In Search of Token Women in Academia

Women faculty in predominantly male departments at a large university were interviewed and responded to paper-and-pencil instruments in a test of Laws' analysis of the necessity for the „token women” adaptation to their marginality for success in academia. By multiple criteria, three clusters were identified: (a) token women, who accepted academia as a meritocracy, were aware of little sex discrimination and belonged to no feminist group; (b) non-token women, who disagreed with academia as a meritocracy and were aware of sex discrimination; and (c) women with mixed or moderate orientations. (Membership in feminist groups was found in the latter two clusters.) Women in the three clusters did not differ significantly by academic rank or marital status and only marginally by age and longevity in academia. As predicted, however, they did differ by tenure status. Contrary to Laws' analysis, token women were not more likely to have had a sponsor, which was significantly related only to rank. Women in the three clusters were equally accurate in recognizing male-female status discrepancies. Their differing definitions of sex discrimination were revealed in differential bias when choosing among alternatives of indeterminate correctness. Token women minimized such discrepancies, in line with beliefs attributing them to women, rather than the system. Others maximized such discrepancies.
The university faculty has traditionally been a man's world, except in those fast-disappearing enclaves considered „women's fields” (e.g., home economics). Today, faculty women are tallied on affirmative action reports in columns for persons with „minority characteristics.”     

Brief Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Suicidal Inpatients

Suicide risk is elevated in psychiatric patients following discharge from inpatient care. Despite this vulnerability, there has been limited research investigating suicide prevention protocols that take into account the unique system characteristics of this setting (e.g., short lengths of stay, crisis stabilization treatment model, multidisciplinary team coordination). Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) has demonstrated efficacy for improving suicide risk in outpatients, but has not been validated with inpatients. The current study was a treatment development and pilot feasibility open trial that modified brief cognitive-behavioral therapy (BCBT) for an inpatient setting (BCBT-I). Key treatment modifications included administering up to 10 sessions (depending on patient length of stay), daily, and in a standardized order, with core crisis management skills introduced during the first three sessions. In addition, coordination with the inpatient treatment team was included in BCBT-I implementation. Six adult inpatients with a recent suicide attempt enrolled and completed an average of 4.67 BCBT-I sessions (SD = 1.36). The treatment was highly acceptable (Client Satisfaction Questionnaire total score M = 3.49, SD = 0.73). Pre- to posttreatment effect sizes demonstrated improvements in suicidal ideation (d = 0.97), depression (d = 1.33), and suicidal implicit associations (d = 1.28). All but one of the participants (83%) completed follow-up assessments 1-, 2-, and 3-months postdischarge. Over follow-up, two participants reported suicidal ideation (both without intent), and none reported suicide attempts, preparatory acts or behaviors, or nonsuicidal self-injury. This study provided preliminary evidence supporting the feasibility of CBT to treat suicidal inpatients. Future research is needed to validate BCBT-I in a larger, randomized controlled trial to determine whether BCBT-I reduces suicide risk beyond that afforded by inpatient treatment alone.     

Working with older adults and their families – a review

This paper discusses family work with older adults by exploring some of the related literature published since Herr and Weakland's work in 1979, and compares psychoeducational and systems-based approaches to work with later life families. Issues of bias and omissions in the existing literature, and the definition of family therapy with this client group are raised. Areas for future research are indicated.     

Predicting abuse in adolescent dating relationships over 1 year: the role of child maltreatment and trauma

Three mediators of the relationship between childhood maltreatment and dating violence perpetration during midadolescence (i.e., trauma-related symptoms, attitudes justifying dating violence, and empathy and self-efficacy in dating relationships) were tested over 1 year with a sample of students from 10 high schools (N = 1,317). Trauma-related symptoms had a significant cross-time effect on predicting incidents of dating violence for both boys and girls. Attitudes and empathy and self-efficacy did not predict dating violence over time, although they were correlated with such behavior at both time points. Child maltreatment is a distal risk factor for adolescent dating violence, and trauma-related symptoms act as a significant mediator of this relationship. The importance of longitudinal methodology that separates correlates from predictors is discussed.     

The MMPI–2 Restructured Clinical (RC) Scales and Redundancy: Response to Tellegen,Ben-Porath,and Sellbom

In this article, we examine 5 criticisms of Tellegen, Ben-Porath, and Sellbom (2009/this issue) about our study demonstrating the redundant relationships of the Restructured Clinical (RC) scales with extant MMPI–2 scales. We discuss differences in univariate versus multivariate comparisons of the RC scales and our “proxy” scales using their data. We show that (a) both the RC and extant proxy scales identified in our analyses account for most of the variance in the Clinical scales; (b) the proxy scales are redundant with the RC scales; (c) the proxy scales matched the 6 RC scales in accounting for variance in the Clinical scales exactly in three cases, differed by ≤.02 in 2 cases, and reached a maximum of .11 in one case; (d) the item overlap between RC1 and HEA is not at issue but rather their correlation with Scale 1; and (e) the evidence for the construct validity of the RC scales is weak using findings on the incremental validity of RC4 as illustrative.     

Description and Evaluation of a Measurement Technique for Assessment of Performing Gender

The influence of masculinity and femininity on behaviors and outcomes has been extensively studied in social science research using various measurement strategies. In the present paper, we describe and evaluate a measurement technique that uses existing survey items to capture the extent to which an individual behaves similarly to their same-gender peers. We use data from the first four waves of The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), a nationally representative sample of adolescents (age 12–18) in the United States who were re-interviewed at ages 13–19, 18–26, and 24–32. We estimate split-half reliability and provide evidence that supports the validity of this measurement technique. We demonstrate that the resulting measure does not perform as a trait measure and is associated with involvement in violent fights, a pattern consistent with theory and empirical findings. This measurement technique represents a novel approach for gender researchers with the potential for expanding our current knowledge base.     

Effects of event valence on long-term memory for two baseball championship games

We investigated how event valence affected accuracy and vividness of long-term memory for two comparable public events. In 2008, 1,563 fans answered questions about objective details concerning two decisive baseball championship games between the Yankees (2003 winners) and the Red Sox (2004 winners). Both between- and within-groups analyses indicated that fans remembered the game their team won significantly more accurately than the game their team lost. Fans also reported more vividness and more rehearsal for the game their team won. We conclude that individuals rehearse positive events more than comparable negative events, and that this additional rehearsal increases both vividness and accuracy of memories about positive events. Our results differ from those of prior studies involving memories for negative events that may have been unavoidably rehearsed; such rehearsal may have kept those memories from fading. Long-term memory for an event is determined not only by the valence of the event, but also by experiences after the event.     

Relationship Quality as a Moderator of Anxiety in Siblings of Children Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders or Down Syndrome

The purpose of this study was to examine typically-developing adolescents’ perceived relationship quality with their developmentally-disabled sibling, specifically siblings diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or Down syndrome (DS). The 119 eleven through seventeen-year-old adolescent participants (M = 13.32, SD = 1.90) completed an online survey that assessed demographics, sibling relationship quality, and anxiety. Results showed that siblings of children with DS have a greater overall sibling relationship quality than do siblings of children with an ASD. Results further indicated that reporting more negative interchanges within the sibling relationship was related to higher levels of anxiety regardless of sibling disability type. Lastly, sibling relationship quality moderated the relation between sibling disability type and anxiety. These findings promote greater understanding of the sibling dynamic in families with children with developmental disabilities and suggest the need for establishing more research and greater clinical evaluation in this area. Furthermore, the current study suggests that therapeutic intervention to address the sibling relationship quality within children diagnosed with ASDs and their typically-developing siblings would be beneficial in order to increase social support within the relationship as well as decrease the amount of negative interchanges within the sibling relationship. Results also suggested that decreasing the amount of negative interchanges within the sibling relationship may decrease the level of anxiety the typically-developing sibling reports.