Gender roles in marriage: What do they mean for girls' and boys' school achievement?

This study explored the implications of parents' traditional vs. egalitarian marital roles for girls' and boys' patterns of math and science achievement in 67 families with young adolescents. Marital roles were measured in terms of parents' relative involvement in child-oriented activities (e.g., in egalitarian families mothers and fathers participated equally in child-oriented activities). Findings revealed that girls from egalitarian families maintained a high level of achievement across the transition to the seventh grade, whereas girls from traditional families declined in math and science performance. For boys, no significant patterns emerged. Additional analyses revealed that egalitarian and traditional families differed in terms of absolute levels of paternal involvement, parents' sex-role attitudes, and indices of marital power. Our findings were consistent with a person-process-context model of development: Egalitarian and traditional contexts were characterized by different family processes and had different implications for boys and girls.This research was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (RO1HD21050), Ann C. Crouter and Susan M. McHale, co-principal investigators.Research focuses on gender role socialization in the family.Research interests include children's and adolescents' family relationships.Research focuses on the links between parental work and family dynamics.     

Analysis of carbohydrates in seized heroin using capillary electrophoresis

Illicitly produced heroin is commonly cut with carbohydrates to increase bulk. The analysis of these solutes is important for legal and intelligence purposes. A capillary electrophoresis (CE) method was developed for the qualitative analysis of dextrose, lactose, sucrose, inositol, and mannitol in heroin exhibits. For this method, a 64 cm (55.5 cm to detector window) by 50 mum capillary was used with the Agilent Basic Anion Buffer modified to pH 12.1. This separation was performed at 25 degrees C with a voltage of 20 kV and indirect detection with 2,6-pyridinedicarboxylic acid as the visualization reagent. The methodology is also applicable for the screening of inorganic and organic anions using indirect detection, and acidic adulterants using direct detection. For a run time of 13 min, the relative standard deviation (n = 6) of the methodology was better than 0.36% for migration times and less than 2.6% for corrected peak areas. For the analysis of carbohydrates and acidic adulterants in seized heroin, excellent agreement was obtained between CE and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.     

A molecular genetic approach for forensic animal species identification

This study investigated potential markers within chromosomal, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and ribosomal RNA (rRNA) with the aim of developing a DNA based method to allow differentiation between animal species. Such discrimination tests may have important applications in the forensic science, agriculture, quarantine and customs fields. DNA samples from five different animal individuals within the same species for 10 species of animal (including human) were analysed. DNA extraction and quantitation followed by PCR amplification and GeneScan visualisation formed the basis of the experimental analysis. Five gene markers from three different types of genes were investigated. These included genomic markers for the beta-actin and TP53 tumor suppressor gene. Mitochondrial DNA markers, designed by Bataille et al. [Forensic Sci. Int. 99 (1999) 165], examined the Cytochrome b gene and Hypervariable Displacement Loop (D-Loop) region. Finally, a ribosomal RNA marker for the 28S rRNA gene optimised by Naito et al. [J. Forensic Sci. 37 (1992) 396] was used as a possible marker for speciation. Results showed a difference of only several base pairs between all species for the beta-actin and 28S markers, with the exception of Sus scrofa (pig) beta-actin fragment length, which produced a significantly smaller fragment. Multiplexing of Cytochrome b and D-Loop markers gave limited species information, although positive discrimination of human DNA was evident. The most specific and discriminatory results were shown using the TP53 gene since this marker produced greatest fragment size differences between animal species studied. Sample differentiation for all species was possible following TP53 amplification, suggesting that this gene could be used as a potential animal species identifier.     

‘Gone are the Days’: Bisexual Perspectives on Lesbian/Feminist Literary Theory

In this article I offer a map of recent UK and US lesbian feminist literary theory which highlights the shifting and often paradoxical interpretations of lesbian sexuality as both real and as metaphorical. I focus on two key texts which offer overviews and analysis of the field from different sides of the Atlantic, which are both accessible, in the sense of being written from the perspective of ‘ordinary’ lesbians, rather than structuring lesbian feminist literary criticism around traditional critical concepts, and which also, unusually, offer some (small) comment on bisexuality. These two works are Bonnie Zimmerman's Safe Sea of Women (1992), and Palmer's Contemporary Lesbian Writing (1993). I argue that lesbian/feminist literary theory offers particular constructions of sexuality which, while challenging many of the assumptions of heterosexual feminist literary theory, largely ignores the bisexual content of much lesbian fiction, and consequently glosses over some of the tricky areas of gender and sexuality difference. Through this ‘les/bi’ reading I hope to encourage the figure of the bisexual woman to question both constructions and deconstructions of lesbian sexuality.     

Attachment cognitions and college and work functioning two years later in late adolescent women

This longitudinal study of 134 female high school seniors investigated the relationship between attachment cognitions and school and work functioning two years later. School functioning was indexed by interviewer-rated strain, stressful events, academic performance, and self-reported attitudes toward college. Work functioning was indexed by interviewer-rated strain, stressful events, and self-reported attitudes toward work. Attachment cognitions were found to be correlated with school strain, number and stress of school-related events as well as self-reported satisfaction, stress, and problems meeting deadlines. Attachment cognitions were found to be correlated with work strain, work satisfaction, tendency to overcommit, and performance anxiety. Most of these relationships persisted even when initial symptomatology was accounted for. These findings lend support to the hypothesis, derived from attachment theory, that secure attachment cognitions provide a secure base that allows the late adolescent to negotiate the challenges of college and work successfully.This research was supported by a PHS National Research Service Award to the first author, and by a grant from the W. T. Grant foundation to the second.Postdoctoral fellowDoctoral candidate