Cross-cultural differences in female university students' attitudes toward homosexuals: a preliminary study

62 Caucasian, 61 Hispanic, and 44 Asian female undergraduates completed the Index of Homophobia by Hudson and Ricketts, seven items from the Attitudes Toward Lesbians and Gay Men Scale by Herek, and three questions on Affectional Orientation toward homosexuals from D'Augelli and Rose. Overall, familiarity with homosexuals as measured by self-reported number of homosexual friends correlated negatively with scores on the homophobia measures, but there were no significant differences among the groups' reported number of homosexual friends. Asian students scored significantly higher on the homophobia measures than Caucasian students. Both Asian and Hispanic students endorsed the statement significantly more often than Caucasian students that the university would be better if only heterosexuals attended. No significant differences in scores were found regarding attitudes toward lesbians versus gay men.     

Perfectionism is multidimensional: a reply to Shafran,Cooper and Fairburn

provided a cognitive-behavioural analysis of perfectionism that focused primarily on self-oriented perfectionism. They argued against studying perfectionism from a multidimensional perspective that they regard as inconsistent with prior work on perfectionism as a self-oriented phenomenon. We respond to by offering historical, empirical, and theoretical support for the usefulness and the importance of a multidimensional model of perfectionism involving both intrapersonal processes and interpersonal dynamics. It is concluded that a multidimensional approach to the study of perfectionism is still warranted.     

Difficulty processing temporary syntactic ambiguities in Lewy body spectrum disorder

While grammatical aspects of language are preserved, executive deficits are prominent in Lewy body spectrum disorder (LBSD), including Parkinson’s disease (PD), Parkinson’s dementia (PDD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). We examined executive control during sentence processing in LBSD by assessing temporary structural ambiguities. Using an on-line word detection procedure, patients heard sentences with a syntactic structure that has high-compatibility or low-compatibility with the main verb’s statistically preferred syntactic structure, and half of the sentences were lengthened strategically between the onset of the ambiguity and its resolution. We found selectively slowed processing of lengthened ambiguous sentences in the PDD/DLB subgroup. This correlated with impairments on measures of executive control. Regression analyses related the working memory deficit during ambiguous sentence processing to significant cortical thinning in frontal and parietal regions. These findings emphasize the role of prefrontal disease in the executive limitations that interfere with processing ambiguous sentences in LBSD.     

Predicting Women's Persistence in Adult Literacy Classes with Dispositional Variables

Adult literacy programs offer individuals, particularly women, opportunities to improve their educational levels and economic circumstances; however, persistence in these programs is an issue for many. Two hundred forty five participants in a statewide adult literacy program took the Adult Education Persistence Scale, a measure of self-efficacy, resilience, attitudes toward school, and attributions, a measure we developed in an effort to identify dispositional variables that predict persistence. Results indicated that dispositional variables modestly predicted persistence, identifying high and low attendees with 69% accuracy. We recommend screening for dispositional variables to identify those at risk for dropout and to provide relevant support.     

Facilitating Game Play: How Others Affect Performance at and Enjoyment of Video Games

The current study implements the drive theory of social facilitation to explain the influence of audience presence in video game play. This integration is an important one for research aiming to understand the experience of video game play, as the social aspect of video game play is a relevant dimension of the technology often ignored in research on gaming experiences. The study finds a significant positive association between non-gaming cognitive abilities (such as hand–eye coordination and mental rotation ability) and performance at a first-person shooter. Data also support the social facilitation hypothesis: Game play in the presence of a physical audience significantly predicts increased game performance. Social facilitation effects are only found for low-challenge games where the drive-inducing capacity of task challenge is minimized. Resultant influences on game enjoyment are less clear.     

Gender and gender-role categorization of emergent leaders: A critical review and comprehensive analysis

The influences of gender and gender role on emergent leadership in initially leaderless groups were examined. Subjects were multi-ethnic, multi-racial domestic and international M.B.A. students engaged in gender-neutral group projects throughout the term. The BSRI was administered near the beginning of the term and leader emergence measures were collected at the end of the term after many weeks of group interaction. Using leader emergence measures which allowed for the possibility of multiple group leaders, both masculine and androgynous group members emerged as leaders. In groups with one sole leader, masculine types were more likely to be nominated as the single leader than any other gender-role type. There were no gender effects on any measure of leader emergence.     

Nature and role of change in anxiety sensitivity during NRT-aided cognitive-behavioral smoking cessation treatment

This study evaluated the associations between change in anxiety sensitivity (AS; fear of the negative consequences of anxiety and related sensations) and lapse and relapse during a 4-week group NRT-aided cognitive-behavioral Tobacco Intervention Program. Participants were 67 (44 women; M (age) = 46.2 years, SD = 10.4) adult daily smokers. Results indicated that participants who maintained high levels of AS from pretreatment to 1 month posttreatment, compared to those who demonstrated a significant reduction in AS levels during this time period, showed a significantly increased risk for lapse and relapse. Further inspection indicated that higher continuous levels of AS physical and psychological concerns, specifically among those participants who maintained elevated levels of AS from pre- to posttreatment, predicted significantly greater risk for relapse. Findings are discussed with respect to better understanding change in AS, grounded in an emergent taxonic-dimensional factor mixture model of the construct, with respect to lapse and relapse during smoking cessation.     

Sources of Uncertainty About Daughters’ Breast Cancer Risk that Emerge During Genetic Counseling Consultations

Uncertainty is central to the experience of genetic decision making and counseling about cancer risk. Women seeking genetic counseling about their breast cancer risk may experience a great deal of uncertainty about issues related to their daughters. We used a theory of Communication and Uncertainty Management to guide analysis of sources of uncertainty about daughters that emerged during 16 video-recorded and transcribed conversations between mothers at risk for a BRCA 1/2 mutation and their genetic healthcare practitioners. An interpretive design and constant comparative method revealed three dominant patterns or themes representing sources of uncertainty mothers have relating to their daughters: disease risk, future cancer screening, and communication of related information to daughters. Both practitioners and mothers discussed these aspects of uncertainty. The findings identify the significant role uncertainty and familial concerns play in mothers’ genetic testing decision making process. To assist genetic practitioners, we highlight daughter-related concerns that mothers are uncertain about and which are vital to their genetic counseling needs.     

Temporal Relations in Daily-Reported Maternal Mood and Disruptive Child Behavior

Examined temporal relations between maternal mood and disruptive child behaviour using daily assessments of 30 mother-child dyads carried out over 8 consecutive weeks (623 pooled observations). Pooled time-series analyses showed synchronous fluctuation in child behaviour and maternal distress. Time-lagged models showed temporal relations between maternal and child outcomes that changed according to the type of maternal mood and child behaviour being reported. Controlling for cross-sectional relations, maternal anger and fatigue were related to previous child inattentive/impulsive/overactive behaviour (IO) and maternal confusion related to previous child oppositional/defiant behaviour (OD). However, maternal depression, low vigour, anger, and anxiety each predicted subsequent child IO and maternal confusion and anxiety each predicted subsequent child OD. Mutual influences on maternal and child functioning were interpreted in the context of interpersonal mechanisms that mediate psychological problems within families and their implications for treatment.