Correlates of the contraceptive behavior of adolescents/young adults

Pregnancy among adolescents/young adults continues at epidemic levels despite widespread concern regarding its social and psychological consequences. Cognitive psychologists point out that active decisions and behaviors such as those involved in effective contraception are facilitated or inhibited by any of a number of relevant attitudes and beliefs. The present investigation examined several such cognitive variables. Specifically, the following hypotheses were tested: Among adolescents/young adults, the use of effective contraception would be positively related to (a) the number of known cases of unwanted pregnancy of which subjects were directly aware, and (b) sexual guilt. A sample of 147 sexually active single college students aged 18–19 provided information relevant to these hypotheses. Analyses indicated that contraceptive behavior was unrelated to the number of unwanted pregnancies of which subjects were aware, but was substantially and significantly associated with sexual guilt, even when the possibility of pregnancy was precluded. The nature and implications of these findings are explored.     

On becoming a prostitute: An exploratory case‐comparison study

We examined the effects of sexual arousal on cortical somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) elicited by electrical stimulation delivered to the skin over either the dorsal penile or posterior tibial nerve. The electrical stimuli were initiated by the subject pressing a button. In Experiment 1, a single stimulus was delivered immediately upon button press. In Experiment 2, a randomly spaced train of stimuli was delivered after a randomly varying delay. SEPs were obtained during (1) a baseline condition during which subjects viewed a non‐erotic videotape, (2) an arousal condition in which subjects viewed an erotic videotape, and (3) a post‐orgasm condition during which subjects again viewed the non‐erotic videotape. Amplitudes of SEP components elicited by stimulation of either nerve decreased with sexual arousal and tended to return towards baseline values in the post‐orgasm condition. The SEP components that showed these changes included slow potentials generated before and after stimulus delivery, as well as the vertex potentials, N100 and P200.     

The American Trade Dollar

The changes in technology that have affected mail delivery are a dynamic way to encourage students to think critically and make meaningful connections across historical eras. In the classroom, personal communication through the mail can become the “thematic glue” used across historical units to highlight the changes in everyday life caused by technological innovation. The post office initiated changes in streetlighting and crosswalks, stimulated the development of rural roads and highways, and provided passenger services on railways. Classroom teachers can use the activities and discussion questions to introduce students to this entity and its influence on our history.     

Heterosexual vs. homosexual attitudes: Male partners' perception of the feminine image of male transexuals∗

This paper explores and discusses the social and emotional conflicts engendered by a sample of twelve passing phase transsexuals (four females and eight males) and the coping mechanisms which they have adopted to meet the demands of this period. “Passing phase” is defined as that period prior to sex change in which the surgical candidate is required to live and work as a member of the opposite anatomical sex.

The transsexuals in this study were deeply alienated individuals who received negative support in their dilemma, both from society as well as from the individuals close to them. There seemed to be virtually no means of tension reduction available to these transsexuals. Anger and loneliness were overriding factors in their emotional distress, as well as was the constant fear of being discovered and discredited.

Differences were found among four subgroups of transsexuals in regard to several areas.     

Proper Perspective in American History

This article describes the instructional methods of four high school government teachers during their coverage of the 2008 presidential election. By analyzing the ways in which these teachers attempted to generate interest in the election and further their students’ conceptualization of politics, the author seeks to better understand political instruction at the secondary level. Overall, the author observed that the teachers were successful in capturing student interest in both politics and the election; however, the teachers often missed opportunities to foster this interest into a nuanced understanding of politics.     

Max Weber Today: Notes on the Problem of Objectivity in the Social Sciences

Abstract

Weber demonstrated that the conception of objective scientific knowledge in any sense of any empirical subject matter, is indissoluably bound up with the reality both of the normative aspect of action and of obstacles to the realization of norms. Science itself cannot be methodologically grounded without reference to the value element in the relation of wertbeziehung (Parsons, 1949:683).     

Ideological Primary Groups in Contemporary Cultural Movements

Abstract

This paper argues that “post-modern” societies generate movements for cultural change in models “of” and “for” identity and consciousness, rather than traditional kinds of social movements aiming at structural changes in institutional arrangements. The distinctive and crucial unit in comtemporary cultural movements is what we have termed the “ideological group.” These groups are similar to the “ideological informal groups” which recruited members of traditional social movements on the basis of personal contacts and confidence, and which rested on shared “inner convictions.” Like other, earlier, ideological groups, they focus on the construction and legitimation of a shared symbolic interpretation, and ideology of a dissatisfying reality as well as their own personal and collective identity in relation to it. However, contemporary movement groups have been influenced considerably by the sensitivity training-encounter-group dynamics techniques associated with the intensive group movement. The result is a new interest in artificial primary relations among sociologically homogeneous peers for joining socio-cultural analyses with psychological interpretations of common personal experiences. The processes generated in these ideological primary groups lead to the collective construction of new or modified ideological interpretations of reality which contain different, more satisfying, models “of” and “for” personal and group identity, and “consciousness.”     

American Migrants in Australia: An Exploratory Study of Adjustment

Abstract

In the literature on American migration to Australia, there is a debate concerning the ease and degree of post-migration social-psychological adjustment. In this paper a model of migrant adjustment is derived from the literature; relationships among social psychological measures of adjustment (alienation, work orientations, amicability, isolation, and missing family and friends) and socio-demographic variables are analyzed using path analysis. Results tend to support a complex view of migrant adjustment based on differences in socio-demographic characteristics. Certain modifications to existing literature are recommended, and avenues for further research are suggested.