The relationship between feminist attitudes and affect in response to sexual assault information.
Item
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Title
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The relationship between feminist attitudes and affect in response to sexual assault information.
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Identifier
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AAI9732973
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identifier
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9732973
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Creator
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Spooner, Julie Rand.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Sue Rosenberg Zalk
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Date
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1997
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Psychology, Clinical | Psychology, Cognitive | Women's Studies
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Abstract
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The present study explored the relationship between stage of feminist development and affective response to information concerning sexual violence against women. This study examined the connection between feminist attitudes and affective responses while remedying some of the limitations found in past research in this area. One major revision of past research includes conceptualizations of feminist attitudes. The present study incorporated recent models which propose a stage theory of feminist identity development.;One hundred and seventy-seven women from a large urban university participated in this study which assessed their feminist identity as well as their change in mood in response to an essay on sexual assault. The mood measure assessed 6 dimensions of mood, as well as total mood disturbance, a scale for global mood state. The ethnic composition was 40.1% African-American, 30.5% Latina, 11.9% white, 10.7% Asian, 6.2% other. One hundred and twenty-seven (71.8%) of the students indicated that they were between 18 and 24 years old.;Findings with the present sample did not conform to the feminist stages proposed by Downing and Roush (1985). Consequently, the hypotheses which had been based on the Downing and Roush (1985) stage theory were rejected, and reconceptualized. Instead of being placed in a single stage, participants were included in all 5 categories at one of three levels (high, medium or low). Thus, the stage theory was replaced with the concept of categories of attitudinal dimensions.;An analysis of the items did reveal changes on 5 mood dimensions. There were no significant changes in mood based on the attitudinal dimensions. A factor analysis resulted in 4 revised attitudinal dimensions. Based in the attitudes reflected by the items, the 4 dimensions were labelled Feminist/Pro-Activist, Traditional, Male Positive, and Transitional. An analysis of the revised categories revealed a significant relationship between mood change and level on several attitudinal dimensions.;Results, which indicate a relationship between feminist attitudes and affect, have clinical implications. Clinicians, often trained to focus on characterological traits to explain affective responses, would benefit from a greater awareness of the interdependence of belief systems and emotion. In addition, the significance of various social conditions in shaping affect, such as widespread sexual violence against women, also has relevance to clinicians.;In a society characterized by frequent occurrences of sexual violence against women, research findings on women's affective responses to surrounding social conditions provides mental health workers with critical clinical information.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
