INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL MEDIATORS OF WOMEN'S RAPE EXPERIENCES

Internal and external factors are examined as mediational processes and/or coping strategies that link four aspects of women's rape experiences to the initial and lasting effects on their post-rape adjustment, attitude toward sex and intimacy, and lifestyle changes to prevent future assaults. Data are from a multiethnic community sample of 55 women who had been victims of rape or attempted rape. A measured or observed variable simultaneous path analysis model was used to test the relationships among the traumatic circumstances, mediators, and outcome variables. More self-blame, high involvement of police or other agencies, a greater number of repeated rapes per incident, and severity of abuse predicted women's negative initial and lasting attitudes toward sex and intimacy. The implications of these findings are discussed as they relate to barriers in disclosing attempted and completed incidents of rape.     

A stress and coping model of medication adherence and viral load in HIV-positive men and women on highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART).

The authors tested a structural model that incorporated age, time since diagnosis, social support, coping, and negative mood as predictors of medication adherence and HIV viral load on 188 men and 134 women on highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). The authors used psychosocial latent factors formed from baseline measures to predict latent factors of adherence, as assessed by electronic monitoring and self-report, and viral load defined by indicators assessed over a 15-month period. Results from the model indicate that greater negative mood and lower social support are related to greater use of avoidance-oriented coping strategies. Use of these coping strategies by patients on HAART is related to poorer medication adherence and, subsequently, higher viral load. This model advances researchers' understanding of the contribution of psychosocial variables in predicting treatment adherence and disease progression in HIV-positive men and women.     

A RESTIVE LEGACY

In the last century feminist psychologists have contributed to refining and improving research in experimental psychology. While the accomplishments are cause for celebration during the American Association of Psychology's (APA) Centennial year, especially given the sexism that has accompanied scientific practices, we need to examine more care–fully the difficulties–past and present-that attend feminist efforts in the discipline. This brief article explores the strategies that feminist researchers have used to eliminate androcentrism and sexism from experimental and, more recently, cognitive psychology. Such historical reassessment not only reveals the multiple and insightful means by which feminist psychologists have proceeded, but also indicates that feminist work must continue to focus on epistemological and theoretical problems as well as methodological ones.