Did Descriptive and Prescriptive Norms About Gender Equality at Home Change During the COVID-19 Pandemic? A Cross-National Investigation

Using data from 15 countries, this article investigates whether descriptive and prescriptive gender norms concerning housework and child care (domestic work) changed after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Results of a total of 8,343 participants (M = 19.95, SD = 1.68) from two comparable student samples suggest that descriptive norms about unpaid domestic work have been affected by the pandemic, with individuals seeing mothers' relative to fathers' share of housework and child care as even larger. Moderation analyses revealed that the effect of the pandemic on descriptive norms about child care decreased with countries' increasing levels of gender equality; countries with stronger gender inequality showed a larger difference between pre- and post-pandemic. This study documents a shift in descriptive norms and discusses implications for gender equality-emphasizing the importance of addressing the additional challenges that mothers face during health-related crises.

The undue influence of genetic information on senior medical students' treatment decisions

BACKGROUND

Knowledge of the genetic basis of health conditions can influence how the public perceives their own and others' health. When there are known genetic associations for such conditions, genetic essentialist biases facilitate deterministic thinking and an over-emphasis of genetic causality. This study investigates the role that genetic essentialist biases play in medical decision-making.

METHODS

Senior postgraduate medical students (N = 102) read a scenario in which a patient presents with gastroenterological symptoms. Half of the students were told that the patient tested positive for HLADQ2 - a gene implicated in, but not deterministic of, coeliac disease. The other half received no genetic information. Students were assessed on their recommendations for investigation and management using a multiple-choice questionnaire. Twenty-two of these students participated in a qualitative follow-up which used focus groups and semi-structured interviews to explore the reasoning behind students' responses.

RESULTS

Management recommendations differed between the two groups, with those receiving genetic information more likely to recommend a gluten free diet. Recommendations for further investigation did not differ significantly between groups. Interviews suggested that these findings arose despite the students' good understanding of the common non-deterministic nature of genes, such as HLADQ2.

CONCLUSION

Differences in management recommendations suggest that the inclusion of genetic information unduly biased students towards a premature diagnosis of a serious health condition, coeliac disease. Follow-up interviews introduced the possibility that observed manipulation-based differences may have been based on anticipated expectations of examiners, rather than perceived future clinical practice. Based on the present results it is unclear whether intentional exam-taking strategies fully account for medical students' decisions, or if they contribute in addition to the activation of genetic essentialist biases. Further research in clinical settings may ascertain whether genetic essentialist biases would truly influence medical student and doctors within their clinical practice environment.

Genetic essentialism: The mediating role of essentialist biases on the relationship between genetic knowledge and the interpretations of genetic information

PURPOSE

Genetic research, via the mainstream media, presents the public with novel, profound findings almost on a daily basis. However, it is not clear how much laypeople understand these presentations and how they integrate such new findings into their knowledge base. Genetic knowledge (GK), existing causal beliefs, and genetic essentialist tendencies (GET) have been implicated in such processes; the current study assesses the relationships between these elements and how brief presentations of media releases of scientific findings about genetics are consumed and affect the readers.

METHODS

An Australian national survey of GK, GET, and existing causal beliefs about health phenomena (heart disease and obesity) was conducted. Participants were also exposed to news headlines that offered genetic and non-genetic partial explanations of the same health phenomena and reported their evaluations of these headlines, as well as the effects of the headlines on their personal understanding of the health phenomena.

RESULTS

GK was negatively-associated with GET. Whereas GK did not directly predict the evaluation and effects of the genetic headlines, GET did. GK predicted the effects of the headlines indirectly via GET and via GET and existing causal beliefs.

CONCLUSION

GET seem to predict unwarranted effects of exposure to news headlines about genetic science, whereas GK seems to indirectly mitigate the same unwarranted effects.

Why Do Some Gay Men Identify as "Straight-Acting" and How Is It Related to Well-Being?

Recent literature has described the phenomenon of "straight-acting" gay men: gay men who identify with traditional heteronormative masculinity. The current study examined predictors of "straight-acting" identification in gay men and how identifying as straight-acting relates to well-being. A sample of Australian gay men (N = 966) provided self-report data on two potential predictors of straight-acting identity: self-perceived masculinity and internalized homophobia. A path analysis assessed how these variables related to straight-acting identification. While masculine self-presentation positively predicted well-being and internalized homophobia negatively predicted well-being, straight-acting identification, which positively correlated with both, did not independently predict either psychological distress or physical well-being. Analyses further suggested that internalized homophobia had particularly deleterious effects among gay men who were more feminine. Implications for clinical and public health interventions among gay men are discussed.

Evidence that microglia mediate the neurobiological effects of chronic psychological stress on the medial prefrontal cortex

Psychological stress contributes to the development of clinical depression. This has prompted many preclinical studies to investigate the neurobiology of this relationship, however, the effects of stress on glia remain unclear. In this study, we wished to determine, first, how exposure to chronic psychological stress affects microglial activity within the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and, second, whether the observed changes were meaningfully related to corresponding changes in local neuronal activity and PFC-regulated behavior. Therefore, we examined markers of microglial activation, antigen presentation, apoptosis, and persistent neuronal activation within the PFC after exposure to repeated restraint stress. We also examined the effect of stress on spatial working memory, a PFC-dependent function. Finally, we tested the ability of a microglial activation inhibitor (minocycline) to alter the impact of chronic stress on all of these endpoints. Stressor exposure produced positively correlated increases in microglial and long-term neuronal activation in the PFC but not antigen presentation or apoptosis. As expected, it also impaired spatial working memory. Importantly, minocycline reduced the impact of stress on neuronal activation and working memory, as well as microglial activation. These results suggest a role for microglia in mediating the effects of stress on PFC neuronal function and PFC-regulated behavior.