Xiaodan Hu’s research while affiliated with The Ohio State University and other places

Recognizing the need to monitor the television depictions of older adults (OAs) we used social cognitive theory to study OA representations, stereotypes, and appearances in the understudied genre of Christmas television, specifically Hallmark Christmas movies (N = 50). We extended social cognitive theory to understand the effect of positive stereotypes on older adults’ appearances by employing interpersonal competence theory and coding OA interactions for positive and negative altercasting, defined as casting of one’s interactant into a valued or disvalued identity. Unlike primetime television analyses, OAs were not underrepresented relative to the U.S. population. OAs appeared in more minor than supporting roles, and participated in Christmas traditions like celebrating with family and affirming Christmas traditions and spirit. Over 60% of OAs portrayed positive stereotypes like Sage, Golden Ager, Perfect Grandparent and John Wayne Conservative. As theorized, net positive altercasting completely mediated the effect of three positive OA stereotypes on the frequency of OA appearances. Implications for studying Christmas television, aging stereotypes, and media portrayals of interpersonal competence are discussed.

Surname practices in the U.S. are believed to reflect and reinforce the enduring patriarchal nature of U.S. society. Yet, some women and men reject patriarchal expectations. Calls for research accounting for such individual variations have been made. We examine the role that dispositional differences play in preferences for and reasoning about marital surnames in a sample of U.S. heterosexual women and men. With an online survey, we examined 799 heterosexual unmarried emerging adults’ (mean age = 19.9) preferences for their own and a future partner’s surname, reasons for their preferences, and associations with social cognitive dispositions relevant to self- and other-orientations: narcissism and perspective-taking. The findings suggest greater flexibility about women’s surname preferences than previously reported. Approximately one-third of men and women were open to nontraditional options. Reasons for preferences included heritage, tradition, masculinity norms, conceptions of marriage and family, identity, family pressures, and practical reasons. After controlling for age, relational status, traditionalism, autonomy, and career aspirations, lower perspective-taking was predictive of women’s preferences for both partners to retain their birth names, whereas greater narcissism was associated with women’s preferences to retain their birth name. Greater narcissism was associated with men’s desires for both partners to use his name. Taken together, the addition of individual difference dispositions provides greater insight into surname preferences and reasons for those preferences beyond gender masculinity norms.