Gender Differences in Heterosexual College Students' Conceptualizations and Indicators of Sexual Consent: Implications for Contemporary Sexual Assault Prevention Education

Because sexual assault is often defined in terms of nonconsent, many prevention efforts focus on promoting the clear communication of consent as a mechanism to reduce assault. Yet little research has specifically examined how sexual consent is being conceptualized by heterosexual college students. In this study, 185 Midwestern U.S. college students provided responses to open-ended questions addressing how they define, communicate, and interpret sexual consent and nonconsent. The study aimed to assess how college students define and communicate consent, with particular attention to gender differences in consent. Results indicated no gender differences in defining consent. However, there were significant differences in how men and women indicated their own consent and nonconsent, with women reporting more verbal strategies than men and men reporting more nonverbal strategies than women, and in how they interpreted their partner's consent and nonconsent, with men relying more on nonverbal indicators of consent than women. Such gender differences may help to explain some misunderstandings or misinterpretations of consent or agreement to engage in sexual activity, which could partially contribute to the occurrence of acquaintance rape; thus, a better understanding of consent has important implications for developing sexual assault prevention initiatives.     

Model Selection and Regression t-Statistics

It is shown that dropping quantitative variables from a linear regression, based on t-statistics, is mathematically equivalent to dropping variables based on commonly used information criteria.     

Neoliberal homophobic discourse: heteronormative human capital and the exclusion of queer citizens

In this article, I examine the relationship between homophobic language use and its broader social context, focusing on how a U.S.-based, conservative Christian organization's institutionalized homophobic text-making practices seek to derive legitimacy from the broader political economic discourses associated with the neoliberal moment. Using the Family Research Council's statement on marriage and the family as the basis for analysis, I demonstrate how the organization seeks to represent lesbian and gay subjects and their kinship formations as a threat to human capital development because they are based on affectional relationships that neither reflect nor respond to the kinds of self-governance and marketization that neoliberalism requires of all citizen-subjects and their families. Linguistic strategies for creating such representations include lexical choices that avoid overtly identifying lesbian and gay subjects as the object of discussion, the creation of a taxonomy for what constitutes "proper" families-based on neoliberal principles--that implicitly excludes lesbian and gay kinship formations, and the use of neoliberal discourses of self-governance and marketization as the basis for that exclusion.     

Social Support: A Mixed Blessing for Women in Substance Abuse Treatment

Using a personal social network framework, this qualitative study sought to understand how women in substance abuse treatment describe their network members' supportive and unsupportive behaviors related to recovery. Eighty-six women were interviewed from residential and outpatient substance abuse treatment programs. Positive and negative aspects of women's social networks were assessed via open-ended questions. Analysis was guided by grounded theory techniques using three coders. The findings extend classic social support concepts such as emotional, tangible, and informational support. Practice implications are presented in light of the potential roles network members may play in substance use and recovery.     

Internalized homophobia, lesbian identity development, and self-esteem in undergraduate women

This study examined the relationship between internalized homophobia, self-esteem, and lesbian identity development in 35 undergraduate women. Results indicated evidence of a strong relationship between the two identity development measures, the Stage Allocation Measure (SAM; Cass, 1984) and the Gay Identity Questionnaire (GIQ; Brady & Busse, 1994), and moderate relationships between identity development and internalized homophobia, between identity development and self-esteem, and between internalized homophobia and self-esteem. Implications for research and clinical practice are discussed.     

Differences Between African Americans and Non-Hispanic Whites Utilization of Clergy for Counseling with Serious Personal Problems

There is a paradox in research on African Americans and non-Hispanic whites in the utilization of clergy. Research finds that African Americans have higher levels of religious service attendance and higher levels of contact with clergy. Research also finds that despite this, African Americans are less likely than non-Hispanic whites to seek out assistance from clergy for psychiatric disorders including depression and anxiety. The goal of this paper was to investigate race differences in the use of clergy for counseling for serious personal problems. It uses the National Survey of American Life. We find that non-Hispanic whites were more likely than African Americans to use clergy for a serious personal problem. The significant difference between African Americans and non-Hispanic whites appeared to be mediated by the fact that African Americans were more likely to have seen clergy in a religious setting and non-Hispanic whites were more likely to have seen clergy in other settings including hospitals.     

Three Ways to Be Happy: Pleasure,Engagement, and Meaning—Findings from Australian and US Samples

This study examined the contributions of orientations to happiness (pleasure, engagement and meaning) to subjective well-being. A sample of 12,622 adults from the United States completed on-line surveys measuring orientations to happiness, positive affect, negative affect, and life satisfaction. A sample of 332 adults from Australia also completed these surveys as well as a measure of the big five factor personality traits. Hierarchical regressions generally supported the hypothesis that the three orientations to happiness predict subjective well-being (satisfaction with life, positive affect and negative affect) beyond sociodemographic variables and personality. Meaning and engagement explained the greatest variance in all three components of subjective well-being. Overall, these findings support the importance of a eudaimonic approach in addition to the hedonic approach to achieving happiness. Moreover, findings were relatively consistent in both the Australian and US samples. Some of these data were presented at the 8th Australian Centre on Quality of Life Conference, Melbourne, Australia.     

Variables related to patterns of union Stewards’ commitment

This article examines whether the union and employer commitment of stewards can be predicted by the same antecedent factors and whether any o f those factors are related to dual or unilateral commitment. It modifies a conceptual framework of organizational commitment to recognize the presence of a union and then applies that framework to both union and employer commitment. The analysis found that the predictors of union and employer commitment were mostly different, and structural characteristics of the union, employer, and work significantly differentiated between stewards with high and low dual commitment and between standards with high and low unilateral commitment.