Adaptive training for existing male transsexual gender role: A case history

The development of AIDS interventions for adolescents is hindered by the lack of data on the conditions that influence high‐risk sexual behavior. We examined psychosocial correlates of condom use and multiple partner sex for a sample of sexually‐active heterosexual adolescent women. Respondents reported higher levels of vaginal intercourse than the “average” adolescent. A minority were engaging in anal intercourse. Condom use was associated with perceived enjoyment of condoms and communication skills. Number of sexual partners was associated with susceptibility beliefs, social norms, and sexual communication skills. The findings support the general observation that AIDS interventions with adolescents should build sexual communication skills, address motivational issues, and teach people how to enjoy safe‐sex activities.     

Selection of a voice for a speech signal for personalized warnings: the effect of speaker's gender and voice pitch

There is an increasing interest in multimodal technology-based warnings, namely those conveying speech-warning statements. This type of warning may be tailored to the situation as well as to the target user's characteristics. However, more information is needed on how to design these warnings in a way that ensures intelligibility, promotes compliance and reduces the potential for annoyance. In this context, this paper reports an exploratory study whose main purpose was to assist the selection of a synthesized voice for a subsequent compliance study with personalized (i.e., using the person's name) technology-based warnings using Virtual Reality. Participants were requested to listen to speech signals, gathered from a speech synthesizer and post-processed in order to change the pitch perception, and then these were evaluated by fulfilling the MOS-X questionnaire. After that, the participants ranked the voices according to their preference. The effects of the speaker's gender and voice pitch, on both ratings and ranking were assessed. The preference of the male and female listeners for a talker's voice gender was also investigated. The results show that participants mostly prefer as first choice the high-pitched female voice, which also gathered the highest overall score in the MOS-X questionnaire. No significant influence of the participants' gender was found on the assessed measures.     

Implications of no recent sexual activity,casual sex,or exclusive sex for college women's sexual well-being depend on sexual attitudes

Objective: We examine how sexual activity relates to sexual well-being within the context of sexual attitudes, sexual agency, and sexual desire. Participants/Methods: We surveyed 471 college women in 2012–2014 who had ever had sex. Results: Sexual agency and sexual desire consistently predicted well-being, regardless of recent sexual activity. There was a significant interaction between recent sexual activity (none, casual, or exclusive relationship) and sexual attitudes. Exclusive sex was associated with higher than average sexual well-being, especially for women with permissive attitudes. Women who had casual sex and held permissive to average attitudes had the next highest levels of well-being, but those with non-permissive attitudes fell substantially below the overall mean. Women who had no recent sex were consistently below the mean, especially for women with more permissive attitudes. Conclusions: A disconnect between sexual attitudes and recent sexual activity may lower women's sexual well-being.     

Self-Neglect: Implications for Prosecutors

ABSTRACT

Historically, the view of elder mistreatment in the United States has been similar to that of child abuse and has been detrimental to the understanding of elder mistreatment. Until recently, there was little understanding of the complexity of elder mistreatment and the legal system lacked appropriate laws with which to handle this growing problem. Over the last two decades, legislation, laws, and criminal codes of conduct have been developed to tackle the problem of elder mistreatment. However, little knowledge or understanding of the public health problems and legal implications related to the most common form of elder mistreatment referred to Adult Protective Services (APS), elder self-neglect, is available. The growth of this national problem has expanded the role of the legal system and pushed the development of interdisciplinary research with the intent of defining and understanding the problem of self-neglect and with the ultimate goal of expanding intervention strategies. The Consortium for Research in Elder Self-Neglect of Texas (CREST) is the leader in this field and the pilot study suggests numerous medical and legal implications for both intervention and future research.     

Implications for Public Policy:

No abstract available for this article.     

Self-neglect: Implications for prosecutors

Historically, the view of elder mistreatment in the United States has been similar to that of child abuse and has been detrimental to the understanding of elder mistreatment. Until recently, there was little understanding of the complexity of elder mistreatment and the legal system lacked appropriate laws with which to handle this growing problem. Over the last two decades, legislation, laws, and criminal codes of conduct have been developed to tackle the problem of elder mistreatment. However, little knowledge or understanding of the public health problems and legal implications related to the most common form of elder mistreatment referred to Adult Protective Services (APS), elder self-neglect, is available. The growth of this national problem has expanded the role of the legal system and pushed the development of interdisciplinary research with the intent of defining and understanding the problem of self-neglect and with the ultimate goal of expanding intervention strategies. The Consortium for Research in Elder Self-Neglect of Texas (CREST) is the leader in this field and the pilot study suggests numerous medical and legal implications for both intervention and future research.     

Technostress: Implications for Adults in the Workforce

The use of technology can enhance workplace efficiency, productivity, and flexibility; yet, technological tools can have negative effects on individuals’ cognitive, psychological, and physical health, as well as on organizations (e.g., lowered employee satisfaction, decreased employee commitment). The use of information and communications technologies (ICT) adds to existing work stress. The authors reviewed recent literature to identify ICT trends, define key terms, and gain insights to improve awareness of ICT issues related to career development, health and wellness, and job security. The potential for inquiry as it relates to career exploration, development, and advancement is relevant to counselors and clients in today's workplace. Research is needed to examine the effects of technostress across different industries, to identify workers at greatest risk of adverse effects, to explore the impact on career decision making, to help clients develop personal coping resources, and to determine strategies for career professionals to collaborate with workplace managers.     

Dual-Career Marriages: Implications for the Clinician*

This paper discusses the unique characteristics of dual-career marriages/families. These familial units are identified as a high stress group presenting unusual challenges to the clinician. Specific implications for the clinician include (1) values of therapist and clients; (2) critical issues; and (3) assets and liabilities. It is concluded that while dual-career couples may be demanding clients, the therapist can be sure he/she will have an intriguing, eventful, and meaningful experience along the way.     

Compounding the trauma: the coercive treatment of voice hearers

For more than a hundred years, voice hearing has been treated as a symptom of serious mental illnesses with biological origins. Pharmaceutical companies have expanded the range of products targeted at treating these illnesses and the diagnosis of schizophrenia now underpins a multi-billion dollar, world-wide business. Throughout the western world, nation states have vested an authority in psychiatry to compulsorily treat people who meet a set of diagnostic criteria that is widely discredited. There is considerable evidence that more effective ways of responding to people experiencing psychosis can be provided without coercion. These approaches differ in essence to traditional Kraepelinian psychiatry in that they acknowledge the role of people's life experiences in creating the problems they face, and the professionals work in partnership with the service users. The approaches recognise that people have histories which often include considerable trauma and social workers are in an ideal position to work with voice hearers to help them understand their experiences and to develop ways of coping. The authority vested in psychiatry is not static and within Europe mental health professionals can contribute to changing what is meant by ‘unsound mind’ and extending the right of liberty to voice hearers. In doing this, social workers can ensure that they do not compound the trauma by devaluing and discrediting people's experience.     

On the Reconceptualizing of Gender: Implications for Research Design

This article takes up the concept of gender as a specific case in point of spontaneous sociology. The contributory aim is to set forth a multidimensional framework for addressing gender in research. I summarize key developments in gender theory, tease out their implications for research design, and outline four interlocking strategies for how the conventional "gender=male/female" variable might be reconfigured. The first strategy involves shifting from a biological foundationalist paradigm of gender to a social constructionist one, and is the precondition upon which the other strategies are based. Second, research designs must address gender as multilayered and multivariable, not as a single, simple attribute. Third, more attention needs to be given to gender as active and as an outcome of social forces. Fourth is the suggestion to reconfigure the standard gender variable to one reflecting a continuum of positions. A possible terminological reconfiguration of the standard variable is suggested.     

Factors in educational exclusion: including the voice of the youth

The processes of educational exclusion are multiple and diverse. Research has shown that exclusion from school goes far beyond access. It is associated with crucial issues related to educational processes (belonging, recognition or representation) and results (knowledge or certificates). The objective of this article is to delve into the analysis of factors in educational exclusion, including the voice of the youth, as a key element in understanding these factors. The article begins with a literature review addressing the meaning, mechanisms and profiles of educational exclusion. It then presents qualitative fieldwork, consisting of six focus groups of young people (aged 14–24) who have been excluded from mainstream educational institutions in Barcelona, Spain. The results of the empirical analysis point to four critical elements in the process of educational exclusion as experienced by the youth: educational transitions; the role of teachers; the impact of grouping practices and disciplinary mechanisms; and the contrast between mainstream educational institutions and alternative learning arenas. By including the voice of the youth, the article provides a better understanding of the factors contributing to educational exclusion so as to advance in the construction of an educational system able to guarantee students’ right to learn and succeed in school.     

Quantifying the Value of Collecting: Implications for Financial Advisers

This paper documents the extent to which collectors—specifically, those owning collectible classic US postage stamps—experience an opportunity cost associated with expenditures on their collection. Results show, based on stamp price, S&P 500, bond, and T-bill rate data over the period 1969 through 2013, that collectible stamps tend to underperform stocks and bonds on a risk-adjusted basis. Using estimates based on the Modigliani measure (M²), it was determined that collectors incur an opportunity cost when selecting collectible stamps over more traditional investments. However, it is known that collecting as a hobby provides sociological and psychological benefits. This paper adds to the literature by illustrating how collecting also provides psychic return benefits that can be valued similarly to investment returns. In this study, the foregone return rate of stamp collecting for those who allocate a significant percent of available resources to their collection equates to between 3 and 13 % on an annual basis.     

Selfobject functions of the family: Implications for family therapy

The application of Self-Psychology theory to family functioning adds to our models of understanding and intervention in family therapy. This article develops a theory of the family as a supraordinate selfobject and explores diverse clinical applications of the theory. The family as a selfobject matrix enhances the self development of the child by the provision of continuity through the maintenance of proximity over time, and by an enhanced quality and quantity of selfobject responsiveness for the individual. This application of Self Psychology theory has wide implications for family therapy with children in foster care, family therapy with elderly couples coping with dementia in one spouse, and family therapy as a component of treatment with suicidal adolescents.     

Accounting for unsafe sex: Interviews with men who have sex with men

Semi‐structured one‐on‐one interviews with 102 gay and bisexual men were conducted to examine the reasoning processes men use to exempt themselves from practicing safe sex. Qualitative analysis of the interviews revealed the following recurring themes: (a) Many men who were in couple relationships avoided condom use for reasons involving intimacy or trust, or because both partners were HIV‐negative; (b) unsafe sex sometimes occurred inadvertently or involuntarily; (c) negative moods and self‐images were associated with unsafe sex; (d) by “intuiting” that their partner was HIV‐negative, participants exempted themselves from the need for safe sex; and (e) when the boundary between safe and unsafe was unclear, participants used a combination of unofficial and official guidelines to determine what is safe.