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Courts in seven U.S. states have removed children with “obesity” from parental custody until children could maintain “healthy weights.” These rulings—alongside qualitative reports from parents of children with high weight (PoCHs)—suggest that PoCHs are judged as bad parents. Yet little work has tested whether people genuinely stigmatize PoCHs or what drives this phenomenon. In three experiments with U.S. online community participants ( N = 1,011; two preregistered), we tested an attribution theory model: Social perceivers attribute children’s weights to parents and thus stigmatize those parents. Experiments 1 and 2 support this model (across parent and child gender). Experiment 3 manipulated attributions of parental responsibility for child weight, revealing attenuated stigma with low attributions of responsibility. Findings are among the first to describe and explain stigma toward a large demographic (parents of children with obesity)—with real-world implications (e.g., for family separation, health care)—and may additionally illuminate the psychology underlying stigma toward parents of children with other potentially stigma-evoking identities.

Parenting behaviors in early development are associated with risk-taking behaviors in emerging adulthood. Risky behaviors are also shown to be associated with cortisol response to stressors. This study examined the moderating effect of neuroendocrine response to stressors on the link between parenting behaviors in early development and risky behaviors in emerging adulthood. Participants were 78 healthy college students (38 males). Following a habituation session, participants completed a modified version of the Trier Social Stress Task prior to completing measures of risky behavior. Salivary cortisol was measured before the stressor, 20, and 40 min post-stressor. Parenting behaviors and cortisol response to stressor were seen to be linked risky behavior. For males, the link between harsh father behaviors and risky behavior was significantly moderated by cortisol response to stressor such that higher cortisol response was related to decreased risky behaviors. For females, risk-taking was associated with harsh and warm parenting behaviors, but the link between parenting and risky behaviors was not related to or moderated by cortisol response. These results provide evidence that parents might have separate effect on predicting risky behaviors and provides support for literature that chronic stressors can influence sensitivity to acute stressors and subsequent risk-taking behaviors.

Previous research has suggested that women’s food intake is influenced by increases in progesterone, most notably during the post-ovulatory period. Additionally, body mass index and high-density foods play a contributing role in the amount of attention given to food. Although research has primarily focused on women’s self-reported ratings across the menstrual cycle, whether women’s attention to food is influenced by progesterone levels, menstrual status, and BMI has been unexplored. The current study investigated women’s visual attention to high and low-caloric food items. Across two lab visits, women’s progesterone levels were tracked while they completed an eye-tracking task. The results demonstrated that high-caloric foods were viewed longer irrespective of BMI, and there was tentative support for women’s progesterone influencing their first fixation durations to high-caloric foods. Overall, the findings suggest that high caloric foods were visually salient, which may be indicative of how humans allocate attention to food high in energy density, and it suggests that women’s early attentional processes are partly influenced by sex hormones (i.e., progesterone).

Courts in seven U.S. states have removed children with “obesity” from parental custody until children could maintain “healthy weights.” These rulings—alongside qualitative reports from parents of children with higher-weight (PoCH)—suggest parents of PoCH are stigmatized. Yet little work tests whether social perceivers genuinely stigmatize PoCH, or what drives this. In three experiments (two pre-registered), we test an attribution theory model: Social perceivers attribute children’s (excess) weights to parents, and thus stigmatize those parents. Experiments 1 and 2 support this model (across parent and child gender). Experiment 3 manipulates the extent to which parents are attributed responsibility for child weight, revealing attenuated stigma with lesser attributions of responsibility. Findings are among the first to describe and explain stigma toward a growing demographic (parents of children with “obesity”), may illuminate the psychology underlying stigma toward parents of children with other stigma-evoking identities, and have real-world implications (e.g., for family separation).

Women’s mating strategies are dependent on multiple factors, such as identifying which men advertise physical features indicating high genetic quality, as well as identifying which men are willing to invest in offspring. Research has suggested that women pursuing short-term mating prioritize physical attraction to facilitate the acquisition of good genes. Although it is known that physical characteristics are important in mate choice, research investigating the saliency of physical features in assessing male fitness has not been readily explored. The current study used an eye-tracking paradigm to investigate the role of short-term mating in women and their attraction and visual attention to men’s waist to chest ratios (WCRs). Women’s short-term mating orientation (N = 130) was associated with attraction to men with low WCRs; however, their visual attention was not influenced by their mating strategy. Interestingly, women who perceived themselves as attractive rated men with low WCRs as more attractive and allocated attentional resources to physical features important in mate choice, such as the head and midriff region. The findings from this study lend some support to sexual strategies theory (Buss & Schmitt, 1993) and strategic pluralism (Gangestad & Simpson, 2000), and they suggest that mate preferences may be calibrated as a function of one’s mate value.

Breasts are sexually dimorphic physical characteristics, and they are enlarged post-puberty suggesting that they have been driven by sexual selection to signal fertility and residual reproductive value. Although different hypotheses have attempted to explain why men are attracted to women’s breasts, the role that ecology plays in men’s perceptions of women’s breasts has been limited. The current study used an ecologically harsh prime to investigate if ecological harshness influenced men’s perceptions of women’s breast size, ptosis (i.e., sagginess), and intermammary distance. Men were primed with an ecological harsh prime (i.e., economy uncertainty) and asked to rate women whose breast size, ptosis, and intermammary distance (i.e., cleavage) had been manipulated. Ecological harshness only influenced men’s perceptions of women’s breasts for reproductive success. Overall, men rated women with larger breasts as more attractive, fertile, healthier, reproductively successful, and likely to befriend. The study contributes to the overall literature on men’s perceptions of women’s breasts and suggests that ecological harshness may influence men's perceptions of women's reproductive success.

Chronic stress is linked to social adversity and underlies many health disparities among ethnic minorities. Cortisol and salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) reflect sensitivity to adversity and are related to health outcomes. Our aim was to understand how social adversity influences biological responses to experimental and daily stressors in a sample of low-income African American emerging adults. In the three-week study, participants completed questionnaires, the Trier Social Stress Task (TSST), and provided four salivary samples. In week 2, participants collected saliva at home immediately after waking and just before bed for three days. Results demonstrated an asymmetrical pattern between cortisol and sAA reactivity that was related to experiences with racism and interpersonal trauma. Further, daily stress was related to lower morning and higher nighttime cortisol, indicating atypical diurnal rhythm. These findings are consistent with other forms of social adversity that lead to long-term changes in the HPA axis response pattern.LAY SUMMARYAfrican American emerging adults showed divergent cortisol and sAA responses.Social adversity predicted an asymmetrical response pattern for sAA and cortisol.Atypical diurnal rhythms were found for participants reporting high daily stress.

Federal and state environmental agencies regulate chemicals under a variety of environmental laws. The Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act (LCSA) amended the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) in 2016, and this update provides a mechanism by which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) can regulate chemicals used by industry in order to prevent or limit exposures to chemicals. In particular, TSCA requires USEPA to assess the risk of injury to human health or the environment from exposure to chemicals identified as active. USEPA is currently assessing 10 chemicals and recently identified another 20 high priority and 20 low priority chemicals for evaluation. These risk evaluations, which may reflect new toxicological data, may identify new dose-response factors that change our understanding of the toxicity of many chemicals. This could result in either restrictions to chemical use, new cleanup standards, or more stringent cleanup standards. In this article, the authors review the process for identifying high priority chemicals and make predictions for the next set of emerging chemicals. Regulation of these chemicals could lead to a requirement for process changes as well as identify additional chemicals for evaluation at hazardous waste sites.

Literature suggests that stress-induced consumption of highly palatable food is a behavior pertaining almost exclusively to women. Given the overall association between stress levels and obesity in the United States transcends sex, it seems likely that males also engage in stress-induced consumption of highly palatable food in certain contexts. In the current study, 168 males and females (54.2% female) were randomly assigned to one of three experimental groups: achievement stress, social rejection stress, and a control condition. Stress was measured with cortisol and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) reactivity. Post stressor food consumption was measured by weighing several categories of food (highly palatable (sweet, salty), nutritious sweet, nutritious non-sweet, and bland) before and after the participant was introduced to the food items. Males demonstrated greater parasympathetic withdrawal and cortisol reactivity in the achievement condition than females; whereas females demonstrated greater parasympathetic withdrawal and cortisol reactivity in the social rejection condition than males. There were no significant differences in parasympathetic withdrawal between males and females in the control condition. Post-stressor highly palatable food consumption followed this trend. While there was no main effect for sex on the amount of post-stressor highly palatable food consumed, there was a significant main effect for condition and an interaction effect for sex and condition on the amount of post-stressor highly palatable food consumed. Our results challenge the prevailing notion that stress-induced eating of hyper palatable food is mainly found among women by finding that males also engage in such behavior if their experience leads to an adequate stress response.

Physical characteristics, such as a V-shaped torso and body hair, are visually salient information that reflect a potential mate’s immunocompetence, status, and reproductive potential (Dixson et al. 2014; Singh 1994), and are thus often desired by women. Recently, the use of eye tracking in attraction research has demonstrated that visual patterns are behavioral indices of interest in a potential mate. Two studies investigated women’s visual perception of men’s attractiveness across different phases of the menstrual cycle (i.e., low vs. high fertility) while manipulating hair distribution across waist to chest ratios. In study 1 (N = 83), men with low (0.7) waist to chest ratios were rated as more attractive, and women focused most of their visual attention to the upper region of the body (i.e., head and midriff). There were no differences in visual attention as a function of fertility status. Study 2 (N = 53) replicated the findings from study 1 and found support for visual differences across the menstrual cycle using progesterone. Women viewed the head region (i.e., face) longer and took more time viewing men in general during the fertile phase of their menstrual cycle (low progesterone) compared to the nonfertile phase (high progesterone). Study 2 also showed that visual attention to the head and chest region was influenced by short-term mating orientation. The findings add to the existing literature on visual attention and attraction, and they contribute new findings in determining differences in visual perception across the menstrual cycle and mating orientation in women.

The impact of early developmental experience on neurobiological pathways that may contribute to the association between diet and behavior have not yet been elucidated. The focus of the current study was to determine whether the impact of prenatal stress (PS) could be mitigated by a diet that stimulates the same neuroendocrine systems influenced by early stress, using a mouse model. Behavioral and genetic approaches were used to assess how a Western-pattern diet (WPD) interacts with PS and sex to impact the expression of anxiety-like behavior in an open-field arena, as well as the expression of the glucocorticoid receptor in the hippocampus, D1 dopamine receptors in the nucleus accumbens, and D2 dopamine receptors in the ventral tegmental area. Overall, the results demonstrated that a prenatal WPD mitigates the effects of maternal stress in dams and offspring. These results help to elucidate the relationship between pre- and post-natal nutrition, gene expression, and behaviors that lead to long-term health effects.

Adversity is a pervasive feature of human life, often contributing to poor physical and mental health outcomes. While social support can buffer against the negative consequences associated with stressful life events,the conditions under which people seek to establish potentially protective social ties with others in times of distress require greater attention. In a classic study of affiliation, Schachter (1959) provided evidence that women exposed to laboratory stressors had an increased desire for being together. While evolutionary theory broadly predicts that women will seek to form beneficial relationships in stressful environments, when faced with acute threat, men may also benefit from affiliation in the form of coalitions. In the current study, following an adaptation of Schachter’s (1959) experiment, participants (N = 72; 59.7% female; Mage = 19.56 yrs; 74.6% White) were randomized into ahigh-anxiety or low-anxiety group. Logistic regression analyses showed that both men and women in the high-anxiety condition were significantly more likely to desire affiliation than those in the low-stress condition and that participants experiencing anxiety were significantly more likely to desire affiliation than those without anxiety. This study replicates and extends Schachter’s (1959) findings, providing evidence that both men and women prefer to affiliate under conditions of acute stress, specifically within the context of physical threat.

Examining the multitude of influences on the development of adolescent stress responses, especially among low-income families, is a critical and understudied topic in the field. The current study examined cortisol attunement between adolescent girls and parents (mostly mothers) from predominantly low-income, single parent, ethnic minority families before and after an in-laboratory disagreement discussion task. The sample consisted of 118 adolescents (M(age) = 13.79 years, 76.3% ethnic minorities, 23.7% European Americans) and primary caregivers (M(age) = 40.62 years; Mdn yearly income = $24,000; 43.2% single parents; 50% living below poverty line). We investigated oxytocin receptor (OXTR rs53576) gene variations as a potential contributor to attunement within the dyad. Results showed that parents and adolescents showed stress system attunement across the disagreement task, but that parent and adolescent oxytocin receptor genotype did not impact attunement. Future studies should detail biological factors that contribute to the calibration of stress response systems of adolescents across a variety of samples, particularly those experiencing a combination of stressors.

The 2016 presidential election was one of the most politically charged and volatile elections in recent history. The election also saw its first female candidate, Hillary Clinton, represent a major political party. Prior research is inconclusive on how biases can affect political outcomes, with some research showing that racism has affected presidential elections, while others have shown that sexism does not affect elections. However, agentic women often face discrimination and backlash when seeking positions of power. The current study sought to extend past work by examining the potential role of sexism in the 2016 election. After controlling for participant sex, time of participation, and political party identification, it was found that individual differences in hostile sexism and traditional attitudes toward women significantly predicted voting for Donald Trump. These results suggest that voter attitudes toward women may have played a role in the election outcome.

Physiological attunement between mothers and infants is emerging as an important indicator of infant information processing, emotion regulation, and health outcomes. Far less understood is the role of paternal support and maternal satisfaction with her partner in facilitating the mother-infant biorhythm. This exploratory study evaluated the impact of maternal satisfaction with her romantic partner and mother-infant communication features on mother-infant hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis attunement. Mothers were asked to complete a series of questionnaires in the presence of her infant, requiring approximately 45 min, occupying maternal attention and serving as a mild challenge for the infant. After completion of the questionnaires, mothers’ and infants’ saliva were collected and later assayed for cortisol. Maternal reports of couple satisfaction (n = 33) impacted mother-infant adrenocortical attunement such that those reporting more satisfaction with their partner showed more attunement with their infants. Maternal reports of couple satisfaction (n = 33) were associated with lower infant, but not lower maternal cortisol levels. Finally, mothers who reported engaging in more infant-directed speech (n = 47), a potential index of maternal sensitivity, showed more attunement with their infants. Removal of an outlier (infant cortisol) reduced the findings to marginal significance in the predicted direction. Though this study is exploratory and the findings are tentative, we conclude that one way that fathers may indirectly contribute to infant outcomes is through social support of the mother, and that infant-directed speech may facilitate mother-infant attunement.

Women's mating strategies are dependent on multiple factors, such as identifying which men advertise physical features indicating high genetic quality, as well as identifying which men are willing to invest in offspring. Research has suggested that women pursuing short-term mating prioritize physical attraction to facilitate the acquisition of good genes. Although it is known that physical characteristics are important in mate choice, research investigating the saliency of physical features in assessing male fitness has not been readily explored. The current study used an eye-tracking paradigm to investigate the role of short-term mating in women and their attraction and visual attention to men's waist to chest ratios (WCRs). Women's short-term mating orientation (N = 130) was associated with attraction to men with low WCRs; however, their visual attention was not influenced by their mating strategy. Interestingly, women who perceived themselves as attractive rated men with low WCRs as more attractive and allocated attentional resources to physical features important in mate choice, such as the head and midriff region. The findings from this study lend some support to sexual strategies theory (BussSchmitt, 1993) and strategic pluralism (GangestadSimpson, 2000), and they suggest that mate preferences may be calibrated as a function of one's mate value.

Coordination within physiological systems, particularly those systems known to be responsive to the social environment, such as the stress response systems, has become increasingly viewed as a way to index bidirectional social information processing within close relationships. Most studies have focused on coordination of stress system responding within mother–child or romantic dyads. These studies have demonstrated that adrenocortical attunement, or coordination within the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, is predictive of relationship quality and sensitivity. Mother–infant attunement is predictive of emotional regulation and outcomes associated with resilience later in development. Very few studies, however, have examined attunement within the entire family, specifically neglecting to examine fathers’ coordination with their children and partners, and how that may influence child outcomes. We also know little regarding the predictive factors and outcomes of physiological coordination in at-risk populations. We argue that examining physiological attunement within at-risk families can serve as a vital biomarker that signals important developmental outcomes. Importantly, changes in family biomarkers could be used as an unbiased index of the effectiveness of intervention programs. We discuss the information this perspective is likely to yield and its ability to promote resilience within families.

Friendships constitute important relationships, and often function to reduce stress, but have been under-studied. In mother-child dyads, infants coordinate their stress response with their caregivers without experiencing the stressor themselves. The current study used a modified version of the Trier Social Stress Test to examine whether i) friends are physiologically attuned (i.e., cortisol and progesterone); ii) attunement differs as a function of social acceptance or rejection external to the dyad; and, iii) friends can ‘catch’ a stress response only through non-verbal cues. Friends showed both cortisol and progesterone attunement at the beginning of the study. Friends showed cortisol attunement across time and conditions. Friends’ progesterone levels were significantly, but negatively associated across time and conditions. They did not, however, show a stress contagion as a result of one friend experiencing stress. These findings suggest that cortisol and progesterone play different roles in the attunement of stress and subsequent affiliation.

Most human studies reveal that social strategy is important to dominance rank within a hierarchy. In particular, bi-strategic controller strategies, the combination of prosocial (helping behavior) and coercive strategies (forcing others) are related to achieving and maintaining social dominance. Additionally, temperament traits such as effortful control are important in allowing the individual to fine-tune strategy use to the current context. However, social hierarchies also involve social dynamics that may create physical and emotional challenges, and these challenges are tied to health outcomes. The current study examines the relationships between social positioning, social strategy usage, temperament traits, and health. Findings reveal that self-reported social dominance was related to bi-strategic strategy usage. In addition, rating high in both bi-strategic resource control and effortful control (referred to as functional leadership orientation) was related to a variety of health components including energy, emotional well-being, social functioning and overall physical health. Although the causal direction remains unclear, it appears that bi-strategic controllers who are also high on effortful control are able to achieve both high status and better overall health.

Current evolutionary theories regarding the nature of hormonal responses to a variety of salient social stimuli are incomplete in yielding evidentiary support for their assertions. This study offers more nuanced evidence for the Tend-and-Befriend model of sex differences in responses to social stimuli. Participants were randomly assigned to a mortality salience prime or a control condition prior to viewing a video of an out-group threat or a video of infants crying. Cortisol and testosterone responses were assessed. The results showed that in mortality salience conditions, females showed significantly higher cortisol responses to infants crying compared to males. Further, in both mortality salience and control conditions, females showed significantly higher testosterone responses to the crying infants than males. Males showed a greater testosterone response to viewing an out-group threat. Mortality salience prime did not impact testosterone responses in either sex. Results point to a more nuanced representation of hormonal responses to social stimuli and the need for multisystem measurement.

Machiavellian personality traits are often associated with low levels of empathy and lack of interpersonal closeness. However, some individuals high on Machiavellian traits have been shown to be skilled at affective-perspective taking and thereby may appear to exhibit an empathic response. The current study examined reported empathetic response as well as physiological empathetic response (through skin conductance levels) in relationship to Machiavellian personality traits. Physiological responses were examined while participants watched emotion eliciting videos. In addition, life history traits and social strategies were examined in relation to the development of Machiavellian personality traits. The results of the current study reveal that individuals high on Machiavellian personality traits had lower levels of physiological emphatic responding (skin conductance levels), although they did not report less empathy. Additionally, Machiavellian personality traits were associated with the use of bi-strategic social strategies and having a childhood environment with a harsh or inconsistent father. More specifically, a relationship with a harsh or inconsistent father was found to moderate the relationship between Machiavellian personality scores and skin conductance levels, such that those high in Machiavellian traits appeared to be more resistant to the impact of harsh fathering on responses to others’ distress. These results suggest that personality characteristics, social styles, and father’s parenting styles are linked to particular physiological profiles in response to highly charged emotional situations.

Background The parent-child relationship may be an important factor in the development of adolescent depressive and anxious symptoms. In adults, depressive symptoms relate to increased amygdala and attenuated prefrontal activation to maternal criticism. The current pilot study examined how depressive and anxiety symptoms in a high-risk adolescent population relate to neural responses to maternal feedback. Given previous research relating oxytocin to maternal behavior, we conducted exploratory analyses using oxytocin receptor (OXTR) genotype. Methods Eighteen females (ages 12–16) listened to maternal praise, neutral, and critical statements during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Participants completed the Mood and Feelings Questionnaire and the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders. The OXTR single nucleotide polymorphism, rs53576, was genotyped. Linear mixed models were used to identify symptom or allele (GG, AA/AG) by condition (critical, neutral, praise) interaction effects on brain activation. Results Greater symptoms related to greater right amygdala activation for criticism and reduced activation to praise. For left amygdala, greater symptoms related to reduced activation to both conditions. Anxiety symptoms related to differences in superior medial PFC activation patterns. Parental OXTR AA/AG allele related to reduced activation to criticism and greater activation to praise within the right amygdala. Conclusions Results support a relationship between anxiety and depressive symptoms and prefrontal-amygdala responses to maternal feedback. The lateralization of amygdala findings suggests separate neural targets for interventions reducing reactivity to negative feedback or increasing salience of positive feedback. Exploratory analyses suggest that parents' OXTR genetic profile influences parent-child interactions and related adolescent brain responses., Highlights • Adolescent brain responses to maternal praise and criticism were examined. • Anxiety related to prefrontal-amygdala response to both criticism and praise. • Exploratory results support a role for the OXTR gene in parent-child interactions.

Background Worry or fear related to speaking in front of others, or more broadly, communicating and interacting with others, is common. At elevated levels, however, it may contribute to heightened stress reactivity during acute speaking challenges. The purpose of this study was to examine multi-system physiological stress reactivity in the context of high-stakes public speaking while considering the impact of hypothesized individual difference risk factors. Methods University student participants (n = 95) delivering speeches as a heavily-weighted component of their final grade had saliva samples collected immediately prior to speaking, immediately after, and 20 min after speech completion. Saliva samples were assayed for alpha amylase (sAA), cortisol, and interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β). Self-reported communication anxiety, social interaction anxiety, rejection sensitivity, and sex were assessed as risk factors for heightened stress reactivity. Results Salivary sAA, cortisol, and IL-1β significantly changed following speech delivery. Multivariate analyses demonstrated that elevated levels of self-reported communication anxiety and social interaction anxiety were independently associated with increased cortisol and IL-1β responses and combined to enhance HPA axis and inflammatory cytokine activity further (i.e., cortisol and IL-1β AUC I ). Sex and rejection sensitivity were unrelated to physiological stress reactivity. Conclusions These findings suggest that individuals with elevated communication and interaction fears may be at increased risk of heightened neuroendocrine and inflammatory responses following exposure to acute social stressors. Both types of anxiety may combine to increase physiological reactivity further, with unknown, though likely insalubrious, health consequences over time.

Attunement, or synchrony, of behavior and physiology has been well documented in family, mother-child, and romantic relationships. This study aimed to determine whether attunement of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis occurs in women’s close friendships, and the role of a common social style, co-rumination in that attunement. Saliva samples (later assayed for cortisol) were collected from 37 dyads (74 individuals) during a laboratory task in which they were either asked to work together toward a common goal (control task) or discuss interpersonal problems, providing opportunity for co-rumination. Findings suggest that friends demonstrated adrenocortical attunement prior to engaging in either task, and that the level of attunement prior to the task predicted co-rumination and its components for both groups. Co-rumination, in turn, predicted adrenocortical attunement after the task. These findings suggest that bidirectional attunement of HPA activity may serve a bonding function within women’s close friendships. Implications for how these findings fit with the tend-and-befriend hypothesis are discussed.

Sex differences in empathizing with others and systemizing the abstract rules that govern the operation of things and the natural world have been proposed as the core, essential differences between men and women. We evaluate this assertion in the context of Darwin’s (1871) sexual selection and specifically test the hypothesis that the systemizing measure captures interest in evolutionarily novel occupational niches associated with interests in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Young adults ( n = 233, 149 male) completed the Empathizing Quotient (EQ), the Systemizing Quotient (SQ) and the RIASEC Personality Type Inventory to assess six career interest groups. Sex differences were found on the EQ, SQ, Investigative interests and interest in things, a subset of items from the Realistic scale. Mediation analyses revealed that occupational interests partially mediated the relation between sex and SQ scores, whereas controlling for Investigative interests increased the sex difference in EQ scores. These results provide partial support for the hypothesis and suggest SQ captures, in part, occupational interests in evolutionarily recent STEM fields.

The present research explored the possibility that individual differences in talking enjoyment may play a role in human reproduction, such as mate advertising in humans. Prior research on talking has tended to focus on sex differences in the amount of talking. We present a new self-report measure to assess individual differences in talking enjoyment and explore its relationships with self-perceived mate value and life history strategy. In Study 1, we assessed talking enjoyment with an 11-item talking enjoyment questionnaire and found that (a) women’s average talking enjoyment and Mini-K ratings were significantly higher than men’s; (b) talking enjoyment was predicted by life history strategy as measured by and self-rated mate value; and (c) the relationship between sex and talking enjoyment was mediated by life history strategy. In Study 2, we replicated the results of Study 1 with a revised eight-item talking enjoyment questionnaire after confirming its test-retest reliability. The results provide new insights into individual differences in talking enjoyment. Directions for future research on the relationship talking behavior and mate selection in humans are discussed.

Sex differences in physiological responses to social threats, as well as status seeking, have been found; however, underlying individual differences are far less documented, especially in women. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the role of self-perceived social status in response to social evaluative threat among young women. Participants completed a self-perceived social dominance questionnaire and then underwent a modified version of the Trier Social Stress Test in which they received negative feedback. Heart rate was used in order to gauge participants’ physiological response. Women who rated themselves as dominant showed a reduction in heart rate from pre-task to post-task, suggesting parasympathetic activation and attunement to the social evaluative threat. Women who rated themselves as subordinate showed an increase in heart rate over the same period, suggesting sympathetic arousal and perceived threat. These findings suggest that physiological responses to social evaluative threats in women may depend on their perceived social status. The autonomic nervous system responses of dominant women may facilitate the maintenance of their social position within a hierarchy.

Co-rumination is an interpersonal behavior that can deepen friendships but also lead to the development of depressive and anxious symptoms. While there has been considerable interest in studying this construct, little psychometric information on the self-report instrument designed to measure co-rumination, the Co-Rumination Questionnaire (CRQ), is available. The current study investigated the factor structure, reliability, and convergent and discriminant validity of the CRQ. Exploratory factor analyses revealed responses were best characterized by a 3-factor structure, termed Rehashing, Mulling, and Encouraging Problem Talk. A confirmatory factor analysis suggested a hierarchical model with the three first-order factors provided a good fit to the data. The CRQ subscales evidenced adequate internal consistency and were differentially related to observational measures of co-rumination and to self-report measures of depression, worry, rumination, and attachment, suggesting the importance of examining specific facets of co-rumination.

This study examined sex differences in salivary cortisol responses to exper- imental stressors and subsequent desire to affiliate in the context of mortality cues following the Tend-and-Befriend model. Participants were randomly assigned to a mortality salience prime or a control condition. They were then assigned to view a video of crying infants or a video designed to elicit out-group threat. As predicted, females showed more cortisol reactivity to the video of crying infants and males showed more cortisol reactivity to the video of hate speech in the no prime condition. Males receiving a mortality salience prime, surprisingly, showed a weaker cortisol response to the out-group threat video compared to males who received no prime. Results provide further support of using the Tend-and-Befriend model to predict differences in stress response system activity between men and women, as well as modifications to that theory that incorporate male responses to out-group threats.

Social hierarchies and physiology are intricately linked, but these associations have not been well studied in adolescence, typically a time of increased focus on social status. Three studies were conducted to better understand the relationship between social dominance, personality and related physiological responses of adolescents upon hierarchy formation and after hierarchies were established. Heart rate and salivary cortisol were used as indices of physiological reactivity. Study one investigated the relationship between, social dominance rank, personality and social strategy usage. Study two extended study one with the addition of a reward allocation task and examined heart rate change. Study three examined social strategy use and salivary cortisol changes in response to a reward allocation task. Overall findings suggest that a combination of prosocial and coercive behaviors is seen in individuals that are perceived as socially dominant, especially in established hierarchies. Subordinates had a greater physiological response to the reward allocation task, but sex differences impacted these results. The current study provides a better understanding of physiological and behavioral profiles of socially prominent adolescents, and how this may differ by sex.

The present research investigated how personal beliefs about homosexuality influence learning in a college course. We tested students in introductory psychology over material on the science of homosexuality by Simon LeVay (2010). All students reported information about their typical academic habits and the extent to which homosexuality was consistent with their beliefs and values. The results showed that students' personal beliefs were related to academic behaviors (e.g., reading assignments, skipping class) and retention of the course material. The results also showed that students' recall of course material six weeks later was predicted by the extent to which they reported studying information that is inconsistent with their beliefs for an exam and then forgetting it. Students who reported the material to be inconsistent with their beliefs engaged in selective forgetting of the material on homosexuality. The results provide evidence that personal beliefs can reduce the retention of belief-inconsistent information in a college course.

This study identified how close relationships are related to low-income pregnant women's ability to cope and overall health. Previous research has shown that stress during pregnancy is related to long-term negative physical and psychological health outcomes for both the mother and the infant. Lower socioeconomic status has been related to higher morbidity and mortality across the lifespan. Women typically rely on close relationships for social support to help reduce stress. However, stress levels can be elevated when women engage in co-rumination. Co-rumination is defined as excessive problem discussion with negative-affect focus. Thirty-one low-income pregnant women from central Oklahoma, USA, reported their daily stressors, social support, communication habits with friends and family, and general health in a series of questionnaires at a prenatal visit. The results revealed that daily stressors, co-rumination with friends, and the relationship with the baby's father were related to physical pain and depressive symptoms. The results suggested that specific social support dynamics, such as co-rumination, during pregnancy have implications for the health of low-income mothers and their infants.

The research tested the hypothesis that childhood relationships with parents were related to risk-taking by young adults. Prior research has shown that risk-taking by young children is related to their interactions with mothers and fathers. Few studies have examined how family relationships during childhood are related to risk-taking by young adults. We assessed risk-taking using the domain-specific risk-taking scale (DOSPERT), which measures five domains of risk-taking: ethical, financial, health, recreational, and social. We also assessed sensation-seeking, a personality trait that has been shown to be a predictor of risk-taking and family dynamics, using a measure that quantifies positive and negative childhood relationships with each parent. The three key results were (1) negative mother interactions predicted men’s financial risk-taking; (2) negative father interactions and disinhibition predicted men’s ethical risk-taking; and (3) women’s ethical risk-taking was predicted by negative father interactions, low positive mother interactions, and boredom susceptibility. Implications for identifying young adults most at-risk for ethical and financial risk-taking are discussed.