Menarche,Menstruation, and Gender Identity: Retrospective Accounts from Women Who Have Undergone Premenopausal Hysterectomy

Hysterectomy (the surgical removal of the uterus) precipitates the end of menstrual cycles in premenopausal women. In this article I explore whether that premature termination of menstrual function negatively affects women's subjective gender identities. Using the grounded theory research approach, I conducted in-depth interviews with 40 diverse respondents who had undergone premenopausal hysterectomy. These women generally acknowledged that, since the time of menarche, they had closely associated menstruation with their gender identities. However, despite some regrets, respondents' primary reaction was almost unanimous relief that they had ceased menstruating. This finding must be viewed in the context of overwhelming and uncontrollable menstrual pain and bleeding that many respondents had previously experienced. Contrary to expressing remorse that they no longer identified with normal women, who menstruate, most respondents sought to disassociate themselves from the normalized suffering that they perceived is endured by all menstruating women.     

Gender is a dimension of face recognition

In an experiment, the authors investigated the impact of gender categorization on face recognition. Participants were familiarized with composite androgynous faces labeled with either a woman's first name (Mary) or a man's first name (John). The results indicated that participants more quickly eliminated faces of the opposite gender than faces of the same gender than the face they were looking for. This gender effect did not result from greater similarity between faces of the same gender. Rather, early gender categorization of a face during face recognition appears to speed up the comparison process between the perceptual input and the facial representation. Implications for face recognition models are discussed.     

HOMOSEXUALITY OR HOMOEROTICISM?: ‘NARCISSISTIC EROTICISM’

It may be dangerous for a psychoanalyst to let him/herself be influenced by the social and media pressure that proposes the use of the term 'homosexual' to describe the affective functioning of a homophile, for this assumes—from the outset—that it is of a truly sexual nature. However, following certain Freudian writings and the works of Férenczi in 1911, we know the different mechanisms of the narcissistic register that come into play in the quite particular relational behaviour that should more relevantly be called 'homoeroticism'. On the other hand, our diagnostic and therapeutic approach will benefit from not considering, at the outset, all the economically and psychogenetically very different varieties of homoeroticism, male or female, latent or manifest, in too global a fashion, with reference also to the Freudian concept of psychic bisexuality. The French psychoanalytical research team working with the author has focused on these important issues for a number of years now. This article aims to give a fairly brief account of its work, with the objective of opening up a discussion amongst psychoanalysts, within the framework of Freudian thought.     

Identity construction and career development interventions with emerging adults

Today's wealthy societies are more fluid, varied and complex than they were just a few decades ago. As a consequence, what were “vocational choices” at the beginning of the 20th century now appear as “life designing issues”. In this context, contemporary research stresses the plurality and relative malleability of human subjects as well as their ability to take reflexive stances on their current and past experiences. Fitting in such an epistemology, a self-constructing model is proposed as a basis for a life designing counseling interview. This model describes self-identity as a dynamic system of (past, present and expected) subjective identity forms (SIF), the synthesis and dynamism of which originate in a tension between two kinds of reflexivity. Counseling interviews with emerging adults show that the elicitation of some expected SIF allows them to re-read their current and past experiences from such a perspective and constitutes a compelling incentive to act.     

Framing Foreign Policy Alternatives in the Inner Circle: President Carter, His Advisors, and the Struggle for the Arms Control Agenda

This article examines strategic framing efforts within the president's inner circle of foreign policy advisors. The comparative case study method is used to describe and explain the framing process involved in President Jimmy Carter's arms control decisions with respect to the Soviet Union. Carter's two central foreign policy advisors, National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski and Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, portrayed the Soviets in very different terms. The premise underlying this study is that advisors attempt to frame their policy preferences favorably in order to influence the group process and the president's policy choice. Advisors do so by playing up the positive aspects of an option and downplaying any negative aspects. Three components of the framing process are explored: historical/cultural symbolism, personal beliefs and values, and political cost assessments.     

Revisiting backward recall and benchmark memory effects: a reply to Bireta et al. (2010)

When participants are asked to recall lists of items in the reverse order, known as backward recall, several benchmark memory phenomena, such as the word length effect, are abolished (Bireta et al. Memory & Cognition 38:279–291, 2010). Bireta et al. (Memory & Cognition 38:279–291, 2010) suggested that in backward recall, reliance on order retention is increased at the expense of item retention, leading to the abolition of item-based phenomena. In a subsequent study, however, Guérard and Saint-Aubin (in press) showed that four lexical factors known to modulate item retention were unaffected by recall direction. In a series of five experiments, we examined the source of the discrepancy between the two studies. We revisited the effects of phonological similarity, word length, articulatory suppression, and irrelevant speech, using open and closed pools of words in backward and forward recall. The results are unequivocal in showing that none of these effects are influenced by recall direction, suggesting that Bireta et al.’s (Memory & Cognition 38:279–291, 2010) results are the consequence of their particular stimuli.     

The role of distress tolerance in the relationship between depressive symptoms and problematic alcohol use

Empirical evidence and theory implicate the role of distress tolerance in the relationship between negative affect and alcohol use. However, limited research has been conducted to explore these relationships. As such, the purpose of this study was to examine whether distress tolerance moderates the relationship between current depressive symptoms and problematic alcohol use in a community sample of adults. Participants included 150 adults, primarily female, recruited from the local community. Problematic alcohol use was measured using the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) total score, which is a composite measure of harmful and hazardous patterns of alcohol use and several current alcohol dependence symptoms. Distress tolerance was measured using a computerized behavioral distress tolerance task, the Computerized Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task (PASAT-C). Tobit regression analyses indicated a significant interaction between distress tolerance and depressive symptoms in predicting alcohol problems, such that depressive symptoms were significantly associated with problematic alcohol use among adults with low, but not high, distress tolerance. Thus, alcohol use interventions with a focus on distress tolerance skills in the context of depressive symptoms may be particularly effective. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

A systematic review of training programs for parents of children with autism spectrum disorders: Single subject contributions

Aim: The purpose of this systematic review was to examine research utilizing single subject research designs (SSRD) to explore the effectiveness of interventions designed to increase parents' ability to support communication and social development in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). Method: Included studies were systematically assessed for methodological quality (Logan et al., 2008; Smith et al., 2007) and intervention effects. Data examining participant characteristics, study methodology, outcomes, and analysis were systematically extracted. Results: Eleven SSRD parent-training intervention studies examining 44 participants with ASD were included. Overall, the studies were of moderate quality and reported increases in parent skills and child language and communication outcomes. Interpretation: The results supported by improvement rate difference (IRD) analysis indicated several interventions demonstrated positive effects for both parent and child outcomes. However, limited generalization and follow-up data suggested only one intervention demonstrated parents' accurate and ongoing intervention implementation beyond training.     

Social factors in the development of early executive functioning: a closer look at the caregiving environment

This study investigated prospective links between quality of the early caregiving environment and children's subsequent executive functioning (EF). Sixty-two families were met on five occasions, allowing for assessment of maternal interactive behavior, paternal interactive behavior, and child attachment security between 1 and 2 years of age, and child EF at 2 and 3 years. The results suggested that composite scores of parental behavior and child attachment were related to child performance on EF tasks entailing strong working memory and cognitive flexibility components (conflict-EF). In particular, child attachment security was related to conflict-EF performance at 3 years above and beyond what was explained by a combination of all other social antecedents of child EF identified thus far: child verbal ability and prior EF, family SES, and parenting behavior. Attachment security may thus play a meaningful role in young children's development of executive control.     

Intolerance of Uncertainty and Anxiety Symptoms: Examining the Indirect Effect Through Anxiety Sensitivity Among Adults with Anxiety-Related Disorders

Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment - The conceptual overlap between intolerance of uncertainty (IU) and anxiety sensitivity (AS) has gained recent attention, with researchers...