, including between constructivists and their critics, might benefit from considering constructive-developmental theory, which views ethics as related to evolving individual self-identities in a context of accompanying cultural evolution. By considering that people's ethical frameworks evolve over the life span and that current society consists of people at various levels within that evolutionary process, we may arrive at a better understanding of ethical differences and include a wider range of perspectives in our discourse.     

Changes in frontal and posterior cortical activity underlie the early emergence of executive function

Executive function (EF) is a key cognitive process that emerges in early childhood and facilitates children's ability to control their own behavior. Individual differences in EF skills early in life are predictive of quality‐of‐life outcomes 30 years later (Moffitt et al., 2011). What changes in the brain give rise to this critical cognitive ability? Traditionally, frontal cortex growth is thought to underlie changes in cognitive control (Bunge & Zelazo, 2006; Moriguchi & Hiraki, 2009). However, more recent data highlight the importance of long‐range cortical interactions between frontal and posterior brain regions. Here, we test the hypothesis that developmental changes in EF skills reflect changes in how posterior and frontal brain regions work together. Results show that children who fail a “hard” version of an EF task and who are thought to have an immature frontal cortex, show robust frontal activity in an “easy” version of the task. We show how this effect can arise via posterior brain regions that provide on‐the‐job training for the frontal cortex, effectively teaching the frontal cortex adaptive patterns of brain activity on “easy” EF tasks. In this case, frontal cortex activation can be seen as both the cause and the consequence of rule switching. Results also show that older children have differential posterior cortical activation on “easy” and “hard” tasks that reflects continued refinement of brain networks even in skilled children. These data set the stage for new training programs to foster the development of EF skills in at‐risk children.     

“I'm Having a Little Struggle With This,Can You Help Me Out?”: Examining Impacts and Processes of a Social Capital Intervention for First‐Generation College Students

Social capital plays a key role in college and career success, and research indicates that a dearth of on‐campus connections contributes to challenges first‐generation college students face in effectively navigating the college environment. This study investigates a novel intervention that focuses on the development of skills and attitudes to empower first‐generation college students to cultivate social capital and on‐campus connections during the transition to college. A mixed methods, explanatory design was used to evaluate impacts and processes of the intervention among first‐generation college students (n = 164) in the context of an ethnically diverse, urban, public university in the Northeast. Results indicated that students who participated in the intervention demonstrated improved attitudes and behaviors around seeking support in college, closer relationships with instructors, and higher GPAs at the end of their first year in college. These results suggest the potential benefits of a relatively scalable approach to supporting the needs of first‐generation college students.     

Review of Commercially Available Epilepsy Genetic Panels

Next generation sequencing panels have revolutionized the diagnostic approach to patients with epilepsy. There are several commercial epilepsy panels available. We assessed the list of genes tested and consent forms for epilepsy panels available at seven laboratories. The panels varied in the number of genes included (70–465 genes). In some panels, genes not currently associated with epilepsy were included (up to 4 % of panel content). The panels also included genes for lysosomal storage disorders (6–12 %), congenital disorders of glycosylation (0–8.5 %), metabolic disorders (3.5–34 %), neurological syndromes (18–43 %) and multisystemic genetic syndromes (6.4–21 %). Informed consents differed significantly between laboratories ranging from basic information about genetic testing and possible results to information about insurance, genetic counseling and familial testing, and incidental findings.Our findings suggest that it is important to consider the range of genes offered on epilepsy panels and their predicted phenotypes in an effort toward improving the informed consent process.     

Red-hot: How colour and semantic temperature processing interact in a Stroop-like paradigm

Temperature concepts and colour are commonly associated (i.e., red is “hot” and blue is “cold”), although their direction of influence (unidirectional, bidirectional) is unknown. Semantic Stroop effects, whereby words like fire influence colour categorization, suggest automatic semantic processing influences colour processing. The experiential framework of language comprehension indicates abstract concepts like temperature words simulate concrete experiences in their representation, where expressions like “red-hot” suggest colour processing influences conceptual processing. Participants categorized both colour (Experiment 1: red, blue; Experiment 2: red, green, blue) and word-meaning with matched lists of hot and cold meaning words in each colour. In Experiments 1 and 2, semantic categorization showed congruency effects across hot and cold words, while colour categorization showed facilitation only with hot words in Experiment 2. This asymmetry reflects a more consistent influence of colour categorization on semantic categorization than the reverse, suggesting experiential grounding effects may be more robust than the effects of semantic processing on colour processing.