Carlie D. Trott

Making Sense of the Atmospheric Science Gender Gap: Do Female and Male Graduate Students Have Different Career Motives, Goals, and Challenges?.

ABSTRACT There is a persisting gap in the participation of women in atmospheric science (ATS), particularly at the higher levels of ATS education and occupations. This gap raises questions about ATS womens career motives, plans, and challenges relative to mens. To explore these questions, in-depth interviews were conducted with 10 female and male ATS graduate students. Both women and men described their ATS choice as the result of random events—though both also mentioned memories of childhood severe weather experiences, as well as interest and confidence in math and science, as critical milestones in their path to ATS. Both women and men also commented on the impact of hands-on, ATS-related research, including field experiences as well as the positive influence of models and mentors on their ATS educational choice and persistence. However, for women, experiences with mentors included instances of neglectful and undermining behavior. Women and men also differed with regard to career goals, with women emphasizing service and social impact, and men emphasizing employability. Finally, women and men anticipated different career obstacles, with women focusing on family, and men focusing on financial responsibilities. The findings of this study suggest that ATS women and men may have similar early motives for ATS career choice but different experiences once they enter ATS. ATS women and men may also differ in terms of career goals and perceived obstacles. Many themes surrounding ATS womens experiences in this study are similar to themes that have emerged in studies of women in other science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. At the same time, this study also generated information and questions specific to the ATS experience, affirming the importance of examining STEM womens issues by discipline.

Women’s Attitudes Toward Intimate Partner Violence in Ethiopia The Role of Social Norms in the Interview Context

This study draws on a social norms framework to examine the influence of interview context—specifically the presence of other women and men—on women’s reported attitudes toward intimate partner violence (IPV) in Ethiopia, where IPV rates are among the highest in the world. The sample (16,515 women, ages 15-49) was taken from Ethiopia’s 2011 Demographic and Health Survey. Results showed the odds of women “justifying” IPV to be nearly twice as great when other women were present during the interview, and nearly half in the presence of men. Implications for more sensitive interview methodology are discussed.

Psychological perspectives on community resilience and climate change

Abstract This chapter makes a case for a focus on climate change community resilience—the study of a community’s capability to flexibly and effectively respond to climate change—in order to understand and promote functionally adaptive responses to climate change. While there is considerable research on the role of individual psychological processes in promoting engagement with climate change, much more research on place-based, community-focused dimensions of climate change psychology is needed. We provide an overview of the broader interdisciplinary perspective on community resilience and highlight psychology’s potential role to contribute further in this literature. Looking forward, we explicate key ways in which both community resilience and psychological research would benefit from their integration, and identify ways of advancing theory and research in this domain.