Mainstreaming ‘Women’ without feminisms in psychology

Although it has been argued that feminist work has gained recognition in mainstream psychology (Eagly, Eaton, Rose, Riger, & McHugh, 2012 ), these arguments tend to cite a proliferation of research in high‐ranking Euro‐American academic journals, on topics that concern women or gender in psychology. However, the majority of this work is not presented as explicitly feminist. Rather, it tends to be incorporated into mainstream spaces under the umbrella of the psychology of women. This is often interpreted uncritically to mean the study of womanhood as a stable category or variable, reproducing binary accounts of sex and gender that are largely devoid of feminist analysis. Not only do these interpretations reify essentialist constructions of womanhood; they also convert transformative feminist politics into singular and special interest ‘women's issues’. Indeed, broad feminist theoretical perspectives remain largely absent at the fundamental levels of mainstream psychological knowledge production (Eagly et al., 2012 ; Eagly & Riger, 2014 ). Thus, while credit has been given to the growing visibility of issues concerning women and gender in the discipline, less critical attention has been paid to the broader absence of feminist language in this work. As such, instances of mainstream inclusion have come to take priority over broader issues of feminist exclusions in psychology. Taking a critical position on the discipline from within the context of the Global North, this paper questions the state of mainstream inclusions and reasserts the transformative potentials of diverse feminisms (Liebert, Leve, & Hui, 2011 ), arguing that current inclusions of women without feminisms in psychology are problematic. Drawing on recent mobilisations of the psychology of women in the interests of ‘male psychology’, it is argued that the transformative potentials of feminist psychologies are more likely to be stifled than supported by mainstream inclusions.     

Parents as Partners: A U.K. Trial of a U.S. Couples‐Based Parenting Intervention For At‐Risk Low‐Income Families

Despite the well‐established links between couple relationship quality and healthy family functioning, and burgeoning evidence from the international intervention field, there is little or no evidence of the efficacy of couples‐based interventions from the United Kingdom (U.K.). This study explored whether the Parents as Partners (PasP) program, a group‐based intervention developed in the United States, brought about the same benefits in the U.K. The evaluation is based on 97 couples with children from communities with high levels of need, recruited to PasP because they are at high risk for parent and child psychopathology. Both mothers and fathers completed self‐report questionnaires assessing parents’ psychological distress, parenting stress, couple relationship quality and conflict, fathers’ involvement in child care and, importantly, children's adjustment. Multilevel modeling analysis comparing parents’ responses pre‐ and postintervention not only showed substantial improvements for both parents on multiple measures of couple relationship quality, but also improvements in parent and child psychopathology. Analyses also indicated most substantial benefits for couples displaying poorest functioning at baseline. The findings provide initial evidence for the successful implementation of PasP, an American‐origin program, in the U.K., and add support for the concept of the couple relationship as a resource by which to strengthen families.     

What Works Best for Reducing Symptoms and Improving Quality of Life? A 6-Months Follow-up Study on the Effectiveness of Group Cognitive Behaviour Therapy and Group Information and Support for Adults Suffering from Depression

A non-randomized effectiveness trial was conducted in an urban secondary care public mental health service in Ireland. The effectiveness of an 8 session group cognitive behavior therapy program (gCBT-8), where the focus was on behavioral activation and cognitive restructuring, was compared with that of an enhanced 12 session group cognitive behavior therapy program (gCBT-12), which contained additional sessions on schema work, and a 12 session information and support control group program (gIS-12) in which there was no CBT skills training. One hundred and eighty-one adults with unipolar mood disorders were allocated to gCBT-8 (N?=?67), gCBT-12 (N?=?62), or gIS-12 (N?=?52). Before and after treatment, and at 6 months follow-up participants completed the Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II), the Beck Anxiety Inventory, the Clinical Outcome and Routine Evaluation, the Dysfunctional Attitudes Scale, and the brief World Health Organization Quality of Life Scale. An intention-to-treat analysis of mean scores showed that the three programs had similar outcomes. There were significant improvements on all dependent variables with post-treatment gains maintained at follow-up. The three programs also led to similar remission and combined reliable improvement and remission rates on the BDI-II. It was concluded that all three programs had similar levels of effectiveness.     

Unexpected death,religious coping and conjugal bereavement outcomes in Africa (Togo)

This pioneering study in sub-Saharan African context examined the role played by religious strategies (religious coping, religious community support (RCS)) in the conjugal bereavement process and its outcomes depending on the expected or unexpected death. Based on cross-sectional approach, the study targeted Togolese bereaved spouses (N?=?162). The mean period of mourning was 112.52 months (SD?=?94.72). The results of a hierarchical regression revealed that RCS was positively associated with grief symptoms when the death was expected and, unsurprisingly, the negative religious coping predicted grief symptoms when the death was sudden and unexpected. Religious strategies would play a threefold role: providing refuge and comfort, regulating the bereavement distress and serving resources to give meaning to the loss of the beloved. Theoretical and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.     

How interviewers' nonverbal behaviors can affect children's perceptions and suggestibility

We conducted two studies to examine how interviewers' nonverbal behaviors affect children's perceptions and suggestibility. In the first study, 42 8- to 10-year-olds watched video clips showing an interviewer displaying combinations of supportive and nonsupportive nonverbal behaviors and were asked to rate the interviewer on six attributes (e.g., friendliness, strictness). Smiling received high ratings on the positive attributes (i.e., friendly, helpful, and sincere), and fidgeting received high ratings on the negative attributes (i.e., strict, bored, and stressed). For the second study, 86 8- to 10-year-olds participated in a learning activity about the vocal chords. One week later, they were interviewed individually about the activity by an interviewer adopting either the supportive (i.e., smiling) or nonsupportive (i.e., fidgeting) behavior. Children questioned by the nonsupportive interviewer were less accurate and more likely to falsely report having been touched than were those questioned by the supportive interviewer. Children questioned by the supportive interviewer were also more likely to say that they did not know an answer than were children questioned by the nonsupportive interviewer. Participants in both conditions gave more correct answers to questions about central, as opposed to peripheral, details of the activity. Implications of these findings for the appropriate interviewing of child witnesses are discussed.     

Territorial Markings as a Predictor of Driver Aggression and Road Rage1

Aggressive driving has received substantial media coverage during the past decade. We report 3 studies testing a territorial explanation of aggressive driving. Altman (1975 ) described attachment to, personalization of, and defense of primary territories (e.g., home) as being greater than for public territories (e.g., sunbathing spot on a beach). Aggressive driving may occur when social norms for defending a primary territory (i.e., one's automobile) become confused with less aggressive norms for defending a public territory (i.e., the road). Both number of territory markers (e.g., bumper stickers, decals) and attachment to the vehicle were significant predictors of aggressive driving. Mere presence of a territory marker predicts increased use of the vehicle to express anger and decreased use of adaptive/constructive expressions.