Search

This study investigates how male and female consumers in the Czech Republic respond to sex role portrayals in advertisements for a fictional cell phone service. Special emphasis is placed on integrating consumer prejudices and emotions into an incongruity-resolution framework. Prejudices were found to moderate effects of sex role incongruity on the emotional dimensions approval and disapproval. Surprise, the third emotional dimension, was directly affected by role incongruity. Downstream effects included positive (approval) and negative (disapproval, surprise) influences on attitude toward the ad. Extensions into other cultural settings and more in-depth examinations of the elaboration and processing paths, including effects on memory, are suggested for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined the relationships between multiple life roles, psychological well-being, and managerial skills in two studies of managerial women. Qualitative results suggested that the roles women play in their personal lives provide psychological benefits, emotional advice and support, practice at multitasking, relevant background, opportunities to enrich interpersonal skills, and leadership practice that enhance effectiveness in the management role. Quantitative results indicated that multiple role commitment positively related to life satisfaction, self-esteem, and self-acceptance. Commitment to multiple roles was also related to interpersonal and task-related managerial skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research perspectives from role theory are examined with a large sample of purchasing professionals in an effort to increase understanding of industrial buyer behavior and the buying environment. An integrative model of the antecedents and the consequences of role stress fits the data well. The results suggest that an awareness of the nature and influence of role stress in the buying context can be of value to marketing professionals, especially sales representatives and marketing/product managers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Performance evaluation when in-role and out-of-role behavior are manipulated in a male sex-typed occupation was investigated. Level of performance (high and low), mode of behavior (masculine and feminine), and performer sex were manipulated. Results indicate that performance evaluation is a winnowing process wherein raters assign ratings on the level of performance and value masculine over feminine modes of behavior, especially for female high performers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the considerable volume of research on role-stress antecedents and consequences, the construct of person/role conflict has rarely been studied separately from other forms of role conflict (intersender, intrasender, role overload). An extension of Holland's person/environment congruence-model (from vocational psychology) to research on person/role conflict can help clarify this construct. I propose three types of research to develop better understanding of this type of employee stress: development of a scale to measure perceptions of person/role conflict separately from other types of role conflict; application of the Holland model as a conceptual base as well as an objective measure of one aspect of person/role conflict--namely, person/role incongruence; and empirical tests of the propositions suggested by the Holland model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the relationships among female respectability, aesthetics, and national belonging in the wake of World War II. This was a time of tumult, and the French sought order through conformity. This conformity had much to do with conservative gender roles. The article analyzes images of female beauty and love in the feminine press. A complex reading of these images reveals an intriguing subtext: a woman needed to conform to certain images of respectable femininity, which included a properly feminine appearance and, perhaps most important, a satisfied man at her side. Articles in women's magazines warned that a woman's failure to conform to such standards would result in ostracism and a lifetime of loneliness. This article posits that establishing these strict guidelines for women was crucial to reinstating a sense of male virility and control in France after the chaos of war. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents some of the main formulations in and results from the developed dissertation 'Role Conflicts of the Contemporary Bulgarian Woman: Between Family and Career', defended in 2014. The purpose of the article is to make a short review of some of the main ideas of the author on role conflicts as a social phenomenon. In order for the essence of role conflicts to be clarified, definitions are presented, as well as the basic conditions for their occurrence. Some of the existing classifications of such types of conflicts are also presented in a synthesized way. The practical manifestation of this problem has been studied in detail through empirical sociological research developed by the author and conducted in 13 Bulgarian towns from 25.07.2013 to 08.08.2013. The research has established not only reciprocal relations between family and professional roles, or models of contemporary women's realization, but it also reveals the way of life, the role conflicts, attitudes and ambitions of the contemporary Bulgarian woman. Some of the main conclusions from the empirical research are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large body of research in journalism studies has analyzed which social and political roles news professionals consider they must fulfill in society. These studies are based on the assumption that role conception influences news content. However, the gap between ideals and practice is inevitable, since the constraint to which journalists are exposed limits the possibility of living up to their normative standards. While recent studies have addressed the relationship between ideals and practice by studying whether journalists with different roles report differently, we know less about the gap between the two. By comparing the role conception of journalists with the news stories they produce, we address the (dis)connection between roles and content as a gap, analyzing which roles render a larger distance and also which journalists are more likely to put their ideals into practice. The findings show a significant gap between role conception and performance, particularly for the service, civic and watchdog roles. Greater perceived autonomy leads to a smaller gap, while economic and political influences as well as belonging to a beat increase the gap. Likewise, the gap varies significantly between journalists working at the quality and the popular press. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In every one of us is a secret shrine, where no one could intrude, to which we must retire as often possible and discover what our true self is as distinct from the appearance we present to the world outside. Some claim that in ancient India women were accorded equal status with men, but owing to a variety of causes, she was relegated to a backward position in all walks of life. The woman was forced in to either of the two extreme moulds: one, the idealized woman as an embodiment of all virtues advantageous to man, the other projected her as a helpless and ignorant creature entirely dependent on man. In both cases the real woman was missing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What do citizens in the Netherlands expect from journalism? A large-scale survey shows that many audience expectations align fairly well with what experts and journalists consider important democratic functions of the press. We refer to these expectations as Civic Demands. In addition, more at odds with the profession's view, the audience wants journalism to take Citizen Demands into account: the complaints and wishes of citizens. We explore how these demands relate to audience characteristics and news media use. Findings suggest that journalists and citizens could very well cooperate in securing a future for high-quality journalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: American Indians are disproportionately burdened by alcohol-related problems. Yet, research exploring predictors of alcohol use among American Indians has been limited by cross-sectional designs and reservation-based samples. Guided by a life course developmental perspective, the current study used a subsample of American Indians (n=927) from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) to explore alcohol use (current drinking, usual number of drinks, and binge drinking) among this population. We examined whether adult social roles (i.e., cohabitation, marriage, parenthood, college enrollment, and full-time work) were linked to the rise and fall of alcohol use. Multi-level models demonstrated that adult social roles were linked to alcohol use at the within- and between-person levels. Becoming a parent was linked to a lower likelihood of being a current drinker, fewer alcoholic drinks, and less frequent binge drinking. Transitioning to full-time work was associated with a higher likelihood of being a current drinker and more frequent binge drinking. Results point to the importance of exploring within-group trajectories of alcohol use and highlight the protective and risky nature of adult social roles among American Indians. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Women in the workforce, at one time, were the rare exception but today dual earner couples are the norm. Social roles and expectations are undergoing a change and hence understanding work-life balance is important in today's day and age. The study focuses on working couples across various sectors, where both partners hold a full-time job in the organized sector. Understanding effects of work-life imbalance of wife on husband's life is also equally important in the social scenario today. Organizations also need to cater to these needs of work-life balance of their employees. The snowball technique was used to collect the sample, for ease of reaching dual earner couples. The study focused on married working people with working spouses, with a targeted sample of 30 couples. The questionnaire was administered through email to these couples and a total of 23 complete responses were received. It was found that no significant difference exists between the score of either domain of Work-Life Balance of spouses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sociological and cultural studies research suggests that men and women cook differently. However, this research rarely takes into account men's and women's different levels of responsibility for the practice and how this might affect cooking approaches. This study investigates this culinary gender dichotomy through the experiences of men with significant domestic cooking responsibilities. Using interviews, cooking observations, and meal diaries from 30 such men from Toronto, Canada, I examine the extent to which they drew on traditionally ‘masculine’ and traditionally ‘feminine’ approaches to food. While most men did draw on traditional masculinities, many of the same men also drew on traditional femininities. Further, I observed the most ‘feminine’ approaches among men with the heaviest responsibilities for feeding others, including men who, previous to taking on these roles, saw cooking in more masculine ways. The data illuminate how social roles and responsibilities, as they intersect with interactional positionings and identities, shape gendered cooking approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Smoking initiation seldom occurs after emerging adulthood, making prevention critical during this phase of the life course. Among emerging adults, Hispanics have an especially high risk for cigarette use. Emerging adulthood scholars suggest role transitions commonly experienced by this age group may lead to substance use including cigarette experimentation and/or progression, contributing to the high smoking rates exhibited by Hispanics. Methods: Hispanic emerging adults (aged 18–24) completed surveys indicating which of a comprehensive list of role transitions they had experienced in the past year. Separate logistic regression models explored the association between each individual role transition and smoking in the past 30 days, controlling for age and gender and using a Bonferonni correction. Results: Among the sample of emerging adults (n = 1,390), 41% were male, the average age was 21, and about 21% reported cigarette use in the past 30 days. Losing a job, becoming a family member’s caregiver, starting to date someone new, experiencing a breakup, being arrested, and becoming addicted to illicit drugs and/or alcohol were all associated with smoking. Conclusions: The stress associated with navigating through changes in critical periods of the life course may lead some emerging adults to smoke. Future research should be directed toward determining what specific mechanisms make these transitional processes risk factors for smoking. These determinations could prove critical if effective prevention programs are to be designed that lead to a decrease in the smoking prevalence among Hispanic emerging adults. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Previous research has emphasized the positive impact of supportive informal relations on workers in various occupational settings. Such support seems particularly important for workers who aspire to be self-employed, running their own businesses. Existing theory, however, offers little guidance regarding the mechanisms through which these supportive relationships operate. We argue that social support and role expectation theories address this conundrum. Our framework highlights the differences between instrumental and informational support types, the requirements involved in delivering such support, and the benefits of aligning role expectations with the type of support requested. Analyzing a representative sample of people attempting to create their own businesses in the United States, we find evidence consistent with our predictions: social support’s effect on people’s persistence depends on alignment between the tasks performed and the roles of support providers. To the extent that the support is task-role aligned, aspiring business owners receive the greatest benefits from high-commitment service and labor assistance provided by family and low-commitment informational assistance from friends but also suffer the most when such support is misaligned. These findings cast doubt on the prevailing assumption in the broader social support literature: that having more support always leads to better outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify a public, state‐supported university’s role expectations of the presidential partner. The study identified various challenges and obstacles, as well as useful strategies for retaining the presidential partner’s professional identity as a professor. This paper will provide a glossary of terminology unique to this under‐reported population followed by a brief literature review of the history of the role expectations for public university presidential partners. The paper will continue with role theory as the framework, the methodology used in developing the study, and discuss the results with supporting narrative. The paper will conclude with a discussion of the results and further implications for practical use and research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines whether managers' performance in new businesses improves when they are exposed to role stressors. In a 3-year longitudinal survey, we drew on the challenge-hindrance framework and ) job demand-control model to acknowledge direct and interaction effects of role stressors (i.e., role conflict, role ambiguity, role overload) on positive affect. In addition to finding support for such influences, our results support that positive affect facilitates performance, thus suggesting that role stressors can be indirectly positive for performance. This study encourages research to go beyond the traditional stressor-strain perspective, to incorporate positive affect in role-stress models, and pay more attention to interaction effects between role stressors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper focuses on the potential of quantitative research methods for sociologists who research the gender division of unpaid domestic work. To begin, it reflects on the emergence of the sociological interest in unpaid domestic work and identifies an early core concern with making invisible work visible. It is argued that quantitative research methods provide us with the most valuable opportunities for 'recognising' unpaid domestic work since they facilitate larger scale representative projects. However the data in most of the large scale surveys are scant, and fail to reflect developments in the conceptualisation of unpaid domestic work. Four areas of concern to contemporary sociology are identified: domestic work practices, relationships, negotiations and meanings. Given the complex questions that these four sub-topics raise, the paper proposes a range of sub-areas as a focus for ongoing sociological research into unpaid domestic work. It is concluded that, despite the methodological challenges presented, detailed indicators of the multiple dimensions of unpaid domestic work need to be agreed so that valid information can be collected in large scale surveys as routinely as it is on paid work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Husbands of patients with fibromyalgia syndrome (HFMS) report poorer physical and mental health than husbands of women without illness, as well as role strains because of their wives' condition. There are no published reports regarding the impact of fibromyalgia on their marital relationship. In the present study, we used Lazarus and Folkman's (1984) model of stress and coping as a framework to examine marital satisfaction among HFMS. We hypothesized that role strains would be related to marital satisfaction, mediated or moderated by social support and problem and emotion focused coping. HFMS (n = 135) and husbands of healthy women (n = 153) completed the Locke Wallace Marital Adjustment Test, the Interpersonal Support Evaluation List, and the Ways of Coping Questionnaire. Only HFMS completed the Psychological Adjustment to Illness Scale-Spouse Version. HFMS reported lower marital satisfaction than comparison husbands. Among HFMS, sexual and domestic roles strains and social support were related to marital satisfaction. Social support alone mediated the relationship between role strain and marital satisfaction, and no variable moderated the relationship. These findings support prior research that shows that these husbands are significantly impacted by their wives' condition, and suggest the need to focus more attention on this population, possibly targeting social support for interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study applies Hobfoll's notion of loss spirals to argue for a reciprocal relationship between role stress and 2 of its most commonly studied consequences: exhaustion and satisfaction. By means of structural equation modeling and a cross-lagged design of 116 business managers, the researchers found support for a relationship between role stress and exhaustion. They also found that satisfaction influences role stress, a relationship that the existing literature has not examined. The study contributes a more complex understanding of the relationship between role stress and its modeled outcomes than has been achieved previously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research is a content analysis of violent female action characters (“VFAC”) shown in American action films from 1991 through 2005. The analysis focused on three aspects of VFACs: (1) gender stereotypes, (2) demographics, and (3) quantity and type of violence. Findings showed that 58.6% of VFACs were portrayed in a submissive role to the male hero in the film, and 42% were romantically linked to him. The average VFAC was young, white, highly educated, and unmarried. VFACs engaged in masculine types of violence yet retained feminine stereotypes due to their submissive role and romantic involvement with a dominant male hero character. The findings suggest continued gender stereotypes set within a violent framework of contemporary American cinema. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, accountants' attitudes, subjective norms, behavioral controls that affect their intention towards information technology usage, and the impact of intention on usage behavior were investigated. We used the Theory of Planned Behavior which is a a social psycholgy-based theory. This theory have enlighted several studies in different fi elds. In the model formed in the light of literature review, the data obtained from 456 accountants via questionnaire was analyzed by using regression to test relationship among variables. In accordance with the literature, fi ndings show that attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control have statictically signifi cant effect on accountants' intention towards information technology usage. Also, intention has statistically signifi cant effect in determination of the information technology usage. However, it is concluded that perceived behavioral control doesn't have statistically signifi cant effect on usage behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Alberta Journal of Educational Research is the property of Alberta Journal of Educational Research and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

We examined effects of proposer gender and condom negotiation strategy on perceptions of condom proposers in undergraduates in the southwestern regions of the US. Using a video manipulation ( N = 150), a female proposer was evaluated no more harshly than a male proposer, and was evaluated more positively in some ways. In a vignette manipulation ( N = 193) a female proposer using an Eroticization negotiation strategy (compared to Refusal of sex or Explanation of consequences) was seen as more exciting and likely to engage in sex. Surprisingly, women were harsher judges than men of a female condom proposer using an Eroticization strategy. Greater attention should be paid to the nature of condom negotiation within the framework of the sexual script. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teams differ in the way they define roles and responsibilities and in the level of formalism by which they establish and communicate these definitions. Responsibilities are not always clearly defined, and there is often confusion or mismatch between the individual's perspectives of a role and the expectations of that role by other team members. This lack of shared understanding can lead to issues in performance and lack of accountability. We review the notion of role specification as part of software development governance and present an approach for specifying responsibilities in terms of decisions to be made during the life cycle of software development artifacts. We present evaluation data from software teams as they redefine their roles and shape their responsibilities. We further present a tool for governance specification based on this approach, which can ensure that these specifications are adhered to in the software development platform. We conclude by describing a methodology for how the tool and approach can be implemented to help software development teams understand and evolve the appropriate governance for their needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I explicate the distinction between ethics and morality in terms of four central contrasts, and argue (1) that moral theories that embrace the implicit divide are both theoretically and practically problematic in their failure to meet certain widely accepted standards of theoretical coherence and in their resulting propensity to generate indeterminable conflicts among norms, and (2) that social roles represent one aspect of the moral life that cannot be understood in terms of this distinction. My suggestion will be that we ought to explore an interpretation of the moral realm according to which all moral attributes are relative to social roles, since a role-centered morality promises a way of overcoming this problematic divide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the potential human cost of multiple role expectations. Based on a survey of middle-level managers, and drawing on role theory to develop testable hypotheses, we show that expecting innovation and empowerment alongside budget-goal attainment may increase levels of role conflict, leading to a decrease in performance. Through field research we explore the coping strategies that may be invoked to deal with such psychological role conflict. We find that coping may be assisted by having responsibility for discretionary budgets, which allows managers to make tradeoffs involving the budget in response to multiple role expectations. In addition, we show that high-performing managers are better able to cope with simultaneous expectations of innovation, empowerment, and budget-goal attainment than low-performing managers. Overall, our analysis suggests that positive outcomes may result from establishing forces for ''creative innovation'' alongside ''predictable goal attainment'' (Simons 1995), but only for a subset of managers who are able to cope with multiple, conflicting role expectations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The work students create should help them develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed in the adult world. In this article, the authors identify adult roles essential for young people to develop and outline ways teachers can use curriculum standards to create assignments and assessments that prepare youths for those adult roles in society. They also provide guidelines for scoring these assessments and a sample rubric. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To identify the various potential manifestations of the dual-role dilemma in the psychiatric ethics literature. Method: The terms 'dual role', 'dual agency', 'overlapping roles', and 'double agency' were searched on the electronic databases PubMed, Medline, Embase and PsychInfo. Classic papers in the field of psychiatric ethics and their references were manually searched. Papers were selected for relevance to the topic of the dual-role dilemma in relation to psychiatry. Results: The dual-role dilemma is most explicitly addressed in the literature on forensic psychiatry and military psychiatry. Review of the ethics literature in other fields of psychiatry indicates many instances of the dilemma of psychiatrists facing conflicting obligations akin to the dual-role problem identified in the literature on forensic psychiatry. Many of these dilemmas are characterized by the presence of a powerful third party to whom the psychiatrist has some perceived obligations. Conclusions: In psychiatric ethics, the dual-role dilemma refers to the tension between psychiatrists' obligations of beneficence towards their patients, and conflicting obligations to the community, third parties, other health-care workers, or the pursuit of knowledge in the field. These conflicting obligations transcend a conflict of interest in that the expectations of the psychiatrist, other than the patient's best interests, are so compelling. This tension illustrates how the discourse in psychiatric ethics is embedded in the social and cultural context of the situations encountered. It appears that as society changes in its approach to the value of liberal autonomy and the 'collective good', psychiatrists may also need to change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports the findings of a study that compared the role perceptions of African Caribbean (n = 43) and African American foster parents (n = 91) who belonged to a single foster care agency located in New York City. The Foster Parent Role Perception (FPRP) scale was used to measure perceived responsibility. Findings indicated more similarities than differences between the two groups. For example, there were no significant differences between the two groups as regard to demographic characteristics, role perceptions or order of priority given to foster parent role responsibilities. The implications of these findings for practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents an emergent conceptual model of childhood adultification and economic disadvantage derived from 5 longitudinal ethnographies of children and adolescents growing up in low-income families. Childhood adultification involves contextual, social, and developmental processes in which youth are prematurely, and often inappropriately, exposed to adult knowledge and assume extensive adult roles and responsibilities within their family networks. Exemplar cases from the ethnographies are integrated in the discussion to illustrate components of the model. Four successive levels of adultification are described: precocious knowledge, mentored-adultification, peerification/spousification, and parentification. The developmental assets and liabilities children incur also are discussed. Recommendations for school, health care, and social service practitioners working with low-income families and children are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, more than 14 million people reportedly suffer from depression, with the majority of that group being women. Due to the seemingly ubiquitous nature of this disease, this essay seeks to elucidate the ways in which we currently think and talk about women and depression. While previous scholars have explored the social context of women's depression in social scientific studies, this essay provides insight into the ways popular discourse constructs women and depression from a critical rhetoric paradigm. I argue that the dominant discourse about depression constructs women possessing detective bodies and passive minds; bodies that are sites of danger because of the unpredictable problems that result from women's "natural" susceptibility to depression. The culmination of these claims results in a powerful disciplinary mechanism—one that by encouraging maintenance of the female body functions to both silence the complexity of unique and wide-ranging experience and mask the cultural, social, and political factors of that experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the emergence of Mexico's campaigns in the 1970s and 1980s to reduce population increase. Using primarily archival material from the National Population Council in Mexico City, the author argues that federal health organizations, in particular the Population Council, embraced the use of oral contraception and family planning as the means to introduce modern role models for a forward-looking Mexico. The majority of billboards, soap operas, and radio spots that aired the message focused on dissuading Mexicans from falling into stereotypical behaviors, among them having too many children. In the attempt to reshape traditional attitudes and link a so-called foreign pill to everyday Mexican actions, however, the campaigns reinforced racial and class divisions while encouraging new gender roles. Although they were successful in reducing the rate of population increase, the campaigns failed to address more pressing issues such as poverty, unemployment, and migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The raison d’être of this article is that many a spry-eyed analyst of the works in intelligent computing and robotics fail to see the essential concerning applications development, that of expressing their ultimate goal. Alternatively, they fail to state it suitably for the lesser-informed public eye. The author does not claim to be able to remedy this. Instead, the visionary investigation offered couples learning and computing with other related fields as part of a larger spectre to fully simulate people in their embodied image. For the first time, the social roles attributed to the technical objects produced are questioned, and so with a humorous illustration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the past twenty five years, the new psychology of men has pioneered advancements in understanding and conceptualizing gender role expectations using the Gender Role Strain Paradigm. Gender ideology, an individual's internalization of cultural belief systems regarding gender role norms, is the core construct of the Gender Role Strain Paradigm. The aim of this article is to provide a comprehensive summary of findings from research on masculinity ideologies using the Male Role Norms Inventory (MRNI) conducted over the past 15 years. A review of data on the psychometric properties of the MRNI, along with cross-cultural and cross-national analyses will be presented, as will the relationship between traditional ideologies and other constructs. The article concludes with suggested directions for future research and practice using the MRNI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Role stress has received a lot of research attention in psychological, sociological, and organizational studies over the last several decades. Based on a literature review of about 300 journal articles, this article examines prominent consequences of role stress. Specific focus is on researching differences in relationships between facets of role stress (i.e., role ambiguity, role conflict, and role overload) and frequently cited consequences using techniques of meta-analysis. Findings indicate that each role stress facet has a different relationship with the eight consequences studied. Role stress research can benefit from looking at each facet individually in addition to role stress generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In every cultural setting, language provides an essential framework within which reality is configured. Cultural ideas acquire form and are sustained through language. The social field created through chosen words and their connected meanings effectively function as key terms in defining cultural knowledge. Motherhood is an important role in Indian society. The eventuality of becoming a mother is of vital consequence, especially for Indian women, and much cultural content revolves around this issue. Consequently, the language of motherhood is also highlighted in everyday linguistic usage, in particular through the notion of mamta. This article explores the everyday understanding of twenty men and women living in Delhi regarding the term mamta, set against the social role of motherhood in India. The findings of the study indicate a vibrant social space and personal attention dedicated to the notion of motherhood in general and mamta in particular. Predominantly, rnamta was understood as 'mother's love' for her offspring—generated quite 'naturally ' through bearing a child—that is heightened in situations of vulnerability and need. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

American and Chinese college students’ anticipations showed no gender differences in their desires for postgraduate education, marriage, and parental status. Stereotypical gender differences emerged in both countries when caregiving roles were considered: Both men and women rated it more likely for women than for men to quit their jobs to be caregivers. Overall, male college students, the Chinese men in particular, felt less comfortable than did women in situations where their spouses were superior in earnings, achievements, and social status. More Chinese than American students planned to enter marriage and parenthood at a later age, and the Chinese students rated the importance of family lower. These findings are discussed in light of the general sociocultural model and the role distribution theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Temporary organizations are known to provide flexibility for industries that rely on them, but we know little about their implications for how work is accomplished and coordinated. In this paper, I propose that common portrayals of temporary organizations as ephemeral and unstable are inaccurate: Temporary organizations are in fact organized around structured role systems whose nuances are negotiated in situ. This paper analyzes one type of temporary organization, film projects, exploring the way in which roles both organize immediate work and maintain continuity across different projects. On each film set, role expectations are communicated through practices of enthusiastic thanking, polite admonishing, and role-oriented joking, which enable crew members to learn and negotiate role structures. Two important structural characteristics of film projects provide the organizational context within which coordination takes place: interorganizational career progression and projects as temporary total institutions. By showing how these structural elements and role enactments support one another, this work generates a more complete understanding of the conditions that affect coordination, including role duration, expectations of future interaction, and visibility of work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents research methodologies and findings from a qualitative practitioner study that examined initial constructs of a new model of counseling supervision, tentatively named the Regenerative model (R. Neswald-McCalip, J. Sather, J. Strati, & J. Dineen, 2003). Findings include the emergence of cultural and spiritual awareness and expression as important constructs in the supervision process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents recent Australian evidence on the extent to which women are entering "hybrid" computing jobs combining technical and communication or "people management" skills, and the way these skill combinations are valued at organisational lever. We draw on a survey of detailed occupational roles in large IT firms to examine the representation of women in a range of jobs consistent with the notion of"hybrid", and analyse the discourse around these sorts of skills in a set of organisational case studies. Our research shows a traditional picture of labour market segmentation, with limited representation of women in high status jobs, and their relatively greater prevalence in more routine areas of the industry. While our case studies highlight perceptions of the need for hybrid roles and assumptions about the suitability of women for such jobs, the ongoing masculinity of core development functions appears untouched by this discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prompted by research suggesting females' self-concepts are more interpersonally rooted than males', I compare girls' identity changes in reaction to relationships in new social contexts with boys', testing whether identity change processes are the same for each sex. I use survey responses from 320 summer program students about five activity areas: (1) science & technology; (2) computers; (3) athletics & recreation; (4) beliefs & interests; and (5) arts & literature. While girls become more attached to and involved with others, their identity processes are equivalent to those of boys. Girls change more, but their change is rooted in greater sociability, not higher reactivity to new relationships. Findings vary by relationship and activity types, indicating sex differences may reflect gender role expectations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]