The Role of Racial Discrimination in the Economic Value of Education Among Urban,Low-Income Latina/o Youth: Ethnic Identity and Gender as Moderators

The present study used resilience theory to explore relationships among perceived racial discrimination, ethnic identity, gender, and economic value of education (EVE) among urban, low‐income, Latina/o youth. It was expected that racial discrimination would predict poorer perceptions of the EVE among Latina/o adolescents. Ethnic identity was hypothesized to buffer the negative effect of racial discrimination on Latina/o students’ EVE. The participants in this study were 396 urban, low‐income Latina/o high school students from a large, Midwestern city who completed surveys in both 9th‐ and 10th‐grade. Structural equation modeling was used to test the relationships among racial discrimination, ethnic identity, and EVE. Results supported a protective model of resilience. Specifically, ethnic identity served as a protective factor by buffering the negative effect of perceived racial discrimination on EVE for male participants. The present study is the first to examine ethnic identity as a buffer of racial discrimination on EVE among Latina/o high school students. Future directions and implications are discussed.     

JEAB Research Over Time: Species Used,Experimental Designs,Statistical Analyses,and Sex of Subjects

We examined the species used as subjects in every article published in the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior (JEAB) from 1958 through 2013. We also determined the sex of subjects in every article with human subjects (N = 524) and in an equal number of randomly selected articles with nonhuman subjects, as well as the general type of experimental designs used. Finally, the percentage of articles reporting an inferential statistic was determined at 5-year intervals. In all, 35,317 subjects were studied in 3,084 articles; pigeons ranked first and humans second in number used. Within-subject experimental designs were more popular than between-subjects designs regardless of whether human or nonhuman subjects were studied but were used in a higher percentage of articles with nonhumans (75.4 %) than in articles with humans (68.2 %). The percentage of articles reporting an inferential statistic has increased over time, and more than half of the articles published in 2005 and 2010 reported one. Researchers who publish in JEAB frequently depart from Skinner’s preferred research strategy, but it is not clear whether such departures are harmful. Finally, the sex of subjects was not reported in a sizable percentage of articles with both human and nonhuman subjects. This is an unfortunate oversight.     

Item type,occlusion, and gender differences in mental rotation

Two experiments were conducted to examine the role of item type in mental rotation. In each experiment, participants completed two computerized mental rotation tasks, one with blocks as stimuli and one with human figures as stimuli. The tasks were formatted either as a multiple-choice psychometric test (Experiment 1) or as a same–different type task (Experiment 2). Aside from the expected replication of a decreased effect of occlusion on women's accuracy when processing human figures compared to block figures, it was hypothesized that response times would increase when processing the complex but familiar human figures, compared to the simple but unfamiliar block figures. In Experiment 1, the results relevant to occlusion were replicated. However, the presence of a speed–accuracy trade-off suggested that participants processed human figures faster but less accurately than block figures. In Experiment 2, both men and women performed faster and more accurately when processing occluded human figures than when processing nonoccluded human figures. The effect of item type, its potential link to embodied cognition, and the role of strategy selection on gender differences in mental rotation are discussed.     

Age and gender differences in implicit motives

Research on age differences in implicit motives is rare and has shown contradictory results. We investigated age and gender differences in implicit motives (achievement, power, affiliation and intimacy), measured by the Picture Story Exercise (PSE), in an extensive, heterogeneous dyadic sample of 736 adults aged 20–80 years. Data were analyzed with a multilevel approach. Results indicate lower motive scores in all four measured motives in aged as compared to young adults but higher scores in activity inhibition. Further, women scored higher in affiliation and intimacy motives than men, while men scored higher in achievement and power motives and in activity inhibition than women. Possible underlying affective and neuroendocrinological processes of age dependent change in implicit motives are discussed.     

Automatic gender detection of dream reports: A promising approach

A computer program was developed in an attempt to differentiate the dreams of males from females. Hypothesized gender predictors were based on previous literature concerning both dream content and written language features. Dream reports from home-collected dream diaries of 100 male (144 dreams) and 100 female (144 dreams) adolescent Anglophones were matched for equal length. They were first scored with the Hall and Van de Castle (HVDC) scales and quantified using DreamSAT. Two male and two female undergraduate students were asked to read all dreams and predict the dreamer’s gender. They averaged a pairwise percent correct gender prediction of 75.8% (κ = 0.516), while the Automatic Analysis showed that the computer program’s accuracy was 74.5% (κ = 0.492), both of which were higher than chance of 50% (κ = 0.00). The prediction levels were maintained when dreams containing obvious gender identifiers were eliminated and integration of HVDC scales did not improve prediction.     

Can traffic violations be traced to gender-role,sensation seeking,demographics and driving exposure?

BackgroundTraffic safety is often expressed as the ‘inverse of accidents’. However, it is more than the mere absence of accidents. Past studies often looked for associations between accidents and self-reports like the Driver Behaviour Questionnaire (DBQ; Reason, Manstead, Stradling, Baxter, & Campbell, 1990). The focus in this study changed from counting accidents to quantifying unsafe acts as violations. The objective was to show that drivers' specific violations can be traced to personal characteristics such as sensation seeking (SSS-V; Zuckerman, 1994), gender role (BSRI; Bem sex role inventory, Bem, 1974), demographics, and driving exposure.MethodA web-based questionnaire was distributed, integrating several known questionnaires. Five hundred and twenty-seven questionnaires were completed and analyzed.ResultsSensation seeking, gender role, experience, and age predicted respondents’ score on the DBQ, as well as the interaction of sensation seeking with gender and gender role. Gender role was a more valid predictor of driver behavior than gender.ConclusionsThe effect of gender role on drivers’ self-reported violation tendency is the most interesting and the most intriguing finding of this survey and indicates the need to further examine gender role affects in driving.     

Career construction in French apprenticeship programs: An exploration of the role of gender in the tutorship

In France, the private sector has increasingly over the last 20 years developed apprenticeship programs (Aeberhardt, Crusson, & Pommier, 2011) in Higher Education. One reason for this development is that young people who prepare for a diploma through apprenticeship programs achieve professional integration in the working world more quickly (Arrighi & Joseph, 2005). However, 17% of young people drop out before the end of their work contract, partly because they consider the work environment to be unsatisfactory or the work too difficult (Cart, ToutinTrelcat, & Henguelle, 2010). In the workplace, apprentices receive the guidance of a professional, the tutor. This research aims to analyze the role of tutor gender on apprentices' perception of their career and intention to quit or stay in the professional sector. The general hypothesis of the research is that tutors have a key role on the career construction of apprentices. Semi-structured interviews have been conducted with apprentices in Higher Education on their relationships with their male or female tutor in the company. The findings underline the role of both tutors' and apprentices' gender and of the particular labor division in the workplace.     

Stepparents and Parenting Stress: The Roles of Gender,Marital Quality,and Views about Gender Roles

Previous research suggests that stepparenting can be stressful, although the mechanisms that contribute to the experience of parenting stress in stepfamilies are less clear. This study examines gender, marital quality, and views about gendered family roles as correlates of parenting stress among 310 stepmothers, stepfathers, and biological mothers and fathers. Findings suggest that stepparents, and especially stepmothers, experience higher levels of parenting stress than biological parents. Findings also suggest that less traditional views about gendered family roles and higher dyadic adjustment are associated with lower parenting stress for stepparents, particularly in combination. Stepparents reporting both of these protective factors were indistinguishable in terms of parenting stress from biological parents. These findings indicate potential pathways to mitigate the stress associated with stepparenting.     

Distinguishing among disruptive behaviors to help predict high school graduation: Does gender matter?

This study examined unique predictive associations of aggressive and hyperactive–inattentive behaviors in elementary school with high school graduation. The current study also investigated whether these associations were moderated by gender. At Time 1, 745 children in the 3rd through 5th grades completed peer ratings on their classmates’ disruptive behaviors. At Time 2, school records were reviewed to determine whether students graduated within four years of entering high school. Results showed that gender and hyperactivity-inattention are uniquely associated with high school graduation, but childhood aggression is not. Results also indicated that gender moderated associations between hyperactivity–inattention and graduation. Among boys, hyperactive–inattentive behaviors were not significantly associated with graduation, above and beyond aggression. In contrast, among girls, hyperactive–inattentive behaviors in childhood were significantly associated with graduation even after controlling for aggression. These findings suggest that in middle childhood, hyperactive–inattentive behaviors may be a more meaningful predictor of high school graduation than other forms of early disruptive behavior (e.g., aggression), especially for girls. Such findings could have significant implications for prevention and intervention programs designed to target children at risk for dropping out of school.     

Violencia en relaciones de pareja de jóvenes y adolescentes

This paper sought to study aggressive behavior in adolescent relationships in the province of Huelva (Spain) and its relation to certain variables (sexism, frustration tolerance, interparental conflict and externalizing problems). To that end, we conducted a cross-sectional study with questionnaires on a sample of students consisting of 716 subjects (398 girls and 314 boys), aged 14 to 20. The results indicated that verbal and emotional violence was the most common subtype of violence among young couples regardless of gender. Girls were identified as the most frequent implementers of physical and verbal-emotional violence, while boys were more engaged in relational and sexual aggression.The analyses in terms of age revealed a decrease in physical violence while sexual violence increased directly related to the age of the subject. Sexism, low frustration tolerance and the presence of externalizing problems were the factors most linked to violent behavior within relationships.