Racial discrimination-induced anger and alcohol use among black adolescents

This study explored whether a relationship exists between anger among Black adolescents that has been provoked by racial discrimination, and alcohol consumption. Participants consisted of 134 Black adolescents from 14 to 18 years of age, residing in northeast Texas. All participants were administered a questionnaire measuring whether and the extent to which they might be dependent upon alcohol, a background information questionnaire which included questions about their drinking pattern, and a measure designed to assess the extent to which they feel angry either because they had been discriminated against or observed other Blacks being discriminated against or observed other Blacks being discriminated against in various situations. Only gender was found to be predictive of scores on the dependency scale. However gender, age, and racial discrimination anger scores were found to be predictive of the amount of alcohol consumed by the participants. Some implications for theory, research, and intervention are suggested.     

ADHD and college students: exploratory and confirmatory factor structures with student and parent data

Exploratory factor analyses (EFAs) and confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) were used to investigate the structure of the Student Report Inventory (SRI) and Parent Report Inventory (PRI) of the College Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Response Evaluation. The sample was composed of 1,080 college students and their parents and was stratified by ethnicity, gender, ability level, age, grade, region of residence, and psychoeducational classification status. Results varied according to the information source (self-report vs. parent). EFA uncovered and CFA confirmed 3 distinct and reliable dimensions for student reports: Inattention, Hyperactivity, and Impulsivity. By contrast, EFA and CFA uncovered a reliable 2-dimension structure for the parent-report data. Factor structures replicated across genders (3 factors for the SRI, and 2 factors for the PRI). Results are discussed in terms of the divergence of structures.     

National glorification and attachment differentially predict support for intergroup conflict resolution: Scrutinizing cross-country generalizability

Research on national identity distinguishes between national glorification and attachment. We tested whether glorification and attachment differentially predicted support for military and diplomatic conflict resolution strategies (CRS) in response to international conflicts. Using data collected in seven countries (Australia, United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Israel, China; total N = 1784), we investigated whether glorification and attachment can be equivalently measured (using tests of measurement invariance) and whether their relationships with CRS were generalizable across countries. The results revealed metric, but not scalar, measurement invariance of the two-factor structure of national identification across six countries, excluding China. Among these six countries, glorification predicted more support for military CRS, whereas attachment predicted more support for diplomatic CRS. Our study is novel in scrutinizing the cross-cultural generalizability of the bi-dimensional model of national identification. Implications for studying national identification and intergroup conflict cross-culturally are discussed.     

Book reviews

Time's Arrow and Archimedes’ Point: New Directions for the Physics of Time Huw PRICE, 1996 New York, Oxford University Press xiii + 306 pp. SCAN 37.00 (hardcover) ISBN 0–19–510095–6

Mental Reality GALEN STRAWSON, 1994 Cambridge, MA, The MIT Press xiv + 337 pp., S37.50 (cloth), $17.50 (paper) ISBN 0–262–19352–3 (paper)

The Rule of Reason: The Philosophy of Charles Sanders Peirce JACQUELINE BRUNNING & PAUL FORSTER, Eds, 1997 Toronto, University of Toronto Press 316 pp., $80.00 (hardcover), $24.95 (paperback) ISBN 0–8020–0829–1 (cloth), ISBN 0–8020–7819–2 (paper)

Scientific Knowledge: A Sociological Approach BARRY BARNES, DAVID BLOOR & JOHN HENRY, 1996 Chicago, University of Chicago Press xvi + 230 pp., ISBN 0–226–03730–4 (cloth), 0–226–03713–2 (paperback)

The Scientific Revolution STEVEN SHAPIN, 1996 Chicago, University of Chicago Press x + 218 pp., ISBN 0–226–75020–5 (cloth), 0–226–75021–3 (paperback)     

Cultural Dimensions,Gender, and the Nature of Self-concept: A Fourteen-country Study

Ratings of the importance of and satisfaction with 20 areas of the self were obtained from 3604 first or second year social science undergraduates from 14 countries (15 cultures). Factor analysis at the culture by gender level supported four factors for both sets of ratings. The resulting factor scores were analyzed for mean differences according to the cultural dimension of Individualism-Collectivism by Gender and by correlations with other cultural dimenions and economic indicators. It was found that participants from the 10 collectivist cultures placed greater salience for their self-concepts on “family values” than did those from the individualist cultures. However, this cultural difference was not found for “social relationships”. The expected gender differences, with females valuing “family values” and “social relationships” more highly, were found only for the individualist countries. The findings indicate that there may be a strong cultural level interaction effect between gender and Individualism-Collectivism on the nature of self-conceptions, and that the “family” and “social” aspects of self-concept in collectivist countries need to be considered separately.     

What is it Like to be a Phenomenologist?

In a recent paper, 'On the Persistence of Phenomenology' (in T. Metzinger (ed.), Conscious Experience , Paderborn, 1995), Diana Raffman presents a new argument for qualia, an argument that provides new focus for the qualia debate. We think Raffman's work relocates the debate to a better neighbourhood, a neighbourhood in which what tempts us to think that there must be qualia or phenomenal information is highlighted. Raffman, we argue, locates the core thought shared by many of the friends of qualia, namely, that our conceptual resources are inadequate for capturing the richness of experience. Experience is ineffably determinate. Moreover, Raffman's argument in support of this thought seems especially embarrassing to scientific-minded materialists, since the argument relies largely on well established empirical facts. We show, however, that Raffman's argument fails. So, if we are correct that her argument highlights what is tempting about qualia, then we have also shown that it is not tempting.