“Who Thinks I Need a Perfect Body?” Perceptions and Internal Dialogue among Adolescents about Their Bodies

The main aim of this study was to provide a detailed examination of the nature of the messages that adolescent boys and girls receive about their bodies. Forty adolescent boys and 40 adolescent girls participated in an in-depth interview to gain an understanding of the range of potential ‘sources’ of body-related messages. Messages were organized around the source of these messages (self, mother, father, brother, sister, female friends, male friends, media). There were consistent gender differences in the way that adolescents received and interpreted messages about their bodies. Overall girls received more positive and more negative messages than boys did. Boys reported having received virtually no negative messages from most people. The content of internal dialogue among adolescents revealed that messages about the body could be interpreted, distorted, and deflected. The implications of these findings for preventing body image-related problems and disordered eating among adolescents are discussed.     

CLIMB EVERY MOUNTAIN?

The central thesis of Derek Parfit's On What Matters is that three of the most important secular moral traditions – Kantianism, contractualism, and consequentialism – all actually converge in a way onto the same view. It is in this sense that he suggests that we may all be 'climbing the same mountain, but from different sides'. In this paper, I argue that Parfit's argument that we are all metaphorically climbing the same mountain is unsound. One reason his argument does not work is that he has misunderstood the way in which a plausible rule-consequentialism should understand the supervenience of rightness on all possible acceptance levels of the ideal moral code. In place of Parfit's own understanding of this, I develop a view I call 'variable-rate rule-utilitarianism', which I argue shares the key insight of Parfit's view but avoids a fatal objection to his own articulation of that insight. Finally, I explore how this modification might allow us to still make a case that we are all 'climbing the same mountain', albeit in a very different way and for very different reasons than the ones Parfit had in mind.     

Favorable Contact During Volunteer Service: Reducing Prejudice Toward Mexicans in the American Southwest

We assessed religious volunteers’ intergroup contact, realistic threat perceptions, symbolic threat perceptions, intergroup anxiety, negative stereotypes and prejudice toward Mexicans before and approximately 4–6 months into their volunteer service. Whether assigned to serve Mexicans or European–Americans, all volunteers experienced reduced prejudice toward Mexicans. A multiple mediator model suggests that changes in prejudice resulted from a mediated relationship between quality contact and prejudice. Specifically, intergroup anxiety and negative stereotypes mediated the relationship. The benefits of volunteerism as a means of fostering favorable intergroup contact and reducing threat perceptions and prejudice are discussed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Innovation and Effectiveness of Co-Founded Ventures: A Process Model

Purpose

We propose a process model relating innovative climates to effectiveness in co-founded ventures. Specifically, we argue that co-founders’ inputs relate to venture effectiveness via processes of team member exchange (TMX), team learning, and collective efficacy.

Design/Methodology/Approach

To study a population that is difficult to access, we use a computerized simulation in which 202 individuals act as new venture co-founders.

Findings

Results of our research support the hypothesized input-process-outcome model such that the intra-team processes of TMX, team learning, and collective efficacy fully mediate the relationship between the input of co-founding team climate for innovation and the outcome of co-founded venture effectiveness.

Implications

This study advances theory regarding processes that link team climates for innovation to collective outcomes. While we focus on this relationship in co-founded ventures, our findings have implications for team-level innovation research by clarifying how innovation relates to effectiveness. Beyond advancing theory, knowledge of this relationship may be of benefit to practice by identifying mediating mechanisms that can be reinforced in training and used as indicators of venture success by potential investors. Further, we contribute to the understanding of an important but understudied population of co-founded ventures and answer calls to utilize simulations to address team-based organizational questions.

Originality/Value

Our study answers calls to both clarify the processes that relate innovative climates to business outcomes and utilize computer simulations in organizational research while also addressing an important population of co-founded ventures that lacks a significant body of research.     

Adolescent religiousness as a protective factor against pornography use

This study examined mediators of relations between adolescent religiousness and pornography use. The sample consisted of 419 adolescents (ages 15–18 years; M age = 15.68, SD = 0.98; 56% male). It was hypothesized that religiousness (religious internalization and involvement) would protect adolescents from pornography use (accidental and intentional viewing) by increasing self-regulation, conservative attitudes towards pornography, and social control against pornography. Path analyses revealed religious internalization and involvement were indirectly linked to intentional viewing through all three mediators. For accidental viewing, the only indirect effects were from religious internalization through self-regulation and social control, and from religious involvement through social control. Thus, religiousness may protect adolescents from intentional and accidental exposure to pornography.     

The equivalence of the Child Behavior Checklist/1 1/2-5 across parent race/ethnicity, income level, and language

This study examined the equivalence of the Child Behavior Checklist/1 1/2-5 (CBCL/1 1/2-5) in 682 parents of 2- to 4-year-old children stratified by parent race/ethnicity (African American, Latino, and non-Latino White), family income (low vs. middle-upper), and language version (Spanish vs. English). Externalizing Scale means differed by income and child gender. Internalizing Scale means differed by income and parent race/ethnicity. Differential item analyses showed that few items functioned differently by racial/ethnic, language, and income group. A confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated that the Externalizing Scale provided a good fit with the data across racial/ethnic and income groups. However, model fit was improved for the Internalizing Scale when factor weights were allowed to vary. Findings support the equivalence of the CBCL/1 1/2-5 when used with parents of low-income preschool children from African American and Latino backgrounds, although further study of the factor structure for the Internalizing Scale is recommended.