Imagining their Future Selves: Children's Attitudes to Older People and their Expectations of Life at Age 70. Katrina Lloyd, Paula Devine, Gemma M. Carney. Children & Society, https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12289
Abstract: Studies eliciting the views of children on ageing are rare, particularly those that focus on imagining a future self as an ‘old’ person and how this might be linked to current attitudes to older people. To address this gap, 2,365 children participated in an online survey which included questions on ageing. Findings suggest that children who hold negative views about old people visualise poorer outcomes for themselves at age 70. Implications of the findings are discussed in the context of an ageing population and the need to develop strategies to prevent the formation of prejudices against older people from an early age.
Thursday, July 12, 2018
Traditional sex behaviors, older age of first intercourse and fewer sex partners, are related to conservative orientations; satisfaction with sex life is related to socially conservatives; adventurous and risky sex behaviors are related more to liberals
The relationship between sexual preferences and political orientations: Do positions in the bedroom affect positions in the ballot box? Peter K.Hatemi, Charles Crabtree, Rose McDermott. Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 105, 15 January 2017, Pages 318-325. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2016.10.008
Highlights
• Traditional sex behaviors (e.g., missionary sex) are related to conservative orientations.
• Older age of first intercourse and fewer sex partners is associated with social conservativism.
• Satisfaction with sex life is related to more socially conservative attitudes.
• Adventurous sexual behaviors (e.g., sex toys) are related to more liberal orientations.
• Risky-sex behaviors (e.g., sex with stranger), are related to more liberal orientations.
Abstract: Sex provides a strong and enduring drive in humans, infusing attitudes and influencing behavior far beyond its immediate activity. Issues involving sex are among the most prevalent and divisive in modern political discourse. However, little is known about whether the actual sexual behaviors of the public align with their political values. Using a web-based US sample, we assess the relationship between individual sexual practices and political preferences. We find that those who engage in more traditional sexual behaviors, such as missionary position sex and kissing, generally have more socially conservative attitudes, ideologies, and partisan leanings, while those who engage in more masturbation, more adventurous sex, such as using sex toys, and those who engage in more risky sex, such as having sex with someone they met on the same day, and who have more lifetime partners, generally hold more liberal positions. Though they engage in a narrower band of activities, those with more conservative orientations tend be more satisfied with their sex life. We also find substantial heterogeneity across political attitudinal dimensions. For example, individuals who hold more conservative outgroup/punishment attitudes appear similar to those who hold liberal social attitudes when it comes to risky sex behaviors.
Highlights
• Traditional sex behaviors (e.g., missionary sex) are related to conservative orientations.
• Older age of first intercourse and fewer sex partners is associated with social conservativism.
• Satisfaction with sex life is related to more socially conservative attitudes.
• Adventurous sexual behaviors (e.g., sex toys) are related to more liberal orientations.
• Risky-sex behaviors (e.g., sex with stranger), are related to more liberal orientations.
Abstract: Sex provides a strong and enduring drive in humans, infusing attitudes and influencing behavior far beyond its immediate activity. Issues involving sex are among the most prevalent and divisive in modern political discourse. However, little is known about whether the actual sexual behaviors of the public align with their political values. Using a web-based US sample, we assess the relationship between individual sexual practices and political preferences. We find that those who engage in more traditional sexual behaviors, such as missionary position sex and kissing, generally have more socially conservative attitudes, ideologies, and partisan leanings, while those who engage in more masturbation, more adventurous sex, such as using sex toys, and those who engage in more risky sex, such as having sex with someone they met on the same day, and who have more lifetime partners, generally hold more liberal positions. Though they engage in a narrower band of activities, those with more conservative orientations tend be more satisfied with their sex life. We also find substantial heterogeneity across political attitudinal dimensions. For example, individuals who hold more conservative outgroup/punishment attitudes appear similar to those who hold liberal social attitudes when it comes to risky sex behaviors.
Political-Party Affiliation as a Predictor of Usage of an Adultery Website: Democrats were least likely to use it, Libertarians were most likely, & Republicans, Greens, and unaffiliated voters were in-between
American Political-Party Affiliation as a Predictor of Usage of an Adultery Website. Kodi B. Arfer, Jason J. Jones. Archives of Sexual Behavior, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-018-1244-1
Abstract: The more politically conservative Americans are, the more restrictive their sexual attitudes are. A natural follow-up question is how this difference in attitudes relates to actual behavior. But self-reports of sexual behavior may be compromised by a social desirability bias that is influenced by the very sexual attitudes at issue. We employed a non-self-reported measure of sexual behavior: usage of the adultery-focused dating website Ashley Madison. Linking an August 2015 leak of user data from Ashley Madison to 2012 voter registration rolls from five U.S. states, we found 80,000 matches between 200,000 Ashley Madison user accounts and 50 million voters. According to simple rates in the sample, and also to predictively validated regression models controlling for state, gender, and age, we found that Democrats were least likely to use Ashley Madison, Libertarians were most likely, and Republicans, Greens, and unaffiliated voters were in between. Our results provide support for theories arguing that people with stricter sexual attitudes are paradoxically more likely to engage in deviant sexual behavior.
Abstract: The more politically conservative Americans are, the more restrictive their sexual attitudes are. A natural follow-up question is how this difference in attitudes relates to actual behavior. But self-reports of sexual behavior may be compromised by a social desirability bias that is influenced by the very sexual attitudes at issue. We employed a non-self-reported measure of sexual behavior: usage of the adultery-focused dating website Ashley Madison. Linking an August 2015 leak of user data from Ashley Madison to 2012 voter registration rolls from five U.S. states, we found 80,000 matches between 200,000 Ashley Madison user accounts and 50 million voters. According to simple rates in the sample, and also to predictively validated regression models controlling for state, gender, and age, we found that Democrats were least likely to use Ashley Madison, Libertarians were most likely, and Republicans, Greens, and unaffiliated voters were in between. Our results provide support for theories arguing that people with stricter sexual attitudes are paradoxically more likely to engage in deviant sexual behavior.
Gay & lesbian individuals are slightly more likely than heterosexual individuals to reside in more urban areas as adults but it is due to a more urban childhood contexts of gay/lesbian individuals relative to heterosexual ones
Urban Migration of Sexual Minorities in the United States: Myth or Reality? Christopher P. Scheitle, Sara K. Guthrie. Sexuality & Culture, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12119-018-9544-0
Abstract: It is often suggested that sexual minorities in the United States, especially gay men and lesbian women, move to urban areas at a higher rate than heterosexual individuals. Existing analyses of this claim are limited for one or more reasons, such as only examining patterns of current residential context without considering movement between contexts or only examining movement for partnered sexual minorities. Utilizing the General Social Survey, a probability survey of the US adult population, we compare patterns of residential context in childhood and adulthood for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and heterosexual individuals. Initial findings do suggest that gay and lesbian individuals are slightly more likely than heterosexual individuals to reside in more urban areas as adults. However, this difference is explained away by the more urban childhood contexts of gay or lesbian individuals relative to heterosexual individuals. In sum, we find no robust sexuality effect on urban migration.
Abstract: It is often suggested that sexual minorities in the United States, especially gay men and lesbian women, move to urban areas at a higher rate than heterosexual individuals. Existing analyses of this claim are limited for one or more reasons, such as only examining patterns of current residential context without considering movement between contexts or only examining movement for partnered sexual minorities. Utilizing the General Social Survey, a probability survey of the US adult population, we compare patterns of residential context in childhood and adulthood for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and heterosexual individuals. Initial findings do suggest that gay and lesbian individuals are slightly more likely than heterosexual individuals to reside in more urban areas as adults. However, this difference is explained away by the more urban childhood contexts of gay or lesbian individuals relative to heterosexual individuals. In sum, we find no robust sexuality effect on urban migration.
Potential brain age reversal after pregnancy: younger brains at 4-6 weeks postpartum
Potential brain age reversal after pregnancy: younger brains at 4-6 weeks postpartum. Eileen Luders et al. Neurosciencem https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroscience.2018.07.006
Highlights
• Brains at late postpartum were estimated to be younger than at early postpartum.
• On average, that difference was about five years.
• These findings suggest a substantial restoration / rejuvenation effect after giving birth.
• The effect seems to be already evident within 4-6 weeks postpartum.
Abstract: Pregnancy is accompanied by complex biological adaptations, including extreme hormonal fluctuations. Moreover, changes on the endocrine level are accompanied by changes in cerebral anatomy, such as reductions in brain or gray matter volume. Since declining brain and tissue volumes are characteristic for normal aging, the question arises of whether such pregnancy-induced anatomical effects are permanent or transient. To answer this question, we acquired high-resolution brain image data of 14 healthy women in their mid-twenties to late thirties at two time points: within 1-2 days of childbirth (early postpartum) and at 4-6 weeks after childbirth (late postpartum). At both time points, we estimated the brain ages for each woman using a well-validated machine learning approach based on pattern recognition. Ultimately, this algorithm – designed to identify anatomical correlates of age across the entire brain – reveals a single score for each individual: the BrainAGE index. Comparing the BrainAGE indices between both time points, female brains at late postpartum were estimated to be considerably younger than at early postpartum. On average, that difference was about five years (mean±SD: 5.4±2.4 years). These findings suggest a substantial restoration / rejuvenation effect after giving birth, which is evident already within the first couple of months.
Highlights
• Brains at late postpartum were estimated to be younger than at early postpartum.
• On average, that difference was about five years.
• These findings suggest a substantial restoration / rejuvenation effect after giving birth.
• The effect seems to be already evident within 4-6 weeks postpartum.
Abstract: Pregnancy is accompanied by complex biological adaptations, including extreme hormonal fluctuations. Moreover, changes on the endocrine level are accompanied by changes in cerebral anatomy, such as reductions in brain or gray matter volume. Since declining brain and tissue volumes are characteristic for normal aging, the question arises of whether such pregnancy-induced anatomical effects are permanent or transient. To answer this question, we acquired high-resolution brain image data of 14 healthy women in their mid-twenties to late thirties at two time points: within 1-2 days of childbirth (early postpartum) and at 4-6 weeks after childbirth (late postpartum). At both time points, we estimated the brain ages for each woman using a well-validated machine learning approach based on pattern recognition. Ultimately, this algorithm – designed to identify anatomical correlates of age across the entire brain – reveals a single score for each individual: the BrainAGE index. Comparing the BrainAGE indices between both time points, female brains at late postpartum were estimated to be considerably younger than at early postpartum. On average, that difference was about five years (mean±SD: 5.4±2.4 years). These findings suggest a substantial restoration / rejuvenation effect after giving birth, which is evident already within the first couple of months.
Rams are selected for genetic traits a producer desires to propagate in his flock; rams with limited interest in ewes was nearly 30% of the total number of breeding rams; cause can be a tempered reward pathway in combination with decreased vigilance and sensory processing in the amygdala
ASAS-SSR Triennial Reproduction Symposium: Looking Back And Moving Forward—How Reproductive Physiology Has Evolved—Male reproductive behavior: sensory signaling in the brain of low-performing domestic rams. Brenda M Alexander. Journal of Animal Science, Volume 96, Issue 7, 29 June 2018, Pages 3003–3008, https://doi.org/10.1093/jas/sky117
Abstract: Rams are selected for genetic traits a producer desires to propagate in his flock. Even though practically all sheep are naturally bred, rams are rarely evaluated for expression of sexual interest or behavior. Research at the U.S. Sheep Experiment Station reported that the proportion of rams with limited interest in ewes was nearly 30% of the total number of breeding rams. Breeding soundness tested rams with low sexual interest sire less than 16% of the lamb crop. Although producers recognize the problem, their usual solution is to increase the number of rams in breeding flocks decreasing the risk of open ewes. Increased costs and a lack of genetic progress are clearly important considerations, but the biological question as to what controls sexual interest remains intriguing. Circulating concentrations of testosterone do not differ by sexual interest among rams. However, following exposure to estrous ewes, sexually active, but not inactive, rams exhibit an increase in LH pulsatile activity, a biological response to sexual stimuli. This begs the question as to whether sexually inactive rams recognize sexual cues. Using c fos activity as an indicator of neural activity, differences in the olfactory pathway were compared among sexually active and inactive rams. Differences in fos activity were not detected in the olfactory bulb or medial amygdala. However, sexually inactive rams had lower fos activity in the central amygdala, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, and medial preoptic area of the hypothalamus following exposure to sexual evocative olfactory stimuli. This suggests sexually inactive rams detect olfactory cues but have decreased vigilance to sensory stimuli and a muted response to sexual signals in areas of the brain required for the execution of sexual performance. With the amygdala receiving and integrating sensory signals from many areas of the brain, sexually inactive rams may lack normal reward mechanisms contributing to their lack of sexual interest. Rams with limited sexual interest have decreased dopamine synthesis and a lower expression of dopamine D2 receptors following exposure to sexual stimuli. Thus, a tempered reward pathway in combination with decreased vigilance and sensory processing in the amygdala may reduce stimulation and/or responsiveness in areas of the brain required for expression of sexual behavior.
Abstract: Rams are selected for genetic traits a producer desires to propagate in his flock. Even though practically all sheep are naturally bred, rams are rarely evaluated for expression of sexual interest or behavior. Research at the U.S. Sheep Experiment Station reported that the proportion of rams with limited interest in ewes was nearly 30% of the total number of breeding rams. Breeding soundness tested rams with low sexual interest sire less than 16% of the lamb crop. Although producers recognize the problem, their usual solution is to increase the number of rams in breeding flocks decreasing the risk of open ewes. Increased costs and a lack of genetic progress are clearly important considerations, but the biological question as to what controls sexual interest remains intriguing. Circulating concentrations of testosterone do not differ by sexual interest among rams. However, following exposure to estrous ewes, sexually active, but not inactive, rams exhibit an increase in LH pulsatile activity, a biological response to sexual stimuli. This begs the question as to whether sexually inactive rams recognize sexual cues. Using c fos activity as an indicator of neural activity, differences in the olfactory pathway were compared among sexually active and inactive rams. Differences in fos activity were not detected in the olfactory bulb or medial amygdala. However, sexually inactive rams had lower fos activity in the central amygdala, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, and medial preoptic area of the hypothalamus following exposure to sexual evocative olfactory stimuli. This suggests sexually inactive rams detect olfactory cues but have decreased vigilance to sensory stimuli and a muted response to sexual signals in areas of the brain required for the execution of sexual performance. With the amygdala receiving and integrating sensory signals from many areas of the brain, sexually inactive rams may lack normal reward mechanisms contributing to their lack of sexual interest. Rams with limited sexual interest have decreased dopamine synthesis and a lower expression of dopamine D2 receptors following exposure to sexual stimuli. Thus, a tempered reward pathway in combination with decreased vigilance and sensory processing in the amygdala may reduce stimulation and/or responsiveness in areas of the brain required for expression of sexual behavior.
Sheep are one of the few animal models in which natural variations in male sexual preferences have been studied experimentally; approximately 8% of rams exhibit sexual preferences for male partners (male-oriented rams)
The Volume of a Sexually Dimorphic Nucleus in the Ovine Medial Preoptic Area/Anterior Hypothalamus Varies with Sexual Partner Preference. Charles E. Roselli et al. Endocrinology, Volume 145, Issue 2, 1 February 2004, Pages 478–483, https://doi.org/10.1210/en.2003-1098
Abstract: Sheep are one of the few animal models in which natural variations in male sexual preferences have been studied experimentally. Approximately 8% of rams exhibit sexual preferences for male partners (male-oriented rams) in contrast to most rams, which prefer female partners (female-oriented rams). We identified a cell group within the medial preoptic area/anterior hypothalamus of age-matched adult sheep that was significantly larger in adult rams than in ewes. This cell group was labeled the ovine sexually dimorphic nucleus (oSDN). In addition to a sex difference, we found that the volume of the oSDN was two times greater in female-oriented rams than in male-oriented rams. The dense cluster of neurons that comprise the oSDN express cytochrome P450 aromatase. Aromatase mRNA levels in the oSDN were significantly greater in female-oriented rams than in ewes, whereas male-oriented rams exhibited intermediate levels of expression. Because the medial preoptic area/anterior hypothalamus is known to control the expression of male sexual behaviors, these results suggest that naturally occurring variations in sexual partner preferences may be related to differences in brain anatomy and capacity for estrogen synthesis.
Abstract: Sheep are one of the few animal models in which natural variations in male sexual preferences have been studied experimentally. Approximately 8% of rams exhibit sexual preferences for male partners (male-oriented rams) in contrast to most rams, which prefer female partners (female-oriented rams). We identified a cell group within the medial preoptic area/anterior hypothalamus of age-matched adult sheep that was significantly larger in adult rams than in ewes. This cell group was labeled the ovine sexually dimorphic nucleus (oSDN). In addition to a sex difference, we found that the volume of the oSDN was two times greater in female-oriented rams than in male-oriented rams. The dense cluster of neurons that comprise the oSDN express cytochrome P450 aromatase. Aromatase mRNA levels in the oSDN were significantly greater in female-oriented rams than in ewes, whereas male-oriented rams exhibited intermediate levels of expression. Because the medial preoptic area/anterior hypothalamus is known to control the expression of male sexual behaviors, these results suggest that naturally occurring variations in sexual partner preferences may be related to differences in brain anatomy and capacity for estrogen synthesis.
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