Ayala Malach Pines

Sexual child abuse as an antecedent to prostitution

A study of 200 juvenile and adult street prostitutes documented extremely high levels of sexual child abuse in their background. Sixty percent of the subjects were sexually exploited by an average of two people each, over an average period of 20 months. Two-thirds were sexually abused by father figures. The abuse had extremely negative emotional, physical, and attitudinal impacts. Seventy percent of the women reported that the sexual exploitation definitely affected their decision to become a prostitute. The others reflected the influence in their open-ended comments. Findings make a unique contribution to both the studies of the antecedents to prostitution, and the long-term impacts of sexual child abuse.

Sex and Culture in Burnout and Coping among Human Service Professionals A Social Psychological Perspective

In this study, burnout and coping were investigated among 503 human service professionals in the United States and Israel. A standardized self-report measure was used to determine burnout levels. The frequencies of use of 12 different coping strategies were assessed via a self-report questionnaire, differentiating coping efforts along two dimensions (active/inactive; direct/ indirect). A two-way analysis of variance yielded significant main effects for culture and for sex, but no significant interaction. It was found that Americans reported feeling more burned out than Israelis, and women reported feeling more burned out than men. As for coping, women reported using indirect and inactive coping strategies more than men, and Americans reported using them more than Israelis. The pattern of correlation between coping and burnout suggested that active-direct strategies were more effective in coping with stress than were the inactive and/or indirect behaviors. The discussion focuses on how sex role stereotypes and cultural values mediate the availability of various coping strategies, and thus affect the subjective experience of burnout.

Conspicuous in Its Absence: The Lack of Positive Conditions as a Source of Stress

Sress research has concentrated on the presence of negative conditions as a source of stress and largely has ignored stress reactions that result from a lack of positive conditions. In an attempt to demonstrate the seriousness of this omission of stress theory, for samples of students (N = 84) and professionals (N = 205) the presence of negative and absence of positive life and work features were each related to the experiences of life and work tedium and satisfaction/dissatisfaction. Two hypotheses were proposed: that the presence of negative and lack of positive life and work features are (1) both significantly related to tedium and satisfaction/dissatisfaction and (2) are independent of each other. The hypotheses were confirmed for both samples except in the case of work satisfaction/dissatisfaction, which was related only to the lack of positive features. These results highlight the need in stress research to consider lack of positive conditions as a source of stress.

Combatting staff burn-out in a day care center: A case study

In a follow-up study on a research investigating the burnout syndrome in day care settings, the successful attempts of one day care center to combat burnout are presented. The status of the day care center prior to changes, the specific changes that were implemented, and the impact of those changes after six months are described in detail within the conceptual framework of the burnout research.

Gender differences in entrepreneurship

Purpose – In 2008, the world had undergone a global economic crisis. Since women always face greater difficulties in obtaining capital than men, the economic crisis had a greater effect on them. The purpose of this paper is to examine the implications of the global crisis for womens entrepreneurship, from the perspective of equality, diversity and inclusion.Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviews studies on gender differences in entrepreneurship, focusing on 2007 and 2008 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) studies that examined the rates of entrepreneurship in 43 countries.Findings – The data show that in all 43 countries, the rates of womens entrepreneurship are lower than mens. Furthermore, the percent of women entrepreneurs is higher in countries where the general income per capita is small and where women have no other option for making a living.Research limitations/implications – This surprising finding has been explained as a result of the difference between “necessity” and “opportunit...

Substance abuse and prostitution.

A study of 200 street prostitutes documented a high prevalence of alcohol and drug abuse in their family of origin, during the drift into prostitution and as part of prostitution. Additionally, the study documented a high prevalence of substance abuse among the child molesters and rapists of the subjects. The existence of a relationship between substance abuse and prostitution in and of itself does not imply causality. It is not clear whether substance abuse is one of the factors that pushed these women into prostitution (as noted earlier, 55% of the subjects reported being addicted prior to their prostitution involvement) or whether it was prostitution that caused their drug involvement (30% became addicted following and 15% concurrently with their prostitution involvement). Most likely, both prostitution and substance abuse are the behavioral translations of these womens endless cycles of victimization and severely disturbed backgrounds, as well as an expression of the self-destructive pull, the sense of hopelessness, helplessness, negative self-concept and psychological paralysis reported by almost every subject in the study.

Gender differences in romantic jealousy.

Findings of studies of gender differences in jealousy are contradictory. In the present study, conflicting literature was addressed by distinguishing 5 dimensions of jealousy: level, trigger, experience, focus, and responses. In 4 studies, 3 in the U.S. and 1 in Israel, gender differences were explored in these 5 dimensions of romantic jealousy. Although there were no gender differences in the likelihood, frequency, duration, or intensity of jealousy, there were differences in the responses to certain jealousy-producing occasions as well as in the focus, experience, and expression of jealousy.

Occupational Hazards of Street Prostitutes

A study of 200 women street prostitutes documents extremely high levels of on-the-job victimization. Subjects reported being physically abused and beaten by both customers and pimps. Other forms of victimization included customer rape, forced perversion, non-payment, robbery, violence, clients going beyond the prostitution contract, and unfair split of money with pimps.

Gender, Culture, and Social Support: A Male–Female, Israeli Jewish-Arab Comparison

Despite large bodies of research on gender, culture, and social support, very few studies have addressed all three. Aspects of 4 theoretical perspectives were used to derive (different) predictions about the role of gender and culture in the evaluation and utilization of social support: evolutionary, psychoanalytic, social role, and social construction theories. The predictions were tested in representative samples of the Jewish and Arab populations in Israel. Men and women were interviewed regarding the importance and availability of different support functions, the quality of different social networks, and the people to whom they would turn for support with different problems. Results demonstrate the universality of the need for support and a number of cultural and gender differences in its utilization. The results support different aspects of the 4 theories and suggest a need for more work on the mechanisms underlying the differences found. The results also demonstrate the value of studying the role of gender and culture in social support.

The Experience of Tedium in Life and Work

Tedium, the experience of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion, was introduced. It was assumed to stem from chronic daily pressures. Tedium was predicted to be related to: (1) internal features which include pressures inherent in the individuals roles and imposed on the cognitive capacity and the need for meaningfulness and achievement; and (2) external features which include pressures imposed on the individual by the physical, organizational, and social environment. A trilogy of studies designed to develop a tedium measure, to test its reliability and validity, and to study its relationships to internal and external life and work features was presented. It was concluded that tedium is a highly relevant psychological construct, experienced in its extreme form by 6% of the people studied (N = 1187). Tedium was found to be a significant correlate of both internal and external life and work features. The comparison between life and work features showed that the former are more highly related to tedium than the latter. Life was also found to be a higher source of rewards and a lower source of pressures relative to work. The need to develop a more rigorous causal model of tedium was stressed.