Gender Differences In Resistance Research Articles

Gender Differences in Resistance to Schooling: The Role of Dynamic Peer-Influence and Selection Processes

Boys engage in notably higher levels of resistance to schooling than girls. While scholars argue that peer processes contribute to this gender gap, this claim has not been tested with longitudinal quantitative data. This study fills this lacuna by examining the role of dynamic peer-selection and influence processes in the gender gap in resistance to schooling (i.e., arguing with teachers, skipping class, not putting effort into school, receiving punishments at school, and coming late to class) with two-wave panel data. We expect that, compared to girls, boys are more exposed and more responsive to peers who exhibit resistant behavior. We estimate hybrid models on 5448 students from 251 school classes in Sweden (14–15 years, 49% boys), and stochastic actor-based models (SIENA) on a subsample of these data (2480 students in 98 classes; 49% boys). We find that boys are more exposed to resistant friends than girls, and that adolescents are influenced by the resistant behavior of friends. These peer processes do not contribute to a widening of the gender gap in resistance to schooling, yet they contribute somewhat to the persistence of the initial gender gap. Boys are not more responsive to the resistant behavior of friends than girls. Instead, girls are influenced more by the resistant behavior of lower status friends than boys. This explains to some extent why boys increase their resistance to schooling more over time. All in all, peer-influence and selection processes seem to play a minor role in gender differences in resistance to schooling. These findings nuance under investigated claims that have been made in the literature.

Female resistance to pneumonia identifies lung macrophage nitric oxide synthase-3 as a therapeutic target.

To identify new approaches to enhance innate immunity to bacterial pneumonia, we investigated the natural experiment of gender differences in resistance to infections. Female and estrogen-treated male mice show greater resistance to pneumococcal pneumonia, seen as greater bacterial clearance, diminished lung inflammation, and better survival. In vitro, lung macrophages from female mice and humans show better killing of ingested bacteria. Inhibitors and genetically altered mice identify a critical role for estrogen-mediated activation of lung macrophage nitric oxide synthase-3 (NOS3). Epidemiologic data show decreased hospitalization for pneumonia in women receiving estrogen or statins (known to activate NOS3). Pharmacologic targeting of NOS3 with statins or another small-molecule compound (AVE3085) enhanced macrophage bacterial killing, improved bacterial clearance, and increased host survival in both primary and secondary (post-influenza) pneumonia. The data identify a novel mechanism for host defense via NOS3 and suggest a potential therapeutic strategy to reduce secondary bacterial pneumonia after influenza.

Gender differences in resistance to temptation: Theories and evidence

Three theories (psychoanalytic, parental investment, and differential socialization) make predictions regarding gender differences in the ability to resist temptation. These predictions were tested in a series of meta-analyses conducted on 114 effect sizes derived from 98 studies reporting on gender differences in the ability to inhibit an externally prohibited response. Overall, females showed more restraint than males, but the effect size was very small ( r=.03). Further analyses were conducted for each of several types of tasks. On one task, called the forbidden-object task, gender differences were appreciable, with effect sizes ranging from r=.11 to .20, again indicating a female advantage. On two other tasks, both of which involved cheating, gender differences were generally very small, with effect sizes ranging from −.03 to .06. None of the theories under consideration can account for the differences in results by task. Discussion focuses on evolutionary-based explanations for the differences in results by task. Further avenues for research are also noted.