reserach paper

36 Combined Abstracts of 2003 Psychology Conferences of retirees were examined in a three-phase interview study. Ten men and women provided data via in-depth interviews at three points: 3 months pre-retirement, 6 months post retirement and finally 15 months post retirement. Major themes emerging from these interviews included: managing changing relationships; loss of status/respect; need to create structure; opportunities for self-development; financial concerns; and fears about physical decline. These results are discussed in terms of their implications for assisting people to prepare for the transition to retirement.

Identity projects and wellbeing: Understanding positive youth development through active and meaningful participation in life

BULLEN, P., KOSTIUK WARREN, J., & HARR^, N. (University of Auckland). [email protected]

In recent years there has been an increased interest withinpsychology in the factors that lead to subjective wellbeing. Research has shown that one of the keys is active participation in life in a meaningful way. One way of measuring meaningful participation is through identity projects. Identity projects are psychological constructs that allow individuals to structure and define their lives and themselves; and have within them guidelines for action. Positive identity projects lead to a sense of wellbeing by contributing to feelings of competency, belonging and meaning. Twenty-one qualitative interviews were conducted with 16 to 17 year-olds (11 males and 10 females) with high subjective wellbeing. Rich networks of four main project categories were found: family, friends, school, and sports and hobbies. The findings indicated that each project category appeared to provide slightly different yet compli- mentary functipns in enhancing wellbeing.

'You know ... He wanted to look beautiful': Gendered constructions in professional accounts of eating and body image disturbance in men

BURNS, M. (University of Auckland). [email protected]

Eating disorders are constructed as typically 'feminine'conditions. Given that it is also overwhelmingly women who are subject to these diagnoses, accounting for the devel- opment and diagnosis of eating disorders in men potentially presents some interesting discursive 'problems' for those involved in this work. In this paper, which is based upon data from interviews with 11 health professionals working in the field, I demonstrate how notions of masculinity and femininity operate through discussions about eating and body image disturbances in ways that constrain how men can be 'understood' as eating disordered. There were at least three strategies utilised by the professionals to resolve the dilemma represented by 'eating disordered' men. These included differentiating these men from 'normal' men by alluding to homosexuality and psychiatric co-morbidity, normalising men's eating problems by attributing their onset to 'typically masculine' activities such as sports participa- tion and career stress and finally constructing specifically

'masculine' categories of eating and body image disturbance which were dependent upon notions of hypermasculinity and which included activities such as steroid-taking and bodybuilding. The paper concludes with a discussion of some of the effects of these constructions.

Sexual treachery

BUSS, DM. (University of Texas, USA). [email protected]

Sexual conflict permeates social relationships. Empiricalevidence points to 'footprints' of coevolutionary arms races between the sexes, such as deceptive mating strategies in one sex and coevoived deception-detection strategies in the other. Mating strategies may also have evolved as from triadic antagonistic coevolution. Triadic coevolution creates multidimensional adaptive problems, producing strategies that simultaneously solve problems imposed by intrasexual competitors, existing mates, and prospective mates. Triadic conflicts occur across the entire temporal duration of mating — before mating has taken place, after mateship formation, and in the aftermath of a breakup. The hallmarks of triadic mating coevolution have been documented in non-human species. Seminal proteins produced by one male, for example, simultaneously combat competitor's sperm and reduce female sexual appetite, but can be toxic to the female. This paper proposes that there are psychological and strategic analogues of toxic male seminal proteins in human mating, including: (a) pre-mating strategies to induce bidding wars among prospective mates; (b) infidelity strate- gies, including sending sexual signals to non-mates; (c) mate poaching strategies, such as driving a wedge between existing mates to promote a breakup; (d) mate guarding strategies designed to drive off mate poachers; and (e) stalk- ing strategies designed to prevent re-mating after a breakup.

Media images of professions ^ CAMERON, H. (University of South Australia). [email protected]

This paper provides a reading of a range of textsdiscussing professions in terms of occupational images and status. The social standing of various professions is compared, with reference especially to people-working groups including teachers, nurses, psychologists, social workers and lawyers. A range of jokes from the Internet provides a humorous slant. Lawyers find themselves centre stage in terms of vicious jokes on the Internet, as people love to hate them. On the other hand, it is social workers that the newspaper press criticises with such energy, with illustrations taken from Australian, USA, UK, and Canadian public press. The paper also reports on the views of social work practitioners about their own and other professions. The impact of media stories in newspapers, TV, cinema and the Internet, especially those that feature gross simplifications and inaccuracies about professions, can influence public opinion. The consonance of a naive populace and a truth-bending press can promulgate inaccu- rate perceptions and negative attitudes about professions. The paper concludes with some tentative suggestions about strategies able to be adopted to counter media inaccuracy about the professions.

Australian Journal of Psychology — SUPPLEMENT 2003