Better off Alone? Ambivalent Sexism Moderates the Association Between Relationship Status and Life Satisfaction Among Heterosexual Women and Men

Evaluation of ambivalent sexism in Colombia and validation of the ASI and AMI brief scales

Sexism has implications for people's physical and mental health. Thus, understanding sexism and its prevalence is key to understanding the phenomenon. In the current study, 717 Colombian men and women completed the brief scales of Ambivalent Sexism toward women and men and the Gender Identity Scale. The assessment was conducted using a web-based method. Both scales, as expected, were two-dimensional. Reliability ranged from .83 to .88. Moderate and high correlations were observed with the Gender Identity Scale. Men showed higher levels of hostile and benevolent sexism toward women and benevolent sexism toward men. It was also found that the higher the level of education, the lower the rates of sexism toward men and women. The brief scales were valid and reliable for measuring hostile and benevolent sexism in Colombia.

Examination of the temporal sequence between social media use and well-being in a representative sample of adults

Given insufficient prospective evidence for relationships between social media use and well-being among adults, the present study examined the temporal sequence between social media use and psychological distress and life satisfaction, and explored age and gender differences. A representative sample of adults (N = 7331; 62.4% women; Mage = 51.94; SD = 13.48; 15-94 years) were surveyed annually across four waves. Cross-lagged panel models demonstrated bidirectional relationships between social media use and well-being. Higher psychological distress and lower life satisfaction predicted higher social media use more strongly than the reverse direction, with effects particularly pronounced for the impact of psychological distress. Although the patterns of findings were relatively consistent across age and gender, results suggested that women and middle- and older-aged adults experience detrimental effects of social media use on well-being, which may drive subsequent increased use of social media. The bidirectional relationships suggest that adults who experience psychological distress or lower life satisfaction may seek to use social media as a way to alleviate poor well-being. However, paradoxically, this maladaptive coping mechanism appears to drive increased social media use which in turn can exacerbate poor well-being. Clinicians should be aware of these bidirectional relationships and work with clients towards replacing ineffective strategies with more helpful coping approaches. As this study used a simplistic measure of social media use, future research should address this limitation and explore nuanced relationships afforded by assessing specific social media activities or exposure to certain types of content.

Life satisfaction in Europe and Iran: the role of self-esteem, gender identification and ambivalent sexism

Life satisfaction is one of the most relevant indicators of psychological health. The present study aimed at extending previous research on life satisfaction by examining its antecedents for men and women in five countries (e.g., Italy, Poland, Romania, the UK, and Iran), with different levels of gender equality, according to the Global Gender Gap Index. Besides traditional variables (i.e., age, self-esteem and income), we also investigated the role of ambivalent sexism and gender identification. Participants were 2561 adults (54% female). Results showed the key role of self-esteem for both men and women and across countries. Gender identification was positively associated with life satisfaction, with the only exception of the more gender egalitarian country, i.e., the UK. Furthermore, in the less egalitarian countries, i.e., Italy and Iran, life satisfaction is also positively related to benevolent stereotypes toward men. Taken together, findings underline the interdependence between personal and contextual dimensions in sustaining life satisfaction, and the role of gender as a significant variable in terms of both the existence of different patterns for men and women and the effects of gender stereotypes across cultures.

Explicit and Implicit Gender-Related Stereotyping in Transgender, Gender Expansive, and Cisgender Adults

Little is known about gender-related stereotyping among transgender and gender expansive adults. Using the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory (AIS; Glick & Fiske, 1996), we examined explicit gender attitudes in 3298 cisgender, transgender, and gender expansive respondents designated female at birth (FAB; n = 1976 cisgender, n = 108 transgender, n = 188 gender expansive) and male at birth (MAB; n = 922 cisgender, n = 52 transgender, n = 52 gender expansive). In order to learn more about implicit gender-related stereotyping, a subset of 822 participants (FAB; n = 445 cisgender, n = 32 transgender, n = 51 gender expansive. MAB; n = 254 cisgender, n = 21 transgender, n = 19 gender expansive) completed the gender-leadership Implicit Association Test (IAT; Dasgupta & Asgari, 2004). Cisgender men scored significantly higher than all other groups on hostile sexism, but patterns of endorsement for benevolent sexism and implicit attitudes were more nuanced, with cisgender women and gender expansive FAB often scoring significantly below other groups. We observed that transgender men and transgender women, along with cisgender men and gender expansive MAB, moderately endorsed essentialist views regarding differences between men and women (i.e., complementary gender differentiation). These data reveal novel patterns of gender-related stereotyping, with some corresponding to sex designated at birth and others corresponding to current gender identification. Together, these findings suggest that one's experienced gender, designated sex at birth, and the intersection between them may relate to gender stereotyping, underscoring the importance of including transgender and gender expansive individuals in this research.

Romantic Attachment and Difficulties in Emotion Regulation on Dyadic Adjustment: A Comprehensive Literature Review

In romantic relationships, individual differences are determinant factors for relational quality. Specifically, romantic attachment (RA) and difficulties in emotional regulation influence each other and may have predictive potential for the perceived dyadic adjustment (DA) level. This paper aims to identify the developmental parallel between behavioral patterns built since childhood and the construction of the emotional regulation skills that characterize them. Our analysis was based on the attachment theory and the concepts of romantic relationship and DA. In this way, we sought to further the understanding of relationship dynamics, beyond the usual focus on a single element and on associative relationships, and by exploring other effects among the different dimensions of relational functioning. In particular, we explored the predictive ability of emotional regulation patterns (more flexible individual characteristics) in discriminating between RA styles (more perennial influences), and their impact on the quality of romantic relationships, in the anticipation of dyadic adjustment variations.

Examining the relational underpinnings and consequences of system-justifying beliefs: Explaining the palliative effects of system justification

People often perceive social systems as fair and legitimate in order to satisfy existential, epistemic, and relational needs. Although much work has examined the existential and epistemic roots to system justification, the relational motives underlying the tendency to justify the system have received comparatively less attention. We addressed this oversight by examining the associations approach and avoidance relational goals have with system justification in a national probability sample (N = 21,938). Consistent with the thesis that the need to belong motivates system justification, avoidance goals (i.e., the desire to avoid social conflict) correlated positively with system justification (approach goals also unexpectedly correlated positively with system justification). Also as hypothesized, system justification mediated the relationship between avoidance goals and belongingness. Moreover, system justification mediated the relationship between avoidance goals and belongingness. Finally, sequential mediation analyses revealed that avoidance goals predicted higher well-being via system justification and belongingness. This study is the first to demonstrate that system justification confers palliative benefits by satisfying two different relational goals.