Gender differences in rumination: A meta-analysis

Starting in adolescence and continuing through adulthood, women are twice as likely as men to experience depression. According to the response styles theory (RST), gender differences in depression result, in part, from women’s tendency to ruminate more than men. A meta-analysis was performed to evaluate gender differences in rumination in adults (k = 59; N = 14,321); additionally, an analysis of subtypes of rumination – brooding and reflection – was conducted (k = 23). Fixed effects analyses indicated that women scored higher than men in rumination (d = .24, p < .01, SEd = .02), brooding (d = .19, p < .01, SEd = .03) and reflection (d = .17, p < .01, SEd = .03); there was no evidence of heterogeneity or publication bias across studies for these effect sizes. Although statistically significant, the effect sizes for gender differences in rumination were small in magnitude. Results are discussed with respect to the RST and gender differences in depression.     

Sex differences in neural efficiency: Are they due to the stereotype threat effect?

The neural efficiency hypothesis postulates a more efficient use of brain resources in more intelligent people as compared to less intelligent ones. However, this relationship was found to be moderated by sex and task content. While the phenomenon of neural efficiency was previously supported for men when performing visuo-spatial tasks it occurred for women only when performing verbal tasks. One possible explanation for this finding could be provided by the well-studied phenomenon called stereotype threat. Stereotype threat arises when a negative stereotype of one’s own group is made salient and can result in behavior that confirms the stereotype. Overall, 32 boys and 31 girls of varying intellectual ability were tested with a mental rotation task, either under a stereotype exposure or a no-stereotype exposure condition while measuring their EEG. The behavioral results show that an activated negative stereotype not necessarily hampers the performance of girls. Physiologically, a confirmation of the neural efficiency phenomenon was only obtained for boys working under a no-stereotype exposure condition. This result pattern replicates previous findings without threat and thus suggests that sex differences in neural efficiency during visuo-spatial tasks may not be due to the stereotype threat effect.     

Nothing gained: An explorative study of the long‐term effects of perceived maternal feeding practices on women's and men's adult BMI,body image dissatisfaction,and disordered eating

The objective of the studies presented here was the prediction of adult body mass index (BMI), body image dissatisfaction, and disordered eating from recalled maternal child feeding practices. Studies 1 and 2 sampled women from the community, and found that recalled childhood feeding practices predicted both current BMI and current disordered eating. Daughters whose mothers pressured them to eat as children had lower BMIs as adults. The more a mother was concerned about her daughter's weight as a child, and the more she restricted fatty food intake, the less the woman was satisfied with her current body image. Disordered eating of adult women was positively related to their mothers' restriction of their fatty food intake as children, and negatively related to the mothers' monitoring of their food intake as children. Combining the samples and subdividing them into four BMI intervals showed that the obese women were higher on all but one of the recalled maternal child feeding practices, as well as on disordered eating and body dissatisfaction. Age was found to be positively related to BMI and drive for thinness, but not to body dissatisfaction or disordered eating, with older women having higher BMI and more drive for thinness. Study 3 sampled adult men from the community and found that recalled maternal child feeding practices predicted adult BMI and disordered eating for men, as well as for women. Considerable sex differences were found for all study variables. Recollection of maternal child feeding practices may have a formative role in the development of body image, disordered eating, and BMI for men and women, even into adulthood.     

Enlarged Range of Free Flaps for Phalloplasty in Transsexual Reassignment Surgery

ABSTRACT

Our concept for complete phalloplasty which we applied in 66 female-to-male transsexuals, using free prelaminated osteofasciocutaneous fibula or fasciocutaneous forearm flaps, consisted of the following three operative stages:

1. mastectomy, ovariohysterectomy, urethra lengthening, colpectomy, and neourethra prelamination

2. after 3–6 months, neophallus creation with free sensate and prelaminated osteofasciocutaneous fibula (n = 41) or radial forearm flaps (n = 25)

3. 3–6 months later, urethral connection, neoscrotum formation and testicle prosthesis implantation.

Results: After mastectomy 2 hematoma had to be removed, and twice colpectomy revision was needed because of hematoma. No complications occurred after ovariohysterectomy. Partial flap necrosis took place in 1 patient of the forearm group and total necrosis in 2 patients of the fibula group. Eleven patients presented urethral stricture, and 9 a fistula. In 7 patients an operative stricture expansion was required, and in 6 patients surgical closure of the fistula. Overall patients' satisfaction was excellent.

Conclusions: The applied results demonstrates the effectiveness of such a multistage and interdisciplinary approach for female-to-male transsexual and it shows, that the fibula flap is an equal routine method extending the therapeutical range of gender assignment operations in female-to-male transsexuals.     

Considering sex differences in anxiety and its disorders across the life span: A construct-validation approach

One neglected avenue to understanding anxiety disorders is through studying patterns of sex differences, which may suggest the need for modification in definitions of anxiety and its disorders, their operationalization and measurement, and the theories associated with these constructs. This article begins with a comprehensive review of sex diffrences across the life span that supports the widely held view that most anxiety disorders are more common among females than males. Subsequently, we offer an analysis of the possible sources of sex differences from a construct-validity perspective, with emphasis on understanding whether sex differences have their basis in methodological problems, measurement or definitional problems, or problems in extant theories of anxiety themselves.     

Gay and Lesbian Couples in Italy: Comparisons with Heterosexual Couples

Assessing couple relationships across diverse languages and cultures has important implications for both clinical intervention and prevention. This is especially true for nontraditional relationships potentially subject to various expressions of negative societal evaluation or bias. Few empirically validated measures of relationship functioning have been developed for cross‐cultural applications, and none have been examined for their psychometric sufficiency for evaluating same‐sex couples across different languages and cultures. The current study examined the psychometric properties of an Italian translation of the Marital Satisfaction Inventory – Revised (MSI‐R), a 150‐item 13‐scale measure of couple relationship functioning, for its use in assessing the intimate relationships of gay and lesbian couples in Italy. Results for these couples were compared to data from heterosexual married and unmarried cohabiting couples from the same geographical region, as well as to previously published data for gay, lesbian, and unmarried heterosexual couples from the United States. Findings suggest that, despite unique societal pressures confronting Italian same‐sex couples, these relationships appear resilient and fare well both overall and in specific domains of functioning compared to heterosexual couples both in Italy and the United States.     

Predicting Safer Sex Practices: The Interactive Role of Partner Cooperation and Cognitive Factors

This study integrates aspects of cognitive and social contextual approaches to understanding the practice of safer sex. Study participants were 398 unmarried college students attending one of two institutions of higher education in Texas. As predicted, individuals who perceived more cooperation from their sexual partner to practice safer sex were significantly more likely to do so than those who saw their partners as uncooperative. Especially important, as predicted, partner cooperation also moderated the relationship between cognitive and behavioral predictors and safer sex. These moderation findings demonstrate that partner cooperation limits the range of operation of psychological factors that have been shown in previous research to play a significant role in deciding to practice safer sex.     

Auditory memory and the irrelevant sound effect: Further evidence for changing-state disruption

Four experiments investigate the hypothesis that irrelevant sound interferes with serial recall of auditory items in the same fashion as with visually presented items. In Experiment 1 an acoustically changing sequence of 30 irrelevant utterances was more disruptive than 30 repetitions of the same utterance (the changing-state effect; Jones, Madden, & Miles, 1992) whether the to-be-remembered items were visually or auditorily presented. Experiment 2 showed that two different utterances spoken once (a heterogeneous compound suffix; LeCompte & Watkins, 1995) produced less disruption to serial recall than 15 repetitions of the same sequence. Disruption thus depends on the number of sounds in the irrelevant sequence. In Experiments 3a and 3b the number of different sounds, the "token-set" size (Tremblay & Jones, 1998), in an irrelevant sequence also influenced the magnitude of disruption in both irrelevant sound and compound suffix conditions. The results support the view that the disruption of memory for auditory items, like memory for visually presented items, is dependent on the number of different irrelevant sounds presented and the size of the set from which these sounds are taken. Theoretical implications are discussed.     

Sexe du tuteur et perception de l’avenir professionnel de jeunes en alternance : une recherche qualitative

The study aims to undertake the influence of sex roles of tutors in enterprises, supervising young adults in alternating training in Higher Education. On the basis of workplace mentoring models and works, twenty young adults have been interviewed. Half of them were supervised by a woman and the other half by a man. The results underline the key role of the variable sex to analyze the relationships in enterprises. They show that this variable has to be studied regarding the particular sexual division of work in each work context as well as with the social representations the young adults have of the occupations.     

The Effects of Age,Sex and Alzheimer's Disease on Strategy Use During Verbal Fluency Tasks

ABSTRACT

Clustering and switching strategies during phonemic and semantic verbal fluency tasks were investigated in healthy adults (n = 193, 86 males, 20–90 years) in young, middle-aged, young–old, and old–old age groups (Study 1). Older groups produced fewer total words and lower switching scores; males relied more on clustering and females on switching to produce equivalent output. In Study 2, early Alzheimer's disease participants, compared to healthy older adults, (n = 26 per group) produced fewer total words and smaller average clusters. Sex, age, and clinical differences on switching and clustering strategies support a dual processing model of verbal fluency.