The impact of ethnicity,nationality, counseling orientation,and mental health standards on stereotypic beliefs about women: A pilot study

People vary in the extent to which they hold stereotypic beliefs about women. The recently developed Beliefs About Women Scale (BAWS) was used in five investigations to examine the following aspects of people's stereotypic beliefs about women: (Study I) the impact of ethnicity (Hispanics and Anglos) on women's endorsement of traditional beliefs about women; (Study II) the impact of national culture (Mexico and the United States) on women's responses to the BAWS; (Study III) the extent to which U.S. women define women's and men's mental health in terms of stereotypic beliefs about women; (Study IV) the extent to which preferences for counseling orientation influence the beliefs about women attributed to mentally healthy women and men; and (Study V) the impact of national culture (Mexico and the United States) on the beliefs about women ascribed to mentally healthy women and men. The results indicated that (a) U.S. Anglo females disagreed more strongly with traditional beliefs about women than did U.S. Hispanic females; (b) U.S. women expressed greater agreement with traditional stereotypes about women's interpersonal abilities and greater disagreement with traditional stereotypes about women's personal competencies than did women from Mexico; (c) the beliefs about women held by U.S. psychology trainees, and the beliefs about women that they attributed to mentally healthy females, were more nontraditional than those that they attributed to mentally healthy males; (d) particular counseling preferences were associated with the stereotypic beliefs about women that female counseling trainees imputed to mentally healthy males and females; and (e) similarities and differences exist on the beliefs about women that female psychology trainees from the United States and Mexico ascribe to mentally healthy females and males. The discussion focuses on mentally healthy beliefs about women, and the implications of these findings for the delivery of mental health services to women and men from various cultures.     

Alcohol and drug use in stressful times: The influence of the masculine role and sex-related personality attributes

In times of stress, men and women sometimes turn to the use of alcohol and drugs as an avenue for relieving their discomfort and distress. One explanation of this finding implicates traditional male tendencies as predisposing factors. The purpose of the present investigation was to study how the relationship between stress and substance use is moderated (1) by the masculine role, as measured by the Masculine Role Inventory; and (2) by socially desirable and undesirable masculine-instrumental and feminine-expressive personality attributes, as measured by the Extended Personal Attributes Questionnaire. The results indicated that during stressful episodes men characterized by socially undesirable instrumental personality attributes reported using tranquilizers and sedatives. By contrast, it was found that during stressful times, women characterized by success preoccupation reported less use of mind-altering drugs and more use of tranquilizers-sedatives. In addition, it was found that socially desirable expressive attributes served to buffer the impact of stressful experiences on women's use of alcohol.A preliminary report of these data were presented at the 1985 annual meeting of the Southwestern Psychological Association, Austin, Texas. Gratitude is extended to Toni Falbo for her assistance with this research.     

Effects of three types of noncontingent auditory stimulation on vocal stereotypy in children with autism

We evaluated the effects of 3 types of noncontingent auditory stimulation (music, white noise, recordings of vocal stereotypy) on 2 children with autism who engaged in high rates of vocal stereotypy. For both participants, the music condition was the most effective in decreasing vocal stereotypy to near-zero levels, resulted in the highest parent social validity ratings, and was selected as most preferred in treatment preference evaluations.     

Self‐efficacy or perceived behavioural control: Which influences consumers' physical activity and healthful eating behaviour maintenance?

This research investigated the role of a commercial program, Michelle Bridges 12 Week Body Transformation (MB12WBT), that uses a variety of tools including social support to influence weight management behaviours such as exercising and eating healthfully. The need for research into weight management remains current given obesity rates have continued to increase in recent decades. Weight management is a complex behaviour that for many consumers involves barriers that influence their commitment to continue exercising and eating healthily. The Theory of Planned Behaviour is frequently used to explain, and to a lesser extent predict, behaviours such as physical activity and healthy eating; however, there is much debate as to whether a perceived behavioural control variable or self‐efficacy is the best predictor of behaviour. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse data from a sample of 724 respondents who answered a baseline and three month follow‐up survey. The analysis revealed self‐efficacy and perceived behavioural control were two distinct constructs. Self‐efficacy was a better predictor of behaviour than perceived behavioural control variables as suggested in the original Theory of Planned Behaviour. Furthermore, self‐efficacy had a significant impact on exercising and eating healthfully behaviour. The findings and implications for both behaviour change theory and practice are discussed.     

The masculine role as a moderator of stress-distress relationships

Health psychologists often content that men are more vulnerable to the effects of stress than are women. One explanation of this male risk factor deals with the masculine role — the set of values, beliefs, and expectations traditionally associated with men's lives. The present study was conducted to determine whether the restrictive emotionality, success preoccupation, and inhibited affection aspects of the masculine role, measured by the Masculine Role Inventory [MRI; W. E. Snell, Jr., The Masculine Role Inventory (MRI): Components and Correlates, Rex Roles, 1986] increase not only men's but also women's vulnerability to the effects of stressful life experiences. The results indicated that among both men and women with a recent history of stressful experiences in their lives, the masculine role was associated with elevated distress.Portions of these data were presented at the 1985 annual meeting of the Southwestern Psychological Association, Austin, Texas.     

The masculine and feminine self-disclosure scale: The politics of masculine and feminine self-presentation

A self-disclosure questionnaire was devised to examine women's and men's willingness to disclose information about the masculine and feminine aspects of themselves. The Masculine and Feminine Self-Disclosure Scale (MFSDS) has four separate subscales: two masculine scales assess the tendency to discuss agentic, instrumental traits and behaviors; and two feminine scales measure the tendency to self-disclose about communal, expressive traits and behaviors. The results indicated that women's and men's disclosure of their masculine-instrumental and feminine-expressive traits and behaviors to a disclosure recipient was tempered by the content of the disclosure and the personal characteristics of the disclosure recipient. These findings were interpreted within a self-presentational analysis that women and men attempted to foster favorable masculine-instrumental and feminine-expressive images for particular persons.Portions of this research were presented at the annual meeting of the Southwestern Psychological Association, Dallas, Texas, April 1982. Gratitude is extended to Richard Archer for his helpful comments on an earlier version of this article.     

Development of the emotional self-disclosure scale

The Emotional Self-Disclosure Scale (ESDS) was developed to assess how willing people are to discuss specific emotions with different disclosure recipients. Internal reliabilities (Cronbach's alpha) and test-retest were consistently high for each of the subscales on the ESDS for three specific disclosure recipients: female friends, male friends, and spouses/lovers. A final set of results indicated that women's and men's emotional disclosures varied as a function of their gender and the personal characteristics of the disclosure recipient. Although men and women reported a similar pattern of willingness to discuss their emotions with their male friends, additional results revealed that women were more willing than men to disclose information about their feelings of depression, anxiety, anger, and fear to their female friends and spouses/lovers. The implications of these findings for men's and women's emotional expressivity are discussed.Portions of this paper were presented at the 33rd annual meeting of the Southwestern Psychological Association, New Orleans, Louisiana, April 1987.     

Beyond the reactive‐proactive dichotomy: Rage,revenge, reward,and recreational aggression predict early high school bully and bully/victim status

The role of reactive and proactive aggression in school bullying perpetration remains unclear. In this study, we explore the predictive value of an expanded model of aggression motives based on the Quadripartite Violence Typology (QVT), which distinguishes between motivational valence (appetitive or aversive) and recruitment of deliberative self‐control to derive four classes of motives: Rage, Revenge, Reward, and Recreation. With a sample of 1,802 students from grades 7–9, we assessed aggression motives via self‐report, along with self‐report of bullying perpetration and victimization, which were used to assign students into categories of Pure Bully, Bully/Victim (B/V), Pure Victim, and Uninvolved. Two structural models were computed to examine the relationship between these four categories of bullying involvement and aggression motives, using conservative and liberal bullying cutoffs. As predicted, B/V status was more strongly related to Rage and Revenge motives. However, B/Vs had higher scores than Pure Bullies for almost all aggression motives, including Recreation. We discuss the implications of addressing Revenge and Recreation, as well as Reward and Rage (which map most clearly to proactive and reactive aggression, respectively) aggression motives, for bullying prevention and intervention strategies, especially among adolescents for whom extant bullying prevention strategies may be ineffective or counterproductive.

     

Encouraging Bystanders to Promote Positive Parenting and Prevent Child Maltreatment in Retail Settings: Results of an Exploratory Qualitative Study

Community-level bystander approaches with media campaigns have successfully reduced sexual violence, but these programs have not been developed for child maltreatment prevention. This study informs the development of such programs in retail settings. Data were collected using focus groups with parents (n = 29) and surveys with child abuse experts (n = 10). Participants were asked how retail environments and employees could support parents during shopping excursions and what employees should do if they witnessed a concerning interaction. Participants highlighted (a) the need for in-depth training of employees to engage with parents and children to promote positive interactions and intervene in concerning situations; (b) the importance of the built environment (i.e., physical design and layout) to reduce stress and establish positive social norms through store-wide messaging; and (c) the role of parents in establishing expectations and actively including children in shopping. Future research should test approaches to training and engaging retail employees as supportive bystanders.