This book integrates the role of gender in girls' and women's development across the life span, looking specifically at internal and external vulnerabilities and risks, and the protective or supportive factors that facilitate effective coping, positive growth, strength and resilience. The interaction between physical, psychological, and cultural factors is integrated within each period of development. The book emphasizes how gender socialization of female development and behavior impacts self-evaluation and identity processes within various cultural groups. The authors also discusses the social roles that girls and women reflectively adopt and describe how externally induced risks such as poverty, interpersonal abuse, and violence influence a healthy development.
This handbook presents a multicultural approach to diversity in feminist psychology. The text discusses the cutting-edge of feminist discourse, covering topics such as multicultural feminist theory, gender discrimination, aging, health and therapy, violence and harassment, politics and policy, and much more. Special emphasis is also given to the intersectionality of minority identities such as race, ethnicity, social class, sexual preference, and other socially constructed status differences among women. Key topics discussed: - Intimate partner violence: perspectives from ethnic groups in the United States - Gender-transgressive sexual minorities - HIV/AIDS among women of color and sexual minority women - Psychological perspectives on older women, including transitions, cognitive functioning, and mental health - Ethnicity, disordered eating, and body image - Methodological and statistical issues in research with diverse samples - Low-income women, women with disabilities, workers, and immigrants/refugees