Judith L. Fischer

Sex Roles and Intimacy in Same Sex and Other Sex Relationships

In a survey of sex roles and intimacy in ongoing, close relationships it was hypothesized that the androgynous would have higher intimacy scores. The androgynous and sex-typed persons did not differ from each other but both were higher on intimacy than the undifferentiated. The only sex role independently related to intimacy was femininity. Based on the patterns of intimacy scores found for different types of relationships, sex-role stereotyping was implicated in the intimacy levels of women and men. The significant role of mens self-esteem in male-female relationships requires further investigation as do the contextual manipulations through which intimates may reduce the negative impact of sex-role stereotyping.

Transitions in relationship style from adolescence to young adulthood

Literature on friendships of adolescents and young adults suggests important gender and age-related differences. In a study of transitions in relationship style from middle adolescence (high school) to late adolescence (college), 300 students described their relationship with the person who was closest to them, either same or other sex. Four relationship styles were characteristic: integrated (high friendly and high intimate), intimate (high intimate and low friendly), friendly (high friendly and low intimate), and uninvolved (low intimate and low friendly). Womens more intimate styles of relating, as compared to mens more uninvolved styles, suggested that women developed earlier competence at intimate relating than did men. Viewed as particularly important were the college womens close friendships with those of the same gender, an experience uncharacteristic of adolescent men in high school and college. Results were discussed in terms of Eriksons stages of development and Sullivans concept of the chum.

Marital Status and Career Stage Influences on Social Networks of Young Adults.

During young adulthood men and women experience new roles that affect their interactions with social network members. The most common transitions during young adulthood-marriage and career-were examined with respect to descriptors of the social networks, including network size as well as affectionate and instrumental behavior exchanges. In addition, the network sectors of kin and friends were considered. Marital status, career stage, and gender interacted in various ways with each other as influences on network size and affectionate and instrumental behavior exchanges with kin and friends. The role changes associated with career entry and engagement or marriage seemed to be related to partial withdrawal from friends and an increase in kin contact among both men and women. Solidifying of kin relationships through affective involvement appeared for women but not men.

Codependency and Parenting Styles.

This study examined the association between the parent-child relationship (as perceived by late adolescent-early adult children) and the adolescents codependency. College students 17through 22 years of age (N = 175) reported the parenting style of their mother and father (via ratings of perceived parental support and coercive control) and completed a scale assessing their own level of codependency. Parenting style (uninvolved, permissive, authoritarian, and democratic) was related to offspring codependency in that daughters of authoritarian fathers had higher codependency scores than did daughters of permissive fathers, whereas sons of authoritarian fathers reported higher levels of codependency than did sons of uninvolved fathers. It appeared that the exercise of control on the partoffathers untempered byperceptions ofpaternal warmth or support was related to higher codependency scores in offspring. Parenting style of mothers was unrelated to codependency scores in offspring. Future research should investigate other indirect as well as direct associations of parenting with offspring codependency.

Indicators of Spiritual Development in Recovery from Alcohol and Other Drug Problems

Abstract Participants (183 male, 69 female) from a variety of treatment settings completed the Spiritual Health Inventory (internal and external spiritual well being; Chappell, 1995), the Surrender Scale (Reinert et al., 1995); and the Life Orientation Test (a measure of optimism; Scheier & Carver, 1985). Although all three measures were significant predictors of perceived quality of recovery and the total number of 12 Steps completed, surrender, optimism, and internal spiritual well being (not external spiritual well being) differed significantly by (1) length of recovery (< 1 year vs. 1 year or more), (2) level of recovery behaviors (high vs. low), and (3) whether Steps 1-3 had been completed. The results indicate that spirituality is an important element in recovery and support the concept of including the practice of spirituality as part of recovery programs.

Sex-Role Development in Late Adolescence and Adulthood.

The present study investigated associations between age and sex roles in a cross-sectional analysis of people varying in age from late adolescence to middle adulthood. People in the androgynous sex role were older than sex-typed men and women. Cross-sex characteristics tended to be greater among older people, while same-sex characteristics were uncorrelated with age. Sex-role development appears to continue into adulthood, a view more in keeping with a transcendent model than a traditional model of sex-role development.

School Achievement Differences among Chinese and Filipino American Students: Acculturation and the Family.

The general belief that Asian American adolescents are successful has led researchers to ignore variations in Asian adolescents’ academic success. Using samples of Chinese and Filipino adolescents drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, this study examined whether differences between these two groups in acculturation, parent–adolescent attachment, and parental school involvement could account for academic achievement differences. Results revealed that Chinese adolescents generally performed better in school than their Filipino counterparts. Factors that predicted academic achievement were ethnicity, acculturation, and parents’ academic involvement. An interaction was found between ethnicity and acculturation, indicating that acculturation is a predictor of academic performance among Filipino youth but not among Chinese youth. Cultural values in parent–adolescent attachment, acculturation, and parents’ school involvement are discussed.

Correlates of self-concept among black early adolescents.

This study examines the self-concept of Black eighth-grade students from the Midwest in relation to Black acceptance, social intimacy, locus of control, and sex-role type. Twenty-eight students high in self-concept were compared with 31 students whose self-concept was low. As predicted, the high self-concept group scored higher than the low self-concept group in intimacy, internality, and acceptance of black identity. As also predicted, the high self-concept group had a significantly greater number of adolescents with masculine and androgynous sex roles than the low self-concept group; Black females with high self-concepts included a larger proportion of individuals with androgynous sex roles than low self-concept females. However, the prediction that high self-concept males would have a larger proportion of masculine sex roles than low self-concept males was not supported. The difficult situation of the low self-concept adolescents is discussed, along with the implications for intervention.

The Role of Network Support and Interference in Women's Perception of Romantic, Friend, and Parental Relationships

This study examined the association between support/interference from the best friend and closest parent to womens (a) satisfaction with the parent–daughter relationship, (b) satisfaction with the friendship, and (c) love for the romantic partner. The respondents (n = 162 females; 84% Caucasian, 1% Asian American, 10% Hispanic, 4% African American, and 1% Multiracial) completed a questionnaire packet to assess each of the factors. Results revealed that romantic love was unrelated to friend support, friend interference, or parental interference, but positively related to parental support. Parent support was a significant correlate of parent satisfaction, and a similar pattern emerged between friend support/friendship satisfaction. Further, best friend support moderated the relationship between friend interference and friendship satisfaction, such that interference was negatively related to satisfaction in low support conditions. Overall, the results suggested that network reactions to romance played a limited role in romantic affection, but were more strongly associated with network satisfaction.

Religiousness and disordered eating: does religiousness modify family risk?

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the role of intrinsic and extrinsic religiousness in modifying family risk on disordered eating among women. We hypothesized that intrinsic religiousness would buffer the impact of family risk whereas extrinsic religiousness would increase the risk. In a survey of 876 college women between the ages of 18 and 29, the results showed that, when intrinsic religiousness was higher, there was no relationship between family risk and disordered eating. When intrinsic religiousness was lower, there was a significant positive relationship between family risk and disordered eating. These findings support the hypothesized buffering effect of intrinsic religiousness. For extrinsic religiousness, there was a stronger relationship between family risk and disordered eating when extrinsic religiousness was higher than when it was lower, supporting the hypothesized enhanced vulnerability effect. Future research should actively explore other moderating variables as well as aspects of religiousness that may contribute to risk and resiliency in disordered eating.