Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is more prevalent in males than females. Previous research indicates females camouflage ASD symptoms more than males, potentially contributing to the difference in ...prevalence. This study investigated sex/gender differences in behavioral phenotypes in 17 males and 11 females with ASD, as well camouflaging in ASD, in an attempt to partially replicate findings from Lai et al. (Autism 21(6):690–702,
2017
). Overall ASD symptoms were measured by the autism spectrum quotient (AQ). Mean AQ in females with ASD was higher than males with ASD, with the difference approaching statistical significance. Camouflaging was found to be more common in females with ASD, and not associated to social phobia. Furthermore, camouflaging correlated negatively with emotional expressivity in females, but not males, with ASD. These findings strengthen previous findings regarding camouflaging being more common in females and add to the literature on how camouflaging may be different in females versus males.
Faculty of color experience a number of challenges within academia, including tokenism, marginalization, racial microaggressions, and a disconnect between their racial/ethnic culture and the culture ...within academia. The present study examined epistemic exclusion as another challenge in which formal institutional systems of evaluation combine with individual biases toward faculty of color to devalue their scholarship and deem them illegitimate as scholars. Using data from interviews with 118 faculty of color from a single predominantly White, research-intensive institution, we found that epistemic exclusion occurs through formal hierarchies that determine how scholarship is valued and the metrics used to assess quality, and through informal processes that further convey to faculty of color that they and their scholarship are devalued. In addition, there was variability in reporting these experiences by race, gender, nationality, and discipline. We found that faculty of color coped with epistemic exclusion by being assertive and by seeking validation and support outside the institution. Finally, participants described a number of negative work-related and psychological consequences of their epistemic exclusion. We discuss epistemic exclusion as a form of academic gatekeeping that impedes the recruitment, advancement, and retention of faculty of color and offer strategies to address this barrier.
Despite gender similarities in math and science achievement, women continue to be underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and careers. Increasingly, ...researchers are looking to gender differences in STEM attitudes as the root of this disparity. Theoretical support for the importance of STEM attitudes comes from several theories within educational, social, and vocational psychology, including Eccles’ expectancy-value theory, which maintains that education-related choices are shaped by attitudes—namely, expectations of success and task value as well as self-concept. Yet, the studies testing this model generally have not taken into account the intersection of gender and ethnicity. The current study addresses this gap in the literature by describing gender differences in math and science attitudes and achievement among 367 White, African American, Latino/Latina, and Asian American 10th grade students in neighborhood public high schools from a large northeastern city. Male and female adolescents earned similar end-of-year grades in math and science, whereas Asian American students outperformed students from the other ethnic groups in math and science. Self-report data from paper-and-pencil surveys indicate significant gender differences in that male adolescents reported greater math self-concept and expectations of success and female adolescents reported more science value; gender differences did not vary across ethnic groups. Attitudes were strong predictors of achievement, consistent with hypotheses. To our knowledge, ours is the first study to examine math and science attitudes and achievement at the intersection of gender and ethnicity across four major ethnic groups. We discuss implications for efforts aimed at improving the representation of women in STEM.
The current study used meta-analysis to ask whether age differences, sex differences, and family size are linked to differences in parental treatment, as well as whether effect-sizes were moderated ...by the way parental differential treatment (PDT) was measured, who reported on the PDT, and the domain of PDT. Between August 2015 and November 2020, PsycINFO, Google Scholar, and PubMed Central were searched for articles relating to parental differential treatment; additionally, 13 sibling relationship scholars were contacted to collect unpublished analyses or unused data. Multilevel data came from 13,628 unique participants across 1,388 effect sizes nested within 66 sources (articles/raw data sets), nested within 23 unique samples (74% from North America; 26% from Western Europe). Multilevel meta-analysis conducted in R with the metafor package showed greater differences in parental treatment when siblings were further apart in age or a different sex. The main effects for age spacing, however, were moderated by several factors, particularly the domain of parenting. Specifically, age spacing was linked only to PDT based on control or autonomy granting, meaning when siblings were further apart in age, parents granted more autonomy to one sibling over another. Results were limited, however, by limited sample sizes at the sample level. Overall, findings suggest that parents may, in part, treat siblings differently because they are different to begin with.
Thriving in increasingly complex and ambiguous environments requires creativity and the capability to reconcile conflicting demands. Recent evidence with Western samples has suggested that ...paradoxical frames, or mental templates that encourage individuals to recognize and embrace contradictions, could produce creative benefits. We extended the timely, but understudied, topic by studying the nuances of for whom and why creative advantages of paradoxical frames emerge. We suggest that people endorsing a middle ground approach are less likely to scrutinize conflict and reconcile with integrative solutions, thus receiving less creative benefits of paradoxical frames. Five studies that examined individual and cultural differences in middle ground endorsement support our theory. Study 1 found that paradoxical frames increased creativity, but failed to replicate that experienced conflict mediated the relationship in a Taiwanese sample. In both within- and between-culture analysis, we showed that the creative advantages of thinking paradoxically and experiencing conflict emerged among individuals who endorse lower (vs. higher) levels of middle ground (Study 2) and among Israelis whose culture predominantly endorses middle ground strategy less, but not among Singaporeans whose culture predominantly endorses middle ground more (Study 3). Study 4 further demonstrated the causal role of middle ground in the paradox-conflict-creativity link. To answer "why," Study 5 situationally induced integrative complex thinking that sets distinctions and forms syntheses among contradictory elements, and found that low endorsers of middle ground performed more creatively when they engaged integrative complex thinking to cope with paradoxes. This program of studies offers important insights on harnessing paradoxical experiences to catalyze creativity.
Despite well-documented health disparities by rurality and race/ethnicity, research investigating racial/ethnic health differences among US rural residents is limited. We used county-level data to ...measure and compare premature death rates in rural counties by each county’s majority racial/ethnic group. Premature death rates were significantly higher in rural counties with a majority of non-Hispanic black or American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) residents than in rural counties with a majority of non-Hispanic white residents. After we adjusted for community-level covariates, differences in premature death remained significant in counties with a majority of AI/AN residents but not those with a majority of non-Hispanic black residents. This study highlights the particular vulnerability of non-Hispanic black and AI/AN rural communities to high rates of premature mortality. Policies to improve rural health should focus on these racially diverse communities, addressing economic vitality and current and historical political context to mitigate health inequities and the harmful health effects of neglecting social determinants of health.
Objective
Most research on personality development has employed self‐report questionnaires and concerned individuals older than 10 years. This is the first study to examine mean‐level age differences ...in personality traits from early childhood to late adolescence in the non‐Western cultural context.
Method
Personality was measured in two community samples of parent reports of 2–18‐year‐old children (N = 4,330) and self‐reports of 10–19‐year‐old adolescents (N = 4,663) from Russia by the Inventory of Child Individual Differences‐Short version (ICID‐S) at the three levels of the hierarchy, the two higher order traits, the Big Five, and lower order traits.
Results
Across childhood, the Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Neuroticism traits increased, and the Extraversion and Openness traits decreased. In adolescence, parent‐reported Conscientiousness traits increased and Neuroticism traits decreased, whereas youth‐rated Alpha and Agreeableness decreased in middle adolescence. There were small gender differences in trait levels and age trends. Parents and youths did not agree on gender differences in age trends for Neuroticism and Extraversion.
Conclusion
The findings support personality maturation from early childhood to late adolescence, with the exception of increasing Neuroticism across childhood, and provide some evidence for the disruption in personality maturation in adolescence. Parents and adolescents may have different perspectives on personality development.
This study examines age and sex differences in human values, with GDP, GGI (Gender Gap Index), and individualism-collectivism as culture-level moderators, using representative data for age and sex ...across 20 countries with substantial cultural variability (N = 21,362). Cross-sectional findings revealed that all values dimensions varied in importance over the life span and that men and women are slightly different across most life stages. Specifically, older adults scored higher than young adults in values with social (interactive and normative) and central goals (suprapersonal and existence), whereas values with personal goals (excitement and promotion) showed the opposite pattern. In general, women were higher on social and central goals and men were higher on personal goals. Interactions between age and sex showed that men and women were identical in excitement values when young, and in interactive values when old, but there were significant differences between them in almost all other life stages. There was almost no moderation effect of culture, supporting the life span development psychology idea that values reflect a universal pattern of human agency in facing challenges over the life span.
Trajectories of children's externalizing behavior were examined using multilevel growth curve modeling of data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. According to ratings by ...both mothers and caregivers/teachers when children were 2, 3, 4, 7, and 9 years old, externalizing behavior declined with age. However, mothers rated children as higher in externalizing behavior than did caregivers and teachers. Higher levels of age 9 externalizing behavior were predicted by the following factors: child male gender (for caregiver/teacher reports only), infant difficult temperament (for children with harsh mothers only), harsher maternal attitude toward discipline, higher level of maternal depression (for maternal reports only), and lower level of maternal sensitivity (especially for boys). Caregivers and teachers reported higher levels of externalizing behavior in African American children than in European American children, increasingly so over time; mothers' ratings revealed the reverse. The declining slope of externalizing behavior was predicted by infant difficult temperament for mother reports only. Additional analyses suggested that the association between parenting and externalizing behavior was bidirectional.
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