Novel forms of social media created 'by-and-for' women offer potentially new ways of communicating and constructing sex education. In this paper, we consider how Instagram is being used by sex ...educators to deploy discourses of resistance and erotics to educate about sex. Our method consisted of a combined critical discourse (CDA) and content analysis of Instagram posts (n = 200) from a small sample of influential feminist/queer sex education accounts that use informative text and illustration-based posts. Framed by Carmody's concept of ethical erotics, we identify four discursive categories in such Instagram content: pleasure positivity; communication and dynamic consent; sex as an experience not a performance; and challenging heteronormative constructions of sex. We argue that the affordances of Instagram provide a platform for the promotion of sex education that centres pleasure and ethical erotics to rectify limited and harmful heteronormative representations of sexuality.
Empirical evidence on Ronald Inglehart's theory of value change shows that subsequent generations show a decline in values of physical and economic security (materialism) in favor of an increase in ...values of self-expression and autonomy (postmaterialism).
We investigate in a pre-registered study whether Inglehart's theory also applies to partnership, such that millennials think less that they need a partner to be happy. We used data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) study on 4540 17-year-olds from 16 birth cohorts.
Results show that adolescents’ estimated importance of a romantic partner for personal happiness decreases on average with each subsequent birth cohort. Further significant predictors were socialization and relationship status of the parents, birth year of the father, as well as education and sex of the adolescent. Socioeconomic status and education level of the parents and birth year of the mother were not significant.
Findings provide initial evidence that as society becomes more individualized, even personal happiness is increasingly seen as independent of significant others. Ronald Inglehart's theory of value change, however, seems to have only limited applicability as an explanatory model for this development.
Serious concerns about public distrust of scientific experts and the spread of misinformation are growing in the US and elsewhere. To gauge ideological and psychological variability in attitudes ...toward science, we conducted an extensive analysis of public opinion data based on a nationally representative survey of U.S. adults (N = 1,500) and a large replication sample (N = 2,119). We estimated the unique effects of partisanship, symbolic and operational forms of political ideology, right-wing authoritarianism (RWA), social dominance orientation (SDO), and general system justification (GSJ), after adjusting for demographic factors. Multiverse analyses revealed that (a) conservatism and SDO were significant predictors of distrust of climate science in > 99.9% of model specifications, with conservatism accounting for 80% of the total variance; (b) conservatism, RWA, religiosity, (male) sex, (low) education, (low) income, and distrust of climate science were significant predictors of skepticism about science in general (vs. faith) in > 99.9% of model specifications; (c) conservatism, RWA, (low) education, and distrust of climate science were significant predictors of trust in ordinary people (over scientific experts) > 99.9% of the time; and (d) GSJ was a significant predictor of trust in scientific experts (over ordinary people) 81% of the time, after adjusting for all other demographic and ideological factors. Implications for the role of science in democratic society are discussed.
Abstract
Background and Objectives
Research on technological access and usage has revealed a digital divide based on several sociodemographic factors, including race/ethnicity, sex, income, and ...education. While several studies have examined these factors separately, few studies have considered how multiple vulnerable identities may combine to influence access to technology. Using the theory of intersectionality, this study assesses the combined impact of race/ethnicity and sex on access to a working cellphone and a working laptop/computer among U.S. older adults.
Research Design and Methods
Data were derived from the 2018 National Health and Aging Trends Study. Chi-square tests were used to test group differences, and four multivariable logistic regression models were used to examine the association between the intersection of race/ethnicity and sex, and access to a working cellphone and a working laptop/computer.
Results
After accounting for other explanatory variables, White female participants, Black male participants, Black female participants, Hispanic male participants, and Hispanic female participants were all less likely to have a working cellphone or a working laptop/computer compared to White male participants.
Discussion and Implications
The results of this study point to a significant disparity in access to technology based on intersectional identities, with Black and Hispanic female participants having the least access to technology. Interventions aiming to improve access to technology should target these two groups, with a focus on reducing the cost of purchasing technological equipment and the provision of training programs that improve technological skills.
Abstract
Background
To examine the effect of frailty on cognitive decline independent of cerebral small vessel disease (cSVD) and brain atrophy, and whether associations between neuropathology and ...cognition differed depending on frailty status.
Methods
The Tasmanian Study of Cognition and Gait was a population-based longitudinal cohort study with data collected at 3 phases from 2005 to 2012. Participants aged 60–85 were randomly selected from the electoral roll. Various data were used to operationalize a 36-item frailty index (FI) at baseline. Brain MRI was undertaken to obtain baseline measures of neuropathology. A neuropsychological battery was used to assess cognition at each time point. Generalized linear mixed models were used to examine the effect of frailty and MRI measures on cognition over time. The associations between MRI measures and cognition were explored after stratifying the sample by baseline frailty status. All analyses were adjusted for age, sex, and education.
Results
A total of 385 participants were included at baseline. The mean age was 72.5 years (standard deviation SD 7.0), 44% were female (n = 171). In fully adjusted linear mixed models, frailty (FI × time β −0.001, 95% confidence interval CI −0.003, −0.001, p = .03) was associated with decline in global cognition, independent of brain atrophy, and cSVD. The association between cSVD and global cognition was significant only in those with low levels of frailty (p = .03).
Conclusion
These findings suggest that frailty is an important factor in early cognitive dysfunction, and measuring frailty may prove useful to help identify future risk of cognitive decline.
This study inquired into the effect of single-sex schooling on achievement of female adolescents. It used national examination data of 4,787 Polish female students (10 cohorts) attending single-sex ...and co-educational Catholic schools. We tested two sets of partially contradictory predictions derived from two different theoretical models explaining how and why achievement of female students in the two types of school may differ. The results of cross-classified random-effects regression models showed that after controlling for initial student and school differences female adolescents attending all-girls schools scored higher on the lower-secondary school exam in science and the humanities in comparison to those who attended co-educational schools. However, the difference was statistically significant only for science. The results were fully consistent with neither of the two adopted theoretical models, although provided more support for the one drawing upon peer effects. Although the effect of 17% of the exam scores standard deviation could be considered small, it appeared in the results of a high-stakes exam. Since the examination results were the main criterion for admission to the next-stage school, attending an all-girls school might significantly affect future educational career and job opportunities of young women.
Sexual health and sexual well-being are vital components of overall physical and mental well-being, yet remain largely understudied, approached mainly from disease prevention and intervention ...perspectives, and generally excluded from most health service psychology training programs. People of color; women; lesbian, gay, and bisexual people; trans and gender diverse; disabled; and poor people are disproportionately adversely impacted by a lack of access to suitable sexual health services and reproductive healthcare. Sex education is inadequate in the United States across the lifespan, including in health service psychology training programs. Therapy clients often have sexual concerns they want to discuss, yet because sexuality is seldom covered adequately in training programs, psychologists are often ill-prepared and uncomfortable addressing sex. Drawing from the Benchmarks Competencies (Fouad et al., 2009; Hatcher et al., 2013), we provide a rationale for and application of several key foundational and functional competencies to explicate a template for addressing sexuality in training psychologists and positioning sexuality as a competency that should be centralized in graduate psychology training. We offer both a roadmap for a graduate course in sexuality and several ideas for infusing sexuality across the curriculum for programs that may be unable to dedicate a course to the study of sexuality.
Public Significance Statement
Sexuality, related to relationship and life satisfaction, is not typically a required component of health service psychologists' training. We position sexuality as a proposed competency, providing justification and curricular guidance for doctoral training programs.
Researchers and media commentators often claim that young people are increasingly learning about sex through pornography, but evidence about this is unclear. This article reports on a mixed methods ...systematic review of research on pornography use for sexual learning. Ten articles were included that explicitly addressed how porn users describe the educational aspects of pornography. Thematic analysis located five key themes about 'porn education' in these articles: learning the mechanics of sex; learning concerning sexual identities and sexualities; inadequate information through pornography; wrong lessons from pornography; and a need for more relevant sex education. No articles attempted to measure or discuss whether people who access pornography have better (or worse) skills and knowledge about sex and sexual health than those who do not. Sex education is only discussed in relation to young people, neglecting attention to lifelong learning about sex and sexuality. According to this dataset, pornography use can offer useful information about the mechanics of sex, and this is particularly pertinent for young gay men. Many articles reveal that young people are often aware of the shortcomings of pornography as a source of information and guidance, and that improvements to sex and relationships education are necessary.
Parents and guardians are a potentially valuable source of sexual health information for adolescent sexual minority males (ASMM). The current study examines what sexual health topics ASMM report ...discussing with a parent/guardian and whether topics differ by outness about sexual attraction to other males. ASMM (N = 154; ages 14-17) in the United States completed the baseline of an online sexual health intervention pilot in 2020. They reported which of twelve sexual health topics they discussed with a parent/guardian and if they had disclosed their sexual attraction to other males. Associations between topics discussed and outness to a parent/guardian were examined with Firth logistic regression. Eighty-eight (57%) participants reported being out to a parent/guardian. Six sexual health topics were significantly more likely to be discussed if participants were out. The three categories with the largest differences by outness were how to: discuss with a partner what they would not like to do sexually (aOR = 7.0, 95% CI: 2.0-24.6), use condoms (aOR = 5.9, 95% CI: 2.3-15.1), and prevent HIV/AIDS (aOR = 3.5, 95% CI = 1.4-8.7). Interventions on parental/guardian provision of sexual health information are needed to ensure ASMM receive relevant sexual health knowledge.
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