Anita P. Barbee

Their ideas of beauty are, on the whole, the same as ours: Consistency and variability in the cross-cultural perception of female physical attractiveness.

The consistency of physical attractiveness ratings across cultural groups was examined. In Study 1, recently arrived native Asian and Hispanic students and White Americans rated the attractiveness of Asian, Hispanic, Black, and White photographed women. The mean correlation between groups in attractiveness ratings was r =.93. Asians, Hispanics, and Whites were equally influenced by many facial features, but Asians were less influenced by some sexual maturity and expressive features. In Study 2, Taiwanese attractiveness ratings correlated with prior Asian, Hispanic, and American ratings, mean r =.91. Supporting Study 1, the Taiwanese also were less positively influenced by certain sexual maturity and expressive features. Exposure to Western media did not influence attractiveness ratings in either study. In Study 3, Black and White American men rated the attractiveness of Black female facial photos and body types. Mean facial attractiveness ratings were highly correlated (r = .94), but as predicted Blacks and Whites varied in judging bodies

What do women want? Facialmetric assessment of multiple motives in the perception of male facial physical attractiveness

The multiple motive hypothesis of physical attractiveness suggests that women are attracted to men whose appearances elicit their nurturant feelings, who appear to possess sexual maturity and dominance characteristics, who seem sociable, approacheable, and of high social status. Those multiple motives may cause people to be attracted to individuals who display an optimal combination of neotenous, mature, and expressive facial features, plus desirable grooming attributes. Three quasi-experiments demonstrated that men who possessed the neotenous features of large eyes, the mature features of prominent cheekbones and a large chin, the expressive feature of a big smile, and high-status clothing were seen as more attractive than other men. Further supporting the multiple motive hypothesis, the 2nd and 3rd studies indicated that impressions of attractiveness had strong relations with selections of men to date and to marry but had a curvilinear relation with perceptions of a baby face vs. a mature face.

An Experimental Approach to Social Support Communications: Interactive Coping in Close Relationships

This review covers four major topics. First, the authors discuss previous studies on social support that document the content of supportive communications. Next, the discussion turns to the development and validation of the Interactive Coping Behavior Coding System and its converse, the Support Activation Behavior Coding System. A third focus is research stemming from sensitive interaction systems theory, which makes predictions, based on numerous variables, concerning whether an interaction will be ameliorative or harmful. The final section presents findings on the effects of interactive coping variables on relationship maintenance.

“Was it good for you, too?”: Gender differences in first sexual intercourse experiences

First sexual intercourse is considered to be a major life transition, but it is not always a pleasurable experience, especially for females. The major purposes of this research were to examine gender differences in emotional reactions (pleasure, anxiety, and guilt) to first intercourse and to test possible explanations for these gender differences. Based on data collected from 1,659 college students who had had sexual intercourse, we found that men reported experiencing more pleasure and anxiety than did women, whereas men reported experiencing less guilt than did women. Mens greater subjective pleasure in response to first intercourse was explained, in part, by their greater likelihood of having an orgasm. Similar gender differences in emotional reactions were found regardless of the stage and length of the relationship in which first intercourse occurred; both genders reported more pleasure, more anxiety, and less guilt when sex occurred in a close relationship than in a casual one. However, continuing...

Self-presentation dynamics on overt integrity tests: experimental studies of the Reid Report.

Three experiments examined impression-management responses to the Reid Report Integrity Attitude Inventory. Subjects encouraged to score high on the honesty test attained higher scores than a control group, but no higher than a group of job applicants. Study 2 offered money for high scores, and provided information to use concerning the first, second, or both factors of the Reid Report. Subjects in the three information conditions scored higher than those in a control condition, but again were no higher than job applicants. In a third study, subjects were asked to respond to the Reid Report and to several other measures as if they seriously wanted a job. After the test, each subject was overpaid for the participation. Reid Report scores were significantly correlated with returning versus retaining the money. These results suggest that integrity tests possess predictive validity despite some impression-management response distortion. Relations with other personality measures also are presented.

Close relationships and social support in coping with HIV: a test of sensitive interaction systems theory.

This study tested sensitive interaction systems theory, and examined how persons with HIV seek and receive social support in relationships with peers versus parents and the association between different kinds of support-receiving behaviors and depressive symptoms. The participants were men and women with HIV in southeastern Virginia who completed a self-administered questionnaire about their relations with parents, an intimate partner, and a close friend. Participants reported using more Ask behaviors (a direct form of support seeking) with a friend and an intimate partner than with parents. They also reported receiving more Approach (Solve/Solace) forms of support from a friend and an intimate partner than from parents and less Avoidance (Escape/Dismiss) from a close friend than from parents. As a support-seeking behavior Ask was most likely to be associated with Approach forms of support providing from all types of relationship partners. Avoidance from parents, an intimate partner, or a friend was positively associated with depressive symptoms. Counselors should discuss with clients the social support process and how different forms of support seeking and support providing may be more or less useful in coping with HIV.

Support Seeking in Personal Relationships

This paper introduces a new model of interactive support seeking and describes a study derived from it. Task vs relationship type of problem and gender of support seeker were examined for their effect on the selection of same-sex vs opposite-sex friends to provide social support. Male and female undergraduates were asked to vividly imagine each of two task and two relationship problems and to indicate for each problem the friend to whom they would prefer to talk. Participants were also asked to anticipate the specific interactive coping behaviors that their same-and opposite-sex friends would offer in response to each problem. We found that both males and females preferred to talk to their same-sex friends rather than their opposite-sex friends about both relationship and task problems. Yet males indicated that they would rather talk about task than relationship issues with their male friends and expected the male friends to use more dismiss behaviors in response to a relationship problem. Females expected their female friends to use more solve and support behaviors in response to relationship than task problems, and for their male friends to use more dismiss and escape behaviors in response to problems. Directions for future research on interactive support seeking are suggested.

When a friend is in need: Feelings about seeking, giving, and receiving social support

Publisher Summary This chapter examines the role of emotion before, during, and after a supportive interaction takes place. The chapter also examines the role that emotions play in a potential supporters willingness and ability to give effective support, and in their response to their partners reaction to their supportive attempts. A distressed persons tactics for activating social support may be either direct and unambiguous about the desire for help, or indirect and ambiguous about whether help is being sought. Direct support seeking behaviors may be verbal, by asking for help, which includes talking about the problem in a factual manner, telling the supporter about the problem, giving details of the problem, and disclosing what has been done so far about the problem. Direct support seeking also may involve nonverbal communication such as showing distress about the problem through crying or using other direct behaviors such as eye contact with furrowed brow. Indirect support-seeking behaviors, by contrast, are more subtle and less informative. An interactive coping episode generally begins with a problem, and with a support seeker who communicates the need for assistance. The nature of the problem, the temperament of the support seeker, and past supportive interactions with the partner can affect the intensity of the anxiety, anger, sadness, or embarrassment that is to be dealt with in the interaction. These emotions stem from either the nature of the problem or the anticipation of the potential supporters reaction.

Finding and keeping Child Welfare workers: Effective use of training and professional development

Summary Administrators in public human services are constantly involved in the exhausting challenge of recruiting and training staff in the child welfare arena. This article describes a program that the Commonwealth of Kentucky developed in order to address the recruitment and retention issue. The Public Child Welfare Certification Program is a special multi-university preparation program designed to recruit excellent workers from BSW programs who are prepared to take on complex cases with normal supervision within weeks of employment and to sustain those workers over time. Evaluation of the pilot indicates that the program is a great success in preparing students for child welfare work. Implications are discussed.

Fostering Interdependent versus Independent Living in Youth Aging Out of Care through Healthy Relationships

Although the child welfare system has historically provided “independent living” services, youth aging out of foster care are at increased risk of negative outcomes such as poverty substance abuse, and homelessness. This manuscript builds upon the recent shift to “interdependent living” approaches by describing skills for various stages of relationships, including the youths relationship with their caseworker and foster family, centering around the need to define clear expectations and model healthy relationship skills. Youth must recognize their risk patterns and need for professional support, and develop educational/vocational goals for mentoring. Future relationships often include reconnecting with birth families and dating/romantic relationships, requiring an exploration of physical and emotional safety and establishment of healthy patterns for life-long relationships.