Phobic anxiety in 11 nations: part II. Hofstede's dimensions of national cultures predict national-level variations

Hofstede's dimensions of national cultures termed Masculinity-Femininity (MAS) and Uncertainty Avoidance (UAI) (Hofstede, 2001) are proposed to be of relevance for understanding national-level differences in self-assessed fears. The potential predictive role of national MAS was based on the classical work of Fodor (Fodor, 1974). Following Fodor, it was predicted that masculine (or tough) societies in which clearer differentiations are made between gender roles (high MAS) would report higher national levels of fears than feminine (or soft/modest) societies in which such differentiations are made to a clearly lesser extent (low MAS). In addition, it was anticipated that nervous-stressful-emotionally-expressive nations (high UAI) would report higher national levels of fears than calm-happy and low-emotional countries (low UAI), and that countries high on both MAS and UAI would report the highest national levels of fears. A data set comprising 11 countries (N > 5000) served as the basis for analyses. As anticipated, (a) high MAS predicted higher national levels of Agoraphobic fears and of Bodily Injury-Illness-Death fears; (b) higher scores on both UAI and MAS predicted higher national scores on Bodily Injury-Illness-Death fears, fears of Sexual and Aggressive Scenes, and Harmless Animals fears; (c) higher UAI predicted higher national levels of Harmless Animals, Bodily Injury-Illness-Death, and Agoraphobic fears. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Masculinity-femininity as a national characteristic and its relationship with national agoraphobic fear levels: Fodor's sex role hypothesis revitalized

Hofstede's dimension of national culture termed Masculinity-Femininity [Hofstede (1991). Cultures and organizations: software of the mind. London: McGraw-Hill] is proposed to be of relevance for understanding national-level differences in self-assessed agoraphobic fears. This prediction is based on the classical work of Fodor [Fodor (1974). In: V. Franks & V. Burtle (Eds.), Women in therapy: new psychotherapies for a changing society. New York: Brunner/Mazel]. A unique data set comprising 11 countries (total N = 5491 students) provided the opportunity of scrutinizing this issue. It was hypothesized and found that national Masculinity (the degree to which cultures delineate sex roles, with masculine or tough societies making clearer differentiations between the sexes than feminine or modest societies do) would correlate positively with national agoraphobic fear levels (as assessed with the Fear Survey Schedule-III). Following the correction for sex and age differences across national samples, a significant and large effect-sized national-level (ecological) r = +0.67 (P = 0.01) was found. A highly feminine society such as Sweden had the lowest, whereas the champion among the masculine societies, Japan, had the highest national Agoraphobic fear score. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Personality disorders and adult attachment dimensions in a mixed psychiatric sample: A multivariate study

The associations between personality disorders and adult attachment dimensions were assessed in a sample of 487 consecutively admitted psychiatric subjects. Canonical correlation analysis showed that two sets of moderately correlated canonical variates explained the correlations between personality disorders and adult attachment patterns. The first and second attachment variates closely resembled the avoidance and anxiety attachment dimensions, respectively. The first personality disorder variate was mainly characterized by avoidant, depressive, paranoid, and schizotypal personality disorders, whereas dependent, histrionic, and borderline personality disorders loaded on the second canonical variate. However, these linear combinations of personality disorders were different from those obtained from principal component analysis. The results extend previous studies linking personality disorders and attachment patterns and suggest the importance of focusing on specific constellations of symptoms associated with dimensions of insecurity.

Stem and crown dimensions as predictors of thinning responses in a crowded tropical rainforest plantation of Flindersia brayleyana F. Muell.

A 67-year-old plantation of Flindersia brayleyana F. Muell. in the wet tropics of north-cast Queensland had developed with minimal management. Before thinning, the stand had a canopy stem density of 770 stems ha(-1) of which 564 were F brayleyana, a stand basal area of 78 m(2) ha(-1), a mean stem diameter at breast height (dbh) of 36 cm, and a mean dbh increment of 5.2 mm year(-1) over the life of the plantation and 0.5 mm year I at the time of thinning. Sixty-three percent of the trees had crown ratios (crown diameter determined from foliage projected area: dbh) of less than 12. Thinning treatments removed 57% of the canopy stems and 45% of the stand basal area. Mean dbh increment over 2.5 years after thinning on basaltic soil was 5.8 +/- 0.3 mm year(-1), but for trees with crown ratio

Genetic Simplex Modeling of Eysenck's Dimensions of Personality in a Sample of Young Australian Twins

The relative stability and magnitude of genetic and environmental effects underlying major dimensions of adolescent personality across time were investigated. The Junior Eysenck Personality Questionnaire was administered to over 540 twin pairs at ages 12, 14 and 16 years. Their personality scores were analyzed using genetic simplex modeling which explicitly took into account the longitudinal nature of the data. With the exception of the dimension lie, multivariate model fitting results revealed that familial aggregation was entirely explained by additive genetic effects. Results from simplex model fitting suggest that large proportions of the additive genetic variance observed at ages 14 and 16 years could be explained by genetic effects present at the age of 12 years. There was also evidence for smaller but significant genetic innovations at 14 and 16 years of age for male and female neuroticism, at 14 years for male extraversion, at 14 and 16 years for female psychoticism, and at 14 years for male psychoticism.

The Short-EMBU in Australia, Spain, and Venezuela - Factorial invariance, and associations with sex roles, self-esteem, and Eysenckian personality dimensions

The short(s)-EMBU (Swedish acronym for Egna Minnen Betraffande Uppfostran [My memories of upbringing]) consists of 23 items, is based on the early 81-item EMBU, and was developed out of the necessity of having a brief measure of perceived parental rearing practices when the clinical and/or research context does not adequately permit application of time-consuming test batteries. The s-EMBU comprises three subscales: Rejection., Emotional Warmth, and (Over)Protection. The factorial and/or construct validity and reliability of the s-EMBU were examined in samples comprising a total of 1950 students from Australia, Spain, and Venezuela. The data were presented for the three national groups separately. Findings confirmed the cross-national validity of the factorial structure underlying the s-EMBU. Rejection by fathers and mothers was consistently associated with high trait-neuroticism and low self-esteem in recipients of both sexes in each nation, as was high parental emotional warmth with high femininity (humility). The findings on factorial validity are in keeping with previous ones obtained in East Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, Italy, and Sweden. The s-EMBU is again recommended for use in several different countries as. a reliable, functional equivalent to the original 81-item EMBU.

Various topological excitations in the SO(4) gauge field in higher dimensions

Following the original analysis Of Zhang and Hu for the 4-dimensional generalization of Quantum Hall effect, there has been much work from different viewpoints on the higher dimensional condensed matter systems. In this paper, we discuss three kinds of topological excitations in the SO(4) gauge field of condensed matter systems in 4-dimension-the instantons and anti-instantons, the 't Hooft-Polyakov monopoles, and the 2-membranes. Using the phi-mapping topological theory, it is revealed that there are 4-, 3-, and 2-dimensional topological currents inhering in the SO (4) gauge field, and the above three kinds of excitations can be directly and explicitly derived from these three kinds of currents, respectively. Moreover, it is shown that the topological charges of these excitations are characterized by the Hopf indices and Brouwer degrees of phi-mapping. (c) 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Dimensions of quality of life and psychosocial variables most salient to colorectal cancer patients

Colorectal cancer is one of the most common invasive cancers, and is responsible for considerable physical and psychosocial morbidity. Understanding the quality of life experienced by colorectal cancer patients is essential for evaluating the full impact of the disease on individuals, their families and their communities. Patient perspective is essential in establishing a proper understanding of the quality of life of colorectal cancer patients. Despite this, few studies have employed a qualitative methodology to explore quality of life issues for colorectal cancer patients. A review of the literature identified only seven qualitative studies pertaining to quality of life issues for colorectal cancer patients, a surprising finding given the prevalence of this cancer. Accordingly, this study sought to build on the findings of previous qualitative research by providing descriptive data on the quality of life and psychosocial variables most salient to colorectal cancer patients. Six core themes emerged from interview and focus group data: Satisfaction with diagnosis and treatment; support (including information provision); quality of life; benefits of diagnosis; making sense of the cancer experience; and coping strategies. The information derived from this study will help inform the development of supportive care services to address the needs of the increasing number of people diagnosed with colorectal cancer. Copyright (c) 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Reactions to positive deviance: Social identity and attribution dimensions

This research examines whether evaluations of positive deviates (i.e. high achieving group members) are influenced by the attributions they make for their performance. We argue that ingroup positive deviates who make group attributions help enhance the ingroup's image and thus attract favorable evaluations. In Experiment 1, ingroup positive deviates who made group attributions were generally evaluated more favorably than ingroup positive deviates who made individual attributions. There was also evidence that the positive deviates' attribution style influenced group and self-evaluations. Evaluations of outgroup positive deviates were not influenced by their attribution style. In Experiment 2, an ingroup positive deviate who was successful and attributed that success to the group was upgraded relative to an ingroup positive deviate who made individual attributions. Group evaluations were also higher when the positive deviate made group attributions. This pattern did not emerge when the positive deviate failed. The results are discussed from a social identity perspective.

Cyber-rigging click-through rates: Exploring the ethical dimensions

Click-through rate is considered a very important metric and a key performance indicator of the success of online advertising and is the most frequently used measure to gauge the effectiveness of banner advertising. Marketers also use click-through rates in arriving at performance measurement activities such as the calculation of 'customer life time value' and 'customer acquisition cost'. Click-through is the second most frequently used banner ad pricing method after cost per thousand impressions. Online advertising is facing a new form of challenge – the artificial inflation of click-through rates. We call this practice 'cyber-rigging'. The objective of this paper is to explore the ethical dimensions of cyber-rigging through application of ethical principles and theories.