Female Psychopaths: Are We Flying Under the Radar?

The study of psychopathy is still in early stages with regard to gender differences. Historically, the majority of research has been conducted on male populations, resulting in a gender-biased construct that does not appear to be generalizable to female populations. This paper provides a review of the existing literature on psychopathy, as well as research on inherent gender differences (biology, chemistry, socialization, etc.). Connections between these bodies of research are supposed and suggestions for future study are provided.

Male/Female Manifestations of Narcissistic Personality and Behavioral Disorders.

Specifically, this paper will address the following topics : 1. The history of psychoanalytic thinking onnarcissism will be discussed, leading up to more recent ideas on the narcissistic personality disorder. 2. Drawing on historical and current ideas, an integrated definition of the narcissistic personality disorder will be presented and elaborated upon, including an examination of differing male/female narcissistic compensatory styles. 3. To foster an understanding of the development of narcissistic defenses and of differing gender styles of defense, various theories relating to gender differences in the narcissistic personality disorder will be explored: self/object relations theories, Kohut's theory on narcissism, psychosexual development theories, behavioral manifestation theories, and bodily development theories.4. The role of preoedipal development, as it relates to the formation of the male/female narcissistic personality disorder, will be examined. This section of the paper will propose that, in the narcissistic personality disorder, a pathological arrest occurred during the second or third year of life in response to trauma experienced at that time. The degree and timing of the trauma and the degree of structuralization preceding the trauma all contribute to the rigidity of the narcissistic disorder and the severity of the pathology. 5. The role of oedipal development in the male/female narcissistic personality disorder will be discussed. This discussion will address the intrapsychic configurations which arise during the oedipal period, after narcissistic defenses have solidified during the preoedipal years. While narcissism can be seen as a developmental line, with narcissistic defenses arising at any time during development, this paper will focus primarily on defenses which arise during the separation/individuation phases of development.

Representaciones de género en la publicidad de alimentos: un análisis de contenido

El análisis de contenido del mensaje mediático desde una perspectiva de género cuenta ya con una abundante bibliografía. En el caso de la publicidad, gran parte de los estudios realizados se han centrado en muestras genéricas de contenidos publicitarios o en aquella publicidad tradicionalmente asociada a uno u otro género. Sin embargo, pocos autores han analizado los contenidos de género de la publicidad relativa a productos de alimentación, a pesar de la estrecha relación entre estructuras de género y los procesos sociales de compra y preparación de alimentos. En este ámbito se sitúa, precisamente, nuestra investigación. Los principales resultados obtenidos muestran claras diferencias de género en las piezas publicitarias: tanto en términos de presencia cuantitativa como en la asignación de determinadas características.

Capital humano y turismo: rendimiento educativo, desajuste y satisfacción laboral

El capital humano es un elemento clave para el logro de objetivos en términos de competitividad y crecimiento del sector de turismo en España. En este trabajo se utilizan datos muy recientes (procedentes de la Encuesta de Calidad de Vida en el Trabajo, ECVT) para abordar tres aspectos fundamentales en su análisis: el rendimiento educativo que los trabajadores obtienen a cambio de la inversión que realizan en su formación reglada; la medición de los niveles de desajuste entre dicha formación y los puestos de trabajo que ocupan, y su relación con el salario; y, por último, el análisis de diversas dimensiones de la satisfacción laboral y de la relación que se establece entre ellas y la sobre-educación de los trabajadores.

Validation of a mobility item bank for older patients in primary care

Background: To develop and validate an item bank to measure mobility in older people in primary care and to analyse differential item functioning (DIF) and differential bundle functioning (DBF) by sex. Methods: A pool of 48 mobility items was administered by interview to 593 older people attending primary health care practices. The pool contained four domains based on the International Classification of Functioning: changing and maintaining body position, carrying, lifting and pushing, walking and going up and down stairs. Results: The Late Life Mobility item bank consisted of 35 items, and measured with a reliability of 0.90 or more across the full spectrum of mobility, except at the higher end of better functioning. No evidence was found of non-uniform DIF but uniform DIF was observed, mainly for items in the changing and maintaining body position and carrying, lifting and pushing domains. The walking domain did not display DBF, but the other three domains did, principally the carrying, lifting and pushing items. Conclusions: During the design and validation of an item bank to measure mobility in older people, we found that strength (carrying, lifting and pushing) items formed a secondary dimension that produced DBF. More research is needed to determine how best to include strength items in a mobility measure, or whether it would be more appropriate to design separate measures for each construct.

Adaptación de las escalas de actitudes hacia el tabaco, el alcohol y otras drogas en adolescentes portugueses

El presente estudio muestra los resultados de la adaptación de las escalas de actitudes hacia el tabaco (López-Sánchez, Garcia-Rodriguez, Mira y Estévez, 2000), el alcohol (Garcia-Rodriguez y López-Sánchez, 2001) y otras drogas (López-Sánchez et al., 2000) en población portuguesa. Se trata de tres escalas, cada una con trece ítems, de respuesta tipo Likert con cinco opciones de respuesta, que diferencian tres sub-escalas. Para realizar el estudio de adaptación de las escalas a la población portuguesa, se han utilizado dos muestras independientes, constituidas por 329 y 443 adolescentes, alumnos de bachillerato del norte del país, a quienes se administraron los instrumentos. Los datos recogidos, después de ser sometidos a un análisis factorial exploratorio y confirmatorio, permitieron encontrar una solución adecuada para cada una de las escalas, dando como resultando una buena validez y fiabilidad. En la validez concurrente, los resultados sugieren diferencias de género con todas las sub-escalas y una relación negativa con la edad, así como diferencias en las actitudes de acuerdo con la experiencia y el consumo.

Individual returns to education in the Spanish tourism sector during the economic crisis

This paper analyses individual returns to education in the Spanish tourism sector. The results, which are robust to different specifications of Mincer earnings regressions, show that the earnings returns to schooling for tourism workers are only half those for all other sectors, and that the difference in returns between these two groups has increased significantly during the economic crisis. This has happened at a time when the earnings range between those with lower and higher qualifications has narrowed in tourism while it has remained stable in other sectors, and when tourism has been capable of retaining most of its workforce while the rest of the economy has experienced a sharp decrease in employment.

Motivos de participación de los estudiantes universitarios en actividades físico-deportivas

El objetivo del presente artículo es contribuir al análisis de los motivos de participación de los estudiantes universitarios en la práctica físico-deportiva. También se pretende establecer diferencias por género y conocer dónde practican deporte los universitarios alicantinos. Para ello, se llevó a cabo una investigación no experimental descriptiva en la que participaron 400 alumnos seleccionados por muestreo no probabilístico por cuotas entre todas las facultades de la Universidad de Alicante, a los que se les aplicó el cuestionario MIAFD (Pavón, 2004). Los resultados indican que la mayoría de la población universitaria practicaba actividades físico-deportivas (58.7%). Los motivos más habituales fueron: para estar en forma (85.9%), para liberar energía (80.8%) y para mejorar la salud (78.3%). En cambio, el principal motivo para no practicar actividad física era la falta de tiempo debido a los estudios. Los hombres afirman en mayor medida que las mujeres practicar actividades físico-deportivas para competir y superarse.

El humor verbal en niños de Educación Primaria: desarrollo de la conciencia metapragmática

Este trabajo constituye un estudio sobre el humor verbal en niños y niñas de 4.º curso de Educación Primaria (9-10 años). Tres grandes vías articulan el análisis. En primer lugar, el debate sobre las presuntas diferencias de género en la interpretación y el uso del humor verbal obtiene un interés especial en el caso de los niños, dado su menor nivel de «contaminación» por las convenciones y prejuicios sociales. En segundo lugar, se detecta la práctica ausencia de estudios sobre el humor infantil desde el punto de vista lingüístico, ya que el grueso de las investigaciones sobre el tema proviene de la psicología evolutiva. En tercer lugar, la etapa de edad objeto de este estudio responde a un periodo crucial en el desarrollo lingüístico y, especialmente, metalingüístico del niño.

Diferencias de género y edad en autoconcepto en estudiantes adolescentes chilenos

Investigaciones previas han puesto de manifiesto la importancia del estudio del autoconcepto durante la adolescencia. El objetivo de este estudio consistió en analizar las diferencias de género y edad en las distintas dimensiones del autoconcepto en una muestra de 1414 estudiantes chilenos de entre 13 y 18 años. El autoconcepto fue evaluado mediante la versión breve del SDQII. Los resultados evidenciaron diferencias de género para las dimensiones Autoconcepto Verbal, Apariencia Física, Sinceridad/Veracidad y Autoestima en favor de las jóvenes, así como diferencias en el Autoconcepto Matemático, Habilidades Físicas, Estabilidad Emocional y Relación con los Padres en favor de los varones. También se observó una tendencia en los alumnos de mayor edad a puntuar más alto en Autoconcepto Académico General, Habilidades Físicas, Apariencia Física, Relaciones con el Sexo Opuesto y Autoestima, que sus iguales de menor edad. Este mismo patrón, pero a la inversa, se obtuvo para las dimensiones de Autoconcepto Matemático, Verbal y Estabilidad Emocional. Los resultados no replicaron la tendencia de los varones, reportada en estudios previos, a valorar más positivamente su físico y a poseer una autoestima más elevada que las mujeres, así como a percibir más negativamente sus relaciones paterno-filiales.

A proposal for teaching with authentic texts in order to develop social awareness in a language subject in tertiary education

The University of the 21st century has to establish links with society and prepare students for the demands of the working world. Therefore, this article is a contribution to the integral preparation of university students by proposing the use of authentic texts with social content in English lessons so that students acquire emotional and social competencies while still learning content. This article will explain how the choice of texts on global issues such as racism and gender helps students to develop skills such as social awareness and critical thinking to deepen their understanding of discrimination, injustice or gender differences in both oral and written activities. A proposal will be presented which involves using the inauguration speech from Mandela's presidency and texts with photographs of women so that students analyse them whilst utilising linguistic tools that allow them to explore a text's social dimension.

Failure or Voluntary Exit? Reassessing the Female Underperformance Hypothesis

We reevaluate the female underperformance hypothesis by challenging the assumption that female-owned ventures are more likely to fail. Instead of equating exit with failure, we draw on exit literature and feminist theories to argue that female entrepreneurs are actually more likely than males to exit voluntarily. We argue for further gender differences by using an even more fine-grained conceptualization of entrepreneurial exit (failure, exit for personal reasons, and exit for other professional/financial opportunities). Post-hoc analyses also point to withingender heterogeneity depending on family status. A sample probe of 219 Spanish entrepreneurs who had exited their business supports our overall reasoning.

Depression in the aftermath of eviction : A one-year follow-up study of a disruptive housing life event

Eviction from housing is an institutionalized social process affecting millions in the western world, but very little is understood about its impact on people’s lives. Guided by George Brown and Tirril Harris’s landmark sociological research on disruptive life events, together with evidence that home is an important ‘place’, this study aims to contribute to an understanding of eviction’s fallout by considering depression as a potential outcome. Taking advantage of unique data on all evictions in Sweden and linking to longitudinal registers, this study seeks to determine whether working-age adults facing imminent eviction in 2009 had a greater risk of depression in the following year compared, using penalized maximum likelihood logistic regressions, to a control group randomly drawn from the Swedish population. Results indicate that imminent eviction is significantly associated with subsequent depression, even accounting for a range of social, economic, geographic and behavioral characteristics. Contrary to expectations, the findings are not robust for gender differences. Recent mental illness is the only control variable significantly moderating the association of interest, which remains significant regardless of illness history. The results provide grounds for treating eviction as a disruptive life event in its own right.

An analysis of clinical characteristics in genetically linked migraine-affected pedigrees

Migraine is a common complex disorder characterized by severe recurrent headache and usually accompanied by nausea and vomiting. Previous studies in our laboratory have utilized three large multigenerational Australian pedigrees affected with migraine to indicate that the disease is genetically heterogeneous, with linkage results implicating genomic susceptibility regions on both chromosomes 19p and Xq. The present study explores the possibility of a correlation between genetic and clinical heterogeneity in these affected pedigrees. Specifically, the clinical characteristics of migraine including subtype, age of onset, frequency, duration, and disease symptoms were compared between the migraine pedigrees, and gender differences were also assessed. Our exploratory analyses revealed no significant differences in any of the clinical characteristics tested between the chromosome 19-linked family and the two X-linked families. Also, we did not detect any differences in male vs. female clinical features for these pedigrees. In conclusion, migraine is considered to be a clinically and genetically heterogeneous disorder; however, our study provided no conclusive evidence that variation in genomic susceptibility region is related to heterogeneity at the clinical level in these migraine-affected pedigrees.

Changes in neighborhood walking are related to changes in perceptions of environmental attributes

Background: Several studies have found significant cross-sectional associations of perceived environmental attributes with physical activity behaviors. Prospective relations with environmental factors have been examined for vigorous activity, but not for the moderate-intensity activities that environmental and policy initiatives are being designed to influence. Purpose: To examine prospective associations of changes in perceptions of local environmental attributes with changes in neighborhood walking. Methods: Baseline and 10-week follow-up telephone interviews with 512 adults (49% men). Results: Men who reported positive changes in aesthetics and convenience were twice as likely to increase their walking. Women who reported positive changes in convenience were more than twice as likely to have increased their walking. There were contrasting findings for men and women who reported traffic as less of a problem: Men were 61% less likely to have increased walking; however women were 76% more likely to have done so. Conclusions: Further studies are needed to determine the possibly causal nature of such environment-behavior relations and to elucidate relevant gender differences. Such evidence will provide underpinnings for public health initiatives to increase participation in physical activity.