Sex role and dating orientation

The assumption that males approach dating from a pronounced psychobiological orientation while females approach it from a psychoaffectional orientation was questioned. The sex role adopted by the individual was considered to be as important a variable as biological sex. Male and female subjects from three age groups, 16–17 years, 19–20 years, and 24–25 years, completed questionnaires designed to measure their sex roles and dating orientations. All groups of males were found to approach the dating relationship from both a psychoaffectional and psychobiological orientation, while all groups of females approached it from a psychoaffectional orientation and showed an increase in psychobiological orientation with increasing age and increasing depth of relationship. Significant differences were also found in dating attitudes between male and female subjects adopting different sex roles. It was concluded that neither masculinity and femininity, nor psychobiological and psychoaffectional attitudes to dating, lie on single continua. Masculine and feminine sex roles as independent dimensions influence psychobiological and psychoaffectional orientations to dating which are in themselves independent dimensions and not ends of a single continuum.Received her B.A. (Hons. 1) at Macquarie University and Dip. Teaching from Syndney Teachers' College. Current research interest is adolescent sexuality.Received M.A. (Hons. I) and Ph.D. at University of Sydney. Fellow of the Australian Psychological Society. Chairman (Sydney Branch) of the Australian Psychological Society. Current research interest is the psychology of adolescence.     

Adolescent women's developing identity: A study of self-definition in the context of family relationships

This study generated adolescent women's perception of their identity in relation to family members spanning three generations and related these perceived relationships to their sex-role orientation. Subjects were 20 firstborn university women from intact families. The methodology used multiple sources of information, including open-ended interviewing procedures, rating scales, and standard research measures of sex-role identity. Significantly more constructs empirically differentiated family by generation than by sex. Congruence of young women with both the parent and grandparent generation, relative number of masculine stereotypes produced, and personality traits of males and females were significantly influenced by the presence of a brother in the sibling generation. There was no relationship between family constellation and sex-role orientation. Feminine women were significantly more congruent with other females in their family than androgynous women. There was a linear trend for androgynous women to be increasingly individuated across the generations.Received her Ph.D. from Yale University. Research interests include observation of children and families in natural settings, longitudinal research with at-risk infants, and rural consultation.Received her Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. Research interests include development of social competence in family, school, and community environment.Received his Ph.D. from Yale University. Research interests include the socialization of values, professional development, and studies of the family in religious and ethnic community contexts.     

B. reviews and notes of recent bibliographies

i. Oman and Southeastern Arabia: A Bibliographic Survey. By Michael Owen Shannon. Boston, Mass., G.K.Hall & Co., 1978. pp.xvi, 165. $18.00.

ii. Türk Dili ve Edebiyati Ansiklopedisi: Devirler/Isimler/ Eserler/Terimler. Istanbul, Dergah Yayinlari, 1977. TL600 (for 2 vols.).

iii. Arab‐Israeli conflict: a historical, political, social and military bibliography. By Ronald M.De Vore. Oxford, Clio Press, 1976, pp.273. £10.45.

Conflict in the Middle East from October 1973 to July 1976: a selected bibliography. By Michael Rubner. Los Angeles, Center for the Study of Armament and Disarmament, California State University, 1977. pp.83. $3.00.

The Palestine Question: a select bibliography. Compiled from the holdings of the Dag Hammarskj?ld Library, United Nations. New York, United Nations, 1976. pp.63. £3.25 (Distributed in the U.K. by H.M.S.O.).

iv. Middle East Contemporary Survey: Volume I 1976–77.

Edited by Colin Legum. Tel Aviv, Shiloah Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, University of Tel Aviv, and New York and London, Holmes and Meier, 1978. pp.xxiv, 684. £32.50.

v. The Modern Middle East: A Guide to Research Tools in the Social Sciences. By Reeva S.Simon. Boulder, Colorado, Westview Press, 1978. pp.xv, 283. £6.10.

vi. Gustav Meisels, Reference Literature to Arabic Studies, a bibliographical guide. Tel Aviv, University Publishing Projects Ltd., 1978. pp.xiv + 251.

vii. Saudi Arabia (World Bibliographical Series Vol.5).

Compiled by Frank A.Clements. Oxford and Santa Barbara, Clio Press, 1979. pp.xiv, 195. £16.75.

viii. The Records of the British Residency and Agencies in the Persian Gulf. IOR R/15. (India Office Records: Guides to Archive Groups). By Penelope Tuson. London, India Office Library and Records, 1979. pp.xix, 188. Pl.6. Index. £21.95.

ix. Modern Syria: An Introduction to the Literature. Compiled by C.H.Bleaney. Durham University, Centre for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies (Occasional Papers Series, no.6). 1979. £4.00.

x. The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition: Encyclopédie de 1'Islam. Nouvelle édition. Index to Volumes/aux [sic: read ‘des‘] Tomes I‐III. Compiled by/Établi par H.& J.D. Pearson. Edited by/Publié par E.van Donzel. Leiden, Brill/Paris, G.P.Maisonneuve & Larose S.A., 1979. pp.viii, 195. 60 guilders.     

Drawings of the opposite sex: Continued use of the draw a person test and young state hospital patients

The Draw A Person test has continued to be one of the most frequently utilized psychological tests with children and adolescents. This is especially true for the child/adolescent populations in state hospitals. Because of the frequent criticism leveled against the DAP's validity, this study was undertaken in order to provide normative data for the DAP with this particular clinical population. Previous research has focused on the drawings of the same sex as the subjects; this study deals with the characteristics of the drawings of the opposite sex. The subjects were 84 male and 66 female psychiatric patients from the Adolescent Unit (AU) at Rusk State Hospital. As each patient was admitted to the AU, he was scheduled for psychological testing, with the DAP, the Revised Beta, and the MMPI being a part of this testing. The results of this study indicate that IQ ranking is the most significant factor affecting DAP test performance by male subjects. IQ ranking was not found to significantly influence the drawings by females. Neither MMPI test performance nor social background factors were shown to significantly affect DAP test performance. It is suggested that in order for the DAP to become a more objectively utilized personality technique, a scoring method should be developed that takes into account the overall quality of the drawing in conjunction with the individual details of each area of the figure drawn. More focus should also be given to the characteristics of the opposite-sex figure drawn by the subjects and its potential interpretation.Received his M.S. degree in psychology from North Texas State University in 1968. Current interests include establishment of residential psychiatric facilties for children and adolescents, development of new treatment modalities for children and adolescents (i.e., Wilderness Camping Programs for emotionally disturbed children and adolescents), and understanding and developing working knowledge of the criminally insane child or adolescent.Received his Ph.D. in experimental psychology from the University of Alabama. His research interests include program evaluation and psychometric studies of psychological tests.Received his B.A. degree in mathematics at the University of South Florida in 1968 and his M.S. degree in statistics from Virginia Polytechnic Institute in 1970. His current interest is mental health statistics.Received his Ph.D. from Texas Tech University in 1975. His current interest is in assertion training.     

Ideology and personality: Aspects of identity formation in adolescents with strong attitudes toward sex-role equalitarianism

Middle-class adolescent boys and girls with strong attitudes for and against the sex-role ideology of the Women's Movement were administered a Q-sort to study two aspects believed to be related to identity formation: flexibility-rigidity and independence-dependence. A significant positive relationship was found, more strongly for independence than for flexibility and more strongly for girls than for boys. More favorable attitudes toward sex-role equalitarianism were associated with flexibility and independence. The strength of the associations varied with the nature of the Q-sort: ideal self, self as ideal member of opposite sex, and self as ideal to each parent.This article is based on the dissertation by Dr. Kirsch in partial fulfillment of the Doctor of Philosophy Degree at the Graduate School of Education, University of Marylandm, College Park, MarylandPsychotherapist in private practice in Potomac, Maryland, with special interest in psychology of women. Received her Ph.D. in human development from the University of Maryland, Graduate School of Education, in 1974.Received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Boston University in 1955. Diplomate in clinical psychology (ABPP). Interest is adolescent development with emphasis on innovative programs for optimal growth as well as treatment services.Received his Ed.D. in human development from the University of Maryland in 1961. Current interest is in developing preservice education programs for Middle School personnel.     

Parental influences on the development of adolescent autonomy and identity

Two studies were undertaken to examine parental influences on autonomy and identity development. In Study 1, 262 adolescents in seventh and eleventh grades were given Kurtines's autonomy measure, Simmons's identity measure, and Elder's questions regarding the adolescents' perceptions of their parents' autocratic, democratic, or permissive parenting styles. Study 2 was a replication with 168 subjects. Across both studies it was found that sex-role socialization is more influential for automony development than is either level of parental power or age. Both age and father's use of democracy were the most influential variables on identity development.Received Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. Major interests are adolescent social cognition and social development.Major interests are adolescent social cognition and social development.Major interests are adolescent social cognition and social development.Received Ph.D. from the University of Cincinnati. Major interests are cognitive development and theories of personality.     

A decade of pediatric homicide: a retrospective study at the Medical University of South Carolina.

More than 3 million children are abused and/or neglected each year in the United States. Unfortunately, a significant percentage of these cases result in homicide by child abuse or child neglect. Causes of death range from blunt force trauma and shaking to asphyxia to immolation. We retrospectively reviewed all pediatric forensic cases referred to the Medical University of South Carolina Forensic Pathology Section over the past 10 years, from January 1986 to December 1995. Of these, we looked only at children < or =5 years of age. The majority (342 cases, 69%) of these deaths were classified as natural, 96 (19%) as accident, and 60 (12%) as homicide. Of the homicides, we examined the cause of death; age, gender, and race of the victim; relationship to the perpetrator; time interval between injury and death; and the initial history given as to the cause of the injury. The cause of death fell into nine categories, the number one category being head trauma. Forty-five percent of the homicides were by head trauma, 12% by abdominal or body trauma, 25% by asphyxia (with half of these due to drowning), 10% by carbon monoxide poisoning or thermal injury, and the remaining 8% involving cases of neglect, stabbing, and poisoning. The majority of the homicide victims were male (67%) and black (67%). Forty-six percent were < or =1 year of age. Approximately 25% of the homicide cases were designated as shaken baby syndrome (SBS). In 97% of the cases, the assailant was known to the victim and was a family relative in 77%. Sixty-three percent of the assailants were female and 45% of the assailants were male; in 12%, the assailants were both parents, and in 1 case, the assailant remains unknown. Of the asphyxia deaths, 87% of the assailants were female. The time interval between injury and death ranged from minutes to hours in most cases to months in cases of repeated abuse and chronic injury and sequelae. The time interval between injury and the onset of symptoms remains unknown in most cases due to inconsistencies in the history and lack of credibility of the caretaker. The most common initial history given was "a fall" (20%). We report our findings of a decade of pediatric homicides to increase awareness of the common scenarios and case histories, demographics of the victims, causes of death, and perpetrators of pediatric homicide.