Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Sex life'

Sex Offender Registries and Community notification laws are in many ways derived from emotion. It is believed that one can predict views on these social policies by examining aspects of life experience due to Techniques of Neutralization and Labeling theories. Reliability and Factor analyses were used to create factor-based indices to predict views on social policies, specifically views on sex offender registries and community notification laws. Multiple Regression was used to assess the effects of gender, race, age, spirituality, locus of control, beliefs about rape, and religiosity on sex offender registries, community notification laws, and sex offenders. By using regression, it was found that locus of control, beliefs about rape, religiosity, and spirituality all had a significant effect on beliefs about sex offender registries, community notification laws, and sex offenders.

Sex chromosomes experience distinct evolutionary environments, due to their unusual pattern of inheritance, and studies of sex chromosome evolution can shed light on the fundamental evolutionary forces acting across the genome as a whole. Here, I combine genomic and transcriptomic data across a wide range of avian species to explore the evolutionary processes governing sex chromosome evolution. Birds are female heterogametic and therefore it is possible, via comparisons with male heterogametic species, to identify the fundamental factors driving sex chromosome evolution, versus those associated with sex. In this thesis, I uncover a complex mosaic of recombination suppression between the Z and W chromosomes, characterized by repeated and independent divergence of gametologs, together with ongoing genetic exchange. Additionally, I highlight the role of mating system, and interplay between evolutionary forces, in driving coding and expression evolution on the Z and W chromosomes. My findings indicate that although the Z chromosome is masculinized for male-specific effects, the magnitude of genetic drift acting on Z-linked genes is elevated in promiscuous relative to monogamous mating systems. In contrast, evolution of the female-limited W chromosome is governed predominately by purifying selection. Together, my results suggest that the role of the Z chromosome in encoding sexual dimorphisms may be limited, but that W-linked genes play a significant role in female-specific fitness. In conclusion, my findings reveal the power of mating system in shaping broad patterns of genome evolution.

Sabang used to be a small, marginalized Philippine fishing village that in the span of three decades became a well-known international sex tourism site. This thesis deals with the implications of tourism (including sex tourism) and how it has become embedded in the daily life in today’s Sabang. The thesis highlights the local populations’ diverse reactions to the various changes associated with tourism growth, in particular how various symbolic, moral, and spatial boundaries are constructed and maintained. The ethnographic material examined in this thesis builds on several periods of fieldwork, in total 18 months, that were carried out between 2003 and 2015. Analytical tools found in tourism anthropology and in particular the branch of postcolonial tourism studies has guided the discussion and analysis of the socio-cultural effects of becoming a tourism town. This thesis argues that complex networks of boundaries are significant in maintaining a sense of order and social cohesion in times of change. Notions of cultural differences are expressed through the narratives and behaviors of the various inhabitants, and contribute to the maintaining of boundaries within and between groups. From the beginning of tourism growth commercial sex has been central and has become a significant factor in the tourism economy. While residents acknowledge their dependency on the go-go bars, the business of the night is framed so as not to defeat the inhabitants’ struggles to maintain local community’s sense of morality, or at least to set up boundaries between the outsiders’ immorality and insiders’ morality. Tourism has also offered opportunities to challenge conventional social hierarchies and local seats of power, and there are also recurrent discussions about who has the right to control resources and who can claim entitlement to a place now shared by people from all over the world.

There is a settled stereotype for women and men which give them different possibilities in our society. The schools, which are one of the most important sources of knowledge, have a great possibility to influence. This is the reason why we are interested in how the schools are working with a project, which we will call X henceforth. What was the purpose with the project and what does it contain? What is missing in the former education, since the project was started? Are there any obstacles or prerequisite in the design of the project or in the school teaching on the basis of X? We have done interviews in the gathering of empirical material to find out all the answers to our questions. To support this, we have chosen a few theories which we find suitable for the material. The teacher´s and the principal find the project X very important in the development of a more open-minded pupil. They also think that the project is helping them a lot by being supported with material and knowledges how to work with the subject.

This study is a study of men who have been convicted of sexual offences. However, unlike many studies of, this group of men this research seeks to understand them as men. The chosen method of inquiry is the life hi/story approach. Nine men imprisoned for sex offences agreed to tell their life hi/stories. All of the interviews took place in prison. The interviews were semi-structured and allowed the men to tell their stories from their earliest memories to their current situation, using transitions (e. g. entry to school, work) as prompts for memories. Additionally the emotional responses to life events were explored in depth. The transcripts of the interviews were analysed initially looking for common themes and links in the stories, and latterly using the tripartite structure (power relations, production relations, and cathexis) developed by Connell (1995). The analytical process produced a massive amount of material. In this study one aspect of the life hi/stories is presented in detail; deriving from both power relations within the family and close emotional relations implied by cathexis, this study focuses on what the men said about their relationships with their fathers and also what they said about being fathers. The study is located in traditions of Social Science research, particularly both psychology and sociology. Ontological and epistemological issues are reviewed in depth and related to hermeneutic approaches to understanding/ interpreting the life hi/stories of men. Within the context of hermeneutical interpretation and feminist standpoint theory the study is undertaken from an explicitly pro-feminist orientation. The values, gender and standpoint of the researcher and how they relate to the study are critically examined and explored. These issues are starkly brought into focus given the area of the study: sexually abusive men. The impacts of undertaking research in this area are also considered.

Previous research on academic dishonesty in colleges and universities has consistently shown unacceptable rates of cheating, yet inconsistent reports of sex differences in cheating. Sex differences in cheating were studied in relation to sex role orientation and attitudes towards cheating, and in light of a distinction between two types of cheating; cheating to benefit oneself and cheating to benefit another. 256 undergraduate students completed anonymous surveys to tap their sex role orientation, attitudes towards cheating, and reported frequency of cheating. Although females reported having more disapproving attitudes towards cheating than males, they reported engaging in cheating just as much as males. Sex role orientation was not directly related to cheating, but female-associated characteristics were related to attitudes towards cheating, which, in turn, were strongly related to cheating behavior. It was also found that participants reported engaging in more cheating to benefit another person than cheating to benefit themselves.
Department of Psychological Science

This study is based on joint and separate in-depth interviews with twenty (female) same sex couples who planned and had their children together in the context of their relationship. These families are one example of the increasing possibilities to live in non-traditional relationships and family forms, in contemporary Western societies. While lesbian and gay parents have a long history, there is little precedence for same sex couples setting up families 'from scratch' i.e. choosing to have children in the context of their relationship. These possibilities can be placed in the context of wider transformations of intimacy. There is widespread agreement that individualism in personal relationships has substantially increased, although opinions differ about the extent to which this individualism is essentially selfish. Lesbian parents, for example, have been portrayed as selfish individuals (Phillips, 1998) or alternatively as 'prime everyday experimenters' (Giddens, 1992), although the reality may be more nuanced than either of these polarities suggests. Overall, recent sociological research into both heterosexual and 'non-heterosexual' family lives suggests that transformations of intimacy are characterised by negotiated commitments and moral reasoning. However, to date, relatively little attention has been paid to the ways in which these themes may be modified by the presence of dependent children, particularly given the socially constructed nature of children's needs. Respondents in my study are involved in both innovative family practices and the care of dependent children. As such, they can offer new insights to the above debates. They present a radical departure from dominant conventions of heterosexual gendered family norms and the biological imperatives of reproduction. However, while working out new ways of doing family, these practices are located within deeply conventional moralities of motherhood, which leave little space within which to offer up new stories of doing family.

The Sex-Offender Characteristic Inventory-Male Version (SOCI-M) was filled out by a national sample of 78 clinicians experienced in the treatment of youthful sex offenders. Using factor analysis, clinician perceptions of the biopsychosocial characteristics related to normal, conduct-disordered, and sex-offending youth were determined. All of the variables in the categories considered in this study factored into at least three distinct normal, conduct-disordered, and sex-offender youthful factors, with sex-offender variables loading onto more than one sex-offender factor in some categories. The normal youth factors accounted for the greatest variability in the Learning Disabled, Tourette's Syndrome, Borderline Traits, Histrionic Traits, DSM III-R Diagnosis, Problematic Relationships, Physical Illness/Injury, General Affect/Mood, and General Cognitive categories. The conduct-disordered youth factors accounted for the greatest variability in the Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, Reactive Attachment Traits, and Antisocial Trait categories. Overall, the three groups tended to be more similar than different. Although the sex-offender variables accounted for the least amount of variability, they loaded onto specific sex-offender-related factors in some categories and were distinct from the normal factors, conduct-disordered factors, and other sex-offender factors. This included the Antisocial Trait variables, which loaded onto four types of sex-offender factors; the Physical Illness/Injury variables, which loaded onto two sex-offender factors; and the General Affect/Mood and General Cognitive variables, which both loaded onto two sex-offender factors. The distinct sex-offending factors may be indicative of different types of sex offenders. Discriminant analysis was unsuccessful in classifying pedophilic and mixed-offender groups based on the resulting biopsychosocial factors.

This is an queer theoretical intersectional feminist study about sex workers experiences and the prejudices they face in the Netherlands. Dutch sex workers do no get the same chances and opportunities as other workers in society. So, the overarching research problem of this study is the consequences of certain discourses that confine Dutch sex workers in their lives. The thesis aims that people will critically reflect upon this study and that they will take into account the different discourses and the non-uniformity of sex workers and sex work, in other words, to create awareness and a better understanding of the complex, diverse and various groups of sex workers and the sex industry. This study consists of two research methods: literature review and interview study. The literature review consists of the previous research and the theoretical framework. The theoretical framework presents discourse and stigma as part of respectability. Discourse as systems of thinking, which effects and affects. Also this study presents respectability, in relation to the so-called non-respectable bodies of sex workers and the missing respect and dignity towards sex workers, as well as stigma as part of respectability, as the experience deviant from the normative discourse. The interview study consists of four semi-structured interviews, conducted both online and face-to-face with four Dutch participants. The method thematic content analysis was applied to code the interview transcripts and divide the content into themes and sub-themes. The three main themes are: the discourses around sex work, the consequences of the discourses around sex work and sex work as a form of labour. Under these main themes I present related sub-themes. In the analysis the participants share their stories about the negative attitude from people towards their profession, this negative attitude manifested itself in different ways. According to the participants, this negative attitude, or so-called stigma, confines sex workers in their personal and professional lives.

Un dels principals reptes de la demografia formal ha estat incloure la informació sobre les taxes vitals tant dels homes com de les dones als models de creixement i renovació de la població; és l'anomenat problema dels dos sexes. El problema dels dos sexes és un subconjunt dels problemes analítics que comporta el modelatge de poblacions amb múltiples subgrups. En aquest treball, caracteritzo el problema dels dos sexes per mitjà de la descomposició dels components de les taxes vitals dels homes I de les dones en la diferència entre les taxes intrínseques de cada sexe. Presento un conjunt de models ajustats pels dos sexes i estructurats per edat cronològica basats en la literatura existent. Una de les contribucions d'aquest treball és una nova varietat de l'estructura d'edat; l'edat en base als anys restants de vida. Desenvolupo un model de creixement i de renovació per a les poblacions unisex estructurades per anys restants de vida i extensions de dos sexes. Aplicant la meva metolodologia observo que les poblacions estructurades per anys restants de vida produeixen menys divergència entre els sexes que els models estructurats per edat, la qual cosa redueix alguns dels desavantatges inherents de les decisions de modelatge dels dos sexes. En general, les poblacions estructurades per anys restants de vida són més estables en el temps i es troben més a prop de les seves estructures estables que els casos de poblacions estructurades per edat cronològica. Hi ha divergència entre els models de creixement de les poblacions estructurades en base a anys restants de vida respecte les estructurades en anys transcorreguts des del naixement. Caracteritzo aquesta divergència en termes del problema dels dos sexes i l'anomeno problema de les dues edats.
One of the foremost problems in formal demography has been including information on the vital rates from both males and females in models of population renewal and growth, the so-called two-sex problem. The two-sex problem can be conceived as a subset of the analytical problems entailed by multigroup population modeling. This dissertation characterizes the two-sex problem by means of decomposing the vital rate components to the sex-gap between the male and female single-sex stable growth rates. A suite of two-sex models for age-structured models from the literature are presented in a standard reproducible format. A new variety of age-structure, age based on remaining years of life, is presented. Analogous models of population growth for the singlesex and two-sex cases are developed for populations structured by remaining years of life. It is found that populations structured by remaining years of life produce less sex-divergence than age-structured models, thereby reducing some of the trade-offs inherent in two-sex modeling decisions. In general, populations structured by remaining years are found to be more stable over time and closer to their ultimate model stable structures than age-structured populations. Models of population growth based on remaining-years structure are found to diverge from like-designed age-structured models. This divergence is characterized in terms of the two-sex problem and we call it to two-age problem.

Biologists have long used demographic approaches to answer questions in ecology and evolution. The utility of these approaches has meant a constant development and refinement of methods. A key milestone has been the development of phenotype structured population models that link ecology and evolution. Moreover, biostatistical research steadily improves methods to coax demographic information from scarce data. In this thesis, I build upon some of the recent advances in the field. My first three studies focus on the consequences of sex differences in life history for population dynamics. Firstly, I test whether males matter for the dynamics of African lion (Panthera leo) populations via a previously unquantified mechanism: the inheritance of phenotype from father to offspring. Secondly, I develop a method to estimate age-specific mortality rates for both sexes in species where one of the sexes disperses around the age of maturity. Thirdly, I apply this method to study variation in mortality between the sexes and between two populations of African lions. After these three chapters, which make contributions to the field of sex-structured population dynamics, I focus on the integration of phenotype structured modelling and quantitative genetics. I illustrate how heritability of a quantitative character that develops with age depends on (i) viability selection, (ii) fertility selection, (iii) the development of the phenotype with age, and (iv) phenotype inheritance from parents to offspring. Our results question the adequacy of quantitative genetics methods to obtain unbiased estimates of heritability for wild populations. This thesis advances our understanding of population development over ecological time scales. This knowledge has applications in conservation and population management, but also contributes to untangling evolutionary processes in wild animals.

My dissertation research focused on four major biological variables; metabolic rate, body size, sex, and death. I found that growth and metabolic rate are not significantly correlated in the fish Oreochromis hybrid. To study factors affecting body size I researched the causal mechanism of Bergmann size clines. This is the trend that organisms tend to increase in body size with increasing distance from the equator. I found that genetically identical nematode worms, Caenorhabditis elegans, grow almost 40% larger at 10°C than at 25°C. Since adult worm cell number is constant in these worms the larger worm size is probably due to increased cell size. This provides a simple developmental mechanism, cells grow larger at lower temperatures, for Bergmann size clines in ectotherms. This would provide a simple non-adaptive explanation for the general trend of increased body size in ectothermic animals with increasing latitude. Sex significantly decreases the average lifespan of wild type male C. elegans but does not significantly affect hermaphrodite lifespan. I compared lifespans in three groups of worms: (1) all males, (2) all hermaphrodites, (3) a mixed population of hermaphrodites and male worms. At 20°C unmated males have an average lifespan 33% greater than mated males. In contrast, lifespans of mated and unmated hermaphrodites were identical. This result contradicts theories concerning the relative cost of reproduction which predict that large oocytes should be much more costly to produce than small sperm. I examined the lifespan of worms with a mutation affecting sperm production to determine if sperm production, rather than the physical effort of mating, is the major factor reducing lifespan in mated male worms. Average lifespan of both mutant mated males and unmated hermaphrodites is about 65% longer than that of wild type worms. Mated spe-26 males have similar lifespans to their unmated counterparts. These surprising results indicate that sperm production rather than ooycte production or the physical effort of mating is a major factor reducing lifespan in C. elegans.

Educational Leadership
Ed.D.
The purpose of this study was to ascertain whether or not the single-sex environment has an effect on the gender role perceptions and life paths of young women. Students were selected from two urban high schools, one all-girls and one coeducational. The schools themselves are located a short distance from each other to ensure consistency in regards to socioeconomic status. This study used a mixed methods analysis. Female students in their senior year of high school were surveyed using a gender role perception inventory (Prasad & Baron, 2009). Ten students from the original sample, five from each site, were then selected for in-depth, face-to-face interviews. Results indicate that there is little difference in gender role perception and life path between the two samples. The only exception is in the area of gender role reversal, which favors the single-sex school. As such, students from the single-sex school are more likely to indicate comfort with the inversion of conventional gender roles. In terms of life path, no significant difference between the two groups was found in terms of traditional, non-traditional, and gender-neutral career plans. Interviews with students from both sites reveal two major differences thematically. Students in the single-sex school reported that the decision to attend an all-girls school was mostly made by their parents, while students in the coeducational school reported making the decision themselves. The second difference between the two environments is that students in the single-sex school reported that they and their peers in the school feel quite comfortable acting “themselves” because of the lack of males in the environment. The students in the coeducational school corroborated that sentiment by expressing the tendency of their female peers to act differently in the presence of male peers. The results of this study do not conclusively prove that the single-sex environment is beneficial for the formation of non-traditional gender role perception and life path, with the exception of the reversal finding. The interviews, however, may indicate that the students in the single-sex environment have an advantage in terms of comfort because of the absence of their opposite sex peers. Indisputably, this study confirms that more research is needed in the area of single-sex education for females.
Temple University--Theses

Religious studies should give students the opportunity to reflect over life questions. Religious studies give students the opportunity to reflect over their identity and ethical approach. Reflecting over life and questions about life in the classroom have become a central part of religion education. This interview study investigates how six legitimized high school teachers teach about death. The teachers explain what teaching methods they use and what difficulties and problems they encounter while teaching students about death. Previous studies have demonstrated that kids prefer discussing the philosophy of life. The purpose of this of the study is to search how teachers in high school educate their students on death, what kind of relationship the students have to death and what kind of difficulties they encounter with in practice. The study Is based on a qualitative approach that has a semi-structured interview method. In the results the teachers responses are presented within four themes which are analyzed with a pragmatism theory and previous research. The end results proved that the teachers had various and different thoughts on educating about death and life and that they all used different ways of working.

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Bachelors
Arts and Sciences
Psychology

This thesis aimed to explore whether religion, sexual knowledge and sexual attitudes impact sexual satisfaction amongst Orthodox Jews. This thesis intended to address weaknesses of previous research by using robust multidimensional measures of religion and sexuality and focusing on a specific religious group. 515 participants completed measures circulated through an online survey. The measures used were: The New Sexual Satisfaction Scale; Centrality of Religiosity Scale (CRS); threes subscales of the Brief Sexual Attitudes Scale (Permissiveness, Communion and Instrumentality); and a new measure, the Brief Sexual Knowledge scale, developed for this study. Participants were also presented with optional open-ended questions that asked about their sexual expectations and sexual education. Religious level was categorised using self-defined groups for Religious Culture; Ultra-Orthodox, Modern-Orthodox and Non-Orthodox groups as well as CRS categories for Religious Practice; Highly Religious, Religious, Not Religious. The findings show significant differences in the sexual satisfaction between Religious Practice groups but not Religious Culture groups. Significant differences in sexual knowledge and sexual attitudes were found for both types of religious variables. A correlation analysis revealed that sexual satisfaction is positively correlated with CRS and Communion scores whilst negatively correlated with Sexual Knowledge, Permissiveness and Instrumentality scores. Communion and Sexual Knowledge were significant predictors of sexual satisfaction in a multiple regression analysis. The findings of this study enhance theoretical understanding of religion and sexuality and address gaps in the literature. Clinical implications for therapists working with Orthodox Jewish clients suffering from sexual dissatisfaction are discussed.

Understanding how organisms function is central to Biology. Assessing how animals respond to fluctuations in their environment and determining inter-individual variation in phenotypic plasticity is paramount to identifying the physiology of traits, the selective pressures which have shaped them, and how we can manipulate them to benefit human life. The over-arching goal of my thesis is to understand the effects of sex, diet and pathogen exposure on the physiology of the fruit fly to assess the versatility of their individual traits in response to these natural factors. Chapter 2 investigates how the sexes utilise nutrition towards their lifespan and reproduction, providing evidence that the reproduction of males and females requires different dietary components while lifespan does not. Chapter 3 reveals that the sexes also differ in how they utilise nutrients for pathogen resistance identifying that females are highly protein-limited and more susceptible to infection than males. Chapter 4 provides the first comprehensive study of how organisms alter their dietary intake in response to infection, finding that flies behaviourally ingest less and consume higher protein:carbohydrate ratio diets when exposed to live fungal spores. Chapter 5 explores the phenomenon of trait-enhnacing external stresses, a response often termed hormesis. This study reveals that the beneficial physiological response from inactive fungal spore exposure, a potential form of hormesis, incurs immune costs. The implications of my results to the field of physiology are discussed in Chapter 6 where I also highlight the limitations of my work and potential consequences for life history research. Overall it is determined that studies investigating the natural physiological response of organisms or potentially beneficial treatments for our own species, must consider sex-specific effects, physiological consequences in a variety of traits, and how organisms may utilise variation within their environment to alter their phenotypic condition.

Il y a encore quelques années, être homosexuel, en couple et adopter un enfant relevait de l’utopie. Aujourd’hui, l’adoption par des couples homosexuels est devenue une réalité légale et une possibilité concrète dans plusieurs pays du monde.Pourtant, lorsqu’il faut placer les enfants dans des familles adoptives, l’orientation sexuelle des futurs parents demeure une question controversée qui divise l’opinion publique (Patterson, 2009). Souvent, le débat oppose « le droit de l’enfant », défendu par la Convention internationale des droits de l’enfant, et « le droit à l’enfant », réclamé par les homosexuels ou sympathisants (Herbrand 2006).Entre les débats socio-politiques, les controverses de nature idéologique et éthique, ces nouvelles familles, de plus en plus nombreuses, affirment haut et fort leur droit à « sortir de l’oubli » et s’engagent dans une bataille dont l’objectif est de normaliser leur contexte familial aux yeux de la société.Malgré l’expansion de l’adoption homoparentale, l’expérience de vie de ces nouvelles familles est à peine abordée dans la littérature scientifique actuelle. En effet, même si, ces quarante dernières années, de nombreuses recherches ont été consacrées à l’homoparentalité, très peu d’études se sont focalisées sur les familles ayant choisi l’adoption comme mode de filiation, surtout dans le contexte européen.L’objectif de la présente recherche était de combler ce vide dans la littérature, en analysant les expériences de la première génération de familles adoptives homoparentales résidant en Europe. Pour ce faire, nous avons donné la parole à 31 familles adoptives homoparentales, sur un total de 62 parents adoptifs (46 gays et 16 lesbiennes) et de 44 enfants adoptés (entre 3 et 18 ans) en Belgique, France et Espagne.Ces trois pays ont été choisis pour les éléments qu’ils partagent ou qui les opposent dans le contexte socio-politique des droits des minorités sexuelles et la procédure d’adoption. La Belgique et l’Espagne sont considérées aujourd’hui comme deux des pays les plus avant-gardistes et gay- friendly en Europe et dans le monde entier. De fait, ces deux pays ont été parmi les premiers à ouvrir l’adoption aux couples de même sexe(respectivement en 2006 et 2005). En revanche, la France n’a légiféré sur cette question qu’en 2013, après des débats longs et houleux qui ont suscité de nombreuses réactions.Etudier les familles homoparentales dans ces trois pays nous a permis d’avoir accès à des situations d’adoption différentes: en effet, tous les participants belges ont adopté des enfants en bas âge via une procédure d’adoption conjointe nationale, tandis que tous les participants français et la plupart des espagnols ont adopté des enfants à l’étranger et généralement plus âgés, via une procédure où seul l’un des deux partenaires adoptait légalement l’enfant.La théorie qui a orienté notre étude est celle du cycle de vie de la famille adoptive (Brodzinsky, Smith & Brodzinsky, 1998; Brodzinsky & Pinderhughes, 2002; Hajal & Rosenberg, 1991). S’inspirant du schéma « classique » du cycle de vie (Carter & McGoldrick, 1980) cette théorie identifie des phases clef à travers lesquelles la famille adoptive transite :la phase pré-adoption, durant laquelle le couple est souvent confronté à l’infertilité et décide d’entamer un parcours adoptif ;la procédure d’adoption, souvent vécue comme un moment de stress et d’incertitude; l’arrivée de l’enfant dans la famille, suivie du processus de « parentage » de l’enfant adopté, différent en fonction de l’âge de celui-ci (préscolaire, scolaire, ou adolescent). Selon cette conception, à chaque étape du cycle de vie, la famille adoptive est confrontée à de nouveaux défis et tâches développementales, qui sont à la fois similaires et différents de ceux vécus par des familles non-adoptives.Cette recherche avait pour but d’éclairer à la fois le vécu des homoparents adoptifs et des enfants adoptés au sein de ces nouvelles familles, en analysant leurs expériences en fonction de l’étape de leur cycle de vie.En ce qui concerne les parents, nous avons analysé trois moments clefs: le processus décisionnel, le parcours d'adoption et leurs expériences en tant qu’homoparents suite à l'arrivée de l'enfant dans la famille. Plus précisément, les questions suivantes ont guidé notre recherche :quel cheminement a été celui des homoparents avant de choisir l'adoption ?Quels sont les enjeux de la transition à l’homoparentalité adoptive ?Et quels sont les défis et les tâches parentales auxquels ils sont confrontés suite à l’adoption ?Concernant les enfants, nous avons analysé leur construction identitaire à différentes étapes de leur développement. Notre attention s’est portée sur les questions suivantes :quelle est l’expérience subjective de ces enfants ?Quelles sont les spécificités de leur construction identitaire à l’intersection de la situation adoptive et homoparentale ?Quelles sont leurs questions, leurs demandes tout au long de leur développement ?Ainsi, un intérêt particulier a été consacré à la thématique de la perte des parents de naissance et à l'exploration de dynamiques familiales au tour de cette issue. Plus précisément, nous avons analysé la communication familiale concernant la « double appartenance » des enfants (famille d’origine et famille adoptive) afin de répondre aux questions de recherche suivantes :comment ces familles gèrent- elles la perte des parents d’origine ?Quels sont les sentiments des homoparents et des enfants adoptés vis-à-vis des parents de naissance? Et comment cela impacte-t-il les dynamiques familiales ?Du point de vue méthodologique, nous avons conduit des entretiens semi-structurés et soumis les homoparents et leurs enfants à un test projectif graphique (La Double Lune, Greco 1999). L’entretien visait à approfondir les expériences des participants ;le test projectif, en permettant d’accéder à une dimension «plus inconsciente », a complété les informations obtenues. Cet instrument projectif s’est révélé particulièrement utile pour l’exploration des sentiments et des dynamiques relationnelles autour de la thématique de la perte de la famille d’origine.L’originalité de la présente recherche consiste dans le fait qu’elle est pionnière dans le contexte européen ainsi que dans le domaine psychologique. Notre étude a le mérite de fournir des réponses scientifiques à une question sociale de grande actualité, en recentrant les débats sur les principaux intéressés :les homoparents et leurs enfants. Leurs récits nous ouvrent la porte à un nouvel univers familial, dont les « points de repères » et les critères sont uniques et nouveaux. Les familles adoptives homoparentales sont des avant-gardistes de la société, des petits laboratoires de nouveaux mondes possibles. Ces familles anticipent et précèdent. Par leur exemple, elles accélèrent les changements de la société, elles poussent vers le futur.Les expériences des familles rapportées dans la présente thèse nous amèneront, page après page, à déconstruire nos propres préconceptions de la famille, du couple et de la filiation et à porter de « nouveaux regards » qui permettent de saisir l’incontestable richesse dont ces nouvelles géométries familiales sont dépositaires. Leurs témoignages nous permettront de concevoir une nouvelle manière de faire famille, mais aussi de « repenser » et « réinventer » le principe de l’adoption, sur base de leur expérience inédite.
Only a few years ago, being homosexual, in a relationship, and adopting a child was a utopia. Nowadays, same-sex adoption is a legal reality and a concrete possibility in many countries in the world. However, the right of gay and lesbian people to adopt a child remains a controversial issue that strongly divides public opinion. In the debate there are often those who defend “the right of the child” (according to the International Convention on the Rights of the Child) and those, these being sexual minorities and their sympathisers, who defend “the right to a child” (Herbrand 2006). Among socio-political debates, ideological and ethical controversies, these new families, who are becoming more and more numerous, claim, loud and clear, their right to "emerge from oblivion" and engage in a "battle" of which the objective is to normalise their family context in the eyes of society.Despite the progressive diffusion of same-sex adoption, the life experiences of these new families remain practically unexplored in scientific literature. In fact, even if in the last 40 years a great deal of research was dedicated to same-sex parenting, very few studies focused on families who chose adoption as a pathway to parenthood. Especially in the European context, there is a dearth of data on this topic. In order to fill this gap in literature, the present research aimed to analyse the experiences of the first generation of gay and lesbian adoptive families living in Europe. To this end, we gave the floor to 31 adoptive same-sex families, totalling 62 adoptive parents (46 gay men and 16 lesbians) and 44 adopted children (between 3 and 18 years old) living in Belgium, France and Spain.The choice for these three countries was motivated by the fact that they have a number of elements in common but also differ at some points as to the socio-political context of the rights of sexual minorities and the adoption process.Nowadays, Belgium and Spain are considered to be two of the most avant-garde and gay friendly countries both in Europe and worldwide. These two countries were among the first to open adoption to same-sex couples (respectively in 2006 and 2005). In turn, France legislated this aspect only in 2013, after long and controversial social debates. Studying same-sex families in these three countries enabled us to have access to varied adoption situations: in fact, all Belgian participants adopted infants through a joint national adoption procedure, while all the French and most of Spanish participants adopted generally older children abroad, through an international adoption procedure in which only one of the two partners legally adopted the child.Our study was oriented by the adoptive family cycle theory (Brodzinsky et al. 1998; Brodzinsky & Pinderhughes, 2002; Hajal & Rosenberg, 1991). Inspired by the classic theory of the family life cycle (Carter & McGoldrick, 1980), this theory identifies key phases through which the adoptive family transits: the pre-adoptive phase, during which the couple is often confronted with infertility and decides to start an adoption path; the adoption process, often experienced as a period of stress and uncertainty; the arrival of the child in the family, and the successive process of parenting the adopted child which changes according to the child’s age (infancy, preschool, school, or adolescence years). According to this theory, in each stage of the life cycle adoptive families encounter new challenges and developmental tasks, which are both similar and different from those experienced by non-adoptive families.This research aimed to study the experiences of both same-sex parents and the adopted children in these new families, by taking the stage of the family life cycle in which they were into account.On the side of the same-sex parents, we analysed three key moments: the decision-making process, the adoption procedure and their daily experiences as same-sex parents after the arrival of the child in the family.More precisely, the following questions guided our research: What is the personal journey of gay and lesbian people before choosing adoption? What are the main barriers encountered during the transition to same-sex adoptive parenthood? What are the main challenges and parental tasks they face after adoption? On the side of the adopted children, we were interested in exploring their identity construction process at different stages of their development. Our attention was focused on the following research questions: What is the personal experience of these children? What are the specificities of their identity construction at the intersection of their adoptive and family minority statuses? What are their questions and their developmental issues during their growing years?In addition, special attention was paid to the theme of the loss of birth parents and to the exploration of family dynamics surrounding this issue.We particularly studied the family communication concerning the double family connection of adopted children (family of origin and adoptive family), answering the following research questions: How do these families deal with the theme of the loss of the birth family? What are the feelings of same-sex parents and their adopted children towards the birth family? How does this element impact the family dynamics?From a methodological point of view, we conducted semi-structured interviews and applied a projective graphical test (the Double Moon Test, Greco, 1999) to both same-sex parents and their children. The purpose of the interviews was to explore the participants' experiences, while the projective test enriched the information obtained through the interviews, giving access to a more "unconscious" dimension. This projective instrument in particular, proved to be very useful for the exploration of feelings and relational dynamics connected with the theme of the loss of the birth family.The originality of this research is that it is pioneering in the European context as well as in the field of psychology. Our study has the merit of providing scientific answers to a very topical social question, by refocusing debates on the main stakeholders: gay and lesbian parents and their children. Their stories lead us into a new family universe whose distinguishing features and criteria are unique and new. Same-sex families are the avant-garde of society, small laboratories of possible new worlds. These families anticipate and precede. By their example, they accelerate changes in society, they push towards the future. The experiences of the families reported in this thesis will induce us, page after page, to deconstruct our own preconceptions of family, couples and filiation and bring about "a new perspective" that allows us to grasp the undeniable wealth for which these new family geometries are custodians. Their testimonies will allow us to imagine a new way of being a family, but also to "rethink" and "reinvent" the adoption clinic, based on their unique experience.
Doctorat en Sciences psychologiques et de l'éducation
info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

The aim of this study was to make an assessment of the role of the cognitive component in the development of sexual dysfunction. Past studies have largely focused on the impact of particular events on sexual dysfunction and have not assessed the role of the perception of these events. A number of theories on sexual dysfunction have been developed to explain the influence of cognitions, but these have not been empirically tested. This study investigated the role of the cognitive evaluation of sexual experiences among 30 sexually dysfunctional participants and 30 control participants who were matched on age, marital status and biological sex. The Cognitive Aspects of Sexual Dysfunction Measure (CASDM) was constructed to evaluate sexual dysfunction. This measure was designed to tap into the major events in participants’ lives and, more importantly, the participants’ perceptions of these events. The components assessed were the intergenerational (family of origin), individual, current life and relationship aspects of the person’s life. These factors were measured from the responses to questions regarding the participant's cognitions about past experiences, the effect of the past experience on the participant at the lime it occurred and the influence this experience had on the participant's sense of self now, their relationship now and sexual functioning now. The main findings in the intergenerational area were that past experiences were perceived by the sexually dysfunctional group to be having an impact on the self, relationships and their sexual functioning although there were no actual differences between the sexually functional and the sexual dysfunctional participants in the occurrence of the event. For the individual factors, there were differences between the sexually functional and sexually dysfunctional participants in both values and lifestyle, although these were not perceived to be having an impact on the self, relationship and sexual functioning. In the relationship area, anger was the major factor separating the sexually functional and sexually dysfunctional groups. Anger was high among the sexually dysfunctional participants and was perceived to be having an impact on self, the couple’s relationship and their sexual functioning. The importance of all these variables in providing a better understanding of the cognitive factors in sexual dysfunction was discussed. The findings demonstrate the importance of cognitions in influencing sexual functioning. Clinicians should not simply deal with the life experiences of sexually dysfunctional people when attempting to change their behaviour, but should focus on changing cognitions about the behaviours in relation to sexual functioning.

For dioecious plant species, sex ratios within a population depend on multiple environmental and life history characteristics. Sex ratio is an indicator of population health and can be a predictor for genetic bottlenecking. My study established the previously unknown sex ratio for the shrub, Morella cerifera, on a Virginia barrier island. The ratio was compared with multiple environmental and reproductive traits to determine their potential influence on sex determination and/or distribution of male and female plants. Multivariate analyses were used to identify relationships between sex, sex ratio and environmental drivers. The sex ratio for M. cerifera changed depending on scale. The entire island ratio did not vary significantly from 50:50, based on a Chi-squared analysis. Different spatial scales resulted in different and more variable sex ratios. The environmental variables measured did not suggest any relationships with sex or sex ratio. Future studies with a focus at multiple spatial scales may elucidate the connection between environment and sex ratios for M. cerifera.

This study explores women’s experiences of sex with men. It is based on qualitative data collected from eighteen life history interviews. Such an approach provides means for examining women’s sexual experiences over time. The study finds that women give meaning to their sexual experiences through two main discursive representations: the passive, “proper” and sexually obliging girlfriend or wife, and the active and “sexually equal” woman. However, these representations do not capture the entirety of women’s sexual experiences. The life history analysis demonstrates that women are not simply inscribed by discourse. Rather, they are embodied beings actively engaged in pursuing sexual identities. Central to the process is a relationship between the practice of sex and self-reflexivity over time. Finally, the study demonstrates how the process of gaining sexual subjectivity is shaped by the material conditions of women’s lives. For instance, the praxeological circumstances of women’s class or race are powerful in recasting discourses of feminine sexuality, the meanings women ascribe to them, their access to broader sexual experiences, and the kinds of relationships they have with their male partners.

There are many questions about the long-term effects of college athletic participation that have not been studied, especially issues regarding gender. Because of socialization and the structural differences in men's and women's sports, the long-term effects of sports participation may be different for men and women athletes. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of competition through college sports participation on job satisfaction and life satisfaction of former men and women athletes. Research was conducted on men and women who participated at the college level in basketball, track and field, swimming and diving, and tennis from 1983-1988 at Virginia Tech. Data were collected using a mail survey adapted from the Sports Orientation Questionnaire (Gill & Deeter, 1988), the revised and abridged version of the Life Satisfaction Index-A ( Kleiber, Greendorfer, Blinde, & Samdahl, 1987) and the Index of Job Satisfaction (Brayfield & Rothe, 1951). Data were analyzed using t-tests and regression models to determine the relationship between the independent variables of gender and level of competitiveness and the dependent variables of job satisfaction and life satisfaction. No significant difference was found between gender and its relationship to job satisfaction and life satisfaction. This result may have great importance given that women experience discrimination in sports participation. It seems that women are able to overcome these adverse conditions and achieve levels of job satisfaction and life satisfaction equal to men. Level of competitiveness was not statistically significant either; however this may be due to a small variance among the sample's level of competitiveness.
Master of Arts

This paper reports on the observations of a combined level 2 and 3 Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Committees (MARAC) over a 12 month period. It considers agency representation and discusses this in respect to attendance and the nature of relationships between representatives. The key findings are structured around the experiences of three identifiable groups of panel members and leads to a discussion of how the status of agencies and the informal roles adopted by the different members are defined by power relationships based on possession of knowledge. These relationships reflect cultural traditions in working with high risk offenders, but are also shaped by statutory responsibilities placed on different agencies within the MARAC forum.

Doctor of Philosophy
Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work
L. Susan Williams
A major public concern is what to do with sex offenders. This seven-year study utilizes first-hand accounts from sex offenders who pursue children, exploring recruitment methods – that is, how they find and gain access to victims. Much public perception about sex offender recruitment is based on well-publicized cases such as that of Polly Klaas, Megan Kanka, and Jaycee Dugard – young girls who were abducted and, in the case of Klaas and Kanka, murdered, by strangers. Legislative efforts responded with laws such as “three strikes” and sex offender registries. Scientific studies have found such laws to be ineffective, yet heightened media exposure persists, perception of “stranger danger” prevails, and untried legislative initiatives continue. The most recent is “buffer zone” laws that limit where sex offenders live. To better inform perception and policy, this study investigates two samples of sex offenders concerning child recruitment. The first sample targeted a general population of sex offenders in state custody with a determinate sentence. The second focused on a population of sexually violent predators (SVP), as defined by Kansas law, constituting repeat offenders with a long history of sex offenses and/or those deemed legislatively as unfit for release into the community. The bulk of data came through interviews addressing activities that surrounded the offense(s), details of child recruitment, and, pertaining to the SVP sample, how offending corresponded with certain life events. Theoretically, the study is informed by Routine Activities Theory (RAT) and Life-Course Theory (LCT). RAT is based on a rational choice perspective of motivation and opportunity – an individualistic approach – while LCT sees offending episodes as strongly influenced by structural position. These two seemingly divergent theories represent a unique framework referred to here as conditioned activities, demonstrating how routine activities are altered by certain life events, or turning points, which, in turn, influence persistence or desistence in offending. It was discovered that child victim recruitment varies across the life course, specifically tied to changes in the offender’s social position. Age of the offender interacts with both position and life events.

The study of sex allocation is one of the most successful areas in evolutionary biology: its theoretical predictions have been supported by experimental, observational and comparative approaches. Here, I develop sex allocation theory as follows: (1) I use fertility insurance theory to predict the sex ratio strategy of the malaria parasite, in response to human medical interventions that increase mortality and decrease fertility of the parasite’s various sexual stages; (2) Haplodiploidy has been suggested as a driver of the evolution of eusociality, as under this genetic system a female may be more related to her sister than to her own offspring. I examine a model considering queen versus worker control over the sex ratio of the colony and show that haplodiploidy alone does not explain the evolution of helping; (3) I follow up this study of the haplodiploidy hypothesis by examining the idea that split-sex ratios may favour the evolution of eusociality in haplodiploid species. I study the two mechanisms of split sex ratios, that are found in natural populations and may have been important in the transition to eusociality: queen virginity and queen replacement. I focus on the impact of worker reproduction by considering the effect of woker producing a fraction of the colony offspring and by considering variation in the workers’ offspring sex ratio. My analysis shows that worker reproduction does not promote the evolution of helping in haplodiploid species; (4) I examine the evolution and function of a sterile soldier caste in parasitoid wasps from the genus Encyrtidae. Two main functions have been hypothesized for the emergence of soldiers: spiteful mediation of a sex ratio conflict in mixed-sex broods, and altruistic protection and 7 facilitation of the development of relatives. I develop a model considering variation in the oviposition behaviour of females, that may produce single-sex or mixed-sex broods. I show that, in accordance with previous theory, females are expected to produce more soldiers than males, under the sex ratio conflict hypothesis. I also show that one of the consequences of this costly conflict is that females are favoured to produce single-sex broods over mixed-sex broods.

The thesis explores concepts of alienation and commodification in relation to public and private themes of identity, in contemporary Australia. It is argued that as labour conditions have intensified and the social safety net has eroded the emphasis on private themes of identity have increased. These themes emphasise sexuality and gender, and down-grade the issue of work and labour. The Australian Labor Party helped create the conditions for postmodernist identity politics weakening their commitment to working class improvement in favour of emphasising hypercapitalism and hyperliberal gender discourses. This approach favours the inclusion of marginal groups that have been traditionally outside of labourist concerns (women, homosexuals, Aborigines) at the expense of civilising capitalism, labour alienation and commodification as the central concern for workers. In short, the abandonment of Marxism, labourism and Social democracy: and their replacement by identity issues. The backlash to a post-welfare state social democracy designed to ameliorate conditions for marginal groups, become a key feature in the election of the Howard government in 1996, with Howards battlers consisting of former Labor voters disenfranchised by political correctness. This produced an attack on welfare cheats, high taxation, and trendy concerns such as Aboriginality � and reinforced Hansonism. In this context, the Australian and American relationship and the frontier tradition is stressed as a pivotal factor in determining the role of identity in the neo-liberal political economy, with the pressures created by neo-liberalism and globalisation. Australian mythology based on Anzac symbolism and personality creates a vacuous phenomenon for genuine themes of Australian national identity to survive the homogenous nature of hyper-capitalism. The drift towards the power of American capitalism and political cosmologies can then been seen as a natural evolution of Australian political mythology. It is here that the thesis argues that hyper capitalist themes can have an implicit relationship to concepts of hyper-liberalism found in gender discourses and moreover, ironically evocative of the individualism Weber argued existed in American Protestant religious sects. Subsequently the de-construction of masculinity that has been characteristic of feminist and gay theory, that reflects a social psychological perspective rather than one based in Marxs historical materialism that places man within social history. Social theory therefore unfairly constructs the heterosexual masculine personality in relation to working class elite occupations such as coalmining or as a reflection of a corporate dominance, to create polemic avenues for marginal groups. The focus upon heterosexuality within the thesis links its relationship to the characteristics demanded by industrial capitalism such as the Fordist mode of production, and in Marxist terms, the complete enslavement and alienation that existed between social man and the capitalist mode of production. This approach emphasises the experience of wage labour, culminating with the high levels of unemployment that has risen concomitantly with de-industrialisation, globalisation and neo-liberalism. The disciplining of the unemployed in the post-welfare state exists alongside hyper-liberal themes of sexual and social identity, indicating a general shift to a social fascism, or two- tiered form of democracy that resides alongside, and is often in competition with conservative advocates for the nuclear family and heterosexuality. The development of Howards battlers reflects a conservative appropriation of the original Australian legend that was based on labourism and mateship and now exists in a nationalist paradigm evocative of frontiersmen and Anzacs rather than one based on class. A framing issue for the thesis subsequently is what role does gender and sexuality have in the function of the industrial capitalist society?

In 2015, TN had the 9th highest teen birth rate in the United States. School-based sex education programs have shown promise in curbing teen pregnancy rates. In TN public schools, sex education could be taught by teachers of subjects like biology, health education, or invited guests from ministries, or national or local nonprofit agencies. The content, rigor, and approach of sex education taught by these diverse groups of providers remains unknown. This pilot study tested a survey questionnaire and methodology, while providing information on the providers’ sex education practices and perspectives. We adapted validated measures from past sex education surveys to reflect the context of TN. The survey items were reviewed and refined by diverse groups of experts on school-based health education, teen pregnancy prevention programs, and adolescent health. The survey was created and distributed via a web-based tool. A recruitment email or letter with a weblink to the survey was sent to 3,249 potential sex education providers, from April to June 2017. Of all contacts, 509 completed the survey, yielding a response rate of 15.7%. Of those who completed the survey, 137 taught sex education in the 2015-2016 school year to any of grades 5 through 12 students. Survey responses were analyzed using descriptive tests. Abstinence (83.9%) was taught by most respondents, by grade 12, but far less respondents taught topics related to birth control (65.0%) and condoms: how to use condoms (22.6%), how to use and where to get other birth control (31.4%). Providers with more years of experience, and those who expressed that they had received enough training, were more likely to teach more number of topics, including controversial topics, such as condoms and birth control. Most providers indicated that sex education topics should be taught in earlier grades. This study identified the job titles of providers, content being taught, approach to teaching, and how providers would want to teach sex education. Identifying providers is crucial to designing sex education training programs, tracking program effectiveness, and changes in practices over time, to achieve the goal of curbing TN teen pregnancy rates through quality sex education.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--School of Education. University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2006.
"A dissertation in counseling psychology." Advisor: Chrisanthia Brown. Typescript. Vita. Title from "catalog record" of the print edition Description based on contents viewed Nov. 13, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 94-103). Online version of the print edition.

Chapter One introduces the "HIV Stops With Me" campaign, research by communication scholars on how HIV/AIDS messages are channeled, cultural influences, and the target audience of these messages in order to answer: What is the "HIV Stops With Me" campaign saying about individuals infected with HIV?Chapter Two describes the cluster analysis developed by Kenneth Burke. The steps in cluster analysis are: 1) identifying the key terms in the rhetoric, 2) charting the terms that cluster around the key terms, 3) discovering emergent patterns in the clusters, and 4) naming the motive, or situation, based on the meanings of the key terms.Chapter Three is a cluster analysis of the 2002 San Francisco "HIV Stops With Me" campaign. Key terms found in this analysis are "HIV," "sex," "life/living," and "death/dying."Chapter Four contains conclusions pertaining to the analysis of the rhetorical artifact, conclusions for cluster analysis, and future implications for academic scholarship.
Department of Communication Studies

Sex and age identification of human skeletal remains is essential in forensic anthropology, bioarchaeology and palaeodemography, and estimations rely on the use of proven methods. Many methods exist and are generally applied to skeletons from all time periods and geographic locations, despite studies suggesting that there are differences in the expression of traits characteristic of males and females and that ageing rates vary within and between populations. The aim of this project was to study variation in ageing and sexual dimorphism in six documented collections from different geographic locations and/or time periods. Age and sex methods were tested on adult skeletal remains dating from the 17th to 20th century from Canada, England, South Africa, and Portugal. Ageing methods used were focused on the fourth rib’s sternal end, cranial sutures, pubic symphysis and auricular surface. A more subjective age estimate for each individual was also produced, using informal skeletal age indicators alongside formal methods. Sex determinations were based on pelvic and skull morphology, and metrical analysis. Differences were found between some collections in terms of the distribution of age phases and mean ages per phase. Similarly, distributions of sexually dimorphic traits were found to differ between some of the collections. In terms of overall age estimates, the subjective age estimates were significantly better than estimates based only on formal ageing methods, and intraobserver error tests suggest that user experience was important. The magnitude of such differences and their implications for bioarchaeology, forensic anthropology and palaeodemography are discussed.

The Silver Gull is a small gull (265 - 450g), which exhibits sexual dimorphism, with males larger than females. It has a protracted laying period of about 8 months over the winter on Penguin Island in Western Australia. The Silver Gull was studied on Penguin Island from 2000 to 2002. Completed clutches were removed from breeding pairs to induce repeat laying in order to determine the effect of increased reproductive effort on maternal body condition, egg production ability, offspring sex ratio and chick rearing capacity. Increased egg production had no significant effect on maternal body condition as measured by condition index, derived from mass divided by a measure of skeletal size. The seasonal period, divided into thirty-day intervals, had a significant impact on female condition index, with a decline in condition toward the end of the breeding season. While male condition also appeared to decline at the end of the season, this pattern was not significant. The initiation of laying varied between the three years of the study. The earliest occurred in 2000, which also experienced earlier rainfall than the later two years. Egg size and mass decreased throughout the breeding season although the number of eggs in a clutch did not decline. The size and mass of the eggs was significantly affected by the laying history of the parents, although this effect was dependent on the year in which the eggs were produced. The minimum interval required by Silver Gulls to replace a lost clutch is about 14 days. This interval increased from the start of the breeding season, but then declined toward the end, as summer was approaching. Laying interval increased significantly as the number of clutches produced by the parents also increased, up to 4 clutches in total. As more clutches were produced past this point, the laying interval became shorter. The probability of a replacement clutch being produced after clutch removal, declined as the clutch number increased and as the season progressed. Individuals that laid clutches with a larger mean mass were more likely to lay a replacement clutch. Increasing reproductive output caused a decline in the proportion of clutches that were replaced after clutch removal. The proportion of clutches that were replaced also varied between the years with the highest rates of replacement seen in 2000 which was also the year that experienced the earliest start in laying. The size of the original clutch in terms of its mean mass and volume was related to the size of the replacement clutch, but this relationship varied according to the timing of laying. During 2000 and 2001 male offspring predominated in the first two clutches produced by Silver Gulls. Further clutches that were produced demonstrated a sex ratio skewed toward females, the smaller sex in this species. Offspring sex ratio was close to equality in 2002 with very little effect caused by increased egg production. There was no effect of year, season or the laying history of the parents on hatching success. Growth rate in chicks was influenced by the year in which the chick hatched, the period during the season in which the chicks hatched, its sex and the laying history of the parents. The relationship between chick growth and the laying history, however, was complex with no consistent pattern emerging in terms of the performance of chicks from each treatment group. While the chicks from control groups generally grew faster than the chicks from manipulated parents, those individuals that were laid or raised by manipulated parents that had laid at least three clutches in total also performed well. Using the two main measures of reproductive success in the current study, egg production and chick rearing, those birds that were induced to lay multiple replacement clutches, were able to maintain a high level of condition and reproductive success. It is proposed that in the Silver Gull, only those individuals with a high level of condition continue to lay replacement clutches. If the female is unable to produce well provisioned eggs with a high chance of success, the breeding attempt is abandoned. Despite no loss of condition detected in female Silver Gulls with increasing clutch number, there was a significant shift in the offspring sex ratio toward females, indicating that strategies were in place to cope with the increased reproductive effort incurred as a consequence of repeat laying. Protracted laying in this species allows replacement of lost clutches only after maternal condition has been regained after laying.

The dimensions of the lumbar vertebrae are examined in order to determine if these measurements can be used to predict the age of an individual, and if the lumbar vertebrae exhibit sexual dimorphism. Various statistical techniques were utilized to analyze several dimensions of the lumbar vertebrae. Aging patterns in the lumbar elements are distinct between males and females, and females exhibit compression of the L3 element, which may be related to vertebral wedging. Some dimensions of the lumbar vertebrae are sexually dimorphic.

This study analyzes the kind of personal goals and life satisfaction levels amongst Spanish andPeruvian adolescents according to their sex and socioeconomic leve!. 389 Spanish and 285 Pe­ ruvian adolescents of both sexes from different socioeconomic leve! participated in this study. For the Spanish sample Palys and Little's (1983) Personal  Goals Analysis and Andrews and Withey's (1976) D-T Scale (Delight-Terrible) were used; for the Peruvian sample the measure­ ment instruments were Nuttin's (1985) Motivational lnduction Method along with Pavot and Diener's (1993) Life Satisfaction Scale. Results show significant similarities in the goals des­ cribed by both samples, as well as sex differences and socioeconomic differences.
El presente estudio analiza el tipo de metas personales y la satisfacción vital en adolescentes españoles y peruanos según sexo y nivel socioeconómico. Se trabajó con 389 adolescentes españoles y con 285 peruanos, de ambos sexos y de diferentes niveles socioeconómicos. Los instrumentos utilizados fueron el Análisis de Metas Personales de Palys y Little (1983) y la Escala D-T (Delight-Terrible) de Andrews y Withey (1976) para la muestra española, y el Método de Inducción Motivacional de Nuttin (1985) junto con la Escala de Satisfacción con la vida de Pavot y Diener (1993) para la muestra peruana, que aunque no son equivalentes, permiten una comparación general. Los resultados muestran importantes semejanzas en las metas descritas  por los adolescentes de ambos estudios, así como en la influencia de la variable sexo. Las principales diferencias entre los adolescentes españoles y peruanos se encuentran en la variable nivel socioeconómico.