Understanding the role of self-identity in habitual risky behaviours: pedestrian road-crossing decisions across the lifespan

Self-identity as a careful pedestrian has not been fully considered in previous work on predicting intention to cross the road, or actual crossing behaviour, in non-optimal situations. Evidence suggests that self-identity may be a better predictor than attitudes in situations where decision-making styles have become habitual ways to respond. This study compared contributions of self-identity and attitudes to the prediction of intentions in two situations differing in level of habitual crossing expectation, and to crossing behaviour. Three hundred and sixty-two adults (17–92 years) completed a questionnaire measuring self-identity, attitudes, intentions, experience, social identity variables (e.g. age, gender) and personal limitations (mobility). Two hundred and five participants also completed a road-crossing simulation. Self-identity and attitude were both shown as significant independent predictors of intention in both situations. However, self-identity was less effective as a predictor in the higher risk scenario, where intention to perform the behaviour was lower, and for participants aged >75 years who had lower intention across scenarios. Self-identity strongly predicted intention to cross, which in turn predicted behaviour, but self-identity did not directly predict behaviour. Self-identity was strongly predicted by age. Implications for theories of compensation in older age and for design and targeting of pedestrian safety education are discussed.

A mozgókép reneszánsza: nagytotál a videográfia módszertanáról = The renaissance of the motion pictures: wide shot of the videography

A posztmodern fogyasztó hiperreális környezetébe csöppenő pozitivista kutató gyakran megtántorodik attól a forgószélszerű pörgéstől és vizuális dinamikától, amelyet a posztmodern világ ont rá. A szupersztrádán teknős módjára kullogó kutató ezért inkább visszahúzódik páncélja mögé, és előhúz valamit a szokásos módszerek közül, függetlenül attól, hogy azok relevánsak-e a probléma vizsgálatára vagy sem. A mozgóképek újjászületése a megváltozott fogyasztói látásmódhoz kapcsolható. Dziga Vertov mechanisztikus szemével egyre inkább a fogyasztók kacsintgatnak, és a curlingben látható módon csúsztatják tovább a magáról megfeledkező és kőnek látszó teknőst. A videográfia a videó és az etnográfia szavak összekapcsolásából keletkezett, vagyis etnográfiai kutatás a mozgókép segítségével. Egyre több nyugati cég arra kéri fel a kutatókat, hogy a fogyasztói magatartásról csupán videó prezentációt készítsenek, mindenféle szöveges magyarázat nélkül. A cikk nagytotálból mutatja be a Belk és Kozinets (2005, 2006) által életre keltett módszertan sajátosságait. / === / The positivist researcher in the middle of the hyperreal context seems to lurch due to the tornado-like whirl and a visual dynamism caused by the postmodern world. This researcher is just like a paddling tortoise on the superhighway draws back in the tortoiseshell and shows one of the classic research methods, no matter the type of the research problem. The rebirth of the motion pictures is linked to the altered consumer perspective. Dziga Vertov’s mechanical eye is used more and more by the consumers, and the tortoise-like researcher is considered to be a curling stone. The consumer researchers tend to ignore the lived visual and auditory aspects of the consumer culture and the appropriate research methods of this field. The aim of this article is to present the types and the main features of the videography vivified by Belk and Kozinets (2005, 2006).

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.^

"Serve Canada with Men Like These": Masculinity, "Peacekeeping," and National Identity in Cold War Canada, 1956-1959

This paper explores the ways in which the construction of militarized masculinities in Cold War Canadian media reflected the hegemonic masculinities and broader social trends of the period. This paper focuses specifically on the recruiting materials produced for and by the Canadian Army between 1956 and 1959, the time of the Suez Canal Crisis and the beginnings of “Canadian peacekeeping.” Through the mobilization of modern and anti-modern masculine identities attached to hegemonic and idealized Cold War Canadian masculinities, the Army created the image of the “Modern Warrior” to portray itself as an occupation and culture for “real Canadian men.” This identity simultaneously corresponded with Canada’s new “peacekeeping” identity. By presenting certain images of Canadian manhood as the “ideal” Canadian identity and by associating this “ideal” masculinity with military service, the Army’s recruitment advertisements conflated Cold War rhetoric of service, defence, national citizenship, cultural belonging, and “ideal” ethnicity with a Canadian identity available only to a specific (and often exclusive) segment of society. Because military service has long been considered the crux of citizenship, these advertisements (re)entrenched patterns of middle-class, heterosexual, Anglo- Saxon masculine power and dominance in a time of social uncertainty and cultural anxiety through the reaffirmation of this group’s “privilege” to serve the nation.

Exploring Intrinsic Gender Identity Using Second Life

Virtual Worlds (VWs) provide an environment to understand and explore notions of gender and identity, particularly given the ability for users to experiment with gender in online worlds. Our study analyses gender identity using the virtual space of Second Life (SL) to explore experiences and responses to gender in an avatar. We introduced 46 novice users to the VW of SL in order to see if real life gender influenced their choices of avatar. Participants selected the gender of their original avatar and once they were used to SL, they were then asked to change the gender of that avatar. We used mixed methods research consisting of paper based questionnaires (n=34) and focus groups (n=46) conducted in SL. Nearly all participants chose an initial avatar that reflected their real-life gender with females (n=22) reporting higher levels of identification with this initial avatar. Females were significantly more concerned with the gender-specific appearance of their initial avatar. On swapping gender, females reported higher levels of discomfort and many changed back before 7 minutes. Males (n=24) did not report significant discomfort with their changed-gender avatar and did not revert back to their original avatar as quickly. Our findings suggest that female participants in this study tended to reinforce gender binaries through such things as clothing, hairstyles and behaviors of their avatars. Male participants were less likely to experience discomfort through changing the gender of their avatar (with the males noting they still perceived an avatar with a female appearance as male).

Meet the phallic teacher: curriculum design and identity in a neoliberal imaginary

This paper introduces the concept of the phallic teacher, a spectral figure that needs to be negotiated in teachers’ everyday work and in school-based disciplinary communities of practice. Reporting the findings of a three year doctoral study completed in 2014, the paper looks closely at how English teachers design both curriculum and identity in an environment where feminist and poststructuralist work of the late 20th century seems to have lost traction.These observations are based on empirical research in a Victorian school, combined with autoethnographic writing and other materials connecting teachers’ and researchers’ lives to the broader cultural postfeminist debate. The paper makes room for an absent subject, the teacher, marginalised in neoliberal discourses of curriculum and critiques the masculinist hegemony of outcomes and standards-based education. This provides us with new ways to challenge increasingly dominant current paradigms and to conceptualise a different future in which the standpoints of teachers are privileged in curriculum theory and curricular innovation.

Meet the phallic teacher: designing curriculum and identity in a neoliberal imaginary

This paper introduces the concept of the phallic teacher, a spectral figure negotiated in teachers’ everyday work and in school-based disciplinary communities of practice. Reporting the findings of a three year Australian doctoral study completed in 2014, the paper looks closely at how English teachers design both curriculum and identity in an environment where feminist and poststructuralist work of the late 20th century seems to have lost traction. These observations made here are based on empirical research in a Victorian school, combined with autoethnographic writing and other materials connecting teachers’ and researchers’ lives to the broader cultural postfeminist debate. The paper makes room for an absent subject, the teacher, marginalised in neoliberal discourses of curriculum and critiques the masculinist hegemony of outcomes and standards-based education. This provides us with new ways to challenge increasingly dominant current paradigms and to conceptualise a different future in which the standpoints of teachers are privileged in curriculum theory and curricular innovation.

Age and gender differences in the influence of social support on mental health : a longitudinal fixed-effects analysis using 13 annual waves of the HILDA cohort

OBJECTIVES: Perceived social support is associated with better mental health. There has been limited attention to how these relationships are modified by age and gender. We assessed this topic using 13 years of cohort data. STUDY DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. METHODS: The outcome was the Mental Health Inventory-5 (MHI-5), a reliable and valid screening instrument for mood disorders. The main exposure was a social support scale composed of 10 items. We used longitudinal fixed-effects regression modelling to investigate within-person changes in mental health. Analytic models controlled for within-person sources of bias. We controlled for time-related factors by including them into regression modelling. RESULTS: The provision of higher levels of social support was associated with greater improvements in mental health for people aged under 30 years than for older age groups. The mental health of females appeared to benefit slightly more from higher levels of social support than males. Improvements in the MHI-5 were on a scale that could be considered clinically significant. CONCLUSIONS: The benefits of social support for young people may be connected to age-related transitions in self-identity and peer friendship networks. Results for females may reflect their tendency to place greater emphasis on social networks than males.

ANALYSIS OF GENDER RELATIONS IN THE INDUSTRIAL COMMUNITY OF AGUIRRE, PUERTO RICO

This thesis is a study of the gender relations of the residents of Aguirre, Puerto Rico, between 1940 and 1991. The primary goal of the project was to explore how gender roles and relations in the Aguirre community were impacted by the social class system introduced by the Aguirre Sugar Company. This project was based on the interpretation of the past and present situation of the Aguirre community using oral history, by conducting a series of interviews among its residents. The interviews resulted in three main themes. First, the concepts of `normal and natural' were used to distinguish gender roles. Second, Aguirreños identified `family as community', since through the family individuals built their gender identity and learned the basic rules of coexistence within the social hierarchy of the community. Third, although the gender and class roles were clear in the community, `resistance and negotiation' occurred in the home and at the Company between those of different gender and social classes. The Aguirre Sugar Company was one of the principal influences on the construction of the Aguirreños identity, and left a mark on the past, present and future generations.

Gender effects in orientation on primary students’ performance on items rich in graphics

This study investigated the longitudinal performance of 378 students who completed mathematics items rich in graphics. Specifically, this study explored student performance across axis (e.g., numbers lines), opposed-position (e.g., line and column graphs) and circular (e.g., pie charts) items over a three-year period (ages 9-11 years). The results of the study revealed significant performance differences in the favour of boys on graphics items that were represented in horizontal and vertical displays. There were no gender differences on items that were represented in a circular manner.

Gender Dilemmas in Children's Fiction

Gender Dilemmas in Children's Fiction examines how fictional texts – picture books, novels, and films – produced for children and young adults are responding to the tensions and dilemmas that arise from new gender relations and sexual differences. The book discusses a diverse range of international children's fiction published between 1990 and 2008. Some of the key dilemmas that emerge are around the texts' treatment of romance, beauty, cyberbodies, queer, and comedy.