Leonard L. Stewin

Sex differences, social desirability, masculinity, and the tendency to worry.

Relationships between worry and sex differences, social desirability, masculinity, and femininity were explored in this study. Data were obtained from 141 undergraduates who answered a questionnaire containing a worry scale, the Crowne-Marlowe (1964) Social Desirability Scale, the Bem (1974) Sex Role Inventory, the Trait Anxiety scale of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (Spielberger, Gorsuch, & Lushene, 1970), and several demographic items. Women reported significantly higher levels of worry than men did, and worry was significantly correlated with lower social desirability and with lower masculinity but not with femininity. However, multiple regression strategies revealed that sex differences in reported worry cannot be accounted for solely by variations in social desirability and masculinity. Also, sex differences in the tendency to worry were not eliminated by statistically controlling for trait anxiety, social desirability, and masculinity simultaneously.

Environmental Threat and Parapsychological Contributions to the Psychological Literature

Summary Environmental threat has been suggested as one of the major causes of high authoritarianism. One aspect of the authoritarian personality is the maintenance of superstition, defined as the belief in “mystical or fantastic external determinants of the individuals fate.” The focus of research on parapsychological phenomena in essence seems to satisfy this definition. Consequently, it was hypothesized that the annual percentage of parapsychological contributions to the psychological literature (a) is correlated positively with the unemployment rate, (b) is correlated negatively with the disposable per capita income in constant dollars, and (c) is correlated positively with the subjective “annual threat weightings” of historians (n = 3) and social critics (n = 1). Analyses were based on the years 1929–75. All hypotheses were supported. Hierarchical stepwise regression indicated that the four predictors accounted for 41% of the variance.

Threat, Authoritarianism, and the Power of U.S. Presidents

Abstract Threat results in higher authoritarianism and one aspect of authoritarianism is the tendency to identify with powerful figures. The present study was concerned with the possible interrelationships of the power motives of U.S. presidents; the degree of social, political, and economic threat evident prior to presidential elections; and the percentage of the popular vote obtained by presidents. We hypothesized that the power of presidents from Coolidge to Reagan would be positively correlated with indices of threat including the unemployment rate, changes in the GNP, the consumer price index, car registrations, and work stoppages, as well as subjective annual threat ratings of historians and social critics. All correlations were in the expected direction and most attained in acceptable significance level. A corollary hypothesis—if the power of the presidential election winner is discrepant from the degree of prevailing threat, the percentage of the popular vote he receives may be low—also gained som...

Good and Bad Years: An Index of American Social, Economic, and Political Threat (1920–1986)

ABSTRACT Information provided by 196 U.S. history professors, indicating the degree to which they considered each of the years from 1920 to 1986 threatening to the established order and way of life in America, was pooled to form a social, economic, and political threat (SEPT) index. Interrater reliability was high, and substantial test-retest reliability was evident for a selected subsample over a 6-month period. The index significantly correlated with 11 objective indices of threat, including the suicide rate, unemployment rate, rise and fall of common stocks, and number of military men on active duty. Several studies involving threat and authoritarianism were replicated and in some instances extended with the SEPT index (McCann & Stewin, 1984; Sales, 1972, 1973). The pseudo-archival SEPT index has utility when relatively global estimates of prevailing threat are required for historiometric research testing a diversity of hypotheses gleaned from psychological, sociological, historical, and political scie...

Disruption of Life Roles Following InjuryImpact on Women's Social Networks.

Clients with orthopedic and soft-tissue injuries (n = 53) who were settling insurance claims or currently in litigation were assessed using the Values Scales, Salience Inventory, measures of perceived exertion, physical capacity, and functional ability, and a structured interview, the Life Satisfaction Questionnaire. Participation in major life roles was compromised following injury. Role value scores for working and home/family roles also changed, but commitment to these roles did not. Women in this sample (n = 27) experienced disruptions in their social networks that were likely related to the compromise or loss of their working role.

School violence in the Canadian context: An overview and model for intervention

School violence and the incidence of violent crimesamong Canadian youth is seen to be increasing. Whilemore research is being conducted in the area ofschool violence little has previously been done toexamine psychopathology as a possible factorinfluencing violent student behavior. A recent studyconducted by Carter (1998) using the BehaviorAssessment System for Children and a structuredinterview showed a high incidence of psychopathologyamong violent junior high male students. Acomprehensive model for intervention is described inwhich several factors are presented. Implications ofcurrent research includes the need to developintervention strategies that are consistent withdiagnostic findings and the need for earlyidentification and intervention before behaviorpatterns become fixed in adolescence.

Perceived teacher directiveness, student variables, grades, and satisfaction: aptitude x treatment interactions?

Researchers have reported that student authoritarianism, dogmatism, intelligence, convergent-divergent abilities, conceptual level, anxiety, compulsivity, achievement motivation, achievement orientation, locus of control, independence-dependence, and extraversion-introversion interact with teacher directiveness in relation to grades and satisfaction. Evidence that the student variables are moderately intercorrelated suggested that some of the interactions may not be independent. The present study was initiated to simplify the multivariate nature of these interactive patterns by carrying out a modified stepwise regression analysis of the twelve interactions which could result in a lesser number of nonredundant interactions emerging, weighted according to how much unique variance they could account for in grades and satisfaction. Data were collected from 445 students in the classes of 26 Grade 11 and 12 English teachers at five schools in regard to English grades, satisfaction with the teacher and the course, the 12 student variables, and perceived teacher directiveness. Only achievement motivation produced significant interactions. Consequently, the planned regression models could not be constructed.

Authoritarianism and Canadian voting preferences for political party, prime minister, and president

Research was initiated to determine whether authoritarianism was related to preferences for political party and leader in the 1984 Canadian federal election, whether more authoritarian Canadians would show a preference for Reagan over Mondale, and whether dogmatism would also discriminate between conservative and liberal selections. A questionnaire was completed by 106 introductory psychology students which contained an F scale, a dogmatism scale, and items to indicate preferences for political party, leader, and Reagan or Mondale. Neither authoritarianism nor dogmatism was related to preference for Canadian political party or leader. However, supporting Rokeachs (1960) contentions, Reagan supporters were significantly higher than Mondale supporters on the authoritarianism dimension but supporters of the two candidates were not significantly different on the dogmatism measure.

Spousal adaptation to disability: Ramifications and implications for counseling

The authors review the reactive patterns of adjustment by the families of the severely disabled as proposed by Bray (1977, 1978). The model is critiqued in light of evidence gained from a phenomenological study of 10 women married to spinal cord injured males. Implications and ramifications for the field of counseling are noted.

The importance of levels of knowledge in developing a unified theory for HIV/AIDS counselling: A comparison of two culturally different samples

This paper qualitatively compares the responses concerning knowledge about HIV/AIDS prevention methods that were obtained from two cross-culturally different samples of students who were of a sexually active age. Canadian and Zimbabwean education students were sampled. The responses are presented and analyzed with the main purpose of placing the findings in the context of Balmers (1991) proposal of a unified theory for HIV/AIDS counselling. The major focus of this paper is on HIV/AIDS infection prevention strategies. The differences in responses across the two groups sampled suggest that it would be important to begin individual and group-based prevention strategies with exploration of individual levels of knowledge. Finally, implications for research are discussed.