A cross-validation of sex differences in the expression of depression

A considerable amount of evidence has accumulated indicating a greater rate of depression among females compared to males. In addition, recent investigations have revealed distinct patterns of depressive responding as a function of sex. The present study provided a cross-validational test of findings reported by Funabiki and colleagues. Male and female college students indicated the likelihood that they would engage in 79 behavioral analytically derived behaviors or cognitions if depressed. Stepwise discriminant function analyses were performed to determine maximum separation of male and female responses. This procedure yielded a 55.6% overall variable cross-validation rate. Many of the findings were consistent with Radloff and Rae's theoretical view of sex differences in learned susceptibility to depression. The data also suggest several avenues for future research and support the utility of investigating theories of depression within the context of a continuity between normal mood states and depressive phenomena.Useful comments on an earlier draft of this article were provided by Mark Hammarlund and Lorence S. Miller. The order of authorship was determined by the flip of a coin.     

Gender expectations for alcohol use: A study of the significance of the masculine role

One hundred sixteen undergraduates assigned traditional gender-stereotyping adjectives and adjective phrases to two male and two female stimuli. Included in this set of traits were statements regarding drinking beer, drinking wine, and getting drunk. Results indicated that male stimuli were attributed stereotypically masculine traits (e.g., acts as a leader, is willing to take risks), and were attributed both beer drinking and getting drunk significantly more often than the female stimuli. By contrast, female stimuli were attributed stereotypically feminine traits (e.g., dependent, sensitive) and were attributed wine drinking significantly more often than the male stimuli. These data provide direct evidence that expectations regarding beer drinking and getting drunk are aspects of the traditional male gender role. The social and mental health implications of the findings are discussed.     

Achieving productive synergy: Integrating departments into a company

Collaboration between departments and divisions is critical for companies to use their resources successfully. Many executives are experimenting with liaison officers, project teams, and matrix designs. However, groups must believe that their goals are cooperative to use these procedures. Common tasks, shared rewards, supportive attitudes, and shared values develop motivating cooperative goals for organizational units. Case studies illustrate how cooperative goals and coordination devices integrate departments into a company.The author thanks the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for its financial support.     

Predicting career-entry pay expectations: The role of gender-based comparisons

This research investigated three sets of factors (career path factors, perceived job inputs, and reference group comparisons) as predictors of career-entry pay expectations for management students about to enter the workforce. As predicted, reference group comparisons accounted for a larger proportion of unique variance in students' pay expectations than either career path factors or perceived job inputs. In addition, same-sex comparisons were stronger predictors of career-entry pay expectations than opposite-sex comparisons. Practical implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

Expediency and human health: The regulation of environmental chromium

The complexity of chromium chemistry makes it an ideal example of how the Principle of Expediency, first articulated by sanitary pioneer Earle Phelps, can be used in a standard setting. Expediency, defined by Phelps as “the attempt to reduce the numerical measure of probable harm, or the logical measure of existing hazard, to the lowest level that is practicable and feasible within the limitations of financial resources and engineering skill”, can take on negative connotations unless subject to ethical guidance. In this paper we argue that without ethical principles as a rubric for negotiating environmental regulations, communities run the risk of slipping from the Principle of Expediency as defined by Phelps to the alternative usage of expediency meaning that which does not reflect ethical consideration or concern beyond self-serving interest. Three ethical ideals—justice, mercy and humility—are suggested as values to be considered while resolving regulatory issues related to environmental protection. The Principle of Expediency serves as a working principle, but not as a rigid algorithm, for setting regulatory limits for environmental concentrations of waste products like chromium. This paper is based on a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the PhD degree by Lauren Bartlett, Duke University, 1997. An earlier version of this paper was presented at a mini-conference, Practicing and Teaching Ethics in Engineering and Computing, held during the Sixth Annual Meeting of the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics, Washington, D.C., March 8–9, 1997. This paper is one of a series edited by Michael C. Loui. See Volume 3, No. 4, 1997 for other papers in this series.     

Animats and what they can tell us

Animats-autonomous robots or simulations of animals-and the animat approach represent the most recent attempt to comprehend the capacity of animals for autonomous generation of adaptive, intelligent behavior in complex, changing environments. Motivated by perceived limitations in classical artificial intelligence (AI), the animat approach promulgates an alternative, bottom-up route to understanding intelligent behavior. Important tenets include: (1) that adaptive behavior is best understood by focusing on the interaction between a behaving individual and its environment, hence the interest in `embodied' physical robots `situated' in natural environments; (2) that specific abilities, `behaviors', are more natural units of analysis and design than general, information-processing functions and world models; and (3) that high-level behaviors will emerge as systems composed of simple behavioral competences become more complex. Thus, animat research often begins with low-level sensorimotor abilities and then moves up towards higher, cognitive functions. Both in analysis and in design, the animat approach borrows heavily from ethology, psychology, neurobiology and evolutionary biology, as well as from connectionism. For AI and robotics researchers, understanding the mechanisms behind adaptive behavior is secondary to creating them, but natural scientists can hope for tools and concepts to aid understanding of biological systems.     

Effects of trait and situational self-handicapping on competitive anxiety among athletes

Initial evidence suggests that the employment of self-handicapping strategies has a beneficial effect on negative affective states associated with the perceived threat of evaluative contexts (Harris & Snyder, 1986; Leary, 1986). The present study sought to describe the type of self-handicapping behaviors demonstrated by youth athletes (N=238) as well as to assess the stress-buffering role of athlete self-handicapping on indices of competitive state anxiety. Specifically, it was hypothesized that among high trait-handicapping athletes, those who report a greater degree of performance-debilitating obstacles prior to competition would demonstrate lowered cognitive and somatic state anxiety as well as greater state self-confidence than nonhandicapping athletes. However, MANOVA results indicated that both high trait and situational self-handicappers demonstrate elevated state anxiety immediately prior to competition. Results are discussed in relation to the possible role of state anxiety as a salient self-handicapping strategy within competitive sport.     

The Past,Present, and Future of Student Affairs: A Professional Profile of Theodore K. Miller

Theodore K. Miller began his career in 1957 as the counselor for men at the University of Florida and then worked as a counseling psychologist at the State University of New York at Buffalo starting in 1962. He left there 5 years later to start a student personnel program at The University of Georgia. During his 30 years at Georgia, Miller established a nationally recognized graduate professional preparation program and became one of the most prominent figures in the field of college student development. This profile focuses on the professional influences in his life and on his role in developing quality assurance measures for counseling and human development programs and for student affairs functional areas.