bims-chumac 2023-02-12 papers

Issue of 2023–02–12
three papers selected by
Thomas Krichel, Open Library Society

Sci Rep. 2023 Feb 07. 13(1): 2147

Individual attractiveness preferences differentially modulate immediate and voluntary attention.

Tom S Roth, Iliana Samara, Juan Olvido Perea-Garcia, Mariska E Kret.

Physical attractiveness plays a crucial role in mate choice for both men and women. This is reflected in visual attention: people immediately attend towards and look longer at attractive faces, especially when they are motivated to find a partner. However, previous studies did not incorporate real-life dating decisions. Here, we aimed to combine attentional tasks with individual attractiveness ratings and a real-life mate choice context, namely a speed-dating paradigm. We investigated whether heterosexual non-committed young adults showed biases in immediate and voluntary attention towards attractive faces and preferred dating partners. In line with previous research, we found considerable individual differences in individual attractiveness preferences. Furthermore, our results showed that men had a bias towards attractive faces and preferred dating partners in the immediate attention task, while results for women were mixed. In the voluntary attention task, however, both men and women had an attentional bias towards attractive faces and preferred dating partners. Our results suggest that individual attractiveness preferences are good predictors of especially voluntary attention. We discuss these findings from an evolutionary perspective and suggest directions for future research.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-29240-5

Psychol Women Q. 2023 Mar;47(1): 127-143

"It Doesn't Feel Like You Can Win": Young Women's Talk About Heterosexual Relationships.

Tanja Samardzic, Paula C Barata, Mavis Morton, Jeffery Yen.

Scholars have long explored the expectations of women to maintain intimate relationships and the gendered discourses governing those expectations. Despite the dating landscape changes, having intimate relationships remains important for young women. Amid these changes and the impacts of #MeToo/#TimesUp, investigating the discourses at play within women's talk about intimate relationships produces a current snapshot that contrasts with past literature. Young, heterosexual women of diverse racial, educational/work, and relationship backgrounds aged 18-24 years (N = 28) attended one of five online videoconferencing focus groups. Using an eclectic theoretical approach informed by feminist post-structuralism and discursive psychology, we analyzed women's talk about doing relationships. Mobilizing a discourse of intimate relationship necessity/importance, young women (a) were positioned as "the silenc(ed/ing) woman," demonstrating a shared understanding of the necessity of silence when doing intimate relationships; and/or (b) actively took up "the communicative woman," which they conceptualized as the hallmark of a healthy relationship. Tensions between these subject positions were evident (e.g., needing to be "cool"). Also, women described no-win situations in relationships despite attempts to contend with these contradictions and limitations. These findings may contribute to educational materials and youth programming delivered in high school or college.

Keywords: communication; discourse analysis; heterosexual relationships; silencing; young women

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/03616843221135571

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Jan 28. pii: 2355. [Epub ahead of print]20(3):

Strategies to Prevent and Cope with Adolescent Dating Violence: A Qualitative Study.

María Del Mar Pastor-Bravo, Elka Vargas, Venus Medina-Maldonado.

BACKGROUND: Dating violence has attracted scholarly interest from many fields because of its implications for adolescents' health. This study aimed to learn which strategies adolescents use to address and prevent dating violence.
METHODS: Eight focus group discussions were analyzed, which included a total of 78 adolescents between 13 and 17 years old who had the signed consent of their parents or guardians.
RESULTS: The findings showed that the majority of adolescents lacked effective mechanisms to manage violence in their dating relationships, which were characterized by immaturity, a lack of trust in their families, and unrecognized relationship violence.
CONCLUSIONS: Assessing roles and relationships, as well as coping mechanisms, is a valid way to approach adolescents and explore how they perceive interaction during dating and which strategies are used most frequently to prevent violence.

Keywords: adaptation psychological; adolescent; health education; intimate partner violence; primary prevention

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20032355