Gender-Typed Behaviors and School Adjustment

This study investigates whether gender-typed behaviors are associated with two aspects of school adjustment—engagement and attachment. The analysis uses a nationally representative sample of middle and high school students in US schools in 1995 (n?=?6,349 girls and 5,954 boys). Ordinary least square models show that both boys and girls with extremely gender-typed behaviors report lower levels of school engagement and attachment than gender-typical peers, consistent with previous research that documented adjustment problems linked to hypergender. Among boys but not among girls, gender-atypical students report lower levels of engagement and attachment than gender-typical peers, indicating stigma attached to boys’ feminine behaviors at school. Interpersonal problems with peers and teachers explain large portions of these group differences.     

Barriers and Supports for Continuing in Mathematics and Science: Gender and Educational Level Differences

This article presents three studies that provide an in-depth examination of STEM-related supports and barriers. These studies constructed an instrument to identify male and female perceptions of the barriers and supports for pursuing coursework and/or careers in mathematics and sciences domains; to pilot test and refine that instrument; and then to explore gender differences in perceptions of supports and barriers at three different educational levels: middle school, high school, and college. Study 1 involved using literature reviews and in-depth interviews at the three educational levels to broadly identify perceived supports and barriers, and to develop a taxonomy of barrier and supports at each level. Based upon the taxonomy, study 2 involved the construction and pilot testing of a barriers and support instrument. Study 3 involved administering the revised instrument to a large sample of participants at each educational level. Results indicate both gender and developmental differences in perceptions of the barriers and supports for pursuing a math or science curriculum.     

The role of experience in location estimation: Target distributions shift location memory biases

Research based on the Category Adjustment model concluded that the spatial distribution of target locations does not influence location estimation responses [Huttenlocher, J., Hedges, L., Corrigan, B., & Crawford, L. E. (2004). Spatial categories and the estimation of location. Cognition, 93, 75–97]. This conflicts with earlier results showing that location estimation is biased relative to the spatial distribution of targets [Spencer, J. P., & Hund, A. M. (2002). Prototypes and particulars: Geometric and experience-dependent spatial categories. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 131, 16–37]. Here, we resolve this controversy by using a task based on Huttenlocher et al. (Experiment 4) with minor modifications to enhance our ability to detect experience-dependent effects. Results after the first block of trials replicate the pattern reported in Huttenlocher et al. After additional experience, however, participants showed biases that significantly shifted according to the target distributions. These results are consistent with the Dynamic Field Theory, an alternative theory of spatial cognition that integrates long-term memory traces across trials relative to the perceived structure of the task space.     

Anger Can Help: Clinical Representation of Three Pathways of Anger

Anger is a powerful emotion prevalent in therapy. An integrative model situating varied manifestations of anger within a purposive context of healing and repair following relationship trauma is needed. A first paper (Butler, Meloy-Miller, Seedall, & Dicus, 2017) approached anger as a psychological and relational construction of diffuse physiological arousal and provided a conceptual model of how the experience of offense interacts with a person's view of self in relation to other (VSIRO) in the formation of anger. Three resulting trajectories and pathways of anger were outlined. Here we provide clinical representations of these pathways—two pathways of hostile anger arising from pathogenic VSIROs (inflated, with accompanying externalizing anger, and collapsed, with accompanying internalizing anger), and a third pathway of benevolent anger, arising from a balanced VSIRO. Clinical application of the model through several vignettes illuminates its use in discriminating helpful from harmful pathways of anger and developing interventions for reshaping pathogenic anger to beneficent anger.     

Family-of-Origin Factors and Physical Teen Dating Violence Victimization and Perpetration: A Meta-Analysis

Journal of Child and Family Studies - The purpose of this meta-analysis is to explore the relationship between family-of-origin factors (i.e., attachment, witnessing inter-parental violence,...     

A qualitative analysis of the role of emotions in different patterns of long-term weight loss

Objective: To explore participant perspectives of the impact emotions have on weight loss.

Design: A qualitative design gathered data through semi-structured interviews with participants in a weight management programme. The interview addresses the following research questions: (1) how do individuals working to lose weight perceive the impact emotions have on their long-term success, and (2) what strategies do more or less successful participants use to regulate their emotions? Researchers conducted and transcribed the interviews then completed content analysis to create and organise themes.

Results: Two broad themes emerged through the interviews with 21 participants: emotional impact and emotional regulation. Further subthemes captured emotions blocking action toward goals, strategies for regulating emotions (e.g. exercise, food) and the need for new strategies to regulate emotions. Themes were also split in to three groups based on weight outcomes: regainer, moderate success (3–6% loss) and large success (>7% loss). More successful participants, compared to regainers, shared being aware of the impact of their emotions and made efforts to develop healthy regulation strategies.

Conclusions: Emotional awareness and regulation play an important role in participant’s weight management experience. Taking time to build emotional awareness and strategies to manage emotions is important to participants in weight management.