Search

Purpose: While workplace sexual harassment has received a great deal of attention in both the popular media and scientific literature, less attention has been directed to the differential occurrence of sexual harassment among lesbians, gay men, and heterosexual men and women, and the relationships between these experiences and alcohol-related outcomes. Additionally, the distribution of alcohol-related outcomes of non-sexual forms of workplace harassment among these groups have not been adequately explored., Method: Using data from a university-based study of workplace harassment and alcohol use (N = 2492), we focus on exposure to workplace harassment and alcohol-related outcomes for lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals compared to heterosexual men and women., Results: Lesbian/bisexual women did not differ significantly from heterosexual women in their experiences of workplace harassment. However, stronger linkages between harassment and increased alcohol consumption and problems were found for lesbian and bisexual women than for heterosexual women. Gay/bisexual men, on the other hand, experienced significantly more sexual harassment than heterosexual men, but did not report a corresponding increase in alcohol use and abuse., Implications: Implications for future research on sexual identity, alcohol use, and workplace harassment are discussed.

Objective: The transition to parenthood has been occurring within the context of the increasing labor force participation of women and potential stress-related costs of "nontraditional" as well as "traditional" gender role choices of new parents. This study addressed the extent to which gender role-related stressors lead to increased problem drinking across the transition to parenthood., Method: Fifty-five married couples expecting their first child were obtained from seven Chicago area hospitals and surveyed with a mailed questionnaire at two points in time: (1) during the second trimester of pregnancy and (2) at 6 months following childbirth. The study examined both wives' and husbands' changes in problem-related drinking by comparing problem drinking during the 6 months prior to pregnancy (retrospectively assessed at Time 1) with drinking during the 6 months following childbirth using a modified form of the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test. In addition, the study contrasted problem drinkers with nonproblem drinkers following parenthood with regard to role overload (overwhelming demands from work and family roles), role deprivation (loss of work role following parenthood) and role deterioration (decreased support from role relationships)., Results: The data show increased problem drinking for both mothers and fathers but fail to support either role overload or role deprivation hypotheses. However, the data are congruent with the role deterioration perspective., Conclusions: If these findings are replicated, future studies of gender roles and alcohol abuse should focus greater attention on the perceived quality of social roles beyond noting their presence or absence.

Women's roles have undergone rapid transformation in recent decades and appear to affect the decision to breast-feed. Research in this area has been hampered by the lack of valid instruments to measure the relevant domains of gender-role related considerations. This study developed a scale to measure gender-role attitudes toward breast-feeding in primiparous women. Ninety-one married women, recruited during childbirth education classes in the Chicago metropolitan area, were surveyed by mail at eight weeks postpartum regarding their experiences as new mothers. Questionnaire items measuring infant feeding method (breast-feeding, bottle feeding) and attitudes toward breast-feeding were developed specifically for this investigation. Validity and reliability were assessed by structural equations analysis using LISREL. The LISREL fit statistics supported a one factor measurement model and combining the six items into a scale. Reliability analysis yielded a standardized alpha coefficient of .74. If results of future research are promising, the scale could be used to target new mothers with multiple roles for education and support and to evaluate interventions designed to promote positive breast-feeding attitudes and behavior.

Psychiatric epidemiological research has focused disproportionate attention on traditionally female disorders such as depression. This paper shifts epidemiological gears to elaborate and test an etiological model of a traditionally male disorder, that of alcohol abuse. We argue that social-relational deficits (narcissistic orientations) lead to abuse of alcohol for stress reduction purposes, given interpersonally oriented stressors and the incapacity to form social supports. The model was tested in the context of training for a traditionally male occupation encompassing both social-relational demands and limited social supports. A cohort of medical students was surveyed from medical school entrance through a portion of clinical training. Time 1 social-relational deficits were predictive of time 3 alcohol abuse, partially as a function of social support deficits and, to a lesser extent, patient care-related stressors. Moreover, there was an initial gender difference in social-relational deficits and a trend-level gender difference in alcohol abuse that disappeared when social-relational deficits were held constant. By time 3, women did not differ from men in social-relational deficits or alcohol abuse.

Although women are assumed to be particularly vulnerable to depressive symptomatology after childbirth, the extent to which this symptomatology predominates over that found in men at this life cycle stage has not been addressed. This study examined gender differences in postpartum depressive symptomatology and the link between postpartum symptomatology and gender roles and relationships in a sample obtained from childbirth preparation classes. The data show no gender difference in depressive symptomatology at 2 months after childbirth. Women manifested a decrease in depressive symptomatology and men showed a slight increase from the preparenthood point. We partially link women's equivalent rather than higher distress levels to the protective effects of their varied social supports. By contrast, men depended primarily on their spouses, but both genders experienced a decrease in spouse support after childbirth. Female lack of support was more strongly associated with symptomatology in homemakers compared with employed women or women on maternity leave. Within the context of gender role changes, the data highlight benefits of female bonding in contrast to the "costs of caring" depicted by other researchers.

The narcissistic personality style is assumed to be highly prevalent in contemporary society, but little epidemiologic attention has been directed to its relative occurrence among different segments of the population. This study addresses gender differences in the manifestation of narcissistic personality traits and their differential association with low self-esteem and dysphoric mood. A Narcissistic Traits Scale was developed and administered along with measures of self-esteem and depressive symptomatology to a population of medical students. The data show no sex differences in overall narcissistic styles but demonstrate sex differences in the prevalence of given traits and in their differential association with low self-esteem and dysphoric mood. The clinical and research implications of these findings are discussed, along with suggestions for future research utilizing more representative community samples.

Societal changes in sex roles have led to an increased interest in the comparative drinking behaviors of men and women and in their psychosocial antecedents. The differential prevalence and psychosocial correlates of alcohol consumption in a cohort of 107 men and 46 women first-year medical students are addressed. Self-report questionnaires assessed quantity, frequency and variability in the consumption of beer, wine and distilled spirits; early parent-child relationships; internal-external locus of control; interpersonal dependency; social supports; and depressive symptomatology. From analyses of variance, the data show that the men consume beer more frequently and in greater quantities. The sexes do not differ in the consumption of wine or distilled spirits. In addition, several psychosocial variables relate to drinking patterns in opposite directions for men and women. Heavier drinking among women is significantly associated with perceived childhood parental warmth and low depressive symptomatology. The opposite is true for men, although these relationships are much weaker. Future research should address sex differences in the symbolic meaning and implications of alcohol use in different socioeconomic and occupational groups.