Gender Convergence and Delinquency*

Theory about the relationship of gender roles to delinquency illustrates the taken-for-granted assumption that as role expectations of people become more alike, their behavior becomes more similar. This paper tests the hypothesis that delinquency of androgynous and undifferentiated males and females is more similar in frequency than that of traditional males and females. Self-reported delinquency and self-ratings on scales of traditionally feminine and traditionally masculine expectations provide the data for this research. The analysis reveals that, as predicted, androgynous and undifferentiated males and females report more similar frequencies of delinquent behavior than do traditionally masculine males and traditionally feminine females. Undifferentiated respondents report the highest levels of delinquency among females, but the reverse pattern tends to hold for males. These patterns are analyzed and their importance for theory of gender and crime is suggested.     

Are sex differences in nonverbal and verbal behavior generalizable to mentally retarded persons?

Sex differences in three communication behaviors consistently found to be more common among females than males — smiling, gazing at one's partner, and sentence complexity — were examined through analysis of interviews with 78 institutionalized mentally retarded adults. While females were significantly more likely than males to smile or laugh, and tended to use longer, more complex sentences, the commonly observed sex difference in gazing failed to generalize to a retarded sample. These findings clarify limits on the generalizability of sex differences beyond college students and other normal populations.This research was partially supported by a grant to the Texas Tech University Research and Training Center in Mental Retardation from the Rehabilitation Services Administration, Department of Health Education, and Welfare.     

Gender Differences in Facial Reactions to Fear-Relevant Stimuli

The aim of the present study was to explore whether females are specifically more facially reactive than males, or whether females are more emotionally reactive in general, as reflected even by non-facial reactions such as autonomic responding and emotional experience. Forty-eight females and 48 males were exposed to pictures of fear-relevant and fear-irrelevant stimuli while EMG activity was detected from the Corrugator supercilii muscle region. Skin conductance responses (SCRs) were measured, and the participants were also required to rate how unpleasant they experienced the stimuli to be. Fear-relevant stimuli evoked a larger corrugator response than fear-irrelevant stimuli, but only for females. Fear-relevant stimuli also elicited larger SCRs and higher ratings of unpleasantness, but these measures were almost identical for females and males. The present results are consistent with the hypothesis that females are more facially reactive than males, but not more reactive in other respects.     

Gender differences in the experience of violence,discrimination, and stress hormone in African Americans: Implications for public health

Violence is more prevalent in African American communities than in other American communities. This has impacts not only on criminal justice interventions but also on the physical and mental health of these communities including their risk for acquiring life-threatening diseases. While many studies have focused on the effects of violence on African American males, we sought to understand the relative gender effects that violence has on African American females. This is of particular interest given the wide array of scientific literature suggesting maternal health has inter-generational health effects. Understanding gender differences associated with exposure to violence, depression, and immune function is an important step in understanding how young women perceive and internalize societal violence directed toward and around them. We analyzed a cohort of 557 young African American adults aged 18–25 years old from the Washington, DC area. We use sociological, epidemiological, mental health, computational biology, and quantitative genetics approaches to build a predictive portrait of the effects of violence on African American health. This study demonstrates that African American males and females experience different constellations of societal violence, that African American women report greater perception of racial and gender bias, and that cortisol, an indicator of stress response, is correlated to perceived discrimination. This work contributes to current understandings of how violence contributes to negative health outcomes and lays the foundation for a predictive model for sociological, health, and behavior risk that young African Americans encounter.     

Motivational Style,Length of Residence,Voluntariness, and Gender as Influences on Adjustment to Long Term Care

Abstract

Seventy-five institutionalized older adults (Mage = 79.08, SD=9.73, 25 males, 50 females) varying by length of residence, gender, and motivational style (self determined vs. motivational) were queried to explore the impact of these variables on indicators of adjustment, i.e., health, life satisfaction, desired and expected control, self-esteem, ADLs, and positive/negative affect. MANCOVAs (controlling for social desirability) indicated self-determined motivational style to positively impact adjustment, as well as to interact (p <.05) with gender in this respect. Length of residence and gender each impacted ADLs, and motivational style also affected both desired/expected control and self-esteem, where those with higher self determined motivational styles had expectations for and desirability of control. Voluntariness of the decision to move generally positively impacted adjustment, but its impact was moderated by motivational style. Thus, persons who vary along motivational style, gender, voluntariness, and length of residence are likely to function in distinct ways in adjusting to being institutionalized.     

Intergenerational Support and the Emotional Well‐being of Older Jews and Arabs in Israel

This investigation examined the cultural context of intergenerational support among older Jewish and Arab parents living in Israel. The authors hypothesized that support from adult children would be more positively consequential for the psychological well‐being of Arab parents than of Jewish parents. The data derived from 375 adults age 65 and older living in Israel. Psychological well‐being was measured with positive and negative affect subscales of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule. Overall, positive affect was highest when filial expectations for support were congruent with whether or not instrumental support was received. Findings by cultural background revealed that, among older Jews, receiving instrumental support raised positive affect and stronger filial expectations lowered it. Among older Arabs, receiving financial support raised positive affect and receiving instrumental support lowered it. Culture appears to serve as a potent force in determining which types of intergenerational support functions are expected and accepted means of serving the everyday needs of older parents.     

Gender differentials in poverty-mortality well-being

"This paper explores the application of a life table approach to the analysis of poverty [in the United States]. After reviewing trends in gender differentials in poverty and mortality, we investigate an indicator of poverty-mortality well-being. The rationale for this approach is that to some extent poverty and mortality are causally interrelated phenomena which are both fundamental to well-being. The empirical results indicate that females are expected to live more years in poverty than are males, but females are expected to live more years in nonpoverty as well. Although the gender differential in poverty rates has increased to the disadvantage of females, and although most of the greater poverty of females cannot be attributed to their greater longevity, the gender differential in poverty-mortality well-being has nonetheless not deteriorated to the disadvantage of women in recent decades."     

Expectations,education, and opportunity

Using a long panel of youths, we establish a causal link between parental expectations regarding education and educational attainment. In particular, we use an instrumental variables approach to find that the child’s chances of obtaining a high school or college degree are increasing in the parent’s expectations of the likelihood of these events. We then use differences between the objective likelihood of a child’s educational attainment and the parents’ subjective probabilities to consider the hypothesis that lower educational outcomes among certain groups are driven by a “culture of despair,” where children are low-achieving because they are expected to underachieve. While we do find that children from households with lower levels of income, wealth, and parental education are less likely to attain high school and college degrees, we reject the hypothesis that this is driven by low subjective expectations of educational success. Rather, we find that parents from disadvantaged groups have expectations for the educational outcomes of their children that differ more from the statistical likelihood of these outcomes than do parents of children from advantaged households. That is, we find that parents in more disadvantaged households are more optimistic about the educational outcomes of their children than those from more advantaged households.     

Fertility expectations and ethnic identity among Mexican-American adolescents: an expression of cultural ideals

1980 survey data from 2 secondary schools in Arizona are studied to explain the differences in expected fertility of Mexican American and Anglo adolescents. Mexican Americans have maintained higher fertility rates than the national average, and this study helps clarify how cultural heritage and socioeconomic status relate to family formation patterns. The model, which is based on expected fertility rates of adolescents which parallel those of adults, predicts higher fertility rates for minority group members at every level of socioeconomic status. Male adolescent Anglos expect an average of 2.27 children, whereas female adolescent Anglos expect only 2.11. In both instances for Mexican Americans, the expected number is higher: 2.78 for males, 2.68 for females. Mexican American adolescents who speak Spanish at home are more likely to expect 3, 4, 5, or more children, whereas those who speak English at home are more likely to remain childless or to expect less than 2 children. Similarly, the adolescent with a Mexican born father is more likely to expect more children than the adolescent with a native born father. Tucson residents are less likely to expect 2 or more children, while Nogales (80% Mexican origin) residents are more likely to expect 3, 4, or 5 children. The acculturation factors that help to explain the high birth rate expectations of Mexican Americans are: 1) language, 2) generation, and 3) neighborhood. At every level of expected educational attainment and occupational level, Mexican Americans expect more children than Anglos. Socioeconomic status of the family of origin is the crucial variable linking fertility to socioeconomic status. The actual fertility of minority groups should not be mistaken for the expected fertility of minority groups; both are subject to different influences. However, differences in fertility expectations of Mexican American adolescents and their Anglo counterparts parallel the differences in the actual fertility rates of these groups.     

Who “Fills in” for Siblings and How? A Multilevel Analysis of Personal Network Composition and Its Relationship to Sibling Size1

In the midst of widespread fertility decline, I examine the relationship between sibling number and support network composition using multilevel regression on data from 25 countries. A fundamental structural effect of having fewer siblings is that individuals have a smaller pool of available close‐kin alters with whom to construct support networks. Consequently, networks of people with fewer siblings should be composed of different sorts of relations. Results confirm that such compositional adjustment occurs in systematic ways. Compared to those with three or more siblings, adults with none to two siblings (as separate categories) are more likely to expect support from parents, extended kin, and close friends but not more likely to do so from spouses/partners and children. Single children are also more likely to include neighbors and have smaller‐sized and/or impersonal networks. These findings contradict the primacy of familial ties in social support networks. Moreover, adjustment of support networks towards nonsibling ties occurs in culturally expected ways. Those with fewer siblings are generally only more likely to turn to ties for the types of support typically associated with those relations—parents for instrumental and financial support and friends for emotional support. Single children, however, also violate institutionalized expectations of social support by turning to ties for a wider range of social support. The results suggest that continuing declines in fertility could bring about both reinforcement and rearticulation of the sociocultural framing of close personal relationships. Moreover, consistent with recent research, the results show that personal networks are influenced more by individual‐level than country‐level factors.     

Lesbian and Gay Youth's Aspirations for Marriage and Raising Children

ABSTRACT

One hundred and thirty-three lesbian and gay youth were interviewed about their interests in long-term relationships, same-sex marriage, and becoming parents. One-third of the males and one-half of the females considered future long-term relationships extremely important; 61% of the males and 82% of the females expected such relationships to be monogamous. One-third of the males and two-thirds of the females said they would very likely marry. Only 14% of the males and four females were disinterested in raising children. Counselors working with lesbian and gay youth should explore youth's expectations for relationships and for child-rearing.     

Gambling Outcome Expectancies and Gambling Behavior Among African-American Adolescents: Gender as a Moderating Variable

Most high school adolescents have reported past year gambling, and males gamble more frequently and problematically than females. Ethnic minority adolescents appear to be gambling at a higher rate than Caucasian adolescents. There is evidence indicating that adolescent gambling outcome expectancies are correlated with gambling behavior, but limited evidence that this relation differs by gender. In the present study gender was evaluated as a moderator in the relation between gambling outcome expectancies and gambling behaviors in an African-American high school sample. Males gambled more frequently, gambled more problematically and held more positive gambling outcome expectancies than females. Gender was found to moderate the relations between gambling frequency and the expectations of material gain, affect, self-evaluation and parental approval. Gender also moderated the relations between gambling problems and expectations of affect and self-evaluation. These findings should inform future adolescent gambling prevention and intervention programs.     

Institutional Sexism in the Underworld: A View From the Inside

In this report we examine the views of male thieves toward women as potential accomplices or partners in crime. Our interviews revealed, in general, that females are perceived as lacking the qualities for being good thieves (e.g., heart, trust), exhibit specific deficiencies which limit their actual or perceived ability to perpetrate crimes, and tend to be relegated to subservient roles if and when they are involved in mixed-sex crime activities unless special opportunities or circumstances exist in which a female partner is distinctly an advantage to the male for pulling off the crime. This institutionalized sexism in the underworld narrowly restricts the illegitimate opportunities available to females and helps explain why females are seldom involved in lucrative criminal enterprise. We conclude by suggesting: that the study of female criminality has been retarded by an inaccurate conception of crime as an isolated act committed by a person, without regard to that person's relationships with other people, groups, and organizations.     

A Comparative Analysis of Male and Female Delinquency*

The historically dominant and generally accepted view is that males are much more likely than females to commit delinquent acts, and that when females deviate their misconduct is significantly less serious than that of males. This paper examines the recent contention that the delinquent behavior of males and females is more similar than assumed. Self-report questionnaires were administered in 1977 to a sample of 822 male and female adolescents selected from two urban high schools in a large midwestern state. Following Hindelang (1971), we concentrate on the types of delinquent acts most frequently reported, as well as the extent of involvement in these acts. While males tend to commit most offenses more frequently than females, the pattern of delinquency is virtually identical for the two groups. This uniformity holds for race-sex subgroups, although there are more similarities in delinquency within racial groups than within sex groups.     

The changing nature of work among the self-employed in the 1990s: Evidence from Britain

We use British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) data to examine the changing nature of work among the British self-employed in the 1990s. In the process we uncover several surprises and puzzles given the body of “received wisdom” about growing flexibility of work and employment patterns in that decade. Conventional wisdom implies three hypotheses: (1) growing female self-employment; (2) growing flexibility of employment involving more part-time work, temporary employment, and multiple job holding; and (3) a convergence in work hours between males and females. The principal surprises are that the data refute the first two hypotheses outright and provide only partial support for the third. An outstanding puzzle is why own-account, self-employed males work such long hours for wages that are generally lower than those of employees. At the same time, the self-employed are less satisfied with their work hours than employees are, despite being more satisfied on average with other characteristics of their jobs and with their lives in general. We estimate a panel data work hours equation by instrumental variables in an effort to resolve the puzzle and to shed light on self-employed labor supply behavior.     

Gender,Social Bond,and Academic Cheating in Japan*

There is evidence that females are less likely to cheat than males on college campuses. A frequently offered but still untested explanation is that females, with a stronger sense of responsibility for the maintenance of social relationships, tend to develop a stronger bond to a conventional society—a key explanatory concept in Hirschi’s (1969) social control theory. With academic cheating as the dependent variable, we test the hypotheses that the four elements of social bond are the intervening variables linking gender to such dishonesty among Japanese students who, due to their stronger orientation toward masculinity on Hofstede’s (1980) scale of gender role separation, are subject to more gender distinct socialization, leading to greater gender differences in the strength of social bond than those previously reported in the United States. The analysis provides rather limited support for the theory, most of which is due to the stronger belief in the legitimacy of societal rules among the females.     

Body Image among Women with Physical Disabilities: Internalization of Norms and Reactions to Nonconformity

Abstract

Body norms for women are based on stereotypical gender expectations regarding physical appearance. Although women in general are exposed to societal standards of the ideal body, women with physical disabilities encounter unique circumstances in meeting these expectations. Women with physical disabilities are often stigmatized because they violate norms of body aesthetics and body shape. This research examines the extent to which women with physical disabilities internalize body norms and the reactions these women have to their nonconformity to societal body standards. In-depth tape-recorded interviews, investigating a variety of social and interpersonal issues, were conducted with 21 female university students with physical disabilities. Using content analysis, the researchers examined the interviews for common themes and patterns relating to body image. The major categories that emerged were (1) awareness of body norms, (2) compliance with body norms, and (3) reactions to nonconformity to body norms. The study illustrates that women with physical disabilities have two general reactions to societal expectations of the ideal female body: emotional responses and stigma management. The lack of questioning of cultural body norms by respondents is discussed as it relates to the rural, small town study location.     

ATTITUDES TOWARD THE MENTALLY ILL:

Labeling theory posits that people labeled mentally ill experience negative societal reactions. Past research on this question is contradictory, due primarily to methodological problems. This study overcomes some of these problems by having respondents indicate their willingness to interact with a person with a specific mental disorder, or with an identically behaving person with a specific physical disorder. As expected, respondents reject the mentally ill significantly more than identically behaving physically ill persons, as supports labeling theory. Respondents also consider the mentally ill less predictable and to have less positive outcomes than those with physical illness. These beliefs highly correlate with rejection and account for some, but not all, of the effects of label on rejection.     

The changing relationship between university education and intergenerational social mobility

This paper examines the intergenerational occupational mobility patterns for five cohorts of male and female university graduates who received degrees between i960 and 1976. After 1964 there is a marked decline in the prospects of both males and females for upward intergenerational mobility. Males still experience more mobility than females in all time periods, although the sex difference appears to be diminishing over time. This pattern reflects worsened mobility prospects for males rather than any improvement for females. Regional comparisons in the 1976 national data identify differences in the distribution of father's occupational prestige across Canada and, therefore, different structural conditions by region for intergenerational occupational mobility.
This paper examines three issues in intergenerational social mobility as measured by occupational achievement. Using new and earlier published data on five cohorts of graduates, we examine the extent to which university education has declined over time as a route to upward intergenerational mobility. Changes in the labour market for graduates are identified as the major reasons for such declines. Second, we examine the extent to which sex differences in intergenerational mobility have diminished over time and the extent to which this is a consequence of worsening mobility prospects for males rather than improving prospects for females. Third, we examine some differences in intergenerational mobility patterns for the five economic regions of Canada.     

Gender and Negotiation Performance

When males and females negotiate with persons of the opposite sex—and people of the same sex—gender-based stereotypes may influence their interactions. Men and women often assume that males are more likely to be competitive, win–lose negotiators who want to maximize their own return. Women are expected to be more accommodating, win–win negotiators who try to preserve relationships by seeking to maximize the joint return achieved by the parties. If these assumptions are accurate, we might expect men to achieve better negotiating results than women. This article explores common gender-based beliefs that might affect bargaining interactions. It then compares the performance of male and female law students over the past 16 years on Legal Negotiation course exercises to determine whether men or women achieve better results on negotiation exercises. The data suggest that negotiator gender does not significantly influence negotiation results.