THE INFLUENCE OF SEXUALLY VIOLENT RAP MUSIC ON ATTITUDES OF MEN WITH LITTLE PRIOR EXPOSURE

This article is among the first to focus on commercially available, sexually violent rap music, so-called "gangsta" rap (GR) and its influence on attitudes toward women. Collegiate males with little experience with GR were exposed to GR music, lyrics, both, or neither. Thus the effect of GR music and lyrics were isolated from each other and from acculturation to GR. Collapsing across all attitude measures, neither lyrics alone nor lyrics with music resulted in significantly more negative attitudes toward women than music-only or no-treatment control conditions. Participants in the lyrics conditions had significantly greater adversarial sexual beliefs than no-lyrics participants, however.     

Persuasive communications to change actions: an analysis of behavioral and cognitive impact in HIV prevention.

This meta-analysis examined the validity of various theoretical assumptions about cognitive and behavioral change following a communication recommending condom use. The synthesis comprised 82 treatment and 29 control groups included in 46 longitudinal reports with measures of perceived severity and susceptibility, attitudes and expectancies, norms, perceptions of control, intentions, knowledge, behavioral skills, or condom use. Results indicated that across the sample of studies, communications taught recipients about facts related to HIV and also induced favorable attitudes and expectancies, greater control perceptions, and stronger intentions to use condoms in the future. Moreover, messages that presented attitudinal information and modeled behavioral skills led to increased condom use. Results are discussed in the context of theories of human behavior and change and in reference to HIV-prevention interventions.     

Beneath the veil of thought suppression: Attentional bias and depression risk

Although cognitive theory predicts that depression-prone individuals possess negative information-processing biases, the reliable detection of this type of cognitive vulnerability has proved difficult. The present study tested the idea that depression-relevant, cognitive biases are often elusive because at-risk individuals actively try to suppress depressive thinking. The study employed a novel measure of information processing that involves the identification of words imbedded in a letter grid. A cognitive load - designed to disrupt thought suppression - caused a negative attentional shift among individuals at risk for depression (because of a previous episode), leading them to identify negative words at a rate equivalent to currently dysphoric participants. The hypothesised role of mental control was further supported by the fact that the load-related, attentional shift was strongly associated with chronic thought suppression.     

Differential encoding of affective and nonaffective content information in trait anxiety

The relative encoding of affective and nonaffective content information in high and low trait anxious individuals was investigated. Experiment 1 (N = 35) found that, compared to Low Anxiety participants, High Anxiety participants showed relatively greater speeding of affective semantic decisions compared to nonaffective content semantic decisions. Using a similarity rating paradigm, Experiments 2 (N = 51) and 3 (N = 100) found higher levels of trait anxiety were associated with a decreased use of content information when nonaffective information was less salient than affective information. Experiment 4 (N = 100) found higher levels of trait anxiety were associated with a complementary increased use of affective information when affective information was less salient than nonaffective information. Thus, it appears that trait anxiety may be associated with a bias to encode less salient information to a greater extent when it is relevant to affect, and to a lesser extent when it is not.     

Fertility Behavior and Psychological Stress: The Mediating Influence of Gender Norm Beliefs Among Egyptian Women

The influence of gender norms on women's family planning experiences is a finding that cuts across numerous studies included in Family Health International's multi-country Women's Studies Project. This paper explores findings from one of these studies on the mediating influence of beliefs about gender norms on the relationship between fertility behavior and psychological well-being. Using cross-sectional survey data from 4,908 Egyptian women, hierarchical multiple regression models were tested with depression and anxiety as the dependent variables. Independent variables included three demographic variables, two measures of beliefs about gender norms developed from survey items using exploratory factor analytic techniques, and two fertility behavior variables—use of family planning and number of children. Gender norm beliefs predicted both anxiety and depression. The statistical analyses demonstrated a separate effect of family planning use on anxiety, independent of gender norm beliefs, but the effect of family planning behaviors on depression disappeared when gender norms beliefs were included in the regression model, which indicates a mediating effect of gender norm beliefs. Although cross-sectional data do not allow for the determination of causality among the three types of variables, a conceptual framework is offered for the possible causal mechanisms for the identified relationships.     

Identification,Response, and Referral of Suicidal Youth Following Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training

Gatekeeper training is a public health approach to suicide prevention that encourages community members to identify those at risk for suicide, respond appropriately, and refer for clinical services. Despite widespread use, few studies have examined whether training results in behavior change in participants. This study employed a naturalistic pre–post design to follow 434 participants in Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training, finding small but significant increases in self‐reported identification of at‐risk youth, some helpful responses to youth, and numbers of youth referred to treatment from pre‐test to 6‐ to 9‐month follow‐up. Changes in active listening and helping behaviors meant to support treatment referrals (such as convincing a youth to seek treatment) were not observed over time. Additional analyses explored predictors of self‐reported skill utilization including identification as a “natural helper” and attitudes about suicide prevention.     

Ovarian cancer patients' psychological distress: the role of physical impairment, perceived unsupportive family and friend behaviors, perceived control, and self-esteem.

Although research has indicated that illness-related and interpersonal stress are associated with greater psychological distress among cancer patients, little empirical attention has been given to mechanisms that account for these relationships. In the present study, 2 mechanisms for the association between illness-related stress (physical impairment) and interpersonal stress (family and friend unsupportive responses) and psychological distress of 143 ovarian cancer patients were examined cross-sectionally. Separate structural equation models tested whether physical impairment impacted patients' distress via decrements in perceived control over their illness and whether unsupportive behaviors impacted patients' distress via decrements in patients' self-esteem. Results supported the proposed models and suggest that perceived control and self-esteem are 2 mechanisms for explaining how illness-related and interpersonal stress may be associated with psychological distress among women with ovarian cancer.     

College Adjustment Problems and Attitudes Toward Drinking Reported by Feminine, Androgynous, and Masculine College Women

Two studies compared attitudes toward various issues and adaptations to demands of college life that were reported by feminine, androgynous, and masculine sex-typed females. Study 1 showed that feminine sex-typed females reported lower involvement in academic competition, fewer difficulties with peer pressures, and less exclusion by fraternities and sororities from college social life than did androgynous and masculine females. Androgynous and masculine females gave similar responses, showing high involvement in academic competition, negative reactions to peer pressures, and resentment toward male friends who cancel plans. Study 2 compared attitudes of feminine, androgynous, and masculine female college students toward drinking. Discriminant analysis showed that over 99% of the subjects could be correctly classified according to sex type on the basis of two dimensions: (1) sociable drinking and (2) drinking due to peer pressure and social discomfort. Masculine arid androgynous females were significantly more likely than feminine females to endorse questions related to social drinking. Masculine females showed the greatest potential for problem drinking from social pressures and for escape from social discomfort. Results supported Kelly and Worell's (1977) argument that the adaptive values of different sex-role orientations depend on the demands of the environment.