Sexual Functioning Following Elective Hysterectomy: The Role of Surgical and Psychosocial Variables

In this article, two studies were conducted to investigate the surgical and psychosocial correlates of women's post-hysterectomy sexual functioning. In Study 1, sexual functioning was measured in an online convenience sample of 65 women who had undergone elective hysterectomy. Results suggested that most women experienced improved sexual functioning after their hysterectomy. Women who underwent hysterectomy to treat endometriosis reported less improvement in sexual functioning as compared to women who had hysterectomies for other indications, and women who had abdominal hysterectomies reported less improvement in sexual functioning as compared to women who had vaginal hysterectomies. Sexual functioning post-hysterectomy was associated with psychosocial variables, particularly body esteem and relationship quality. In Study 2, sexual functioning was investigated at two time points three to five months apart in a sample of 14 women who reported developing sexual problems following their elective hysterectomies. Results suggested that, among women suffering from post-hysterectomy sexual dysfunction, sexual pain and difficulty with orgasm increased over time.     

Grandparent-Grandchild Relationships in Israel: A Comparison between Different Jewish Religious Groups

This article is a review of studies concerning the effect of religiosity on the relationships between grandparents and grandchildren in Israeli Jewish society. The main findings of the studies indicated that religious grandparents are more involved with grandchildren in the context of transmitting traditions, knowledge, values, and behaviors. However, secular grandparents provided more instrumental support for their grandchildren than Haredi grandparents. In addition, adult religious grandchildren provided more assistance to their grandparents than secular grandchildren. The few differences that were found between religious and secular grandparents indicate the universality of the grandparenthood role and its importance for all grandparents.     

Jewish-Arab relations in Israel: Perceptions,emotions, and attitudes of university students of education

This study reports on the perceptions, emotions and attitudes of 172 Jewish and Arab undergraduate and graduate students of education concerning their own national identity, the intergroup relations between Arabs and Jews in Israel, and the desired political solution for the Arab minority in Israel. Against the background of the continuously changing political situation that involves advances and drawbacks in the peace process between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, the perceptions, emotions and attitudes of future educators concerning the Jewish-Arab conflict seem important as a foundation for strengthening pupils' orientation towards equality and pluralism. Results are presented concerning four domains: identity markers of students in the two groups, intergroup perceptions and emotions manifested in indicators of social distance, Jewish students' attitudes towards cultural autonomy of the Arab minority, and opinions concerning a desired political solution. The findings are discussed in light of the characteristics of the sample, in relation to previous studies that asked similar questions, and in relation to the processes taking place in the region in the last few years.     

The Effect of Gender on Sex-Role Attitudes

Abstract

An examination of the contradiction between college student studies and national public opinion polls.

The evidence concerning the existence and magnitude of gender differences in sex-role attitudes is contradictory. A large number of studies, based primarily on college samples, have reported significant gender differences in the sex-role attitudes of young adults; males have been found to be more traditional than females. However, studies based on national samples including all age and educational groups have not found consistent gender differences. In order to investigate this contradiction, NORC General Social Survey was aggregated from the years 1974 through 1978 to create a data set that included a large number of young adults who were currently attending or who had recently attended college. Both age and education were found to be significant predictors of sex-role attitudes, but for most of the items examined gender differences were not found to be larger for young adults than for older adults. For both age groups larger gender differences were found in items pertaining to caring for children than for items pertaining to women's roles in the public sphere.     

Knowledge and Beliefs About Gambling in Australian Secondary School Students and their Implications for Education Strategies

This study investigated the nature of gambling-related knowledge and beliefs in a survey study of 2,669 students aged 13–17 years in South Australia. Students were classified as pathological gamblers, at risk, or not at risk based upon the DSM-IV-J, and their responses to questions relating to objective odds, probabilities, and common misperceptions were compared. The study confirmed previous studies which have shown that pathological gamblers are more susceptible to erroneous beliefs concerning randomness and chance, but do not differ in terms of their knowledge of objective odds. These findings were discussed in terms of Ladouceur’s notion of “cognitive switching” and the distinction drawn between “hot” and “cold” cognitions in clinical outcome studies. The implications for school-based education programs are examined with attention given to the potential value of role-playing and simulations in encouraging student reflection and self-awareness.     

Education and fertility in Iran

Studies providing evidence concerning literacy's relationship to fertility in Iran are reviewed. Reliable demographic data are unavailable for Iran before the 1st census in 1956. The 1966 census revealed a reversal of the normally expected larger female population, with a sex ratio of 107 men for every 100 women. The female population in Iran is accorded low status; only 29.6% of the population over the age of 10 was literate according to the 1966 census. A negative relationship between literacy or levels of education and fertility seems to have become a basic tenet of demographic theory. The hypothesis that as a woman's education increases she has fewer children has been confirmed in numerous studies, and, in response to this information, the Iranian government has sponsored several projects which incorporate family planning education into literacy projects. In view of the associations noted in other studies of the relationship between education and fertility, it seems wise to examine the effects of education on fertility in Iran. None of the studies reviewed give conclusive evidence that literacy is unrelated to fertility in Iran. Several of the studies reveal built-in biases: the husbands in Siassi's study were all military personnel; Gulick interviewed women who were already attending family planning clinics; Edlefsen and Liberman made some highly abstract and speculative predictions, and Lieberman et al. were basically measuring incomes instead of education. All of the studies do, however, give some indication of an irregular effect of education on fertility in Iran and swggest the need for further study of this variable.     

Understanding the use of rural space: the need for multi-methods

Although the late 1990s saw increasing use of qualitative data in rural studies and a turn towards issues such as identities and the construction of rurality, many rural researchers still rely on a range of different methods and use both qualitative and quantitative data. However, the challenge of combining quantitative and qualitative data and using different methods is a theme not often dealt with in rural studies, at least not explicitly. This paper (re-)turns the attention to implications of using various methods and combining different types of data for studying a subject matter called ‘the use of rural space’. It concerns both physical land use and the practice and values of individual actors influencing the land use. We emphasise interplay between methodology and philosophy throughout the research process and argue for using multi-methods without compromising the integrity of the different methods. The methodological approach is a combined study of practice and values of individual actors. Two examples—one concerning Senegalese pastoralists’ livelihoods and their use of mobility and one concerning landowners’ location of field afforestation in Denmark—illustrate how the approach facilitates quite different studies of both practice and values and how quantitative and qualitative data can be combined in a non-eclectic way.     

Exploring types of interference between work and non-work: using a diary study approach

Studies of work and family issues have used predominately between-subject cross-sectional designs. While some researchers have called for more longitudinal studies, others have suggested that a more strategic way forward for the field is the use of daily diary studies (Frone, Russell, & Cooper, 1992). This study explores different types of interference between work and non-work domains, using a diary study methodology. This study consisted of a two-week diary study among 12 Irish employees. Analysis involved a two-step procedure involving both content analysis and interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Results indicated that while individuals reported strain-based and time-based interference, evidence was also found of interference concerning persistent and intrusive thoughts. Despite some limitations to the study, this paper demonstrates that diary studies represent an opportunity for researchers to explore work and non-work experiences in a sensitive and ecologically valid way.     

Reunification in a complete entry cohort: A longitudinal study of children entering out-of-home care in Tasmania,Australia

The aim of this study was to examine the nature and predictors of family reunification patterns in Australia. Using a large representative sample, this study extends previous studies based on older, often smaller samples and encompasses a period in which kinship care comprised a substantial proportion of out-of-home care placements. Analyses were based on a sample of 468 children who entered care for the first time in the State of Tasmania between January the 1st 2006 and December 31st 2007. Administrative data and case-worker interviews were used to obtain information concerning children's demographics, family backgrounds and placement movements over 2–4 years. The results showed that around 50% of children had gone home after 2 years, but that 79% of returns occurred in the first 6 months. Reunification was slower for younger children, those in kinship care, and amongst children from families affected by poverty, substance abuse and for a cluster children with the highest prevalence family risk factors. The study contributes to international knowledge concerning the importance of assessing the multiplicity of risk factors in family reunification research and the implications of kinship care for the increased stability, but higher retention, of children in out-of-home care.     

Gambling in children and adolescents

The topic of adolescent gambling is attracting growing interest, but there has still been little controlled or systematic research into the area, and much of what has been written would best be described as “armchair theorizing.” The literature concerning pre-adult gambling behavior falls into three general categories: (a) direct and indirect studies concerning adolescent gambling; (b) studies of the economic socialization of children, and (c) consideration of gambling as play and games as precursors to gambling. This paper presents an overview of the literature examining each of these three categories. Special emphasis is placed upon the playing of fruit machines, as it is this activity which is currently regarded as the biggest problem concerning young gamblers, particularly in the U.K. Recommendations for future research are discussed, particularly for work using a functional/behavioral analysis model to determine the variables which influence how adolescents “learn” to gamble.     

A Note on Boston's Racial Problems

This article offers an explanation of the underlying factors concerning relations among the blacks, Italians and Irish in Boston. Two studies were examined involving the economic situation of the Italians and Irish in Boston in order to understand this city's racial problems. These three groups (Italians, Irish and blacks) have been over represented in the lower occupation level and in the poorer housing areas. It is shown that the racial problems between the white ethnics (Irish and Italians) and blacks are caused by a lack of job and housing opportunities.     

INTRODUCING HISTORY (IN)TO CULTURAL STUDIES: SOME REMARKS ON THE GERMANSPEAKING CONTEXT

While ‘cultural studies is caught in a traffic jam’, at the same time the seemingly global crisis of cultural studies coincides with the late reception and high popularity of cultural studies in the German-speaking countries after the ‘cultural’ and the ‘linguistic turns’. Yet, the political and academic history and the contexts of the emergence of cultural studies and ‘Kulturwissenschaften’, as well as their by now established academic traditions and the manifold relations to current developments, are rarely defined and scrutinized. In this paper,we will relate some theoretical and historical perspectives concerning the relationship between cultural studies and the historical disciplines in the German-speaking context. We shall try to trace the potential of mutual benefits between cultural studies and history by foregrounding the political commitment of academic work that still seems to be one of the most important traits of CS as much as the necessity of a stronger notion of the contextualization that history and historiographical methodology provides.     

Bringing nations in: Some methodological and conceptual issues in connecting feminisms with nationhood and nationalisms

The recent explosion of case studies about women's involvements in national projects reveals considerable diversity ranging from hostility and alienation, to affiliation or participation. Feminist analysis is just starting to explore the causes and effects of such diversity, however, since a single, common relationship usually was theorized between ‘gender’ and ‘nation’. This article addresses some methodological and conceptual issues concerning the systematic comparison of these diverse relationships. It is argued that comparison is required to explain ‘linkages between ideologies, religions and conflicts’ from a gendered perspective and to incorporate the wide variety of women's experiences regarding national projects.

Especially significant in this diversity is that, while national projects in ‘the West’ are rarely a site for women's liberation and most ‘western’ feminists are alienated from nationalism, globally women are more often mobilized by national projects than any other form of politics (Bystydzienski 1992). Moreover, some women's movements affiliate with national projects with positive outcomes. To understand how women's diverse involvements in national projects affect domestic and international conflicts, we need to identify factors producing this diversity in gender/nation relationships. The article reports on a ‘test’ of six hypotheses concerning three modal cases drawn from a larger project eventually concerning thirty countries.     

Disordered Gambling among College Students: A Meta-Analytic Synthesis

The purpose of this study was to use a meta-analytic procedure to synthesize the rates of disordered gambling for college students that have been reported in the research literature. In order to identify all possible studies that met stringent inclusion criteria, Medline, PsychINFO, and SocioIndex databases were searched with the terms “gambling,” and “college student”. This process resulted in 15 studies concerning gambling among college students that were published through July 2005. To synthesize the 15 studies, a random effects model for meta-analysis was applied. The estimated proportion of disordered gamblers among college students was 7.89%. This estimate is noteworthy because it is higher than that reported for adolescents, college students or adults in a previous study using meta-analytic procedures with studies conducted prior to 1997.     

The Sexual Health of Transgender Men: A Scoping Review

There is a general paucity of research concerning the sexual health of transgender individuals, and most existing research focuses on transgender women. A scoping review concerning the sexual health of transgender men was conducted to identify gaps in the literature and to highlight opportunities for future research and intervention. A comprehensive search of seven databases was conducted. The Joanna Briggs Institute Reviewers’ Manual was used as a framework. Some 7,485 articles were initially identified using a search strategy applied to seven online databases: 54 articles were identified as relevant to the research questions and reviewed in detail; of those, 33 were included in the final analysis. Studies were conceptualized into four broad themes: sexual behaviors, sexual identity, sexual pleasure and sexual function, and transactional sex. Besides an overall lack of research, existing studies were often characterized by small convenience samples that do not allow for generalization to the larger population of transgender men. Significant gaps in the literature regarding sexual coercion, sexual and intimate partner violence, and relationship quality and functioning among transgender men exist. There is a need to improve the scope and depth of research examining the sexual health of this population, especially concerning sexual risk behaviors and structural barriers to sexual health care access.     

Cultural similarities and differences in the semantic dimensions of body postures

We report two studies that examine how differences in social structure between the American and Japanese cultures manifest themselves in differences in the interpretation of body postures. In Study 1, 145 American undergraduates rated 37 posture expressions, using Kudoh and Matsumoto's (1985) semantic differential rating scale. In Study 2, 148 American undergraduates and 150 Japanese undergraduates rated 37 posture expressions, using Mehrabian's (1972) semantic differential rating scale. Factor analysis of the data from both studies indicated a reversal of the primary factors used by the cultures to interpret postures. For the Japanese, judgments were primarily influenced by issues concerning status and power; for the Americans, ratings were primarily influenced by interpersonal responsiveness issues, such as like-dislike judgments. There were also differences in the types of postures indicative of the different factors between the Americans and the Japanese, which were also related to differences in social structure. These differences were discussed in terms of the vertical-horizontal conceptualization of social structure offered by Nakane (1970).David Matsumoto was supported by an American Psychological Association Minority Fellowship under Clinical Training Grant 5 T01 MH13833 from the National Institute of Mental Health, and by a Regents Fellowship and a Chancellor's Patent Fund Award for Research from the University of California at Berkeley.