This study explored how an alternative presentation of loan information affects financial-aid decisions among students (n = 204) at a large public university. Building from decision-aid literature and using an experimental design, we found that when financial-aid forms were formatted in a way that makes interest rates more accessible and salient, students tended to: (a) accept fewer high-cost private loans and (b) work more during the college years. Results indicate that minor revisions in financial-aid documentation can have a significant impact on students' financial-aid choices. Those working in the fields of higher education and financial counseling and planning can use this information to further educate borrowers prior to the encumbrance of student loan debt.

Girls often outperform boys on measures of literacy achievement. This gender gap in literacy performance has been observed to be persistent over developmental time, consistent across multiple domains of literacy, and widely spread geographically. It is sometimes suggested that boys' achievement in the literacy domain might be improved by the availability of reading materials that are designed to engage boys' attention, such as electronic books with interactive features. We addressed the question of boys' versus girls' engagement with reading materials by observing 20 small groups of boys or girls interacting with an electronic book and then a paper book. The children's engagement with the book in each case was coded using Noldus software. Engagement was operationalized in terms of eye gaze (looking at book or reading partner vs. elsewhere), handling (i.e., touching or pointing at book or partner with engaging as opposed to prohibitive actions), and verbal behaviors (i.e., reading, paraphrasing, or talking about the book when compared to not talking or off-task talk). Total time and percent time spent engaged with each book was examined by gender. The results revealed greater nonverbal engagement with the ebook compared to the paper book but greater verbal engagement with the paper book compared to the ebook. No differences in engagement by gender were observed however.

Current diagnostic criteria suggest that some individuals experience health anxiety and severe somatic symptoms, whereas others experience health anxiety and either no or mild somatic symptoms. However, to date, our understanding of potential differences among individuals with health anxiety and varying severity of somatic symptoms remains limited. Adopting a dimensional approach, we completed this study to help fill this gap in the literature by examining whether the interactive effect between health anxiety and somatic symptoms was related to health-related beliefs among men (n = 211) and women (n = 220). Among both men and women, health anxiety was related to certain health-related beliefs, particularly anxiety sensitivity, only when coupled with severe somatic symptoms. Conceptual and therapeutic implications of these results are discussed.

The purpose of this article was to determine whether overt financial education from parents during childhood (retrospective measure collected in the same survey wave) is associated with a greater frequency of healthy financial management behaviors in emerging adulthood, and whether this relationship is dependent on gender. Using a sample of emerging adults from the Flourishing Families dataset (N = 437), we ran two multivariate linear regressions—one with and one without the interaction variable. Results suggest that financial education from parents during childhood is linked with a greater frequency of healthy financial behaviors in emerging adulthood but was not dependent on gender. Financial educators should involve parents when teaching children about money, and they should educate parents on how to teach their children about money.

One hotly debated topic within the field of intimate partner violence (IPV) is the degree to which IPV can be understood as primarily a unidirectional versus bidirectional phenomena; this topic forms a key component of the gender symmetry versus asymmetry of domestic violence debate. Resolution of this controversy has important prevention and intervention implications. In the current study, a comprehensive review of the literature was conducted, and 48 studies that reported rates of bidirectional versus unidirectional physical violence (male-to-female and female-to-male) were uncovered using a variety of search engines and key terms; one relevant meta-analysis and one seminal book chapter were also identified. Included empirical studies were published in 1990 or later, appeared in peer-reviewed journals, and contained empirical data directly related to bidirectionality of violence. Studies that only reported correlations between self-reported perpetration and victimization were excluded from these analyses. Qualifying studies were then categorized by the nature of the sample they assessed (i.e., large population samples; smaller community; purposive or convenience samples; clinical or treatment-seeking samples; legal/criminal justice-related samples; and samples assessing the relationships of gay, lesbian, and/or bisexual individuals). Rates of bidirectional versus unidirectional violence (male-toward-female vs. female-toward-male) were summarized directly as reported or were derived on the basis of data contained within the article.

All obtained studies (48 empirical, 1 meta-analysis, 1 book chapter) were then entered into an online summary table for public review; however, additional results were specifically calculated for the current article. These results indicate that bidirectional violence was common across all types of samples (population-based to criminal justice). This suggests that the role of women in violent relationships is important to consider, even if all aspects of women’s perpetration of IPV are not symmetrical to men’s perpetration of IPV. A second finding to emerge was that the ratio of unidirectional female-to-male compared to male-to-female IPV differed significantly among samples with higher rates of female-perpetrated unidirectional violence found in four of the five sample types considered. Higher ratios of male-to-female unidirectional violence were found only in criminal justice/legal studies that relied on police reports of IPV perpetration and/or in samples drawn from the U.S. military. Competing explanations for the differing ratios were offered in the current discussion. These need to be tested empirically in order to fully understand the expression of IPV across samples and settings. Differences in the directionality of the expression of IPV were not found in samples of gay, lesbian, or bisexual individuals; however, rates of bidirectional violence appear to vary by race/ethnicity with higher rates of bidirectional violence among Black couples. Overall, it is suggested that if one resolution of the gender symmetry/asymmetry debate is to argue that there are subtypes of male and female domestic violence perpetrators (Johnson, 2005; Johnson, 2006), or that there are different patterns of violence among different types of relationships characterized by IPV (Stets & Straus, 1989), researchers and clinicians will need to work together to determine how to reliably and meaningfully make these determinations in ways that will facilitate our ability to effectively prevent and treat all types of IPV.

This article investigates the content and framing of newspaper articles reporting male- and female-perpetrated intimate partner violence (IPV). There were 173 newspaper articles coded for IPV severity, typology, and framing. Print news coverage of female-perpetrated IPV was limited; however, when reported, cases of female-perpetrated IPV were more severe, more likely to be described as perpetrated in self-defense, and less likely to be framed in terms of individual factors. For both male and female perpetrators, incidents of IPV were overwhelmingly framed as a private matter, whereas larger societal and cultural factors were rarely discussed. We discuss implications and make recommendations for broadening print media coverage of IPV to include the broader institutional, societal, and cultural causes of IPV rather than focusing primarily on individual factors.

The purpose of this article was to determine whether overt financial education from parents during childhood (retrospective measure collected in the same survey wave) is associated with a greater frequency of healthy financial management behaviors in emerging adulthood, and whether this relationship is dependent on gender. Using a sample of emerging adults from the Flourishing Families dataset (N = 437), we ran two multivariate linear regressions—one with and one without the interaction variable. Results suggest that financial education from parents during childhood is linked with a greater frequency of healthy financial behaviors in emerging adulthood but was not dependent on gender. Financial educators should involve parents when teaching children about money, and they should educate parents on how to teach their children about money.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a substantial health concern and identifying risk factors for IPV is a research priority. We examined the relationship between severe IPV and objectification of the self and other sex across participant sex. A sample of 1,005 male and female university students completed a series of online questionnaires that measure levels of self-objectification, objectification of the other sex, and histories of severe IPV victimization and perpetration. Self-objectification was associated with severe psychological aggression, physical assault, and sexual coercion victimization in females, but not in males. Objectification of the other sex was associated with severe psychological aggression and physical assault perpetration in males, but not in females. These findings contribute to our understanding of gender similarities and differences in IPV.

This study examined gender differences in impacts of dating violence (specifically minor and severe physical injury, depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder [PTSD], problems with alcohol, self-esteem, and relationship satisfaction) using a sample of 305 male and 363 female undergraduate students. Multiple linear regression models were used to test for the effects of dating violence victimization on the eight outcome variables while controlling for the effects of perpetration and psychological victimization. Results indicated that physical violence victimization did not impact problems with alcohol, self-esteem, or relationship satisfaction for either males or females. However, being a victim of minor violence significantly increased the levels of depression, anxiety, and PTSD and being a victim of severe violence significantly increased minor and severe injury. Different gender effects were seen in anxiety and PTSD scores where male victims scored higher than male nonvictims, but female victims did not differ significantly from female nonvictims and in minor and severe injury where both male and female victims scored higher than nonvictims, but the difference between the two groups was greater for men on the severe injury subscale and greater for women on the minor injury subscale. Overall, results of our analyses indicate that both male and female victims of dating violence experience physical and mental health consequences and, on the whole, do not support previous findings that would suggest that female victims suffer a greater impact than male victims do.

Objective: Childhood family violence exposure is associated with increased risk for experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV) in adulthood, but the mechanisms underlying this relationship remain inadequately understood. Difficulties with emotion regulation may be one factor that helps to explain this relationship. Method: Childhood physical abuse and interparental violence, as well as subsequent IPV experiences, were assessed in a large sample of young adults (N = 670). Several indicators of anger-related dysregulation were also assessed. Structural equation modeling was used to create a latent variable of anger-related dysregulation, which was examined as a potential mediator of the associations between childhood family violence exposure and IPV. Results: Childhood physical abuse and interparental violence were associated with greater physical, sexual, and emotional IPV victimization. Childhood physical abuse and interparental violence were also associated with anger-related dysregulation, which was positively associated with all three types of IPV experiences. Anger-related dysregulation fully mediated the association between witnessing interparental violence and physical IPV. Anger-related dysregulation partially mediated the association between witnessing interparental violence and psychological IPV and the associations of childhood physical abuse with all three forms of IPV. These associations were consistent across gender. Conclusions: Interventions aimed at reducing IPV risk among survivors of childhood family violence may benefit from including techniques to target anger-related emotion regulation skills.