Multicultural psychology: bringing together gender and ethnicity

This article suggests that just as gender studies should not proceed without consideration of the various contexts in which men and women behave, similarly multicultural psychology should recognize gender, among other characteristics in the populations examined. Focusing on ethnic group women, who are understudied, develops this theme. Two arguments are proposed: (a) that gender must be recognized as impinging on every aspect of psychological research and practice, and (b) that gender should be considered an aspect of culture, just as ethnicity now is. The literature in psychology is reviewed to demonstrate how erroneous beliefs and exclusion operate to minimize examination of ethnicity and gender. Finally, a call to advocacy is made for attention to complexity.     

Can Temperament Identify Affectively Ill Patients Who Engage in Lethal or Near‐Lethal Suicidal Behavior? A 14‐Year Prospective Study

Among affectively ill patients followed naturalistically for up to 14 years, 36 committed suicide, 120 attempted suicide, and 373 had no recorded suicide attempt. Comparing these three groups on clinical and intake personality revealed that suicide completed within 12 months was predicted by clinical but not personality variables, and suicide beyond 12 months was predicted by newly derived temperament factors, not clinical variables. Attempters and completers shared core characteristics: previous attempts, impulsivity, substance abuse, and psychic turmoil within a cycling/mixed bipolar disorder. Such temperament attributes as impulsivity and assertiveness were the best prospective predictors of completed suicides beyond 12 months with a sensitivity level of 74% and specificity level of 82%.     

Parental socialization of emotion expression: gender differences and relations to child adjustment

The present study examined gender differences in children's submissive and disharmonious emotions and parental attention to these emotions. Sixty children and their mothers and fathers participated when children were 4 and 6 years old. Children's emotion expression and parental responses during a game were coded. Girls expressed more submissive emotion than boys. Fathers attended more to girls' submissive emotion than to boys' at preschool age. Fathers attended more to boys' disharmonious emotion than to girls' at early school age. Parental attention at preschool age predicted later submissive expression level. Child disharmonious emotion predicted later externalizing symptoms. Gender differences in these emotions may occur as early as preschool age and may be subject to differential responding, particularly by fathers.     

Managers' variance investigation decisions: an experimental examination of probabilistic and outcome ambiguity

Information ambiguity is prevalent in organizations and may influence management decisions. This study examines, given imprecise probabilities or outcomes, how managers decide which department's performance to investigate further when they are provided with performance benchmarks expressed in numerical intervals. Seventy‐nine MBA students participated in two experiments involving investigation decisions. We presented participants with interval benchmarks of a firm's expenses. Being below or above the benchmark should have been seen as equally negative. We found that, when facing outcome ambiguity, our participants consistently preferred to investigate further those departments whose performance was described as having an ambiguous outcome (when the outcome's range was centered either below or above the interval benchmark). However, when facing probabilistic ambiguity, there were two predominant choice patterns: consistently choosing to investigate the department whose performance is described with an ambiguous probability, or consistently choosing to investigate the department with unambiguous performance. To gain further insight, we conducted a follow‐up study collecting written protocols of participants' reasons for making choices involving ambiguous performance information. The results show that our participants displayed similar decision‐making processes when facing outcome ambiguity and probabilistic ambiguity. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Values,Susceptibility to Normative Influence,and Attribute Importance Weights: A Nomological Analysis

It is argued that the construct of individual susceptibility to normative influence (SNI) needs to be put into a wider nomological framework, with antecedents and consequences. Based on prior literature, a causal sequence is hypothesized in which values are antecedent to SNI, which itself shapes the importance placed by the individual on different attributes. It is further suggested that the relation between values and SNI is strongest for “external” values, and that high SNI leads to greater importance for attributes that provide “socially visible” benefits. Data from a national field survey (N= 663) on consumer preferences are analyzed to test these hypotheses, using confirmatory factor analysis via LISREL 8.30 (Jöreskog & Sörbom, 1993). The analysis finds support for most of the hypothesized structural relations.     

Life Stressors, Social Support, and Depressive Symptoms Among First-Time Welfare Recipients

This paper examines the associations among stressful life events, social support, and depressive symptoms in a sample of 580 first-time welfare recipients. Self-reported number of depressive symptoms was greater than in corresponding community samples. Stressors and social supports made independent main effect contributions to depressive symptoms in a multiple regression analysis. Women with transportation barriers to employment, those experiencing greater numbers of stressful life events, and those who were less satisfied with their housing situation reported greater numbers of depressive symptoms. In contrast, women who were more satisfied with their social support and those with higher attendance at religious services reported fewer depressive symptoms. Implications for welfare reform policy and programs are discussed.     

Reconsidering the Job‐Performance—Turnover Relationship: The Role of Gender in Form and Magnitude1

Research assessing the relationship between job performance and turnover has historically yielded mixed results. Reported findings have reflected no relationships, linear associations, or U‐shaped forms between these constructs. The current study attempted to shed light on the intricate relationship between job performance and voluntary turnover by investigating gender boundaries and relevant controls. After controlling for age, tenure, and job satisfaction, the data provided evidence of a U‐shaped association between job performance and turnover. However, once the data were partitioned into male and female subsamples, a different pattern emerged, whereby males continued to reflect the U‐shaped relationship and females reflected no job‐performance‐turnover relationship. Implications of these findings for both theory and research are provided.     

Bayesian Risk Assessment in Genetic Testing for Autosomal Dominant Disorders with Age-Dependent Penetrance

Risk assessment is an essential component of genetic counseling and testing, and the accuracy of risk assessment is critical for decision making by consultands. However, it has been shown that genetic risk calculations may have high error rates in practice. Risk calculations for autosomal dominant disorders are frequently complicated by age-dependent penetrance and sensitivities of less than 100% in genetic testing. We provide methods of risk calculation for prototypical pedigrees of a family at risk for an autosomal dominant disorder with age-dependent penetrance. Our risk calculations include scenarios in which the sensitivity of genetic testing is less than 100%, and in which the sensitivity of genetic testing varies for different family members at risk. Our Bayesian methods permit autosomal dominant disease probabilities to be calculated accurately, taking into account all relevant information. Our methods are particularly useful for hereditary cancer syndromes, in which genetic testing can seldom achieve 100% sensitivity. Our methods can be applied to many different scenarios, including those where the sensitivity of genetic testing varies for different family members at risk. The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Department of Health and Human Services, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.     

Taxometric analysis of the antisocial features scale of the personality assessment inventory in federal prison inmates

The Antisocial Features (ANT) scale of the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) was subjected to taxometric analysis in a group of 2,135 federal prison inmates. Scores on the three ANT subscales-Antisocial Behaviors (ANT-A), Egocentricity (ANT-E), and Stimulus Seeking (ANT-S)-served as indicators in this study and were evaluated using the following taxometric procedures: mean above minus below a cut (MAMBAC), maximum eigenvalue (MAXEIG), and latent mode factor analysis (L-Mode). Objective and subjective evaluation of the results revealed consistent support for a dimensional interpretation of latent structure across the di ferent taxometric procedures as well as across gender, race, and security level. As a dimensional construct, antisocial personality disorder arranges respondents along one or more quantitative dimensions (degree of antisociality), rather than assigning them to qualitatively distinct categories (antisocial or not antisocial).     

School readiness and later achievement

Using 6 longitudinal data sets, the authors estimate links between three key elements of school readiness--school-entry academic, attention, and socioemotional skills--and later school reading and math achievement. In an effort to isolate the effects of these school-entry skills, the authors ensured that most of their regression models control for cognitive, attention, and socioemotional skills measured prior to school entry, as well as a host of family background measures. Across all 6 studies, the strongest predictors of later achievement are school-entry math, reading, and attention skills. A meta-analysis of the results shows that early math skills have the greatest predictive power, followed by reading and then attention skills. By contrast, measures of socioemotional behaviors, including internalizing and externalizing problems and social skills, were generally insignificant predictors of later academic performance, even among children with relatively high levels of problem behavior. Patterns of association were similar for boys and girls and for children from high and low socioeconomic backgrounds.