Gender, socioeconomic status, age, and jealousy: Emotional responses to infidelity in a national sample.

The authors used a representative national sample (N = 777) to test the evolutionary hypothesis that men would be more bothered by sexual infidelity and women by emotional infidelity, the Jealousy as a Specific Innate Module (JSIM) effect. Our alternative conceptualization of jealousy suggests that there are distinct emotional components of jealousy that did not evolve differently by gender. The authors looked for effects of age, socioeconomic status (SES), and type of measure (continuous or dichotomous) on jealousy. The authors did not find age or SES effects. Forced-choice items provided support for our alternative view; both genders showed more anger and blame over sexual infidelity but more hurt feelings over emotional infidelity. Continuous measures indicated more emotional response to sexual than emotional infidelity among both genders. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Neighborhood, family, and subjective socioeconomic status: How do they relate to adolescent health?

This study investigated the role of neighborhood, family, and individual subjective socioeconomic status (SES) in predicting adolescent physical health and psychological characteristics. Three hundred fifteen adolescents completed assessments of blood pressure, cortisol, and body mass index (BMI). Results revealed that lower neighborhood SES was associated with higher BMI and lower basal cortisol levels and that these effects persisted after controlling for family SES. Both family SES and neighborhood SES predicted negative psychological characteristics and experiences such as hostility and discrimination. In contrast, only subjective SES predicted positive psychological characteristics. These findings suggest the importance of understanding influences at the individual, family, and neighborhood levels for optimally targeting interventions to reduce health disparities earlier in life. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Lifestyle, gender and occupational status as determinants of dental health behavior

A 23-year-old patient suffered from episodic angioedema of the face and neck, accompanied by diarrhea and abdominal pain. Additionally, the patient had bronchial asthma, recurrent nasal polyps and allergic rhinoconjunctivitis. Blood examination revealed leucocytosis with eosinophilia. Histological studies showed eosinophilic infiltrates in the skin and the gastrointestinal mucosa. Allergic food reactions and parasites were ruled out. With systemic corticosteroid treatment, the clinical symptoms and the eosinophilia disappeared. This case shows some parallels to previously described syndromes (eosinophilic gastroenteritis, Samter's syndrome, episodic angioedema with eosinophilia), but to the best of our knowledge this combination of symptoms has not yet been reported.     

Neuropsychological deficit, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status.

The results of a community study dealing with the ecological distribution of intellectual and various perceptual-motor deficits, presumed to be functionally related to neurological status, are presented. Ss were 158 White and 60 Black 3rd graders of public and parochial schools. Measures included a parents' questionnaire, school achievement data, behavioral ratings, and such tests as the Culture Fair Intelligence Test, Wepman Auditory Discrimination Test, and the Bender Gestalt Test. Results suggest that levels of neurological integrity vary along a socioeconomic gradient and between ethnic groups. An environmentally based model of social causation is presented as the most appropriate explanation of the patterned distribution of neurological pathology across social class and ethnic-group lines. This model focuses on such factors as malnutrition/undernutrition, adverse conditions of environmental stimulation, inadequate obstetrical and pediatric care, and environmental deterioration. (105 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender and sexual experience as determinants in a sexual behavior hierarchy

The present study sought to assess the influence of gender and previous sexual experience regarding the structure of the basic sexual behavior hierarchy. Results indicated that both gender and previous experience have significant effects. Overall, gender appeared to have a less substantial effect than previous experience, being more noteworthy for the similarities manifest between males and females than the few differences observed. Previous experience displayed a substantial effect, particularly in the upper portion of the hierarchy, with like-experienced groups showing marked similarity in their hierarchy patterns. Several significant gender-experience interactions were found regarding oral-genital behaviors, and a general trend was observed for females indicating negative appreciation from pre to postexperience. Males revealed positive appreciation from pre to postexperience on all but the most basic sexual behaviors. Conclusions were to the effect that while both variables influenced the hierarchy, effects were complex, and often mediated by additional factors.     

Children's comprehension of family role portrayals in televised dramas: Effects of socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and age.

578 middle and lower socioeconomic status (SES), Black and White children in Grades 2, 5, and 8 participated in 2 fully-crossed replications of the same design. They viewed 1 of 2 edited television dramas that portrayed either a White middle-class family (Study 1) or a Black working-class family (Study 2) in similar conflict resolution situations. Ss' comprehension of central (plot-essential) and peripheral content and their inferences about actors' emotions and causes of action were assessed. Memory for content was age-related in both studies. However, in Study 1, middle-SES 2nd graders viewing the middle-class family show scored higher than lower-SES 2nd graders. In Study 2 lower-SES 2nd graders who viewed the working-class family show achieved higher scores than their middle-class counterparts. There were no SES effects among 5th- and 8th-grade participants and no consistent effects of ethnicity at any age. Additional analyses indicated that congruence between televised characters and settings and viewers' own experiences, as indicated by SES, facilitated 2nd graders' processing of program content. Implications of age-related processing skills for social effects of TV are discussed. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age, socioeconomic status, severity of mental disorder, and chronicity as predictors of physical attractiveness.

The relations of age, SES, race, 3 indexes of chronicity, and 3 indexes of severity of disorder with physical attractiveness were examined in 43 13–66 yr old female psychiatric patients to test whether demographic variables mediate relations found between physical attractiveness and clinical variables. A correlation analysis found only time since 1st breakdown, age, and SES to be significantly related to attractiveness at a multivariate .05 level. A partial correlation analysis showed that age mediated the relation found between time since 1st breakdown and attractiveness, but not the relation between SES and attractiveness. Findings suggest that demographic variables are strongly related to attractiveness and may account for apparent relations found between attractiveness and clinical variables. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender and nonverbal decoding skill as determinants of interpersonal expectancy effects.

Investigated the occurrence of the self-fulfilling prophecy in same- and mixed-sex dyads. 10 male and female undergraduates served as interviewers and interacted with 90 male and female interviewees. It was hypothesized that male interviewers (a) would be more influenced by erroneous preinteraction information about interviewees than females, (b) would show more biased behavior toward their interviewees, and (c) would be more influential at producing behavior in the interviewees that confirmed their expectations. It was also anticipated that female interviewees would be more responsive to the interpersonal expectations of their interviewers and show stronger behavioral confirmation. Results show that males were more biased by their expectations and produced stronger behavioral confirmation in their interviewees than females, and that female interviewees more readily showed behavioral confirmation than males. Males who were good audio decoders accurately diagnosed more bias in the behavior of their interviewers than males who were poor decoders (Profile on Nonverbal Sensitivity). (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Differentiation of abilities, socioeconomic status, and the WISC.

The study investigated the effect of an increase in age on the factor structures of the subtests of the WISC, and the relationship between subtest scores and socioeconomic status (SES). The scores of 70 Ss, tested at ages 10 and 12, were factor analyzed and structures at the 2 age levels compared. The sample was also divided into high and low SES groups, and subtest means calculated for each group. At both age levels, between-group mean differences were significant at or beyond the .05 level of confidence in the case of verbal subtests, while factor structures, which were similar, indicated a trend towards integration of abilities. The structures defined 2 main factors, identified as verbal and performance IQ, respectively. (31 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Subjective social status, objective socioeconomic status, and cardiovascular risk in women.

Objective: Subjective perceptions of personal social status may relate to health beyond the effects of objective socioeconomic status (SES). The authors examined the relationship between subjective social status (SSS) and psychosocial, behavioral, and physical cardiovascular risk factors in middle-aged women. Design: Ninety-two women (90.2% White) completed ladder-based, pictorial self-report measures of SSS relative to others in their community and in the United States. Psychosocial measures of depression, anxiety, pessimism, stress, and social support and behavioral risk factors of fruit and vegetable consumption, leisure physical activity, and body-mass index were obtained. In addition, women underwent measurement of clinic blood pressure and assessment of daytime ambulatory systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP; DBP) over 2 consecutive days. Results: Community SSS was significantly inversely related to anxiety, pessimism, stress, and daytime ambulatory DBP after controlling for objective SES and U.S. SSS. Women with lower U.S. SSS showed less healthy dietary and exercise behaviors and, contrary to predictions, lower clinic and ambulatory DBP. Conclusion: This study provides additional evidence that perceptions of one's position in the social hierarchy could have important health implications beyond the impact of objective SES. Further, the cardiovascular risk implications of perceived community versus U.S. social status appear to be distinct. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Birth order, discrimination in admissions, and socioeconomic status.

Contends D. P. Campbell (see record 1972-11560-001) neglected an explanation for the finding that highly educated occupations have much higher proportions of firstborn children; this explanation could have been deduced from certain sociological generalizations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age-associated statural loss and socioeconomic status

Association between socioeconomic score (SES) and age-related statural loss were investigated in a cross-sectional sample of 718 adults from rural Colombia. Estimates of statural aging were calculated by estimating the maximum statural attainment of each subject from statural relationships with subischial length. Statural loss was correlated with SES, r=-0.06 (not significant) for men, and r=-0.14 (p less than 0.01) for women. Subjects with a high SES tended to lose stature at a slower rate than those with a low SES. For women, the difference in rates of statural loss between the low SES groups was significant (p less than 0.05).     

Military rank as a measure of socioeconomic status and survival from prostate cancer

Previous studies have shown an association between cancer survival and socioeconomic status. In the United States Armed Forces, military rank is a measure of socioeconomic status. To determine whether an association exists between socioeconomic status (as measured by military rank) and prostate cancer, we carried out a retrospective review of the clinical data from 237 patients entered into the Tumor Registry. There was no statistically significant association between rank and the stage of disease at diagnosis or actual 5-year survival. In the military, health care is provided free of charge, independent of rank, and this study showed that when there is equal access to health care, socieconomic status does not correlate with prostate cancer outcome. Future studies comparing outcomes of prostate cancer should control for accessibility to health care.     

Culture, socioeconomic status, and physical and mental health in Brazil

The association of socioeconomic variables with poor health status has been widely observed, if not well understood, and cultural dimensions of socioeconomic differences have rarely been incorporated into research models. In this article, a cultural dimension of socioeconomic status is examined in a Brazilian city through the use of ethnographic and social survey techniques. It suggests that lifestyle, defined in terms of the relative ability to accumulate consumer goods and the adoption of associated behaviors, is an important component of socioeconomic differences. Further research using cultural consensus analysis, a structured ethnographic technique that may be used to study shared cultural knowledge, demonstrates significant consensus regarding the definition of the successful lifestyle. Then, using that culturally defined model of the successful lifestyle as the central tendency, an individual-level measure of approximation to that lifestyle was developed for a representative sample of 250 persons. This culturally defined measure of lifestyle was inversely associated with arterial blood pressure (beta = -.216, p < .01), depressive symptoms (beta = -.236, p < .01), and globally perceived stress (beta = -.358, p < .01); furthermore, it absorbed the explained variability in these outcomes that is associated with conventional socioeconomic variables (occupation, education, income). For arterial pressure, cultural consonance explained almost 10 percent of the differences in blood pressure between individuals; for the psychological outcome variables, cultural consonance explained between 10 percent and 20 percent of the differences between individuals. Finally, its statistical effects were independent of other socioeconomic, dietary, anthropometric, and psychosocial variables. These results suggest that an individual's approximation to the cultural ideal of lifestyle, his or her "cultural consonance," mediates the observed effects of socioeconomic variables on health status.     

Risk factors for renal cell carcinoma in Denmark. I. Role of socioeconomic status, tobacco use, beverages, and family history

Risk factors for renal cell carcinoma were examined in a population based case-control study in Denmark. A total of 368 cases and 396 age- and gender-matched controls were interviewed in their homes. Increased risk was associated with low socioeconomic status. For men, an increasing risk with decreasing socioeconomic status was seen (odds ratio [OR] = 2.2, 95 percent confidence interval [CI] = 1.0-4.6 for men in the lowest socioeconomic stratum cf the highest). For women, the risk was lower in the highest socioeconomic stratum compared with the rest (OR = 2.4, CI = 0.9-5.9 for the lowest strata cf the highest). Cigarette smoking was a risk factor in men with an OR = 2.3 (CI = 1.1-5.1) for cigarette smokers with a total consumption of more than 40 pack-years compared with nonsmokers. Family history of kidney cancer was associated with an increased risk in both genders (for men, OR = 4.1, CI = 1.1-14.9; for women, OR = 4.8, CI = 1.0-23). Observations were inconsistent regarding coffee and alcohol consumption, and we found no association with tea drinking. The association with socioeconomic status remained after adjustment for other factors.     

Maternal factors as determinants of food intake during the suckling period

In experimental animals, three ways in which maternal factors may have an important influence on food intake are described. The first is the olfactory cues which attract the infant to the mother, and specifically to the nipple. The second is the volume of milk ingested, which may be primarily determined by milk availability rather than by the infant appetite (if appetite even exists in the infant). The third is the available evidence which suggests that it is the mother who plays the active role in the process of weaning. It is concluded that the possibility that these factors are also operative in the human mother-infant dyad has not been subjected to systematic investigation.     

Utility of socioeconomic status as a control in racial comparisons of IQ.

F. K. Trotman (see record 1978-06591-001) has presented evidence indicating that Black and White families equated in terms of socioeconomic status differ widely in terms of R. Wolf's (1964) measure of intellectual home environment. On the basis of this evidence, Trotman has drawn a variety of conclusions about the nonutility of socioeconomic status as a control in racial comparisons of IQ. In this article, the validity of Trotman's conclusions are called into question by a critique of her methodology and a critical examination of her results. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender role conflict and family environment as predictors of men's marital satisfaction.

Investigated the relationship between male gender role conflict, family environment, and marital satisfaction. 70 married men completed self-report instruments measuring 4 aspects of male gender role conflict, 2 aspects of family environment, and marital satisfaction. Results indicate that restrictive emotionality, conflicts between work or school and family relations, and family cohesion are related to marital satisfaction. The various factors of male gender role conflict and family environment account for 46.8% of the variance in marital satisfaction. The results suggest that men who have lower levels of marital satisfaction are less able or willing to express emotions, have higher levels of conflict between work or school and family relationship, and have lower levels of family cohesion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)