Why a feminist approach to bioethics?

Many have asked how and why feminist theory makes a distinctive contribution to bioethics. In this essay, I outline two ways in which feminist reflection can enrich bioethical studies. First, feminist theory may expose certain themes of androcentric reasoning that can affect, in sometimes crude but often subtle ways, the substantive analysis of topics in bioethics; second, it can unearth the gendered nature of certain basic philosohical concepts that form the working tools of ethical theory.     

Sex as a Status Variable in Work Settings: Female and Male Reports of Dominance Behavior

This study shows that sex is an important status variable in occupational settings. The basic hypothesis that males, because of a status prerogative, would be more likely than females to use nonverbal and verbal dominance behaviors, including intimate gestures, toward their opposite sex co-workers was confirmed. Subjects (88 female and 69 male samples from two institutions of higher learning) reported dominance behaviors (a) toward opposite sex co-workers; (b) from opposite sex co-workers; (c) toward opposite sex superiors; and (d) from opposite sex superiors. Analysis of the sexual dominance items revealed that sexual intimacy is expressable along the same continuum as traditional dominance gestures. The hypothesis that sex competes with other status variables was supported. If the sexual dominance patterns explored in this study prove widespread, institutions may wish to provide programs aimed at raising employee awareness of these interactions.     

The effects of situational variations in role-play scenes on assertive behavior

The study was conducted to determine the extent to which variations in the situational parameters of role-play scenes affect subjects' levels of assertiveness. Thirty-six psychology undergraduate students were randomly assigned to one of three role-play conditions that differed in the situation-setting characteristics presented in the scenes: a Difficult condition, designed to inhibit assertive responding; an Easy condition, designed to facilitate assertive responding; and a Neutral condition. Subjects also completed a self-report assertion inventory. Videotapes of the role-played interactions were rated for a variety of component responses. Results indicate that subjects responded differently in the three conditions. Subjects in the Difficult and Neutral conditions were more compliant, and those in the Easy and Difficult conditions were more fluent. It is suggested that failure to specify the situational parameters of role-play scenes may affect the validity of this assessment procedure.This research was supported in part by NIMH Grant, MH28279 to the third author.     

Perceptions of parenting behavior and young women's gender role traits and preferences

This study examines the effect of perceptions of mothers' and fathers' parenting behavior on their college-aged daughter's gender role development. Unlike in previous studies, in this analysis we consider both the gender role traits of young females (their instrumentality and expressiveness) and their gender role preferences (modernity vs. traditionalism) simultaneously. Three alternative empirical models are tested with data from 163 randomly selected college-aged females using analysis of covariance structures in LISREL VII. Findings substantiated the hypothesis that perceptions of earlier parenting behavior exert a substantial influence on gender role developments of children, particularly regarding mothers' influence on the instrumentality and expressiveness of their daughters. Mothers' parenting, measured along the dimensions of encouragement and control, was generally more strongly related to their daughters' gender role traits than was fathers'. Little influence of parenting behavior on daughters' gender role preferences was found.The authors wish to acknowledge Dr. Hyman Rodman for his comments on earlier drafts of this paper.     

Sex-role identity and self-esteem in female graduate nursing students

This study investigated masculinity and femininity characteristics and levels of self-esteem of 96 female graduate nursing students between the ages of 20 and 50. The instruments used were incorporated into a questionnaire which was mailed to each student. Self-esteem was measured by a version of Coopersmith's Self-Esteem Inventory which Good and Good modified to adapt to adult standards. To measure femininity and masculinity, a shortened version of the Bem Sex Role Inventory was used: Subjects rated themselves along a 7-point Likert scale for 10 masculine and 10 feminine traits. The categorical method of scoring by Spence, Helmreich, and Stapp was employed. The students were fairly evenly distributed across the following four categories: low masculine-low feminine; low masculine-high feminine; high masculine-low feminine; and high masculinehigh feminine. The students in the high masculine-low feminine and the high masculine-high feminine categories were found to have a statistically higher mean self-esteem than the students in the low masculine-low feminine and low masculne-high feminine categories. Implications were mentioned regarding the development of a high degree of both masculine and feminine characteristics in nurses.     

BEHAVIORAL ASSESSMENT FOR PEDIATRIC INTENSIVE CARE UNITS1

Two studies were conducted to analyze behaviors of staff and patients on a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). In the first study, behavioral observation procedures were employed to assess patient state, physical position, affect, verbal behaviors, visual attention and activity engagement, and staff verbal behavior. On the average, one-third of the patients were judged to be conscious and alert but markedly nonengaged with their environment. In the second study, a member of the hospital staff provided alert patients with individual activities to determine whether a simple environmental manipulation could positively affect behavior of children in intensive care. Employing a reversal design, the activity intervention was found to increase attention and engagement and positive affect, and to decrease inappropriate behavior. Both studies demonstrate that behavioral assessment procedures can provide an empirical basis for designing PICU routines affecting children's psychosocial status, and, thus, complement current procedures designed to provide quality medical care.     

An unlabeled bracketing solution to the problem of conjoined phrases in Montague's PTQ

Conclusions Although Montague claims that the system of The proper treatment of quantification in ordinary English includes some conjunction and disjunction, the rules for other grammatical constructions do not take conjunction or disjunction into account, and in general fail either syntactically or semantically when one of their arguments is so formed. Using an unlabeled bracketing of syntactic structure and recursive definitions, we have been able to rewrite the rules so that correct results are obtained.These results should provide a firmer basis for extension of PTQ.This research was supported in part by NSF Grants GS-31309 and BNS 76-23840. Our observations were made with the aid of several computer programs for PTQ: a sentence generator for the bracketed syntax, a parser, and a translator. I should like to thank Philip Tedeschi, David Warren, and David Lewis for helpful discussions. Warren is also acknowledged as co-author of the section on the semantic role of conjunction.     

Coping With Stress: Getting the Message Across

On a campus of 30,000 students there are many who will not have direct contact with the Personal Counseling Service; yet those students experience and must cope with numerous pressures, which may affect their personal lives and academic progress. To help these students become more aware of stress areas and coping skills we submitted an article to The Addition, the Division of Student Services' semester newspaper. The unusual format for the information was selected to be eye-catching and thus more likely to be read than a regular news-format article.