Suicide in Later Life

SUMMARY

This paper outlines the suicide trends of different groups in Australian society, highlighting the continuing very high rates among elderly men in particular. Risk factors and protective factors are examined. As up to 90% of those who complete suicide have a depressive disorder at the time, this paper concentrates on the detection and treatment of depression. Treatment of depression at a broad community level may offer the best hope of suicide prevention. Survivors face intense unpleasant emotions, and sometimes allocate blame, which can be painful and divisive for all concerned.     

“If a girl doesn't say ‘no’…”: young men,rape and claims of ‘insufficient knowledge’

Most psychological theories of rape tend to stress factors internal to both rapists and their victims in accounting for the phenomenon. Unlike such theories, social psychological and feminist accounts have drawn attention to social and cultural factors as productive of rape, and have criticized psychological accounts on the grounds that they often serve, paradoxically, to cement pre‐existing ‘common‐sense’. In this paper we examine the ways in which young Australian men draw upon widely culturally shared accounts, or interpretative repertoires, of rape to exculpate rapists. In particular, we discuss the reliance placed on a ‘lay’ version of Tannen's 1992 ‘miscommunication model’ of (acquaintance) rape and detail the use of this account—the claim that rape is a consequence of men's ‘not knowing’—as a device to accomplish exculpation. Implications of our methods for capturing young people's understanding of sexual coercion, rape and consent, and for the design of ‘rape prevention’ programmes, are discussed. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

台湾佛教发展中的经济因素

伴随着台湾社会转型和经济的快速增长,社会结构出现日益分化趋向,由此导致佛教自身的不断分化,这种分化表现为寺院、教义和经济利益的分化。财富问题已经越来越成为影响台湾佛教发展的一个重大因素,不仅佛教在规模上的迅速膨胀与台湾社会的富裕程度有着直接的关联,而且由于佛教拥有巨额的财富而使教内外对于经济利益与传统教义的矛盾提出了种种问题,这些事实上已经成为现代台湾佛教应答现实社会提出的诸多挑战中最重要的问题之一,也是台湾佛教逐步实现适应现代社会所无法回避的根本问题。     

Redundant men: constraints on identity change

In this article the constraints on identity change for a group of working class men experiencing long‐term unemployment in the UK is examined. Despite their lack of access to paid employment, these men continued to construct their gender identity around the breadwinner persona. The theoretical framework employed concepts from both Connell and Bourdieu. Based on discourse analysed data collected from a series of four loosely structured group discussions, it is argued here that these men had (i) less access to capital generally and (ii) reduced access to ‘useful’ types of capital resources. In other words, these groups of men have fewer resources to hand in constructing masculine identities that reflect the changing structural and ideological demands of the current social‐historical period. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Rhetorical representations of masculinities in South Africa: moving towards a material‐discursive understanding of men

A material‐discursive perspective holds advantage in understanding male realities. It seeks to integrate dominant approaches that appear anaemic in their failure to capture the interplay between the material and discursive realms of human existence. Three dominant metaphorical themes in the rhetorical representation of South African masculinities are described in an attempt to illustrate the complexity of embodied masculine experience. In this sense the discussion seeks to reveal the dynamic nature of masculine debate and lived experience across differing contexts. It serves to underline the importance of adopting a material‐discursive perspective in understanding men, which recognizes that they do not exist as a homogeneous social group, and as such experience their masculinities in a variable and changing fashion. The theoretical amalgamation of social representations and rhetoric is argued to provide a useful analytical tool in an endeavour of this nature. It is suggested that the rhetorical approach problematizes an overly consensual view of social reality that social representations theory typically promotes. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Initial Validation of Measures of Sanctification in Same‐Sex Romantic Relationships and Sexual Behavior

Researchers have created reliable and valid scales of the sanctification of romantic relationships and sexual behavior of opposite‐sex couples. The goal of the present study is to assess the reliability and validity of sanctification measures within same‐sex romantic relationships. Measures of sanctification and relationship adjustment were given to 256 persons in same‐sex romantic relationships living in the United States. Both sanctification measures had Cronbach alpha values above 0.80. Sanctification related to relationship adjustment in expected ways. Controlling for demographic variables, general religiosity, and self‐perceived spirituality, the sanctification of a same‐sex romantic relationship was associated with greater investment in the partnership, emotional intimacy toward one's partner, and relationship satisfaction. Sanctifying same‐sex sexual behavior related to more frequent sex and more positive emotions toward sex, after controlling for demographic variables, general religiosity, and perceived spirituality. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Associations between sexual sensation seeking and AIDS-related knowledge,attitudes and behaviors among young men who have sex with men in China

Young men who have sex with men (YMSM) have become high risk groups for HIV infection in China. Recent researches suggest that sexual sensation seeking is significantly associated with AIDS-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviors, but the relationship is not clear in the field of YMSM in China. The present study aimed to evaluate the relationship between sexual sensation seeking and AIDS-related knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors among YMSM in China. A cross-sectional study was conducted in Wuhan, China from May to November 2013. 403 YMSM were recruited and 373 of them completed the questionnaire. Regression analyses indicated that YMSM with high sexual sensation seeking score are more likely to have low awareness of knowledge and negative attitude about condom use, as well as more risky sexual behaviors.     

Conceptual and Application Issues: Emotionally Focused Therapy With Gay Male Couples

Therapists working with couples are likely to see gay male couples in their practice yet there is a lack of training to prepare therapists to work with gay couples. Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) is an empirically supported approach to couples therapy and offers a clear structure and map for working with gay male couples. This article reviews some of the issues that are specific to EFT work with gay men. Given the range of minority stressors that gay men contend with EFT is particularly appropriate for work with gay male couples because of the focus on the attachment bond. Building a secure relationship is an important source of resilience that can buffer against prejudice and discrimination and provide a secure base for individual and couple exploration.     

Relative Contributions of Childcare, Spousal Support, and Organizational Support in Reducing Work–Family Conflict for Men and Women: The Case of Turkey

The overarching purpose of the study was to investigate the role of three types of social support (i.e., spousal, childcare, and organizational support) in relation to work–family conflict (WFC) in dual-earner families with children ages 0–6 years. The relationship of WFC to psychological well-being and well-being in the domain of family was explored. Finally, the relationship of spousal support to psychological well-being and marital satisfaction was examined. A total of 434 participants (237 mothers, 197 fathers) in dual-earner families in Turkey with at least one preschool child participated in the study. The relative impact of childcare, spousal support, and organizational support on WFC and outcome variables was tested simultaneously for both men and women through structural equation modeling. Spousal support was related to WFC for women, whereas both spousal and organizational support were related to WFC for men. WFC had a negative relationship with psychological well-being, marital satisfaction, and parental role performance for both men and women. Implications of the results in relation to changing gender roles in a cultural context that is characterized by high collectivism and low gender egalitarianism are discussed. The paper received a Caroline Dexter Best Paper Award Nomination, Academy of Management Annual Meeting, New Orleans, August 2004.