Gender-Role Attitudes in University Students in the United States, Slovenia, and Croatia

Determinants of gender-role attitudes were examined in samples of university students from Pittsburgh in the United States, Ljubljana in Slovenia, and Osijek in Croatia. Surveys including items from the Attitudes Toward Women Scale and the Neosexism Scale were administered to a total of 1,544 U.S. students, 912 Slovene students, and 996 Croatian students between the years of 1991 and 2000. As predicted, men held less egalitarian or more sexist attitudes about the appropriate roles for women and men, and those with more frequent attendance at religious services held more sexist attitudes. No changes in attitudes were found for women over time, but Slovene males were found to become more traditional over time.     

Contraction intensity and velocity on vastus lateralis SEMG power spectrum and amplitude

Effect of contraction intensity [100%, 75%, 50%, and 25% maximum voluntary contraction (MVC)] and movement velocity [0 degrees (isometric)], 50 degrees, 100 degrees, 200 degrees, and 400 degrees/sec. [isovelocities]) on root mean square amplitude (SEMG-RMS) and median frequency power spectrum (SEMG-MNF) of vastus lateralis (VL) surface electromyography was investigated with ten healthy female university students. Peak torque (PT), mean torque (MT), SEMG-MNF, and SEMG-RMS, analyzed using separate repeated-measures analyses of variance (p < or = .05), indicated: (1) an inverse relation between PT and MT and movement velocity, (2) greater SEMG-MNF values during all isovelocity conditions compared with isometric conditions, with highest values occurring at 50 degrees /sec. and at 100% and 75% MVC, and (3) at all contraction intensities SEMG-RMS values were higher during dynamic movements than isometric movements and highest at 200 degrees /sec. Isovelocity contractions were inferred to facilitate a greater recruitment of fast-twitch fibers (via increased SEMG-MNF), which was intensified at 50 degrees /sec., whereas greater overall muscle activation was found at 200 degrees /sec.     

Autobiographical reflections on what it means to experience disruption

Accepting disruption as an inevitable occurrence in life, five nurse-teacher-researchers explore their experience with being disruptive/being disrupted. Reflection on the all-encompassing embodied experience of disruption takes us through a process of exploration and meaning-making. We pause to show what it is like to be in-between the known and unknown in creating a life in academia through stories. Plotlines such as being in-between family and work; transplanted outsider seeking a sense of belonging; going into the chaos while feeling invisible; and self-induced disruption in response to loss illuminate our reflection. The metaphor of the breathturn allows us to reconstruct our experience and to discern possibilities beyond the usual negative connotations.     

Early life infection alters adult BALB/c hippocampal gene expression in a sex specific manner

During the perinatal period, the developing brain is sensitive to environmental events. Deleterious programing resulting from infection, dietary restriction, or psychological stress has been observed and affects adult immune and endocrine systems as well as behavior. In this study, we determined whether neonatal infection permanently alters immune and glucocorticoid receptor signaling pathways in the adult hippocampus. A Chlamydia muridarum respiratory infection was induced in male and female mice at birth. Mice were allowed to recover and microarray analysis was conducted on RNA from adult hippocampal tissue. In males, neonatal infection induced an up-regulation of genes associated with cellular development, nervous system development and function, such as cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 1A. After neonatal infection, adult females exhibited a T-helper 2 immune bias with genes such as major histocompatibility complex, class II, DQ beta 1 up-regulated. Expression of prolactin, vasopressin, hypocretin, corticotrophin-releasing hormone-binding protein, and oxytocin were confirmed by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. This study shows that neonatal infection differentially alters the gene expression profiles of both female and male mice along immune and neuroendocrine pathways.     

Investigating the Links Between Cultural Values and Belief in Conspiracy Theories: The Key Roles of Collectivism and Masculinity

Research suggests that belief in conspiracy theories (CT) stems from basic psychological mechanisms and is linked to other belief systems (e.g., religious beliefs). While previous research has extensively examined individual and contextual variables associated with CT beliefs, it has not yet investigated the role of culture. In the current research, we tested, based on a situated cultural cognition perspective, the extent to which culture predicts CT beliefs. Using Hofstede's model of cultural values, three nation-level analyses of data from 25, 19, and 18 countries using different measures of CT beliefs (Study 1, N = 5323; Study 2a, N = 12,255; Study 2b, N = 30,994) revealed positive associations between masculinity, collectivism, and CT beliefs. A cross-sectional study among U.S. citizens (Study 3, N = 350), using individual-level measures of Hofstede's values, replicated these findings. A meta-analysis of correlations across studies corroborated the presence of positive links between CT beliefs, collectivism, r = .31, 95% CI = [.15; .47], and masculinity, r = .39, 95% CI = [.18; .59]. Our results suggest that in addition to individual differences and contextual variables, cultural factors also play an important role in shaping CT beliefs.     

Contextual influences in the resolution of ambiguity in anxiety

The effect of contextual information on the resolution of ambiguity was investigated in a group of individuals awaiting dental treatment and a group of control individuals. Participants heard threat/neutral, neutral/neutral and positive/neutral homophones while being simultaneously presented with a context word that was consistent with one of the two meanings of the homophone. Participants then made a lexical decision task on a target word that was one of the two alternate spellings of the homophone. We found that the dental group was more sensitive to context for all types of homophones, and there was no evidence for mood congruency. It also appeared that there might have been an element of mood regulation in the dental group, as they were slower to respond to the emotional targets overall. Our results show that sensitivity to context in state anxiety is a robust phenomenon and one that generalises to naturally occurring anxious moods.     

Do Parents’ Academic Gender Stereotypes Influence Whether They Intrude on their Children’s Homework?

In this study, we explored the possibility that when parents endorse particular academic gender stereotypes (e.g., boys are better at math, girls are better at English) they are more likely to engage in uninvited intrusions with homework, intrusions which then undermine children’s confidence in these domains. Participants included 38 fifth to eighth grade students (mean age = 12.16 years, 60% girls, 87% White) and their mothers and fathers. The findings indicated that even though boys received more parental intrusive support with homework, girls were more sensitive to these intrusions, specifically when they involved math. Parents’ intrusive support mediated the relationship between parents’ math-related gender stereotypes and girls’ math ability perceptions, which suggests that these behaviors communicate to girls their parents’ math stereotype beliefs.     

Gender,Sexual Agency,and Friends with Benefits Relationships

Recent trends suggest that friends with benefits (FWB) relationships are prevalent among emerging adults on college campuses. Notably, young women are just as likely to participate in these relationships as young men, a finding that differentiates FWBs from heterosexual hook ups, where women traditionally report less participation. As such, it has been suggested that friends with benefits relationships may provide young women an avenue to explore and achieve sexual agency. Yet, whether emerging adults actually perceive friends with benefits relationships as affording women sexual agency has not been explored explicitly. In this study, we focus on female sexual agency and examine whether college women and men perceive FWB relationships as a means of expressing women’s sexual agency. Based on focus group discussions with 71 women and 35 men at a large public university, this study explores the myriad ways that students make sense of FWB relationships. Focus group discussions focused on the themes of empowerment, control, and safety in FWB relationships; we examine these themes in order to provide a nuanced analysis of FWB relationships as an increasingly widespread sexual behavior among young people on college campuses.     

Supporting the wellbeing of inner-city middle-school students through mindful and creative reflective activities

Inner-city middle-school students encounter many intersections of the social determinants of health, while expected to learn and to excel academically. However, they lack skills to deal with stress, anger, frustration and sadness, often associated with their social context. To support student wellbeing, we developed a 7-week, 1-hour-session program, which took place during regular class time. Through use of creative reflective activities, namely, Schwind’s Narrative Reflective Process and mindfulness, students learned skills that help support their social and academic wellbeing. Student feedback reveals that creative reflective activities and mindfulness helped foster their inter-intra personal skills in class, enhancing their learning experiences.