Dorothy W. Jackson

Sex Role Identity and Self Esteem in Adulthood

Sex role identity (Bern Sex Role Inventory) and self esteem (Texas Social Behavior Inventory) were examined in a cross sectional sample of 2069 Ohio State University students, employees, and alumni between the ages of seventeen and eighty-nine. Both men and women displayed peak masculinity scores in the middle years of adulthood, with no significant differences in femininity scores across the age range studied. Among both men and women, psychologically “androgynous” individuals displayed the highest levels of self esteem, followed by masculine sex-typed, feminine sex-typed, and “undifferentiated” individuals, in that order. Masculinity was a far better predictor of self esteem than was femininity.

Social Support, Need for Support, and Anxiety among Women Graduate Students

This study examined the role of social support and need for support on anxiety among 61 women, graduate students, by administering the Jackson Personality Inventory, the Personality Research Form, and the Social Support Network Inventory. One-way analysis of variance showed a significant effect for source of support on support received. Friends were cited most frequently and graduate advisers the least. Two-way analyses of variance showed significant main effects of need for support and support from adviser on anxiety scores. High scores on anxiety were a function of high need for support and, separately, of low social support. Results are discussed in terms of the need for longitudinal studies of the relationships between these variables to consider implications for adult development.

Teachers Perceptions of the Social Skills of Adolescents with Hearing Impairment in Residential and Public School Settings

The social–emotional behaviors of 76 adolescents with moderate to profound hearing impairment enrolled in residential and public schools were assessed by their classroom teachers. Each student was rated on two instruments: (1) The Meadow Kendall Social-Emotional Assessment and (2) The Social Skill Rating Scale–Teacher Form. Comparisons were made across two settings that included three educational programs (i.e., two total-communication programs and one oral program) located in two public schools and one residential school. No statistically significant differences were found among the three groups. The findings are discussed relative to previous studies and implications for educational programming for students with hearing impairment.

The Primacy of Superordinate-Level Category Questions in the Game of 20 Questions

The initial questions of 180 males and females between the ages of 12 and 26 years were classified as they participated in a 20-questions problem-solving procedure. Three levels of questions (superordinate, basic, and subordinate) were observed for an array of conceptually organized exemplars. No age or gender differences were found but preference for superordinate-level initial questions was significant.

RELATIONSHIP OF RESIDENCE, EDUCATION, AND SOCIALIZATION TO COGNITIVE TASKS IN NORMAL PEOPLE OF ADVANCED OLD AGE

40 aged residents of a dependent care facility were tested on a series of cognitive conservation tasks. A decrement toward lowered levels of cognitive functioning was noted but specific psycho-social factors were related to this decline. Length of residence in dependent context and involvement in socialization and leisure activities were significantly related to level of cognitive functioning and were independent of sex. However, attained educational level was positively related to cognitive conservation for females but not for males. Analysis of qualitative responses to tasks suggests important considerations.

Stage factors relating alienation and self-role diffusion

Abstract A study, controlling for age, sex, and vocational commitment of 290 adolescents (ages 17–19 and 20–22), was conducted to determine the relationship between self- and social alienation attitudes and the identity-role crisis of the adolescent stage. Specific subscale differences due to age and sex for social alienation were found. Younger adolescents expressed greater self-alienation than older males, who were significantly more self-satisfied than both younger and older females and younger males. The hypothesis suggesting that self-alienation reflects conflict and dissatisfaction emerging from identity-role discrepancies during the adolescent stage of psychosocial development, and would decrease with vocational commitment was supported for males but not females.

Differential use of constraining questions by gender and matrix

This study concerned gender differences in questioning strategies involving problem-solving matrices. 131 college age students were tested in a 20-question game procedure using three types of matrices with unknown targets. Analysis of variance yielded a significant 2-way interaction for gender and strategy. Findings were discussed in terms of hypothesis-seeking questions and cognitive tempo.

Alienation and identity-role diffusion in late adolescence.

Summary This study concerns the relationship between alienation and the identity and role crisis in late adolescence. Two hundred and ninety adolescents (18-21 years) divided into age/sex and vocational role commitment groups were given the DJ Scale of Alienation: Self-Social Satisfaction (6). Two indexes were obtained: (a) Alienation (measured by Powerlessness and Self-Abasement) and (b) Self-Dissatisfaction (a measure of psychological disequilibrium). Powerlessness and Self-Abasement were not age/sex differentiated, whereas dissatisfaction-with-self for these attitudes was related to group differences. Young males were self-dissatisfied with their powerless status, and young females with their self-abasing attitudes. Findings were discussed in terms of the resolution of the psychological crisis and the end of the adolescent moratorium.

Generating Questions: Processing Time Changes Between Early Adolescence and Young Adulthood

Abstract Information seeking by asking questions is fundamental to solving some problems. How quickly it proceeds can be important, especially if stakes are high. This experiment compared the processing times of three question types generated by early adolescents, middle adolescents, and young adults who sought to identify unknown target exemplars in a series of test arrays. Category questions, which eliminate alternatives based on their membership in contrasting mutually exclusive sets, were of two types: conceptual and perceptual. Conceptual category questions took longer to generate than perceptual category questions for all age groups. Syncretic questions, which refer to more than one category, took longer to generate than perceptual category questions for early adolescents, although they did not take longer to generate than perceptual category questions for the two older groups. Age-related changes in cognitive processing, syncretic thinking, and experience with hypothesis testing provide a framework for interpreting these results.