Review of the Satisfaction With Life Scale.

The Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) was developed to assess satisfaction with the respondent's life as a whole. The scale does not assess satisfaction with life domains such as health or finances but allows Ss to integrate and weight these domains in whatever way they choose. Normative data are presented for the scale, which shows good convergent validity with other scales and with other types of assessments of subjective well-being. Life satisfaction as assessed by the SWLS shows a degree of temporal stability (e.g., .54 for 4 yrs), yet the SWLS has shown sufficient sensitivity to be potentially valuable to detect change in life satisfaction during the course of clinical intervention. Further, the scale shows discriminant validity from emotional well-being measures. The SWLS is recommended as a complement to scales that focus on psychopathology or emotional well-being because it assesses an individual's conscious evaluative judgment of his or her life by using the person's own criteria. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Judgments of chronological age: Adult age and sex differences.

62 male and 137 female undergraduates and 76 male and 93 female Ss (mean age = 71.3 and 71.6 yrs, respectively) judged the ages of males and females portrayed in sets of 27 photographs. Results demonstrate the operation of judgmental assimilation and contrast principles in determinations of chronological age, with females exhibiting greater extremity of judgments than males. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Race and sex differences in the prediction of drug use.

Efforts to prevent adolescent substance abuse often direct prevention efforts at known correlates of substance use. The applicability to minority populations of risk factors uncovered for the general population has been questioned, and the development of different programs targeting the risk factors most salient for different groups has been recommended. Such differentiated programming requires a more precise understanding of ethnic differences in the predictors of substance use than is now available. This article assesses these differences using data from 981 Black and White male and female adolescents and latent variable structural equations techniques. No group differences were observed in the prediction of past year variety of drug use for 9 of the 12 risk factors examined. The predictive validity was higher for Whites than for Blacks for 3 risk factors. The prediction of frequency of use was weaker for Black women than for other groups. The low predictive validity observed for Black women is most likely due to the extremely low level of use among this group. The study concludes that the measures of risk factors predict substance use for all groups examined but that extremely rare behaviors are not well predicted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Race, age, sex, and competence as factors in employer selection of the disadvantaged.

Interviewed 286 employers from the state of Illinois to determine their assessments of hypothetical job candidates with various characteristics. It was found that race of a potential employee was not an important factor in hiring decision; however, the age, sex, and competence of the potential employee affected decisions. The 25-yr-old worker was preferred over the 55-yr-old worker; males were preferred over females; and highly competent candidates received a stronger recommendation than barely competent candidates. Employers made little distinction between barely competent males and females and barely competent young and old workers, but for individuals of high competence, males were rated higher than females and younger workers higher than older workers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Race and sex differences in the distribution of cerebral atherosclerosis

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to assess the influence of race, sex, and other risk factors on the location of atherosclerotic occlusive lesions in cerebral vessels. Previous angiographic studies of patients with stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA) suggest that extracranial atherosclerosis is more common in whites and intracranial disease is more common in blacks. Noninvasive techniques such as duplex ultrasound, transcranial Doppler (TCD), and magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) allow vascular assessment of a more representative proportion of patients than does conventional angiography alone. METHODS: Consecutive patients evaluated at a community hospital for stroke or TIA over a 2-year period were reviewed. Lesions were defined as a 50% or greater atherosclerotic stenosis by angiography, duplex ultrasound, or TCD, or a moderate stenosis by MRA. RESULTS: Whites were more likely than blacks to have extracranial carotid artery lesions (33% versus 15%, P = .001), but the proportion of patients with intracranial lesions was similar (24% versus 22%). Men were more likely to have intracranial lesions than women (29% versus 14%, P = .03). When multivariate logistic regression analysis was used, white race was the only predictor for extracranial carotid artery lesions, and male sex was the only predictor for intracranial lesions. The cause of stroke/TIA was extracranial carotid artery disease in 8% and intracranial disease in 8% of all patients in the study. CONCLUSIONS: The distribution of cerebral atherosclerosis is influenced by race and sex but not by other vascular risk factors. In our patient population, intracranial disease is as common a cause of cerebral ischemia as extracranial carotid disease.     

Locus of control: differences by sex and age

Fast x-ray computed tomography can be used to generate indicator dilution curves in perfused tissues following intravascular injection of roentgen contrast agent. These curves can be used to estimate regional parenchymal perfusion, intravascular blood volume, heterogeneity of these two parameters, and vascular bed transfer function.     

Unilateral lesions and the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale—Revised: No sex differences.

Tested sex differences previously reported in WAIS—R scores (Verbal IQ vs Performance IQ discrepancies) in male patients with unilateral lesions by administering the WAIS—R to 31 Ss (16 males [mean age 42.6 yrs] and 15 females [mean age 38.4 yrs]) with right-hemisphere lesions and to 32 Ss (17 males [mean age 32 yrs] and 15 females [mean age 40.7 yrs]) with left hemisphere lesions. Results show that both males and females had expected discrepancies between Verbal IQ and Performance IQ. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Affect Networks: A Structural Analysis of the Relationship Between Work Ties and Job-Related Affect.

The relationship between organizational networks and employees' affect was examined in 2 organizations. In Study 1, social network analysis of work ties and job-related affect for 259 employees showed that affect converged within work interaction groups. Similarity of affect between employees depended on the presence of work ties and structural equivalence. Affect was also related to the size and density of employees' work networks. Study 2 used a 10-week diary study of 31 employees to examine a merger of 2 organizational divisions and found that negative changes in employees' affect were related to having fewer cross-divisional ties and to experiencing greater reductions in network density. The findings suggest that affect permeates through and is shaped by organizational networks. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Voluntary alcohol consumption in vervet monkeys: individual, sex, and age differences

The patterns of voluntary alcohol consumption were studied in 35 vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops), classified into four groups. Each monkey showed a fairly steady rate during the studied period, resulting in individual differences that became more evident as the treatment evolved. Females showed higher alcohol intake frequencies than males. This sexual difference was maintained among adults and juveniles. Age differences were also observed: juveniles showed higher frequencies of intake than adults, both in general and in each sex group. Intake frequency was not related to age in prepubertal subjects, neither in general nor in each particular sex. The origin of these sex and age alcohol consumption differences remains to be studied, but differences in alcohol metabolism and factors related to puberty are possible influences.     

Race differences, strategy training, and improper inference.

Criticizes B. Bridgeman and J. Buttram's (see record 1975-30982-001) article on the facilitative effects of verbal strategy training or race differences in nonverbal reasoning. It is argued that an experiment involving a Group * Training or No-training design does not logically permit conclusions concerning the genetic or nongenetic causes of the main effect of the group differences or their interaction with treatments; nor can such a design reflect on the culture-fairness of the measuring instrument. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Quality of Life Scale: A preliminary analysis.

Compared the Quality of Life Scale (QOL) with 2 problem-oriented scales in 55 community mental health center clients (9–58 yrs old). Statistical analysis suggested that 3 factors account for a respectable degree of variance: People, Health, and Providing. These preliminary results suggest that the QOL scale represents a simple but potentially useful approach to assessing process and product in mental health delivery systems. (5 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Once again, the origins of sex differences.

Responds to comments by B. X. Friedman et al (see record 2000-05933-013), D. T. Kenrick and N. Li (see record 2000-05933-014), and E. Kleyman (see record 2000-05933-015) on the article by A. H. Eagly and W. Wood (see record 1999-05337-002) which examined the origins of sex differences in human behavior. Eagly and Wood argued that social structural theory can explain the origin of psychological sex differences. In the present article, Eagly and Wood defend their original article against criticism made by the aforementioned authors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Affect, sex guilt, gender, and the rewarding-punishing effects of erotic stimuli.

40 male and 40 female college students were classified as high or low in sex guilt (HSG and LSG, respectively) using the Mosher Forced-Choice Guilt Inventory. Experimental Ss were shown erotic slides following each "correct" choice in a discrimination task and nonerotic slides following each "incorrect" choice. Controls were shown nonerotic slides following all choices. HSG Ss made fewer choice responses leading to erotica than did LSG Ss, and females made fewer erotica-producing choices than did males. HSG and female Ss were less positive in their affective reactions to the erotica than were LSG and male Ss. Correlational and regression analyses revealed that sex guilt and gender differences in choice behaviors leading to erotica were predicted solely on individual differences in intensity of positive affective responses. Regardless of sex guilt and gender, for those high in positive affect, the erotic stimuli functioned as rewards, but for those low in positive affect, the stimuli functioned as punishers. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Affect and Job Satisfaction: A Study of Their Relationship at Work and at Home.

The authors investigated 2 broad issues: (a) across- and within-individual relationships between mood and job satisfaction and (b) spillover in moods experienced at work and at home. Using an experience-sampling methodology, they collected multisource data from a sample of 74 working individuals. Multilevel results revealed that job satisfaction affected positive mood after work and that the spillover of job satisfaction onto positive and negative mood was stronger for employees high in trait-positive and trait-negative affectivity, respectively. Results also revealed that the effect of mood at work on job satisfaction weakened as the time interval between the measurements increased. Finally, positive (negative) moods at work affected positive (negative) moods experienced later at home. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Lateralized brain damage, intelligence, and memory: A failure to find sex differences.

Tested the validity of findings by J. McGlone (1977) of a difference in the sexes in the cognitive sequelae of lateralized brain damage. The present study tested 28 male and 17 female patients with left and right hemisphere infarcts. Although Ss with left and right hemisphere infarcts showed differential impairment on measures of visual and verbal memory and on Performance scale IQ of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS), there were no differences between male and female Ss. (8 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Investigating and reporting sex differences: Methodological importance, the forgotten consideration.

Comments on the article on guidelines for doing nonsexist research by M. C. McHugh et al (see record 1987-00069-001) and the ensuing debate on reporting sex differences in research. The authors argue the methodological importance of such reporting but also of distinguishing sex differences on a dependent variable from differences in sex-by-treatment interactions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Men and things, women and people: A meta-analysis of sex differences in interests.

The magnitude and variability of sex differences in vocational interests were examined in the present meta-analysis for Holland’s (1959, 1997) categories (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional), Prediger’s (1982) Things–People and Data–Ideas dimensions, and the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) interest areas. Technical manuals for 47 interest inventories were used, yielding 503,188 respondents. Results showed that men prefer working with things and women prefer working with people, producing a large effect size (d = 0.93) on the Things–People dimension. Men showed stronger Realistic (d = 0.84) and Investigative (d = 0.26) interests, and women showed stronger Artistic (d = ?0.35), Social (d = ?0.68), and Conventional (d = ?0.33) interests. Sex differences favoring men were also found for more specific measures of engineering (d = 1.11), science (d = 0.36), and mathematics (d = 0.34) interests. Average effect sizes varied across interest inventories, ranging from 0.08 to 0.79. The quality of interest inventories, based on professional reputation, was not differentially related to the magnitude of sex differences. Moderators of the effect sizes included interest inventory item development strategy, scoring method, theoretical framework, and sample variables of age and cohort. Application of some item development strategies can substantially reduce sex differences. The present study suggests that interests may play a critical role in gendered occupational choices and gender disparity in the STEM fields. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)