Family structure, psychological separation, and college adjustment: A canonical analysis and cross-validation.

554 undergraduates from intact families completed relevant instruments. A canonical correlation of family-structure and psychological-separation scores extracted 2 significant and stable roots, representing conflictually overinvolved and differentiated family patterns, respectively. Intercorrelations of each variate with original variables indicate that these dimensions were also associated with different separation patterns across subject sex. The canonical correlation of psychological-separation and college-adjustment measures uncovered a single significant and stable root that underscored the relation of conflictual independence and personal adjustment within both male and female groups. The results are interpreted as supporting assumptions of structural family theory and as suggesting that the psychological separation patterns of college men and women are differentially affected by inappropriate family structure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychological separation and adjustment to college.

We examined the relationship between psychological separation and adjustment to college in freshmen (N?=?130) and upperclassmen (N?=?123) samples. Psychological separation was measured with the Psychological Separation Inventory. Adjustment to college was assessed with the College Adjustment Inventory. Freshmen tended to show more psychological dependencies on mother and father, and poorer social and personal-emotional adjustment to college than did upperclassmen. A pervasive relationship was found between separation and adjustment, although separation did not predict adjustment across the board. Separation appears more strongly related to personal-emotional adjustment, particularly functional and emotional independence from mother and conflictual independence from father. Sex effects also emerged, with women showing more psychological dependencies than men. Finally, our results show that advances in separation across the four dimensions are not uniform. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An investigation of sex differences in spatial ability: Mental rotation of three-dimensional objects.

Presented 2-dimensional computer-generated representations of 3-dimensional objects in pairs to 20 male and 20 female right-handed undergraduates. Ss were given 15 sec to make a same-different judgment of the objects, one of which was rotated 0°, 40°, 80°, 120°, or 160° from the other. Ss were also assessed on 2 standard spatial ability tests (the Spatial Relations subtest of the Differential Aptitude Tests, Form L, and the Standardized Road-Map Test of Direction Sense) and a verbal-imagery questionnaire. Analyses of the data showed that men were more accurate than women, and that the slope of the function relating response time to degree of rotation was steeper in women. There was a significant linear relation between performance and the degree of rotation. Rate of rotation and accuracy correlated with the other tests of spatial ability. Response time slope correlated with imagery in men but not in women, suggesting that frequent use of visual imagery was related to mental rotation rate in men, but not in women. There were no clear relations between performance and the strategy Ss professed to use in doing the mental rotation. (French summary) (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Modeling cognitive adaptation: A longitudinal investigation of the impact of individual differences and coping on college adjustment and performance.

Drawing on cognitive adaptation theory, optimism, psychological control, and self-esteem were explored as longitudinal predictors of adjustment to college in a sample of 672 freshmen. Although a direct effect of optimism on adjustment was found, most of the predicted effects were mediated by coping methods. Controlling for initial positive and negative mood, the beneficial effects of optimism, control, and self-esteem on adjustment were mediated by the nonuse of avoidance coping, greater use of active coping, and greater seeking of social support. Alternative models of the causal relations among these variables did not fit the data as well as the a priori mediational model. The results of a 2-yr follow-up indicated that self-esteem and control predicted greater motivation and higher grades, controlling for college entrance exam scores. Implications for cognitive adaptation theory and for interventions with populations under stress are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stereotypic and nonstereotypic sex role trait and behavior orientations, gender identity, and psychological adjustment.

This study examines the relations among sex role traits and behavior orientations, gender identity, and psychological adjustment in order to test traditional and contemporary perspectives regarding the adjustment implications of stereotypic and nonstereotypic sex role trait and behavior orientations. Measures of sex role personality traits and behaviors and scales assessing depression, anxiety, and social maladjustment were administered to 235 college men and women. In addition, subjects completed measures of gender identity and gender adequacy. Contrary to traditional perspectives, androgynous men and women and cross-sex-typed women were no less well adjusted than sex-typed individuals. However, consistent with traditional perspectives, men who were low in masculine characteristics (and men and women low in both masculine and feminine characteristics) did appear less well adjusted on measures of depression, anxiety, and social maladjustment. Furthermore, low masculinity men had less secure gender identities. No such gender identity disturbances were found in women. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Siblings' differential experiences of marital conflict and differences in psychological adjustment.

The present study examined whether siblings experience marital conflict differently and whether such differences, if present, were associated with differences in their adjustment. Self-report data about marital conflict, children's depressed mood, behavioral conduct, and externalizing problems were obtained from 122 sibling pairs (mean ages = 10 and 12 years) and their parents. Results indicated that siblings were significantly different in exposure to and appraisals of marital conflict. Differences in siblings' exposure to marital conflict were significantly correlated with differences in their depressed mood, behavioral conduct, and externalizing problems. Differences in siblings' feelings of self-blame for marital conflict were significantly correlated with differences in their depressed mood and behavioral conduct. Children who experienced more marital conflict than their siblings had more adjustment problems than their siblings. These results highlight the importance of studying siblings' unique experiences of marital conflict to better understand its impact on children's adjustment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceived and real sex differences in college students' career planning.

Examined (a) sex differences in success avoidance, home–career conflict, and the importance of attitudes of significant members of the opposite sex as influences on college students' career planning; and (b) sex differences in and the accuracy of counselors' perceptions regarding those variables. The author's Relationships Influencing Career Planning Scale, designed to measure the 3 dependent variables, was administered to 55 male and 80 female undergraduates and 97 male and 77 female counselors. Female students reported significantly more success avoidance and home–career conflict than male students. Male counselors thought male students were more influenced by success avoidance and significant women than male students actually reported. All counselors perceived that female students experienced more of all 3 dependent variables than female students actually reported. No significant sex differences were found in counselors' perceptions of students' responses. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Lesbian couples: The implications of sex differences in separation–individuation.

Addresses the relational dynamic of merging in lesbian couples from an object relations perspective. It is contended that merging in lesbian couples does exist, that it is a function of the fact that 2 women are relating to each other, and that preoedipal gender differences in the intrapsychic process of separation–individuation account for this pattern. It is suggested that gay male couples manifest the opposite pattern—emotional distancing—and that the determining factor is gender not homosexuality. Different patterns in lesbian and gay male couples illustrate crucial gender issues for both homosexuals and heterosexuals, and sex differences in separation–individuation and adult love relationships are discussed. It is concluded that the general nature of each sex's ego development affects the overall pattern of that sex's relational style. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Identity development, career development, and psychological separation from parents: Similarities and differences between men and women.

This study examined the differential nature of relations between degree of identity development (Moratorium and Achieved identity statuses) and career and psychological separation variables for men (n?=?129) and women (n?=?118). Career development variables predicted degree of identity exploration (Moratorium identity status) and identity commitment (Achieved identity status) for both genders. For men, conflictual independence from parents predicted degree of identity exploration, and emotional independence predicted degree of identity commitment, negatively and incrementally. For women, attitudinal independence predicted degree of identity commitment, negatively and incrementally. Suggestions regarding counseling and career counseling are given. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender differences in adjustment to bereavement: An empirical and theoretical review.

The loss of a marital partner results in substantial increases in morbidity and mortality among both men and women, but the effects are relatively greater for widowers than for widows in the acute grieving period. Evidence is reviewed, and explanations of the pattern are examined. An interpretation in terms of gender differences in social support (M. Stroebe & W. Stroebe, 1983), although plausible, has not yet been empirically confirmed. Likewise, with respect to gender differences in coping styles, women are more confrontive and expressive of their emotions than men, but there has been little validation of the generally accepted grief work hypothesis (working through grief by women brings about their better recovery). Cognitive processes underlying effective coping with bereavement are analyzed, and a stressor-specific framework, the dual process model of coping with loss, is suggested to help explain gender differences in health outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychological adjustment and the worker role: An analysis of occupational differences.

How does the place of worker role on his personal adjustment vary from nonmanual to manual type of employment? "301 Ss, all between the ages of 55 and 65, were divided into two occupational statuses, nonmanual and manual workers. The former status included 116 of the managerial, supervisory, professional-technical, and clerical-sales personnel of a Midwestern oil refinery, while the latter status contained 185 of that company's skilled, semiskilled, and unskilled laborers. Both groups were then treated as separate populations in an analysis of the worker role as it related to personal adjustment, social adjustment, and job satisfaction… . the personal adjustment of nonmanual employees was not significantly related with their work-role competency, while the personal adjustment of manual employees showed a significant correlation with the worker role variable… . It was therefore concluded that the degree to which personal adjustment is related with the worker role depends to some extent upon an employee's occupational status." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual differences in core affect variability and their relationship to personality and psychological adjustment.

How people's feelings change across time can be represented as trajectories in a core affect space defined by the dimensions of valence and activation. In this article, the authors analyzed individual differences in within-person affective variability defined as characteristics of core affect trajectories, introducing new ways to conceptualize affective variability. In 2 studies, participants provided multiple reports across time describing how they were feeling in terms of core affect. From these data, characteristics of participants' core affect trajectories were derived. Across both studies, core affect variability was negatively related to average valence, self-esteem, and agreeableness, and it was positively related to neuroticism and depression. Moreover, spin, a measure of how much people experienced qualitatively different feelings within the core affect space, was related more consistently to trait measures of adjustment and personality than other measures of within-person variability, including widely used measures of within-person single-dimension standard deviations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Somatosensory amplification mediates sex differences in psychological distress among cardioverter-defibrillator patients.

Objective: The present study examined whether female patients with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) report more psychological distress than male patients, and whether somatosensory amplification mediates this relationship. Design: Consecutive ICD patients (N = 241; 33% women) participating in the Living with an Implanted Cardioverter-Defibrillator Study, completed a set of psychological questionnaires. Main Outcome Measures: Symptom Checklist-90 and Somatosensory Amplification Scale. Results: Univariable linear regression analyses showed that female ICD patients reported more symptoms of anxiety (β = .13, p = .04), phobic anxiety (β = .13, p = .05), and somatic health complaints (β = .15, p = .02), and scored higher on somatosensory amplification (β = .24, p p p p p = .0005, .002, and .0006, respectively). Conclusion: Somatosensory amplification mediated the relationship between female sex and heightened anxiety, phobic anxiety, and somatic health complaints in ICD patients. Women may be more likely to misinterpret bodily sensations as indicative of deterioration in their condition. Interventions focusing on modifying these dysfunctional beliefs may reduce their psychological distress. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender differences in love, sex, and motivation for sex

The overall prognosis of patients afflicted with cancer of the esophagus is dismal and has not changed greatly over the last few decades. Improvements have largely been due to better perioperative care rather than new surgical techniques. There remain, about the optimal treatment of these patients, and these differences are summarized in this article. The principal elements required to make an appropriate surgical decision also are outlined. Until new markers for early detection and effective systematic therapy emerge, improvement is likely to occur only in subsets of patients referred early and treated in an environment that guarantees low operative mortality.     

Depression and marital functioning: An examination of specificity and gender differences.

Recent work has emphasized the importance of assessing the marital relationships of depressed persons. The present study was designed to examine the specificity to clinical depression of problematic marital functioning and to assess potential gender differences in the marital relationships and spousal interactions of depressed persons. Depressed psychiatric patients, nondepressed medical patients, and nondepressed community control subjects and their spouses completed measures of marital satisfaction and then participated in a 20-min marital interaction task. Subjects then completed measures assessing their postinteraction mood and perceptions of their spouses, and the interactions were scored with respect to the frequency of occurrence of a number of behaviors. The depressed couples differed from the community controls on virtually every measure of marital functioning. Furthermore, although the medical patients and their spouses also reported marital dissatisfaction and exhibited dysfunctional interactional behavior, only the depressed couples were characterized by negative affect following the interactions and by negative appraisals of their spouses' behaviors. This negative affect was particularly pronounced for the depressed women. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An evolutionary psychological perspective on gender similarities and differences.

Comments on the article by J. S. Hyde (see record 2005-11115-001), which reviewed the results of 46 meta-analyses of studies investigating gender differences and produced results that supported the gender similarities hypothesis that men and women are similar along most psychological traits. The current authors agree with the gender similarities hypothesis but argue here that Hyde's review has limitations that caused it to underestimate the true extent of gender differences. They also outline the benefits of adopting an evolutionary psychological perspective on gender differences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex differences in assertive behavior: An empirical investigation.

Assertion training for women has been justified on the basis that women are generally less assertive than men or that women have unique problems in being assertive. A review of the literature for sex-related data from self-report measures of assertion indicated that without exception males report higher frequencies of assertive behavior than females. The means are significantly different, however, for only 4 (29%) of the 14 samples reviewed. Differential responding for males and females on individual items from the Adult Self Expression Scale was investigated using 4 samples of a total of 294 male and 408 female Ss. Men reported themselves as more assertive than women on items dealing with bosses and supervisors. Men also reported themselves as being more outspoken when stating opinions and as taking the initiative more readily in social contacts with members of the opposite sex. Women, on the other hand, reported themselves as more assertive in expressing love, affection, and compliments, as well as expressing anger to one's parents. The question of how these sex differences in assertive behavior are affected in assertion-training groups composed entirely of women is discussed. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cultural differences in optimism, pessimism, and coping: Predictors of subsequent adjustment in Asian American and Caucasian American college students.

Cultural differences were examined between 111 Asian American and 111 Caucasian American students matched on age and sex in a prospective design study. Using separate optimism and pessimism scores, Asian Americans were found to be more pessimistic than Caucasian Americans. Asian Americans were also found to use more problem avoidance and social withdrawal coping strategies than Caucasian Americans. When health outcomes were assessed 6 weeks later, Asian Americans were found to report more depressive and psychological symptoms, but not more physical symptoms, than Caucasian Americans. Results of separate regression analyses for each ethnic group indicated that along with different coping strategies, lack of optimism predicted all 3 health outcomes for Asian Americans, whereas pessimism predicted 2 of the 3 health outcomes for Caucasian Americans. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)