Resolving Conflicts Among Self-Evaluative Motives: Positive Experiences as a Resource for Overcoming Defensiveness

The present research investigates how undergoing a negative or positive experience subsequently influences feedback seeking regarding self-attributes varying in self-relevance. Participants were offered feedback from earlier testing regarding their assets or liabilities for attaining various personal goals (general life goals or specific careers). Overall, self-relevance of a goal increased interest in both assets- and liabilities-focused feedback regarding that goal. As predicted, however, the effect of self-relevance depended on whether participants initially failed or succeeded on an unrelated task. Specifically, after failure, the self-relevance of a goal was more likely to increase interest in assets-focused feedback than interest in liabilities-focused feedback. In contrast, after success, the self-relevance of a goal was equally or more likely to increase interest in liabilities-focused feedback than interest in assets-focused feedback. These results suggest that undergoing a positive or negative experience subsequently influences the relative weight of ego-defensive and self-assessment motives in feedback-seeking decisions.     

After the Fall of the Wall: The Impact of the Transition on East German Women

This article addresses the impact of unification on East German families and on the situation of women in the East. The main hypothesis is that women are the losers of German unification, not only in terms of their decreasing participation in the labor force, but also in terms of their weakened position in partnerships and their increasing responsibilities in the domestic sphere. The findings are based primarily on personal interviews of different types of families. The first part of the article describes respondents' recollections of their everyday lives during the days of the former DDR (East Germany) and analyzes the specific family structures and relations between family members that prevailed. It focuses on the domestic division of labor and discusses the impact of high female employment on gender roles in the family and in the socialist society. The second part deals with the effects of German unification on families in East Germany.     

mixing Matters

Aristotle raised a puzzle about the possibility of mixing whose solution is by no means obvious. I here explicate his solution to the puzzle and attempt to make it plausible within the context of his thought. Although we now know that his specific views on mixing were mistaken, his discussion of the topic raises questions concerning the role of capacities and the relationship of part to whole that are still of interest.     

Sexual stereotypes of occupations

This study examined the nature of sex stereotypes of occupations as they exist among college students today. The method of eliciting sexual stereotypes of occupations was distinctive in that three types of rating criteria were used, each emphasizing a different aspect of perception, on the basis of which the ratings of occupations as masculine, feminine, or neutral were subsequently made. The results indicate that sexual stereotypes of occupations are clearly defined and held in agreement by both college men and college women. The study yielded information about the mean rating of each of 129 occupations in terms of its masculinity, femininity, and neutrality.     

The Influence of Religion and Ethnicity on Family Planning Approval: A Case for Women in Rural Western Kenya

The role of sociocultural factors such as religion and ethnicity in aiding or hampering family planning (FP) uptake in rural Western Kenya, a region with persistently high fertility rates, is not well established. We explored whether attitudes towards FP can be attributed to religious affiliation and/or ethnicity among women in the region. Findings show that religion and ethnicity have no impact; the most significant factors are level of education and knowledge about the benefits of FP for the mother. FP interventions ought to include strategies aimed at enhancing women’s knowledge about the positive impacts of family planning.     

Examination of efficacious,efficient, and socially valid error‐correction procedures to teach sight words and prepositions to children with autism spectrum disorder

Prior research shows that learners have idiosyncratic responses to error‐correction procedures during instruction. Thus, assessments that identify error‐correction strategies to include in instruction can aid practitioners in selecting individualized, efficacious, and efficient interventions. The current investigation conducted an assessment to compare 5 error‐correction procedures that have been evaluated in the extant literature and are common in instructional practice for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Results showed that the assessment identified efficacious and efficient error‐correction procedures for all participants, and 1 procedure was efficient for 4 of the 5 participants. To examine the social validity of error‐correction procedures, participants selected among efficacious and efficient interventions in a concurrent‐chains assessment. We discuss the results in relation to prior research on error‐correction procedures and current instructional practices for learners with ASD.     

Made in America: Perspectives on Friendship in West African Immigrant Families

This qualitative study compared West African immigrant parents’ and adolescents’ perspectives on parental monitoring of adolescents’ peer groups. Parents (n = 31) and adolescent children (n = 25) were interviewed using focus groups and individual interviews, and data were analyzed using a grounded theory approach. Parents expressed a general concern about external influences on their children, particularly their mistrust of their children’s friends. Adolescents reported that they were aware of their parents’ fears and described their attempts to manage their parents’ concerns while simultaneously maintaining friendships with same-ethnic and other-ethnic peers. This study offers both parent and adolescent perspectives in an effort to better understand adolescents’ peer socialization and parental monitoring among West African immigrant families, one of the fastest growing demographic groups in the United States. Recommendations for mental health professions are discussed.     

Perceived Parenting Styles and Cultural Influences in Adolescent’s Anxiety: A Cross-Cultural Comparison

A growing body of literature links particular parenting practices with negative child outcomes including greater anxiety symptoms among western societies. However, the effects of cultural differences on such linkages have not been adequately addressed in the anxiety literature. This study therefore aimed to examine the relationship between perceived parenting style and anxiety among Malay, Chinese, Indian, Arab and European/American (Caucasian) origins adolescents and the possible cultural group influences on this relationship was studied. Using multiple cluster sampling, a total of 227 students (122 boys and 105 girls) aged 13–18 years was selected. They completed questionnaires measuring parental rearing behaviors (EMBU-C) and anxiety symptoms scale (SCAS). Results indicated that in comparison to the European/American; Asian samples reported greater anxiety symptoms on all subscales of anxiety. Parental rejection, anxious rearing and control/over protection were correlated to higher anxiety independent of cultural group but these associations were stronger for Caucasians. Parenting styles as predictor of anxiety were found to be cross culturally different. Although European/American adolescents rated their parents as least over controlling, it was significant predictor of anxiety. This study provides evidence for the notion that relationship between parenting factors and anxiety were different across cultural contexts.