The Dark Side of Heterosexual Romance: Endorsement of Romantic Beliefs Relates to Intimate Partner Violence

Romance and control are often conflated by the media, and individuals may believe that certain controlling or jealous behaviors by men toward women are romantic and can be a sign of love and commitment in heterosexual relationships. The current study explored three types of romantic beliefs among women: endorsement of the ideology of romanticism, highly valuing romantic relationships, and the belief that jealousy is good. The goal was to determine whether these beliefs would be related to finding controlling behaviors romantic as well as to reported experiences of both physical and psychological intimate partner violence (IPV). We surveyed 275 heterosexual-identified women, aged 18 to 50, and measured their endorsement of romantic beliefs, the extent to which they romanticized controlling behavior, and experiences of physical and psychological abuse within their current or most recent romantic relationship. Romantic beliefs were related to romanticizing controlling behaviors, which, in turn, was related to experiences of IPV. There was also a significant indirect relationship between romantic beliefs and experiences of IPV. The data indicate that seemingly positive romantic ideologies can have insidious negative effects. Findings may be useful for clinicians and those who advocate for prevention of IPV as they illustrate a need to refocus traditional ideas of healthy relationships at the societal level.     

Sensory processing sensitivity and its relation to parental bonding, anxiety, and depression

Sensory processing sensitivity is a recently proposed construct referring to a tendency to process a variety of information more strongly and deeply than others. Although some research has found links between sensory processing sensitivity and psychological difficulties, highly sensitive people may not necessarily be predisposed to negative affect, but may be more sensitive to poor parenting. Two hundred thirteen college students were given a measure of sensory processing sensitivity (the HSPS), the parental bonding scale (measuring parental care and over-protection), the trait anxiety scale, and the Beck depression inventory. Sensory processing sensitivity predicted both anxiety and depression above and beyond parental factors, indicating that it may be an independent risk factor. An interaction was found between sensory processing sensitivity and parental care when measuring depression. Highly sensitive people may be particularly sensitive to uncaring parents. Results indicate that sensory processing sensitivity may be a temperamental disposition that interacts meaningfully with environmental factors.     

A Dynamic, Multi-Level Model of Culture: From the Micro Level of the Individual to the Macro Level of a Global Culture

Cet article propose un modèle de la culture à plusieurs niveaux, composé de caractéristiques dynamiques et structurelles qui rendent compte de l’interaction entre les différents niveaux de culture. On commence par présenter un résumé des modèles existants de la culture, puis on poursuit en proposant le modèle de la culture à plusieurs nivaeux. La dimension structurelle représente la construction emboîtée de la culture depuis le niveau le plus extensif d’une culture globale jusqu’à la représentation de la culture au niveau individuel en passant par les cultures nationale, organisationnelle et de groupe. La nature dynamique de la culture évoque les processus descendants et ascendants quand l’un des niveaux culturels entraîne des changements à d’autres niveaux. Plus particulièrement, le modèle soutient que le niveau le plus global de la culture affecte, par l’internédiaire de processus descendants, les changements comportementaux des gens relevant de différentes cultures. Inversement, des changements comportementaux au niveau individuel deviennent, grâce aux processus ascendants, des valeurs et des normes comportementales partagées, modifiant la macroculture. L’article demande que l’om passe de la culture conçue comme une entité stable à la culture perçue comme étant une entité dynamique, et que l’on accorde davantage d’intérêt aux interactions entre les différents niveaux de culture. This paper proposes a multi‐level model of culture, consisting of structural and dynamic characteristics that explain the interplay between various levels of culture. The paper begins with a summary of existing models of culture and continues with the proposed multi‐level model of culture. The structural dimension represents the nested structure of culture from the most macro level of a global culture, through national, organisational and team cultures, and down to the representation of culture at the individual level. The dynamic nature of culture conveys the top‐down–bottom‐up processes where one cultural level affects changes in other levels of culture. Specifically, the model proposes that globalisation, as the macro level of culture, affects, through top‐down processes, behavioral changes of members in various cultures. Reciprocally, behavioral changes at the individual level, through bottom‐up processes, become shared behavioral norms and values, modifying the culture of a macro level entity. The paper calls for a shift in the research focus on culture as stable, to culture as a dynamic entity and for a greater focus on the interplay between different levels of culture.     

Predictors and Correlates of Collective Action

Social identity theory suggests that feminist identity should predict engagement in collective action on behalf of women. We examined predictors of collective action by asking female college students (N = 215) to complete a set of questionnaires that measure life experiences, beliefs about feminism and collective action, feminist self-labeling, and involvement in women-focused collective activities. Life experiences (i.e., having a feminist mother, having taken a women's studies class, and having experienced sex discrimination), feminist attitudes and beliefs, feminist self-labeling, and belief in collective action were positively correlated with collective action, whereas conservatism was negatively correlated with collective action. A logistic stepwise regression revealed that the Synthesis stage of feminist identity development was the only variable that uniquely contributed to predicting feminist activism.     

Dream rebound of suppressed emotional thoughts: the influence of cognitive load

Initial evidence suggests that suppressing a thought prior to sleep results in subsequent dreaming of that thought. The present research examined the influence of cognitive load on dreaming following suppression. In Experiment 1, 100 participants received either a suppression instruction or no instruction for an intrusive thought prior to sleep, and subsequently completed a dream diary. Participants instructed to suppress reported dreaming about the target thought more than controls; dream rebound was predicted by poorer performance on a working memory task. In Experiment 2, 126 participants received either a suppression instruction or no instruction for an intrusive thought prior to sleep, and half of participants also had cognitive load of learning a 9-digit number. Participants receiving the suppression instruction under cognitive load reported greater dream rebound than other participants. These findings indicate that thought suppression prior to sleep leads to dream rebound, and this effect is enhanced by cognitive load.     

Developing the couple perspective in parenting support: evaluation of a service initiative for vulnerable families

The importance of the relationship between parents is frequently underestimated by those designing and developing services to support parents in bringing up their children. Instead, the primary focus of recent family support initiatives in the United Kingdom has been on improving parenting skills. This article describes the outcomes of a project designed to maximize the effectiveness of parenting support to vulnerable families through sensitizing the workforce of a community‐based adult mental health agency to take account of the parental couple in providing postnatal support groups, parenting workshops and relationship counselling. Evaluating outcomes from these services suggests that a couple orientation adds significant value to the effectiveness of parenting support.     

Identity in Action: Predictors of Feminist Self-Identification and Collective Action

The present study sought to explore how women's life experiences influenced their beliefs, and how those beliefs in turn influenced feminist self-identification. Additionally, we sought to determine whether feminist self-identification led to increased collective action on behalf of women. Female participants (N?=?282) from two US college campuses and online listservs completed an online survey assessing feminist self-identification, collective action, and life experiences. Conservative, liberal, and radical beliefs were assessed as were evaluations of feminists. A structural equation model was used to explore these relationships; life experiences were found to influence women's beliefs, which in turn influenced feminist self-identification, which influenced collective action. We found that life experiences may serve as a catalyst for both feminist self-identification and collective action.     

Psychologists' and social workers' self-descriptions using DSM-IV psychopathology

There is limited information on mental health of psychologists and social workers despite their rendering mental health services, so their subjective perception of mental disorder was explored via a self-evaluation survey in which they self-diagnosed the presence of DSM-IV disorders within themselves. The sample of 128 professionals included 63 psychologists and 65 social workers. The presence of Axis I traits was reported by 81.2%, the three most frequent traits being mood, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and eating disorder. Axis II traits were reported by 73.4% of subjects, the three most frequent conditions being narcissistic, avoidant, and obsessive-compulsive personality traits. While a high percentage of subjects reported the presence of either an Axis I or Axis II disorder, the average severity reported was low. More psychologists reported on mood, social phobia, and eating problems than social workers, while the latter reported more on psychotic problems. Psychologists reported more Axis II traits, especially paranoid, narcissistic, and avoidant subtypes. More women than men reported eating problems, while more men reported schizoid and avoidant personality traits. In conclusion, manifestations of subthreshold psychiatric conditions were prominently reported. These findings suggest encouraging mental health care professionals to explore treatment for problems if present.     

Thinking of Others: Feminist Identification and the Perception of Others’ Beliefs

Previous research has shown that most women in the United States support feminist goals but do not label themselves as feminists. Concern over other people’s opinions of feminists may predict rejection of the feminist label. In the present study we predicted that feminists would be more likely than non-feminists to believe that other people view feminists favorably. One hundred seventy-one female participants completed the Berryman-Fink Semantic Differential Scale twice, once to indicate how they view feminists and again to indicate how they believe others view feminists. Contrary to our hypothesis, all women, regardless of feminist identification, believed that others view feminists negatively and as more likely to be homosexual than heterosexual. Relationships between participants’ own views of feminists and their perceptions of others’ views of feminists were explored. Transformative experiences that may lead a feminist to ignore their perception of society’s views are discussed.