Bernadette Gray-Little

Factors Influencing Racial Comparisons of Self-Esteem: A Quantitative Review

Research on racial comparisons of self-esteem was examined. Early research in this area, exemplified by the doll studies of racial preference, was viewed as demonstrating that Blacks have less self-regard than Whites. However, a meta-analytic synthesis of 261 comparisons, based largely on self-esteem scales and involving more than half a million respondents, revealed higher scores for Black than for White children, adolescents, and young adults. This analysis further revealed that the direction and magnitude of racial differences are influenced by such demographic characteristics as participant age and socioeconomic status, as well as by characteristics of the measuring instruments. Many findings--for example, that the self-esteem advantage for Black respondents increases with age and is related to the sex composition of the sample--underscore the need for long-term longitudinal studies of self-esteem development in male and female members of both racial groups.

Labeling partner violence: when do victims differentiate among acts?

Domestic violence professionals have debated whether all physical assaults by partners should be labeled abuse. This study examined the use of labels such as “abuse,” “victim,” and “battered woman” in a sample of women (n = 78) who had sustained at least one physical assault in their current or most recent relationship. Self-labeling followed a differentiating strategy, that is, women experiencing more frequent and more severe assaults were more likely to apply labels. Lower partner income, being Black, lower relationship commitment, and having ended the relationship also were associated with increased self-labeling. Labeling of hypothetical acts followed an inclusive strategy, that is, all assaults were considered abusive. These results suggest that contextual factors influence labeling. Prevention and intervention programs may be able to increase their effectiveness by including more situational context in their messages.

Psychopathic Traits and Attitudes Associated With Self-Reported Sexual Aggression in College Men

The relationships among psychopathic personality traits, rape-supportive attitudes, and self-reported sexual aggression were examined in a sample of 191 college men. It was hypothesized that participants who reported severe sexually aggressive acts (i.e., coerced intercourse) would endorse items indicating more extreme psychopathic traits than those who reported only less severe acts. In addition, we expected that psychopathic traits would play a unique role in severe sexual aggression, above the contribution of rape-supportive attitudes. Results were strongly supportive of the first hypothesis; however, there was no evidence that traits and attitudes contribute to sexually aggressive behavior in different ways. The discussion considers similarities and differences in the contribution of traits and attitudes to the development of sexually aggressive behavior.

Responses to partner violence: Moving away from deficit models.

Deficit-based models of responses to partner violence, which emphasize cognitive distortions and behavioral deficiencies, dominate research on women in violent relationships, but they are limited by their narrow focus. This study examined cognitive reactions and both active and passive responses of 136 women who sustained verbal aggression, minor violence, or moderate to severe violence in their current relationship. Cognitive reactions became more disapproving, and behavioral responses became more active and less passive, as the level of violence increased for the worst incident in their relationship. Disapproving reactions mediated active, but not passive, responses to violence. These results are consistent with a competency model of responses to violence that emphasizes the importance of studying both adaptive and maladaptive responses. Multivariate models and a closer study of context would benefit future research.

The Salience of Negative Information in Impression Formation Among Two Danish Samples

Two Danish samples were asked to rate an unknown other based on two descriptions, one containing praiseworthy and the other reproachable behaviors. With both samples, negative descriptions had a delayed disproportionate effect on the impression formed. The results for Danish subjects are similar to those found with Americans in spite of broad social and cultural differences which would seem to militate against this similarity.