Social-cognitive determinants of physical activity: the influence of social support, self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and self-regulation among participants in a church-based health promotion study.

A social-cognitive model of physical activity was tested, using structural equation analysis of data from 999 adults (21% African American; 66% female; 38% inactive) recruited from 14 southwestern Virginia churches participating in the baseline phase of a health promotion study. Within the model, age, race, social support, self-efficacy, and self-regulation contributed to participants' physical activity levels, but outcome expectations did not. Of the social-cognitive variables, self-regulation exerted the strongest effect on physical activity. Independent of self-regulation, self-efficacy had little effect. Social support influenced physical activity as a direct precursor to self-efficacy and self-regulation. The model provided a good fit to the data and explained 46% of the variance in physical activity among the diverse group of adults.     

“Boys Can Be Anything”: Effect of Barbie Play on Girls’ Career Cognitions

Play with Barbie dolls is an understudied source of gendered socialization that may convey a sexualized adult world to young girls. Early exposure to sexualized images may have unintended consequences in the form of perceived limitations on future selves. We investigated perceptions of careers girls felt they could do in the future as compared to the number of careers they felt boys could do as a function of condition (playing with a Barbie or Mrs. Potato Head doll) and type of career (male dominated or female dominated) in a sample of 37 U.S. girls aged 4–7 years old residing in the Pacific Northwest. After a randomly assigned 5-min exposure to condition, children were asked how many of ten different occupations they themselves could do in the future and how many of those occupations a boy could do. Data were analyzed with a 2?×?2?×?2 mixed factorial ANOVA. Averaged across condition, girls reported that boys could do significantly more occupations than they could themselves, especially when considering male-dominated careers. In addition, girls’ ideas about careers for themselves compared to careers for boys interacted with condition, such that girls who played with Barbie indicated that they had fewer future career options than boys, whereas girls who played with Mrs. Potato Head reported a smaller difference between future possible careers for themselves as compared to boys. Results support predictions from gender socialization and objectification theories.     

Real Men Get the Best Bar Girls: Performing Masculinities in China’s Global Sex Industry

The shifting power relations in China after the global financial crisis are redefining masculinity for both Western and Asian men. Connell (1995) argues that in most societies a hegemonic masculinity usually exists that privileges heterosexual middle-class and economically successful men who exhibit characteristics associated with being masculine. The global financial crisis has led to a new global financial order that has created paths for people to reimagine hierarchies of class, gender, nation, race, and sexuality. “Entangled masculinities” recognizes that the intersections of class, gender, nation, race, and sexuality shape identities of male clients who buy commercial sex. The article looks specifically at clients from three niche commercial sex markets (low, mid, and high tier) in Dongguan, China. Specifically, five patterns of behavior exhibited by male clients to rationalize and assert their masculinity will be analyzed in depth: vigorous and macho; austere and essentialist; suppressive and anxious; extravagant and competitive; and refined and collaborative. This article argues clients with vigorous and macho, austere and essentialist, and suppressive and anxious behavior types are frequently found in low-end and mid-tier bars. Patrons of higher-tier bars tended to engage in extravagant and competitive and refined and collaborative behavior through expressions of wealth and power.     

Reactivity to Stress: When Does a History of Medical Adversity Foster Resilience Versus Vulnerability?

Young adults with (or without) a history of medical or physical disorders (MPDs) were exposed to repeated laboratory stress. The effects of MPD status on habituation (as measured by changing levels of cortisol) were found to be moderated by the extent to which respondents reported “attachment feelings” in their relationships (as measured by the Social Provisions Scale). Students in the MPD group who reported attachment feelings showed (a) cortisol increases during their first exposure to a laboratory stressor; and (b) cortisol decreases during a second exposure to the same stressor 1 week later. No equivalent benefit was found for students who lacked this medical history. Findings suggest the extent to which medical adversity—under the right interpersonal circumstances—promotes resilience.