Doubly Bound: The Impact of Gender and Race on the Politics of Black Women

Gender has been thought to be less salient than race among black women. Data from two national surveys of black Americans, conducted in 1984 and 1996, show that black women identify as strongly on the basis of their gender as their race, and that these gender and racial identities are mutually reinforcing. Nevertheless, among black women, their identification with their race more powerfully affected their political attitudes than did their identification on the basis of gender, except in instances where the interests of blacks directly conflict with the interests of women. These empirically based findings speak to the issue of why the attitudes of black women toward contemporary gender issues can sharply diverge from those of white women.     

Comparing the CASI-4R and the PGBI-10 M for Differentiating Bipolar Spectrum Disorders from Other Outpatient Diagnoses in Youth

We compared 2 rating scales with different manic symptom items on diagnostic accuracy for detecting pediatric bipolar spectrum disorder (BPSDs) in outpatient mental health clinics. Participants were 681 parents/guardians of eligible children (465 male, mean age = 9.34) who completed the Parent General Behavior Inventory-10-item Mania (PGBI-10 M) and mania subscale of the Child and Adolescent Symptom Inventory-Revised (CASI-4R). Diagnoses were based on KSADS interviews with parent and youth. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses and diagnostic likelihood ratios (DLRs) determined discriminative validity and provided clinical utility, respectively. Logistic regressions tested for incremental validity in the CASI-4R mania subscale and PGBI-10 M in predicting youth BPSD status above and beyond demographic and common diagnostic comorbidities. Both CASI-4R and PGBI-10 M scales significantly distinguished BPSD (N = 160) from other disorders (CASI-4R: Area under curve (AUC) = .80, p < 0.0005; PGBI-10 M: AUC = 0.79, p < 0.0005) even though scale items differed. Both scales performed equally well in differentiating BPSDs (Venkatraman test p > 0.05). Diagnostic likelihood ratios indicated low scores on either scale (CASI: 0–5; PGBI-10 M: 0–6) cut BPSD odds to 1/5 of those with high scores (CASI DLR- = 0.17; PGBI-10 M DLR- = 0.18). High scores on either scale (CASI: 14+; PGBI-10 M: 20+) increased BPSD odds about fourfold (CASI DLR+ = 4.53; PGBI-10 M DLR+ = 3.97). Logistic regressions indicated the CASI-4R mania subscale and PGBI-10 M each provided incremental validity in predicting youth BPSD status. The CASI-4R is at least as valid as the PGBI-10 M to help identify BPSDs, and can be considered as part of an assessment battery to screen for pediatric BPSDs.     

Extending the Legacy of Sandra Bem: Psychological Androgyny as a Touchstone Conceptual Advance for the Study of Gender in Psychological Science

We retrace Bem’s original formulations for defining and assessing the concept of psychological androgyny in the United States. By focusing on the early conceptual aspects of Bem’s research, we describe three related but distinct impacts of that work. One impact was a social justice message of equality between women and men in the United States. A second impact was focusing research attention on gender roles as a malleable, socially constructed phenomena that, when polarized across gender groups, had negative consequences for psychological well-being. A third less obvious impact was helping scholars divest themselves of the previous, narrow understanding that gender was ultimately collapsible into a single dimension of masculinity–femininity. As with any new concept for its time, the legacy of psychological androgyny featured both backslides into and advances against the previous understanding of gender that it was designed to challenge. Our discussion of what we believe to be key functions and impacts of the concept of psychological androgyny serves to underscore just how important its introduction was and still is for ongoing gender scholarship and research.     

Spousal understanding and marital satisfaction in pain patients and their spouses

The current study tested the hypotheses that knee osteoarthritis (OA) patients and spouses who report more spousal understanding of patient's pain would report greater marital satisfaction. A total of 124 couples completed interviews at three time points across 18 months. Results from dyadic analyses showed that patients who felt more understood by their spouse report, and have spouses who report, higher marital satisfaction concurrently. In addition, patients who felt more understood by their spouse reported higher marital satisfaction over time. Spouses' reports of understanding also had a significant influence on the patients' and their own marital satisfaction concurrently. Results highlight the importance of spouses understanding knee OA patients' pain for both dyad members' marital satisfaction.     

Self-compassion and reactions to unpleasant self-relevant events: the implications of treating oneself kindly

Five studies investigated the cognitive and emotional processes by which self-compassionate people deal with unpleasant life events. In the various studies, participants reported on negative events in their daily lives, responded to hypothetical scenarios, reacted to interpersonal feedback, rated their or others' videotaped performances in an awkward situation, and reflected on negative personal experiences. Results from Study 1 showed that self-compassion predicted emotional and cognitive reactions to negative events in everyday life, and Study 2 found that self-compassion buffered people against negative self-feelings when imagining distressing social events. In Study 3, self-compassion moderated negative emotions after receiving ambivalent feedback, particularly for participants who were low in self-esteem. Study 4 found that low-self-compassionate people undervalued their videotaped performances relative to observers. Study 5 experimentally induced a self-compassionate perspective and found that self-compassion leads people to acknowledge their role in negative events without feeling overwhelmed with negative emotions. In general, these studies suggest that self-compassion attenuates people's reactions to negative events in ways that are distinct from and, in some cases, more beneficial than self-esteem.     

Enhancing early communication through infant sign training

Existing research suggests that there may be benefits to teaching signing to hearing infants who have not yet developed vocal communication. In the current study, each of 4 infants ranging in age from 6 to 10 months was taught a simple sign using delayed prompting and reinforcement. In addition, Experiment 1 showed that 2 children independently signed in a variety of novel stimulus conditions (e.g., in a classroom, with father) after participating in sign training under controlled experimental conditions. In Experiment 2, crying and whining were replaced with signing when sign training was implemented in combination with extinction.     

Resentment of Paternalism as System Change Sentiment: Hostile Sexism Toward Men and Actual Behavior in the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election

Taking inspiration from Glick and colleagues (2004), this study tested the idea that resentment of paternalism (which is part of the hostile sexism toward men construct) might approximate desire for system change by correlating this variable with actual behavior associated with system change in a single culture. Specifically, voting behavior in the 2008 U.S. presidential election was predicted from political party affiliation, measures of hostile and benevolent sexism toward both women and men, and egalitarian racial attitudes using a U.S. college student sample. Results indicated that the only significant predictors of voting behavior were political party affiliation, resentment of paternalism, and egalitarian racial attitudes. Higher levels of resentment of paternalism were in fact associated with voting for the ticket that represented system change—holding the other predictors constant.     

The ��Problem of Number�� Revisited: The Relative Contributions of Psychosocial, Experiential, and Evolutionary Factors to the Desired Number of Sexual Partners

Three studies (N?=?329) using U.S. community samples examined the relative contributions of self-reported ??sex,?? gender identity, and actual number of sexual partners to the question how many sexual partners individuals desire over the lifetime. In Study 1, the more ??feminine?? a participant identified, not self-reported sex, was significantly related to the desired number of sexual partners. Study 2a showed that a person??s actual number of sexual partners also correlated with the desired number. In Study 3, Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) (Bem Psychological Review, 88: 354?C364 1981) femininity scores and actual number of sexual partners significantly predicted desired number of sexual partners separately for men and women. These results suggest that non-evolutionary variables drive the ??problem of number?? in mate preference.     

Predictive validity of the Westmead Post-Traumatic Amnesia Scale for functional outcomes in school-aged children who sustained traumatic brain injury

The Westmead Post-Traumatic Amnesia Scale (WPTAS) is routinely used for the assessment of post-traumatic amnesia (PTA) in children who sustained traumatic brain injury (TBI). Yet, the WPTAS' predictive validity for functional outcomes is largely unknown. We aimed to determine whether PTA duration measured by the WPTAS (i) differentially predicts functional outcomes and (ii) contributes to predictions of outcomes beyond the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) in children who sustained TBI. Participants were children and adolescents with moderate-to-severe TBI (n = 55) aged 8–15 years. PTA duration was assessed with the WPTAS. Outcomes at the first outpatient follow-up were scored on the Kings Outcome Scale for Childhood Head Injury (KOSCHI) and the TBI Outcome Domain Scale-Extended (ODS-E). Longer PTA and lower GCS were both significantly correlated with worse (i) global outcomes: presence of disability on the KOSCHI and lower score on the ODS-E and (ii) select specific outcomes on the ODS-E: mobility, mood and cognition. PTA duration predicted cognitive outcome on the ODS-E independently, beyond GCS. Together, PTA duration and GCS, predicted the global KOSCHI outcome, as well as the ODS-E mobility and mood outcomes. Neither GCS nor PTA duration correlated with the ODS-E communication, impulsivity/disinhibition, headache, fatigue, sensory impairments or somatic complaints outcomes. PTA duration measured by the WPTAS is a significant unique predictor of functional cognitive outcomes in children who sustained moderate-to-severe TBI, and in combination with the GCS, a significant predictor of global, and several specific functional outcomes.