No abstract

No abstract

Prior studies consistently report that men's genital responses correspond to their sexual activity interests (consenting vs. coercive sex) whereas women's responses do not. For women, however, these results may be confounded by the sexual activities studied and lack of suitable controls. We examined the subjective and genital arousal responses of men and women with conventional (22 men and 15 women) or masochistic sexual interests (16 men and 17 women) to narratives describing conventional sex or masochistic sex. The aims of the studies were twofold: (1) to examine whether gender differences in the specificity of sexual arousal previously observed for gender also exist for sexual activity interests; and (2) to examine whether men and women with masochistic sexual interests demonstrate specificity of sexual response for their preferred sexual activities. Surprisingly, the pattern of results was very similar for men and women. Both men and women with conventional sexual interests (WCI) reported more sexual arousal, and responded more genitally, to conventional than to masochistic sex, demonstrating specificity of sexual arousal for their preferred sexual activities. Despite showing specificity for conventional sexual activities, the genital responses of WCI were still gender nonspecific. In contrast, women and men with masochistic sexual interests demonstrated nonspecific subjective and genital responses to conventional and masochistic sex. Indices of genital and subjective sexual arousal to masochistic versus conventional stimuli were positively and significantly correlated with self-reported thoughts, fantasies, interests, and behaviors involving masochism. The results suggest that gender similarities in the specificity of sexual arousal for sexual activity exist despite consistent gender differences in the specificity of sexual arousal for gender.

No abstract

Rationale-Frequent cannabis use is a risk marker for schizophrenia and delusions, but the neurocognitive mechanisms of this relationship remain unclear.Objectives-We sought evidence that cannabis users have deficits in processing relationships between meaningful stimuli, similar to abnormalities reported in schizophrenia, and that these deficits are associated with delusion-like ideation. We used the N400 event-related brain potential (ERP) waveform as a neurophysiological probe of activation of concepts in semantic memory. We hypothesized that cannabis users would exhibit larger (more negative) than normal N400 amplitudes in response to stimuli meaningfully related to a preceding prime-reflecting deficient activation of concepts related to the prime. We further hypothesized that the magnitude of this abnormality would correlate with severity of delusion-like ideation.Methods-We recorded ERPs in 24 frequent cannabis users and 24 non-using comparison participants who viewed prime words followed by targets which were either words related or unrelated to the prime or pronounceable non-words. The participants' task was to indicate whether the target was a word. Delusion-like ideation was measured via the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire.Results-Contrary to our hypothesis, cannabis users exhibited smaller than normal N400s to both related and unrelated targets. These abnormalities correlated with delusion-like ideation in cannabis users only. Conclusions-The results are consistent with a generalized abnormality of activation within semantic memory neural networks in cannabis users. Further research is needed to investigate whether such an abnormality plays a role in the development of delusion-like ideation in cannabis users.

Perinatal medical status, environmental risk, and infant developmental status in a group of high-risk infants cared for in an NICU immediately after birth were evaluated for their usefulness as possible criteria for entry into preventive early intervention services. Those children whose 4-year IQ scores placed them in the borderline or deficient category were considered to be the "target" group for whom early preventive intervention would have been indicated. Of the individual categories of risk, family environment was most accurate, 18-month developmental assessments were somewhat useful, and perinatal health histories were least effective in identifying the target children. The aggregation of all three categories of risk was the most accurate in identifying low performance at age 4, but would result in a high rate of under-referrals to early intervention services. A 2-tiered system of developmental follow-up, based on environmental risk criteria, is proposed.With the full Implementation of Part H of P.L 99-457, all U.S. states and territories have accepted a mandate to provide early intervention services for children under age 3 who are developmentally delayed or diagnosed as having a condition that has a high probability of resulting in developmental delay. The federal law left to the states the task of defining both developmental delay and the specific diagnosed conditions that make children eligible to receive early intervention services.

Although the multidimensionality of gender roles has been well established, few researchers have investigated male and female roles separately. Because of the substantial differences in the ways male and female roles are portrayed in our culture, boys and girls may think and learn about these roles differently. The male role is more clearly defined, more highly valued, and more salient than the female role; thus, children's cognitions about these two roles may be expected to differ. The present study addressed the question of whether there is sex-typical variation in gender labeling, gender-role knowledge, and schematicity. Participants were 120 families; 15% were from minority ethnic groups, and 17% were single-parent families; 25% of the parents had a high school education or less. Results indicated that at 36 months of age, boys were less able to label gender and less knowledgeable about gender roles than were girls. Boys' knew more about male stereotypes than female stereotypes, whereas girls knew considerably more than boys about the female role and as much as boys about the male role. Boys and girls were found to be similar in gender schematicity. Traditionality of parental attitudes regarding childrearing and maternal employment were not strongly related to children's gender cognition.Recent reviews of the literature regarding children's understanding and adoption of gender roles have acknowledged the multidimensional nature

No abstract