Men as cultural ideals: Cultural values moderate gender stereotype content.

Four studies tested whether cultural values moderate the content of gender stereotypes, such that male stereotypes more closely align with core cultural values (specifically, individualism vs. collectivism) than do female stereotypes. In Studies 1 and 2, using different measures, Americans rated men as less collectivistic than women, whereas Koreans rated men as more collectivistic than women. In Study 3, bicultural Korean Americans who completed a survey in English about American targets rated men as less collectivistic than women, whereas those who completed the survey in Korean about Korean targets did not, demonstrating how cultural frames influence gender stereotype content. Study 4 established generalizability by reanalyzing Williams and Best's (1990) cross-national gender stereotype data across 26 nations. National individualism-collectivism scores predicted viewing collectivistic traits as more-and individualistic traits as less-stereotypically masculine. Taken together, these data offer support for the cultural moderation of gender stereotypes hypothesis, qualifying past conclusions about the universality of gender stereotype content.

Symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder and mental health in women who escaped prostitution and helping activists in shelters.

PURPOSE: This study compared the mental symptoms, especially symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), of women who escaped prostitution, helping activists at shelters, and matched control subjects. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We assessed 113 female ex-prostitutes who had been living at a shelter, 81 helping activists, and 65 control subjects using self-reporting questionnaires on demographic data, symptoms related to trauma and PTSD, stress-related reactions, and other mental health factors. RESULTS: Female ex-prostitutes had significantly higher stress response, somatization, depression, fatigue, frustration, sleep, smoking and alcohol problems, and more frequent and serious PTSD symptoms than the other 2 groups. Helping activists also had significantly higher tension, sleep and smoking problems, and more frequent and serious PTSD symptoms than control subjects. CONCLUSION: These findings show that engagement in prostitution may increase the risks of exposure to violence, which may psychologically traumatize not only the prostitutes themselves but also the people who help them, and that the effects of the trauma last for a long time. Future research is needed to develop a method to assess specific factors that may contribute to vicarious trauma of prostitution, and protect field workers of prostitute victims from vicarious trauma.

Reliability and validity of the Korean version of the Davidson Trauma Scale.

The Davidson Trauma Scale (DTS) is a validated, 17-item, brief global assessment scale for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The purposes of this study were to develop a Korean version of the DTS (DTS-K) while maintaining its basic structure and to evaluate its reliability and validity for the Korean population. Participants of this study included 93 patients with PTSD (PTSD group), 73 patients with nonpsychotic mood or other anxiety disorders (psychiatric control group), and 88 healthy controls (normal control group). Subjects completed psychometric assessments, including the DTS-K and the Korean version of the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale and the State Trait Anxiety Inventory. The DTS-K showed good internal consistency (Cronbach alpha = .97) and test-retest reliability (r = .93). The DTS-K showed a significantly positive correlation with Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (r = .94). The highest diagnostic efficiency of DTS-K was at a total score of 47, with sensitivity and specificity of 0.87 and 0.84, respectively. Our findings suggest that the DTS-K is composed of good psychometric properties and is a valid and reliable tool for assessing the frequency and severity of PTSD symptoms regardless of ethnicity.