Augustine’s <Emphasis Type="Italic">Confessions</Emphasis>: The Story of a Divided Self and the Process of Its Unification

This article takes up William James’ observation that Saint Augustine is “a classic example” of the discordant personality or divided self, and employs E. R. Dodd’s equally classic (1927–28) article on Augustine’s “spiritual maladjustment” to explore the psychological bases, especially parental, for Augustine’s discordant personality, and to evaluate the effectiveness of Augustine’s efforts to overcome the discordancy through a personal religious conversion.     

The Effects of Social Influence on Perceptual and Affective Reactions to Scenes of Sexual Violence1

In 2 experiments, we examined the effect of social influence (discussion and modeling) on men's and women's perceptual and affective reactions to a sexually violent film scene depicting gang rape. In Experiment 1, women who discussed the film rated the perpetrators as more responsible compared to participants in all other conditions. Men who did not discuss the film reported higher levels of positive affect compared to participants in all other conditions. In Experiment 2, men and women were affected by the social influence manipulation similarly. As predicted, participants differed in their attributions of responsibility depending on a confederate's response to the film scene. Participants who heard a confederate say that the men in the film were responsible for the rape rated these men as relatively more responsible than did participants in a neutral confederate condition or in a condition in which the confederate said that the woman in the film was responsible for the rape.     

The Interplay Between Trust Among Peers and Interpersonal Characteristics in Homophobic Bullying Among Italian Adolescents

This study is based on exploring the trust between peers and the individual characteristics related to homophobic bullying in adolescence. Participants were 334 adolescents (141 boys and 193 girls) aged from 15 to 20 years. Participants completed the homophobic bullying scale, to investigate bullying actions towards sexual minorities, the personal attributes questionnaire, for personal characteristics, and the inventory of parent and peer attachment, to the trust between peers. The results demonstrated how female participants manifested a higher level of interpersonal traits and trust among peers than boys. Results showed how a lack of trust between peers predicts homophobic bullying. Nevertheless, we found that the lack of interpersonal characteristics represents a variable that likely mediates the relationship between lack of trust in peers and homophobic bullying. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Mismatched Lovers: Exploring the Compatibility Between LGBTQ+ Identity Theories and Gender and Sexual Plurality in Sri Lanka

Sexual and gender identity development theories in psychology and sociology exert considerable influence over discourse on gender and sexuality, shaping key domains such as counseling, education, and social work, as well as public policy and advocacy. While a robust body of literature has developed in critique of such theories and models, they continue to be applied in the Global South without much thought for their relevance to various non-Western cultural contexts. The current study explores the fit of these identity development theories to the experiences of 15 non-heterosexual and transgender individuals in Sri Lanka, gathered through a qualitative study of the question in 2016. These participants articulated gender and sexual self-conceptions that were incongruent with major identity development theories in significant ways. A broad majority failed to endorse central or salient sexual identities, while demonstrating a fluidity in object choice, sex roles, and sex acts, thus rupturing the theoretical notion of stable and coherent identities. Transgender participants did not demonstrate identity synthesis or pride and complicated theoretical understandings of sexual intimacy. These findings highlight the necessity of considering individual differences and cultural contexts when studying gender and sexuality and the dangers of universalizing theories across cultural differences.     

Interethnic Marriages and Relationships of the Tlingits in the Russian–American Period and Their Significance

This article deals with relationships and marriages of the Tlingit with immigrants from the Russian Empire as well as with representatives of other European and non-European peoples during the period when Alaska belonged to the Russian Empire. Matrimonial relations existed in two variants: legal, sanctified by the church, and in the form of permanent extramarital cohabitation or casual relationships. The latter variant absolutely predominated. With this, there was a sharply reflected gender imbalance, since men absolutely predominated among the immigrants, and therefore Tlingit women emerged in the role of marriage partners in the overwhelming majority of cases. A directly opposite pattern was observed in Tlingit contacts with the Athapaskans and to some extent with the Eyak. Matrimonial connections exerted influence on the workings of the Russian colonization, stimulated growth in mixed populations, and facilitated gradual acculturation of the Tlingit, along with contributing to the expansion of their ethnic territory.     

Effect of Body Image on Tunisian Women’s Sexual Functioning

The objective of this study was to identify the perception of body image by Tunisian women and their spouses and to examine its impact on female sexuality. Our study involved 300 Tunisian women who had been married for at least 1 year and consulted in primary care medicine during the months of June and July 2016. Each participant completed a questionnaire covering four areas: women’s perception of their body, the perception of the spouses of the latter as it was reported by the participants, sexual activity, and the impact of body perception on sexual activity. The participants were satisfied with their bodies in 51% of cases. This satisfaction was associated with perceiving the body as physically attractive (p?=?0.007), young (p?=?0.047) and as a source of confidence (p?<?0.001). Compared to women dissatisfied with their bodies, those satisfied declared satisfaction of sexual desire (p?=?0.005), reaching orgasm (p?=?0.001), taking the initiative in sexual activity (p?=?0.003) and preparation for sex (p?=?0.006). Perceived satisfaction of the partner with the female body was related to a more positive sexuality in women, specifically to women’s sexual satisfaction (p?=?0.018), women taking sexual initiative (p?=?0.014) and preparation for sex (p?=?0.001). Our study indicates the important impact of a positive perception of the body image of Tunisian women by themselves and by their spouses on their sexuality. It would be interesting to consider these aspects in the management of female sexual disorders.