Masculinities and ethnicities: Ethnic differences in drive for muscularity in British men and the negotiation of masculinity hierarchies

Although relatively little is known about ethnic differences in men's drive for muscularity, recent theoretical developments suggest that ethnic minority men may desire greater muscularity to contest their positions of relative subordinate masculinity. This study tested this hypothesis in a sample of 185 White, 180 Black British, and 182 South Asian British men. Participants completed self‐report measures of drive for muscularity, need for power, adherence to traditional cultural values, and ethnic group affiliation. Taking into account between‐group differences in body mass index, results indicated that White men had significantly lower drive for muscularity than Black and South Asian men, who were not significantly different from each other. In addition, greater need for power was significantly associated with higher drive for muscularity in ethnic minority, but not White, men. Greater adherence to traditional cultural values, but not ethnic group affiliation, was associated with lower drive for muscularity in all ethnic groups. These results suggest that ethnic minority men may desire greater muscularity as a means of negotiating masculinity and attendant ideals of appearance.     

Human dignity – the foundation of political human rights? Empirical research among youth in Germany

This article focuses on political human rights and on the empirically assessed legitimation of these rights. This research considers the rights of refugees, the active and passive right to vote, and the right of protest. Given that the research is empirical research, respondents are requested to express agreement, disagreement or neutrality. The assumption is that contextual factors influence people’s assessment of rights. One contextual factor is, firstly, the concept of human dignity. International human rights covenants regard human dignity as the very foundation of all rights. That said, the concept of human dignity is subject to different understandings and – certainly in the past – the understanding of what constitutes human dignity has varied. Dignity can be related to the appreciation of the person given by others, to the moral behaviour of a person, and it can be understood as inherently related to the individual as a human being. It is this last understanding that forms the basis of modern declarations of human rights. Furthermore, the respondents’ value orientations and religious beliefs, along with society’s socio-political perception, will be examined to ascertain whether these factors have any influence on respondents’ attitudes towards political rights. The key question is: does human dignity influence people’s view of the legitimacy of political rights and do other factors also count? The empirical analysis was undertaken done with German youth (N=2244). Findings show that the concept of inherent human dignity is a strong predictor for respondents’ attitudes towards political rights, but that it is not the unique predictor; relevant concepts are the value orientation of youth and their socio-political orientation. The significance of religious beliefs as a predictor is low.     

Social values priorities and orientation towards individualism and collectivism of Greek university students

The study aimed to explore the value priorities of Greek young adults and their orientation towards individualism and collectivism and to investigate for possible relationships between value types and individualism and collectivism. Greek undergraduate students (n = 484) completed the Social Values Survey, the Auckland’s Individualism and Collectivism Scale and a form of demographic information. Benevolence, self-direction and hedonism were found to be the most highly rated value types for both males and females. In the case of individualism and collectivism participants scored higher on collectivism. Males and science and technology students scored higher on value types regarding openness to change and self-enhancement. Females and social and humanities students scored higher on conservation and self-transcendence value types. Religiosity was associated to collectivism and to value types regarding conservation and self-transcendence. Regression analysis revealed a direct association between individualism and openness to change and self-enhancement. Collectivism was found to be associated with conservation and self-transcendence.     

A global portrait of counselling psychologists’ characteristics,perspectives, and professional behaviors

Counseling psychologists in eight countries (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and the United States) responded to survey questions that focused on their demographics as well as their professional identities, roles, settings, and activities. As well, they were asked about satisfaction with the specialty and the extent to which they endorsed 10 core counseling psychology values. This article reports those results, focusing both on areas in which there were between-country similarities as well as on those for which there were differences. These data provide a snapshot of counseling psychology globally and establish a foundation for the other articles in this special issue of the journal.     

Relationships among Chinese college students’ defensive pessimism,cultural values,and psychological health

This study examined defensive pessimism, viewed as a self-regulatory strategy in Western cultures, in China among college students, and explored its relationship with Chinese cultural values and students’ psychological health operationalized as adult hope and personal growth initiative. Two-hundred and thirty Chinese students from a comprehensive university in Beijing, China, participated in the study. Data were analyzed by using structural equation modeling. The results showed that all the measures used in the study were valid for our sample. The inferential modeling demonstrated that reflectivity, but not pessimism, subscale of defensive pessimism correlated with Chinese cultural values. Additionally, pessimism and reflectivity predicted psychological health in opposite directions. Reflectivity contributed to hope and positive growth initiative, but pessimism decreased these psychological health indicators. The results seemed to suggest that reflectivity, but not pessimism, captured the essence of defensive pessimism for Chinese college students. Limitations and directions for future research were discussed.     

L’appariement personne-organisation au service de la sélection du personnel

In order to address the market and workforce pressures and obligations, many organizations are now turning to person-organization fit (P-O fit) based on value congruence for their recruitment and selection activities. However, the various ways to ensure P-O fit are not very well known. This article presents concrete practices to measure and take into account P-O fit in selection, one of which is testing.     

Relationship of cultural values to counterproductive work behaviour: The mediating role of job stress

The purposes of this study were to investigate how cultural values are related to counterproductive work behaviour (CWB), and to examine whether individuals' job stress acts as a mediator between cultural types and CWB. Using an anonymous questionnaire survey, the sample was comprised of 440 employees working in government institutes and private sectors in Thailand. The results show that job stress not only has a direct relationship to CWB, but also partially mediates the relationship between cultural values and CWB. The strong mediating links were between horizontal collectivism and CWB and between vertical individualism and CWB.     

An examination of when and how leader political skill influences team performance in China: A cultural value perspective

This study examined the relationship between leader political skill and team performance, as well as the mediating (team cohesion) and moderating (power distance) variables of the relationship. Our theoretical model was tested using data collected from employees in a food service company. Analyses of multisource and lagged data from 59 teams and 276 members indicated that leader political skill was positively related to team performance via team cohesion. Further, both the relationship between leader political skill and team cohesion and the indirect relationship between leader political skill and team performance were stronger when teams exhibited lower power distance.     

Asynchrony in Attitudes Toward Abortion and Gay Rights: The Challenge to Values Alignment

Political commentators tend to assume that Americans who share a particular religious affiliation think similarly about values issues and that values questions are aligned. Although religious affiliation is a strong predictor of attitudes toward abortion and gay rights, there is differentiation within denominational subgroups with respect to both; for example, while majorities of mainline Protestants and Catholics favor gay marriage, many of their respective co‐religionists do not. Further, aggregate survey data shows asynchrony in within‐group attitudes on abortion and gay rights; for example, whereas Hispanic Catholics are more likely to support gay marriage than legal abortion, black Protestants are more likely to support legal abortion than gay marriage. Abortion and gay equality are discrete issues and give rise to divergent attitudes based on the lived reality of different ethnoreligious groups. These findings challenge the utility of the construct of the “values voter,” and underscore that abortion and gay rights should be recognized as separate public policy domains.