Medical Students’ Gender Awareness

Gender awareness in medicine consists of two attitudinal components: gender sensitivity and gender-role ideology. In this article, the development of a scale to measure these attitudes in Dutch medical students is described. After a pilot study and a feasibility study, 393 medical students in The Netherlands responded to a preliminary instrument consisting of 82 items (response rate 61.3%). Reliability and validity were established. A gender awareness scale containing a gender sensitivity subscale (14 items), and gender stereotypes towards patients (11 items) as well as towards doctors (7 items) was developed. The instrument may be used for research purposes to evaluate gender awareness raising courses.     

Ethnic Differences in Parental Perceptions of Genetic Testing for Deaf Infants

As genetic testing becomes an integral part of the evaluation of deaf infants and children, it is important to understand parental views on genetic testing. The purpose of this study is to examine parental reasons for, and beliefs about, genetic testing for deafness in early-identified infants, and to determine if they differ as a function of ethnicity. We present baseline data collected from 56 Caucasian, 59 Hispanic, and 24 Asian parents of deaf children participating in a longitudinal, prospective study on genetic testing for connexin-related deafness. The overall finding is that reasons for, and beliefs about, genetic testing for deafness varied as a function of ethnicity. Virtually all parents sought genetic testing to understand why their child is deaf. However, Asian and/or Hispanic parents were more likely than Caucasian parents to view family planning, helping with their child's medical care, and helping the family as other important reasons for testing, and were more likely than Caucasian parents to perceive genetic testing to be useful for these purposes. Asian and Hispanic parents were more likely than Caucasian parents to perceive genetic testing in harmful terms. Genetic testing fulfills a cognitive need for parents to understand why their child is deaf, yet differences in responses suggest that Asian and Hispanic parents may seek testing for other purposes. Understanding different perspectives on genetic testing for deafness will enhance genetic counselors' cultural competence and facilitate the pre-test genetic counseling session.     

Isolating observer-based reference directions in human spatial memory: head, body, and the self-to-array axis

Several lines of research have suggested the importance of egocentric reference systems for determining how the spatial properties of one's environment are mentally organized. Yet relatively little is known about the bases for egocentric reference systems in human spatial memory. In three experiments, we examine the relative importance of observer-based reference directions in human memory by controlling the orientation of head and body during acquisition. Experiment 1 suggests that spatial memory is organized by a head-aligned reference direction; however, Experiment 2 shows that a body-aligned reference direction can be more influential than a head-aligned direction when the axis defined by the relative positions of the observer and the learned environment (the "self-to-array" axis) is properly controlled. A third experiment shows that the self-to-array axis is distinct from - and can dominate - retina, head, and body-based egocentric reference systems.     

Memory plasticity across the life span: uncovering children's latent potential

Memory plasticity, or the ability to improve one's memory performance through instruction and training, is known to decline during adulthood. However, direct comparisons among middle childhood, adulthood, and old age are lacking. The authors examined memory plasticity in an age-comparative multisession training study. One hundred and eight participants ages 9-10, 11-12, 20-25, and 65-78 years learned and practiced an imagery-based mnemonic technique to encode and retrieve words by location cues. Individuals of all ages were able to acquire and optimize use of the technique. Older adults and children showed similar baseline performance and improvement through mnemonic instruction. However, in line with tenets from life-span psychology (P. B. Baltes, 1987), children profited more from mnemonic practice and reached higher levels of final performance than did older adults.     

Facilitating Responding in Accordance with the Relational Frame of Comparison: Systematic Empirical Analyses

The Psychological Record - The current article examines patterns of adult responding to different types of more-than and less-than relations, as well as procedures for facilitating responding in...     

Derived Comparative and Transitive Relations in Young Children with and Without Autism

The Psychological Record - The current study comprised 2 experiments to generate relational responding in typically developing children and children with autism. In Study 1, the children were...     

Mother–Father–Child Triadic Interaction and Mother–Child Dyadic Interaction: Gender Differences Within and Between Contexts

Differences in mother and father behavior during a triadic interaction session, and differences in mothers’ behavior across triadic and dyadic interaction, were examined in 60 two-parent families with an 11- to 15-month-old child (30 boys, 30 girls). Results revealed that mothers were less involved, less sensitive, and more negative during triadic than during dyadic interaction. Mothers of sons displayed more emotion during triadic interaction than mothers of daughters did. Mothers were more involved with children than fathers were during triadic interaction, whereas fathers displayed more emotion than mothers did during triadic interaction. Fathers were more supportive of mothers, and mothers were more intrusive toward fathers, during triadic interaction. The results are discussed in terms of the role that context plays in gender-typed patterns of family interaction.     

Gender Differences in Mother-toddler and Father-toddler Verbal Initiations and Responses during a Caregiving and Play Context

Contextual variations in mother-child and father-child verbal communication were examined among 80 U.S. families from Kansas who were predominately Caucasian (85%) and middle-class. There were 41 girls and 39 boys between 15- and 18-months-old observed with their mothers and fathers in separate play and caregiving laboratory situations. Parent and child behaviors were coded for verbal initiation and response strategies. MANOVA’s revealed more differences between mother’s and father’s verbal communication strategies in the play context than the caregiving context. Boy’s and girl’s verbal communication was relatively similar across contexts. The interactions between gender and context are discussed in relation to gender role development in the family.