Distortion product otoacoustic emissions in school children: Effects to gender, ear asymmetry and handedness

Accurate interpretation of distortion product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE) data cannot be made without realizing the effects of non-pathological factors on DPOAEs. The present study aimed to examine the effects of ear asymmetry, gender and handedness on DPOAEs obtained from school children. One thousand and three children (528 boys and 475 girls) with a mean age of 6.2 years (SD = 0.4, range = 5.2 7.9 years) were tested in a quiet room at their schools using the GSI-60 DPOAE system. The stimuli consisted of two pure tones of different frequencies f1 and f2 presented at 65 and 55dB SPL respectively. A DP-gram was obtained for each ear with f2 varying from 1.1 to 6.0 kHz and the ratio of f2/f1 being kept at 1.21. The signal-to-noise ratios (SNR) (DPOAE amplitude minus the mean noise floor) at the tested frequencies 1.1, 1.5, 1.9, 2.4, 3.0, 3.8, 4.8, and 6.0 kHz were measured. The results revealed a small, but significant difference in SNR between ears, with right ears showing a higher mean SNR than left ears at 1.9, 3.0, 3.8 and 6.0 kHz. At these frequencies, the difference in mean SNR between ears was less than 1 dB. A significant gender effect was also found, with girls exhibiting a higher SNR than boys at 3.8, 4.8 and 6.0 kHz. The difference in mean SNR, as a result of the gender effect, was about 1 to 2 dB at these frequencies. The results from the present study indicated no significant difference in mean SNR between left-handed and right-handed children for all tested frequencies. In conclusion, these non-pathological characteristics of DPOAEs should be considered in the interpretation of DPOAE results for school children.

Intolerance of ambiguity, gender stereotypes, and attitudes to sexuality

The premise of this thesis is that Western thought is characterised by the need to enforce binary classification in order to structure the world. Classifications of sexuality and gender both embody this tendency, which has been largely influenced by Judeo-Christian tradition. Thus, it is argued that attitudes to sexuality, particularly homosexuality are, in part, a function of the way in which we seek to impose structure on the world. From this view, it is (partly) the ambiguity, inherent in gender and sexual variation, which evokes negative responses. The thesis presents a series of inter-linked studies examining attitudes to various aspects of human sexuality, including the human body, non-procreative sex acts (anal an oral sex) and patterns of sexuality that depart from the hetero-homo dichotomy. The findings support the view that attitudes to sexuality are significantly informed by gender-role stereotypes, with negative attitudes linked to intolerance of ambiguity. Male participants show large differences in their evaluations of male and female bodies, and of male and female sexual actors, than do female participants. Male participants also show a greater negativity to gay male sexual activity than do female participants, but males perceive lesbian sexuality similarly to heterosexuality. Male bodies are rated as being less 'permeable' than female bodies and male actors are more frequently identified as being the instigators of sexual acts. Crucial to the concept of heterosexism is the assumption that 'femininity' is considered inherently inferior to 'masculinity'. Hence, the findings provide an empirical basis for making connections between heterosexism and sexism, and therefore between the psychology of women, and gay and lesbian psychology.

Business and social entrepreneurs in the UK:gender, context and commitment

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate what sort of people become social entrepreneurs, and in what way they differ from business entrepreneurs. More importantly, to investigate in what socio-economic context entrepreneurial individuals are more likely to become social than business entrepreneurs. These questions are important for policy because there has been a shift from direct to indirect delivery of many public services in the UK, requiring a professional approach to social enterprise. Design/methodology/approach – Evidence is presented from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) UK survey based upon a representative sample of around 21,000 adults aged between 16 and 64 years interviewed in 2009. The authors use logistic multivariate regression techniques to identify differences between business and social entrepreneurs in demographic characteristics, effort, aspiration, use of resources, industry choice, deprivation, and organisational structure. Findings – The results show that the odds of an early-stage entrepreneur being a social rather than a business entrepreneur are reduced if they are from an ethnic minority, if they work ten hours or more per week on the venture, and if they have a family business background; while they are increased if they have higher levels of education and if they are a settled in-migrant to their area. While women social entrepreneurs are more likely than business entrepreneurs to be women, this is due to gender-based differences in time commitment to the venture. In addition, the more deprived the community they live in, the more likely women entrepreneurs are to be social than business entrepreneurs. However, this does not hold in the most deprived areas where we argue civic society is weakest and therefore not conducive to support any form of entrepreneurial endeavour based on community engagement. Originality/value – The paper's findings suggest that women may be motivated to become social entrepreneurs by a desire to improve the socio-economic environment of the community in which they live and see social enterprise creation as an appropriate vehicle with which to address local problems.

Gender comparisons of fat talk in the United Kingdom and the United States

This study compared different forms of body talk, including "fat talk," among 231 university men and women in central England (UK; n = 93) and the southeastern United States (US; n = 138). A 2 (gender) by 2 (country) repeated measures ANOVA across types of body talk (negative, self-accepting, positive) and additional Chi-square analyses revealed that there were differences across gender and between the UK and US cultures. Specifically, UK and US women were more likely to report frequently hearing or perceiving pressure to engage in fat talk than men. US women and men were also more likely to report pressure to join in self-accepting body talk than UK women and men. © 2010 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.

The influence of perception of forgetting and gender, ethnicity, and closeness on likelihood of caregiving

As life expectancy increases, the population of older adults is increasing rapidly. The caregiving of older parents by adult children has become a normative experience. Much of the gerontological literature has examined the caregiving experience, particularly in terms of the stresses involved. However, research is only beginning to examine the factors which motivate adult children to begin caregiving. The research described here examined how an elderly parent's memory behavior might influence caregiving decisions. In addition, gender, ethnicity, and parent-adult child closeness were examined to explore how these individual difference variables might influence those caregiving decisions.^ Participants read one of two vignettes describing a social visit with an elderly widow (target). In the vignette, the elderly target experiences several instances of forgetting. The vignettes depicted forgetting behavior established in pilot work as normal or serious. The normal forgetting vignette did not arouse concern and the serious forgetting vignette did arouse concern when the middle-aged participants imagined their mothers in the role of the vignette target. Participants rated their likelihood of engaging in eight caregiving behaviors if their mothers behaved like the vignette target. They also rated their closeness with their own mothers.^ Multivariate analyses of variance indicated main effects for vignette type, gender, ethnicity, and attachment. The likelihood of caregiving was higher when forgetting was more serious and when participants were female, Hispanic, and were highly attached to their mothers. Interaction effects showed that gender differences decreased with increased seriousness of forgetting, and ethnic differences were only significant for the normal forgetting condition.^ Multiple regression analyses indicated that attachment was the most significant predictor of likelihood of caregiving. Gender and ethnicity predicted specific caregiving behaviors. Females were more likely to engage in phoning and cooking, and Hispanics were more likely to engage in visiting and suggesting mother move in. ^

Gender, identity, and the security state: The politics of international drug trafficking

This dissertation examined how United States illicit drug control policy, often commonly referred to as the "war on drugs," contributes to the reproduction of gendered and racialized social relations. Specifically, it analyzed the identity producing practices of United States illicit drug control policy as it relates to the construction of U.S. identities. ^ Drawing on the theoretical contributions of feminist postpositivists, three cases of illicit drug policy practice were discussed. In the first case, discourse analysis was employed to examine recent debates (1986-2005) in U.S. Congressional Hearings about the proper understanding of the illicit drug "threat." The analysis showed how competing policy positions are tied to differing understandings of proper masculinity and the role of policymakers as protectors of the national interest. Utilizing critical visual methodologies, the second case examined a public service media campaign circulated by the Office of National Drug Control Policy that tied the "war on drugs" with another security concern in the U.S., the "war on terror." This case demonstrated how the media campaign uses messages about race, masculinity, and femininity to produce privileged notions of state identity and proper citizenship. The third case examined the gendered politics of drug interdiction at the U.S. border. Using qualitative research methodologies including semi-structured interviews and participant observation, it examined how gender is produced through drug interdiction at border sites like Miami International Airport. By paying attention to the discourse that circulates about women drug couriers, it showed how gender is normalized in a national security setting. ^ What this dissertation found is that illicit drug control policy takes the form it does because of the politics of gender and racial identity and that, as a result, illicit drug policy is implicated in the reproduction of gender and racial inequities. It concluded that a more socially conscious and successful illicit drug policy requires an awareness of the gendered and racialized assumptions that inform and shape policy practices.^

Gender differences in the influence of protective factors, risk factors, and health risk behaviors on HIV risk behaviors among youth in South Florida

Adolescents engage in a range of risk behaviors during their transition from childhood to adulthood. Identifying and understanding interpersonal and socio-environmental factors that may influence risk-taking is imperative in order to meet the Healthy People 2020 goals of reducing the incidence of unintended pregnancies, HIV, and other sexually transmitted infections among youth. The purpose of this study was to investigate gender differences in the predictors of HIV risk behaviors among South Florida youth. More specifically, this study examined how protective factors, risk factors, and health risk behaviors, derived from a guiding framework using the Theory of Problem Behavior and Theory of Gender and Power, were associated with HIV risk behavior. A secondary analysis of 2009 Youth Risk Behavior Survey data sets from Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach school districts tested hypotheses for factors associated with HIV risk behaviors. The sample consisted of 5,869 high school students (mean age 16.1 years), with 69% identifying as Black or Hispanic. Logistic regression analyses revealed gender differences in the predictors of HIV risk behavior. An increase in the health risk behaviors was related to an increase in the odds that a student would engage in HIV risk behavior. An increase in risk factors was also found to significantly predict an increase in the odds of HIV risk behavior, but only in females. Also, the probability of participation in HIV risk behavior increased with grade level. Post-hoc analyses identified recent sexual activity (past 3 months) as the strongest predictor of condom nonuse and having four or more sexual partners for both genders. The strongest predictors of having sex under the influence of drugs/alcohol were alcohol use in both genders, marijuana use in females, and physical fighting in males. Gender differences in the predictors of unprotected sex, multiple sexual partners, and having sex under the influence were also found. Additional studies are warranted to understand the gender differences in predictors of HIV risk behavior among youth in order to better inform prevention programming and policy, as well as meet the national Healthy People 2020 goals.