Working 61 plus hours a week: why do managers do it?

The authors investigated why some managers work extreme hours, defined as 61 or more hours per week. The authors tested explanations drawn from theories including the work-leisure tradeoff, work as an emotional respite, social contagion, and work as its own reward. In a demographically homogeneous sample of male managers, the best explanations for why some worked 61 or more hours per week were the financial and psychological rewards they received from doing so. The hypothesis derived from A. Hochschild's (1997) research that managers who work long hours seek relief at work from pressures at home was not supported. Findings in a small sample of managerial women were consistent with the work-leisure trade-off hypothesis, the social contagion hypothesis, and the work as its own reward hypothesis.     

Self-Efficacy to Use Condoms in Unmarried Latino Adults

Measures of self-efficacy to use condoms can clarify the barriers to condom use Latinos encounter. A 20-item scale, that differed slightly for men and women, and was based on extensive elicitation interviews, was used in a random digit dial household survey of 1,600 unmarried Latino adults in 10 states with large Latino populations. Self-efficacy was related to condom use for both men and women. Factor analyses revealed five correlated factors: Regular Partner, Impulse Control, Partner Resistance, STD Thoughts, and Condom Discussion. Both men and women reported lowest self-efficacy for impulse control and using condoms with a regular partner. Less-educated men and women had lower self-efficacy to discuss condoms, to manage partner resistance, to use condoms with a regular partner, and to control impulses, but there were few other demographic differences in self-efficacy. The scale can be helpful in the design and evaluation of HIV prevention.     

On the coding of spatial information

Two experiments studied recall of objects and their locations in an intentional-incidental learning paradigm. When studying spatial information, the usual incidental condition is not truly incidental, because subjects often deliberately use locations to help organize objects for recall. Therefore, a true incidental task was devised in which neither objects nor locations were expected to be recalled and for which explicit encoding of locations was irrelevant. There was only a small loss in recall of objects or their locations in a true incidental condition. It was concluded that a great deal of location information is automatically coded into long-term memory storage in the sense that active processing is not required. The data were contrasted with incidental processing of other attributes, such as color. Although adults performed better than children, there were no age-related interactions, indicating similarity of functioning at all ages studied.     

Children's perceptions of relative competence in sex-typed occupations

Children ranging in age from 5 1/2 to 9 years old selected either a male or a female doll in response to questions about who would be “better” at an occupation. The occupations were selected so that half were female and half were male sex-typed occupations. The responses indicated that children have clear sex-typed expectations concerning occupational competence. While the differences between the “female” and “male” occupations were significant at each age level, the interaction revealed an increasing adherence to the stereotypes with increasing age. A sex of child main effect was produced by the tendency of female children to select the female doll more often than did male children. The results are interpreted as demonstrating that children's perceptions of these occupations reflect an evaluative bias and not simply a recognition of adult stereotypes or actual rates of employment in the positions.     

Sex differences in coping with depression

A Depression Coping Questionnaire (DCQ) was devised to compare strategies for coping with depression reported by male and female college students. Discriminant analysis showed that females were significantly more likely than males to report crying, eating, smoking cigarettes, becoming irritable, and confronting their feelings when depressed. Males were significantly more likely than females to report becoming aggressive and engaging in sexual behavior when depressed. Discriminant analysis data from students in Massachusetts showed significant cross-validation with discriminant analysis data from students in California. Comparison of depressed males and females indicated that depressed males reported behaviors of withdrawal such as spending time alone and using stimulating and tranquilizing drugs. Depressed females reported self-blame. Significant multiple correlations between DCQ questions and depression scores on the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) showed that high BDI scores were associated with isolation and escape in males, and with self-blame and acting out in females. It is concluded that depressed females might benefit most from alleviation of self-blame and adaptive relabeling of depressive symptoms, and depressed males might benefit most from increased self-awareness and active coping.The authors are indebted to Colleen F. Surber, John R. Surber, and Frederick B. Meeker.     

Siblings of children with mental retardation: Family characteristics and adjustment

Siblings of children with mental retardation may be at greater risk for adjustment problems because of family stress related to the needs of the child with mental retardation. Family dimensions were investigated to determine their relationship to sibling adjustment. Adjustment of 12 siblings of children with mental retardation was examined in relationship to family dimensions. These relationships were compared to those for children from families without a disabled child. For both groups, self concept was positively associated with family cohesion, and social competence was positively associated with family promotion of independence. For only the siblings of the mentally retarded children, family conflict was inversely related to social competence, and family organization was positively related to sibling self concept. Our results suggest that family conflict and disorganization appear to have a more negative effect in families with a child with mental retardation.     

A SHORT HISTORY OF THE FUTURE

Since the 19th century, feminists have criticized the mental health establishment and its treatment of women. Issues include the sexist use of psychoanalytic concepts and psychiatric diagnoses, the misuse of medication, and sexual misconduct in therapy. Feminists have also called attention to psychological problems arising from gender inequality in everyday life. Physical and sexual abuse of women is of special concern. Feminist innovations in therapy include consciousness-raising, sex-role resocialization, and new approaches to psychoanalysis and family therapy. We urge feminists to develop a fuller understanding of gender and power, and to use this knowledge to challenge the established theory and practice of clinical psychology.