The Gender Identity/Gender Dysphoria Questionnaire for Adolescents and Adults

The present study reports on the construction of a dimensional measure of gender identity (gender dysphoria) for adolescents and adults. The 27-item gender identity/gender dysphoria questionnaire for adolescents and adults (GIDYQ-AA) was administered to 389 university students (heterosexual and nonheterosexual) and 73 clinic-referred patients with gender identity disorder. Principal axis factor analysis indicated that a one-factor solution, accounting for 61.3% of the total variance, best fits the data. Factor loadings were all ≥ .30 (median, .82; range, .34–.96). A mean total score (Cronbach's alpha, .97) was computed, which showed strong evidence for discriminant validity in that the gender identity patients had significantly more gender dysphoria than both the heterosexual and nonheterosexual university students. Using a cut-point of 3.00, we found the sensitivity was 90.4% for the gender identity patients and specificity was 99.7% for the controls. The utility of the GIDYQ-AA is discussed.     

A short‐form scale to measure sexual discord in dyadic relationships

This paper presents a new short‐form scale for use by clinical workers and researchers in measuring the degree or magnitude of a problem in the sexual component of a dyadic relationship, as seen by the respondent. The scale was designed for use in repeated administrations at periodic intervals in order that therapists might continually monitor and evaluate their clients' response to treatment. Internal consistency and test‐retest reliability were found to be in excess of .90, and the scale has a discriminant validity coefficient of .76.     

Careers in the Social Sciences

Thought experiments enable students to think about persistent social issues by drawing on both knowledge and imagination. In this article, the author provides examples of thought experiments found in literature for adults and middle school students, a rationale for doing thought experiments in the classroom, a step-by-step procedure to follow, and a rubric for evaluating student work. A sample of one student's work illustrates the process. The author also recommends several nonfiction books that can be used to jump-start thought experiments. By encouraging students to link past experiences with present concerns, thought experiments illustrate the relevance of the social studies.     

Support for basic psychological needs in the context of HIV disclosure for older youth

Purpose

This study utilized Self-Determination Theory's sub-theory Basic Needs Theory (Deci & Ryan, 2000) to understand older youths' perceptions of support for their basic needs of autonomy, relatedness, and competence in the context of disclosing their HIV status.

Methods

Semi-structured interviews lasting 10–60 min each were conducted with nine youth aged 17–19 (4 women and 5 men) and two adult staff at a one-week residential program in a large southern city. Participant observations of disclosure-related conversations and experiences were conducted and recorded throughout the program. Reliability and validity assurances were met in multiple ways. Analysis of the content of interviews and observations indicated consistent themes that converged on the research questions.

Results

When participants perceived more support for their basic psychological needs for autonomy, relatedness, and competence, they reported more self-determined motivation to disclose their status and better satisfaction with their decisions. The results of this study indicate that Basic Needs Theory is useful for understanding how the basic psychological needs of autonomy, relatedness, and competence are satisfied or thwarted in the context of HIV disclosure for older youth.

Conclusions

Programs and people working with older youth with HIV/AIDS can use BNT to help youth identify, create, and adapt contexts to be supportive of their basic needs for autonomy, relatedness, and competence, and provide guidance and support accordingly. Providers can utilize this information to support youth in strategizing about their disclosure decisions and goals for their well-being.     

Population removal,displacement, and divestment in South Africa∗

In the past twenty years several million Africans have been removed or displaced from the ‘White’ areas to the ‘homelands’. Others have found themselves in the ‘homelands’ by virtue of changed borders between the ‘homelands’ and the rest of South Africa. But all three categories lose on transfer to the ‘homelands’ whatever rights to ‘White’ area residence and employment they might have enjoyed under the pass laws. Transferring people to the ‘homelands’ not only often curtails their access to the labour market; it also adds to the financial burdens of the ‘homeland’ administrations, who find themselves having to provide extra schools, health services, and other facilities. Some of the ‘homelands’ are poorer in terms of public funds than are countries like Lesotho. The financial apartheid that is entailed in the ‘homelands’ policy, which includes classifying public funds supplied to the ‘homeland’ administrations as ‘foreign aid,’ is one of the most insidious forms of racial discrimination in South Africa. Under the stricter enforcement of the pass laws that has come about following the recommendations of the Riekert Commission, people in the ‘homelands’ are having their access to the mainstream economy reduced. Displacing Africans to the ‘homelands’ enables the government to ‘export’ part of South Africa's unemployment problem. One of the chief motives behind the refurbished industrial decentralisation programme announced by the Prime Minister on 31st March 1982 is to promote the policy of influx control. It remains to be seen whether the refurbished programme makes a material contribution to the creation of additional jobs in the ‘homelands’. The action of the authorities in deporting people from Cape Town to the Transkeiin August 1981 under laws governing aliens testifies to continued determination to deflect black urbanisation from the ‘White’ areas to the ‘homelands’. But it is doubtful whether the ‘homelands’ have the space to accommodate people displaced from ‘White’ areas as well as their own natural population increase. Pressures from farmers in the ‘White’ areas for erecting fences between these areas and the ‘homelands’ testifies to growing tensions on the internal borders of South Africa as the ‘homelands’ reach bursting point.     

Motivating Social Work Students in Statistics Courses

Statistical literacy provides an advantage to social work practitioners in promoting client interests. The social work literature has provided some suggestions for improving instruction in statistics courses, but the goal of motivating students in statistics courses has remained elusive. The ARCS model (Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction) is a model for instructional design developed to enhance learner motivation. The ARCS model can be utilized to increase interest in, and learning of, any social work course content. This article applies the ARCS model to social work statistics courses, integrating current literature, providing concrete examples, and illustrating how learner motivation can be enhanced to improve social work education.     

SPIRITUALITY AND RELIGION,EMOTIONAL COPING,AND CRIMINAL DESISTANCE: A QUALITATIVE STUDY OF MEN UNDERGOING CHANGE

Retrospective narratives of change consistently emphasize the importance of religious devotion and spirituality in initiating sustained behavioral change, but little is known about the process by which religion and spirituality promote desistance from crime. The current project is designed to add to the knowledge of the relationship between religion/spirituality and behavioral change by systematically investigating the ways that men residing in a halfway house define the role of religion/spirituality as an emotion-coping mechanism in their desistance efforts. The qualitative data reveal that religion/spirituality is primarily used by these men currently undergoing behavioral change as a form of emotional comfort, a distraction from current stressors, and as factor demarcating the transition from deviance to a more conventional life. Suggestions for religious programming designed to stimulate behavioral changes are discussed.