Gender Role Attitudes: Who Supports Expanded Rights for Women in Afghanistan?

We use survey data from a national probability sample of 6,593 adult Afghans and multivariate regression that estimates the effects of several factors on separate indices of gender role attitudes generated by exploratory factor analysis to explore whether men and women differ in their gender role attitudes and the extent to which ecological and socio-demographic factors may mediate both within- and across-group differences. We find that men and women differ in their gender role attitudes, as men report more conservative attitudes than women. These differences manifest whether gender role attitude is measured as procuring basic rights for women, or empowering women politically. Moreover, men and women??s gender role attitudes are not immutable??education, ethnicity, and urbanization and, in women??s case, generational replacement??all act to mediate these differences. The profile of the Afghan man who would hold liberal gender role attitudes is an educated urbanite, non-Sunni or non-Pashtun, who believes in the compatibility of democracy and Islam, trusts outsiders, has exposure to the formal media, and would extend equal rights to all irrespective of gender, religion, or ethnicity. That of the woman is of a younger, educated urbanite, non-Pashtun, who believes in the compatibility of democracy and Islam, trusts outsiders, has exposure to the formal media, and would extend equal rights to all regardless of gender, religion, or ethnicity.     

A Comparison of Eating Disorder Symptomatology, Role Concerns, Figure Preference and Social Comparison Between Women Who Have Attended Single Sex and Coeducational Schools

This study sought to examine the effect of high school gender composition on eating disorder symptomatology and attitudes of female Australian university students. We compared female students who had previously attended single sex (n?=?52) or coeducational (n?=?43) high schools on measures of eating disorder symptomatology, role concerns, figure preference and social comparison so as to examine the effect of high school gender composition on these measures. Importantly, the groups compared here were not significantly different in age, body mass index, socioeconomic status, or whether they had previously sought advice about their weight. Contrary to predictions based on previous research, there were no significant differences between the groups on eating disorder symptomatology, role concern, or social comparison measures. However, students who had previously attended single sex schools endorsed significantly thinner figure preferences overall, suggesting that school environment was an important cultural factor in the development of aspiration towards a thin idea. Additionally, both groups perceived their current figure to be larger than the figure they perceived as most attractive. Our findings provide mixed support for the notion that high school gender composition impacted on the eating-related behaviour and attitudes of university students. Methodological differences that may account for the discrepancies between the findings of the current study and those of earlier work are discussed. Further research including longitudinal studies that employ larger sample sizes is required to clarify these findings.     

Daily alcohol use and romantic relationship functioning: evidence of bidirectional, gender-, and context-specific effects

Whether beneficial or harmful, cause or effect, the nature of associations between drinking and close relationship processes remains unclear. The present study examined these issues by using daily reports of alcohol use and relationship functioning from 69 heterosexual couples over 3 weeks. Multilevel modeling indicated that alcohol had both positive and negative effects on relationship processes and that effects were more positive for women, and when small amounts were consumed, partners drank together, or they consumed similar amounts. Interestingly, however, positive effects on intimacy and partner behaviors were not mediated by sexual contact. In the reverse direction, women were found to drink more than men in response to relationship difficulties and feeling disconnected from their partner (i.e., low intimacy). Overall findings indicate that associations between drinking and relationship processes are complex and bidirectional and that they may be more important for women than men.     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed
Jeremy Begbie, Theology, Music, and Time (Cambridge Studies in Christian Doctrine)
Sharon E. Preves, Intersex and Identity: The Contested Self
Leanne McCall Tigert, Coming Out Through Fire: Surviving the Trauma of Homophobia     

Marriage Satisfaction and Wellness in India and the United States: A Preliminary Comparison of Arranged Marriages and Marriages of Choice

Forty‐five individuals (22 couples and 1 widowed person) living in arranged marriages in India completed questionnaires measuring marital satisfaction and wellness. The data were compared with existing data on individuals in the United States living in marriages of choice. Differences were found in importance of marital characteristics, but no differences in satisfaction were found. Differences were also found in 9 of 19 wellness scales between the 2 groups. Implications for further research are considered.     

Does Drinking Promote Risky Sexual Behavior?

ABSTRACT— The present review argues that, popular lore notwithstanding, the well-documented association between usual patterns of alcohol use and risky sex reflects multiple underlying processes that are both causal and noncausal (spurious) in nature. It is further argued that even alcohol's acute causal effects on sexual behavior are more variable than they are commonly assumed to be. Drinking can promote, inhibit, or have no effect on behavior, depending on the interplay of factors governing behavior in a particular situation and the content of individually held beliefs about alcohol's effects.     

Transgenerational Hauntings: Toward a Social Psychoanalysis and an Ethic of Dis-Illusionment

I speak here to what I feel is a necessary reckoning, for myself and for our field, with U.S. history, particularly the intersecting history of White supremacy and White class dominance. I look at this history’s continuing effects on clinicians, on the people clinicians treat, and on psychoanalytic institutions. The paper draws on Avery Gordon’s concept of the ghost as a figure that pushes to make visible a psychosocial violence that has taken place—and that demands a something-to-be-done. I examine the way in which psychosocial unconscious processes simultaneously press toward truth and toward a disavowal of truth, disavowals that, in this context, serve to restore psychic equilibrium to unsettled White psyches. I turn to nonpsychoanalytic as well as psychoanalytic ancestors and contemporaries to elaborate an ethic of dis-illusionment that stands in tension with and in opposition to an ethic of adaptation. I conclude with a clinical vignette of exemplary work in a White–White dyad.     

Effects of male postpartum depression on father–infant interaction: The mediating role of face processing

It is estimated that postpartum depression affects up to 25% of men. Despite such high prevalence, the majority of studies on postpartum depression are focused on mothers, and the role of paternal depression and its effects on infant development have been overlooked by researchers and clinicians. The present study aimed to fill this gap by investigating the effect of paternal postpartum depression on father–infant interactions. In addition, we examined whether differences in face recognition mediated the effects of paternal postpartum depression on father–infant interactions. A total of 61 father–infant dyads (17 postpartum depression, 44 controls) took part in the study. Results revealed that compared to controls, fathers with postpartum depression had a worse pattern of interaction with their infants on measures of responsiveness, mood, and sensitivity; they also had greater difficulty in recognizing happy adult faces, but greater facility in recognizing sad adult faces. Depressed fathers attributed greater intensities to sad adult and infant faces. The tendency to attribute greater intensity to sad adult faces was confirmed as a partial mediator of the effect of paternal postpartum depression on measures of father responsiveness and as a full mediator of the effects of paternal depression on father sensitivity. Clinical implications and suggestions for further studies are discussed.     

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: HOW AND WHY WOMEN BECOME AND REMAIN ENGAGED IN COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP

This research examines women's narratives regarding the experiences that lead to becoming, sustaining, and challenging active community leaders. Seventeen women neighborhood leaders, age 28 to 73 years, completed in-depth interviews. Qualitative thematic content analyses identified prominent themes in participants' responses that were subsequently linked to a generativity framework. Analyses revealed that leaders reported circuitous rather than linear paths of emerging community participation and growing up among others who demonstrated an ethos of care in informal as well as formal community practices. Women's initial community engagement was most often in response to invitations to address community needs. Both communal and agentic rewards and challenges to community involvement were identified. Based upon the findings, strategies for promoting and sustaining women's community leadership are identified.     

The relation between employee organizational and professional development activities

A model is presented showing hypothesized common and parallel antecedents of employee organizational development activity (ODA) versus professional development activity (PDA). A common antecedent is expected to affect both ODA and PDA, while a parallel antecedent is expected to affect its corresponding work referent. This model was tested using a sample of 197 medical technologists over a four year time period. Prior ODA and PDA were controlled for before testing hypotheses. Results showed that the common antecedent of learning motivation was a robust indicator of both ODA and PDA. Looking at parallel antecedents, job satisfaction and affective organizational commitment had a positive impact on ODA, while occupational satisfaction and affective occupational commitment had a positive impact on PDA. ODA had a negative impact on subsequent intent to leave organization, but PDA did not have a similar impact on intent to leave profession. Study limitations, issues around operationalizing ODA and PDA, and future research directions are discussed.