Are Happier Nations More Responsible? Examining the Link Between Happiness and Sustainability

Social Indicators Research - The paper uses aggregate data from 152 countries to analyze the association between happiness and sustainability. Our paper provides new evidence on happiness and...     

Beyond the Debates: Measuring and Specifying Student Consumerism

Existing discourses suggest numerous aspects of the faculty-student relationship are affected by a student consumerist ideology, but no clear definition of “student consumerism” emerges, and there are no tools for systematically measuring the phenomenon. Using data from 527 undergraduates at a large, public university, we provide an operational definition via development of the Consumerist Attitudes Toward Undergraduate Education scale. Correlations between “Consumerism” and four additional scales indicate that a consumerist approach is distinct from many of the concerns associated with it. These findings provide new tools to advance the discussion of student consumerism and its effects on teaching and learning.     

Correction to: Are Happier Nations More Responsible? Examining the Link Between Happiness and Sustainability

Social Indicators Research - A correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-021-02725-4     

The Recalled Childhood Gender Questionnaire-Revised: a psychometric analysis in a sample of women with congenital adrenal hyperplasia

We administered the 18-item Recalled Childhood Gender Questionnaire-Revised (RCGQ-R), female version, to 147 adult women with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) representing three different degrees of prenatal androgenization due to 21-hydroxylase deficiency and to non-CAH controls. A principal components analysis generated three components accounting for 46%, 9%, and 6% of the variance, respectively. Corresponding unit-weighted scales (high scores = feminine) were labeled Gender Role (13 items; Cronbach alpha = .91), Physical Activity (3 items; alpha = .64), and Cross-Gender Desire (2 items; alpha = .47). Discriminant validity was demonstrated in terms of highly significant comparisons across the four groups. We conclude that the first 2 RCGQ-R scales show good psychometric qualities, but that the third scale needs to be further evaluated in a sample that includes women with gender identity disorder.     

Behavioral and Electrophysiological Indices of Memory in Typically Developing and Hypoxic‐Ischemic Injured Infants

Behavioral and electrophysiological indices of memory were examined in 12‐month‐old typically developing control infants (CON) and infants with history of perinatal hypoxic‐ischemic injury (HII) across 2 days. Using a visual paired comparison (VPC) procedure, novelty preference was tested immediately after a familiarization period and then after delays of 2 min and 24 h. Both groups showed a significant novelty preference only for the no‐delay condition. On day two, event‐related potentials (ERPs) were recorded while infants viewed the VPC familiar face, a more recently familiarized face, and a novel face, and mean amplitude for components thought to reflect memory (positive slow wave, PSW) and attention (negative central, Nc) were computed. In temporal regions, HII showed a diminished Nc and enhanced PSW to the recently familiarized face, while CON showed a similar trend for the PSW only. Overall, infants showed the largest PSW over left scalp regions. Finally, a positive correlation between VPC novelty preference after 24 h and PSW was found in CON, and preliminary results suggest that this association differs as a function of group. Therefore, in comparison with CON, HII showed both similarities and differences on individual tasks of memory as well as potentially disparate relations between the behavioral and neural mechanisms underlying memory performance.     

Can TV shows promote acceptance of sexual and ethnic minorities? A literature review of television effects on diversity attitudes

Until recently, western TV programming rarely featured sexual or ethnic minority members; if present, their representation was mostly negative. Increasingly, though, diverse characters start to play likeable protagonists as well. Thus, television can promote negative diversity attitudes and, at other times, positive ones. The present article reviews and connects theories and research from sociology, psychology, and media and communication studies to clarify the role of television in diversity attitudes formation and to identify directions for future research. Specifically, two research questions are addressed. First, through which processes does television influence diversity attitudes? Second, what features of TV shows contribute to positive diversity attitudes formation among viewers, according to different theories of television effects? Findings indicate that television can entrench existing negative diversity attitudes through the echo chamber phenomenon. However, TV content featuring numerous, likeable, attractive, and typical minority characters that have friendly interactions with the rest of society can promote positive diversity attitudes. Future research should study openness to view content with minority characters, examine the effects of the complete video media diets, check media effects in non-western countries, explore media effects in longitudinal studies and investigate what constitutes attractive, likeable, and typical representation of ethnic and sexual minorities.     

Not Ready to Make Nice: Aberrant mothers in contemporary culture

The story of motherhood in popular culture has never been a simple one. Cross-cut by race, class, and sexuality (and, importantly, marital status), interwoven with changing psychological and biological theories and fantasies, tied up with nation-building and citizenship claims, images of motherhood remain both template and signpost upon which we project our desires for kinship and care and our most vexed understandings of womanhood and femininity. This essay examines fictional motherhood in an era of real-life Octomoms and presidential candidates. We argue that a new type of mother has emerged—particularly on TV—that presents a radical departure. From the suburban mom/drug dealer of Showtime's outré series Weeds to the vapid 1960s wife of Mad Men, aberrant mothers abound in contemporary culture. But, unlike aberrant mothers of earlier eras, these mothers are by and large heroines, unapologetically non-normative in their maternal functioning. The parenting is cursory at best and often downright neglectful, behavior that has typically resulted in sure death for Hollywood mothers of earlier eras. We examine these images as a challenge to normative familialism and rigid gender ideologies.     

Women and plant closings: Unemployment,re-employment,and job training enrollment following dislocation

Major changes in the U.S. economy are leaving blue collar women vulnerable to extended unemployment, permanent job loss, or re-employment at lower wage and benefit levels. Consequently, retraining for other jobs may be a virtual necessity. Information about factors associated with women's employment status after job loss may be useful to policy makers and program planners providing assistance or training to dislocated women. This study of women workers, who are dislocated from jobs in textile and apparel plants in Georgia, identifies the differences between women who are unemployed, re-employed, or enrolled in job training programs following job loss. Findings suggest that stage of the family life cycle and the demands of combining production work and family responsibilities contribute to women's experience of unemployment and their labor market participation.