When Women Become More Hostilely Sexist toward their Gender: The System-Justifying Effect of Benevolent Sexism

Two longitudinal studies examined the system-justifying effect of women’s benevolent sexist ideology in New Zealand female undergraduate samples. Women’s endorsement of benevolent sexism predicted longitudinal changes in hostile sexist attitudes toward their gender over 6-month (study 1; n?=?117) and 12-month (study 2; n?=?76) periods. Consistent with Ambivalent Sexism Theory, these findings indicate that women’s endorsement of benevolent sexism disarms resistance to, and increases their endorsement of, more hostile forms of sexism directed toward their gender. However, the disarming effect of benevolent sexism occurred only for women high in Right-Wing Authoritarianism (study 2), suggesting that threat-driven authoritarian motivations for collective security and social cohesion cause women to actively participate in an ideological system that perpetuates gender inequality.     

Relationship satisfaction determines the association between Epstein–Barr virus latency and somatic symptoms after the loss of a spouse

The loss of a spouse is associated with a host of negative health outcomes. While bereaved individuals commonly report somatic symptoms, no investigations exist of the association between reactivation of latent Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) and somatic symptoms among this population. Further, how an individual perceives the quality of their lost relationship in retrospect may impact loss outcomes. Among 99 bereaved spouses, elevated EBV antibody titers were associated with somatic symptoms for those who retrospectively reported high or mean levels of relationship satisfaction (RS), but not among those less satisfied. Further, higher RS was associated with greater grief symptoms. This study identifies higher retrospective RS as a possible risk factor for negative physical and mental health outcomes during bereavement.     

Further Support for Multidimensionality Within the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale

Although the Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale is one of the most widely used measures of global self esteem, the underlying measurement structure of the items is still debated. In this study the dimensionality of a six item version of the Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale included in the National Population Health Survey of Canada was examined using nested confirmatory factor analyses. The results indicate that the six items measure two correlated dimensions of global self esteem. The first dimension appears to represent a measure of self competence, and the second is interpreted as a measure of self liking. Subsequent tests of predictive power and discriminant validity supported the two dimension interpretation. The two dimensions had substantially different relationships with theoretically related measures of anxiety, negative affect and happiness. In addition to these different correlations, latent variable regressions indicated that the self-competency factor consistently suppressed irrelevant variance in the self liking factor when predicting anxiety, negative affect and happiness.     

Stress in youth sport: A developmental investigation of tennis parents

ObjectiveThis study investigated the stage-specific stressors experienced by British tennis parents whose children were situated either in the sampling, specializing or investment stages of participation in the sport [Côtè, J. (1999). The influence of the family in the development of talent in sport. The Sport Psychologist, 13, 395–417].Design and methodA qualitative design was employed with semi-structured interviews conducted with twenty two British tennis parents; six parents representing each of the first two stages of sports participation and ten representing the investment stage. Data was analyzed through a process of inductive content analysis following the method proposed by Miles and Huberman [Miles, M. B., & Huberman, A. M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis. London: Sage]. Data matrices were developed for each category of parent to allow for the comparison of the data between themes.Results and conclusionThree general dimensions of parental stressor emerged: Organizational, Competitive and Developmental. Organizational stressors included demands related to finance, time, training and coaching, and governing body systems; competitive stressors related to behavior, performance and morality-related issues associated with their child's matches; and developmental stressors centered on educational issues, uncertainty of tennis transitions, and future decision making. While sampling stage parents encountered few developmental stressors compared to later stage parents, a range of competitive stressors were highly prominent. Organizational stressors were particularly foremost for specializing and investment stage parents. Implications are discussed with reference to further research into the parental stress process and to the importance of stage-specific parent education initiatives.     

Empathy and Social Perspective Taking in Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

This study explored empathy and social perspective taking in 8 to 12 year old children with and without Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The sample comprised 92 children, 50 with a diagnosis of ADHD and 42 typically developing comparison children. Although children with ADHD were rated by their parents as less empathic than children without ADHD, this difference was accounted for by co-occurring oppositional and conduct problems among children in the ADHD sample. Children with ADHD used lower levels of social perspective taking coordination in their definition of problems, identification of feelings, and evaluation of outcomes than children without ADHD, and these differences persisted after the role of language abilities, intelligence and oppositional and conduct problems were taken into account. Girls were more empathic and had higher overall social perspective taking scores than boys. Implications for research and practice are discussed. This research was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).     

Who am I and who are you? Priming and the influence of self versus other focused attention

Recent research has demonstrated that primes can affect self-perceptions, and that subsequent behavior is typically in line with these changed self-perceptions. However, a wide range of other priming effects have been documented, including changes in person perception, motivation, and so forth. The conditions under which a given prime affects the self as opposed to creating one of these other outcomes remains unclear. The present research seeks to offer insight into this question by examining attentional factors as one determinant of whether the self or another target will be biased by a prime. Across two studies, manipulating attention to the self (or an irrelevant target) immediately following a prime produced assimilation in behavior (Experiment 1) and self-perceptions (Experiment 2) when participants thought about themselves, but not an irrelevant target. In addition, when participants thought about an unrelated target, perceptions of this target, but not the self, were changed (Experiment 2).     

Neuropsychological Features of Lesion-related Epilepsy in Adults: An Overview

Lesional epilepsy is thought to be a direct consequence of focal brain lesions of dysgenetic, neoplastic, vascular, or traumatic origin. It has been estimated that at least half of all epilepsies are the result of such lesions. The current discussion includes an overview of the cognitive and behavioral presentations in adults with epilepsy secondary to focal pathology. The neuropsychological presentation in this population is influenced by many factors, including the location and nature of the underlying lesion, seizure characteristics, the effects of treatment, and patient variables. Few studies attempt to disentangle the specific contributions of these variables to cognitive performance. However, where available studies examining the separable effects of seizure-related variables on cognitive functioning in individuals with lesional epilepsy are also reviewed. This overview includes a discussion of focal malformations of cortical and vascular development and select foreign tissue and acquired lesions.