Body-size perception, body-esteem, and parenting history in college women reporting a history of child abuse

This study investigated the relations among physical, emotional, and sexual abuse up to adolescence and subsequent perception of body size, detection of changes in body size, and body-esteem. The role of parenting history in abused participants was also examined. 38 college undergraduate women, half of whom had been abused, reported instances of abuse, childhood parenting history, and current body-esteem. A recently developed software program of Gardner and Boice was used to present a series of distorted frontal profiles of each participant's own body for the women to rate as being too wide or too thin. A psychophysical procedure called adaptive probit estimation was used to measure the amount of over- and underestimation of these ratings and whether these changes were statistically significant. Analysis showed abused participants had distorted perceptions of body size, although the direction of the distortion was not consistent. There was no difference in detection of changes in body size. Abused and nonabused participants differed on measures of body-esteem and on ratings of most parenting experiences, including experiences with both mothers and fathers.     

The Adjustment of Drug Addicts as Measured by the Sentence Completion Test

The Rotter Incomplete Sentences Blank was administered to fifty out-patients at a rehabilitation center for narcotic addicts. There were twenty male heroin users, twenty male pill users, and ten female heroin users. Interscorer, intrascorer, and split-half reliabilities were all high. It was found that a cutting score of adjustment of 135 correctly identified 80 per cent of the male heroin users, 90 per cent of the male pill users, and 100 per cent of the female heroin users.     

Linking Religion and Spirituality with Psychological Well-being: Examining Self-actualisation, Meaning in Life, and Personal Growth Initiative

Research largely shows that religion and spirituality have a positive correlation to psychological well-being. However, there has been a great deal of confusion and debate over their operational definitions. This study attempted to delineate the two constructs and categorise participants into different groups based on measured levels of religious involvement and spirituality. The groups were then scored against specific measures of well-being. A total of 205 participants from a wide range of religious affiliations and faith groups were recruited from various religious institutions and spiritual meetings. They were assigned to one of four groups with the following characteristics: (1) a high level of religious involvement and spirituality, (2) a low level of religious involvement with a high level of spirituality, (3) a high level of religious involvement with a low level of spirituality, and (4) a low level of religious involvement and spirituality. Multiple comparisons were made between the groups on three measures of psychological well-being: levels of self-actualisation, meaning in life, and personal growth initiative. As predicted, it was discovered that, aside from a few exceptions, groups (1) and (2) obtained higher scores on all three measures. As such, these results confirm the importance of spirituality on psychological well-being, regardless of whether it is experienced through religious participation.     

“Do Me Please,She Won't”: An Examination of Personal Ads Posted by Married Men Seeking Sex from Other Men

Advances in technology have created new ways for individuals to find partners through personal ads seeking casual sexual encounters. This article examines self-identified married men who are seeking sexual encounters through placement of a men seeking men personal ad found on a free non-sexual large mainstream classified website. Three thousand advertisements were analyzed to reveal patterns among advertisements including items such as sexual act desired, sexual roles desired, race, and age. The results reveal that married men are seeking out different types of sexual encounters than men who do not identify themselves as married, desiring encounters more often during lunch, seeking out drug and disease free partners, desiring safe sex, and being more likely to desire a top or versatile sex role.     

Effects of Exposure to Physique Slides on the Emotional Responses of Men and Women

The purpose of this study was to examine high and low body dissatisfied (BD) men's and women's in-task emotional responses to the acute exposure of sex-specific physique slides of the aesthetic ideal (i.e., ideal slides) and themselves (i.e., self-slides). Participants were 35 male and 30 female university students who reported their immediate in-task emotional responses (i.e., pleasure and arousal) to viewing the self- and ideal slides. It was found that the (a) high BD women reported the least amount of pleasure while viewing the self- and ideal slides; (b) women reported less pleasure while viewing the self-slides than did the men; (c) The high BD group reported less pleasure while viewing the self- vs. the ideal slides than did the low BD group, and (d) the high BD men reported the most arousal of any of the groups while viewing the self- and ideal slides. The differing emotional responses of the men and women and the high and low BD groups to viewing the self- vs. ideal slides are discussed, and future research directions are suggested.