Following a straight path? The social locations and sexual identity trajectories of emerging adult women

The sexual identities of today's young women are more fluid and less consistently heterosexual than those of their predecessors – a trend that can be attributed to shifts in the socio-cultural context over time. However, this cannot explain within-cohort differences in women's identity trajectories. In this article, I draw from critical heterosexuality studies and test how young women's social locations are associated with their propensities to change towards or away from claiming a straight identity. Consistent with expectations, I find that women who occupy a position on the sexual landscape characterised by lower levels of heteronormativity, or who indicate a willingness to break with heteronormative expectations in the future, are more likely to change away from claiming a straight identity over time. My findings suggest that heteronormative ideology continues to structure women's lives to degrees that vary according to their social locations.

The validation of estradiol extraction and analysis from hair

Background. Saliva is a popular biospecimen for the measurement of hormones, yet fluctuations in hormone levels limit the extent to which saliva can address focusing on basal or long-term levels. Hair steroid assays return basal hormonal levels by collapsing across short-term hormonal variability, including menstrual cyclicity. Here we sought to validate a hair bioassay methodology that can capture stable estradiol levels from both human and monkey hair samples. Methods. Three projects were involved to examine hair-saliva correspondence and estradiol stability in hair. Project 1. Saliva samples were collected once per week for two cycles in 11 emerging adult women. Hair samples were collected at the end of each menstrual cycle and were segmented by 1 cm for the first 4 cm to reflect the past four serial months’ hormone levels. Project 2. Hair samples collected from 23 adolescent participants (Mage = 14.1, 56.5% female) were cut to three 1.5 cm segments from the scalp end. Project 3. Two hair samples were collected from two adjacent skin areas on each monkey (N = 8, 75% males). Whole hair samples were sheared and used for assay without segmentation. Hair biospecimens were processed using a double-extraction protocol validated in this study, then assayed using commercially-available enzyme-immuno-assays for estradiol. Results. Project 1. Hair estradiol concentrations were significantly associated with averaged saliva estradiol levels (r = 0.77, p< .05). Estradiol levels in two consecutive segments were significantly associated (1st vs. 2nd: r = .63, p < .01; 2nd vs. 3rd: r = .49, p < .05; 3rd vs. 4th: r = .53, p < .05). Project 2. Estradiol concentrations were significantly correlated between the first two successive hair segments from the scalp end (r = .69, p < .01). Project 3. Estradiol levels in the two hair samples from each monkey were significantly correlated (r = .66, p < .05).Discussion. Results suggest hair captures valid and reliable average estradiol concentrations using a double-extraction protocol that is applicable for both human and monkey hair. The measurement of hair provides valuable information on individual differences in average estradiol levels across months. Results also indicate that it is feasible and reliable to collect the first 2-3 centimeters of studies in which basal estradiol levels in the past 2 to 3 months are of interest as a stable hormonal index for different species.

Lived Experiences of Emerging Adult Women With Single Mothers: Exploring Responses to Perceived Maternal Depression

Families headed by single mothers are increasingly prevalent in the United States. These mothers face unique challenges that increase their risk of depression. Research shows children of depressed mothers are at risk of developing psychological difficulties. Little attention has been paid to emerging adult female offspring of depressed mothers. This study explored the experience of emerging adult women from single-parent families who perceive their mothers to be depressed. Fifteen women (aged 18–25) who grew up with a single mother as the primary parental figure were interviewed. Interviews were transcribed and data were analyzed using Moustakas’s phenomenological approach. Nine major themes emerged from the data and are divided into three distinct categories: (1) impact in childhood and adolescence, (2) impact in emerging adulthood, and (3) current coping mechanisms in emerging adulthood. Clinical implications, limitations, and areas for future research are explored including ways to improve treatment with this population.