Search Results (32)

The research analyzed the cognitive styles, sexist attitudes and social competencies that hinder gender equality in secondary education students. It identified sexist attitudes, cognitive styles and social skills that hinder change towards gender equality; explored significant differences in sexist attitudes and cognitive strategies and social attitudes by age; studied the relationship between sexist attitudes and cognitive and social strategies that perpetuate gender inequality; and analyzed how age may predict the use of these strategies. A total of 1034 students aged 11 to 18 participated in a cross-sectional study. The Ambivalent Sexism Inventory for Adolescents and the Questionnaire of Attitudes and Cognitive Social Strategies were administered. The results indicate that young people exhibit moderate levels of cognitive and social strategies that hinder the change in sexist behaviors. At ages 12–14, the acceptance of ambivalent and benevolent attitudes such as paternalism and heterosexual intimacy increases. We found greater aggressiveness–stubbornness, apathy–withdrawal, impulsivity, and rigidity of thought at ages 15–17. Age explains a small proportion of the variance in sexist attitudes, cognitive styles, and social competencies that hinder gender equality. The study highlights the need for coeducational measures that ensure equal cognitive and socio-emotional development in women and men. Full article

This exploratory qualitative study investigates the challenges faced by young adults (aged 18–40) with severe mental illness (SMI), intellectual disabilities (IDs), and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in navigating body perception, affectivity, intimacy, gender identity, and sexuality. Through semi-structured interviews with 13 participants recruited from a community habilitation center, thematic analysis revealed systemic barriers rooted in societal stigma, familial overprotection, and institutional neglect. Key findings highlight tensions between bodily autonomy and familial control, with prolonged caregiver dependency in intimate hygiene reflecting patterns of infantilization. We found that participants’ self-image was shaped by gendered expectations and familial critiques, reinforcing internalized stigma. Romantic relationships were often idealized through cultural narratives, yet lacked practical guidance on consent or boundaries, exacerbating vulnerabilities. Fragmented sexual education left individuals reliant on pornography or peers, perpetuating misconceptions and anxiety. Despite these barriers, participants demonstrated resilience and agency in advocating for inclusive interventions. This study underscores the urgent need for trauma-informed, rights-based approaches that prioritize autonomy, dignity, and intersectionality. Recommendations include structured skill-building programs for independence, disability-adapted comprehensive sexuality education, and systemic reforms fostering interdisciplinary collaboration. By centering lived experiences, this work challenges structural inequities and advocates for community care models that honor the diverse needs of individuals navigating the intersection of disability, identity, and sexuality. Full article

The experience of loneliness in old age has gained relevance for social gerontology due to its association with the adverse biopsychosocial health status of the elderly, significantly impacting quality of life in old age. Therefore, the objective of this study was to understand the experiences of loneliness, analysing the perception of its risk and protective factors, as well as the coping strategies used by older people in Chile and Spain, through a transnational qualitative approach, with a view to identifying the influence of cultural variables in the presence of this problem. This research was a descriptive study which used qualitative methodologies for data collection and analysis. The research participants were 30 older people of both sexes who participated in a semi-structured interview about their experiences of loneliness. The main results showed that loneliness in old age was experienced as an emotional disconnection and lack of intimacy and company, mainly in family relationships. Among the most prominent risk factors were old age, gender roles, widowhood, economic limitations, and loss of autonomy. Protective factors included active social participation, religious practice, and participation in meaningful social activities. As for coping strategies, these ranged from strengthening relationships to using digital tools and accepting loneliness as part of life. The findings of this study underline the importance of designing interventions focused on social inclusion and subjective well-being in old age, which contribute to preventing the experience of loneliness at this stage of the life cycle. Full article

Sexual health is a vital aspect of overall well-being, yet individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) face significant stigma and discrimination, affecting self-esteem, relationships, and sexual expression. This review examined the recent literature (2020–January 2024) on intimacy and sexuality among adolescents and young adults with ASD, incorporating 32 studies. Findings highlight poorer sexual health among autistic individuals compared to the general population, with difficulties in forming romantic relationships and navigating sexual interactions due to hypersensitivity. Autism is also linked to non-conforming gender identities and asexuality, exposing individuals to dual stigma within the LGBTQ+ community. Autism-related traits hinder sexual health knowledge, increasing risks of victimisation, abuse, and sexually transmitted infections. Comprehensive sexual education and inclusive support are crucial to address these challenges and promote sexual well-being for autistic individuals. Full article

Due to constantly evolving technology, a new challenge has entered the relationship landscape: the inclusion of robots as emotional and intimate partners. This article raises the question of the degree to which companionship and intimacy may be fulfilled by robots. Three hundred and fourteen undergraduates, the majority of whom were first- or second-year college students, responded to an online survey on robot acceptance. Factor analysis identified two constructs, which the authors labeled as simulated companionship (e.g., robots as companions/helpful assistants) and simulated intimacy (e.g., robots as intimate partners–emotional and sexual). Data analysis revealed a difference between companionship and intimacy regarding student robot acceptance for home use. Overall, there was greater acceptance of robots as companions than as intimate partners. Group differences for simulated companionship were found for gender, sexual values, commitment to religion, and sexual orientation. While robots may enhance various elements of human life, the data revealed the limits of outsourcing emotional intimacy, companionship, and sex to machines. Full article

This study aimed to analyze characteristics, representations, and practices of intimacies and violence in Portuguese university students. Data collection involved 10 focus groups with a total of 35 university students aged 18–23. The findings reveal that students conceptualize healthy relationships based on respect, trust, and individuality, reflecting egalitarian ideals. However, participants acknowledge persistent gendered expectations and asymmetries. Contributing factors to dating violence (DV) include gender stereotyping, social media, substance use, and specific social settings. While social media can foster connection, it also enables control and online abuse. Substance use, although not a direct cause, may exacerbate pre-existing tensions. DV predominantly occurs in private settings, though emotional abuse also surfaces in public spaces like social gatherings. Participants condemned DV but noted the societal normalization of less visible forms of violence. They highlighted the role of peers as primary support networks for victims but also pointed to passive attitudes when abuse involves acquaintances. These insights underscore the need for targeted interventions addressing social norms and enhancing informal support networks in university settings. This study enriches the limited qualitative research on DV among Portuguese youth and emphasizes the importance of aligning prevention strategies with the nuanced realities of young people’s relationships. Full article

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is marked by severe physical symptoms, impaired quality of life, and high psychological distress. Despite its impact, the identification of not only physical but also psychosocial and existential issues in the clinic lags behind that of other patient groups. Methods: This study aimed to assess physical, psychosocial, and existential issues among patients with COPD using a patient-reported outcome measure for general palliative care (the ‘PRO-Pall’) in a Danish outpatient clinic. We included 115 adults with COPD who completed the PRO-Pall either electronically or in the clinic. Sociodemographic and illness-related data were retrieved from their electronic health records. Results: We found that shortness of breath, tiredness, and difficulty walking were predominant physical issues. Worry about change in social roles was the most frequently reported psychosocial issue, while existential issues were reported by approximately one in ten patients. Most patients (44.5%) felt able to share their feelings with family or friends, and a majority (62.2%) felt their illness-related issues were addressed satisfactorily. Females expressed a greater need for rest and males more frequently reported intimacy issues. Higher COPD-impact on life measured by the COPD Assessment Test was associated with lower ratings on the quality-of-life item of the PRO-Pall independent of age, gender, lung function, and smoking status. Conclusions: Patients reported issues in physical, psychosocial, and existential dimensions of the PRO-Pall. The PRO-Pall shows potential as a broader alternative to measures that focus mainly on physical issues. Full article

This systematic review addresses the gap in the literature regarding sibling relationship quality among Latinx families, a topic that has not been comprehensively examined to date. This study aimed to synthesize current research on sibling relationship quality in Latinx families, focusing on the influence of cultural factors, identifying key variables associated with sibling relationship quality, and evaluating the methodological approaches used. This paper is a systematic review based on a recently published evidence and gap map (EGM) that identified and visually presented all published studies investigating sibling relationship quality. Additional inclusion criteria were applied to select articles that specifically examined sibling relationship quality in the United States samples with at least 50% Latinx participants. The review included 12 articles representing 6 distinct studies, revealing significant findings on the roles of familism, simpatía, and gender in shaping sibling dynamics. Results indicated that cultural values such as familism and simpatía positively influence sibling intimacy and warmth, while gender dynamics further moderate these relationships. Methodologically, the articles employed longitudinal and cross-sectional designs, utilizing various quantitative measures. The findings underscore the importance of culturally sensitive approaches in studying sibling relationships and highlight the need for further research to explore these dynamics in diverse Latinx subgroups. Full article

In the dynamic landscape of online interactions, this article explores the use of digital diaries to unravel the intricacy of Portugal young adults’ experiences within the realm of apps and their connection to gender dynamics. By designing a digital participatory research method, we were able to reflect on the participants’ experiences in maintaining the requested diaries, scrutinize the major themes in the narratives generated through this approach, and examine how participants interacted with the prompts sent to them. Therefore, we delved into how participants both challenged and (re)negotiated these solicitations and how their agency led to an untapped reservoir of insights for the project in ways that went beyond words. There were visual and non-verbal elements that brought insights into young adults’ interactions with mobile applications, offering a comprehensive exploration of four key themes: mobile apps as part of young adults’ routines, between performance and authenticity, making the diaries their own, and elaborating on feelings. We also explored diary methods at the convergence of various disciplines and their high potential for contributing to topics related to gender, mental health, productivity, relationships, online identity management, apps in everyday life, intimacy, and more in creative ways. Full article

Food has been an enduring presence in the construction of collective identities of migrant communities. From honing cooking techniques and selecting ingredients and tools to developing cultures of consumption and appreciation, diasporic communities seem to hold food as one of the primary markers of identity. Women writers from the diaspora not only emblematized their identities by writing about food but also opened feminist methodological opportunities for writing resistance. These ‘culinary fictions’ have since been mined to delve into the gendering of migrant identities. The genre of cookbooks shares a significant overlap with ‘culinary fiction’ in terms of its scope by stabilizing ‘authentic’ identities. However, it surgically punctures the romantic appeal of food imagination, shifting its focus instead to the labor that produces the sensory stimulation of culinary memory. This article uses this overlap and this gap as incentives to read select cookbooks published in the heydays of culinary fiction. Reading cookbooks against the metrics of labor provides a certain intimacy of engagement that offers entry into complex negotiations of uncertain migrant identities. Affective labor and its postcolonial entanglements have been used as catalysts in the article to read into the multilayered understanding of the politics of women writing about food in the diaspora. To this extent, it will challenge the stabilized ways of reading culinary identities and open food writing to more robust negotiations of gendered writings of food. Full article

Scientific knowledge on the impact of a gender-affirming transition on intimate partners of transgender and gender diverse (TGD) individuals is limited. It is unclear which care needs partners have and which role health care professionals can play during this transition process. The aim of this study was to explore the unique experiences and care needs of people partnering with TGD people in the context of a gender-affirming transition. A qualitative research method was chosen, and a semi-structured interview was conducted with a sample of nine participants. After transcription, thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. Three main themes, with three subthemes each, were identified: (1) intrapersonal processes, with (1a) the process of acceptance, (1b) concerns surrounding the medical transition and (1c) impact on sexual orientation as subthemes; (2) dyadic processes, with (2a) the importance of mutual commitment, (2b) experiences regarding intimacy and (2c) relational growth as subthemes; and (3) perception of support, with (3a) need for support, (3b) the importance of support and (3c) evaluation of support as subthemes. The results suggest that health care providers can help partners to navigate the process of a gender-affirming transition; however, the care needs of partners are currently not satisfied with the available professional support. Full article

There is an increasing interest in father–child interactions and their effects. Due to the rising number of working mothers, marital interruptions, divorces, and child custody arrangements, paternal duties and the relevance of fathering continue to be re-evaluated. As there are rising expectations for men to undertake more childcare and household responsibilities, it was hypothesized that the presence of a disabled or chronically ill child would have a significant impact on the couple’s future family situation, marital conduct due to paternal dissatisfaction, and increased stress levels. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine paternal intimacy problems, stress levels, and couple satisfaction inside families that have children with cystic fibrosis. The study followed a cross-sectional design with five questionnaires that were answered by a total of 107 fathers of children with cystic fibrosis from the “cases” group as the reference group, and 124 fathers of healthy children from the “control” group. The statistically significant findings of the current study show that men who were taking care of their child with mucoviscidosis engaged less frequently in sexual activity. A significantly higher number of these respondents were smokers. A higher proportion of them reported marital distress (OR = 2.54) and inhibited sexual desire (OR = 2.02), all in association with a higher number of men taking psychiatric medication (7.5% vs. 1.6%). More than 40% of all respondents declared high levels of general stress and parenting distress, while the most frequently used coping mechanism for stress was avoidance-oriented (45.8% vs. 25.8%). Other important findings were the high levels of dissatisfaction and lower levels of marital quality on the SII scale, equivalent to the intimacy problems on the MIQ scale. It is likely that paternal stress is higher when parenting children with cystic fibrosis, and the lack of intervention in this vulnerable group seem to be associated with intimacy problems, couple dissatisfaction, and maladaptive coping mechanisms. It is recommended that these concerns should not only be raised for the mothers of children with mucoviscidosis, but also for the child’s father or the male caretaker partner since they might experience the same problems as the opposite gender. Full article

The article places itself in the burgeoning literature on fraternization between POWs and local women during the twentieth century world wars. Though fraternization with the enemy was considered undesirable by all warring nations, incarcerating women for prolonged periods and suspending their citizenship for even longer was a hallmark of the Nazi system of (in)justice. War wives came in for harsher treatment as double traitors: to the nation and their soldier-husbands. The author has selected a few love triangles from a large cache of Gestapo reports; regional, local and ‘Special Court’ trials; and soldier-husbands’ clemency appeals for a qualitative analysis. Her interrogation of the archival sources from a people’s perspective goes into hitherto unexplored emotions, subjectivities and experiences of the affected people and deliniates how they appropriated, negotiated, rejected and defied the penal code in their own ways through a display of willful conduct. The interiority of their experience is juxtaposed with the discourse analysis of honor and shame surrounding criminalized intimacies to expose the gap between wartime discourse and social practice. Full article

In late modernity both religion and sexuality are being elaborated in terms of reflexivity. In this article, we present findings from our research on the topic of constructions of gender, intimacy and sexuality by sisters and brothers in Catholic monasteries in Poland. The findings are based on the mixed-method transformative connection between qualitative (n = 92) and representative sample quantitative research (n = 1543) conducted in 2020. We studied reflexivity on gender, intimacy and sexuality within Catholic religious communities in Poland in order to understand how gender, intimacy and sexuality are presented in the institutionalized framework of religious life. Our study demonstrates that reflexivity on gender, intimacy and sexuality is highly institutionalised and deeply privatized within Catholic religious communities. The article shows that reflexivity of consecrated persons in Poland on gender, intimacy and sexuality is strongly shaped by religious norms (chastity) and subordinated to their religious roles. Full article

Raising and caring for a child with ASD is a challenge for the parents’ marriage relationship. Caring for a disabled child changes the functioning of the family and requires greater involvement in care and specialist therapy. The respondents’ answers show that such parents experience higher levels of stress related to the upbringing and future of the child. However, parenting challenges need not be a negative experience if the parents support each other. The process of bringing up children in the family are related, inter alia, to the quality of their parents ‘marriage, which is influenced by the partners’ personal resources. The resilience of the partners and coping with this situation contribute to marital satisfaction. The aim of the study is to find out about the relationship between spouses’ resilience and coping styles and their assessment of marriage satisfaction. In total, 50 married couples participated in the study—50 mothers of children with ASD and 50 fathers, the partners of these mothers (N = 100). The following tools were used: the Resilience Scale (SPP-25), the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS) and the Well-Matched Marriage Questionnaire (KDM-2), as well as a survey questionnaire (data on respondents). The results show that the gender of the parent of a child with ASD does not differentiate the overall assessment of the quality of marriage (the overall score on the scale indicates a low level of satisfaction with the relationship). When analyzing in detail the dimensions of individual scales of satisfaction with the relationship, one statistically significant difference was noted for the sex of the respondents in the disappointment dimension, showing that the level of disappointment in the quality of the relationship is higher in wives than in husbands. In the other dimensions of satisfaction with marriage: intimacy, personal fulfillment, similarity, there were no statistically significant differences in terms of gender of the respondents. The resilience of the spouses positively correlates with their assessment of marriage satisfaction, and in particular, openness, perseverance and determination to act increase the level of Task-oriented coping (SSZ) with difficult situations. All resilience factors negatively correlate with the emotional coping style (SSE). In both the studied groups, openness is a significant predictor of intimacy, and persistence is a predictor of self-fulfilment in a relationship. A predictor of disappointment in women is managing using substitute activities (ACZ), while in men it is the Emotion-oriented coping (SSE) style. The results indicate the need to support married couples raising a child with ASD during the pandemic. Full article