Exploring the role of country-level gender equality in the link between relationship status and perceived social support across 49 countries.

Past studies have demonstrated that higher perceived social support among coupled individuals and greater gender equality foster a more supportive social context. Less is known about how the link between relationship status and perceived social support may vary across countries that differ in gender equality. Employing the data collected from the COVIDiSTRESS I (39 countries; N = 99,075) and COVIDiSTRESS II (23 countries; N = 8293) projects, we examined whether country-level gender equality moderates the link between relationship status and perceived social support. Multilevel regression analyses indicated that gender equality moderated the link between relationship status and perceived social support. Single people in countries with less gender equality reported less perceived social support than was reported by both coupled people and single people from countries with moderate and high levels of gender equality, however, the effect of the interaction between relationship status and gender equality on perceived social support was very low. The results suggest that gender equality fosters perceived social support, both for single people and for partnered people.

Predictors of pretraumatic stress during the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland.

BACKGROUND: Pretraumatic stress has the same symptoms as post-traumatic stress but instead pertains to anticipated threats. There is evidence that pretraumatic stress occurs among soldiers and pregnant people. OBJECTIVE: We analyzed correlates of pretraumatic stress concerning the threat of COVID-19 infection. METHOD: Our pilot study was cross-sectional (N = 74); our main study was longitudinal and consisted of three waves (N = 1067, N = 894, and N = 752 for Waves 1, 2, and 3, respectively). Our pilot study used correlation and multiple linear regression. Our main study used quadratic regression and a random intercept cross-lagged panel model. RESULTS: The pilot study found that pretraumatic stress was positively correlated with agreeableness (r = .24, p < .01) and negatively correlated with emotional stability (r = -.30, p < .01) and intellect/imagination (r = -.37, p < .01). The main study demonstrated that pretraumatic stress was positively correlated with other measures of mental health problems during the COVID-19 pandemic and with perceived positive aspects of the pandemic (r = .11, p < .01). There is evidence of a U-shaped relationship between pretraumatic stress and perceived positive aspects of the pandemic. A random intercept cross-lagged panel model analysis demonstrated that pretraumatic stress in Wave 2 was negatively predicted by levels of prosocial behavior in Wave 1 (B = -1.130, p < .01). CONCLUSION: Mental health professionals should take into account pretraumatic stress, not only as a possible consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak but more generally as a risk in situations that are new, difficult, and challenging for people.

Perception of the Presumption of Innocence in the Context of Media Depictions of Violence: The Role of Participant's Gender, Type of Crime, and Defendant's Socioeconomic Status.

The #MeToo movement has provoked a worldwide discussion about sexual violence. Some critics of the movement argue that it violates the presumption of innocence. In the current study, we investigated the determinants of the perception of the presumption of innocence in the context of media depictions of violence. We took into account previous studies that suggest that people view more favorably defendants in rape trials than they do men accused of other crimes and that people view more favorably defendants with a high socioeconomic status than they do those with a low socioeconomic status. The current study investigated whether the perception of the presumption of innocence is related to the type of crime (sexual vs. nonsexual assault) or to the socioeconomic status of the defendant (a famous writer vs. a maintenance worker). We conducted a vignette-based study with a sample of Polish people (N = 158). The type of crime did not influence the perception of the presumption of innocence; however, women who participated in the study endorsed the presumption of innocence to a greater extent when the defendant had a high socioeconomic status. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.

Myths Concerning Sexual Violence Toward Women in Poland, Hungary, and Norway in the Context of System Justification Theory: The Role of Beliefs in the Biological Origins of Gender Differences and Ambivalent Sexism.

The purpose of this study was to compare attitudes toward rape in Poland, Hungary, and Norway. Based on system justification theory, we examined whether country of origin predicts levels of rape myth acceptance, beliefs in the biological origins of gender differences, and ambivalent sexism. There is also some evidence that beliefs in the biological origins of gender differences predict rape myth among Polish students and that this relationship is mediated by hostile sexism. The current study aimed to test whether this model can be applied to other countries. Participants (N = 266) were from Poland, Hungary, and Norway. The study was conducted online. The dependent and independent variables were measured with questionnaires. Polish participants had significantly higher levels of rape myth acceptance, beliefs in the biological origins of gender differences, and ambivalent sexism than Norwegian and Hungarian participants. Our proposed model was confirmed: belief in the biological origins of gender differences was associated with rape myth acceptance, with hostile sexism as a mediator. Benevolent sexism also turned out to be a mediator between beliefs in the biological origins of gender differences and rape myth acceptance. The mediational model of the relationship between beliefs in the biological origins of gender differences and rape myth acceptance can be applied to all three countries. This result suggests that anti-rape educational interventions should take into account the role of culture and society in the construction of gender differences.

Psychometric properties of the Polish version of the Self-Pluralism Scale (SPS).

BACKGROUND: The Self-Pluralism Scale (SPS) measures the declared degree of self-pluralism, visible already in William James's works. Self-pluralism refers to the degree to which one perceives oneself as typically feeling, behaving, and being different, in different situations, and at different times. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Polish version of the SPS. PARTICIPANTS AND PROCEDURE: A total of 1747 participants (67% were women) between the ages of 15 and 70 years completed the SPS along with measures of self-concept inconsistency, self-concept differentiation, dissociative experiences, internal dialogical activity, personality, and social desirability. RESULTS: Internal reliability and test-retest reliability were high. The full version has too low indices of fit whereas the brief, 10-item version fits the data well. As indicators of the convergent validity, a positive correlation of SPS with self-concept inconsistency, self-concept differentiation, dissociative experiences, internal dialogical activity and neuroticism and a negative correlation with agreeableness and social desirability were found. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that the brief, 10-item version is more valid than the full, 30-item version. The tool may be used for scientific research concerning self-pluralism. After collecting data from a sample that would allow norms to be constructed, the tool may also be useful for individual diagnosis.