Androgyny and the art of loving.

Argues that truly fulfilling sexual, loving relationships require the development of an intrapsychic self, best described as "androgynous." The maturest form of intimacy then would involve an ability to identify with and positively value those aspects of the self that have been culturally labeled "feminine" or "masculine" to allow for a more complete empathic connection with those "feminine" or "masculine" aspects of a love partner. Clinical examples are cited to demonstrate the inherent limitations of sex-appropriate gender/role identifications that are often pointed to as criteria for successful therapeutic outcomes in traditional schools of psychotherapy. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender identity: A multidimensional analysis with implications for psychosocial adjustment.

This study examined the relations between components of gender identity and psychosocial adjustment. The aspects of gender identity assessed were (a) feelings of psychological compatibility with one's gender (i.e., feeling one is a typical member of one's sex and feeling content with one's biological sex), (b) feelings of pressure from parents, peers, and self for conformity to gender stereotypes, and (c) the sentiment that one's own sex is superior to the other (intergroup bias). Adjustment was assessed in terms of self-esteem and peer acceptance. Participants were 182 children in Grades 4 through 8. Felt gender compatibility (when operationalized as either self-perceived gender typicality or feelings of contentment with one's biological sex) was positively related to adjustment, whereas felt pressure and intergroup bias were negatively associated with adjustment. The results provide new insights into the role of gender identity in children's well-being, help identify sources of confusion in previous work, and suggest directions for future inquiry. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Men and psychotherapy: An investigation of alexithymia, intimacy, and masculine gender roles.

Psychological theories have long emphasized the roles of emotions in healthy functioning and in psychotherapy. However, the masculine socialization process has been hypothesized to encourage men to devalue and restrict much of their emotional experiencing (e.g., Brannon, 1976; Levant, 1992; O'Neil, 1981). This study of 208 men used two operationalizations of traditional masculine gender role socialization and found evidence that men reporting greater gender role conflict also acknowledged greater levels of alexithymia and fear of intimacy, even after controlling for socially desirable responding. Implications for psychotherapy and for future theory and research are noted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Does sex matter? The confluence of gender and transference in analytic space.

What is the role of gender in transference? This article outlines some aspects of gender and gender construction that may potentially affect analytic space. Relational and classical notions of intersubjective, intrapsychic, and the analytic third are explored for ways in which they both converge and diverge and shed light on the reciprocal interplay between gender and transference. A clinical vignette illustrates theoretical considerations, highlighting the jointly created elements of gender-linked transferential configurations within a female-female dyad. (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)     

Not supposed to feel this: Traditional masculinity in psychotherapy with male veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq.

Traditional masculine socialization presents challenges in psychotherapy, for example, by decreasing the likelihood of help-seeking and by making emotion-laden content more difficult to address. While this has been established in civilian populations, more intense forms of masculine socialization found in military settings may amplify such issues in male veteran populations. Male veterans returning from and Afghanistan (OEF) and Iraq (OIF) exhibit strong traditional masculine socialization and generally present in a unique manner. It is posited that OEF/OIF male veterans' unique presentation is in large part because of an interaction between high degrees of endorsement of traditional masculine gender role norms, relative youth, recency of distressing events, and recent experience in the social context of the military where traditional masculinity is reinforced. The impact of these variables on the psychotherapeutic process for male OEF/OIF veterans is significant and likely adds to ambivalence about change and increases dropout from psychotherapy. Modifications of traditional psychotherapeutic approaches designed to address traditional masculine gender role norms and their many interactions with other variables are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Determinants of aggression toward sexual minorities in a community sample.

Objective: Sexual prejudice and masculine gender role stress were examined as mediators of the associations between adherence to different male gender norms and aggression toward sexual minorities. This study also sought to extend past research to a community sample and use multiple methods to assess aggression. Method: Participants were 199 heterosexual men between the ages of 18 and 30 who were recruited from a large southeastern U.S. city. Participants completed measures of adherence to male gender role norms, sexual prejudice, masculine gender role stress, and aggression toward sexual minorities. Results: Associations between adherence to the status and antifemininity norms and aggression toward sexual minorities were mediated by sexual prejudice but not masculine gender role stress. The portion of unique association between adherence to the antifemininity norm and aggression toward sexual minorities was about three times larger than the portion mediated by sexual prejudice and masculine gender role stress. Conclusion: Findings provide the first multivariate evidence from a community-based sample for determinants of aggression toward sexual minorities motivated by gender role enforcement. These data support intervention programming and preventative intervention studies aimed at reducing sexual prejudice and facilitating less stereotypic attitudes about the male gender role, particularly surrounding the antifemininity norm. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Incorporating a gender role strain perspective in assessing and treating men's cognitive distortions.

Psychologists will be better prepared to intervene effectively with male clients if they can assess how their male clients' experiences as men in society have contributed to their presenting problems. In this article, the author reviews how masculine gender role strain contributes to men's cognitive distortions and leads to, for example, aggressiveness, an overemphasis on achievement, and relational and emotional disconnection. Eight areas of salient gender role messages for men are examined to facilitate clinicians' assessments of men's gender related cognitive distortions. In the final section of the article, issues salient to treating men who endorse these gender related cognitive distortions are discussed. By focusing on the influence of men's gender role socialization on presenting problems, it is hoped that clinicians may be empathic to the social context that contributes to men's cognitive distortions and clinicians can reduce the effects of gender role strain in male clients. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of sex and gender socialization in stress reactivity.

Individual health is determined by a myriad of factors. Interestingly, simply being male or female is one such factor that carries profound implications for one's well-being. Intriguing differences between men and women have been observed with respect to vulnerability to and prevalence of particular illnesses. The activity of the major stress hormone axis in humans, the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis, is directly and indirectly associated with the onset and propagation of these conditions. Previous studies have shown differences between men and women at the level of stress hormone regulation, suggesting that the metabolic effects of stress may be related to susceptibility for stress-related disease. While the majority of studies have suggested that biological differences are responsible, few have also considered the role of gender socialization. In this selective review, the authors summarize evidence on sex differences and highlight some recent results from endocrinological, developmental, and neuroimaging studies that suggest an important role of gender socialization on the metabolic effects of stress. Finally, a model is proposed that integrates these specific findings, highlighting gender socialization and stress responsivity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Overcoming the masculine mystique: Preferences for alternative forms of assistance among men who avoid counseling.

Both informal observation and considerable data confirm that men are less likely to seek psychotherapy than are women. This study examines the possibility that this reluctance to seek help (1) is related to traditional gender role socialization and (2) can be lessened by offering counseling interventions that are more congruent with that socialization. 435 male Ss were recruited from 23 intact classes of 1 university and 2 community college campuses. Predictors of positive attitudes toward traditional counseling included comparatively high social scores on a personality measure. Predictors of negative attitudes toward personal counseling included high scores on various masculinity measures. The study also indicated that men with more highly masculine attitudes preferred alternative helping formats over traditional ones. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Human milk: nutritional aspects of a dynamic food

Questions as to the fundamentals of "consciousness" are envisaged, first of all, from the viewpoint of quantifying experiments on visual perception in humans, focussed on "internal censorship", the role of intrapsychic mechanisms processing and correcting perception, and secondly based on recent theories on "mimesis" in the sense of R. Girard's concept of psychosocial transfer of aims and values between humans. The paper demonstrates a convergence between these two strategies of understanding, pointing to the view that "consciousness" may be interpreted as the performance of the intrapsychic "translation" between "cognitive" and "assessing" (or "valuating") emotional processes.     

Age and gender differences in the impact of psoriasis on quality of life

BACKGROUND: The impact of psoriasis upon the quality of life contributes significantly to the overall morbidity associated with the disease. An older age at onset of psoriasis and being a man have been associated previously with lower psychosocial morbidity. In order to further evaluate these potentially important mitigating factors, we examined the relation of age and gender on some aspects of psoriasis-related psychosocial morbidity. METHODS: Two hundred and fifteen consenting psoriasis patients, representing a wide range of disease severity, were studied. They included 110 men and 105 women, age range 19-87 years (age: mean +/- SD: 48.0 +/- 15.9 years); all endorsed a list of 30 items (by checking a "Yes" or "No") pertaining to life events related to psoriasis that they had experienced in the previous one month. The patients self-rated the severity of their psoriasis. The patients were categorized into four age groups of 18-29 years (N = 28), 30-45 years (N = 77), 46-65 years (N = 76), and > 65 years (N = 34), respectively, for the statistical analyses. RESULTS: No age or gender differences in the severity of psoriasis were observed. Patients of both sexes in the 18 to 29 and 30 to 45 year age groups reported more frequent (P < or = 0.05) problems related to both appearance/socialization and occupation/finances, in contrast to patients in the 46-65 and over-65-year age groups. No gender differences (P < or = 0.05) were observed in the frequency of items related to appearance and socialization; however, men reported greater work-related stresses. CONCLUSION: Psoriasis has a greater impact upon the quality of life of patients in the 18 to 45 year age range and affects the socialization of both sexes equally. Men face greater work-related stresses as a result of their psoriasis.     

Socialization and personal change: a personal construct psychology approach

As we enter the world of work we are socialized into the role we are to perform, and also into the ethos of the organization where we are to work. This socialization is argued to be both a normative and individualistic process. Studies on socialization which concentrate on the social elements tend to identify the commonalities or normative aspects of this change. Studies which have analysed the cognitive elements tend to identify the idiosyncratic aspects of the change. This paper presents Kelly's theory of Personal Construct Psychology (PCP) as a technique for analysing this change which can identify both the normative and ideographic changes if these are present. This paper gives a brief account of the theory prior to concentrating on the specific treatment of self and change in self (the experience cycle). It is argued that use of PCP theory can assist in understanding not only the changes that occur during socialization, but also other changes, and training needs, that individuals may experience within their working life.     

Self as the feminine principle

In analytical psychology, ego is associated with consciousness and the masculine principle. Although the feminine principle generally characterizes the unconscious, it was not assigned a psychic structure equivalent to the ego. This paper proposes a model of the psyche where self and ego are the major modes of psychic experience. The self as the 'being' mode represents the feminine principle and functions according to primary process; the ego represents 'doing', the masculine principle and secondary process. Feminine and masculine principles are considered to be of equal significance in both men and women and are not limited to gender. Jung's concept of the self is related to the Hindu metaphysical concepts of Atman and Brahman, whose source was the older Aryan nature-oriented, pagan religion. The prominence of self in analytical psychology and its predominantly 'feminine' symbolism can be understood as Jung's reaction to the psychoanalytic emphasis on ego and to Freud's 'patriarchal' orientation. In Kabbalah, a similar development took place when the feminine principle of the Shekinah emerged in a central, redemptive role, as a mythic compensation to the overtly patriarchal Judaic religion. In the proposed model of the psyche neither ego nor self represents the psychic totality. The interplay of both psychic modes/principles constitutes the psyche and the individuation process.     

Gender-related traits, stereotypes, and schemata.

We conducted two experiments, patterned after a study reported by S. L. Bem (1981), to test the implications of Bem's unifactorial gender schema theory, H. Markus's (Markus, Crane, Bernstein, & Siladi, 1982) two-factor theory, and J. . Spence's (1985) multifactorial theory of gender identity. Subjects were presented with and asked to recall a list of words varying in both gender (masculine, feminine, neutral) and semantic category. Contrary to the Bem and Markus theories but congruent with gender identity theory, scores on the Personal Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ; Spence, Helmreich, & Stapp, 1975), a measure of gender differentiating traits, were unrelated to number of gender-associated words recalled or to amount of gender clustering. Similarly negative results for the PAQ were found in a third experiment using a release-from-proactive-interference design patterned after C. J. Mills and D. J. Tyrell (1983). However, as anticipated by the gender identity theory, several significant relations were found with measures of sex role attitudes and behaviors and occupational stereotypes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Assessing gender role of partner-violent men using the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2): Comparing abuser types.

This study investigated traditional masculine gender role differences between male partner abuser types using the Masculinity/Femininity subsection scales of Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) Structural Summary. We examined differences between four groups of partner-violent men (borderline, antisocial, psychotic features, and nonpathological partner violent) and one group of nonpartner-violent men on five MMPI-2 subscales: Masculinity-Femininity, Gender Role-Feminine, Gender Role-Masculine, Ego Inflation, and Low Self-esteem. Results indicated that the borderline group reported the most consistent traditional feminine gender role orientation of all the groups, whereas the antisocial group reported the most consistent traditional masculine gender role orientation of all the groups. The psychotic features group reported characteristics associated with both traditional masculinity and traditional feminine gender role making it distinct among all the groups. The nonpathological intimately violent group and the nonpartner-violent group reported no extreme scores when compared with the other three groups. The borderline and antisocial groups reported significantly more exposure to family of origin violence and use of more severe forms of partner abuse than the other three partner abuse groups. Treatment implications are addressed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender-specific models of homosexual prejudice: Religiosity, authoritarianism, and gender roles.

Utilizing moderated hierarchical multiple regression analyses, the researchers examined the relative roles of right wing authoritarianism (RWA), religious fundamentalism (RF), general religiosity, sex, gender role traits, and self-discrepancy along gender role traits in predicting multiple dimensions of prejudice toward homosexuals. The goal was to identify gender-specific correlates of homosexual prejudice. Findings revealed that RWA exhibited a consistently positive relationship with prejudice, which along the Condemnation-Tolerance dimension of prejudice was stronger for men. Also, RF's and general religiosity's relationship with prejudice was consistently fully mediated by the presence of RWA. Gender roles were inconsistently correlated with dimensions of prejudice, and the interaction of masculine gender roles and perceived self-discrepancy from gender roles was only significant in predicting the Condemnation-Tolerance homosexual prejudice scale. Lastly, for females, general religiosity was a significant positive predictor for only the Condemnation-Tolerance and Neutral Contact Apprehension homosexual prejudice scales. Implications are reviewed related to authoritarianism as a universal correlate of homosexual prejudice, RF's and RWA's distinctiveness, perceived self-discrepancy from masculine gender roles as a male-specific correlate of homosexual prejudice, and general religiosity as a female-specific correlate. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Men, loss, and psychotherapy.

Recent advances in the understanding of male identity development and masculine-specific gender role strain make it possible to conceptualize and design psychotherapy strategies especially suited for men. Emphasizing contributions from developmental psychology, self-psychology, and gender studies, the prominence of loss issues for men is discussed from both a developmental and a sociocultural perspective. Recommendations are made for incoporating this point of view into a new psychotherapy for men. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of The scales of success: Constructions of life-career success of eminent men and women lawyers.

Reviews the book, The scales of success: Constructions of life-career success of eminent men and women lawyers by Sheelagh O'Donovan-Polten (see record 2001-06977-000). Many writers have posed the question, "What constitutes a successful life?" Sheelagh O'Donovan-Polten has asked a group of professionals who are themselves seen as successful, to describe what it means to them. Her central research question was "How does a professionally successful, middle-aged Canadian lawyer construct life-career success?" An additional important question was "To what degree do such constructions differ by gender?" The author uses the term "life-career" to indicate that the scope of her inquiry is broader than simply career. This book has something to offer to professionals in developmental psychology, vocational psychology, career development, human resource development, and adult education. It would be of particular interest to those interested in adult cognitive development or gender differences. Although there is some explanation of the work of Regan, Gilligan, and others, knowledge of these theories would enhance the reader's understanding of some of the author's interpretations. The vocabulary and style of writing is consistent with postmodern academic research, which may not be familiar to some professionals in the field. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Boys and violence: A gender-informed analysis.

This article discusses the phenomenon of youth violence from a psychology of gender perspective. Although other factors are discussed--including gun availability, violence-related media influence, family and caretaker factors, and effects of teasing and bullying--the intention is to highlight new thinking on the potential relationship between boys' traditional masculine socialization experiences and violence. In this new perspective, traditional masculine socialization estranges and isolates many boys from their genuine inner lives and vital connections to others, which is theorized to heighten their risk of engaging in acts of violence. The authors identify school and community programs that may be helpful in counteracting damaging socialization experiences and supporting boys' healthier emotional and psychological development. Finally, the article discusses approaches that psychologists and other mental health professionals can use to help address this vital issue. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)