The Weekly Roundup is an opportunity to recap a week in news and share recently discovered materials that might be of interest.
ARTICLES AND ESSAYS
Academic conferences are a scam
Martin Center for Academic Renewal, 2023
Physical strength as a heuristic cue of political conservatism
Personality and Individual Differences, 2023
Abstract: Physically formidable men are motivated to pursue strategies to acquire resources and status through direct competition and the promotion of hierarchical social organization. In service of these priorities, these men support social policies favoring the use of aggressive bargaining and hierarchy-maintenance strategies. Given these associations, we hypothesized physical strength may function as a heuristic cue of political conservatism. Participants in four unique U.S. samples assessed the political orientation of men who varied in physical strength and musculature, considering various facets of what constitutes conservatism. Physically strong men appeared more conservative to perceivers (Study 1; N = 203). Neither type of conservatism (social versus fiscal) nor presence of wealth cues moderated effects (Study 2; N = 302). Perceivers further regarded liberty as most central to strong men's morality (Study 3; N = 179). Similar perceptions emerged for muscularity as cue to upper body strength (Study 4; N = 210). We frame results from an affordance management framework, wherein perceivers identify the potential social opportunities and costs of social targets based on physical features that inform trait inferences.
Influence of Gender on Mental Health Literacy in Young Australians
Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 2006
Abstract: Objectives: To determine the effects of gender on mental health literacy in young people between 12 and 25 years of age. Design: Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing was employed to conduct a crosssectional structured interview focusing on young people's awareness of depression and psychosis. Participants: The sample comprised 1207 young Australians (539 males and 668 females) between the ages of 12-25 recruited from two metropolitan and two regional areas within Victoria. Six hundred and six respondents were presented a depression vignette and 601 were presented a psychosis vignette. Results: Female respondents (60.7%) were significantly more likely to correctly identify depression in the vignette as compared to male respondents (34.5%). No significant gender differences were noted for the psychosis vignette. Males were less significantly likely to endorse seeing a doctor or psychologist/counsellor for the treatment of psychosis. Males were also significantly more likely than females to endorse alcohol as a way of dealing with depression and antibiotics as useful for dealing with psychosis. Conclusion: Gender differences in mental health literacy are striking. Males showed significantly lower recognition of symptoms associated with mental illness and were more likely endorse the use alcohol to deal with mental health problems. Such factors may contribute to the delays in help seeking seen in young males. Further research is needed to delineate how these gender differences in young people may obstruct help seeking, early intervention and other aspects of mental health service delivery.
Peer J, 2015
Abstract: Objectives. The current study investigated mental health literacy in an Australian sample to examine sex differences in the identification of and attitudes towards various aspects of mental illness. Method. An online questionnaire was completed by 373 participants (M = 34.87 years). Participants were randomly assigned either a male or female version of a vignette depicting an individual exhibiting the symptoms of one of three types of mental illness (depression, anxiety, or psychosis) and asked to answer questions relating to aspects of mental health literacy. Results. Males exhibited poorer mental health literacy skills compared to females. Males were less likely to correctly identify the type of mental illness, more likely to rate symptoms as less serious, to perceive the individual as having greater personal control over such symptoms, and less likely to endorse the need for treatment for anxiety or psychosis. Conclusion. Generally, the sample was relatively proficient at correctly identifying mental illness but overall males displayed poorer mental health literacy skills than females.
HISTORICAL ARTICLES AND ESSAYS
The Objective Standard, 2015
RUBBISH BIN
Sports participation and transgender youths
JAMA Pediatrics, 2023
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Thanks for these interesting bits.
Before agreeing with the mental health assessment that men lag in their id of depressive symptoms I would want to read the vignettes they used to see how they have come to this conclusion. I have seen this sort of thing used before in order to push a narrative and I am betting they are doing that here.