Ethnicity of Dating Partner,Pressure for Thinness,and Body Dissatisfaction

Two studies explored the relation between ethnicity, attitudes toward body weight, dating behavior, and female body satisfaction. Study 1 found that White men expressed a lighter female ideal weight, more resentment about their girlfriend's weight, and more pressure for their partner's thinness than did Black men. Study 2 found that regardless of their own ethnicity, women who dated White men had lower body mass index (BMI), lower ideal weights, and reported experiencing lower levels of body acceptance by their dating partners. This lack of acceptance was associated with lower levels of body satisfaction. These results support the view that the differing aesthetic preferences of Black and White men contribute to differing levels of body satisfaction among Black and White women.     

An Evaluation of the Psychometric Properties and Criterion Validity of the Religious Social Support Scale

This study evaluates the psychometric properties and criterion validity of the Religious Social Support (RSS) Scale in a diverse, representative community sample of new mothers ( N = 1,156). Results indicated that two factors best represented the RSS. Criterion validity was established by demonstrating that the RSS was associated with relational and health outcomes. However, these associations were reduced to statistical insignificance once a general measure of social support was included as a covariate. There were no indications that race moderated either the psychometric properties of the RSS or the relationships between social support and outcomes. Qualitative analyses indicated that religious social support is a salient construct in the lives of women that we studied and suggested ways to improve future developments of RSS scales.     

Mothers' Experience of Stress Following the Birth of a First Child: Identification of Stressors and Coping Resources1

The purpose of this study is to identify, through a retrospective methodology, stressor and coping resource variables which are involved in mothers' experience of stress one month after the birth of a first child. The variables were identified on the basis of previous work in this field, and were categorized as stressor or coping resource variables according to the writings of authors in the larger domain of stress and coping. The influence of interactive and additive combinations of stressors and coping resources, as described by Wheaton (1985), were also examined in a multiple regression model. A five-variable model, accounting for 58.74% of the variance of a measure of the experience of stress, was obtained. Discussion focuses around the predictive possibilities of such a model, the impact of coping resources, and on the potential for utilizing this model for describing the process of adaptation following this event over time.     

Religious Perfectionism Versus Spiritual Growth

This article explores the fundamentalist Christian focus on perfectionism and its possible contribution to an increase in dysfunctional individuals, family systems, and societies. Several Bible verses are analyzed, and the results of their misinterpretation discussed. The need for a program of spiritual growth, as expressed by Alcoholics Anonymous, as opposed to a program of spiritual perfection is proposed.     

Policies Essential to Improved Effectiveness in Employment Counseling

The number of college graduates is expected to glut the job market during the next several years. The causes of this surplus are both internal and external to educational systems. Secondary schools, colleges, and universities are uncertain about their goals and objectives, particularly in relation to effective investment in human resources to improve productivity as contrasted with a preoccupation with immediate consumer satisfaction. The externals—occupational data and forecasting—are unreliable for several reasons. Counselors should seek educational system reform while increasing their efforts to attain more effective methods and tools for career counseling and job placement. Apathy in the face of growing budgetary constraints will encourage adverse reaction toward counseling activities.     

Constructing Maternal Thinking

Sara Ruddick's Maternal Thinking represents a great contribution to moral philosophy—in particular, by bringing women's “private” virtues into the public sphere. However, there remain problems in the analysis which need to be addressed: How can one possibly generalize about the practice of mothering from one, necessarily limited, perspective, given the facts of cultural diversity? Is Ruddick's normative account of mothering congruent with the reflective judgments of others? Is her account of the transformation of parochial mothering into feminist peace work viable? After exploring these three questions, this reviewer calk, with Ruddkk, for the telling of more maternal stories, from different cultural, racial and economic perspectives.     

The elementary school: training ground for sex role stereotypes

“Sexism starts with kindergarten activities in which little girls are directed fo the housekeeping corner, while boys are steered toward blocks and trucks.”