The psychological well-being of women of Menoufiya,Egypt. Relationships with family planning

Researchers surveyed the psychological well-being of 795 women of reproductive age from Menoufiya, Egypt. Five years earlier, these women had provided data relevant to their family planning behavior. This analysis links these data sets to investigate the impact of family planning on women's sense of well-being, within the context of beliefs about appropriate gender-related behaviors. Well-being measures are derived for trait and state dimensions. Use of family planning and number of children born within the preceding 5 years predicted state ratings of happiness, and number of children predicted anxious pride. Neither are related to any of the trait ratings. Further, 3 different gender-role attitudes are vital to the explanation of how women define and feel good about themselves.     

Gender-role conflict scale: College men's fear of femininity

Gender-role conflict exists when gender roles have negative consequences for people. This research reports initial validity and reliability data on measures of gender-role conflict for men. Two measures, Gender Role Conflict Scale I and II (GRCS-I and GRCS-II) were constructed to assess patterns of gender-role conflict described in the literature. GRCS-I assesses men's personal gender-role attitudes, behaviors, and conflicts. GRCS-II assesses men's gender-role conflicts in specific gender-role conflict situations. Both GRCS measures and the Personal Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ) were administered to male college students (N=527). Initial factor-analytic data for GRCS-I and GRCS-II demonstrated eight meaningful factors. Acceptable test-retest and internal consistency reliabilities were found for both measures. MANOVA, ANOVA, and Tukey procedures indicated differences for subjects across the four PAQ categories. Significant gender-role conflict differences across the factors were found for men who were instrumental, expressive, or both instrumental and expressive. Results of these differences are reported, as well as implications for future development of both scales.The authors are indebted to Dr. Nancy Betz (Ohio State University) who generously gathered data for us during the Spring Semester, 1982. This research was supported by a grant from the General Research Fund of the University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas. This paper was presented at the American Psychological Association Annual Convention, Washington, DC, August 26, 1982.     

Custodial mothers' perceptions of visitation and payment of child support by noncustodial fathers in families with low and high levels of preseparation interparent conflict

The purposes of this study were (a) to compare families with low (n = 47) and high (n = 44) levels of preseparation interparent conflict on mothers' report of paternal involvement (frequency, regularity, and length of visitation as well as regular payment of child support), children's adjustment, and mothers' level of stress; (b) to intercorrelate the four dimensions of paternal involvement; and (c) to relate the four dimensions of paternal involvement to children's age, children's gender, length of parental separation, children's adjustment, mothers' stress, paternal investment in the children, degree of environmental change, and children's level of interpersonal understanding. Children's mean age was 10.24 years, and parents had been separated a mean of 13.15 months. Compared to fathers in low-conflict families, fathers in high-conflict families visited less regularly and were less regular in their payment of child support. Mothers reported more adjustment problems for children in high-conflict families. All four dimensions of paternal involvement were intercorrelated only for high-conflict families. For both low- and high-conflict families, paternal involvement was related to paternal investment in the child but was unrelated to children's age, children's gender, and length of separation. Paternal involvement was most frequently related to children's adjustment in high-conflict families. For low-conflict families, paternal involvement was related low environmental change and children's well-developed interpersonal understanding skills.     

Job analysis for managerial selection: A guidelines-based approach

This research note describes a job analysis study which was conducted for the purpose of deriving selection standards for entry-level management jobs in a public utility. It is aimed toward practitioners with the responsibility of conducting legally-defensible job analyses. Each step of the study was guided by the legal and professional guidelines on testing and selection (viz.,Uniform Guidelines, 1978;Principles, 1986;Standards, 1985). Procedures employed to identify job content, job groups, the importance of various work behaviors, and a set of important knowledge, skills, abilities, and personal characteristics (KSAPs) are described.The authors would like to thank the following individuals for their help in the data collection phase of the study described here: Kimberly Clark, Lynn Clark, Gary Hayes, Candice Poole, Susan Rizhaupt, Phillip Randall, Sheri Elmore, and Ann Money.     

Serial search and comparison of features of imagined and perceived objects

Four experiments studied the spatial information processing involved in making a series of same-different comparisons of features of two objects. When the path between successively compared features on one object was antiparallel with the corresponding path on the other, comparison of a series of features took longer and produced many more errors. These results were observed both when the objects were externally presented and when one object was imagined and the other externally presented. Knowing the location of the next feature seems much more important for effective search than does monitoring the location of the feature used in the preceding comparison. When paths between corresponding features are parallel, search of features of one object may guide search of the other. When the directions between corresponding features are incongruous, search for the next angle may produce a competition for processes or processing resources, or may produce interfering cross-talk between the spatial information processing of the concurrent search tasks. Because of incongruity, as demonstrated in this study, serial search of objects at different orientations is difficult.     

Cross-validation of a minnesota multiphasic personality inventory (MMPI) subscale for the assessment of combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder

We have examined the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) scores of 80 carefully diagnosed veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in an attempt to cross-validate the PTSD subscale and three-point MMPI code of Keane, Malloy, and Fairbank (1984). In general, although we replicated Keane and co-workers'cutoff scores, our hit rates were slightly lower than those reported originally.This research was supported in part by NIMH Grant MH-37839 to Dr. Kolb.     

The mental illness defense in the capital penalty hearing

Several defense strategies are available to the capital defendant who is arguing for life in the penalty phase, including a mental illness (MI) defense. An MI defense presents psychiatric testimony to the effect that the defendant was mentally disturbed at the time of the offense and, therefore, should not be held completely responsible. The few studies available suggest that an MI defense will be ineffective because (1) death-qualified jurors do not respond favorably to purely psychological explanations of criminal behavior and (2) an MI defense may erroneously mislead the jury regarding the defendant's unpredictability and dangerousness. Analagous studies of insanity acquittals suggest certain factors that may be associated with a succesful MI defense.     

An examination of employee perceptions of a subjective performance appraisal system

This study sought to identify factors related to employee perceptions of the accuracy of performance ratings they received using a subjective rating system. It also sought to determine if the relationship between these correlates and perceived fairness and accuracy was moderated by employee sex and/or race. The results were based on the analysis of items from questionnaires completed by 234 government employees whose job performance was rated on a graphic rating scale. A factor analysis of the predictor items yielded three factors. The first factor dealt with employees' confidence in their supervisors' qualifications to accurately rate their performance, the second with matters related to a discussion of appraisal outcomes (i.e., rewards and career progress), and the third with the relevance of the appraisal instrument. The measure of perceived fairness and accuracy was regressed onto scores derived for each of the three factors, plus a set of contrast variables representing the various race/sex groupings and a set of demographic variables (viz., job tenure, education level, and supervisory status). Factors 1 and 2, race, and supervisory status were found to be significantly related to perceived fairness and accuracy. Moreover, the relationship of the criterion with job tenure was moderated by race, that with factor 2 was moderated by sex. Management implications of these findings are discussed.     

Effects of Prolongea Isolation in Extreme Environments on Stress,Coping, and Depression1

This influence of prolongea isolation in an extreme environment on depressive symptoms, personality, and coping resources was examined in 121 members of the United States Antarctic Program in 1988–1989. Subjects were followed for a 1-year period in Antarctica. Winter-over personnel experienced an increase in depressive symptoms, avoidance as a coping method, and emotional discharge as a coping resource from baseline (T₀) to Year-1 (T₁). At T₀, education, negative life events, job-related stress, low self-confidence, active cognitive and behavioral coping methods, and low satisfaction with social support were independent predictors of depressive symptoms. At T₁, negative life events, low self-confidence, active behavioral and avoidance coping methods, affective regulation as a coping resource, and low satisfaction with social support were independent predictors of depressive symptoms. However, with the exception of T₀ depressive symptoms, none of the social and demographic characteristics and T₀ psychosocial measures predicted T₁ depressive symptoms. The results of this study support the hypothesis that coping may be more strongly associated with environmental conditions that influence severity of stressor and availability of coping resources than with more remote and stable background factors.