The parents' share

A 5 item sexual permissiveness scale devised by Reiss, and 4 personality inventory scales purporting to measure psychoticism (P), neuroticism (N), extraversion (E) and propensity to dissimulate (L for lie scale) were administered to 427 male and 436 female subjects aged between 20 and 50 years. It was found that men were more permissive than women on all 5 items; that items are intercorrelated in a pattern which could be predicted from the Guttman‐type properties of the original scale; that high P scorers were more permissive than low P scorers; that high L scorers were less permissive than low L scorers; and that extraverts were slightly more permissive than introverts. All the findings relating to personality and permissiveness were in good agreement with findings from previous studies of the relation between personality and sexual attitudes. Assortative mating was studied for 241 couples who formed part of the original sample. Correlations for permissiveness were all positive, and reached significance for all but one of the scales. For the personality scales, assortative mating was found to be important only for neuroticism, a finding in agreement with previous studies.     

Personality, drug preference, drug use, and drug availability

This study examined the relationship between drug preference, drug use, drug availability, and personality among individuals (n = 100) in treatment for substance abuse in an effort to replicate the results of an earlier study (Feldman, Kumar, Angelini, Pekala, & Porter, 2007) designed to test prediction derived from Eysenck's (1957, 1967) theories. Drug preference was measured by the method of paired-comparison and personality was measured with the Zuckerman-Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire-50 CC. Contrary to expectations, high compared with low scorers on Sociability and Impulsive-Sensation Seeking preferred depressants. Surprisingly, low compared with high scorers on neuroticism did not differ in preference for alcohol. As in the previous study, drug preference, use, and availability were highly correlated, although ease of availability was slightly more predictive of drug use than drug preference. Clinical and theoretical implications are discussed.     

Testing a New Measure of Sexual Health Knowledge and Its Connections to Students' Sex Education,Communication, Confidence,and Condom Use

ABSTRACT

This study investigates the nature of college students' sexual health knowledge, prior sex education coverage, and sexual communication and confidence. We created a new, comprehensive sexual health knowledge measure to assess 347 undergraduates' knowledge of reproductive health, contraception, condom use, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), and HIV/AIDS. Overall, students demonstrated a fairly poor understanding of sexual health issues. Women were more knowledgeable than men, specifically on the topics of contraception and STDs. Prior exposure to sex education covering mainstream reproductive health issues or newer contraception methods was correlated with greater knowledge across all domains, particularly for men. Greater knowledge was also correlated with greater sexual assertiveness and confidence with condoms among women.     

The Variable Nature of the Gender Gap in Political Knowledge

ABSTRACT

Previous research demonstrates that long-standing gender gaps in political knowledge are often a function of measurement artifacts. This article examines two potential measurement issues – question content and format – to determine whether gender differences in knowledge are sensitive to decisions we make when choosing and constructing knowledge measures. Using an original survey from the 2014 Cooperative Congressional Election Study (CCES), we demonstrate that, while expected gender differences exist when we ask traditional knowledge questions, these gender gaps are ameliorated when we employ items that measure knowledge about women in politics. We also examine gendered response patterns regarding “don’t know” responses, which can deflate women’s knowledge levels. Finally, we examine the determinants of political knowledge for women and men, and uncover an important role for political interest in shaping women’s knowledge levels. These results suggest that scholars should take steps to create political knowledge measures that can most accurately gauge the political capacities of women and men.     

A FEMINIST FAMILY THERAPY SCALE*

This paper reports on the development and psychometric properties of a 17-item instrument intended to reflect the degree to which family therapists conceptualize the process of family therapy from a feminist-informed perspective. Items were adapted from those generated by 37 feminist-informed family therapists in a previous study. Factor analysis results on 383 subjects reflect a unidimensional scale. The Feminist Family Therapy Scale had a Cronbach Alpha of 83 and was found to discriminate between (a) self indentified feminists and nonfeminists, (b) women and men, and (c) subjects scoring higher on Scanzoni's (1975) Sex Role Modernity Scale and those scoring lower. Additional psychometric data are reported, and possible uses of this scale are discussed.     

How Political Is the Personal? Gender Differences in the Level and the Structure of Political Knowledge

ABSTRACT

In this research note we report on the results of an experimental study among 469 respondents in Belgium. The study shows that the familiar gender differences in political knowledge can be substantially reduced when including more questions on female politicians. Using confirmatory factor analysis and item response theory measurements, we can observe that the structure of political knowledge is identical for women and men implying that women and men do not have different conceptions of what constitutes the political domain. Both for women and men, “personal items” (in this case: The correct name of the new baby of the female vice-prime minister) were shown to load strongly and one dimensionally with the more traditional institutional political knowledge questions. It seems that women and men respond in the same manner to information about the personal lives of politicians.     

Challenging machismo: promoting sexual and reproductive health with Nicaraguan men

This article presents the results of a participatory exploration of male attitudes towards sexual and reproductive health issues in Nicaragua. Nicaraguan culture views men in a machismo concept. The study examined the knowledge, attitudes and behavior of men in relation to the social construction of masculinity: sexuality, reproduction, and fatherhood. Employing 90 men from both rural and urban communities, attitudes towards sexuality, reproduction, abortion and fatherhood were discussed. Several insights were gathered from the research, which explains men's behavior. Thus, it was deemed imperative that in empowering women by promoting sexual and reproductive health among men would require challenging male hegemony and persuading men to participate in health promotion. However, the setting and application of a men's agenda for sexual health promotion should not result in the curtailment of services for women because funds are being reallocated to men, nor should it give men the opportunity to more subtle forms of domination and exploitation.     

Multi-media campaign exposure effects on knowledge and use of condoms for STI and HIV/AIDS prevention in Uganda

This study examined the influences of behavior change communication (BCC) campaigns on knowledge and use of condoms for prevention of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections in target areas of Uganda. Data were drawn from the 1997 and 1999 Delivery of Improved Services for Health (DISH) evaluation surveys, which collected information from representative samples of women and men of reproductive age in the districts served by the DISH project. Logistic regressions were used to assess the associations between BCC exposure and condom knowledge and use, controlling for individuals' background characteristics. Results indicated that BCC exposure was strongly associated with higher condom knowledge: women and men who reported being exposed to messages in the mass media were at least twice as likely as those with no exposure to know of condoms as a mean to avoid HIV/AIDS. A dose–response effect was observed, suggesting that campaigns using multiple media channels may be most effective in improving sexual health knowledge. At the same time, certain gender differences of the influences on condom use were found, with the channel and content of messages seemingly more important in terms of instilling safer sex practices. While there was some evidence of bias of self-report, exploratory analysis of the indirect effects of communications campaigns suggested that impacts may be compounded as overall awareness is increased at the community level eventually leading to behavior change among individuals.     

Testosterone, Smiling, and Facial Appearance

In a study of possible links between testosterone and dominance, 119 men and 114 women provided saliva samples for testosterone assay and posed smiling and not smiling for portrait photographs. Expert judges viewing the photographs found smaller smiles among high than low testosterone men, with less zygomatic major (raising the corners of the mouth) and orbicularis oculi (raising the cheeks and crinkling around the corners of the eyes) muscle activity. Naive judges viewing individual photographs gave higher potency ratings to smiling high testosterone men than smiling low testosterone men. Naive judges viewing photographs grouped into high and low testosterone sets gave higher potency and lower goodness ratings to high than to low testosterone men, regardless of whether they were smiling. Among women, judges found only slight relationships between testosterone and facial appearance. The pattern among men of less smiling with higher testosterone levels fits with research linking testosterone to face-to-face dominance.     

Gender Differences in the Effects of Personality Traits on Party Identification in the United States

This study examines whether the Big Five personality traits have different effects on male and female party identification in the United States. Research has found associations between personality traits and partisanship in the United States. However, there is solid evidence of gender differences in personality traits, and past studies have not yet considered whether personality-partisanship relationship might be gender-differentiated. This study finds that with the increase of agreeableness, women tend to be Republicans, but men tend to be Democrats. Furthermore, as openness to experience increases, women are more likely to be strong partisans, but men are more likely to be independents or leaning partisans. To sum up, this study provides evidence that the effects of the Big Five personality traits on party identification vary by gender and suggests that it is wrong to assume that the Big Five personality traits have the same impacts on male and female party identification.     

Personality,Sexuality, and Substance Use as Predictors of Sexual Risk Taking in College Students

Sexual risk taking among college students is common and can lead to serious consequences, such as unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections. This study utilized responses from 310 undergraduate psychology students aged 18 to 23 to examine personality, sexuality, and substance use predictors of sexual risk behaviors over a six-month period. Data were collected from 2005 to 2006 at a medium-sized Midwestern U.S. university. Results indicated that greater alcohol and recreational drug use, higher extraversion, and lower agreeableness were related to sexual risk taking in men. For women, greater alcohol and drug use, higher sexual excitation, and lower sexual inhibition were predictive of sexual risk taking. Among women, but not men, sensation seeking was found to mediate the relationship between the four significant substance use, personality, and sexuality variables and sexual risk taking. Implications for sexual risk behavior prevention and intervention programming are discussed.     

The attraction to sexual aggression scale: Part two

In this second article of a two‐part series, data from three separate studies are presented supporting the reliability, discriminant, and construct validity of the Attraction to Sexual Aggression (ASA) scale. Higher scores on this scale were associated with attitudes supporting aggression against women, affective reactions to media portrayals of forced sex, physiological and self‐reported sexual arousal, hostility toward women, dominance motives, and antisocial personality characteristics. Based on data with low sexual aggressors, higher ASA scores were associated with greater similarity (on relevant dimensions) to high sexual aggressors, suggesting that ASA may help identify potentially sexually aggressive men at “risk” for future sexual coercion. However, caution in the use of such identification is urged. Finally, it is concluded that although the data support the usefulness of earlier work with self‐reported likelihood measures, the use of ASA is an improvement in this line of research. Directions for future development of this scale and research are also discussed.     

Deficits in young men's knowledge about accessing sexual and reproductive health services

Objective: The current study aimed to examine (1) gender differences in college students' knowledge of sexual and reproductive health care (K-SRHC) service access points, and (2) the relationship between demographic and psychosocial factors and college students' overall K-SRHC service access points. Methods and Participants: Self-report online surveys were administered to 18- and 19-year-old college students from a northern California public university (N = 183; 39.9% men; 32.2% Latino). Results: Women reported higher overall K-SRHC service access point scores than men. Findings indicated that gender and family planning self-efficacy were the strongest correlates of K-SRHC service access points. Men with a regular source of health care had higher K-SRHC service access points than men without. Conclusions: Results suggest that college men need additional education about how to access sexual and reproductive health services to support their own and their partner's health.     

Social Status and Decent Work: Test of a Moderated Mediation Model

On the basis of the psychology of working theory (PWT; Duffy, Blustein, et al., 2016), we tested a moderated mediation model with subjective social status, work volition, proactive personality, and decent work as variables. Data were collected from 225 South Korean employees (115 women, 110 men). Results indicated that work volition mediated the relation between low subjective social status and decent work. In addition, proactive personality moderated the link between low subjective social status and work volition. Further analysis revealed that the indirect effect of social status on decent work via work volition was conditional upon proactive personality; that is, the indirect effect was weaker for individuals with a higher level of proactive personality. These results provide an application of the PWT-based model in a South Korean context. Future research could include samples from marginalized populations and additional constructs (e.g., career adaptability, human need satisfaction) of PWT.     

Unwanted sexual contact on campus: a comparison of women's and men's experiences

While sexual victimization continues to be a problem on college campuses, recent attention has been drawn to understanding gender differences in victimization rates and consequences. To date, these studies remain relatively few in number. The current study surveyed 651 male and female undergraduate students about unwanted sexual experiences during 1 academic year. Comparison of men and women revealed expected differences in incidence rates, with women reporting higher rates of unwanted contact. Within the subsample of reported victims, however, there was gender similarity in terms of the context of unwanted sexual experiences. Analyses also revealed the negative consequences of these experiences for both men and women and low rates of disclosure regardless of gender. Across the full sample of students surveyed, there were interesting gender differences in knowledge of campus support services, with women more likely to have attended a prevention program and to have indicated greater knowledge of rape crisis services.     

Sexual and Reproductive Health Knowledge Among Men and Women Aged 15 to 49 Years in Metropolitan Tehran

Sexual and reproductive health (SRH) knowledge is an important predictor of an individual’s sexual behavior; however, little is known regarding this issue among Iranians. This study assessed sexual and reproductive health knowledge among men and women aged 15 to 49 years in Tehran. A total of 755 men and women aged 15 to 49 years were recruited using multistage, random cluster sampling in June 2014. An illustrative anonymous questionnaire endorsed by the World Health Organization (WHO) was used to collect the data. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were performed. The results showed that men and women were moderately knowledgeable about sexual and reproductive health (mean score of SRH knowledge = 39, range: 26 to 52); however, myths and misperceptions prevailed in different aspects of SRH. For example, only 45% of women and 38.7% of men accurately knew that a person infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) can look healthy. Friends were identified as the primary or secondary source of knowledge about puberty and sex-related issues. A multivariate analysis showed that being female (coefficient = 0.139, p < 0.001) and being married (coefficient = 0.180, p < 0.001) were significant predictors of better SRH knowledge, while being young (age group 15 to 24) was a significant determinant of poor SRH knowledge (coefficient = ?0.161, p < 0.001) when other influencing factors were controlled. Culturally appropriate and age-specific comprehensive education is recommended, particularly for men, the unmarried, and the younger generation in Iran.     

Sex differences in nonverbal expressiveness: Emotional expression,personality, and impressions

Sex differences in expressiveness are well documented, but the reasons for and correlates of these important differences are not well studied. A comprehensive set of emotion-relevant personality measures was administered to 40 female and 39 male undergraduate participants, who were also videotaped in three situations: engaging in natural social interaction, describing a past emotional experience, and posing various emotions. Videotapes were judged by sets of naive observers as to emotion communicated and overall impression. Expressive females, who appeared friendly and dominant in social interaction, were found to have a hostile/aggressive personality (but this was not true of males). Expressive females also tended to look angry/disgusted when describing happy and sad experiences. The findings suggest that nonverbally skilled, charismatic women (but not men) may often possess a dominant/aggressive but self-controlled personality, in a new twist on the theory that sex differences in expressiveness result in part from the oppression of women in society.This research was supported in part by an intramural research grant from University of California, Riverside.     

On the meaning and implications of facial prominence

Archer et al. (1983) found that visual depictions (e.g., photographs) of men tend to show more face and less of the body (a characteristic that was termed high face-ism) than visual depictions of women. Furthermore, photographs (of both men and women) high in face-ism elicited more favorable impressions than photographs low in face-ism. The present studies examined possible reasons for sex differences in face-ism and their implications concerning the effects of high and low face-ism on interpersonal perception. Study 1 showed that the greater face-ism in photographs of men was less pronounced when the photographs were taken from periodicals that are oriented toward women's issues. Study 2 showed that photographs high in face-ism received higher ratings on dominance, a dimension related to masculinity, but not on positivity, a dimension related to femininity. This study also indicated that facial expressions provided more information about degrees of positivity while body cues provided more information about dominance and submission. Consistent with these latter results, Study 3 showed that amateur drawings portraying kind or hostile persons showed more of the face while drawings presenting dominant or weak persons showed more of the body. The two phenomena—the relationship of high face-ism with impressions of high dominance and the different types of information transmitted by the face and body—were considered in the discussion.The author would like to express his appreciation to Diana R. Satin and BiancaMaria (Mia) Penati for their assistance with this project.     

Importance of Macro Social Structures and Personality Hardiness to the Stress-Illness Relationship in Low-Income Women

Abstract

Individuals confronted with poverty are at increased risk for disease and death due, in part, to the influence of macro social structures on differential exposure and heightened responsiveness to stress (Williams, 1990). For this reason, the influence of personality hardiness in moderating the stress-illness relationship in a biracial sample (African-American and European-American) of low-income women was examined. The effect of differential perceptions of the community on illness also was studied. Participants (100) completed rating scales, including Social Readjustment, Dispositional Resilience, Community Stress, and Seriousness of Illness. Hierarchical regression indicated that hardiness moderated the stress-illness relationship (p < .01), with high stress, low hardy women having higher levels of illness. In addition, race moderated the effect of stress, with high stress, Caucasian women having higher levels of illness. Group mean differences on community stress scores for low and high hardy women were obtained (p < .0001), but community stress was not associated with illness. Stress is linked to illness in low-income women; furthermore, both personality hardiness and being African-American buffer the effect of stress.