While evolutionary theory would have us believe that sex is a biological drive to continue the gene pool, I suggest our drive for sex is to meet our need for esteem. Good sex flows from a healthy self-esteem. As an expression of self-esteem sex is necessary so we can feel valued, worthy, and desirable making sex an esteem enhancer. A healthy self-esteem is developed by looking at and exploring issues that make up our personality. This book presents a holistic integration of emotional desire, intimacy, and intellectual stimulation that entails developing respect, courtesy, listening, and seeing our self. If we cannot acknowledge self, how can we acknowledge the other? This book may appeal to those who are clamoring for something on a deep emotional level, estimation.

While evolutionary theory would have us believe that sex is a biological drive to continue the gene pool, I suggest our drive for sex is to meet our need for esteem. Good sex flows from a healthy self-esteem. As an expression of self-esteem sex is necessary so we can feel valued, worthy, and desirable making sex an esteem enhancer. A healthy self-esteem is developed by looking at and exploring issues that make up our personality. This book presents a holistic integration of emotional desire, intimacy, and intellectual stimulation that entails developing respect, courtesy, listening, and seeing our self. If we cannot acknowledge self, how can we acknowledge the other? This book may appeal to those who are clamoring for something on a deep emotional level, estimation.

General persuasibility--a person's readiness to accept social influence from others irrespective of what he or she knows about the communicator or what it is that the communicator is advocating--is studied. Significant contributions on individual differences in persuasibility made by a number of psychologists associated with the Yale Communication and Attitude Change Program are brought together in this volume.

This book examines test validity in the behavioral, social, and educational sciences by exploring three fundamental problems: measurement, causation and meaning. Psychometric and philosophical perspectives receive attention along with unresolved issues. The authors explore how measurement is conceived from both the classical and modern perspectives. The importance of understanding the underlying concepts as well as the practical challenges of test construction and use receive emphasis throughout. The book summarizes the current state of the test validity theory field. Necessary background on test theory and statistics is presented as a conceptual overview where needed. Each chapter begins with an overview of key material reviewed in previous chapters, concludes with a list of suggested readings, and features boxes with examples that connect theory to practice. These examples reflect actual situations that occurred in psychology, education, and other disciplines in the US and around the globe, bringing theory to life. Critical thinking questions related to the boxed material engage and challenge readers. A few examples include: What is the difference between intelligence and IQ? Can people disagree on issues of value but agree on issues of test validity? Is it possible to ask the same question in two different languages? The first part of the book contrasts theories of measurement as applied to the validity of behavioral science measures.The next part considers causal theories of measurement in relation to alternatives such as behavior domain sampling, and then unpacks the causal approach in terms of alternative theories of causation.The final section explores the meaning and interpretation of test scores as it applies to test validity. Each set of chapters opens with a review of the key theories and literature and concludes with a review of related open questions in test validity theory. Researchers, practitioners and policy makers interested in test validity or developing tests appreciate the book's cutting edge review of test validity. The book also serves as a supplement in graduate or advanced undergraduate courses on test validity, psychometrics, testing or measurement taught in psychology, education, sociology, social work, political science, business, criminal justice and other fields. The book does not assume a background in measurement.

Current literature on the sexual experiences of Black women primarily focuses on factors that contribute to risky sexual behaviors and methods to prevent the negative consequences of these behaviors. However, there is a need to broaden our construction of Black women’s sexuality. This study intends to address this gap in the literature by exploring factors that promote a positive aspect of sexuality known as sexual self-esteem. The current study investigated how social factors (peer sexual socialization and religiosity) and personal factors (sexual values) influence Black women’s sexual self-esteem. A sample of 155 self-identified Black college women (undergraduate and graduate) completed an online survey that assessed sexual self-esteem and its subscales (Skill/Experience, Attractiveness, Control, Moral Judgment, and Adaptiveness), religiosity, sexual values (Sexual Talk as Disrespectful, Satisfaction of Sexual Needs as Important, Female Virginity as Important, and Sexual Self-acceptance), and peer sexual socialization. Results of a correlation analysis indicated that peer sexual socialization was not linked with increased sexual self-esteem. Multiple regression analyses revealed that the sexual value of Sexual Self-Acceptance was positively linked to all of the subscales of sexual self-esteem. Relatedly, the sexual value of Sexual Talk as Disrespectful was negatively linked with the Control, Moral Judgment, and Attractiveness subscales of sexual self-esteem. Moderation analyses indicated religiosity moderated the link between peer sexual socialization and sexual self-esteem, but not the link between Sexual Self-Acceptance and sexual self-esteem. The study also included two exploratory hypotheses. Results of the first hypothesis found that the sexual value of Female Virginity as Important was negatively linked to condom usage. Results of the second exploratory hypothesis found that sexual guilt mediated the relationship between religiosity and sexual self-esteem. Sexual guilt was measured by a brief scale designed for the current study. The findings from the current study highlight that Black women’s acceptance of their own sexuality is key in creating a more positive and empowered view of Black women’s sexuality. This finding can be utilized in the development of future sex positive research and programming directed towards Black college women. Limitations, future research areas, and practical implications of these findings are discussed

Most of the studies addressing adolescent sexual behavior in America are asymmetrically focused on either one of boys and girls or one race, primarily African Americans. Studies also are small scale and ethnographic by nature. There is lack of cross-sectional studies addressing both adolescent boys and girls, and African Americans and whites making use of a wide range of variables in terms of their sexual behavior. The present study explores sexual behavior making use of a nationally representative cross-sectional (race and gender) dataset addressing both social structural and demographic variables of interest. The data analyzed by this study were collected by Add Health as the second wave of a longitudinal study of health and well being of American adolescents. This study analyzes data collected from a school based stratified sample of African American and white adolescents only (N = 2834). Eight major determinants of adolescent sexual behavior are explored. These are religiosity, self-esteem, family support, peer group involvement, school attachment, gender, race and age. Five of these variables are developed as additive scale. These scales had Cronbach's coefficient-alpha that ranged from school attachment (.994), religiosity (.993), family support (.796), and self-esteem (.714) to peer group (.309). The other three variables are race, gender, and age which are dichotomized. Dependent variable is sexual activity which is dichotomized as yes and no. Statistically significant relationships are found between school attachment and adolescent sexual behavior, peer group and sexual behavior, age and sexual behavior, family support and sexual behavior, and race and sexual behavior. But self-esteem, religiosity, and gender are found not to have significant relationship with sexual behavior. Results of logistic regression analysis reveals that only school attachment, peer group, race and age are significant predictors of sexual behavior among these adolescents. However, religiosity, self-esteem, family support, and gender are not significant predictors. Further research is recommended to take into account other contextual variables pertinent to social class, neighborhood factor, urbanicity, adolescents' attitudes towards sex, and their perception of parental attitude towards sex because the dataset did not contain them.

For five decades, negative body image has been a major focus of study due to its association with psychological and social morbidity, including eating disorders. However, more recently the body image construct has broadened to include positive ways of living in the body, enabling greater understanding of embodied well-being, as well as protective factors and interventions to guide the prevention and treatment of eating disorders. Handbook of Positive Body Image and Embodiment is the first comprehensive, research-based resource to address the breadth of innovative theoretical concepts and related practices concerning positive ways of living in the body, including positive body image and embodiment. Presenting 37 chapters by world-renowned experts in body image and eating behaviors, this state-of-the-art collection delineates constructs of positive body image and embodiment, as well as social environments (such as families, peers, schools, media, and the Internet) and therapeutic processes that can enhance them. Constructs examined include positive embodiment, body appreciation, body functionality, body image flexibility, broad conceptualization of beauty, intuitive eating, and attuned sexuality. Also discussed are protective factors, such as environments that promote body acceptance, personal safety, diversity, and activism, and a resistant stance towards objectification, media images, and restrictive feminine ideals. The handbook also explores how therapeutic interventions (including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Cognitive Dissonance, and many more) and public health and policy initiatives can inform scholarly, clinical, and prevention-based work in the field of eating disorders.