Stefano Tartaglia

The Influence of Length of Stay, Linguistic Competence, and Media Exposure in Immigrants' Adaptation

Empirical evidence shows that immigrants adapt best in relation to their ability to negotiate between the cultural entities they confront. Factors such as cultural knowledge, length of stay in the new culture, and linguistic competence strongly influence this process. Length of stay and linguistic competence may be essential for cultural knowledge acquisition that, in turn, may be enhanced by mass media consumption. A questionnaire is completed by 576 immigrants (196 Romanians, 179 North Africans, and 201 Latino Americans) investigating time spent in Italy, proficiency in the Italian language, familiarity with Italian and homeland mass media, and acculturation. The authors hypothesize that language plays a central role in the acculturation process and assume that length of stay influences acculturation mostly through linguistic competence and mass media knowledge. A structural equation model is tested to verify the hypothesis. The model results are acceptable, invariant across genders, and partially invariant across ethno-cultural groups.

Psychometric properties of Short Versions of the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory and Ambivalence Toward Men Inventory

The current paper assesses the psychometric properties of short versions of the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory (ASI; Glick & Fiske, 1996) and Ambivalence Toward Men Inventory (AMI; Glick & Fiske, 1999), which represent widely used measures of sexist attitudes toward, respectively, women and men. Participants in the study were 960 Caucasian adults (48.6% male). The theoretical structure of both the short ASI and AMI was tested via confirmatory factor analysis using structural equations modeling. Moreover, the invariance of the factor structures across gender and age was investigated. Results showed that the shorter versions of the ASI and AMI have good psychometric properties that are consistent with the original versions of the scales. Researchers who wish to assess ambivalent sexist attitudes, but must use fewer items than the original ASI and AMI, can strongly consider using these short versions.

Gender Stereotyping in Newspaper Advertisements A Cross-Cultural Study

The objective of the present study was to investigate the presence of gender stereotypes concerning occupational roles and sexualization in newspaper advertisements of two European countries very different for cultural values and gender equality, that is, Italy and the Netherlands. The top three newspapers by circulation in each country were selected. We included all the issues of these newspapers published in 1 month. We selected all the advertisings of a quarter a page in size or larger containing at least one adult human. Using content analysis, 1,666 characters depicted in the selected advertisings were coded by independent judges. Results demonstrated that men were primarily featured in playing professional roles, whereas women were more frequently presented as decorative. Compared with males, female characters were also more frequently sexualized, and this phenomenon was stronger in the more gender-unequal country, that is, Italy. Because of the role of advertising in shaping the cultural values, policy makers and cultural promoters should try to further with some kind of incentive a more equalitarian representation of genders in advertisings.

Alcohol consumption among young adults in Italy: The interplay of individual and social factors

The consumption of alcohol among young adults is determined by different individual and environmental factors. The present study aims at comparing the effects of different predictors on the alcohol consumption of Italian young adults. Data were collected by means of a self-report questionnaire on a sample of 311 university students. Four different types of predictors were considered: (1) socio-demographic characteristics; (2) quality of social relations (Perceived social support); (3) Sensation-seeking personality trait; (4) Motivation to drink alcohol that the Motivational Model classifies according to the valence (positive or negative) and the source (internal or external) of the outcomes individuals expect to achieve from alcohol use. To test the influence of different groups of variables we performed three hierarchical regression analyses. Several significant influences were found. Alcohol consumption is of social value, it is linked to positive social relations and it is motivated by positive rather than negative valence motivations. Drinking motives confirmed their role of most proximal antecedents of alcohol use.

Family or friends: what counts more for drinking behaviour of young adults? / Familia o amigos: ¿qué pesa más en los hábitos de consumo de alcohol de los jóvenes?

Abstract The scientific literature stresses the importance of culture and social environment in determining what people think about alcohol consumption and consequently do. Several pieces of research have proved the influence on young adults’ alcohol use of proximal social contexts of their family and peers. The present study aimed at investigating the influence of family behaviours and norms compared to the peers’ influence in a context where the culture of alcohol is changing between the different generations. Data were collected by means of a self-report questionnaire on a sample of 598 young adults (average age 22.20 years). The variables investigated were socio-demographic characteristics, the alcohol consumption of parents and friends and the parents’ and peers’ approval of alcohol consumption. The results confirmed the role of family and friends in influencing young adults’ consumption of alcohol, stressing a difference between perceived behaviours and norms. The perceived consumption of parents and friends influenced the participants’ consumption. On the contrary, the effects of the approval of drinking were limited. Globally friends had a stronger influence on alcohol consumption in comparison with family.

Correlates of work-alienation and positive job attitudes in high- and low-status workers

The concept of alienation boasts a long history in the academic literature. However, their empirical relations are not clear. The purpose of this paper is to test a model of predictors and outcomes of alienation. Since occupational status plays a key role in alienation processes, such model was tested with high- and low-status workers.,Participants were 340 workers holding high-status (n=98) and low-status (n=242) positions. Data were collected through a self-report questionnaire. The authors verified the hypothesized relationships by means of a structural equation modelling, simultaneously tested on high- and low-status workers.,Results showed that individual determinants of alienation, i.e. locus of control, appear to play a more relevant role for high-status professionals, whereas organizational dimensions, i.e. perception of decision making, have an impact only for low-status workers. Relational variables, i.e. work-family conflict, fostered alienation, regardless the status. Concerning outcomes, alienation decreased both job satisfaction and job involvement.,The specificities of the cultural context have to be considered. Generalizing the results to other cultural contexts requires caution.,Work alienation has a negative influence on work attitudes that can be better managed by the knowledge of alienation’s correlates and peculiarities.,The study confirms the relevance of alienation for workers’ satisfaction and involvement highlighting the difference between high- and low-status workers.

The Effects of Attractiveness and Status on Personality Evaluation

Research on personality has shown that perceiving a person as attractive fosters positive expectations about his/her personal characteristics. Literature has also demonstrated a significant link between personality traits and occupational achievement. Present research examines the combined effects of attractiveness, occupational status, and gender on the evaluation of others’ personality, according to the Big Five model. The study consisted of a 2 (Attractiveness: High vs. Low) x 2 (occupational Status: High vs. Low) x 2 (Target gender: Male vs. Female) between-subjects experimental design (N = 476). Results showed that attractive targets were considered more positively than unattractive targets, and this effect was even stronger for male targets. Occupational status influenced perceived agreeableness (lower for high-status targets) and perceived conscientiousness (higher for high-status targets).

Genere, ideologia e mass media: i differenti predittori del sessismo ambivalente

La Teoria del Sessismo Ambivalente, sviluppata da Glick e Fiske (1996; 2011), prevede che nei confronti di ciascun genere coesistano atteggiamenti di natura apertamente ostile con atteggiamenti apparentemente benevoli, seppur anch’essi sessisti. Questa teoria postula quindi l’esistenza di quattro sessismi: benevolo (BS) e ostile (HS) verso le donne, benevolo (BM) e ostile (HM) verso gli uomini. La presente ricerca si inserisce nell’ambito degli studi che indagano quali fattori incidono maggiormente sui diversi atteggiamenti sessisti. I dati sono stati raccolti tramite questionario su un campione bilanciato per genere (N = 253), con l’obiettivo di comparare il peso di variabili di differente natura testando quattro modelli di regressione. Il genere dei rispondenti e le variabili ideologiche sono risultati predittori di HS, BM e HM; il consumo televisivo influenza entrambi gli atteggiamenti benevoli (BS, BM), mentre l’utilizzo di Internet influenza HS.

Personal values and the acceptance of immigrants: why national identification matters / Los valores personales y la aceptación de inmigrantes: ¿Por qué es importante la identificación nacional?

Abstract : The study focused on the relations between Italian nationals’ personal values and their expectations towards the way ethnic minorities should acculturate. The main aim was to understand whether nationals’ personal values predict their acculturation preferences towards immigrants, both directly and through national identity. Four hundred and forty-six Italian high school students (Mage = 19.1; SD = 0.57; females = 54.4%) completed a self-administered questionnaire assessing personal values, nationalism, patriotism, acculturation preferences and demographics. An SEM model with bootstrapping estimations was tested. As expected, the results highlighted that personal values predict acculturation preferences towards immigrants in two ways — directly and also through an indirect effect on nationalism — supporting the claim that ingroup and outgroup definitions are closely intertwined. The results also highlighted the need to differentiate between nationalism and patriotism, with the latter having no influence on Italian nationals’ readiness to accept immigrants. Overall, the research demonstrates the relevance of personal values in studying intergroup relations and draws attention to the potential value of communication policies centred on self-transcendence values to improve interethnic relations.

Drinking Motives, Perceived Norms, and Adolescents’ Drinking

Various cognitive and social factors influence the consumption of alcohol during adolescence. Accurate assessment of the relative importance of these variables is crucial for planning interventions against alcohol-related problems. This study compared the effects of drinking motives, perceived parent, and peer alcohol consumption on alcohol use in Italian adolescents. We collected the data by means of a self-report questionnaire on a sample of 229 secondary school students who were 15 to 20 years old. To test the influence of different groups of predictors, we performed three hierarchical regression and one binary logistic regression analyses. We found that perceived norms about drinking influenced adolescents’ alcohol consumption: Perception of friends’ alcohol use was of particular significance, whereas perceived parental norms had an influence only concerning alcoholic beverages with low alcohol content, such as beer. Regarding drinking motives, internal motivations were related to risky drinking, whereas external motivations were not associated with problematic alcohol consumption.