Judith Worell

Assessing psychological health and empowerment in women: the Personal Progress Scale Revised.

ABSTRACT Empowerment is a primary outcome of many health interventions with women. Typical outcome measures, however, focus exclusively on specific symptoms, neglecting the clinically important attitudes and behaviors associated with increased empowerment and well-being. Empowerment is conceptualized as enabling women to access skills and resources to cope more effectively with current as well as future stress and trauma. This study investigated a new measure of personal empowerment in women, the Personal Progress Scale-Revised (PPS-R). Results suggest that the PPS-R is a promising measure of empowerment in women, demonstrating excellent reliability and validity in diverse sample of women. Additionally, the PPS-R demonstrated preliminary utility with a subgroup of abused women, a vulnerable group of women for whom empowerment is a variable of high importance.

Transforming Theory And Research With Women: Themes and Variations

We look at some of the ways in which feminist theorists and researchers apply new insights to established topics in psychology, as they explore the landscape of the unknown and unspoken in the lives of girls and women. The articles in this special issue present research and reflections by a group of feminist scholars, some of us from the editorial board of the Psychology of Women Quarterly and others from the larger academic community. Each contributor, selecting from a personal interest or expertise, reconceptualizes a topical area of psychology with the intent of reframing our understanding of its meaning, its impact on womens functioning, and/or its application to feminist research and theory. To provide a background, we review a sample of contributions of feminist thought to the contemporary revolution in science. We then ask the question: In what ways have feminist perspectives and scholarship transformed psychology in the particular areas addressed by these authors?

Feminism as Life Raft

We looked at relationships between academic womens feminist identity and their perceptions of discrimination. From a sample of self-labeled feminist professors of psychology who had participated in the Feminist Teaching Project, we examined previously transcribed interviews and also collected new, auxiliary information. We expected to find that our respondents would view feminism as both provoking discrimination and helping them cope with discrimination. We found that experiences with gender discrimination were common among our sample, but that feminism in isolation was not perceived by our respondents as a provocation for problems. Rather than making it hard for women to swim in academic waters, feminism seemed to serve as a life raft for many professors.

Opening Doors to Feminist Research

Currently, both controversy and consensus exist concerning the conceptualization and implementation of feminist research. In this article I trace the rise of feminist research in the context of the multiple meanings of a gendered and feminist psychology. I then summarize examples of recent research studies that demonstrate some of the many ways in which feminist psychology is contributing to our understandings of human behavior. The challenge to feminist psychology is to document the variables that influence the process of gendering in social transactions, while actively questioning the perpetuation of its authority.

Educating About Women and Gender Cognitive, Personal, and Professional Outcomes

This study assesses the multiple effects of planned exposure to gender and womens issues on graduate student development. Students in a gender-aware Counseling Psychology program (n = 63) were compared to those in two other graduate psychology programs (total n = 38) on five scales that measured exposure to gender issues, social constructivist views, feminist identity development, performance self-esteem, and endorsement of feminist therapy goals and strategies. Results supported the hypotheses that all outcome measures were significantly correlated with the extent of academic experiences related to women and gender. Program of concentration and level of graduate training were differentially related to social construction views and stages of feminist identity development. We discuss these findings in terms of their implications for gender-aware education in the development of student identity, attitudes, and professional practice.

Support and opposition to the Women's Liberation Movement: Some personality and parental correlates

Abstract This study examines eight hypotheses concerning personality and parental determinants of support and opposition to the Womens Liberation Movement. One hundred seventy-two male and female University sutdents who scored at the upper and lower quartiles of the Social Order Scale were administered the following tests: Personality Research Form, Pensacola Z, Rotter Locus of Control, and the Schaefer Parent Behavior Inventory. As predicted, opposers of both sexes score significantly higher on Authoritarianism, Harmavoidance, Social Recognition, and significantly lower on Understanding. Supporters of both sexes score higher on Autonomy. Fathers of opposers are perceived as significantly more Child Centered and Possessive, while fathers of supporters are higher on Inconsistency, Autonomy, and Hostile Detachment. These cognitive, motivational, and parental variables are interpreted in relation to the differing dispositions of each group toward the issues raised by the womens movement.

Behaviorally disordered peers as contingency manager

Behaviorally disordered children in a residential camping program were trained to manage various aspects of behavior modification interventions involving their peers. Peer management was successful in changing the target behavior of the protege in eight of nine cases. These results have important implications for applying behavior therapy programs through peer groups instead of relying solely upon adult-dominated interventions.

Feminism in Psychology: Revolution or Evolution?

This article discusses the major contributions of feminism to the discipline of psychology in the areas of theory, research, and practice. Among the most important of these innovations are the introduction of the psychology of girls and women as legitimate topics of study; naming and exploring important issues in the lives of women; reconstructing research methods and priorities to study women in the context of their lived experiences; integrating multiple diversities into all areas of the discipline; developing innovative approaches to therapeutic practice; transforming institutions toward being more inclusive and collaborative; and advocating for social action and public policies that benefit the health and well-being of both women and men. Although feminist scholarship and practice have permeated substantive areas of the discipline in both subtle and visible ways, many sectors of psychology remain wary of perspectives that are openly feminist. Feminist psychology remains active, however, and will continue to insist on the visibility of women in all its sectors and practices and on a discipline that values and promotes equality and social justice for all.

Feminist Frameworks: Retrospect and Prospect

As Incoming Editor of the Psychology of Women Quarterly (PWQ), I want to express my appreciation for the continuing investment by the many individuals who share a role in the publication process. In contributing their time, effort, and expertise, these colleagues provide invaluable resources that are an essential part of the effective functioning of the Journal. Among these contributors are Division 35 members who have been active in maintaining the well-being and high standards of the Journal. The Executive Council and Publications Committee did a fine job in negotiating an excellent new contract with Cambridge University Press; we look forward to continuing our beneficial relationship with this publisher. We also depend heavily on the contributions of the Board of Consulting Editors, the Book Review Editor, and numerous expert consultants who voluntarily assist in the time-consuming work of the manuscript review process. I have only praise and admiration for the dedication of the five Associate Editors who efficiently coordinate and manage the review/decision process with integrity and sensitivity. Finally, I want to recognize and applaud the work of the previous three Editors who guided PWQ from its inception to the present. They left us with a well-established and scholarly journal, the legacy of which we are all justly proud. As we move forward, I want to voice the commitment of the Editorial Board to a fourfold role within the operation of the Journal. We all serve, at one time or another, as confirmed feminists, knowledgeable historians, constructive evaluators, and visionary futurists. Although I see myself as more prepared to function in certain of these categories than in others, each activity is an integral part of the functioning of the Journal. In this preface to the first volume under new editorship, I would like to address

REINVENTING ANALOGUE METHODS FOR RESEARCH WITH WOMEN

This article was prompted by the current popularity and acceptance of analogue methods in gender-related research. The use of analogues in research with women is examined here for both its strengths and limitations. We acknowledge the distinctive advantages of analogue methods in revealing the nature, extent, and potential outcomes of gender bias and stereotyping of all minority status groups. While recognizing that any method can be feminist, we address four major concerns with current applications of analogue research to questions about women and gender. These concerns cover: (a) relevance to the questions asked, (b) attention to the context of womens lives, (c) significance for situational behavior, and (d) applicability to social change. We propose a set of transformations that applies feminist scholarship to reconceptualizing analogues in research related to women and gender.