<p> Our earth has begun its sixth extinction and our culture thrives in ideological third nature and the era of technology. Hardcore pornography demonstrates a fear-based split in the relationship between the Great Mother and Terrible Mother archetypes, and the consumption of violent sexual material is indicative of existential death-avoidance, or despair. The archetypes present in the Moms/Hot Mom/Mother/MILF, Youth/Teen, and 18 and Abused categories of porn evoke the fear of the feminine as related to Mother Earth, and elucidate the collective&rsquo;s split feminine archetypes. This research uses heuristic and alchemical hermeneutic research methods to discern how these archetypes within hardcore pornography explicate our cultural complex regarding Mother Nature. What results is a call to consciousness and a clinical aim toward shadow integration, the assimilation of masculine and feminine parts of self, and a cohesive relationship toward imagery and imagination, lest they be altogether replaced by pornography.</p>

<p> Trauma and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder have become widely researched topics within the field of military psychology; however, within the past few years, new research on the topic of moral injury has emerged. The studies conducted on moral injury are growing in number, though research continues to lack on the experience of moral injury within the female Veteran population. The goal of this research is to capture the lived meaning, or lived experiences, of moral injury in female Veterans. Four participants who identified as female Veterans, and who experienced one or more deployments throughout the duration of their military service, were asked about their experiences of moral injury during their time serving in the United States military. This study uses an existential-phenomenological method to understand the participant&rsquo;s experiences of moral injury. This study will conclude with implications for application to clinical care, and recommendations for future research.</p><p>

<p> This is a quantitative, cross-sectional study designed to examine the relationship between sexist microaggressions and mental health. <i>Sexist microaggressions</i> refer to subtle communications of hostility and discrimination toward women. Sexist microaggressions are often difficult to detect, but they have the potential for harmful mental health outcomes. Despite a strong theoretical argument for the relationship between sexist microaggressions and mental health, limited empirical research exists documenting this relationship, partly due to a lack of an adequate psychometrically developed, quantitative measure of sexist microaggressions. Therefore, for the purpose of the study, a theoretically based quantitative measure of sexist microaggressions, including a stress appraisal of these experiences, was developed. Based on survey data obtained from 699 women, the <i>Sexist Microaggressions Experiences and Stress Scale</i> (the Sexist MESS) may be conceptualized as composed of seven interrelated factors. Furthermore, the results support the reliability and validity of the Sexist MESS as a measure of sexist microaggressions among women. Even further, scores on the Sexist MESS correlated significantly with scores on the <i>Mood and Anxiety Symptom Questionaire-Dutch-30</i> (MASQ-D30), indicating a positive relationship between sexist microaggressions and general distress, anhedonic depression, and anxious arousal. Additionally, hierarchical multiple regression analysis determined that sexist microaggressions account for a unique portion of variance in mental health outcomes, above and beyond other known predictors (e.g., self-esteem, perceived social support, feminist identity development) of women&rsquo;s mental health, suggesting that sexist microaggressions are an important factor to consider in the conceptualization and treatment of women&rsquo;s mental health. Other service implications and recommendations for future research are discussed throughout.</p>

<p> This work explores the limiting beliefs that modern American man is surrounded by that create suffering and isolation for him. Utilizing heuristic and hermeneutic methodologies, this thesis leans into the primary feelings of anger, guilt, and shame typically expressed by American males. It examines how these feelings came to the forefront of his expressions and how he can allow himself to find ways to safely express the other feelings repressed inside him. Just as the blind man when given a matzo turned it over and over, examining it with his fingers and exclaiming &ldquo;who wrote this?&rdquo;, this thesis suggests new interpretations regarding how males express themselves. Through awareness of the value of rituals and metaphors, this natural language of men can serve as a beginning toward his feeling safe in expressing his repressed feelings. This thesis tempts the reader to see beyond the mask of the American male</p><p>

<p>This study examines sex differences on the baseline Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Test (ImPACT), as well as the relationship between ImPACT measures and sex roles in a high school sample. Previous literature has shown that males tend to outperform females in the scope of reaction time and visuospatial performance. Likewise, females tend to outperform males on cognitive tasks, such as those pertaining to verbal and visual memory. There is limited research regarding sex roles and neurocognitive testing, while the present study examined this relationship. Participants were obtained from E.D. White Catholic High School in Thibodaux, LA. The 57 participants were administered the Bem Sex Role Inventory, as well as the ImPACT baseline neurocognitive assessment. A comparison of the means was analyzed using a t-test, while a Pearson Correlation was used to examine the relationship between sex roles and ImPACT measures. There were no statistically significant results. Coaches, trainers, and test administrators should not make assumptions based on sex or sex roles. The ImPACT system is a tool that has been used for the purpose of diagnosis and management of concussions, and will continue to be the most widely used assessment. Future directions should continue to focus on neurocognitive baseline testing for concussions for athletes at the high school level, being that there is limited research in this area.

<p> Alexithymia, masculine gender roles, public stigma, and attitudes toward help seeking for depression were examined in relation to men&rsquo;s willingness of seeking help for depression. Adult male participants (N= 190) recruited online (Amazon&rsquo;s Mechanical Turk) completed Normative Male Alexithymia Scale (NMAS), Male Role Norms Inventory (MRNI-SF), Perceptions of Stigmatization by Others for Seeking Psychological Help (PSOSH), Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help scales (ATSPPH-SF), and questions based on a vignette indicating level of willingness of seeking help for depression. Scores were analyzed to predict the likelihood of seeking help for depression among men. Data were analyzed using regression analysis. Results indicate that a greater likelihood of seeking help for depression was associated with more positive attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help, a decreased identification with male role norms, and with decreased alexithymia. Three of the predictors (NMAS, MRNI-SF, ATSPPH-SF) explained 49% of the variance, (3,167) = 52.573, <i>p</i> &lt; .000, <i>R</i>² = .486. ATSPPH was the strongest predictor of men&rsquo;s willingness of seeking help for depression. Limitations of this study and implications for practice and research are discussed.</p>

<p> Gender, physiological states, self-regulation, and writing achievement in relation to student writing self-efficacy were examined using a mixed-method approach. Student writing self-efficacy, physiological states, and self-regulation were investigated through surveys and student interviews. Male and female students were selected from two northeast Georgia suburban high schools. Student achievement was measured from the Georgia Milestones test given to 11th grade Language Arts students. A 3 x 2 ANOVA was conducted to research the significance of gender, physiological states, self-regulation, and achievement with writing. Students were given two surveys on self-regulation and writing self-efficacy. </p><p> Findings revealed certain physiological states, such as how a student feels when writing, and self-regulation, how a student copes with these physiological states and how the student adjusts to overcome these obstacles significantly interact with one another. However, writing self-efficacy did not make a significant difference on writing achievement. Writing self-efficacy, physiological states, self-regulation, and writing achievement were gender neutral, meaning gender did not have a significant interaction or make a difference on the results of the surveys or achievement in writing through the Georgia Milestones. </p><p> This research was conducted so that findings could be of value to educators when teaching writing and help them understand the intrinsic value of writing, as well as to make educators aware of the physiological states students experience when writing, to help them better understand how students self-regulate when writing, and to demonstrate how this may play a role in writing achievement.</p>

<p> While studies have highlighted the role of gendered power in relationships, many assumptions have not been quantitatively tested due to a lack of measures for power. This study uses exploratory factor analysis to construct a dyadic assessment of relative power and equality in relationships. This assessment would be useful for research and for clinical work with couples to help raise awareness of the balance of power in their relationship. Equality is defined as a mutual process in which both partners demonstrate that they hold equal value in the relationship, whereas inequality is when there is a relative imbalance of value in the couple. Relative power is a dyadic outcome related to the recognition of one&rsquo;s value to a relationship, and is therefore important in relationship satisfaction. A review of the literature on how power predicts satisfaction has shown a shift in focus away from monetary resources and decision-making towards examining relationship processes and the connection between gender and power. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to develop and test a new scale of equality for couples, the Relationship Balance Assessment (RBA). Exploratory factor analysis of individuals and couples identified 12 latent factors underlying relationship equality. While the study looked for significant correlations with their score averages, this study indicated that power is revealed more in the <i>differences</i> between partners&rsquo; responses. Contrary to expectations, couples&rsquo; differences in the perception of power, and especially the woman&rsquo;s perspective, were highly correlated with their satisfaction. This is consistent with previous qualitative research that asserted that mutual attunement is a critical link between equality and satisfaction. Furthermore, gender shapes couples&rsquo; perceptions, which ultimately affect their level of attunement. For couples in this study, the balance of power was often predicted by gender, gender role orientation and gender ideology&mdash;beliefs about how one should perform their socially-defined roles in family. This study will help researchers and therapists who work with distressed couples to have a clearer understanding of the factors in equality and to assess them. It can also serve as a road-map to improving relationship satisfaction.</p>

<p> Few undergraduates choose physics as a major, and among those who do very few are women. One potential contributor to this problem is the impact that physics instruction seems to have on students' self-efficacy, which is student's thoughts and feelings about their capabilities to succeed as learners in physics. Self-efficacy plays an important role in student achievement in academics both in general and for students pursuing STEM degrees. Conversely, research has shown that the self-efficacy of both men and women tends to be reduced after taking traditional and research-based physics courses. Moreover, self-efficacy tends to be reduced further for women than for men. Whether the negative shifts in self-efficacy in physics are caused by physics instruction remains unclear. It may be that the negative shift in self-efficacy reflects a broader trend in university education that has little to do with physics per se. I investigated this and other alternative explanations for negative shifts in self-efficacy in physics courses using an in-the-moment measurement technique called the Experience Sampling Method. The technique allowed me to collect students' day-to-day feelings of self-efficacy, which I called states, and to compare students' self-efficacy states in physics to those in other STEM courses. I found that students experienced much lower self-efficacy states in physics than in their other STEM courses. Moreover, this difference largely affected women who experienced physics, and only physics, with much lower self-efficacy states than men. Given that experiences are an established sources of self-efficacy beliefs and women also had much more negative shifts in their self-efficacy beliefs I concluded that the experience of physics instruction was probably a causal factor in women's reduced self-efficacy. Further analysis found that the gender difference in self-efficacy states was more than twice that predicted by students' pre-course achievement, attitudes and beliefs. Thus I tentatively concluded that the negative impact on women's self-efficacy resulted from inequities in the physics-learning environment rather than preexisting gender differences. I present evidence that the physics course I investigated was similar to other research-based physics courses and tentatively I concluded that physics instruction in general is detrimental to women's self-efficacy.</p>

<p> Though many father-son pairs struggle with relating, on average heterosexual father-homosexual son pairs are much less affectionate and symbiotic than their heterosexual counterparts (Floyd, Sargent, &amp; Di Corcia, 2004). According to feminist investigators, conflictual relations between heterosexual fathers and homosexual sons are grounded in antihomosexual stigma and prejudice (Floyd et al., 2004) and gender atypical behaviors (Savin-Williams, 2001). From a depth psychological perspective, these dysfunctional relations are ascribed to shared cultural complexes (Singer &amp; Kimbles, 2004a) of the archetypal masculine. In order to understand these processes, the current study explored the lived experience of cultural complexes of the archetypal masculine shared between heterosexual fathers and homosexual sons. The study applied a phenomenological method of analysis to data collected from interviews of an ethnically diverse convenience sample of 3 heterosexual fathers and 3 homosexual sons. The results yielded 12 major themes: performance anxiety, gendered fathers, atypicality, variant masculinity, heteronormative masculine reinforcements, homonegativity, group inclusion and exclusion, microaggressions, shame and embarrassment, suppression and restriction, withdrawal, and disconnection. These themes were further organized and discussed from both the feminist and depth psychological perspectives. The analysis revealed that when heterosexual fathers and homosexual sons cling to one end of the archetypal masculine spectrum, they fail to observe their disidentified selves projected in the other. This leads to an endless cycle of shared cultural complex interactions that corrupts heterosexual fathers and homosexual sons from relating to each other as well as to themselves. Keywords: Cultural complexes, archetypal masculinity, homosexuality, stigma</p>