SEX ROLES AND PERCEPTIONS OF FEMININITY AND MASCULINITY OF HISPANIC WOMEN

This article evaluates the research conducted on sex roles and perceptions of femininity and masculinity of Hispanic women. It begins with a critical review of early social and anthropological studies in which the roles of Hispanic women before the advent of the women's movement in the 1960s are described. The paper continues with more recent psychosocial studies that question the traditional portrayal of male–female roles and allocation of power in Hispanic families. Finally, the studies on Hispanics that measure the psychological dimension of femininity and masculinity are reviewed and summarized in a table including authors, sample, methodology and results.     

Misspecification in Latent Change Score Models: Consequences for Parameter Estimation,Model Evaluation,and Predicting Change

Latent change score models (LCS) are conceptually powerful tools for analyzing longitudinal data (McArdle & Hamagami, 2001). However, applications of these models typically include constraints on key parameters over time. Although practically useful, strict invariance over time in these parameters is unlikely in real data. This study investigates the robustness of LCS when invariance over time is incorrectly imposed on key change-related parameters. Monte Carlo simulation methods were used to explore the impact of misspecification on parameter estimation, predicted trajectories of change, and model fit in the dual change score model, the foundational LCS. When constraints were incorrectly applied, several parameters, most notably the slope (i.e., constant change) factor mean and autoproportion coefficient, were severely and consistently biased, as were regression paths to the slope factor when external predictors of change were included. Standard fit indices indicated that the misspecified models fit well, partly because mean level trajectories over time were accurately captured. Loosening constraint improved the accuracy of parameter estimates, but estimates were more unstable, and models frequently failed to converge. Results suggest that potentially common sources of misspecification in LCS can produce distorted impressions of developmental processes, and that identifying and rectifying the situation is a challenge.     

Gender dimorphic effects of voluntary running in laboratory rats depends on maturational status

This study examined the effect of 24?hr per day wheel access on running, body weight, and food intake for 30- or 50-day-old male and female rats under ad lib feeding conditions. Food intake and body weight were also monitored in a control group housed without access to running wheels. A dimorphic effect was observed after wheel introduction in 50-day-old but not 30-day-old rats: A temporary decline in food intake and a lasting decrease in body weight occurred for active male rats in comparison to their sedentary controls, and wheel access facilitated food intake and preserved body weight gain in female rats in comparison to their sedentary counterparts. Hyperphagia in adult females is interpreted in terms of the evolutionary acquired advantage linked to their reproductive function.     

Power and perspectives not taken

Four experiments and a correlational study explored the relationship between power and perspective taking. In Experiment 1, participants primed with high power were more likely than those primed with low power to draw an E on their forehead in a self-oriented direction, demonstrating less of an inclination to spontaneously adopt another person's visual perspective. In Experiments 2a and 2b, high-power participants were less likely than low-power participants to take into account that other people did not possess their privileged knowledge, a result suggesting that power leads individuals to anchor too heavily on their own vantage point, insufficiently adjusting to others' perspectives. In Experiment 3, high-power participants were less accurate than control participants in determining other people's emotion expressions; these results suggest a power-induced impediment to experiencing empathy. An additional study found a negative relationship between individual difference measures of power and perspective taking. Across these studies, power was associated with a reduced tendency to comprehend how other people see, think, and feel.     

Evidence in support of a model that predicts how biological and environmental factors interact to influence spatial skills.

It was proposed, based on M. Annett (1985), that individuals biologically predisposed to poorer spatial skills are less likely to capitalize on opportunities to develop these skills. Using an analysis of variance design assessing mental rotation skills in 2 cohorts of 8th graders (365 students), the authors found a significant 3-way interaction (Brothers x Family Handedness x Gender). For the girls with brothers, those from all right-handed families had lower mental rotation scores than did the other girls. For the 2nd cohort, among those children who participated in mental-rotation-type activities with their brothers, both boys and girls from all right-handed families performed more poorly on the mental rotation test than did the other children with brothers. Thus, compared with other children, the children from all right-handed families do not appear to be able to use their spatial experiences with male siblings to increase their spatial skills.     

Foreign brands in local cultures: A socio‐cultural perspective of postmodern brandscapes

The aim of this paper is to explore how the consumption of foreign brands may operate in a local culture (specifically, the consumption of Western luxury fashion brands among Muslim women in Kuwait). Field observations were conducted in Kuwait, and a qualitative questionnaire was administered to 50 Muslim female consumers. Although not a common method for qualitative research, the benefits of using a qualitative questionnaire are highlighted. The findings show that the socio‐cultural dynamics in Kuwait (mainly religion and tradition) may restrict the expression of certain behaviour (such as female sexuality and dating). However, Muslim women make use of Western luxury fashion brands as postmodern brandscapes (fragmented and constantly negotiated use of a symbolic brand to actively construct lifestyle orientations and personal meanings among one's neo‐tribe) to manifest their expressions of sexuality in alternative ways. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Building Life Satisfaction Through Well-Being Dimensions: A Longitudinal Study in Children with a Life-Threatening Illness

Recent literature suggests that people increase their life satisfaction over time as a result of developing positive psychological resources (e.g. benefit finding). However, this hypothesis has not yet tested in children. Since suffering from illness is usually associated with challenge and growth, we hypothesized that changes in life satisfaction in a sample of ill children would depend on to what extent they developed resources. Children with a life threatening illness (N = 67 at T1 and N = 49 at T2, ages 7–18 years) completed the Student Life Satisfaction Scale, a measure of health-related functioning problems, a measure of positive emotions (PE), the Benefit Finding Scale for Children, and a measure of strengths from the Values in Action Inventory of Character Strengths for Youth. The same measures were assessed 6 months after the first assessment. Using structural equation modeling techniques, results revealed that health-related functioning problems were associated with negative changes in life satisfaction over time. Moreover, increases in benefit finding and character strengths (i.e., love and gratitude) predicted positive changes in LS over time. Finally, PE predicted changes in benefit finding over time through several personal strengths (i.e., vitality and gratitude). The development of positive psychological resources in children experiencing high levels of stress may promote desirable psychological outcomes. Therefore, in order to help clinicians prevent negative outcomes, future research should strive to better understand life satisfaction and its underlying predictors in children experiencing difficult life circumstances.     

Faith Communities’ Improvements in Readiness to Engage in Addictions Resilience and Recovery Support Programming

Journal of Religion and Health - Spirituality and religion are well-documented components of prevention, treatment and recovery of substance use disorders. Faith communities are in a distinct...     

Attitudinal and behavioral resistance: A marketing perspective

Resistance to ritual practice and related consumption behavior has been under‐researched in both marketing and consumer research, although it has significant implications for business and consumers. In this paper, the authors offer an explanation of attitudinal and behavioral resistance by reporting on the findings of a qualitative interpretative study of those self‐identifying as high school prom resistors. Four types of resistance are posited, that is, identity‐positioning resistors, identity‐protecting resistors, emotional resistors, and apathetic resistors. Characteristics of the typology are developed and consequences of their behaviors discussed. Theoretical and managerial consequences are proposed. Understanding resistance to prom may lead to improved service provision, better targeting of communication messages (e.g., advertising), overcoming event dilution as well as generating positive word of mouth, and reducing consumer regret. This research expands the theoretical understanding of attitudinal and behavioral resistance by bringing new evidence as to the individual and social identity processes by which resistance develops. This study helps to better understand opposition to positional consumption as well as extending our understanding of why individuals resist consumption and related practice. Two new concepts are also identified and discussed, namely “event dilution” and “regret through resistance”. Managerial implications (contextual and for marketplace rituals) are posited. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Book Review: Contemporary Perspectives on Psychotherapy and Homosexualities

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to illustrate some of the ethical and clinical difficulties which may arise when student counselling takes place under conditions which pay insufficient attention to the ground rules of therapy. It considers the importance of the frame in psychotherapy and the implications for this of working in an institutional setting. It also looks at the changes that may be made in the way the counsellor functions in the institution in order to secure the best conditions for effective counselling work with students, based on the author's personal experience.