Organizational Membership versus Informal Interaction: Contributions to Skills and Perceptions that Build Social Capital

Participation in formal organizations has been considered a marker of social capital, but informal interactions may also provide social-capital relevant benefits. The current studies (N = 252 undergraduates; 60 adult members of a service organization) assessed skills, outcomes, and social-structural perceptions that may be developed from organizational or informal participation. Results suggested that organizations serve as potential training grounds for diverse types of civic participation; individuals hone their leadership and public speaking skills within the structures provided by organized groups. On the other hand, informal interaction also contributed importantly to social capital formation by fostering negotiating skill, the sharing of opinions, and companionship, and by creating networks of mutual obligation.     

“It Depends on What You Mean by Starting”: An Exploration of How Women Define Initiation of Aggression and Their Motives for Behaving Aggressively

This study explored women's use of aggression, focusing on how they define initiation of aggression and what motives they have for behaving aggressively. Twenty-five women who had used aggression during conflicts with their romantic partners were interviewed. Results indicated that, while the women reported initiating aggression in the majority of conflicts described (54%), they varied in how they defined initiation, with some believing that initiating aggression meant being angry, bringing up the conflict issue, or persistently asking the partner to engage verbally. Twelve categories of motives for the use of aggression were also identified. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed, highlighting the ongoing need for an ecological perspective when studying women's use of aggression.     

I get so lonely,baby: The effects of loneliness and social isolation on romantic dependency

Individuals lacking fulfilling interpersonal interactions may experience feelings of loneliness. Consequently, these individuals may over-rely on their romantic partners to fulfill the need to belong. This study examined the effects of loneliness and social isolation on dependency on a romantic partner in a sample of college students (N = 104). Participants who were in a romantic relationship completed measures of loneliness, social isolation, and romantic dependency near the beginning of the semester (Time 1) and approximately 6 weeks later toward the end of the semester (Time 2). Toward the beginning of the semester, there were no significant predictors of dependency. Toward the end of the semester, individuals who reported higher social isolation reported higher levels of dependency. Time 1 dependency also predicted Time 2 dependency. Future methodological directions and suggestions regarding the examination of perceptions of loneliness and relationship expectations are discussed.     

Mindfulness and Forgiveness Buffer Distress: Associations With Interpersonal Transgression Blameworthiness

This study examined psychopathological symptom outcomes in victims of interpersonal transgressions (IPTs) based on differences in offender blameworthiness attributions. Mindfulness and forgiveness were hypothesized to serve as protective factors against depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms. The results highlight the buffering influence of dispositional mindfulness and forgiveness on symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress. These results provide initial evidence that mindfulness‐ and forgiveness‐based procedures may have beneficial therapeutic outcomes for individuals who experience psychopathology as the result of IPTs, specifically IPTs deemed intentional by the victim.     

Measuring dimensions of social climate among South African higher education students

We investigated the structure of social climate among university students to characterise the relative importance of personal and interpersonal factors. Participants were 266 students from a school of education of a large South African university (females = 66.5%; black = 53.0%, white = 25.9%; coloured = 7.5%, Asian/Indian = 6.0%; mean age = 28.71 years, SD = 10.51 years). The students completed the Experience of Social Climate Questionnaire (ESCQ). Exploratory principal component factor analysis of the data yielded a three component structure of social climate comprising of (i) Constructive interpersonal relationships, (ii) Unloving towards self, and (iii) Aggression perceptions of self. Relationships and aggression appear to define social climate in a higher education student population.     

Reflexive encounters with embodied resistance to relational forgiveness

Troubling relationships with our parents may raise unanswered questions and anxieties. Over time, our bodies harbor these sensations in ways that often may go unrecognized. In this autoethnographic account, I examine memories of my childhood and recent past to understand emotionally disturbing episodes tainting my relationship with my father. Interrogating my reflective habits, I probe meanings left undetected by my preconceived sense-making routines. At the same time, I notice and voice the embodied resistance I encounter when opening up and deconstructing intimate layers of deeply rooted pains associated with my father. In doing so, I demonstrate how reflective practices summon a dialogue between embodied emotions and re-engagements with past understandings. Such dialogue generates potential for reimagining relational meanings and apprehending possibilities for forgiveness.     

Priced just for me: The role of interpersonal attachment style on consumer responses to customized pricing

Customized pricing is an increasing phenomenon in the marketplace, but little is known about factors influencing consumer responses to customized pricing. The present paper seeks to gain an understanding of how, why, and when this emerging pricing mechanism may offer benefits. Specifically, this research focuses on how consumers respond to customized pricing tactics and, more specifically, on how interpersonal attachment orientations impact consumers' responses to prices offered in the presence of a customized pricing program. The results of 3 studies suggest that customized pricing programs likely create an expectation for a discounted price among securely attached individuals, such that these consumers are dissatisfied paying the shelf price in the presence of a customized pricing program. Overall, the results provide evidence that, although customized pricing programs are often used to enhance consumer evaluations, they may not always be effective. This paper advances prior research by integrating important considerations for both pricing and customization strategies based on individual and situational differences in attachment orientations.     

Fixated on rejection: Attentional blindness following socially rejecting faces in people with defensive self-esteem

People with defensive self-esteem (high explicit and low implicit self-esteem) respond more negatively to ego threat than do those with secure (high explicit and implicit) self-esteem. We examined whether they would also be more attentive to a cue indicating the presence of such threat–namely, a face signaling social rejection. In a rapid serial visual presentation task, participants with defensive self-esteem made more errors than those with secure self-esteem following a picture of a rejecting face than following either an accepting face or a negative control image. Our findings suggest a possible relationship between defensive self-esteem and rejection sensitivity. Potential negative ramifications of this sensitivity to rejection cues are discussed.     

Transgender and anxiety: A comparative study between transgender people and the general population

Background: Anxiety disorders pose serious public health problems. The data available on anxiety disorders in the transgender population is limited by the small numbers, the lack of a matched controlled population and the selection of a nonhomogenous group of transgender people.

Aims: The aims of the study were (1) to determine anxiety symptomatology (based on the HADS) in a nontreated transgender population and to compare it to a general population sample matched by age and gender; (2) to investigate the predictive role of specific variables, including experienced gender, self-esteem, victimization, social support, interpersonal functioning, and cross-sex hormone use regarding levels of anxiety symptomatology; and (3) to investigate differences in anxiety symptomatology between transgender people on cross-sex hormone treatment and not on hormone treatment.

Methods: A total of 913 individuals who self-identified as transgender attending a transgender health service during a 3-year period agreed to participate. For the first aim of the study, 592 transgender people not on treatment were matched by age and gender, with 3,816 people from the general population. For the second and third aim, the whole transgender population was included.

Measurements: Sociodemographic variables and measures of depression and anxiety (HADS), self-esteem (RSE), victimization (ETS), social support (MSPSS), and interpersonal functioning (IIP-32).

Results: Compared with the general population transgender people had a nearly threefold increased risk of probable anxiety disorder (all p < .05). Low self-esteem and interpersonal functioning were found to be significant predictors of anxiety symptoms. Trans women on treatment with cross-sex hormones were found to have lower levels of anxiety disorder symptomatology.

Conclusions: Transgender people (particularly trans males) have higher levels of anxiety symptoms suggestive of possible anxiety disorders compared to the general population. The findings that self-esteem, interpersonal functioning, and hormone treatment are associated with lower levels of anxiety symptoms indicate the need for clinical interventions targeting self-esteem and interpersonal difficulties and highlight the importance of quick access to transgender health services.