Initial Validation of the Socialization Self-Efficacy Scale With International Transracially Adoptive Parents

This study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of the 10-item Socialization Self-Efficacy Scale (SSES) using a sample of international transracially adoptive parents. This online survey design study recruited transracially adoptive parents from parenting support groups. Using a random split sample of the data, exploratory factor analysis resulted in two subfactors: cultural socialization self-efficacy and racial socialization self-efficacy. Next, confirmatory factor analysis in the remaining sample supported the two-factor structure. The findings provide strong initial support for the validity of the SSES that measures transracially adoptive parents’ motivation and belief in their ability to engage in cultural and racial socialization practices.     

Developing a Low‐Cost Technique for Parallel Cross‐Cultural Instrument Development: The Question Appraisal System (QAS‐04)

Many approaches are used to prepare instruments for multicultural administration, depending on the scope, schedule and budget of the study. Sequential questionnaire development, the most common approach to developing cross‐cultural instruments, is also the most affordable. Designers formulate and pretest an instrument in the source language, then translate it into the target language(s) using culture‐specific tailoring. In contrast, parallel development incorporates target cultures throughout the design and pretesting process. The disadvantages to parallel development are that it is expensive, time‐consuming and subject to version control problems. Question Appraisal System (QAS) is a coding tool for pretesting instruments. The QAS is supported by an item taxonomy of the cognitive demands of a question and documents the features that may lead to response error. Results of the appraisal are used to revise question wording, response wording, questionnaire format and question ordering. This article describes research conducted to update the QAS to identify problems due to cross‐cultural and cross‐linguistic application of questions.     

Readiness for practice: social work students' perspectives in England,Italy, and Sweden

The aim of this article is to present the views of social work students from three different welfare regimes—Italy, Sweden, and England—and to analyze in what way at the end of their training they feel ready to practice. Primarily, it considers the findings of a comparative pilot study conducted in the three countries. Specifically, the paper initially offers general comments on the European context of standards of social work competence and how these impact on the countries involved here. It then briefly discusses the three different welfare regimes that these countries reflect. Social work education is then given some consideration, including reflection on similarities and differences in each curriculum. We then review examples of previous research on students' readiness to practice, also referencing models of competence previously developed. After this we look in detail at the research study itself, with a short discussion of its methodological—primarily phenomenological—approach and modest scope, before we consider tentative findings in relation to the themes of theory, practice, and personal growth. The paper concludes with reflections on levels of competence attained and how the research might best be extended.     

Processes of Sexual Orientation Questioning among Heterosexual Women

Because very little is known about heterosexual identity development, this study assesses and describes sexual orientation questioning processes of heterosexual-identified women and offers a comparison of these processes with those employed by their sexual-minority counterparts. Participants included 333 female college students (ages 18–23; M = 19.2): 228 participants primarily identified as “exclusively straight/heterosexual,” and 105 participants indicated a sexual-minority identity. Sixty-seven percent of exclusively heterosexual respondents (n = 154) indicated having thought about or questioned their sexual orientation. The processes by which heterosexual participants described questioning their sexual orientation were coded for the presence of five emergent categories using an inductive thematic coding methodology. These five categories included unelaborated questioning (19%), other-sex experiences (16%), exposure to sexual minorities (26%), assessment of same-sex attraction (48%), and evaluations of same-sex behavior (26%). Several unifying and differentiating themes emerged between sexual orientation groups. Results from this study suggest that contemporary young women's heterosexuality is not necessarily an unexamined identity; indeed, the large majority of young women in this sample were deliberately identifying as heterosexual after contemplating alternative possibilities.     

Help-Seeking for Sexual Difficulties and the Potential Role of Interactive Digital Interventions: Findings From the Third British National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles

Sexual difficulties are common and can negatively impact health and well-being. A wide range of support is available, but there are multiple barriers to accessing help. Interactive digital interventions (IDIs) for sexual difficulties have the potential to provide a convenient, wide-reaching, and cost-effective source of support, but little is known about who might use them. We explored the potential reach of IDIs by assessing the prevalence of help-seeking among people with distressing sexual difficulties, including who seeks which sources of help. Data came from sexually active men and women, ages 16 to 74, participating in Britain’s third National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal-3) (N = 11,637). Help/advice was sought by less than half of those with distressing sexual difficulties, and help-seeking was associated with younger age in women but not men. The most popular sources of support were family doctor (47.5% to 54.8%), Internet (22.0% to 25.6%), and family/friend (20.7% to 41.8%), with older participants (≥ 35), particularly men, preferring to seek help from a family doctor, and younger participants (<35) preferring to seek help from the Internet or family/friend. Despite a paucity of good digital support sites for sexual function, the Internet is a common source of help. As Internet access continues to increase, so too does the potential for well-designed IDIs to support those with sexual difficulties.     

Sexual behavior in female transsexuals and lesbians

This study was designed to look at the role sexual arousal and behavior play in confirming or resolving gender identity confusion, and at how female‐to‐male transsexuals (FTs) and lesbians (Ls) differ in this area. Detailed interview data on sexual behavior from a clinical sample of 15 FTs compared to a matched research sample of 15 Ls are presented. The mean age for the FTs group was 21 years, 10 months and 23 years, 8 months for the Ls group. The two groups were matched by age, educational background and parental socioeconomic status. The results indicated that the majority of women in both groups had had sexual experience with men as well as women. All clearly preferred women as partners, but the FTs fantasized being men in encounters with women, while the Ls were completely identified women. The Ls sample tended to go through a heterosexual phase before they had their first relationship with another woman, which was typically not until approximately age 20. However, the FTs tended to have their first sexual relationship with a woman in early or middle adolescence. The two groups also differed in various aspects of sexual arousal and behavior, with Ls reporting a higher frequency of orgasms and being more at ease in engaging in intense and satisfactory sexual relations.

The primary value of this study has to be seen as hypothesis rendering. The conclusions are tentative because of the limited sample size. The data add to our knowledge on aspects of female sexuality in general, and the reported differences between the two groups will assist in formulating a differential diagnosis between FTs and Ls in clinical practice.     

Perceived Parental Role Satisfaction and Daughter's Sex Role Attitudes and Aspirations

Abstract

The effects of measures of perceived parental role satisfaction on daughter's personal aspirations and sex role orientation, controlling for parents' status characteristics, are examined using data from a random sample of college women. Perceived parental role reactions are found to have a moderate independent effect on daughter's educational, occupational, marital and parenting plans, and sex role orientation. Perceived dissatisfaction by the mother with the roles of mother and housewife and by the father with his job contribute to the development of feminist sex role attitudes. Perceived dissatisfaction with role of mother and father's job contribute to aspiring to a lifestyle that includes advanced education, an atypical professional occupation, uncertainty about marriage and few or no children. Perceived responses to the housewife role and mother's job are related to occupational and marital aspirations, mother's working to marriage, and parenting plans. Mother's employment affects the impact of perception variables on personal aspirations.