Christian M. End

The Internet Gender Gap Among College Students: Forgotten But Not Gone?

The Internet has been a male-dominated technology since its beginnings in the late 1960s. A number of studies have reported that the gap between the numbers of men and women online has narrowed in recent years. However, broad definitions of usage have often masked important differences in how much the technology is used in specific ways, as well as qualitative differences in mens and womens experiences in using the Internet. One area in which such differences might be particularly important is in higher education, where Internet activities are increasingly a central feature of the curriculum in a variety of departments. We investigated the Internet gender gap among college students by comparing the usage patterns and attitudes of three cohorts of students in 1997, 1998, and 1999. In addition, we examined longitudinal changes from 1997 to 1998 in a subsample of our participants. The cohort comparisons revealed gender differences in five Internet activities (E-mail, World Wide Web [WWW], Usenet, Multiuser...

Costly Cell Phones: The Impact of Cell Phone Rings on Academic Performance

College students participated in a study on the “psychology of note taking” during which they took notes on video content and later completed a multiple-choice test on the material. Researchers assigned 71 participants to either the ringing condition (the video was disrupted by a ringing cell phone) or the control condition (no cell phone rings disrupted the video). The hypothesis that the cell phone rings would impair performance was confirmed. Compared to the control group, participants in the ringing condition performed significantly worse on the disrupted test items and were less likely to include the disrupted information in their notes. Citing empirical evidence of academic impairment in course syllabi may improve regulation of cell phone use in the classroom.

Sexually Degrading Music Videos and Lyrics

Utilizing a 2 (lyrics: present or absent) × 2 (images: present or absent) design, this study examined the unique effects of sexually degrading music videos and music lyrics on males’ aggressive behavior toward women, as well as males’ endorsement of rape myths and sexual stereotypes. Under the guise of a media memory study, 187 male undergraduate students were randomly assigned to one of four conditions. Despite the many psychological theories predicting an effect, the presentation of sexually degrading content in a visual or auditory medium (or combination thereof) did not significantly alter the participants’ aggression and self-reported endorsement of rape myths and sexual stereotypes. The null findings challenge the many corporate and governmental restrictions placed on sexual content in the media over concern for harmful effects.

Sport fan identification in obituaries.

To assess whether sport involvement, particularly as a fan, is central enough to ones self-concept to be mentioned in obituary content, it was hypothesized that a greater proportion of mens obituaries than womens would mention the deceased individuals sport fan identification. Obituaries were randomly selected from 19 newspapers and coded for specific affiliations (e.g., military) and involvement in leisure activities (e.g., sport participation). Consistent with the hypothesis, a chi-squared analysis indicated the mens obituaries (15.2%) were significantly more likely than the womens (5.2%) to mention sport fan identification. A higher proportion of the mens obituaries (24.4%) mentioned sport participation than the womens obituaries (7.4%).

Team Success, Productivity and Economic Impact

Including an array of distinguished contributors, this novel book fills a gap in the literature by addressing an important, yet under-researched, issue in the field of sports economics. It places great emphasis on the notion that sport is a significant component for improving the happiness, health and well-being of citizens, communities and society as a whole. In so doing, it addresses whether, in an environment of increasing pressure on public spending, governments should continue to subsidize sporting activities at the expense of other public resources.

Does Religion Stave Off the Grave? Religious Affiliation in One’s Obituary and Longevity:

Self-reported religious service attendance has been linked with longevity. However, previous work has largely relied on self-report data and volunteer samples. Here, mention of a religious affiliation in obituaries was analyzed as an alternative measure of religiosity. In two samples (N = 505 from Des Moines, IA, and N = 1,096 from 42 U.S. cities), the religiously affiliated lived 9.45 and 5.64 years longer, respectively, than the nonreligiously affiliated. Additionally, social integration and volunteerism partially mediated the religion–longevity relation. In Study 2, exploratory analyses suggested that the religion–longevity association was moderated by city-level religiosity and city-level personality. In cities with low levels of trait openness, the nonreligiously affiliated had reduced longevity in highly religious cities relative to less religious cities, consistent with the religion-as-social-value hypothesis. Conversely, in cities with high levels of openness, the opposite trend was observed, suggesting a spillover effect of religion. The religiously affiliated were less influenced by these cultural factors.