We Are Family: Effects of a Relationship-Strengthening Prevention Intervention on Parenting Behaviors Among Black and Latino Adolescent Couples

Relationship strain or dissolution between new parents can affect the co-parenting relationship and parenting engagement. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of a relationship-strengthening intervention on parenting behaviors among adolescent couples. Data from a pilot randomized control trial conducted with predominantly Black and Latino couples were analyzed using repeated measures analysis of variance. Observed intervention * time effects and intervention * time * gender effects were not statistically significant, but had small to moderate effect sizes. Intervention couples demonstrated increased parenting sense of competence compared to control couples. Gender differences in intervention effects were observed for both parenting experiences and parenting engagement. Given the pilot nature of the study, these findings provide preliminary evidence of the effectiveness of this couple-based intervention for improving parenting outcomes. Future research should assess the intervention in a larger sample and leverage technology-based approaches as methods for content delivery.

Evidence of Variable Gender Role in Defining Language Change Leadership in Syrian Arabic

This study aims to present evidence of gender variability among leaders of language change across different sociolinguistic variables, five phonological variables (a consonant and four vowels) and a discourse variable in Syrian Arabic, within the same speech community. Employing a sociolinguistic variationist approach and comparing children to adults yielded different gendered linguistic behavior. Children show the same dramatic gendered linguistic difference as adults regarding the variable (q), with males using much more rural [q] than urban [ʔ] than females. Regarding the vowel variables, children dramatize their gendered linguistic difference much more than adults; boys show much higher use of the rural vowels than girls compared to the difference between men and women. This pattern is reversed in the discourse variable (yaʕni) ‘that is/I mean’; the gendered linguistic difference is more dramatic among adults than it is among children, and gender effect diminishes in the linguistic distribution of the variable. This multidirectionality in gender effects bears implications for sociolinguistic variationist research. Variables indexed to urban refinement/prestige and social meanings such as femininity/masculinity are more likely to be led by females than males. Conversely, variables that lack these types of social/gender identification indexicality, regardless of whether they are phonological or discursive, do not follow the same pattern of leadership.

How Did Awareness, Emotion, and Motivation Shape Behavior Toward COVID-19 in Tunisians?

This study was conducted to assess the psychological distress in the general population of Tunisia during the pandemic of COVID-19 and examines how awareness of the disease, emotional experience, and motivation shaped the behavior toward this outbreak. The study covers 1492 Tunisian participants. Gender effects and age limits were studied in relation with the seriousness of the disease and lockdown impacts. The data were analyzed and interpreted using the chi-square test, ANOVA, path analysis (PA), and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). We found a significant effect of gender and age on the awareness of the pandemic dangerousness, the attitude, and the commitment to respect the preventive measures. Women are significantly more aware and committed than men to respect preventive health measures. The 35–45 age group showed more awareness and dedication than the other age groups, while the 20–35 age group showed the most less promise. PA and CFA results showed how awareness, emotion, and motivation shaped behavior toward COVID-19. This study provides practical and relevant information on behavior change during a pandemic crisis, which can orient communication campaigns and help policymakers.

Too Anxious to Talk: Social Anxiety, Academic Communication, and Students’ Experiences in Higher Education

Social anxiety is related to a host of negative student outcomes in the educational context, including physical symptoms of anxiety, reduced cognitive functioning, and poor academic performance. Despite the prevalence of social anxiety, little is known about mechanisms that may underlie associations between social anxiety and outcomes in the context of higher education. Therefore, the goal of this study was to evaluate a conceptual model linking social anxiety, communication with peers and instructors, students’ experiences (i.e., engagement, connectedness, and satisfaction), and indices of socio-emotional functioning at university. Participants were N = 1,073 undergraduate students ( Mage = 20.3 years, SD = 3.49) who completed a series of self-report measures. Among the results, social anxiety was negatively related to communication with instructors, socio-emotional functioning, and student experiences, and academic communication accounted for significant variance in the links between social anxiety and student experiences. In addition, there was at least some evidence that student experiences partially mediated the association between social anxiety and socio-emotional functioning. Gender effects suggest that social anxiety is related to less communication with instructors, lower engagement and satisfaction, and poorer socio-emotional functioning among females compared with males. Results are situated within current literature examining social anxiety in education. The discussion provides concrete suggestions for educational practitioners to increase support for students who experience social anxiety.

The Influence of Examiner Gender on Responses to Tonic Heat Pain Assessments: A Preliminary Investigation

Background: The influence of examiner gender on pain reporting has been previously explored in both research and clinical settings. However, previous investigations have been limited, with the majority of studies employing single, static assessments of pain (e.g., cold pressor test, verbal pain ratings). The impact of examiner gender on both static and dynamic heat-based pain assessments is currently unknown.Methods: Thirty eight participants (20 females aged 24.1 ± 4.44, and 18 males, aged 24.8 ± 4.54) completed two identical testing sessions, randomized to a male and female examiner in a cross-over design. Pain sensitivity was examined using heat pain thresholds, verbal pain ratings to tonic heat, computerized visual analog scale (CoVAS) rating to tonic heat, and participant-controlled temperature (PCT) heat pain assessments.Results: Female participants reported higher verbal pain to tonic heat with a female examiner compared to male participants, with similar trends for CoVAS responses to tonic heat. Conversely heat pain thresholds and PCT were not significantly influenced by experimenter gender.Conclusions: Overall, verbal ratings were the most impacted by examiner gender, with temperature-based methods such as PCT and pain thresholds showing little to no examiner gender effects. While the gender of the examiner may be an important consideration in the measurement of sex and gender differences in pain research, the choice of pain assessment method may be of similar consequence.

The Normative Study of Acoustic and Aerodynamic Characteristics of Voice among Healthy Adult Turkish Speaker Population

Phonatory Aerodynamic System (PAS Model 6600) is an evaluation instrument that assesses the effectiveness of surgical interventions, treatments, and therapy for voice disorders. It can be used for the assessment of voice disorders by supporting other perceptual and instrumental methods. It is important to establish normative data, because the use of appropriate norms is necessary for diagnostic and descriptive accuracy. Therefore, this study is aimed primarily at establishing adult normative databases for phonatory aerodynamic measures obtained with the KayPENTAX PAS Model 6600 among healthy adult Turkish speakers and then examining the effect of age, gender, and age-gender interaction variables on these measures. The contribution of the study is considered so important since it will generate normative data for all measurements—except the mean pitch—by the five protocols of PAS for the first time. Two hundred and six healthy Turkish speakers with normal voice (106 women and 100 men) were included in the study and stratified into three age groups. Forty-five phonatory aerodynamic measures across five PAS protocols (vital capacity, maximum sustained phonation, comfortable sustained phonation, variation in sound pressure level, and voicing efficiency) were collected. Age, gender, and age-gender interaction variables were analyzed for 45 PAS parameters. Significant gender and age effect was found for 30 and 19 variables, respectively. Gender-age interaction together was observed for only 6 parameters. Significant differences were not found for the remaining 10 parameters. Significant age and gender effects were observed for 35 phonatory and aerodynamic measures which are essential part of the objective clinical assessment of voice. Consequently, normative data used as reference in voice assessment should be generated according to age and gender differences.

Attitudes and beliefs of Tunisian High-School teachers about schizophrenia: The impact of vignette gender

Background: Teachers have a crucial active role in provision of mental health services to students and fighting against mental health stigma in schools, hence their attitudes and beliefs toward mental illness should be assessed. Method: We carried-out a cross-sectional study with a non-probabilistic sample of 304 higher secondary school teachers. We used a structured questionnaire in which a vignette describing an individual with schizophrenia was presented, and was followed by a series of stigma-related questions. Results: A substantial proportion of teachers endorsed stressful life events (79.6%) as a cause of schizophrenia, elicited feelings of discomfort (41.4%) and incomprehension (41.1%) with the person displaying symptoms of schizophrenia, and agreed that the person’s condition will deteriorate even more (45.4%). Teachers perceived that the person described in the vignette is dependent on others, lacks will, is different from others and is unpredictable in 65.1%, 59.2%, 55.6%, and 49.7% of cases, respectively. In addition, 38.5% and 34.2% of teachers recommended turning to traditional healers and to a Sheikh or an imam of a mosque, respectively. Regarding gender effects, females with schizophrenia were regarded as more likely to be unable to make her own decisions and to be dependent on others than males, and were less likely to be recommended for seeking help from a family physician or to consult a psychiatric hospital than males. Conclusion: In the light of our findings, raising awareness of teachers of the impact of mental health issues on students should be prioritized in high schools in Tunisia.

Considering Sex and Gender in Epidemiology: a Challenge Beyond Terminology – Methodological Research

BackgroundEpidemiologists need tools to measure effects of gender, a complex concept originating in the humanities and social sciences which is not easily operationalized in the discipline. MethodsWe conducted a conceptual analysis and applied causal and mediation analysis methodology to standard questions in order to propose a methodologically appropriate strategy for measuring sex and gender effects in health.ResultsWe define gender as a set of norms prescribed to individuals according to their attributed-at-birth sex. Gender pressure creates a systemic gap, at population level, in behaviors, activities, experiences, etc. between men and women. A pragmatic individual measure of gender would correspond to the level at which an individual complies with a set of elements constituting femininity or masculinity in a given population, place and time. However, defining and measuring gender is not sufficient to isolate the effects of sex and gender on a health outcome. We should also think in terms of pathways to define appropriate analysis strategies. Gender could also be examined as a mechanism rather than through its realization in the individual, by considering it as an interaction between sex and environment. ConclusionsBoth analytical strategies have limitations relative to the impossibility of reducing a complex concept to a single or a few measures, and of capturing the entire effect of the phenomenon. However, these strategies could lead to more accurate and rigorous analyses of the mechanisms underlying health differences between men and women, and ultimately limit the sex and/or gender bias encountered in epidemiological and clinical research studies.

A Study Space Analysis of Interpretation Service Needs and Optimisation

The paper reports a study space analysis (SSA) of 117 published investigations of the need for interpretation services and approaches to their optimisation. The study explores literature on the adequacy and ecological validity of interpretation service and interpretation optimisation. Research on rapport building appears to be the most investigated issue. Studies on interpretation services need and planning are infrequently researched, and there exist little or no study investigating police diversity effects on interpretation service needs and the planning effects. Studies investigating cognitive load, language, and gender effects on interpreting accuracy are sparse, with most research effort concentrated in conference interpreting settings.