bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Travelling safely: the problems and concerns of blind pedestrians
Authors: Johnson Valerie , Petrie Helen
Published: March 2007

Independent travel is a source of anxiety for many blind people and indeed some avoid it altogether. The MoBIC (Mobility of Blind and Elderly People Interacting with Computers) project is developing a new type of travel aid based on the emerging technologles of geographical information systems (GIS) and the global positioning system (GPS) of satellites. The aid includes two components, a pre-journey planning system and a system which will assist travellers on journeys. The extensive involvement of potential users is an important feature of the project and this paper reports on the many Interviews conducted with blind people. Satisfaction with current levels of mobility, problems encountered in independent travel, the concept of safe travel and disorientation are all discussed.
Measuring Attitudes toward Adult Sibling Relationships: The Lifespan Sibling Relationship Scale
Authors: Riggio Heidi R.
Published: March 2007

Based on research noting the importance of sibling relation-ships throughout the lifespan and grounded in basic research on attitudes structure, a self-report instrument called the Lifespan Sibling Relationship Scale (LSRS) was developed. The current study examined the psychometric properties of the LSRS. A sample of 711 participants completed the LSRS, which measures three dimensions of the sibling relationship in childhood and adulthood: frequency and positivity of behavior toward the sibling, affect toward the sibling, and beliefs about the sibling and the sibling relationship. Results suggested that the LSRS possesses good psychometric properties, including high internal consistency of all six subscales and the total instrument, as well as evidence supporting a coherent factor structure and stability of responses over time. Significant correlations with social support, overall relation-ship satisfaction, closeness of the sibling relationship, the degree to which the sibling served as a role model, and a measure of various sibling relationship qualities supported the construct validity of the LSRS. Lack of correlations between the LSRS, social desirability, and theoretically unrelated scales demonstrated discriminant validity. Correlations with personality traits and psychological well-being indicated that satisfactory sibling relationships were associated with emotional adjustment. The utility of the LSRS for use in future research is discussed.
Premarital Relationship Stability: A Review of Recent Research
Authors: Cate Rodney M. , Levin Lauren A. , Richmond Lucinda S.
Published: March 2007

This article is a review of the theory and recent literature on premarital relationship stability. First, current theories and models that have been used to explain the development of premarital relationships are discussed. Second, research since 1990 that focuses on the individual, dyadic, and social network factors that predict premarital relationship stability is presented. Third, we integrate the findings of the review into a commitment model and make some brief observations about theoretical, conceptual, and methodological issues that must be addressed to further understand the development of premarital relationships.
Investigating the Behavioral Indicators of Relational Commitment
Authors: Weigel Daniel J. , Ballard-Reisch Deborah S.
Published: March 2007

Although the commitment literature has made good progress at explaining why people stay in or leave relationships, much of this literature does not address the daily behavioral aspects of relationship commitment. This article reports the results of two studies undertaken to more systematically investigate the behavioral indicators of commitment. The first study asked 248 people what things they do or say to show their commitment to their partners. Participants identified a total of 928 behaviors that were coded into 10 major categories of indicators of commitment: providing affection, providing support, maintaining integrity, sharing companionship, making effort to communicate, showing respect, creating a relational future, creating a positive relational atmosphere, working on relationship problems together, and expressing commitment. A second study with a new sample of 350 people was under- taken to explore the association between the use of these behavioral indicators and both structural and perceptual elements of the relationship. Results showed that there were significant differences in the use of behavioral indicators depending on relationship type and sex. Results also showed that the greater the use of specific behavioral indicators, the higher the levels of commitment and satisfaction.
Trajectories of Relationship Disengagement
Authors: Baxter Leslie A.
Published: March 2007

It was the purpose of this study to explore primarily through qualitative data the process by which personal relationships dissolve. In applying the method of analytic induction to ninety-seven heterosexual romantic relationship break-ups, a flow chart of the disengagement process was developed around six distinctive features of the break-up process. This flow chart was subsequently used to trace the dissolution process for each break-up account, producing eight basic trajectories of disengagement for this data set. The study supports the argument by Kressel et al. (1980) that researchers must abandon the simplistic search for a single set of stages or steps by which relationships change, recognizing instead the patterned differences among relationships.
Equity, Marital Satisfaction, and Stability
Authors: Utne Mary K. , Hatfield Elaine , Traupmann Jane , Greenberger David
Published: March 2007

Equity Theory, a social psychological theory concerned with fairness in interpersonal relations, has been shown to be predictivein casual encounters. Is it applicable in intimate relations as well? Newlyweds were asked a series of questions designed to measure the perceived level of equity in their relationship. Measures of their contentment/distress with the relationship and stability of the relationship were also taken. It was hypothesized that men and women who felt equitably treated would feel more content in their marriage and would perceive the marriage as more stable than would men and women in inequitable marriages. Strong evidence in support of both hypotheses was found. Also reported is a test of a post hoc hypothesis that women and men should be differentially concerned with equity. No significant sex differences were found on any of the dependent variables in the study.
Communication Awareness in Married Couples
Authors: Noller Patricia , Venardos Calliope
Published: March 2007

Forty-six married couples participated in a standard communication task. When encoding messages they made a rating of clarity on a six-point scale, and when decoding they made a rating of confidence. Highly and moderately adjusted subjects were more confident for messages they decoded correctly than for those they decoded incorrectly. Subjects low in marital adjustment were equally confident for messages they decoded incorrectly and correctly. Highly adjusted subjects were also better able to predict whether their spouse would decode the message correctly or not, particularly the wives. There were no differences for clarity related to marital adjustment level. Negative messages were rated as clearer and were predicted more accurately. Neutral messages received lower confidence ratings and correct neutral messages received lower clarity ratings than other correct messages. Neutral messages were also predicted less accurately than other messages.
Loneliness: A Theoretical Review with Implications for Measurement
Authors: Marangoni Carol , Ickes William
Published: March 2007

The literature on loneliness is selectively reviewed with respect to three major theoretical approaches that have guided research in this area. The authors survey the theory and research associated with the social needs approach, the behavioral/personalityapproach and the cognitive processes approach to loneliness. Specific theoretical perspectives subsumable within each approach (e.g. social developmental, social support) are discussed. The second part of the paper addresses methodological considerations in the measurement of loneliness that are specifically relevant to the major theoretical issues discussed. Potential points of theoretical integration and methodological refinement are noted. In a concluding section, recommendations forfuture research on loneliness are suggested, and the need for a general process model incorporating some of these suggestions is noted.
Spouses' Support Provision to Chronically Ill Patients
Authors: Revenson Tracey A. , Majerovitz S. Deborah
Published: March 2007

This study examined: (1) factors that are related to spouses' provision of positive and problematic support to rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients, and (2) the stress-buffering role of support from social ties outside the marriage for spouses of RA patients. Data were drawn from a prospective study of psychological adaptation to RA. The conjugal sample consisted of forty-two RA patients (81 percent female) and their spouses. The results suggest that spouses provided more social support in response to patients' distress, expressed as greater pain and depressed mood. In contrast, spouses provided more problematic support to patients when spouses were experiencing greater stress or when patients' disease was more advanced. Network support received by the spouse served as a stress-buffer against depression for spouses whose partner's illness had become worse over the past 2 years. These findings support the need for studying social support processes using a dyadic, transactional approach, and for studying the patient and spouse within the larger context of their social support network.
Meanings of Intimacy in Cross- and Same-Sex Friendships
Authors: Monsour Michael
Published: March 2007

The purpose of this study was to investigate how individuals in cross- and same-sex friendships define and express intimacy. In a self-report questionnaire 164 college students were asked what they meant by the term `intimacy' in the context of cross- and same-sex friendships. Individuals assigned an average number of two meanings to the term `intimacy', though the number of meanings ranged from one to five. Results revealed substantial similarities in the meanings of intimacy in both types of friendship, as well as some gender differences. For instance, five of the seven most frequently mentioned definitions of intimacy were specified by both cross- and same-sex friends: self-disclosures, emotional expressiveness, unconditional support, physical contact and trust. One of the remaining two meanings of intimacy, i.e. sexual contact, was mentioned by cross- but not same-sex friends. Sharing activities was given as a definition of intimacy by 9 percent of the males in same-sex friendships, and 4 percent of the females in cross-sex friendships. Within cross-sex friendships, emotional expressiveness and sexual contact were specified as meanings of intimacy by a higher percentage of males than females, while physical contact was specified by a greater percentage of females in those relationships.
Love as a Story
Authors: Sternberg Robert J.
Published: March 2007

This article advances the view that love is a story. The article discusses relationships as stories, what our stories are like, kinds of stories, where stories come from, how stories control the development of relationships, the difficulty of changing stories, the role of ideal stories, the cultural matrix of stories and relations to theories of love.
'A Lamp to Guide Your Feet' : Jim Larkin, the Irish Worker and the Dublin Working Class
Authors: Newsinger John
Published: March 2007

At present you spend your lives in sordid labour and your abode in filthy slums; your children hunger, and your masters say your slavery must endure for ever. If you would come out of bondage yourself must forge the weapons and fight the grim battle.

The written word is the most potent force in our modern world. The Irish Worker will be a lamp to guide your feet in the dark hours of the impending struggle; a well of truth reflecting the purity of your motives, and a weekly banquet from which you will rise strengthened in purpose to emulate the deeds of your forefathers, who died in dungeon and on scaffold in the hopes of a glorious resurrection for our beloved country1.
`Infosuasion' in European Newspapers
Authors: Savarese Rossella
Published: March 2007

This article examines the orientation of the European press during the war in Kosovo by means of the `infosuasion' (i.e. persuasive information) and media logic hypotheses, by analysing coverage of the event, attitudes towards the contending parties and the presentation of political leaders like Clinton and Milosevic in a selection of 10 European newspapers. The article focuses specifically on the week preceding the commencement of bombing and the week following. The empirical evidence seems to confirm the study's hypotheses, with regard to both `infosuasion' and media logic. `Infosuasion' is made possible through the use of figures of speech and other persuasive techniques, and by giving articles a narrative scheme. The most frequently used persuasive techniques were `name calling', `transfer technique', `cognitive dissonance', `guilt technique' and `factoids'. The most common figures of speech used were alliteration, typical of the two German dailies, and metaphor and quotation, which were frequently used in the Italian daily Il Corriere della Sera. A narrative structure in which one of the NATO governments or politicians is depicted as hero and Milosevic as antihero is particularly prevalent in the Spanish dailies ABC and El Pais, which rarely adopt persuasive techniques or figures of speech. As far as media logic is concerned, the coverage of the event followed a similar pattern in all the newspapers examined: a few articles appearing during the first week, followed by a `downpour' of articles as from 24 March.
News Diffusion of the Palme Assassination among Journalists in Iceland, Israel and the US
Authors: Broddason Thorbjorn , Cohen Akiba A. , Gantz Walter , Greenberg Bradley S.
Published: March 2007

Journalists interviewed in Iceland, Israel and the US in the aftermath of the Palme assassination gave markedly different accounts of how they first heard of the tragedy. Radio was the predominant first source of diffusion in Iceland, personal contacts were most important in Israel, and in the US no first source predominated. Shock and astonishment were the sharpest initial reactions. Although the event occurred during the early evening in the US, and post-midnight in the other two sites, the US journalists were the slowest to learn of the events. Few had direct professional involvement in their organization's response to the story. Differences among these sets of journalists suggest that time of day, coverage and access factors are more central to the diffusion process than their occupation.
Mass-Media Research in Italy: Culture and Politics
Authors: Mancini Paolo , Wolf Mauro
Published: March 2007

This article examines the impact of cultural, ideological and scientific factors on Italian mass communication research from its origins in the 1960s to the present. Relatively constant influences have included (a) a strong tendency among scholars to social involvement, facilitating normative approaches, (b) a debate over general theoretical issues, and (c) long-standing funding support from RAI (the Italian broadcasting company), concerned to evaluate its public service objectives. Shifts over time from critical theory to more pragmatic perspectives and from reliance on content analysis techniques to a distinctively Italian semiotic approach to media texts are traced. More recent influences have included the unregulated explosion of private commercial television and a keen interest in studying audience reception.
Magazine Advertising in Sweden and the United States: Stable Patterns of Change, Variable Levels of Stability
Authors: Nowak Kjell
Published: March 2007

The article presents results from a longitudinal content analysis of advertising messages in Swedish magazines during the period 1935-80. Comparisons with similar data from the US show strong similarities and several patterns emerge. One pattern of similarity is variables which remain at the same level in each of the countries. This applies to two basic characteristics of the rhetoric, namely the level of information and the presence of non-rational persuasion. Another pattern shows stable distributions across time in both societies (for instance, women appear more frequently than men in adverts). Other variables exhibit similar patterns of change taking place at the same time (for instance, a growing absence of persons in the adverts beginning in the 1950s), while others change in the same way but at different times (changes in the US taking place 20-30 years earlier than in Sweden). The various patterns are assumed to reflect similarities and differences in economic, technological and cultural conditions.
Cinematography as a Medium of Communication: The Promotion of Research by the League of Nations and the Role of Rudolf Arnheim
Authors: Wilke Jürgen
Published: March 2007

The following article describes an as yet almost unknown episode in the history of twentieth-century communication research. It starts in the 1920s with initiatives by the League of Nations to promote scientific approaches to the fledgling medium of cinematography, which began the expansion of (audio)-visual communication in the twentieth century. In these initiatives a German, Rudolf Arnheim, was involved, who later became one of the founding fathers of communication research and visual aesthetics in the United States. The episode shows how institutional preconditions were connected with an individual biography in science, which furthermore was implanted in the tragic historical events of this century.
Trends in the Development of Broadcasting Law in Western Europe
Authors: Hoffmann-Riem Wolfgang
Published: March 2007

Technological, economic and political changes in the media system also lead to changes in media law. The changes in press law, however, have been rather insignificant: freedom of the press as a right against state influence goes hand in hand with a minimum of government regulations. In the broadcasting sector, however, there has been a long tradition of regulation. Whereas it was initially used to ensure state influence over broadcasting, the state's regulatory responsibility began increasingly to serve freedom of communication and independence of broadcasting even against the wishes of social power holders. However, the recent interpretation of Article 10 of the ECHR and the harmonization of broadcasting law by the EC's Television Directive have led to a reduction of the state's regulatory responsibility. It is becoming increasingly difficult to ensure a public service orientation in broadcasting. Even at the national level, attempts to regulate commercial broadcasting are meeting with opposition; and on occasion, inherently contradictory regulations are enacted. It is by no means clear whether the regulations will be sufficient to ward off threats to the freedom of communication.
A Case of the Emperor's New Clothes? Reception and Text Analysis of the Dutch Feminist Magazine Opzij
Authors: Hermes Joke , Schutgens Veronique
Published: March 2007

The feminist monthly Opzij is the only general audience feminist publication in the Netherlands. Its readership is growing steadily. Because there are few studies of feminist magazines or their readership and because of the monopoly held by the magazine, the authors decided to research both the reception and content of Opzij, focusing on how feminism and a feminist identity are constructed by the text and by its readers. Eleven female and three male readers — who responded to an advertisement in the national dailies — were interviewed and ten volumes (1981-90) were analysed. Six `interpretive repertoires' used by readers are described, as well as the main trend and themes in Opzij's content.
Meshing Money with Mission: Purity Versus Pragmatism in Public Broadcasting
Authors: Blumler Jay G.
Published: March 2007

This article asks whether the increasing recourse of European public broadcasters to commercial income sources endangers their public service commitments. As a benchmark, a distinctive mission for public television is outlined, concentrating on four communication tasks and four value commitments that private television tends to neglect. The implications for such a mission of three commercial revenue sources — advertising, sponsorship and foreign programme earnings — are examined. Other assimilating pressures, operative in a mixed system, which encourage public broadcasters to tailor their programming to private television are also identified. The various problems raised are explored in detail through a case study of the likely future of children's television in Britain. The author concludes that the claims of `purity' and `pragmatism' can be reconciled only through the adoption by public broadcasters of an integrity-safeguarding policy, the main elements of which are outlined.
Ethics for Media Users
Authors: Hamelink Cees J.
Published: March 2007

Most projects in the field of media ethics address the freedom, quality and responsibility of mass media performance in connection with the conduct of professional media producers. This article proposes that the quest for freedom, quality and responsibility in the mass media should not only be the concern of producers, but also media users. It also argues that this concern is not adequately met through codes of conduct. To address seriously the matter of moral choice the design of a contextual and communicative ethics is needed.
French `Reality Television'
Authors: Dauncey Hugh
Published: March 2007

During the early 1990s, reality programming (RP) was introduced into the French television industry in the form of what became known as téléréalité, or, perhaps in deference to their American and Italian origins, `reality shows'. Initially greeted by a storm of controversy about their legality, and about the desirability of some of their feared effects on French society and institutions (especially the legal system and the right to privacy), reality shows have now become a more accepted, but equally controversial feature of French broadcasting.

This article examines the growth of reality programming in French television during the 1990s, describing the main programmes and styles of RP in France, and setting the phenomenon within the double context of ever increasing commercial constraints on programme production and traditional French concerns to maintain France's image as a country of culture. The article analyses the discourse of criticism and of justification which has arisen around the issue of reality shows, manipulating notions of democracy, authenticity and empowerment of individual citizens in defence of RP and presenting fears of informing, voyeurism and exhibitionism in the case against. It is seen how reality shows are taking their place in the constant modernization of French society, including the modernization of notions of what is represented by `culture', but, also, how these new trends in television programming are undermining some of France's traditional values and aspirations.
How Violent is TV Violence?
Authors: Sander Ingo
Published: March 2007

This article investigates factors influencing viewers' perceptions of TV violence from a dynamic-transactional perspective. These factors include different dimensions of TV violence, the viewers' perceptions of these qualities, emotional reactions and personality dispositions. In past research TV violence has been treated as a unitary construct and defined from a researcher-centred and effects-oriented perspective. The study widens this perspective by analysing different dimensions of TV violence and viewers' differential perceptions of violence. The findings reveal the considerable differentiation in viewers' evaluations of TV violence, the applied regression model explained 64 percent of the variance in the perception of violence, and partial support was found for the dynamic-transactional approach. Different dimensions of TV violence and the viewers' emotions were the strongest predictors of perceptions of TV violence.
State Support for the Daily Press in Europe: A Critical Appraisal
Authors: Murschetz Paul
Published: March 2007

This article compares the subsidy schemes of the daily press in Austria, France, Norway and Sweden. In those countries, financial subsidy schemes to daily newspapers seek to balance the objective of promoting economic competitiveness in the national media grid with the wider objective of securing plurality of titles and diversity of views. This article locates financial subsidies within a broader framework of press regulation, looks into the instruments of public press intervention in the four countries and critically examines the results to safeguard economic competition and press diversity. In contrast to the Anglo-Saxon minimalist approach to press regulation which rejects the interventionist approach to providing cash injections to newspapers in need, the continental-style authorities in Austria, France, Norway and Sweden adhere to a public policy of granting subsidies to their press, according to which the democratic and political function — namely to guarantee that citizens have access to information, are accurately informed and actively take part in the political process — is promoted. However, public austerity programmes, increased commercial competition, shifting audience tastes of newspaper readers and the inherent weaknesses of the current instruments have forced all four countries to rethink their subsidy schemes. This article argues that government policies that aim at engendering economic opportunity and prosperity of daily newspapers, editorial pluralism and diversity of opinion need to respond adequately and effectively to these pressures of changing market conditions, which not only endanger the normal functioning of the press market but also a public service culture of newspapers.
Research Note: The Influence of Exemplars on Recipients' Judgements
Authors: Brosius Hans-Bernd
Published: March 2007

Exemplars are short quotations (verbal or visual) from concerned or interested people that illustrate a particular problem or a particular view on a problem. They are frequently used in journalism because of their authenticity and their vividness. Past research shows that exemplars influence opinions and attitudes more strongly than statistics, comprehensive overviews or official information, although the latter are doubtlessly more valid. This study tackles the question of why exemplars have such a strong persuasive power. This is done on the basis of Bandura's social learning theory. An experiment with 159 subjects tests whether a growing similarity between the exemplar and the recipient increases the persuasive power of the exemplar. If that were the case, the effect of exemplars could be traced back to their function as agents for identification or models for the recipient. Results, however, show that variations of the similarity between exemplar and recipient do not influence the effect of the exemplars. Independent of similarity, exemplars considerably affect the recipients' judgements. Therefore, it has to be assumed that their persuasive power depends on other factors.
THE SALIENCE OF ETHNICITY IN POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT: THE CASE OF ZIMBABWE
Authors: Mombeshora Solomon
Published: March 2007

This article critically discusses modernisation and Marxist theories on ethnicity and political development in Africa in general. It attempts to unravel the formative and reproductive processes at the heart of the ethnic phenomenon. To this end, and with particular reference to the Zimbabwean context, the genesis as well as the dissemination of the ethnic factor in politics is located in the nooks and crannies of unequal colonial racial power structures and relationships. The article also illustrates that the prominence of ethnicity in political development is, largely if not wholly, evoked by the situational blending of structural elements and variable subjective interpretations which ethnic actors make of those situations. Perhaps this analysis will be of some practical relevance to the easing of ethnically based conflicts in contemporary polities.
Monetary Privacy in the Information Economy
Authors: Donaghy Matthew
Published: March 2007

Offshore financial centres (OFCs), such as Switzerland and the Cayman Islands, increasingly have to exchange information on their financial activities, reflecting broader trends in what Castells has termed the `information economy'. However, what kind of information is being exchanged within and across offshore jurisdictions and what does this mean for the confidentiality of client information, so long the hallmark of `offshore' operations? On the basis of some recent research undertaken in the OFC of Monaco, this article argues that while information exchange represents an important dynamic within the contemporary international financial system, a culture of privacy remains a constitutive feature in the way that these centres operate. The author shows that Monaco is working hard to develop, not undermine, such a culture through structural, institutional, dispositional and spatial changes. Such an argument questions some prevailing theoretical discourses which view modern economies as being essentially information driven.
THE STRUCTURE OF SOCIAL STRATIFICATION AND THE MODERNISATION PROCESS IN CONTEMPORARY CHINA
Authors: Lulu Li , Xiao Yang , Fengyu Wang
Published: March 2007

The structure of social stratification in contemporary China is closely related to the situation of the nation's direct ownership and distribution of social resources. Power status, which combines the country's political and administrative power, became the most significant of the many forms of social status. Through the `identity system', `unit system' and `administrative ranking system', the nation has imposed the distribution of social positions throughout the entire society, and thus shaped the basic systematic framework of the structure of social stratification in contemporary China. This structure of social stratification has enabled the state to gain more legitimacy and efficiency than it has ever had before and has promoted the modernisation process in Chinese society. However, it has gradually directed people's efforts or aspirations towards higher status or changed their position toward power. Moreover, this system may not be able to adapt with the changes and developments taking place in society.
GENDER, MIGRATION AND SOCIAL CHANGE
Authors: Tienda Marta , Booth Karen
Published: March 2007

This paper provides a critical review of existing studies about how migration alters women's position in the course of social change. Two major goals are accomplished. First, the conceptual and methodological issues that bear on the assessment of changing gender relations are distilled from the existing literature. Second, for heuristic purposes we delineate three alternative outcomes for migrant women using the distribution-redistribution analytical framework, although we acknowledge the difficulty of distinguishing among them empirically. Finally, we provide a selective review of case studies illustrating alternative outcomes for migrant women in Africa and Latin America. The concluding discussion summarises the major findings in an attempt to distinguish issues that cross-cut social settings from those which are country-specific.
THE DUAL BURDEN: EAST AND WEST (WOMEN'S WORKING LIVES IN CHINA, JAPAN AND GREAT BRITAIN)
Authors: Xuewen Sheng , Stockman Norman , Bonney Norman
Published: March 2007

An analysis of the survey data for employed mothers of young children in urban areas in the three countries demonstrates that they undertake disproportionate shares of domestic labour, compared to their spouses. China is most distinctive, however, in that women there combine full-time paid work with domestic roles and in that their spouses play a greater domestic role than in the other two cases. Gender role segregation in these spheres is greatest in Japan. The `housewife' role is endorsed in Japan but rejected in China. The British situation is closer to the Japanese than the Chinese one and is characterised by the resort to part-time work, which is itself more associated with gender role segregation than is full-time work. Chinese women are most integrated into the employment sphere and display most discontent with gender injustice at work, while the Japanese and British women express relative levels of satisfaction with their more limited employment involvement. The analysis concludes with a discussion of some of the historical and institutional factors which have shaped these patterns and indicates the differing influences for change and stability in these social roles in each society.
FEMALE EMPLOYMENT AND THE CHANGE OF GENDER ROLES: THE CONFLICTUAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PARTICIPATION AND ATTITUDES IN INTERNATIONAL COMPARISON
Authors: Haller Max , Hoellinger Franz
Published: March 2007

This article examines female labour force participation and gender role attitudes from a comparative perspective, using recent survey data from eight countries. It starts with two general hypotheses. The technological-functional hypothesis states that the increase in women's labour force participation is a necessary concomitant of industrialisation, followed sooner or later by a corresponding adaptation of gender role attitudes toward individualistic-egalitarian values. The cultural-institutional hypothesis states that extra-familial work of women and gender role attitudes are both related to historically persistent, general societal values regarding personal individuality and freedom, family and social stratification. Empirical results did not confirm the hypothesis that the higher the employment rate of women in a particular country, the more the population will have egalitarian gender role attitudes. This is exemplified by the two polar cases of Hungary with the highest levels of employment, but most traditional attitudes, and Netherlands with relatively low levels of employment but very modern attitudes. It seems that the actual employment rates of women (as well as an economic motivation of female employment as a contribution to household income) are primarily determined by changing economic circumstances and policies as well as the actual economic situation of women and their family. Gender role attitudes, however, are shaped not only by structural changes due to industrialisation but also by socio-cultural factors, such as the religious heritages of different countries. In this regard, our second hypothesis also obtains empirical support.
Growing Up With Nazism and Nato
Authors: Hübner-Funk Sibylle
Published: March 2007

The essay describes the major lines along which the democratic loyalties of West German youth developed since the end of the Second World War. Starting with the symptoms of youth's 'identification crisis', the ideological mechanisms through which succeeding generations in the FRG were socialised to an acceptance of the 'imported' democracy, are examined in a comparative historical review. By reference to former youth studies an argumentation is developed that relates the issues of actual political dissent within the country to the discrepant historical experiences of different age cohorts. Following the parliamentary report Youth Protest in the Democratic State (1983), the political taboo of the German present (Nato) is interpreted in the light of the political taboo of the German past (Nazism).
Crisis and Political Opposition Among the Mexican Middle Classes
Authors: Tarrés Maria Luisa
Published: March 2007

The contemporary Mexican situation can be characterised by two elements: a very deep economic crisis and the gradual opening of the electoral system. The middle classes have started to vote as well as participate in the political arena by opposing the official party that has governed the country for more than sixty years in a surprisingly stable climate. Curiously, this opposition has appeared more clearly at the urban level in the large cities. On the basis of the analysis of the experience of the population of Ciudad Satélite, this article presents some reflections on the formation of collective actors among the Mexican middle classes who have traditionally been controlled by the political system through a complex and efficient mechanism that combines cooptation and repression.
The Environmental Movement in a Hostile Context
Authors: Yanitsky Oleg
Published: March 2007

The article explores the survival and maintenance of the environmental movement in a risk-laden post-totalitarian society. Russia's rapidly changing society has an anti-ecological bias, since the economic transition has been carried out in such a way as to cause both the overexploitation and waste of human and natural resources. In the course of this transition the anti-ecological context has been reproduced and reinforced on three levels: historical-cultural, macro-social and local. The author describes the social context of the environmental movement, and the root causes of the hostility within this context to the movement. The article proposes an explanation for the negative attitude towards the movement on the part of both the Russian state and its citizens. The response by the movement to the hostility has had three main consequences: the movement is losing its ability to function as a producer and distributor of environmental values; it has become less rooted within Russia; and it has become more westernized and globalized, integrating itself into the global environmental community.
Renewable Energy Technologies in Africa: Retrospect & Prospects
Authors: Wakhungu Judi Wangalwa
Published: March 2007

Africa's renewable energy resource base is large. Traditional patterns of energy use have resulted in widespread environmental degradation. Renewable energy technologies are capable of harnessing this energy on a sustainable basis. However, despite some notable successes, efforts to disseminate these tech nologies have resulted in numerous failures. The failure of such efforts has been attributed to a variety of problems which have yet to be evaluated in a comprehensive and policy-relevant form. Such analysis is prerequisite to enabling policy-makers to act effectively.
Poisoned Painters: Organized Painters' Responses to Lead Poisoning in Early 20th-Century America
Authors: Eldridge Christopher A.
Published: March 2007

Workers often have a complex relationship with the technologies they use in the workoplace, and many influences can affect that relationship. This is well demonstrated in the story of unionized painters who, at the turn of this century, were sufferingfrom occupational lead poisoning because the paints of the day used lead as their primary pigment. At the beginning of the study period, the painters were fairly passive about the disease, having accepted it as a hazard of the job. By the middle of the 1920's, however, the painters' union was fighting aggressively to remove lead from their work environments and to make employers take some responsiblilty for work-related health care needs. No single event or person brought this change about. Instead, it was the coalescence of several influences that convinced the painters that occupational lead poisoning was something they should fight against.
Prospective Study of Changes in Global Self-Worth and Strain During the Transition to Middle School
Authors: Fenzel L. Mickey
Published: March 2007

An integrative model of the stress process in early adolescence during the transition to middle school was examined in this prospective study. In the model, student role strain (both peer and school work strain) was hypothesized to predict changes in feelings of self-worth, with perceived competence (social and scholastic) and social support (from close friends, parents, and teachers) serving as moderators of the relation. Reciprocal relations also were hypothesized. Results of prospective analyses showed support for the negative effects both of peer and school strain on changes in feelings of self-worth, as well as a role for perceived social competence and social support from close friends as moderators of this type of relation. Reciprocal influences of perceived competence, social support, and feelings of self-worth on levels of strain also were evident individually and in interaction with one another.
Gender Differences in Socialization Through Television to Occupational Roles: An Exploratory Approach
Authors: Jeffries-Fox Suzanne , Jeffries-Fox Bruce
Published: March 2007

This article presents a methodology for investigating the interaction of sex-role socialization and young people's learning from television about occupational roles. Content analytic techniques were applied to transcribed responses to open-ended questions. Analytic categories were emically-derived in order to preserve through the analysis respondents' belief structure and to realistically assess the importance of television's contribution to these beliefs. The specific research question is whether "lessons" concerning the world of work that males and females are taught in daily life influence what they learn from television about occupations. It was found that television viewing appears to make a limited contribution to young people's images of work roles, and that sex-role socialization mediates occupational role information learned through television.
Strategies for Smoking Prevention and Resistance Among Young Adolescents
Authors: Covington Martin V.
Published: March 2007

This article summarizes the conceptual approach taken by the Risk and Youth: Smoking Project to assess the dynamics of smoking uptake and resistance among young adolescents and to develop widely applicable educational interventions to prevent or postpone the decision to smoke. Evidence is presented for the view that to be effective, interventions should work within the context of the naturally-occuning motivations of adolescence, and provide a range of problem-solving skills for coping with larger issues of personal/social significance that reduce the likeli-hood of conflict resolution in favor of smoking.
Is There Really a Generation Gap? Value Similarities and Differences Between a Group of Junior High Girls and Their Mothers
Authors: Barclay Lisa K. , Sharp Ann W.
Published: March 2007

To determine the degree of agreement or disagreement on values between mothers and daughters, a group of junior high school girls and their mothers in a rural Kentucky community filled out the scales of instrumental and terminal values constructed by Rokeach. Spearman rank-order correlations showed significant agreement between daughters and mothers on both scales when comparing mean rankings of all the items by group and when comparing which items each group ranked first, second, and third. Both groups adhered to traditionally female values, rating highly such items as honest, loving, forgiving and clean as instrumental values, and salvation and family security as terminal values. Items involving mental activity, such as imaginative, intellectual, logical, and a sense of accomplishment, were ranked low by mothers and daughters. There appears to be little or no divergence of values between the two groups studied.
Early Adolescent Attitudes toward Sex Roles
Authors: Streitmatter Janice L. , Cruz Rafaela M. Santa , Ellis-Schwabe Michelle
Published: March 2007

In today's American society, both men and women are occupying roles which at one time were considered the exclusive domain of either just men or just women. Recognizing this trend, one begins to ask, do middle school/junior high students hold attitudes about sex roles which reflect the trend of less traditional perceptions of what men and women should or should not do, or do they hold traditional views of these roles?

A questionnaire asked 2149 students about male and female roles. The results found that the male respondents' perceptions were more traditional than female perceptions. When boys and girls were grouped, a general trend showed that each older age and grade category was more conservative than the next younger group. Finally, the students enrolled in more traditional schools with grade configurations of K-8 and 7-9 held conservative views while the early adolescents in middle schools with grade configurations of 5-8 and 6-8 held the least traditional views.
Social and Psychological Discriminants of Adolescent Suicide: Age and Sex Differences'
Authors: Triolo Santo J. , McKenry Patrick C. , Tishler Carl L. , Blyth Dale A.
Published: March 2007

Data from forty-six adolescent suicide attempters and their mothers, and a comparison group of 46 non-suicidal adolescents and their mothers, were analyzed to identify sex and age differences in adolescent suicidal behavior. In general, discriminant analyses indicated that variables descriptive of intra-familial attachments were more predictive of younger adolescent suicidal behavior whereas variables descriptive of attachments outside the family were more predictive of older adolescent suicidal behavior. Also variables descriptive of the mother-child relationship were found to be more predictive of female adolescent suicidal behavior than that of males.
The Relationship of School Program Features to the Attitudes and Performance of Early Adolescents
Authors: Mitman Alexis L. , Lash Andrea A. , Mergendeller John R.
Published: March 2007

This study investigated four school features that are consistent with the middle school concept to determine which, if any, had the expected positive relationship with affective and cognitive student outcomes. Each of six schools studied had at least one of four program features classified as consistent with the middle school movement. For each feature, the analyses compared the average of scores for seventh graders in schools with and without the feature for each outcome, controlling for initial achievement differences. A general trend appeared over these analyses: specific program features consistent with the middle school concept were most often related to lower student performance. Reasons for and implications of these unexpected results are discussed.
Sex Differences in Educational Achievement: A Longitudinal Study
Authors: Martin David J. , Hoover H. D.
Published: March 2007

Research on sex differences in achievement has generally been concerned only with mean differences. In addition, such studies have frequently been limited to single grades or cross-sectional comparisons of several grades. To investigate the relationship between gender and achievement, and the change in this relationship over time, a sample of 4875 females and 4497 males tested with the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills each year from Grade 3 to Grade 8 was obtained. The interaction between sex differences and achievement level was also investigated. For this sample females had higher levels of achievement on the Spelling, Capitalization, Punctuation, Language Usage, Reference Materials, Mathematics Computation, and Reading Comprehension tests. The differences were largest for below average students. On the language tests the differences occurred at all points of the distribution and were substantial. Males showed superior achievement on the Visual Materials (maps, graphs, and tables), Mathematics Concepts, and to a lesser extent Mathematics Problem Solving tests. On these tests the largest differences occurred above the median. On Mathematics Concepts and Problem Solving tests the differences were at or above the 70th percentile and tended to arise in later grades. Males scores were more variable in all areas but vocabulary, and the differences in variability increased across grades.