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.     

The relationships among self-blame, psychological distress, and sexual victimization

The primary purpose of this investigation is to assess the factor structure of survivors' attributions for previously experienced sexual assaults. Two hundred twenty-four female survivors of sexual assault responded to measures assessing attributions for past assaults, perceived avoidability of future assaults, frequency of past victimizations, and psychological distress. Factor analysis of the attributions measure suggested five underlying factors: perpetrator blame, characterological self-blame, situational factors and/or chance blame, behavioral self-blame, and societal blame. Results indicated that characterological self-blame, but not behavioral self-blame, was associated with negative outcomes, including increased psychological distress and increased frequency of past victimization. Although behavioral self-blame was associated with perceived avoidability of future assaults, it was not associated with lower psychological distress or reduced frequency of past victimizations.     

Gender,right-wing populism,and immigrant integration policies in France, 1989–2012

Immigrant integration has been on the political agenda in France since at least the late 1980s, yet starting in the early 2000s this issue became bound up with concerns about the oppression of minority women. This article examines the evolution of the issue over two decades, pinpointing when and why debates over integration took on a gendered cast. The article’s explanation centres on two factors – the growing threat of the Front National coupled with the legitimation of gender-based claims in French politics. These claims were embraced by conservative politicians seeking to adopt a harder line toward immigration and led to the refashioning of core Republican concepts such as égalité and laïcité as being about gender equality. The use of similar themes by the Front National as it has sought to move in from the political fringe reveals how gendered claims can be deployed in an effort to keep anti-immigrant policies within the boundaries of liberal values.     

“Victim Refuses to Cooperate”: A Focal Concerns Analysis of Victim Cooperation in Sexual Assault Cases

Research suggests that victim cooperation is a strong predictor of arrest and prosecution in sexual assault cases. Relatively little research has focused on identifying the factors that shape the decision to cooperate and the research that does exist is largely atheoretical. We address these gaps by examining victim cooperation using a revised version of the focal concerns perspective. We use data on cases reported to law enforcement agencies in Los Angeles to estimate models using factors situated within three victim focal concerns—crime seriousness, costs of cooperation, and likelihood of conviction—for three stages of the case process. We supplement these results with qualitative data from police reports regarding the reasons why victims refused to cooperate. The findings of this study provide initial support for the theoretical development of victim cooperation using the focal concerns perspective and provide potential guidance to criminal justice practitioners on how to increase victim cooperation.     

Risk and Protective Factors for Adolescent Relationship Abuse across Different Sexual and Gender Identities

Journal of Youth and Adolescence - Little is known about the characteristics and context of adolescent relationship abuse victimization across youth of different sexual and gender minority...     

College Students’ Adjustment: The Role of Parent–College Student Expectation Discrepancies and Communication Reciprocity

Parents’ influence on college students’ adjustment is underestimated frequently. As college students often set goals based on their perceptions of their parents’ expectations, discrepancies between college students’ and their parents’ expectations may be related to their adjustment. The purpose of this study was to examine parent–college student expectation discrepancies and communication reciprocity as predictors of college students’ adjustment in a diverse sample of 69 male and 105 female freshmen and sophomores from a large southeastern university. A subsample of their mothers and fathers also participated in this study. Correlational results revealed that college students report experiencing lower levels of self-worth and adjustment when higher expectation discrepancies are present between themselves and their parents. Regression results also indicated that expectation discrepancies and college students’ perceptions of communication reciprocity are important predictors of college students’ self-worth and adjustment. Such findings suggested that teaching assertive communication skills to college students and their parents may serve as a means of promoting positive outcomes for college students.