Melissa J. Himelein

Risk Factors For Sexual Victimization In Dating: A Longitudinal Study of College Women

In this longitudinal study of college women, nine risk characteristics assessed prior to the start of college were examined in the effort to identify predictors of sexual victimization in college dating. A total of 100 women were followed for 32 months, with information about personal history, behaviors, and attitudes collected at Time 1 and information about subsequent sexual victimization collected at Time 2. Although four risk factors were significantly associated with victimization, a logistic regression analysis revealed that the best prediction model contained only two variables: Precollege sexual victimization in dating was positively correlated with college victimization, and sexual conservatism was negatively correlated with college victimization. Discussion focused on the needs for improved sex education for teenagers, prevention programs aimed at the precollege level, and increased research and clinical attention to the phenomenon of revictimization.

Polycystic ovary syndrome and mental health: A review.

Although physical symptoms of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) are increasingly recognized by practicing clinicians, little attention has focused on psychological correlates of this frequent endocrine disorder. This review of medical and psychological literature indicates that PCOS is associated with several mental health problems, including depression and anxiety, body dissatisfaction and eating disorders, diminished sexual satisfaction, and lowered health-related quality of life. Although the causal direction of these relationships has not been established, it is clear that effective and comprehensive treatment of women with PCOS must encompass careful attention to psychological symptomatology. Recommendations for the assessment of specific mental health problems, management of related physical concerns, and treatment of obesity among women with PCOS are presented. Target Audience: Obstetricians & Gynecologists, Family Physicians Learning Objectives: After completion of this article, the reader should be able to explain that, in addition to physiologic changes, women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) have various mental health problems and lowered health-related quality of life issues and state that treatment must address these concerns.

Depression and Body Image among Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

Common features of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), including hyperandrogenism, ovarian dysfunction and obesity, can be highly distressing. We compared 40 women with PCOS to women with infertility but not PCOS, and to women with neither PCOS nor infertility, on measures of depression and body image. Women with PCOS reported higher depression scores and greater body dissatisfaction (p < .001) than comparison group women. Body image was strongly associated with depression overall, even after controlling body mass. Among women with PCOS, body dissatisfaction measures and education explained 66 percent of the variance in depression, suggesting explanations of the PCOS–depression link should consider the role of potentially mediating psychosocial variables.

Putting the person back into psychopathology: an intervention to reduce mental illness stigma in the classroom

ObjectiveThis research aims to compare the effectiveness of two methods of teaching psychopathology in reducing stigma toward mental illness. Based on previous stigma research, a first-person, narrative approach was contrasted with traditional, diagnosis-centered education.Study 1 methodsParticipants consisted of 53 undergraduates at a small, public university enrolled in two introductory psychology classes. During six hours of class time focused on psychopathology, one class received the experimental pedagogy while the other served as a control, receiving traditional instruction. Stigma was assessed pre- and post-intervention using a social distance scale and vignette design. Statistical analyses compared means and change scores between the two classes.Study 1 resultsStudents in the experimental classroom showed a significant decrease in stigma following the intervention, whereas those in the control group showed no change.Study 2 methodsA follow-up study was conducted to replicate the promising effects demonstrated in Study 1. Two additional classrooms (n = 48) were both exposed to the first-person, narrative pedagogy, and their stigma monitored pre- and post- intervention.Study 2 resultsStudents reported a significant decrease in stigma following the intervention.ConclusionsTogether, these studies suggest that traditional methods of teaching psychopathology do not lessen mental illness stigma, a serious concern that can potentially be reconciled by incorporating more person-centered instructional methods. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for the way psychopathology is taught throughout the mental health field, as well as the practical application of stigma interventions woven into the curriculum.

Ukrainian and U.S. American Females Differences in Individualism/Collectivism and Gender Attitudes

Individualism/collectivism, gender attitudes, and the relationship between these constructs were measured among Ukrainian and U.S. American women. Contrary to expectation, Ukrainians were more individualistic than U.S. Americans. As predicted, Ukrainians held more traditional gender attitudes than U.S. Americans. Although correlations between individualism/collectivism and gender attitudes were not statistically significant, there was a tendency for individualism to be associated with liberal gender attitudes among U.S. women. Findings were discussed in light of sociopolitical and economic changes in Ukraine.

Dating and sexual victimization: an analysis of risk factors among precollege women

This article explores several factors associated with sexual assault and date rape in a sample of 332 women before entering a medium-sized Southern university. Predictors reported in the literature to be associated with sexual assault and date rape were explored by utilizing a sexual experiences survey developed to determine the level of individual sexual victimization. Specifically, risk factors, attitudinal scales, and an assertiveness schedule were utilized for analysis with sexual victimization. The findings revealed that early childhood sexual assault, alcohol/drug use, adversarial sexual beliefs, and assertiveness were statistically related to increased levels of sexual victimization including date rape.

Attitudes toward seeking help for sexual dysfunctions among US and Swedish college students

The present study examined help-seeking attitudes and stigma related to sexual problems, issues largely neglected by previous researchers. In addition, the impact of sociocultural variables on attitudes was explored. College students at public universities in the United States (n = 78) and Sweden (n = 81) completed three scales of stigma and help-seeking and rated the likelihood that they would seek help for sexual problems from each of five types of professionals. Despite differing cultural perspectives, participants from the two samples were more alike than different. In both countries, respondents expressed moderate-to-high willingness to seek help for sexual problems and low-to-moderate levels of stigma; openness to help-seeking was inversely related to stigma. Males reported higher self-stigma than females, and students who identified as Christian reported greater stigma than non-religious students. Participants reported that they would be most likely to seek help for sexual problems from gynecologists/urologists and family physicians, followed in order by sex therapists, psychologists, and counselors. Implications of these findings include consideration of self-stigma as a barrier to seeking treatment, differences in help-seeking attitudes for mental health vs. sexual concerns, and the need for greater understanding about accessing treatment for sexual dysfunctions.

Songs Sung Blue: Tales of Women and DepressionSituating Sadness: Women's Depression in Social Context. STOPPARDJANET M. AND MCMULLENLINDA M. (Eds.). New York: New York University Press, 2003. 248 pp.,

One doesn’t often come upon this type of scholarly book. Stephanie Shields has succeeded in writing a book that is intellectually challenging, refreshing, and inspiring. As she argues, researchers have neglected the study of gender issues in emotion, as well as emotion research in gender studies; thus, the relation between gender and emotion remains an unexplored area of research. Stephanie Shields knows both fields very well, and has clearly benefited from this cross-fertilization. She can be seen as the pioneer in this area of research and she has contributed enormously to the development of this field, not only by publishing important work, but also by discussing research of others in this area. Speaking From the Heart is the crowning glory of her work. Shields contends that emotional reactions of men and women differ, because they are differently constructed and take place in different social and cultural contexts. Anger experienced and expressed by a man differs from anger experienced and expressed by a woman, for a variety of reasons, such as the legitimacy of one’s anger, the way it is expressed, the entitlement of one’s anger, the reactions and interpretations of others, and so on. The relation between gender and emotion thus cannot be successfully tackled by asking whether men and women differ in emotion. Men and women are presumed to differ; the question, rather, becomes when and how and to what extent. Going against the current of the majority of psychological emotion research, Shields emphasizes the gendered social world in which men and women ‘do’ their emotions. By diving into history, she shows how stereotypical beliefs about men’s and women’s emotions have influenced scientific thinking and research. Women’s emotionality, for example, has always been associated with weakness and ineffectiveness, whereas men’s emotionality has been associated with strong passions that serve effective social action. She describes how these gendered beliefs about emotions pervade all areas of social life, from childhood play to sports, to parents’ education, to professional behavior. Men receive significant attention in this book. Researchers need to analyze the fact that Western cultures have a dominant stereotype of the inexpressive male, not blindly accept it as a truth. As it seems, this stereotype tells us more about our beliefs about the nature of emotions and how men should behave than about men’s emotional reactions. However, this book does not indict men, nor is it an expression of moral outrage against all biased male researchers. Shields carefully and eloquently analyzes the gendered beliefs and shows how they impact the way in which we think about emotional reactions of men and women. She knows how to phrase complex concepts in an understandable way, while never becoming simplistic or too popular. Take, for example, her definition of emotion. After having cited a very elaborate multilayered definition of emotion, she simply concludes “I would take this careful and comprehensive definition and sum it up this way: Emotion is “taking it personally” (p. 6). I found this book amusing as well, filled with funny stories, cartoons, and film fragments in which men and women show different emotional responses. These illustrations serve a very important function not only as an illustration to make the material accessible, but to also force the reader to rethink the theoretical assumption that the story illustrated. Stephanie Shields has written a fantastic book that I would like to recommend strongly to anyone interested in emotion, in gender, or both.