Parents' Attitudes and Expectations About Children's Cross-Gender Behavior

The goals of the present study were to assessparents' attitudes toward crossgender boys and girls, aswell as to explore possible reasons for differentialevaluations. A total of 224 White parents of five-year old children completed questionnaires probingtheir attitudes toward cross-gender behavior inchildren, and their expectations regarding the futureadult behavior of typical boys, typical girls,cross-gender boys and cross-gender girls. The resultsrevealed that cross-gender boys were more negativelyregarded than crossgender girls and thatmen perceivedmore societal acceptance of cross-gender boys thanwomen. Cross-gender children were predicted tocontinue to show cross-gender behavior in adulthood andto be less psychologically welladjusted as adults thantypical boys and girls. Cross-gender boyswere expected to be less psychologicallywell-adjusted than cross-gender girls. When predictingfuture sexual orientation, cross-gender boys were deemedto have a greater likelihood of being gay thancross-gender girls of being lesbian. Men expectedcross-gender boys to be more likely to show male-malesexual behavior than typical boys inadulthood while women predicted typicalgirls to be more likely to show female-female sexual behavior in adulthoodthan cross-gender girls.     

Bartlett Revisited: Reconfiguration of Long-Term Memory in Young and Older Adults

This study was performed after the tradition of F. C. Bartlett (1932), who demonstrated that memory reconfigures over time. The authors investigated the memory of young and older adults to examine the degree to which the aging process influences reconfigurative tendencies. From an initial sample of 53 participants, 20 young and 19 older adults completed 6 tests of recall for Bartlett's original text materials over an 84-day period. Consistent with the broad conclusions of Bartlett's study, reconfiguration was observed: Both young and older adults introduced errors into memory. Older adult recall was lower overall than that of young adults, and recall performance diminished over time. However, there was no difference between the performances of young and older adults with respect to incorrectly recalled intrusive elements.     

Faith, Premarital Sex and Relationships: Are Church Messages in Accordance with the Perceived Realities of the Youth? A Qualitative Study in KwaZulu–Natal, South Africa

Since religious messages on life style have a strong impact in South Africa, it is important to assess how they relate to the situation for young people at risk of HIV infection. Nine focus group discussions were conducted with youth (n = 62), aged 13–20 years, from the Roman Catholic Church, the Lutheran Church, and the Assemblies of God. Young people were ambivalent toward sexual contacts since these generally were expected to be part of a relationship even though the church condemns premarital sex. Girls perceived the moral norms to concern them more than the boys for whom sexual needs were more accepted. These moral barriers lead to lack of information about protection and may increase the risk of HIV. The realities young people facing should be a major concern for the faith communities.     

Working conditions predicting interpersonal relationship problems at work

Interpersonal relationships have been shown to be an important component of the psychosocial work environment that may affect health, job satisfaction, and productivity. The question whether interpersonal relationships at work are influenced by other psychosocial working conditions such as demands and control has not been studied. The aim of the present study is to investigate if high work demands and aspects of low work control could predict three indicators of detrimental interpersonal relationships at work. In a representative Swedish cohort study, data were obtained in two waves three years apart from 4049 participants, who did not change their jobs between the waves. These data were analysed by multiple logistic regression analyses. Odds ratios adjusted for possible confounders and negative interpersonal relationships at base-line showed that high demands predicted serious conflict and exclusion by co-workers. Low skill discretion predicted exclusion by co-workers. It is argued that these prospective findings are of relevance to interventions targeting troublesome and detrimental interpersonal relationships at work and that the findings can be important in understanding the development of work-related mental ill-health.     

Bartlett revisited: reconfiguration of long-term memory in young and older adults

This study was performed after the tradition of F. C. Bartlett (1932), who demonstrated that memory reconfigures over time. The authors investigated the memory of young and older adults to examine the degree to which the aging process influences reconfigurative tendencies. From an initial sample of 53 participants, 20 young and 19 older adults completed 6 tests of recall for Bartlett's original text materials over an 84-day period. Consistent with the broad conclusions of Bartlett's study, reconfiguration was observed: Both young and older adults introduced errors into memory. Older adult recall was lower overall than that of young adults, and recall performance diminished over time. However, there was no difference between the performances of young and older adults with respect to incorrectly recalled intrusive elements.     

Parental nurturance and identification with own father and mother: the reproduction of nurturant parenting

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the impact of parental identification and role-modeling on parenting in the next generation, with a special focus on fathers. Ninety-four fathers and 130 mothers of five-year-old children completed structured, standardized questionnaires that assessed the subject's child-rearing practices, quality of marriage and perceived parental care and control exerted by their father and mother. Analysis using structural equation modeling revealed that paternal nurturance was significantly affected by received paternal care, as well as by the quality of the subjects own marriage. Maternal nurturance was affected by received maternal care and quality of marriage. It was also found that for fathers, quality of marriage was negatively affected by received paternal control, while for mothers, quality of marriage was negatively affected by received maternal control. For both fathers and mothers, received maternal care affected the quality of marriage positively. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.