Are men universally more dismissing than women? Gender differences in romantic attachment across 62 cultural regions

The authors thank Susan Sprecher (USA), Del Paulhus (Canada), Glenn D. Wilson (England), Qazi Rahman (England), Alois Angleitner (Germany), Angelika Hofhansl (Austria), Tamio Imagawa (Japan), Minoru Wada (Japan), Junichi Taniguchi (Japan), and Yuji Kanemasa (Japan) for helping with data collection and contributing significantly to the samples used in this study.Gender differences in the dismissing form of adult romantic attachment were investigated as part of the International Sexuality Description Project—a survey study of 17,804 people from 62 cultural regions. Contrary to research findings previously reported in Western cultures, we found that men were not significantly more dismissing than women across all cultural regions. Gender differences in dismissing romantic attachment were evident in most cultures, but were typically only small to moderate in magnitude. Looking across cultures, the degree of gender differentiation in dismissing romantic attachment was predictably associated with sociocultural indicators. Generally, these associations supported evolutionary theories of romantic attachment, with smaller gender differences evident in cultures with high–stress and high–fertility reproductive environments. Social role theories of human sexuality received less support in that more progressive sex–role ideologies and national gender equity indexes were not cross–culturally linked as expected to smaller gender differences in dismissing romantic attachment.peer-reviewe

التحديات التي تواجه الشباب في المجتمع القطري: دراسة استكشافية

يهدف البحث إلى استكشاف أهم التحديات التي يواجهها الشباب في قطر، في جوانبها الأخلاقية والنفسية والاجتماعية والسلوكية، والعوامل التي تسهم في ظهورها، وآليات التدخل الممكن اللجوء إليها للتخفيف منها. استخدم منهجًا تكامليًا لجمع بيانات كمية بالاستبيان لعينة مكونة من (493) من الشباب في الجامعات القطرية، ونوعية بسبعة حلقات نقاشية ومقابلتين شخصيتين، وثانوية بجمع الإحصائيات الرسمية. حللت البيانات الكمية إحصائيًّا ببرنامج (SPSS)، وأجري التحليل الموضوعاتي للبيانات النوعية ببرنامج (MAXQDA). كشفت الدراسة عن مزايا وسمات إيجابية للشباب؛ كارتفاع متوسطات الأعمال الطيبة المتعلقة بالدين والأخلاق. في المقابل يعاني الشباب من مشكلات نفسية، كالقلق والاكتئاب و"الاحتراق النفسي والذهني والإجهاد الفكري والكبت، وقضائهم أوقاتًا طويلة على الأجهزة الإلكترونية بهدف التسلية. أوصت الدراسة بمعالجة السلوكيات السلبية والأمراض النفسية والاجتماعية عبر التدخل السريع، وإشراك الشباب في تطوير برامج الدعم، وإجراء المزيد من الدراسات التتبعية

Breaking ground in cross-cultural research on the fear of being laughed at (gelotophobia): A multi-national study involving 73 countries

The current study examines whether the fear of being laughed at (gelotophobia) can be assessed reliably and validly by means of a self-report instrument in different countries of the world. All items of the GELOPH (Ruch and Titze, GELOPH46, University of Düsseldorf, 1998; Ruch and Proyer, Swiss Journal of Psychology 67:19–27, 2008b) were translated to the local language of the collaborator (42 languages in total). In total, 22,610 participants in 93 samples from 73 countries completed the GELOPH. Across all samples the reliability of the 15-item questionnaire was high (mean alpha of .85) and in all samples the scales appeared to be unidimensional. The endorsement rates for the items ranged from 1.31% through 80.00% to a single item. Variations in the mean scores of the items were more strongly related to the culture in a country and not to the language in which the data were collected. This was also supported by a multidimensional scaling analysis with standardized mean scores of the items from the GELOPH15. This analysis identified two dimensions that further helped explaining the data (i.e., insecure vs. intense avoidant-restrictive and low vs. high suspicious tendencies towards the laughter of others). Furthermore, multiple samples derived from one country tended to be (with a few exceptions) highly similar. The study shows that gelotophobia can be assessed reliably by means of a self-report instrument in cross-cultural research. This study enables further studies of the fear of being laughed at with regard to differences in the prevalence and putative causes of gelotophobia in comparisons to different cultures

Patterns and universals of adult romantic attachment across 62 cultural regions: Are models of self and of other pancultural constructs?

As part of the International Sexuality Description Project, a total of 17,804 participants from 62 cultural regions completed the Relationship Questionnaire (RQ), a self-report measure of adult romantic attachment. Correlational analyses within each culture suggested that the Model of Self and the Model of Other scales of the RQ were psychometrically valid within most cultures. Contrary to expectations, the Model of Self and Model of Other dimensions of the RQ did not underlie the four-category model of attachment in the same way across all cultures. Analyses of specific attachment styles revealed that secure romantic attachment was normative in 79% of cultures and that preoccupied romantic attachment was particularly prevalent in East Asian cultures. Finally, the romantic attachment profiles of individual nations were correlated with sociocultural indicators in ways that supported evolutionary theories of romantic attachment and basic human mating strategie

Patterns and universals of adult romantic attachment across 62 cultural regions : are models of self and other pancultural constructs?

As part of the International Sexuality Description Project, a total of 17,804 participants from 62 cultural regions completed the Relationship Questionnaire (RQ), a self-reportmeasure of adult romantic attachment. Correlational analyses within each culture suggested that the Model of Self and the Model of Other scales of the RQ were psychometrically valid within most cultures. Contrary to expectations, the Model of Self and Model of Other dimensions of the RQ did not underlie the four-category model of attachment in the same way across all cultures. Analyses of specific attachment styles revealed that secure romantic attachmentwas normative in 79% of cultures and that preoccupied romantic attachment was particularly prevalent in East Asian cultures. Finally, the romantic attachment profiles of individual nations were correlated with sociocultural indicators in ways that supported evolutionary theories of romantic attachment and basic human mating strategies