Identity Change in Northern Ireland: A Longitudinal Study of Students' Transition to University

This two-wave longitudinal study followed a cohort of young people in Northern Ireland (N = 124) to examine how the transition to university impacts on identity change. Drawing on Stryker's (1968, 1987) identity theory, we examined salience, affective and interactional commitment for five identities: family member, friend, student, national and religious identity. The relative salience of national and religious identities did not change over time, but an absolute increase in the salience of religious identity was indicated at Time 2. Regression analysis provided some support for identity theory but suggested a difference between Catholics and Protestants in relation to religious identity. The implications for the identities of young people in Northern Ireland, and, more generally, for identity theory are discussed .     

Criminal justice system behavior

Much has been written recently about the underlying motivation of criminals and about the behavior of the criminal justice system itself. Typically, such studies have shown negative correlations between crime rate, probability of apprehension and probability of conviction. However, in addressing the behavior of the system, the present study examines measures of workload for the criminal justice system rather than performance indicators such as those above. Preliminary evidence is examined over several provinces of Canada and is used to investigate the hypothesis that there is adaptation by different subsystems in the criminal justice system to changing workloads in other parts. The initial findings show that present upstream, i.e., toward the beginning of the system, workload affects future behavior of the system downstream, i.e., toward the end, rather than the reverse, especially for the more serious crime types.     

The self and mental health: self-salience and the emergence of internalizing and externalizing problems

How do schemas about self-salience--the importance of the self versus the collective in social relations--affect mental health? We propose that self-salience shapes the likelihood of experiencing internalizing or externalizing problems. Schemas that privilege others over the self increase the risk of internalizing symptoms, including depressive symptoms and anxiety, whereas those that privilege the self over others predispose individuals to externalizing behaviors of antisocial behavior and substance abuse. Furthermore, we propose that these schemas contribute to the gender differences that exist in these problems. We test these predictions with data from adolescents, the stage at which these problems and the gender differences in them arise. Results show that self-salience underlies both internalizing and externalizing problems. In addition, schemas about self-salience help explain the gender differences found in mental health problems.     

Reading “Monosexual”

This essay interrogates the meanings, uses, and implications of the emergent U.S./U.K. bisexual community’s adoption of the term “monosexual” to define non-bisexuals. The authors provide a historical and theoretical context for the term, explicitly linking its oppositional rhetoric to that coined by other recent identity movements, and to that inherent in psychological and psychoanalytical models of identity development. The authors further emphasize their own personal and political responses to and dislike of the term. The essay examines the inconsistencies implicit in the meanings and uses of the term, highlighting the differences between sexual behavior and sexual identity. The unsuitability of the monosexual/bisexual paradigm for a bisexual movement that always overlaps—theoretically, politically, and personally—with other movements is also discussed. The authors conclude by stressing the importance of developing language that expresses the complexity of sexual identity and divergent political affiliation.     

Climate regime shift detection with a trans‐dimensional,sequential Monte Carlo,variational Bayes method

We present an application study which exemplifies a cutting edge statistical approach for detecting climate regime shifts. The algorithm uses Bayesian computational techniques that make time‐efficient analysis of large volumes of climate data possible. Output includes probabilistic estimates of the number and duration of regimes, the number and probability distribution of hidden states, and the probability of a regime shift in any year of the time series. Analysis of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) index is provided as an example. Two states are detected: one is associated with positive values of the PDO and presents lower interannual variability, while the other corresponds to negative values of the PDO and greater variability. We compare this approach with existing alternatives from the literature and highlight the potential for ours to unlock features hidden in climate data.     

Disappearing Dykes? Post-Lesbian Discourse and Shifting Identities and Communities

ABSTRACT

Researchers and activists have argued that the term “lesbian” has been disappearing, in decline for decades, and have focused on tensions around gender and sexual identities as the source of its decline. I identify “post-lesbian discourse” as key concept in the changing landscape of LGBTQ terminology, and I highlight four concerns that emerge in this discourse: shifting lesbian politics, a too-inclusive community, a loss of lesbian spaces, and the meaning of embodied lesbian identity. Rather than focusing solely on gender and sexuality, my aim is to explore the development of post-lesbian discourse and its effects on lesbian identities and communities.     

Children’s reasoning about unequal gender‐based distributions

Children ages 7 (N = 56, M_age = 7.24, SD = 0.83), 9 (N = 55, M_age = 9.25, SD = 0.52), and 11 (N = 52, M_age = 11.60, SD = 0.79), and emerging adults (N = 50, M_age = 20.76, SD = 0.87) judged distributions of different items to boys and girls, when the items distributed varied by gender valence (related or unrelated to gender norms) and equivalency (equivalent or unequal). Distributions were judged to be acceptable most when the items were consistent with gender norms, especially for participants at ages 7 and 9, indicating that in middle childhood, children judge unequal treatment as fair when it is related to gender norms. Items were judged to be more likable when they were gendered, and likability judgments predicted more positive evaluations of the distributions, even when controlling for age.