Adult Age and Gender Differences in Perceptions of Facial Attractiveness: Beauty is in the Eye of the Older Beholder

The authors examined ratings of facial attractiveness, rankings of faces, and reasons given by young, middle-aged, and older men and women for young, middle-aged, and older male and female face attractiveness. No support for predictions derived from similarity, interest, and cohort hypotheses was obtained. In support of the expertise hypothesis, young and middle-aged adults rated younger faces as more attractive than old faces, whereas older adults rated all aged faces equally. In support of the crone hypothesis, older female faces were rated the lowest of all faces. Theoretical implications and real-world applications are discussed.     

Father Involvement in Parent Training for Oppositional Child Behavior

Outcome literature (1981 to 1988) on behavioral parent training interventions for nonhandicapped children with oppositional behavior is reviewed to assess the extent and effects of father involvement in parent training. Thirteen studies were found that included some father involvement. Weaknesses of these studies include a failure to observe and measure changed in father-child interactions, a lack of emphasis on the impact of the marital relationship, a lack of attention to similarities in parental child management strategies, and a lack of assessment of paternal characteristics. Further research to assess the effects of including fathers on parent training outcomes can improve the efficiency and effectiveness of these interventions.     

Sex,Education and Procrastination: An Epidemiological Study of Procrastinators' Characteristics from a Global Sample

Procrastination is a common form of self‐regulatory failure with substantive connections to lower levels of health, wealth and well‐being. Conducting an epidemiological study, we determined the characteristics of prototypical procrastinators from a global sample based on several relevant self‐reported demographic variables. Using an internet sampling strategy, we surveyed 16 413 English‐speaking adults (58.3% women; 41.7% men: M age = 38.3 years, SD = 14), specifically on the variables of sex, age, marital status, family size, education, community location, and national origin. Almost all the results were statistically significant because of our large sample size. However, procrastination tendencies were most prominently associated with sex, age, marital status, education and nationality. Procrastinators tended to be young, single men with less education, residing in countries with lower levels of self‐discipline. Notably, procrastination mediated the relationship between sex and education, providing further support that men are lagging behind women academically because of lower self‐regulatory skills. Given procrastination's connection with a variety of societal ailments (e.g. excessive debt, delayed medical treatment), identifying risk factors and at risk populations should be helpful for directing preventative public policy. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Perceiving vocal age and gender: An adaptation approach

Aftereffects of adaptation have revealed both independent and interactive coding of facial signals including identity and expression or gender and age. By contrast, interactive processing of non-linguistic features in voices has rarely been investigated. Here we studied bidirectional cross-categorical aftereffects of adaptation to vocal age and gender. Prolonged exposure to young (~ 20 yrs) or old (~ 70 yrs) male or female voices biased perception of subsequent test voices away from the adapting age (Exp. 1) and the adapting gender (Exp. 2). Relative to gender-congruent adaptor-test pairings, vocal age aftereffects (VAAEs) were reduced but remained significant when voice gender changed between adaptation and test. This suggests that the VAAE relies on both gender-specific and gender-independent age representations for male and female voices. By contrast, voice gender aftereffects (VGAEs) were not modulated by age-congruency of adaptor and test voices (Exp. 2). Instead, young voice adaptors generally induced larger VGAEs than old voice adaptors. This suggests that young voices are particularly efficient gender adaptors, likely reflecting more pronounced sexual dimorphism in these voices. In sum, our findings demonstrate how high-level processing of vocal age and gender is partially intertwined.     

The Ways in Which Adolescents Cope and their Relationship to Age,Gender and Specific Religious Variables

This study investigated the roles of age, gender, the importance of religion/spirituality, attending church activities and frequency of prayer on the types of adolescents’ coping strategies. Participants were drawn from ten public high schools. Data on coping strategies, personal variables and religiosity and spirituality were collected using the Adolescent Coping Orientation for Problem Experiences (A-COPE) coping inventory. Scheffé posthoc tests were used to evaluate associations between the coping strategies used by adolescents and the identified personal and faith-oriented variables. Gender and age explained some differences in types of coping strategies preferred. Specifically, females used the developing social support coping strategy more than males; older adolescents used the avoiding problems coping strategy more than younger adolescents. Adolescents for whom religion/spirituality is of lesser importance, obtained a significantly higher mean score for the avoiding problems subscale. Both personal variables (age and gender) as well as one of the faith-oriented variables (importance of religion) were identified as important role players in using developing social support and avoiding problems as coping strategies by adolescents.     

Gender and age differences in spiritual development among early adolescents

ABSTRACT

The current study examined age and gender effects on spiritual development among early adolescents. A total sample of 416 Czech adolescents, age ranged from 11 to 15 years, was analysed for the study. Data was collected employing a non-experimental survey design by utilizing a self-administered questionnaire. A series of independent t-tests were performed to determine whether there were significant age and gender differences across the spirituality indicators: spiritual well-being, spiritual belief, and experiential spirituality. Results indicated that 11-year-old adolescents were more likely to demonstrate a higher level of spiritual well-being and spiritual belief compared with those 15-year-old; while 15-year-old adolescents were more likely to score high in experiential spirituality than their younger counterparts. Regarding gender, girls were more likely than boys to demonstrate a higher level of spirituality score. Practitioners in education and psychology should be mindful of the use of spirituality interventions applying the respective forms and practices according to age and gender to better promote positive youth development.     

Positive emotion is associated with 6-year change in functional status in individuals aged 60 and older

Analyses examined both positive emotion (PE) at baseline and change in PE from baseline to follow up as predictors of change in functional status (FS). Initial models examined baseline PE, and change in PE, as predictors of change in FS adjusted for baseline PE, negative emotion (NE), FS, and age and gender. Final models included additional adjustments for frequency of social contact, marital status, body mass index, smoking status, drinking behavior, and comorbidity at baseline. Baseline PE was a predictor of change in FS, adjusted for NE, age, and gender (p?=?0.033). Additional covariates reduced the effect of baseline PE as a predictor of change in FS (p?=?0.115). Change in PE was a significant predictor of change in FS – increases in ratings of PE over time were associated with less decline in FS (p?=?0.001). The association for change in PE remained significant in the fully adjusted model (p?=?0.004). Results replicate our prior findings.     

Mars and Venus at Twilight: A Critical Investigation of Moralism, Age Effects, and Sex Differences

Analysts have long sought to understand whether women and men have different ethical orientations. Some researchers have argued that women and men consistently make fundamentally different ethical judgments, especially of corruption; others have found no such disparities. This study considered whether an individual's age may also play a role in determining his or her moral judgment. A statistical investigation of interactive effects between gender and age in a nationally representative data set from Japan shows that this interaction functions better as a predictor of moralism than do education or gender alone. Older individuals of both sexes were found to have similar strict moral perceptions; as women and men age, their ethical judgments converge.     

接纳与承诺疗法的理论背景、实证研究与未来发展

接纳与承诺疗法(Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, ACT)于上世纪90年代初由美国治疗师Steven C. Hayes提出。作为基于正念技术的第三代行为治疗理论之一, 该疗法以功能情境主义为哲学基础, 立足于人类认知和语言基本性质的实证研究, 旨在通过平衡接纳与改变来提高心理灵活性。临床研究已证明其在相当广泛的临床问题上都取得了良好效果, 并在与CBT等传统疗法的对比中展现优势。ACT的临床效果和技术细节可做进一步研究, 该疗法与CBT的融合及其在临床领域之外的应用也是未来的研究方向。