Stress,Coping and Adjustment in Victims of Sexual Assault: The role of psychological defense mechanisms

The paper considers sexual abuse within a stress and coping framework with particular emphasis on victim-initiated psychological defense mechanisms in the recovery process. Analysis of case history data from 40 adolescent victims of sexual abuse indicated that 90% used psychological defense mechanisms, particularly repression, emotional insulation and rationalisation. The paper explores the usefulness of such mechanisms from a theoretical and applied perspective and compares these Singaporean findings with earlier research conducted in the United States.     

Emerging independence in nursing graduates: An analysis of traditional-nontraditional value patterns

The study sought to determine whether current nursing graduates value assertiveness, independence, and achievement to a greater degree than had past graduates, and whether selection or socialization might account for such a change. Scores on the Allport Vernon Lindsey Scale of Values for 55 1974 graduates of a private baccalaureate school of nursing were compared with 66 1980 graduates. Only scores on the political scale were significantly higher for the 1980 class. 1980 graduates displayed a traditional value pattern of high social and low political scores upon entering the educational program. Longitudinal comparison of scores for the 1980 class showed a significant rise in scores on the political scale; graduating scores did not differ significantly from college norms. The results suggest a rise in nontraditional values which is the result of the educational socialization process.     

The intergenerational transmission of relationship instability: A focus on emerging adult on-off relationships

This study extends prior research on the intergenerational transmission of relationship instability by examining parents' history of on-off relationships as a predictor of emerging adults' own cycling (i.e., breaking up and renewing with the same romantic partner). Data were collected at a large mid-western university from 702 emerging adults (18–25 years old). Multinomial logistic regression was used to predict the likelihood that participants had cycled in a past or current relationship. Results show that parental cycling increased the likelihood of offspring cycling in a past or current relationship relative to never cycling, and greater uncertainty about the future of the relationship was a mechanism through which such transmission occurred. Findings from this study demonstrate that parental relationship instability can even be consequential for the transient relationships within emerging adulthood, making family history a productive area to explore for practitioners working with cyclical partners and/or emerging adults.     

Adaptiveness: A moderator of the adverse impact of hassles?

Adaptiveness constitutes coping consistently with Stressors so to reduce distress or, at worst, not aggravate it. Accordingly, it should moderate the adverse impact of hassles. Undergraduate volunteers (N = 200) responded to measures of hassles, adaptiveness, and the criteria of subjective distress, psychiatric symptomatology and minor physical ailments. In all three regression analyses, hassles made a substantial positive contribution and adaptiveness a small negative contribution to adverse outcome. The interaction between hassles and adaptiveness was non-significant in all three cases. Alternative interpretations were identified to guide further research.     

CYCLE OF BLAME OR JUST WORLD

The conviction rate for sexual assault is persistently low in the United States. We propose a cycle-of-blame framework to highlight the possibility that the same rape myths that limit convictions are in turn strengthened by not-guilty verdicts. Participants read a summary of a rape trial. In different conditions, they were told that the jury's verdict was guilty or not guilty. In a No-Verdict condition, participants merely read the summary. All 96 participants subsequently responded to questionnaires measuring rape-myth acceptance and victim empathy. Gender affected both the myth and empathy measures, with women accepting fewer myths than men and exhibiting more empathy for the victim. Gender and Condition interacted such that men showed greater acceptance of rape myths and less empathy after a not-guilty versus a guilty verdict. Women evidenced consistently high empathy across conditions and greater myth acceptance after a guilty verdict. Although the cycle-of-blame principle is consistent with the performance of men, women's data require a different interpretation, which we base on just-world theory.     

An alternative perspective on sex differences in organizational settings: The process of legitimation

This article takes a sociological approach to a problem that has usually been considered as a psychological phenomenon. It addresses the problem of male—female interactions in work situations utilizing the organizational concepts of division of labor and legitimacy. Traditional explanations evoking sex-role socialization are reviewed and rejected for purposes of experimentation and intervention. An alternative argument, focusing on the structural arrangements of organizational settings, is presented as an explanation for behavioral effects previously attributed to inherent sex differences. The results of a pilot study are briefly described, and directions for further experimentation and possible intervention strategies are suggested.The bibliographic search and initial conceptualization of this research was supported by a grant from the Ford Foundation under the auspices of the Center for Research on Women at Stanford University. We are grateful to Miriam Rosen for much of the bibliographic work. The pilot study was supported in part by funds from the Guggenheim Foundation and by a grant from the Spencer Foundation. We also wish to thank Richard Torres and Christie Timberlake for their invaluable assistance on this project.     

Factors in the referral of children for behavioral treatment: A comparison of mothers of clinic-referred deviant,clinic-referred non-deviant and non-c

The purpose of this study was to compare a non-clinic sample of mothers and children to two groups of clinic-referred children and their mothers. The two clinic-referred groups differed from one another in that the selection criterion for one group of children (Clinic Deviant) was that they were significantly more deviant and non-compliant than the non-clinic group whereas the selection criterion for the second group of children (Clinic Non-deviant) was that they did not differ significantly from the non-clinic group on deviant and non-compliant behavior. Home observations by independent observers and parent questionnaires examining parental adjustment and parental perceptions of child adjustment were completed. The results indicated that both clinic groups perceived their children as more maladjusted than parents in the non-clinic groups perceived their children. Parents of the children in the Clinic Non-deviant group were significantly more depressed than those in the remaining two groups, whereas parents in the Clinic Deviant group issued more vague, interrupted commands than those in the Clinic Non-deviant group. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

The differential assessment of males and females as prospective employees by a sample of nonworking women

Thirty-eight women, members of a local parents' group, role-played personnel managers, assessing prospective employees in 12 occupations, defined a priori as masculine or feminine, and ranking the occupations in terms of a prestige hierarchy. Candidates described as female were somewhat devalued in high status masculine careers, but this trend was not consistent. Highly qualified applicants were preferred overall, but level of competence did not induce differential appraisals by sex of applicant. Failure to discover a more pervasive prejudice against women was postulated as reliant on subject sample, and exploitative advantage to the assessor was suggested as the strongest predictor of a promale bias.