No abstract

We experimentally examined whether giving or receiving self-disclosure leads to greater liking and other positive impressions (e.g., closeness) in initial interactions. We also contributed to a recent debate about the familiarity-attraction link by examining whether knowledge about another leads to greater (or lesser) degrees of liking and perceived similarity. Pairs of unacquainted undergraduates completed a structured self-disclosure task. We randomly assigned one participant to disclose while the other listened in a first interaction; participants switched roles for a second interaction. After the first interaction, listeners (vs. disclosers) reported more liking and other positive interpersonal impressions. These differences disappeared after participants switched roles in the second interaction. Furthermore, listening was associated with greater degrees of perceived similarity.

In this article, we present results from a "cohort-longitudinal" analysis of sexual attitudes and behaviors based on a large sample of young adults (N = 7,777) obtained from a university setting over a 23-year period. We investigated gender, ethnicity, and cohort differences in sexual permissiveness, endorsement of the double standard, and sociosexuality. Compared to women, men had more permissive attitudes, particularly about sex in casual relationships, endorsed the double standard to a greater degree, and had a more unrestricted sociosexuality. Black men were generally more permissive than White, Hispanic, and Asian men, whereas ethnic differences were not found among women. Participants from the 1995-1999 cohort were slightly less permissive than those from the 1990-1994 and 2005-2012 cohorts. Although prior meta-analytic studies (e.g., Petersen & Hyde, 2010) found reduced gender differences in sexuality over time, our cohort analyses suggest that gender differences in sexual permissiveness have not changed over the past two decades among college students.

Self-disclosure can vary on many dimensions, including reciprocity. Using a live-interaction paradigm, the authors examined how dyads who engaged in turn-taking self-disclosure in two interactions differed from dyads who engaged in sequential self-disclosure (one person disclosed while the other listened in a first interaction, switching roles in the second interaction) on attraction and three interpersonal process variables-responsiveness, enjoyment, and perception of being liked. Turn-taking (vs. sequentially) disclosing dyads reported greater degrees of attraction, especially after the first interaction. The three process variables were positively associated with attraction and were experienced to a greater degree by dyads who engaged in turn-taking (vs. sequential) self-disclosure. These process variables mediated the link between self-disclosure reciprocity and attraction.

Research has widely documented the over-representation of office disciplinary referrals (ODRs) among specific student groups (e.g., African American, boys). Despite extant research documenting individual-level predictors of ODRs, few studies have accounted for the nested structure of the settings in which these events occur. Guided by critical race theory and social-ecological theory, this study uses multilevel modeling to examine individual-and school-level predictors of student ODRs. Archival data were examined among 1,442 students in a high-poverty urban school district. The majority of students were male (66.4%), African American (56.2%), and in middle school (63.2%). Results revealed that individuallevel characteristics significantly predicted student disciplinary referrals even when accounting for school-level variables. Racial/ethnic-minority concentration was positively associated with ODRs for physically aggressive behavior. Finally, results revealed moderation effects, such that schools with lower student-teacher ratios had more ODRs for physically aggressive behavior among students in elementary school grades. Schools with higher student-teacher ratios had more ODRs for insubordination among middle school students. This study illustrates that disproportionality among African American students remains, even when compared with other ethnic-minority groups within a high-poverty urban context, and that school-level factors (e.g., racial/ethnic concentration, student-teacher ratio) are associated with office referral rates. Implications for research and practice are discussed.