Gender Identity and Adjustment in Middle Childhood

This article has two purposes. The first is to present a brief (and speculative) account of the developmental origins of the several components of gender identity featured in the multidimensional model of gender identity proposed by Egan and Perry (2001). The second is to offer additional empirical support for the construct and discriminant validity of the various gender identity dimensions. Children (M age = 11.5 years) were assessed for 4 components of gender identity: (a) felt gender typicality, (b) contentment with gender assignment, (c) felt pressure for gender conformity, and (d) intergroup bias (the sentiment that one's own sex is superior). Gender typicality, gender contentedness, and felt pressure (but not intergroup bias) related to indexes of psychosocial adjustment in specific and theoretically meaningful ways. The case for a multidimensional approach to gender identity is strengthened.     

Gender Differences in Attributions and Emotions in Helping Contexts

Gender differences in the provision and receipt of emotional support may result from differences in the formation of responsibility and effort attributions in support-seeking interactions. Participants (N = 1,211, primarily middle-class, European American college students) read support-seeking scenarios that varied in support-seeker gender, responsibility for the problem, and effort to resolve the problem, as well as the problem itself, and completed measures of responsibility, effort attributions, and emotions (anger, sympathy). Results indicated qualified and subtle gender differences in attributions, emotions, and attribution--emotion associations, which are broadly consistent with the application of gendered moral orientations and instrumentality norms. These findings are discussed with respect to theorizing about gender differences in attribution processes and emotional support behavior.     

Gender Similarities in Response to Figure-Size Feedback in a Selected Nonclinical Population

In this study we examined the effect of figure-size feedback on the body image, self-esteem, and negative mood states of college men and women who were within normal body weight and did not show symptoms of eating disorders. The feedback was manipulated to represent the opinions of their classmates. Men were expected to show a positive bias in their response to the feedback, whereas women were expected to respond in accordance with the positive and negative valence of the feedback. Multivariate analysis of covariance, controlled for pretest scores, revealed nonsignificant differences between men and women. Those in the negative feedback condition reported fewer instances of negative appearance-related feedback in their past than did those in the no feedback condition and those from a more inclusive population that was the normative sample for the measure. This suggests a compensatory strategy to refute the negative feedback.     

Attitudes Toward Violence Against Women: A Cross-Nation Study

An understanding of attitudes toward violence against women is vital for effective prevention strategies. In this study we examined attitudes regarding violence against women in samples of undergraduate women and men students from four countries: India, Japan, Kuwait, and the United States. Attitudes toward sexual assault and spousal physical violence differed between men and women and across the four countries. Variations in gender differences across countries indicated that, for attitudes regarding sexual assault of women in particular, sociocultural factors may be a stronger influence than gender. Findings suggest the importance of examining differences within the larger sociocultural context of political, historical, religious, and economic influences on attitudes toward gender roles and violence against women.     

Gender-Role Self-Stereotyping and the Relationship Between Equity and Satisfaction in Close Relationships

Gender-role self-stereotyping was investigated as a moderator of the importance of equity to satisfaction within close relationships in a sample of 204 men and women in long-term relationships. For those low in gender-role self-stereotyping, equity strongly predicted satisfaction, whereas for those higher in gender-role self-stereotyping, satisfaction was predicted by the belief that one's own relationship compared favorably with those of same-sex others. The importance of equity was also investigated by asking participants to predict how they would respond if they found themselves in an overbenefiting or underbenefiting relationship. Predicted responses to inequity were influenced by participants' sex, degree of gender-role self-stereotyping, and the type of inequity imagined. These finding are discussed in terms of the system justifying effects of gender-role stereotypes.     

Occupational Turnover Intent Among Assistant Coaches of Women's Teams: The Role of Organizational Work Experiences

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which organizational work experiences could be used to understand when coaches planned to leave the profession. NCAA Division I assistant coaches (N = 188) were surveyed concerning (a) the age at which they anticipated leaving the coaching profession and (b) the extent to which the 3 work experiences described by S. Inglis, K. E. Danylchuk, and D. Pastore (1996)—Recognition and Collegial Support, Work Balance and Conditions, and Inclusivity—were fulfilled. Chi-square analyses revealed that women intended to leave the profession at an earlier age than did men. A multivariate analysis of covariance indicated that persons who intended to remain in the coaching profession after they turned 55 worked in organizational environments that emphasized Inclusivity. These results are particularly important for female coaches, as women consider an inclusive work environment to be more important than do men (D. L. Pastore, S. Inglish, & K. E. Danylchuck, 1996).     

Women and Men Go to University: Mathematical Background and Gender Differences in Choice of Field in Higher Education

Gender segregation in higher education is well documented. Female students major in mathematics, technology, and sciences less often than men, and they concentrate in humanities and social sciences. Using multinomial logit on the 6,139 applicants to Tel Aviv University in Israel in 1994, I examined the claim that one of the roots of gender segregation in higher education lies in course-taking patterns in high school. The main findings are as follows: Women are underrepresented among the applicants to the mathematics-related fields of study; mathematical background in high school is particularly effective in narrowing the gender gap in applying to selective and attractive, but not mathematically related, fields of study at the university; women rely on high qualifications more than men when applying to selective and male-dominated fields of study. Several explanations of the findings will be discussed.     

Nagel's `Paradox' of Equality and Partiality

Thomas Nagel has argued that we are theoretically committed to both ethical pluralism and liberal egalitarianism in a way that seems plausible but that the combination leads through time to a deep-seated incoherence within our own moral and political outlook.This paper critically examines Nagel’s arguments for this conclusion. The paradox is centrally generated by the dual role of the impartial perspective in Nagel’s argument. This dual role is analysed and rejected as based on a mistake about objectification, such that there is no conflict between the personal and impersonal point of view of the kind Nagel describes. His insightful account of the prospects for egalitarianism is, further, hindered by his account of the internal division of the self. A positive proposal is made for a feasible egalitarian ideal that overcomes such a dichotomy within the self in the context of civil society. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.