Anticipation of future identities: A control theory approach to identity development within the context of serious dating relationships

Control theory was used to investigate identity microprocesses (i.e., self-verification)within the context of serious dating relationships. Forty-two college women importance for, and certainty about, their future career identities served as targets in the study. The targets and their dating partners participated in a procedure in which the targets received career information that was contrary to their beliefs about their future identities. Results revealed that women who were highly certain about their future career identity, regardless of its importance level, engaged in more self-verification efforts than did women who were uncertain. A comparison of congruent (partner herself) and incongruent dating partners revealed that congruent partners were the most overt in their disagreement with the contrary information. Certainty and partner congruence predicted the target's self-rating change following the identity disruption. Partner congruence accounted for a substantial amount of variance in self-rating change, indicating that close relationships provide an influential context for identity development.     

Adolescents' romantic relationships and the structure and quality of their close interpersonal ties

Several interpersonal theories suggest that adolescents' romantic relationships are associated with distinct patterns of social experience. In this study, 1,049 adolescents indicated whether they had a boy/girlfriend and the temporal duration of the relationship. They described the structure of their peer networks and the quality of their relationships with a parent/adult and best friend. Adolescents with a boy/girlfriend reported larger networks, more opposite-sex friends, and more nonschool friends. Adolescents with longer romantic relationships reported more social support with the boy/girlfriend than did adolescents with short-term romantic relationships. Temporal duration also moderated the salience of the romantic relationship. Those of short duration were viewed less favorably than friend and parent/adult relationships, whereas those of longer duration were viewed more favorably. Finally, continuity in perceived quality was evident between romantic and other relationships. Overall, the results support the view that romantic relationships are embedded within adolescents' ongoing social experience and show important links to the structure and quality of their relationships with parents and with peers.     

Woman as Vulnerable Self: The Trope of Maternity in Levinas's Otherwise Than Being

Much due criticism has been directed at Levinas's images of the feminine and “the Woman” in Time and the Other and Totality and Infinity, but less attention has been paid to the metaphor of maternity and the maternal body that Levinas employs in Otherwise Than Being. This metaphor should be of interest, however, because here we find an instance in which Levinas uses a female image without in any way seeming to exclude women from full ethical selfhood. In the first three sections of this paper I explain how maternity functions in Otherwise Than Being. I argue that maternity is used as (1) an image of the vulnerability or passive sensibility that characterizes the relation with the Other, as well as (2) a metaphor for Levinas's account of ethical responsibility as substitution. In the final section of the paper, I defend the claim that Levinas's maternal metaphors are not disparaging to real, empirical women. I also discuss a remaining worry that feminists may have about the metaphor: namely, that it characterizes pregnancy and motherhood in ways that challenge some pro‐choice assumptions.     

How Do People React to Stigma Acknowledgment? Race and Gender Acknowledgment in the Context of the 2008 Presidential Election1

Some studies have found that acknowledging one's stigmatized social identity in an evaluative context leads to more favorable evaluations, whereas others have found that stigma acknowledgment can increase negative evaluations. The present study examined one potential factor (i.e., evaluators' attitudes toward social groups to which acknowledgers belong) that may moderate the relation between stigma acknowledgment and evaluations, in the context of race and gender acknowledgment in the 2008 U.S. presidential election. Results indicated that acknowledgment of race, but not gender, led to more negative evaluations, particularly for high‐prejudiced individuals. The findings highlight the importance of examining stigma acknowledgment effects from a Person × Situation perspective. Implications for advancing understanding of acknowledgment as a useful strategy in evaluative contexts are discussed.     

CALLING: THE DEVELOPMENT OF A SCALE MEASURE

This study clarifies the definition of calling—a consuming, meaningful passion people experience toward a domain—and develops a 12‐item scale measure of calling. Drawing on multiwave longitudinal, 2‐wave longitudinal, and cross‐sectional data from 1,500 participants (2,278 observations) in 4 separate domains, music, art, business, and management, we demonstrate the scale's reliability and unidimensional structure across contexts and over time. We establish the scale's convergent validity and discriminant validity. We determine criterion‐related validity through the scale's relationship to satisfaction with the calling domain, career‐related self‐efficacy, clarity of professional identity, career insight, attending a calling‐oriented college program, professional pursuit of the calling domain, and differences across the 4 domains. We discuss implications of this reliable, valid measure for theory and research on calling, meaning of work, and careers.     

Recovery from conflict and revival of intimacy in cohabiting couples

Couples who seek a stable and satisfying relationship must recover emotionally and reestablish their intimate connection after their conflicts are over. In a 3‐week diary study, 100 cohabiting couples reported on their daily moods, intimacy, relationship satisfaction, and conflicts. Results indicated that on days following a conflict, couple partners have worse mood, less satisfaction, and less self‐disclosure than on other days. Attachment security and intimacy partially moderated the ability of relationship partners to recover positive and reduce negative affect on days following conflict. Partners of anxiously attached individuals experienced more pronounced postconflict changes in mood and intimacy than partners of securely attached individuals. More intimacy in postconflict interactions was associated with a faster recovery from conflict.     

Same‐sex infidelity in heterosexual romantic relationships: Investigating emotional,relational, and communicative responses

The present study explores emotional, relational, and communicative responses to different‐sex and same‐sex infidelity in heterosexual romantic relationships. Two‐hundred and eighty‐five men and women completed an online survey. Individuals were asked to read a scenario in which an imagined heterosexual partner engages in infidelity with a different‐sex or same‐sex person. Individuals were randomly assigned to one of these two conditions and then asked to complete several measures assessing their imagined emotions, communicative responses, and relational outcomes. Results revealed that both men and women experienced more negative emotional responses to different‐sex infidelity versus same‐sex infidelity. Additionally, men reported more sexual arousal in response to a woman's same‐sex infidelity versus different‐sex infidelity, while women's sexual arousal did not vary across conditions. Lastly, men's communicative responses to jealousy (CRJs) for same‐sex and different‐sex infidelity did not vary, though women reported that they were more likely to respond to same‐sex infidelity than different‐sex infidelity with denial, and more likely to respond to different‐sex than same‐sex infidelity with signs of possession. Several emotional responses to same‐sex infidelity were also found to predict various CRJs. These findings and the implications of the study are discussed.     

Motivational Profiles and Psychological Skills Use within Elite Youth Sport

This study investigated associations between achievement goal orientations and reported psychological skill use in sport. Five hundred seventy three elite young athletes completed the Perceptions of Success Questionnaire (POSQ; Roberts, Treasure, & Balague, 1998 Roberts, G. C., Treasure, D. C. and Balague, G. 1998. Achievement goals in sport: The development and validation of the Perceptions of Success Questionnaire. Journal of Sport Sciences, 16: 337–347. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and the Test of Performance Strategies (TOPS; Thomas, Murphy, & Hardy, 1999 Thomas, P. R., Murphy, S. M. and Hardy, L. 1999. Test of performance strategies: Development and preliminary validation of comprehensive measure of athletes' psychological skills. Journal of Sports Sciences, 17: 697–711. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Cluster analysis revealed three distinct goal profile groups: Cluster 1—Higher-task/Moderate-ego (n = 260); Cluster 2—Lower-task/Higher-ego (n = 120); and Cluster 3—Moderate-task/Lower-ego (n = 119). A MANOVA revealed a significant multivariate effect, Pillai's Trace = .11, F(16, 1076) = 3.75, p = .001, η² = .05, with post hoc tests determining that higher-task/moderate-ego athletes reported using significantly more Imagery, Goal setting, and positive Self-talk skills when compared with Lower-task/Higher-ego and/or Moderate-task/Lower-ego athletes. These findings are discussed with respect to the potential role that achievement goals play in the application and development of psychological skills in youth sport.