Liberal Attitudes Research Articles

Sociological dimensions of marital satisfaction in Romania.

We are living nowadays in a social paradigm characterized by a high degree of fluidity. From professional career to leisure, from family patterns to neighborhood relationships, from cultural consumption to domestic technology, almost all the components of social reality have changed during recent decades. A given couple's experience is not insulated from these dynamics, or at least from the pressure that new trends constantly put on it. How can functional relationships be preserved in a continuously changing world? What possibilities are there for couples to sustain viable relationships in the face of all the waves of change, involving as they do new content, new rules, and, in many cases, new values? This paper sets out to analyze how the main factors related to marital life interact and what their impact is on individual satisfaction in the dyadic experience. To this end we planned and applied a sociological survey to a national sample (N = 455 participants, error limit 4.7) using a questionnaire focusing on an evaluation of dyadic life experience that included the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS). The major finding is that more liberal sexual attitudes and people's high view of the importance of money are the strongest predictors of a low-quality dyadic experience. The patterns observed also raise the possibility that positive perception of the parental model may serve to compensate for a couple's relatively shorter period of marital experience.

Cannabis and Illicit Drug Use During Neurodevelopment and the Associated Structural, Functional and Cognitive Outcomes: Protocol for a Systematic Review

BackgroundHigh rates of cannabis and illicit drug use are experienced by young people during the final stages of neurodevelopment (aged 15-24 years), a period characterized by high neuroplasticity. Frequent drug use during this time may interfere with neurophysiological and neuropsychological development pathways, potentially leading to ongoing unfavorable neuroadaptations. The dose-response relationship between illicit drug use, exposure, and individual neurodevelopmental variation is unknown but salient with global shifts in the legal landscape and increasingly liberal attitudes and perceptions of the harm caused by cannabis and illicit drugs.ObjectiveThis systematic review aims to synthesize longitudinal studies that investigate the effects of illicit drug use on structural, functional, and cognitive brain domains in individuals under the neural age of adulthood (25 years). This protocol outlines prospective methods that will facilitate an exhaustive review of the literature exploring pre- and post-drug use brain abnormalities arising during neurodevelopment.MethodsFive electronic databases (Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, ProQuest Central, and Web of Science) will be systematically searched between 1990 and 2019. The search terms will be a combination of MeSH (Medical Subject Headings), with keywords adapted to each database. Study reporting will follow the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, and if relevant, study quality will be assessed using the Grades of Recommendation, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) approach. Eligible studies are those that sampled youth exposed to cannabis or illicit drugs and employed neurophysiological or neuropsychological assessment techniques. Studies will be excluded if participants had been clinically diagnosed with any psychiatric, neurological, or pharmacological condition.ResultsThis is an ongoing review. As of February 2020, papers are in full-text screening, with results predicted to be complete by July 2020.ConclusionsIntegrating data collected on the three brain domains will enable an assessment of the links between structural, functional, and cognitive brain health across individuals and may support the early detection and prevention of neurodevelopmental harm.Trial RegistrationPROSPERO CRD42020151442; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=151442International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)PRR1-10.2196/18349

Constituency Norms Facilitate Unethical Negotiation Behavior Through Moral Disengagement

While organizations strive for ethical conduct, the activity of negotiating offers strong temptations to employ unethical tactics and secure benefits for one’s own party. In four experiments, we examined the role of constituency communication in terms of their attitudes towards (un)ethical and competitive conduct on negotiators’ willingness and actual use of unethical tactics. We find that the mere presence of a constituency already increased representatives’ willingness to engage in unethical behavior (Experiment 1). More specifically, a constituency communicating liberal (vs. strict) attitudes toward unethical conduct helps negotiators to justify transgressions and morally disengage from their behavior, resulting in an increased use of unethical negotiation tactics (Experiment 2–3). Moreover, constituents’ endorsement of competitive strategies sufficed to increase moral disengagement and unethical behavior of representative negotiators in a similar fashion (Experiment 4ab). Our results caution organizational practice against advocating explicit unethical and even competitive tactics by constituents: it eases negotiators’ moral dilemma towards unethical conduct.

Sexual behavioural differences and risk-taking differences among born-abroad and native university students in Italy

There is a substantial lack of information in the literature on affective and sexual behaviours in youths with migratory backgrounds, despite immigrants’ immediate descendants growing in recent years in many destination countries. In order to fill this gap, we use original information, collected by the “Sexual and Emotional Life of Youths (SELFY)” survey carried out in Italy in 2017. We aim to provide a deeper understanding of sexual behaviours by comparing, for the very first time, university students with a migratory background and their native counterparts, stratifying them by gender. Our results show that born-abroad male students have a greater exposure to more liberal attitudes than their native counterparts, while there are no notable differences between born-abroad and native women. Moreover, we analyse, among a number of factors, the association between three sexual behaviours (extra-couple sexual intercourse, occasional sexual intercourse, and numerous sexual partners) and multiple “risk” behaviours. Behaviours defined as “risky” include voluntary attitudes which can be responsible for negative outcomes. Our results show that reckless driving and drug use are directly associated with sexual behaviours, with no differences by gender or migratory status. The association of binge drinking and early sexual debut with the three considered sexual behaviours is largely present only among natives, while having problems with family and school rules have a gender-related role on sex.

The Roles of Social Value Orientation and Anticipated Emotions in Intergroup Resource Allocation Decisions.

How individuals divide resources between themselves and another person is influenced both by their social value orientation (SVO) and the emotions they expect to feel when dividing resources (anticipated emotions). Research has also shown that individuals favor members of their own group (ingroup) over individuals from other groups (outgroup) when allocating resources. The Malaysian multi-ethnic population is a highly relevant context to study the combined effects of intergroup relations and SVO on anticipated emotions and resource allocation. The current studies recruited Malaysian participants to examine whether anticipated emotions and allocation behavior are influenced by the ethnic identity of the person receiving the allocation. Participants completed an SVO measure and rated how they would feel if they were to share resources equally or unequally. They then made allocations between themselves and an ingroup or outgroup member in an economic game. There was no evidence of ingroup favoritism in anticipated emotions and allocation behavior. This may have been due to impression management, social desirability concerns, and/or the use of a population with socially liberal attitudes. The results nevertheless provide support for the notion that anticipated emotions play a key role in resource allocation decisions.

Male Perpetrators of Intimate Partner Violence: MCMI III Profiles, Grossman Facet Scales, Family of Origin Experiences and Attitudes Toward Women in a Small Cohort of Men in India

Background: Personality psychopathology, substance abuse, family of origin experiences, and patriarchal attitudes are variables associated with intimate partner violence. Aim: This pilot study aimed to explore clinical and personality profiles and psychosocial variables in a small cohort of male perpetrators of intimate partner violence. Methodology: 20 men from informal settlements presenting to crisis counseling centers in Mumbai were administered the Millon Clinical Mulitiaxial Inventory III, the Revised Conflict Tactics Scale Short Form, and the Attitudes toward Women scale. Results: Millon Clinical Mulitiaxial Inventory III profiles and scores on Grossman Facet scales suggest personality psychopathology in the profiles of 95% of the men, and 85% reported anxiety. Less than 20% reported substance abuse. The men reported mutuality of violence in the relationship and espoused moderately liberal attitudes toward women. 55% of them reported violence in the family of origin. Conclusion: Our findings are helpful in providing therapeutic pointers for working with male perpetrators of violence.

¿Hay diferencias entre las actitudes hacia la conducta sexual que tienen las personas con discapacidad intelectual y las de los profesionales que trabajan con ellos?

Las actitudes hacia la sexualidad constituyen uno de los elementos cognitivo-emocionales más determinantes del funcionamiento sexual. En este sentido, la sexualidad de las personas con discapacidad intelectual (DI) está fuertemente influenciada por diversos mitos, estereotipos y prejuicios que repercuten en la perpetuación de ciertas actitudes negativas que limitan sus vivencias sexuales. El objetivo de este estudio es analizar las actitudes hacia la conducta sexual de las personas con discapacidad intelectual que poseen las propias personas que integran este colectivo y los profesionales que trabajan con ellos. Para ello, se utiliza la Escala de percepción sexual para personas con discapacidad intelectual en una muestra de 300 personas con DI leve o moderada con edades comprendidas entre 19 y 55 años y la Escala de Actitudes hacia la sexualidad en personas con discapacidad intelectual en 100 profesionales con edades comprendidas entre 20 y 66 años. Los resultados indican que el 36.4% de las personas con DI poseen actitudes conservadoras, el 55.3% actitudes moderadas y el 8.3% actitudes liberales. Por su parte, el 14% de los profesionales presentan actitudes moderadas y el 86% actitudes liberales. En general, los profesionales poseen actitudes significativamente más liberales en todas las conductas sexuales analizadas (besos, caricias y/o sexo oral), excepto en la práctica del coito vaginal donde son las personas con DI quienes presentan actitudes más erotofílicas. En conclusión, las personas con DI muestran actitudes mayoritariamente conservadoras a pesar de que los profesionales que trabajan con ellos son principalmente liberales. Y, por tanto, debería implementarse un módulo actitudinal en los programas de educación afectivo-sexual de las personas con DI, puesto que esta variable repercute significativamente en su salud sexual.

The Quaker Renaissance and Liberal Quakerism in Britain, 1895–1930

Abstract Many Quakers who reached maturity towards the end of the nineteenth century found that their parents’ religion had lost its connection with reality. New discoveries in science and biblical research called for new approaches to Christian faith. Evangelical beliefs dominant among nineteenth-century Quakers were now found wanting, especially those emphasising the supreme authority of the Bible and doctrines of atonement whereby the wrath of God is appeased through the blood of Christ. Liberal Quakers sought a renewed sense of reality in their faith through recovering the vision of the first Quakers with their sense of the Light of God within each person. They also borrowed from mainstream liberal theology new attitudes to God, nature and service to society. The ensuing Quaker Renaissance found its voice at the Manchester Conference of 1895, and the educational initiatives which followed gave to British Quakerism an active faith fit for the testing reality of the twentieth century.

Attitudes of the Nonreligious toward Abortion, Contraceptives, and Homosexuality: Comparing the Far East and Western Europe

Abstract Numerous studies have shown that the number of nonreligious people in the World is increasing and that people without religious affiliation demonstrate more liberal attitudes on controversial issues than affiliated people. Research suggests these differences may arise from the higher education level of the nonreligious and/or cultural context. To further explore the effects of culture on the attitudes of nonreligious, I analyze data from The Global Attitudes Project-Spring (2013). The data were downloaded from the Association of Religion Data Archives, www.TheARDA.com and were collected by Pew Research Center. When the data were analyzed, 6746 of the participants (18.2%) were found to be nonreligious. Three of the countries with the highest rate of nonreligious are from Western Europe (Czechia=69.5%, Britain=44.4%, Germany=35.3%) and three of them are from Far East (China=83.4%, Japan=45.4%, South Korea=42.6%). I compared attitudes of nonreligious from these countries (N=4581) towards abortion, contraception use, and homosexuality. The results indicate that nonreligious people living in the Far East find abortion, contraceptive use, and homosexuality more “morally unacceptable” than Western Europeans. This suggests that attitudes among the nonreligious are not homogenous, and that cultural factors are important variables to consider in future research.

Comparación entre las actitudes de las personas con discapacidad intelectual hacia la conducta sexual y las de sus padres

Tradicionalmente, las personascon discapacidad intelectual han sido privadas del derecho aexpresarsu opinión, desestimando su capacidad de reflexión y haciendo prevalecer su mayor dependencia de los adultos de referencia. En este sentido, aunque cada vez hay una mayor conciencia de los derechos de estas personas, siguen presentes los prejuicios de sus padres hacia la sexualidad de este colectivo. Por este motivo, nos proponemos analizar las actitudes hacia la conducta sexual de las personas con discapacidad intelectual que detentan tanto las personas que integran este colectivo como sus padres. Para ello, se administró una escala breve de actitudes hacia la conducta sexual a una muestra de 360 personas con discapacidad intelectual leve o moderada de entre 19 y 55 años y a 100 padres de entre 28 y 83 años. Los resultados revelan que las personas con discapacidad intelectual presentan actitudes significativamente más liberales que sus padres hacia las conductas de besarse, acariciarse (t = 2.423; p = .016) o realizar prácticas sexuales sin penetración (t = 2.009; p = .045), pero no hacia la práctica del coito vaginal frente a la que ambos colectivos muestran actitudes semejantes (t = .252; p = .802). Estos resultados reflejan no solo la importancia de tener en cuenta las actitudes sobre sexualidad de las personas con discapacidad a la hora de elaborar programas de educación afectivo-sexual adaptados a sus características, sino también el valor de proporcionar los conocimientos y habilidades necesarios a los padres.

Gender differences in the pathways to higher education

It is well known that far fewer men than women enroll in tertiary education in the United States and other Western nations. Developed nations vary in the degree to which men are underrepresented, but the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) average lies around 45% male students. We use data from the OECD Education at a Glance statistical reports, the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), and the World Values Survey to explain the degree to which men are underrepresented. Using a multiple regression model, we show that the combination of both the national reading proficiency levels of 15-y-old boys and girls and the social attitudes toward girls attending university can predict the enrollment in tertiary education 5 y later. The model also shows that parity in some countries is a result of boys' poor reading proficiency and negative social attitudes toward girls' education, which suppresses college enrollment in both sexes, but for different reasons. True equity will at the very least require improvement in boys' reading competencies and the liberalization of attitudes regarding women's pursuit of higher education. At this time, there is little reason to expect that the enrollment gap will decrease, given the stagnating reading competencies in most countries.

Gender in the Twenty-First Century

We study how childhood exposure to a nontraditional family (a working married mother, a married mother that is the primary breadwinner, or a non-married mother) affects gender role attitudes in young adulthood. Boys and girls develop more liberal gender attitudes when they spend more time with a non-married mother. In intact families, boys' gender attitudes, more than girls', appear positively influenced by the role model of a working mother, especially if she is also the primary breadwinner. However, the effect of childhood exposure to a mother with greater economic power on boys' gender attitudes is smaller in more gender-conservative families.

Prevalence and factors associated with non-medical prescription stimulant use to promote wakefulness in young adults

Objective: This study examined the prevalence and factors associated with non-medical use of prescription stimulants to promote wakefulness. Participants: We surveyed 3,160 university students aged 18–35 between June 2016 and May 2017. Method: Participants reported whether they used prescription stimulants non-medically to stay awake and completed measures of anxiety and depressive symptoms, sleep quality, insomnia, daytime sleepiness, and attitudes toward non-medical prescription drug use. Univariate and multivariate regression models were used. Results: Prevalence of non-medical prescription stimulant use to promote wakefulness was 3.1%. The following factors remained significant in the multivariate model: alcohol, tobacco, and nicotine vapor use, attitude toward non-medical use of prescription medication, poor sleep quality, and daytime sleepiness. Conclusion: Poor sleep, substance use and more liberal attitudes to non-medical prescription drug use were associated with the misuse of stimulants to promote wakefulness. Prevention/intervention programs should promote sleep hygiene and highlight the risks of using prescription drugs non-medically.

Representations of LGBTQ+ issues in China in its official English-language media: a corpus-assisted critical discourse study

ABSTRACT This corpus-assisted critical discourse study examines news reports published by China’s official English-language media from 2000 to 2018, with the goal of understanding how they represent LGBTQ+ issues within the China’s socio-political context. Analysis reveals that the discussion of LGBTQ+-related topics has been consistently discouraged in China’s official English-language media, and the few news reports which have appeared in these media sources have focused on preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS through homosexual behaviors, on promoting LGBTQ+ rights, and on advocating for the liberalization of sex education in China. The range of these focuses indicates that, despite widely-held negative stereotypes regarding homosexual behaviors and their relation to the spread of HIV/AIDS, the official English-language media of China have endeavored to project a positive image of the Chinese central government’s efforts to construct a society that is open, inclusive, and tolerant of LGBTQ+ individuals. This study also discusses positive changes in the social well-being of LGBTQ+ persons in China as evidenced first by the more liberal attitudes that gradually have resulted from the efforts of Chinese netizens to influence LGBTQ+-related governmental policies and second, by the more positive representations of LGBTQ+ issues being communicated to global audiences through the China’s official English-language media.

Political freedom, education, and value liberalization and deliberalization: A cross-national analysis of the world values survey, 1981-2014

ABSTRACT Since World War II, value liberalization has been a worldwide trend, but more recently, there has been a resurgence of conservativism. Modernization and cultural theories have difficulty explaining the shift to liberal or illiberal values, but the political environment, an underestimated contextual factor, could shed light on the mechanisms driving it. This study used hierarchical linear modeling on all six waves of the World Values Survey data (1981–2014) to demonstrate that political freedom helps to explain the rise and fall of liberal attitudes when controlling for societal affluence, inequality, and cultural backgrounds. It finds that political freedom conditions the effects of education: although education is usually considered a liberalizing force, its effect is much weaker in non-free than free societies. The findings remind us of the importance of a free political environment for a robust democracy and point to the complex nature of educational effects, namely the ability of education to socialize people in liberal or illiberal directions depending on the political context and the regime’s agenda.

Effects of medical and non-medical cannabis use in older adults: protocol for a scoping review

IntroductionWith its legalisation and regulation in Canada in 2018, the proportion of Canadians reporting cannabis use in 2019 increased substantially over the previous year, with half of new users being...

A horizon circumscribed by norms? – five gay men discussing career and work

ABSTRACTSweden is known for strong traditions of gender equality and liberal attitudes to variations in sexual orientation. However, the Swedish labour market is strongly gender-segregated and LGB individuals have more difficulties finding employment than heterosexual peers. Thus, Sweden provides an interesting case for studying gender orders and sexual norms. Our aim in this study was to acquire a deeper understanding of reflections of Swedish gay men on their career and occupational considerations, how they explicitly and implicitly relate to gender structures in Swedish society, and gender normativity in this context. We applied a theoretical framework combining concepts of gender order and hegemonic masculinities formulated by Connell, and an extension of Bourdieu's theoretical framework regarding habitus to careership. The results indicate (inter alia) that our informants’ sexual orientation affected their horizons for action, and corroborate previous conclusions that feeling secure with a sexual orientation outside the heterosexual norm usually has positive career effects.

Using internet predicts attitudes towards sexual behaviour in Italian psychology students

Summary The aim of the present study was to investigate whether the use of different sources of information about sexuality predicts attitudes towards own and towards others’ sexual behaviours, as measured through the Trueblood Sexual Attitude Questionnaire (TSAQ) Self and Other scales, in 193 Italian psychology students. The self-reported sources of information considered in the study were books, newspapers, magazines, television, internet, friends, family, and sex education courses, and age, gender, sexual orientation, and religious beliefs were tested as possible confounders. Results from hierarchical regression analyses showed that students' self-reported use of the internet predict liberal attitudes towards their own sexual behaviour, including autoeroticism, commercial sex, heterosexuality, homosexuality, and variation in sex, after controlling for age, gender, sexual orientation, and religious beliefs. On the other hand, we did not find any significant relations between self-reported information sources about sexuality and students' attitudes towards others' sexual behaviour. These results highlight the need for higher education institutions, educators and practitioners in the field of human sexuality to review sexual education programmes targeting university students, taking into account the role of the internet.

Officially Sanctioned Adaptation and Affective Fan Resistance: The Transmedia Convergence of the Online Drama Guardian in China

This article examines how the adaptation process and fan engagement are constituted in the Mainland China media landscape by focusing on the phenomenally popular online drama Guardian (镇魂2018). Through an in-depth analysis of this series, the article explores the contestation and negotiation between the “top-down expurgation” from the drama’s production team during its adaptation process and the “bottom-up subversion” from the fans of this series during its reception and consumption. If the intentional expurgation signifies a strategy of survival confronting the restrictions imposed by censors, then the fans’ creative activities work as a kind of resistance to the (post)socialist ideology in China, where homosexuality has been considered a violation of traditional Confucian values, where supernatural narratives have been viewed as backward superstitions, and socially wronged lower-class members are seen as a threat to social stability. The adaptation of Guardian from novel to drama and its reception becomes a battlefield of strategic compliance and resistance, where economic demand and political power, modern liberal attitudes toward gender, sexuality, and equality and traditional values concerning harmony, conformity, and authority contest and negotiate.

Everything Old Is New Again: Reviving the Traditional Choreographic Pedagogy of Louis Horst and Doris Humphrey

ABSTRACTTeaching and learning choreography have been essential parts of dance major curricula in higher education for more than eighty years. Much of its current pedagogy resourcefully stresses the student's individuality involved both in dance making and dance education. This article encourages us to take a fresh look at a few traditional stage-centered artistic approaches. The structured approaches of Louis Horst and Doris Humphrey, for example, when integrated with a more liberal attitude, might appear to add helpful resources for learning to choreograph in the contemporary era. Let's recognize that choreographers such as Pina Bausch, Lar Lubovitch, and Paul Taylor form a short list of internationally recognized choreographers who studied the traditional dance composition methods developed in the early to mid-twentieth century and found personal paths as dance makers to conceive ingenious dance works.