No abstract

The study was designed to examine the relations between negative affect, coping, and emotional eating. It was tested whether emotionoriented coping and avoidance distraction, alone or in interaction with negative affect, were related to increased levels of emotional eating. Participants were 125 eating-disordered women and 132 women representing a community population. Measures included the Positive and Negative Affectivity Schedule (PANAS), the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS), and the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ). Both emotion-oriented coping and avoidance distraction were related to emotional eating, while controlling for levels of negative affect. Negative affect did not have a unique contribution to emotional eating over and above emotionoriented coping or avoidance distraction. The findings suggest that emotional eating is related to reliance on emotion-oriented coping and avoidance distraction in eating-disordered women as well as in relatively healthy women. r

The Autonomy Scale (Bekker, 1993) measures individual differences in gender-linked autonomy, a psychological condition resulting from the process of individuation and separation. The theoretical background of the concept is found in a combination of feminist, neoanalytical object relations theory and attachment theory. The 3 subscales are Self-Awareness, Sensitivity to Others, and Capacity for Managing New Situations. We report the development and properties of the Autonomy-Connectedness Scale (ACS-30), a shortened 30-item version of the Autonomy Scale. We present 2 studies. In the first study, we examined the structure of the scale as well as its validity and reliability. The second study was aimed at further validation by relating the ACS-30 to various indexes of psychopathology. Exploratory as well as confirmatory factor analyses provided support for a 3-factor structure that was identical to that of the original scale. The ACS-30 showed good internal consistency reliability and an expected pattern of convergent validity with personality and mental health variables. The psychometric properties of the ACS-30 suggest it can be used to assess gender-linked autonomy. It also has the advantage of being more economical and simple as compared with the original 50-item version.

The concept of autonomy has a long history, not only in psychology, but also in philosophy. In this article, the concept is discussed in relation to gender and mental health. The criticisms of several authors with regard to the classical psychological concept of autonomy are reviewed. Also, some recent theoretical developments which start from a psychoanalytical perspective are discussed. Then the reader is introduced to the construction of a new Autonomy scale that takes the criticism mentioned into account and connects with new insights into gender identity. Two studies are presented in which the structure of the scale, as well as it validity and reliability, is investigated. The Autonomy scale appears to measure consistently three aspects: Self‐awareness, Sensitivity to Others, and Capacity for Managing New Situations. Reliability and validity are satisfactory. Furthermore, in a third study the factor structure found in Studies 1 and 2 was cross‐validated in a more heterogeneous, adult sample. This cross‐validation was also done across the sexes. It is concluded that the Autonomy scale is a valid and reliable instrument for measuring the new autonomy concept in various populations. Secondly, the scale seems to fill the gap that is left open by more classically oriented autonomy (and dependence) scales by measuring Sensitivity to Others, an important aspect of femininity and thus for female identity.

As women have become more assimilated into the work-force over recent decades, they have realized considerable changes in their work roles which may contribute to health problems and other negative outcomes such as marital strain and diminished job status. The purpose of this review was threefold: (1) to synthesize data on the distribution of women's work efforts in the areas of paid employment, household chores, and childcare; (2) to outline research which addresses the impact of women's workload on their well-being and careers; and (3) to make international and gender comparisons regarding women's work responsibilities. Our findings showed that women from each of the three countries examined--the United States, Sweden, and The Netherlands--contribute more effort to household chores and childcare and less to the workplace than men do. As a result, their total workloads appear to be somewhat greater and more diffusely distributed than those of men. Heavy workloads may adversely affect women's health, especially in the presence of certain role characteristics (e.g., having a clerical, managerial, professional, or executive position, or caring for young children). Heavy work responsibilities may also undermine marital happiness, particularly if there is perceived inequity in the way partners share household work. Finally, women's total work responsibilities often impact their careers due to compensatory reductions in work commitment and job status. These observations point to the need for further research on women's workload and work roles, on the relationship of work to well-being, and on methods of preventing or alleviating adverse effects on overburdened workers.