Sex bias in the newspaper treatment of male-centered and female-centered news stories

Differences in the newspaper treatment of men and women were examined in two sets of news stories collected a year apart, in the fall of 1976 and 1977. In both samples, coverage of women was more likely to include mention of personal appearance, marital status, and spouse than was coverage of men. These differences could not be attributed to the greater number of men in the news, nor to differences in the sections of the newspaper where stories about men and stories about women were usually found. They were equally true of locally written and national wire-service stories.     

Hemispheric alpha asymmetries of words with positive, negative, and neutral arousal values preceding tasks of recall and recognition: Electrophysiological and behavioral results from stuttering males and nonstuttering males and females

Hemispheric alpha asymmetries were obtained for stuttering males and nonstuttering males and females for words of positive, negative, and neutral arousal values. Electroencephalographic data were gathered during the presentations of stimulus words and during the actual nonoral recall and recognition of the stimulus items. Stuttering males demonstrated right-hemispheric alpha suppression across stimulus words and tasks as contrasted with left-hemispheric alpha suppression for the nonstuttering males and females. Stuttering males were also shown to recall and recognize fewer words than the nonstuttering subjects across arousal categories. Subjects were also administered a modified version of A. Paivio's (1971, In B. Randhawa & W. Coffman, Eds., Visual thinking, learning, and communication, New York: Academic Press) Individual Differences Questionnaire (IDQ). Results showed our stuttering males to have obtained lower scores on the verbal and imagery questions of the IDQ as compared to the nonstuttering groups. Hemispheric alpha asymmetry results and memory performance from the stuttering males are discussed relative to nonsegmental, right-hemispheric processing strategies.     

Cultural Beliefs About Social Influence Strategies of Mexican Immigrant Women and Their Heterosexual Partners

The present study examined cultural beliefsregarding the use of influence strategies inheterosexual relationships of 40 Mexican immigrantcouples in stable relationships. Although over 75% ofparticipants had completed seven or more years of education,men were more likely to have completed high school thanwomen. Over half the sample (55%) reported familyincomes of $300 or less per week; 23% reported incomes in excess of $400 a week. During a structuredinterview respondents were asked to indicate their levelof agreement on a 4-point Likert scale with 24statements about influence tactics used by women and men in heterosexual relationships. Culturalconsensus analyses revealed a common cultural modelshared by the sample about which strategies men andwomen use to influence their partners. Results suggest that influence strategies are believed similarfor men and women. Direct and indirect strategies areperceived as used by both partners; bilateral strategiesare believed more likely to be used than unilateral strategies. These findings suggest that Mexicanimmigrant women in stable partnerships endorse normsthat support the use of relatively equivalent power inpartner relationships. The use of positive Mexican cultural norms to promote health protectivebehaviors such as condom use and other less risky sexualbehaviors is discussed.     

Social Psychology and the Stimulation of Recycling Behaviors: The Block Leader Approach

Recycling has been touted as an important part of the solution to solid waste problems, yet most citizens still do not recycle, even when recycling is made easy by curbside pickups. This field experiment was designed to increase participation in a city-sponsored curbside recycling program. Citizens who consistently recycled with the city program were approached and asked to be "recycling block leaders." Those who agreed were instructed to give approximately 10 nonrecycling neighbors a persuasive communication advocating recycling and special recycling bags. A second treatment group (of nonrecycling households) had bags and the communication left at their door. Results indicated that the curbside recycling of the two experimental groups differed significantly from one another (with the block leader group recycling more), and both differed significantly from a control group receiving no treatment. A discussion of past recycling intervention research and its feasibility for community application is included.     

Disentangling empowerment: Considering the role of employee perceptions in adaptive selling

As more jobs require employees to continually learn and adapt, empowering employees to adopt learning goals becomes a competitive advantage. Although research has identified key leadership behaviors that empower employees, the relationship between managers and empowered employees is ongoing and dynamic. Therefore, it is important to understand how key leadership behaviors interact with employees in their current state of empowerment to influence learning and performance. In this paper, we draw from self-determination theory to argue that the way employees perceive a given leadership behavior will differ by dimension of empowerment, and these perceptions impact their intrinsic motivation to learn. Specifically, employees who are high in competence and impact will perceive the leadership behavior of goal clarity as controlling, and be less likely to set learning goals, while those who are high in autonomy and meaning will perceive the same behavior as supportive, and be more likely to set learning goals. In a time-lagged study of 349 salespeople, we find that goal clarity acts as a boundary condition by weakening the relationship between empowerment and learning goal orientation (LGO) for those high on the competence and impact dimensions. As hypothesized, we find that the same behavior of goal clarity actually strengthens the relationship for those high on the autonomy and meaning dimensions. Further, we provide theoretical and empirical evidence that LGO mediates the relationship between empowerment and adaptive selling.     

Wanting It All: Career, Marriage, and Motherhood During College-Educated Women's 20s

College women's expectations for career, marriage, and motherhood were assessed during the senior year, and their outcomes were assessed 7 years later. In 1993, 118 White women and 82 Women of Color were randomly selected from 5 northeastern colleges and interviewed in person. In 2000, 178 (89%) were reached for second interviews by telephone. Results indicate that as seniors the women wanted careers, marriage, and motherhood. Career development was the priority of their 20s. At the 7-year point, marital status was unrelated to advanced degrees attained or to career status, but mothers had significantly fewer advanced degrees and lower career status than nonmothers. Socioeconomic status, race, and intentions concerning career and family were related to career status and motherhood status.     

A predictive model for psychological reactions to crime in Italy: an analysis of fear of crime and concern about crime as a social problem

In this study a model for predicting fear of crime (FC) and concern about crime as a social problem (CC) in Italy has been built, using three sets of independent variables concerning: (a) the sociodemographic and criminal victimization domain; (b) the psychosocial domain; and (c) the mass media. A secondary analysis on data gathered by the Observatory of the North‐West (N = 3262, a mail panel that is representative of the Italian population over 18) has been performed. Results showed that FC and CC are related yet distinct constructs: FC is less widespread than CC, and has different predictors. FC predictors are sociodemographic, psychosocial and, above all, victimization variables; whereas mass media and psychosocial variables predict CC. Results were compared with the literature on the topic. Implications, limitations, and future directions are discussed. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Exposure to internet pornography among children and adolescents: a national survey.

Estimates suggest that up to 90% or more youth between 12 and 18 years have access to the Internet. Concern has been raised that this increased accessibility may lead to a rise in pornography seeking among children and adolescents, with potentially serious ramifications for child and adolescent sexual development. Using data from the Youth Internet Safety Survey, a nationally representative, cross-sectional telephone survey of 1501 children and adolescents (ages 10-17 years), characteristics associated with self-reported pornography seeking behavior, both on the Internet and using traditional methods (e.g., magazines), are identified. Seekers of pornography, both online and offline, are significantly more likely to be male, with only 5% of self-identified seekers being female. The vast majority (87%) of youth who report looking for sexual images online are 14 years of age or older, when it is developmentally appropriate to be sexually curious. Children under the age of 14 who have intentionally looked at pornography are more likely to report traditional exposures, such as magazines or movies. Concerns about a large group of young children exposing themselves to pornography on the Internet may be overstated. Those who report intentional exposure to pornography, irrespective of source, are significantly more likely to cross-sectionally report delinquent behavior and substance use in the previous year. Further, online seekers versus offline seekers are more likely to report clinical features associated with depression and lower levels of emotional bonding with their caregiver. Results of the current investigation raise important questions for further inquiry. Findings from these cross-sectional data provide justification for longitudinal studies aimed at parsing out temporal sequencing of psychosocial experiences.