Speaker abstracts

Purpose: There is no consensus on possible benefits and risks of testosterone supplementation. Here we review various controlled studies of testosterone supplementation in aging males.

Methods: We performed a PubMed search using the terms “testosterone/therapeutic use” with the limits “>65 years of age”, “randomized controlled clinical trials”, and “male gender”, starting in 1999.

Results: Forty-three articles have been published since 1999. Some of these studies also included patients in middle-age or younger. Findings reported in these articles were not entirely consistent. After weighting studies by the number of patients, hints are found that testosterone supplementation increases bone mass, lean body mass, muscle mass and hematopoiesis, and improves sexual functioning and perhaps mood, but does not affect serum lipids, cardiovascular parameters, prostate-specific antigen level, or cognition. Considering studies including only men older than 65 years, and in which testosterone supplements were compared with placebo treatment, slightly different results are obtained. In these patient groups, testosterone does not improve sexual function or mood.

Conclusion: The overall benefit of testosterone supplementation for the aging male remains unclear. Any supplementation in men with age-normal testosterone levels only on grounds of subjective symptoms is not advisable.     

Structuring Transnational Spaces of Identity,Rights and Power in the Niger Delta of Nigeria

This paper critically examines the ways in which global–local flows interpenetrate each other and mesh, simultaneously undermining and empowering the forces of local resistance, using the Niger Delta as a case study. It explores the response of local resistance groups to ‘globalization from below’, by appropriating global structures and tapping into transnational networks to empower their identity, rights, and claims in the oil-rich, but impoverished Niger Delta. Space is conceptualized as the transnational multiscalar social terrain of power, which is critical both as a site of struggle and as expression of the global logic of oil capital. Applied to an explanation of the globalization of extraction and resistance in the oil-rich Niger Delta, this article posits that a lot will depend on the balance of power between the social forces in the region, the oil multinationals, and the Nigerian state, and the capacity of the forces of resistance to tap into and creatively use existing transnational space(s) and discourses to push an agenda of social emancipation and grassroots democracy.

Este artículo examina las maneras como los flujos locales y globales se interpenetran entre sí y engranan, debilitando y fortaleciendo simultáneamente a las fuerzas de la resistencia local, usando el Delta del Níger como estudio de caso. El mismo explora la respuesta a la resistencia de los grupos locales a la ‘globalización desde abajo’, mediante la apropiación de estructuras globales y sacando provecho de las redes transnacionales para fortalecer sus identidad, derechos y demandas en el Delta del Níger, rico en petróleo, pero empobrecido. El espacio se ha conceptualizado como un terreno de poder social trasnacional y multiescalar que es crítico para ambos sitios de conflicto y como expresión de la lógica global del capital del petróleo. Este artículo hace referencia a una explicación de la globalización en la extracción y la resistencia del Delta del Níger, rico en petróleo y postula que mucho depende del equilibrio del poder entre las fuerzas sociales de la región, las multinacionales del petróleo y el estado de Nigeria, y la capacidad de las fuerzas de resistencia de beneficiarse y creativamente usar el(los) espacio(s) y tratados para promover la agenda de emancipación social y democracia de base.

     

Multidimensional poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean: new evidence from the Gallup World Poll

This paper studies poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean from a multidimensional perspective, exploiting the Gallup World Poll, a survey that provides a unique opportunity to perform intercountry comparisons. By applying factor analysis we find that welfare can be appropriately summarized by three dimensions: income, subjective welfare and “basic needs”. Another finding is that the US$ 1 line appears to be a reasonable cut-off value to measure food deprivation.     

Nonconscious processing of sexual information: A generalization to women

Sexually competent stimuli may nonconsciously activate sexual memory and set up sexual responding. In men, subliminally presented sexual pictures facilitated recognition of sexual information (Spiering, Everaerd, & Janssen, 2003). The goal of the two experiments reported here was to investigate to what extent this result can be generalized to women. A direct replication in women failed in Experiment 1. In Experiment 2, besides the male‐oriented sexual picture set, pictures of two other sets were presented: female‐oriented sexual pictures and baby pictures. Effects of the menstrual cycle were also examined. In Experiment 2, only male‐oriented pictures showed a facilitation effect. Sensitivity for reproductive stimuli was enhanced during the midluteal phase. Like men, women may nonconsciously recognize a stimulus as sexual. This recognition process seems unrelated to the potential of the stimulus to elicit subjective arousal.     

A Review of: “Adolescent Sexuality: A Historical Handbook and Guide” edited by Carolyn Cocca

Two well‐cited studies (Fisher, 1980; Schwartz, 1973) have suggested that people with negative emotional orientations toward sexuality (i.e., “erotophobia” or “sex guilt”) have difficulty learning contraceptive information. However, a recent laboratory study (Goldfarb, Gerrard, Gibbons, &; Plante, 1988) has raised doubts about this conclusion by demonstrating that erotophobic women can learn contraceptive information if they are exposed to it. The current study was designed to further clarify the relationship between emotional orientation toward sex and ability to learn sexually relevant material. Specifically, it compared pretest and post‐test knowledge of contraception and AIDS in erotophobic and erotophilic students in a university class on human reproduction. While the results indicated that male erotophobics initially knew less, there were no knowledge differences between males and females or erotophobics and erotophilics at the end of the course. Thus, these results support the conclusion that erotophobics are capable of learning sexual material if they are exposed to it. The implications of these results for educational strategies for decreasing unplanned pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases are discussed.     

The Two Bridging Functions of Sociology in the House of Intellect

Abstract

The Kantian origins of Rawls' A Theory of Justice and Parsons' systematic sociology are examined. It is suggested that while both Rawls and Parsons were heavily influenced by Kant, their convergent contract doctrines of modern social orders can best be understood as a result of an inherited or a self imposed legalization of Kantian moral philosophy. This inheritance is traced through Maine, Jhering and Weber in the case of Parsons. It is argued that Rawls uses a legalization of Kantian philosophy in order to facilitate his quest for a theory of justice within the confines of liberal democratic theory. Finally it is argued that the legalism in Rawls' and Parsons' work represents a conservative bias with respect to the full potential inherent in Kant and that a revision of the concept of natural law may remedy the bias of legalism.     

Re-examining a Landmark Research Study: A Teaching Editorial

A landmark research study from the 1950s was reanalyzed. Part of the study's results were confirmed, but other parts were found to have been incompletely analyzed and therefore incorrectly reported. Subsequent scholars who reviewed the study often did not distinguish between the accurate and inaccurate parts of the study. Furthermore, two of the main hypotheses of the study were that one variable (A) was not related to another variable (B) and that variable B was not related to another variable (C). In fact, both null hypotheses, insofar as data could be reconstructed from the original study, could be rejected. A reanalysis is presented here to encourage students in the family field to be bold and not accept published reports “just because” but to evaluate them carefully, perhaps even reanalyzing the data when available. It is hoped that scholars who submit reviews of the literature to Marriage and Family Review will use similar care and attention to assessing the scholarly literature in their particular areas of interest.     

The meanings and motives for women's use of violence in Canadian college dating relationships: Results from a national survey

Data from a Canadian nationwide representative sample of 1,835 female college students were used to test a variety of propositions about women's use of violence in dating relationships. It has become progressively common in both Canada and the United States to argue that women are as violent as men. Although in a crude counting of violent acts these data confirm the contention that women commit a large number of such acts, a further investigation of the women's motives shows that a substantial amount of their violence was in self‐defense, or “fighting back.” The more these women had been victimized, whether physically or sexually, the more likely they were to report that they had used self‐defensive violence. The finding that a substantial amount of women's     

Personal influence and pre-industrial United States: An early relationship model that needs resurgence in U.S. public relations

The personal influence model of public relations, using one's influence to seek favor with government and other power bases, is seen as most applicable in Asia but also is found elsewhere in the world. Only a few writings have explicitly broached the possibility that the personal influence model is practiced in the United States. Muzi Falconi (2010) argued that U.S. public relations emphasizes persuasion, espoused by Bernays and brought to fruition through one-way messaging. While it is easy to see persuasion as dominating U.S. practice, such observation ignores the prevalence of personal influence through at least 150 years of U.S. society. As early settlers built agrarian communities, interpersonal communication fostered community pride and solidarity. During World War II, Katz and Lazarsfeld identified personal influence as a major element in U.S. communication, overriding the mass media in importance. Even today much public relations activity in the U.S. consists of organizations seeking favor from the power elites. However, with the focus on message control, scholars have overlooked the efforts and effects of personal influence. The purpose of this paper is to identify early evidences of the personal influence model in the U.S. Today, the increasing power of social media and virtual stakeholders renders the persuasion model as somewhat specious. It is time to reexamine the concept of personal influence and the greater promise it holds for returning to what public relations was and should be in the first place—a function for maintaining relationships.     

Self-esteem,Self-focused Attention,and the Mediating Role of Fear of Negative Evaluation in College Students With and Without Asthma

Abstract

Objective: The current study investigated the mediating role of fear of negative evaluation on the relationship between self-focused attention and self-esteem among college students with and without asthma. Participants: Young adults with (n = 148) and without (n = 530) childhood-onset asthma were recruited from a college student population. Methods: Self-focused attention and fear of negative evaluation measures were completed. Participants also answered questions about inclusion in a social activity. Results: Higher levels of self-focused attention and fear of negative evaluation were associated with lower self-esteem in both groups within the context of social activity participation. Fear of negative evaluation mediated the relationship between self-consciousness and self-esteem. No significant differences were found between groups. Conclusions: Findings indicate significant relationships among self-focused attention, fear of negative evaluation, and self-esteem in the context of social activity participation. Further examination of self-esteem regarding participation in social activities among college students appears warranted.