Mark W. Durm

Children of Divorce and its Effect on Their Self-Esteem

The purpose was to investigate the temporal relationship of divorce with self-esteem of children and to assess differences in self-esteem, if any, between children of divorced families and children of intact families. The self-esteem of 60 children in Grade 9 and from divorced homes was measured using the Culture-free Self-esteem Inventory. There was no significant positive correlation between the passage of time and higher self-esteem among these children. Independent t tests were then computed using the inventory scores of 60 students in Grade 9 from homes with both parents and the 60 from homes of divorced parents. Significant differences in self-esteem were found between the two groups.

DOES SELF-CONCEPT DEPEND ON BODY IMAGE? A GENDER ANALYSIS

The purpose of this study was twofold, to estimate positive correlations between scores on the Tennessee Self-concept Scale for body image and self-concept within each gender and to assess differences between genders on measures of these two concepts, thereby testing the hypothesis that women have a more diminished body image than men. The study included 36 subjects, 18 male and 18 female. Within each gender were significant and positive correlations between measures of body image and self-concept. Between the genders, there was no significant difference in scores on self-concept but there was a difference in ratings of body image, with women being significantly less satisfied.

The Relative Salience of Sex, Race, Age, and Glasses in Children's Social Perception

The relative salience for children of various human facial features was examined in five experiments. The first two experiments were designed to validate the conclusion from previous research (McGraw, Durm, & Patterson, 1983) that the sex of adult faces is more salient than their race or age, and that the presence or absence of glasses is extremely unsalient. Childrens spontaneous verbal descriptions confirmed the salience hierarchy of sex, race, age, and glasses. Experiments 3, 4, and 5 were designed to ascertain whether the salience of race, glasses, and age would be stable across potentially relevant subject and task-stimuli differences. There were some salience asymmetries; most notably, black skin was more salient than white skin for both Black and White children. In general, the results of these studies indicate that sex, race, age, and glasses represents a naturally occurring salience hierarchy that is reliably present among children of preschool and early elementary school age.

Construct Validity for Self-Acceptance and Fear of Negative Evaluation

For 55 students (13 men, 42 women) there was a significant inverse correlation for scores on the Self-acceptance Scale and scores on the Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale, thereby giving credence to the construct validity of both scales, that is, the more one accepts oneself, the less negative evaluation there is of oneself.

Lunar Phase and Acting-Out Behavior

Psychiatric hospital records were used to ascertain whether acting-out behavior increases during the full moon phase. Acting-out behavior is identified as that which was dangerous to self or others to the extent that either seclusion or restraint was deemed necessary by qualified mental health professionals to prevent physical harm. Records in the seclusion/restraint log book of an Alabama hospital for 1982, 1983, and 1984 were used for the study. To ensure confidentiality no identification of subjects was made. This study, like many previous similar studies shows no significant increases during the full moon phase.

Relation of self-acceptance and acceptance of others.

A significant positive correlation of .33 was found for ratings on the Self-acceptance Scale and on the Acceptance of Others Scale for 13 undergraduate men and 45 women.

JUST WORLD BELIEFS AND IRRATIONAL BELIEFS : A SEX DIFFERENCE?

This study assessed sex differences on a portion of the Multidimensional Belief in a Just World Scale and the Irrational Beliefs Test for an undergraduate sample of 23 men and 23 women who completed both scales. No significant mean difference was found between men and women on either test. Replication with a much larger sample is needed.

Parental Marital Status and Self-Esteem of Boys and Girls

The purpose was to investigate the effects of parental marital status and sex on the self-esteem of children by assessing differences on mean self-esteem between boys and girls of divorced families as compared to boys and girls of intact families. The mean score on self-esteem of 54 children (27 boys, 27 girls) from divorced families was compared to that for 54 children (27 boys, 27 girls) from intact families using the Culture-free Self-esteem Inventory. Using factorial analysis, a statistically significant difference was found for sex but not for type of family or its interaction with sex.

Sex, Perception of Immediate Stress, and Response to Coping Resources Inventory, Emotional Domain

The purpose was to assess differences in mean scores of 23 men and 28 women who rated immediate stress low and 11 men and 34 women who rated immediate stress high. Analysis of variance of mean differences was significant for sex but not for immediate stress or their interaction on the Coping Resources Inventory, Emotional Domain.

Is Belief in a Just World Rational

To estimate the relationship between the belief in a just world and irrational thinking, 62 undergraduates completed the Jones Irrational Beliefs Test and the Multidimensional Belief in a Just World Scale. It was hypothesized that belief in a just world precluded rational thinking. No significant correlations were found between scores on irrational beliefs and beliefs in a just world; however, post hoc tests indicated a significant relationship between age and scores on irrational belief in women, indicating that perhaps the older women were less prone to irrational beliefs.