bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Male and Female Students' Perceptions of Their Academic Environment and Future Career Plans: Implications for Higher Education
Authors: Hesse-Biber Sharlene
Published: March 2006

A total of 298 male and 634 female students completed a study questionnaire in 1981. Some important gender differences were found regarding students' career goals and their perceptions of the academic environment. Female respondents selected careers traditionally defined as acceptable for women and expressed less confidence that they would be successful in their work. Students' work and life style goals were shaped primarily by family and peers. While most students held positive views of college life, they credited the academic environment with little influence upon their career goals. Women and men differed in their perceptions of academic life. Women enjoyed their classes more and they claimed better study habits and a greater involvement with their courses. Despite these advantages, women consistently perceived themselves as more reluctant than men to participate in class discussions, less willing to speak out and question their teachers, and less likely to feel they could “hold their own” in discussions with their peers. Women reported less growth in mathematical and quantitative skills, a liability that may severely limit their future career options. The study concludes with specific policy recommendations aimed at providing a more facilitating academic environment for women and men.
Aging and Identity Management in a Norwegian Elderly Home
Authors: Bjelland Anne Karen
Published: March 2006

In this paper, I present some aspects of the residents' situation in an elderly home in Norway. The aim is to give an empirical example of how a group of aged people, living in a setting dominated by the consequences of advanced age, try to make sense of their lives through continued efforts to establish a positive self-image and personal identity, in face of both their own and their co-residents' declining health and death. In spite of the objectives set forth by the Ministry of Social Affairs, the life in an elderly home poses various restraints on the residents' adaptation patterns and identity management. However, the residents do not passively accept their situation, but continuously seek solutions to the dilemmas with which they are confronted. They do this by both adapting in special ways and constantly producing justifications for and interpretations of their own behavior and that of others. Within the constraints posed by the institutional setting, the physical and social environment, they establish their own social organization and create a “universe of meaning” which enables them to maintain aspects of their own identity and self-respect, and their worth as human beings. I suggest that this paper lends weight to Berreman's claims that people who find themselves in inferior/stigmatized situations

Furthermore, a core element in my interpretation of the process of identity management is the factor of motivation, that is, motivation for self-confirmation. Robbins holds that the factor of motivation accounts for many aspects of social and cutural processes:

In other words, I try to show how the various adaptation patterns are made relevant for the residents' evaluation and codification of behavior, and for their categorization of each other (Bateson, 1972). The sets of categories that are established may be interpreted as a continuous communication regarding the direct and indirect implication of the aging process. Such an approach, starting out with the adaptation patterns of the residents and their interpretations of these, demonstrates how one may reach an understanding of important aspects of the aging process and the dilemmas of the aged in our society.
Psychological Theory as Intergroup Perspective: A Comparative Analysis of “Scientific” and “Lay” Accounts of Crowd Events
Authors: Reicher Stephen , Potter Jonathan
Published: March 2006

The central argument of this paper is that the popular success of crowd psychology is in part due to its correspondence with the perspective of outgroup members. This is supported by a comparative analysis of traditional crowd psychology and lay accounts of crowd events drawn from street disturbances in St. Pauls, Bristol, in 1980. Five basic types of error are identified in crowd psychology past and present. These are: (1) the abstraction of crowd episodes from their intergroup conflicts, (2) the failure to deal with underlying dynamic processes, (3) exaggeration of the anonymity of crowd members, (4) failure to understand the motives of crowd members, and (5) an overwhelming emphasis on the negativity of crowd events. Analysis of accounts of the St. Pauls disturbance reveals the centrality of these forms of error in outgroup members' versions of events. In contrast, crowd members tended to draw upon very different accounts which stress the meaningfulness of crowd action, solidarity, and positive emotional feelings. The implication of these findings for crowd psychology, the study of everyday accounts, and the genesis of ideological explanations is discussed.
Personal Consequences of Plant Closings: A Model and Preliminary Test
Authors: Kinicki Angelo J.
Published: March 2006

A model is proposed that specifies affective responses to plant closings. Measures of all constructs in the model were obtained from 60 workers displaced by a plant closing. Path analysis was used to examine the model's linkages. The path model provided a reasonably good fit of the data, thus supporting the hypothesized model. Limitations of the study and suggestions for future research are discussed.
Increasing Empathy through Participation in Structured Groups: Some Attributional Evidence
Authors: Zucker Peter J. , Worthington Everett L. , Forsyth Donelson R.
Published: March 2006

Increases in empathy produced by participation in a short-term empathy skills training group were assessed by contrasting trained and untrained individuals' attributions about salient and nonsalient stimulus persons. Although previous evidence suggests that empathy limits the observer's tendency to over-attribute behavior to personal rather than situational causes, trained subjects underestimated the impact of situational determinants on behavior, especially when observing salient actors. These findings suggest that the early stages of empathy training in structured groups may be characterized by losses in empathic orientation, perhaps as a result of increases in listening skills.
Security and Autonomy within Marriage
Authors: Kotler Tamara
Published: March 2006

Intensive interviews with 60 men and women in their first marriages provide data for an examination of propositions derived from attachment theory. The cases were drawn from the Melbourne subsample of an Australian national sample and were equally divided between men and women respondents and the first three stages of the family life cycle. A series of regression analyses, based on respondents' accounts of their parental families, supports the expectation that appropriate parental care contributes to healthy personality development in children and, in turn, to satisfactory marital relationships. These data suggest that respondents construe the patterning of their lives in terms which accord with attachment theory. Furthermore, strong marital relations are indicated as being therapeutic for a partner whose early experiences of care were less than optimal.
Culture and Conformity: An Essay on Individual Adaptation in Centralized Bureaucracy
Authors: Feldman Steven P.
Published: March 2006

The cultural aspects of organizations have been mostly overlooked in the study of management. This is particularly important because the Protestant ethic which organized the sociopsychological matrix for the industrial revolution no longer commands enough authority to continue organizing individual motivation and societal needs. Thus, local solutions have evolved to deal with cultural ambiguity and they have evolved with little thought as to their implications. In this essay, the cultural aspects of interpersonal relations in a telephone company are analyzed. This analysis was carried out during a year long full-time fieldwork period which employed participant observation, structured and semi-structured interviews, and document analysis for data collection purposes. Strong demands for conformity were found to dominate interpersonal relations. Three types of response to these demands were discovered: acceptance based on conscious suppression of personal interests, acceptance based on unconscious distortion, and secret rejection. These mechanisms for dealing with strong demands for conformity were found to affect managerial development, interpersonal communications, and organizational adaptability. Given these kinds of superior-subordinate relations, it was anticipated that the Bell System will have great difficulty adapting to a competitive marketplace.
Relationship of Job Stress to Job Performance: A Study of Managers and Blue-Collar Workers
Authors: Jamal Muhammad
Published: March 2006

Four types of relationships were proposed between job stress and performance: curvilinear/U-shaped, negative linear, positive linear, and no relationship between the two. Data were collected from middle managers (N = 227) and blue-collar workers (N = 283) employed in a large Canadian organization. Bivariate multiple regression and hierarchical multiple regression analyses generally supported the prevalence of a negative linear relationship between job stress and supervisory ratings of performance. Employees' organizational commitment significantly moderated over 50% of the relationships between job stress and measures of job performance in both managerial and blue-collar samples. Implications of the findings are discussed for future research in the area of job stress.
Probing Behavioral Patterns of Structuring Daily Life
Authors: Lee Mary Dean
Published: March 2006

The development of a methodology for accurate observation, identification, and representation of characteristic patterns of structuring work and personal life is described. The results of two studies are used to test the reliability and validity of the methodology. Different types and subtypes of life space structure are proposed on the basis of observations of similar configurations of subject scores on behavioral dimensions of movement through time and space, engagement in activity, and involvement in social interaction. Demographic and life satisfaction characteristics of subjects in the various pattern types and structure types are examined for trends.
Factors Differentiating Grievants and Nongrievants
Authors: Allen Robert E. , Keaveny Timothy J.
Published: March 2006

Previous attempts at identifying factors differentiating individuals who file grievances from those who do not have focused on demographic and job-related variables. These efforts have yielded inconsistent results and have not explained much of the variance in grievance-filing behavior. This line of research is extended in this study by presenting a model of individual grievance-filing behavior that includes a number of variables measuring attitudes toward work and unions. Such factors have been found associated with other forms of union-related behavior such as the decision to unionize. The objectives were to replicate the earlier studies, examine the relationships between attitudinal variables and grievance-filing behavior, and identify the factors most effectively discriminating between grievants and nongrievants. The results indicate that age is the only demographic factor differentiating the criterion groups. However, the subsamples differed significantly with respect to several attitudinal variables.
Social Interaction and the Perception of Job Characteristics in an Organization
Authors: Dean James W. , Brass Daniel J.
Published: March 2006

This research investigates the relationship between the extent of employees' social interaction and their perceptions of job characteristics. Employees' perceptions were compared with the perceptions of task characteristics made by an outside observer, whose perceptions were not subject to the same social influence processes. The results indicated that the perceptions of employees who were more central to communication networks, boundary-spanning employees, and employees close to the organization's boundaries were more similar to the perceptions of the outside observer. These results were interpreted as support for the hypothesis that increased social interaction leads to a convergence of perceptions, such that the perceptions are more similar to observable reality. The hypotheses and results are discussed in terms of social information-processing models and previous laboratory findings.
Narcissism and Leadership: An Object Relations Perspective
Authors: de Vries Manfred F. R. Kets , Miller Danny
Published: March 2006

Having been largely unknown as a clinical entity, the narcissistic personality has recently come into the limelight. It is argued that one critical component in the orientation of leaders is the quality and intensity of their narcissistic development. In this paper, the relationship between narcissism and leadership is explored. Using concepts taken from psychoanalytic object relations theory, three narcissistic configurations found among leaders are presented: reactive, self-deceptive, and constructive. Their etiology, symptomatology, and defensive structure is discussed. The influence of each configuration on interpersonal relations and decision-making is examined in a managerial context.
Technological Development and the Meaning of Work: A Cross-Cultural Perspective
Authors: Yuchtman-Yaar Ephraim , Gottlieb Avi
Published: March 2006

This paper reports the perceptions of the extent of technological change and its subjective impact among workers in five industrialized nations. We find that perceived technological change varies significantly among the surveyed publics, probably due to both the actual pace of technological change and sociocultural differences. Perceived change also varied between males and females and between blue and white-collar workers-both these variations being traceable to the structural differentiation of the labor market. The reported impacts of technological change are generally positive, with the important exception of Japanese workers, who report more job-related alienation. Here again, differences related to sex and type of job (blue vs. white collar) tend to reflect structural attributes of the occupational structure. The implications of these findings are discussed.
Procedural Justice and Participation
Authors: Cohen Ronald L.
Published: March 2006

Recent social psychological work on procedural justice suggests that people given the opportunity to participate in a decision are more likely to see that decision as just than those given no such opportunity. The operation of this “fair process effect” in legal settings contributes to the legitimacy of those settings and to the stability of their structure over time. A similar, limited opportunity for participation by experimental subjects playing the role of employee in situations designed to model hierarchical, profit-oriented business enterprises produces a similar effect in some cases, but a 'frustration” effect in others. In this latter case, limited participation leads people to see the decision as less just than when no participation is allowed. Previous interpretations of these data neglect the possibility that those in the role of employees recognize a basic conflict of interest with employers in such enterprises and see limited participation as a strategic device to induce loyalty and commitment. This paper reinterprets these data in light of that possibility and argues that various forms of participation may benefit or harm the interests of employers and employees differently.
An Ethnographic Study of the Influence of a Mobile Home Community on Suburban High School Students
Authors: Miller Steven I. , Evko Beverly
Published: March 2006

This study provides an ethnographic account of a mobile home park with specific attention upon the lives of adolescents living in the park and attending a local suburban high school. A symbolic interactionist perspective is utilized. Historical factors leading to the mobile home experience, as well as present policies at the local, state, and federal levels, perpetuate the outsider status of the mobile home park dweller. The mobile home unit and the mobile home park defy conventional categories and are thus “polluted”; an extension of this attitude comes to attach to the consumer of the mobile home experience as likewise being polluted or undesirable. Furthermore, the park dweller appears in the eyes of the American “mainstreamer” to fail to uphold an important symbolic value: the sacred site-built house. Park students are shunned in the school and, when at home, tolerate an adversary relationship with park management. An aura of fear in the park is reflected in the passivity on the part of the tenants. Most importantly, his lack of belonging is an obstacle to the self-image of the park adolescent. He is considered profane in one-to-one relations and becomes part of a new minority group (the mobile home park dweller) in terms of other group relations.
Cognitive and Organizational Structures: An Empirical Analysis
Authors: Walton Eric J. , Brief Arthur P. , Austin Elizabeth J.
Published: March 2006

Relationships between the cognitive structures of organizational members and the structures of the organizations to which they belong have been the subject of considerable theoretical speculation. Limited empirical evidence suggests the two structures are related but the issue of directionality has not been investigated. The study reported here adopts an attribution theory perspective to test the causal nature of this relationship in an experimental setting. The findings in this initial investigation of the causal linkages between cognitive and organizational structures support the view that the cognitive structures of strategic decision makers are largely irrelevant.
Strategy, Contextual Factors, and Performance
Authors: Hitt Michael A. , Ireland R. Duane
Published: March 2006

Relationships between multiple contextual factors and performance in 185 large industrial firms were examined. Medium size, external acquisitive growth grand strategy, unit and small batch predominant production system, consumer nondurable goods industry, and high perceived environmental uncertainty were positive predictors of firm performance. Functional structure, geographic divisional structure, and large batch and mass predominant production systems were negative predictors. The highest performers were mnedium-sized firms, those using unit and small batch as the predominant production system and those employing an external acquisitive growth grand strategy.
Systemic-Netfields: The Emergence of New Frames. Part II
Authors: Carvajal Raúl
Published: March 2006

In Part 1, “Systemic-Netfields: The System's Paradigm Crisis, “ a procedure for the detection of emerging paradigms based on the analysis of implicit and explicit criticisms was developed and applied to the “Systems” paradigm. Four basic assumptions that underly most systems frames and limit their use in the research, design, planning, and management of social systems were identified. In Part 2, a set of frames are proposed which may advance the systems movement. They are enclosed under the name of systemic-netfields and provide a link between systems and networks, aggregates, and fields.
Clique Formation in a Regional Health Planning Agency
Authors: Fontana Leonard
Published: March 2006

This paper presents findings on the pattern of social relations among consumers and providers in a health planning agency in the United States. The data consisted of a survey of policy-making members of the planning body that yielded background information about respondents, their views on a range of social and health policy issues, and sociometric data. Cliques within the organization appeared to be influenced by the organizational “careers” of individuals. These data suggest that policy cohesion may be a more important factor for clique formation than social ties. The significance of the findings is that interdependency may be the hallmark of health planning decision-making. Those who “act” on a particular issue may well constitute a decision network at that point in time.
Conditions Facilitating Interorganizational Collaboration
Authors: Gray Barbara
Published: March 2006

There is a growing need to promote collaborative problem solving across various sectors of society, e.g., among business, government, labor, and communities. Organizing such collaborative efforts requires focusing on the interorganizational domain or set of interdependencies which link various stakeholders rather than on the actions of any single organization. Moreover, effective collaboration at the domain level is predicated on several preconditions. This paper synthesizes research findings from organization theory, policy analysis, and organization development, and proposes conditions that are essential to achieving collaboration during each of three successive phases of the process. Designing optimum conditions for collaboration depends on the presence and strength of these factors at appropriate points during the collaborative process.
The Mythic Structure of Bion's Groups
Authors: Shambaugh Philip Wells
Published: March 2006

Despite its continuing influence, Bion's theory of small groups remains obscure. This paper hypothesizes that his basic assumption groups are shared fantasies, explicated by certain widespread societal myths and by recent studies of religious symbolism. The dependency group is homologous to the myth of the primordial earthly paradise and the dependency fight-flight group to three mythical versions of the fall of man. Similar to all sacred symbolisms, the basic assumption groups synthesize the members' images of the group with certain emotional states, give philosophical meaning to the existential crises through which the group must pass, and interpret and shape the ongoing working group.
Meditation Subculture and Drug Use
Authors: Ganguli H. C.
Published: March 2006

The present study reports into the effectiveness of an organized meditation program in controlling drug use among its members. Subjects were 230 young men and women from Canada. A ten-page self-report questionnaire *was used and only the data relating to drug use are presented here. It is seen that within 3 months of joining this group, 82% of cannabis users and 61% of psychedelic users stopped taking drugs. Very substantial reduction in use of alcohol and tobacco also took place. It has been hypothesized that the group meditation program, which possesses characteristics of a subculture rather than meditation practice per se, is responsible for this reduction in drug use.
Parallel Organizations in Unionized Settings: Implications for Organizational Research
Authors: Herrick Neal Q.
Published: March 2006

Sociotechnical systems theory focuses on the mutual adjustment of an organization's social and technical systems. This mutual adjustment aims at achieving “joint optimization, “ that is, it aims at producing conditions which are favorable to both the organization's members and to its productive capability. Until recently, this joint optimization has, in practice, occurred mainly at the work group level. Beginning in the early 1970's, however, a number of North American labor unions, acting jointly with the managements of the organizations involved, have created experiments aimed at increasing productivity and improving the quality of working life for the members of the organizations. These experiments, largely due to the influence of organized labor, have applied sociotechnical systems principles to the governance of total organizations as well as to the arrangement of tasks in work groups. This organization-wide application distinguishes parallel organizations in unionized settings from worker participation schemes in non-union organizations. It also raises a principle which the author terms “social integration” to a position of importance in sociotechnical systems theory and has major implications for the selection of issues and methodologies by organizational researchers.
A Systematic Comparison of Travel-Related Roles
Authors: Pearce Philip L.
Published: March 2006

Academic and professional studies of tourists and tourism both need a sound emic or experiential definition of the tourist role. In this study, a comparison of a number of travel-related roles was conducted using a 100-person student sample, and the data were analyzed with fuzzy set theory and multidimensional scaling analysis. The findings indicated that there were clear and highly interpretible differences among 15 travel-related roles. It was also demonstrated that such an approach to defining the tourist role was useful for understanding previous perspectives in the social science literature on tourism.
Transforming Leadership: A Process of Collective Actio
Authors: Roberts Nancy C.
Published: March 2006

This paper is an in-depth analysis of transforming leadership - its definition and its basic features. In a study of a suburban school district, six elements were found to be important in the transformative process: a crisis, the school district's mission and vision, an ad hoc structure, a participative process, and a skillful change agent in the role of superintendent.
Minority Group Status of the Disabled
Authors: Wertlieb Ellen C.
Published: March 2006

An analysis of the definition of minority group indicated that the disabled can be considered as holding that status. Further exploration of the similarities and differences between the disabled and other minority groups yielded an array of factors which can have profound effects on every disabled person. The importance of using this information in a practical way was stressed.
Managerial Behavior, Uncertainty and Hierarchy: A Prelude to a Synthesis
Authors: Hannaway Jane
Published: March 2006

This study investigates the effect of task uncertainty on the initiating and search behavior of managers. Competing theoretical arguments are assessed empirically using data collected by sampling randomly the work activities of 50 managers. The findings show that different arguments hold for upper level managers than hold for lower level managers, suggesting that explanations for managerial behavior solely in terms of manager-task interaction or solely in terms of hierarchic position will be incomplete or misleading.
Toward a Clarification of the Division of Labor Construct
Authors: Keon Thomas L. , Carter Nancy M.
Published: March 2006

Empirical and theoretical articles written between 1958-1981 whose primary focus was the division of labor were reviewed. Definitional and operational problems are discussed as they account for discrepancies that exist in the literature. Standardized definitions of the various components of the division of labor are proposed for guiding future research clarity through standardization.
Projective Identification in the Consulting Relationship: Exploring the Unconscious Dimensions of a Client System
Authors: Gilmore Thomas N. , Krantz James
Published: March 2006

This paper explores the impact of projective identification on consulting relationships. The concept of projective identification, drawn from psychoanalytic literature, is used to elucidate the ways in which the dynamics within consulting teams comes to mirror important and unconscious aspects of the client system. Attention to this process thus provides opportunities for understanding important dynamics of the client system which are often inaccessible through more traditional modes of social science inquiry. It is often that these unrecognized, implicit forces can emerge in the course of an intervention and undermine attempts at collaborative social change. Three case examples illustrate the operation of this process, and finally a discussion of the practical implications of attending to it is offered.
Mortality Salience, Martyrdom, and Military Might: The Great Satan Versus the Axis of Evil
Authors: Pyszczynski Tom , Abdollahi Abdolhossein , Solomon Sheldon , Greenberg Jeff , Cohen Florette , Weise David
Published: March 2006

Study 1 investigated the effect of mortality salience on support for martyrdom attacks among Iranian college students. Participants were randomly assigned to answer questions about either their own death or an aversive topic unrelated to death and then evaluated materials from fellow students who either supported or opposed martyrdom attacks against the United States. Whereas control participants preferred the student who opposed martyrdom, participants reminded of death preferred the student who supported martyrdom and indicated they were more likely to consider such activities themselves. Study 2 investigated the effect of mortality salience on American college students' support for extreme military interventions by American forces that could kill thousands of civilians. Mortality salience increased support for such measures among politically conservative but not politically liberal students. The roles of existential fear, cultural worldviews, and construing one's nation as pursing a heroic battle against evil in advocacy of violence were discussed.
Sex Differences in Stress Generation: An Examination of Sociotropy/Autonomy, Stress, and Depressive Symptoms
Authors: Shih Josephine H.
Published: March 2006

Hammen (1991) proposed that both individual characteristics and depressive symptomatology may explain the stress generation process, in which individuals contribute, in part, to a more stressful environment for themselves. Nonetheless, research has not teased apart the impact of vulnerability factors and depressive symptomatology on this process. Ninety-nine college students, selected to be variable on personality vulnerabilities of sociotropy and autonomy, were followed for 6 weeks. Weekly depressive symptoms and stressful life events that were likely caused in part by the individual (dependent stress) were assessed. Multilevel modeling results indicated that prior-week depressive symptoms significantly predicted current-week dependent interpersonal stress levels. A significant sex-by-sociotropy effect emerged such that being female and scoring high on sociotropy predicted higher levels of dependent interpersonal stress. This interpersonal stress generation effect for women partially mediated the relationship between sociotropy and depressive symptoms.
Attachment and Psychological Adaptation in High Exposure Survivors of the September 11th Attack on the World Trade Center
Authors: Fraley R. Chris , Fazzari David A. , Bonanno George A. , Dekel Sharon
Published: March 2006

This study examined the relationship between individual differences in adult attachment and psychological adaptation in a sample of high-exposure survivors of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression were assessed via self-report 7 and 18 months after the attacks. In addition, friends and relatives were asked to provide evaluations of participants' adjustment before and after the attacks. Findings indicate that securely attached individuals exhibited fewer symptoms of PTSD and depression than insecurely attached individuals and were viewed by friends and relatives as showing an increase in adjustment following the attacks. Highly dismissing adults were viewed by their friends and family as showing neither increments nor decrements in adjustment, despite the fact that highly dismissing people self-reported relatively high levels of PTSD and depression.
The Logic Behind a Multimethod Intervention to Improve Adherence to Clinical Practice Guidelines in a Nationwide Network of Primary Care Practices
Authors: Feifer Chris , Ornstein Steven M. , Jenkins Ruth G. , Wessell Andrea , Corley Sarah T. , Nemeth Lynne S. , Roylance Loraine , Nietert Paul J. , Liszka Heather
Published: March 2006

The gap between evidence-based guidelines for clinical care and their application in medical settings is well established and widely discussed. Effective interventions are needed to help health care providers reduce this gap. Whereas the development of clinical practice guidelines from biomedical and clinical research is an example of Type 1 translation, Type 2 translation involves successful implementation of guidelines in clinical practice. This article describes a multimethod intervention that is part of a Type 2 translation project aimed at increasing adherence to clinical practice guidelines in a nationwide network of primary care practices that use a common electronic medical record (EMR). Practice performance reports, site visits, and network meetings are intervention methods designed to stimulate improvement in practices by addressing personal and organizational factors. Theories and evidence supporting these interventions are described and could prove useful to others trying to translate medical research into practice. Additional theory development is needed to support translation in medical offices.
Maternal Verbal Control Techniques with Young Infants During Mutual Gaze and Visual Co-Orientation Episodes
Authors: Francis Patricia L. , Self Patricia A. , Noble Cynthia A.
Published: March 2006

This study examined periods of mutual gaze and visual co-orientation between mothers and their 2-4 month-old infants as contexts for the utilization of maternal verbal control techniques; additional questions involved the impact of infant sex and maternal sensitivity upon the utilization of these techniques. Mothers and infants were videotaped during two experimental sessions, each of which was designed to enhance the occurrence of either mutual gaze or visual co-orientation. Results indicated that although a similar number of verbal control techniques occurred during mutual gaze and visual co-orientation sequences, visual context did have a significant effect upon the type of verbal control methods employed; in contrast, neither infant sex nor maternal sensitivity significantly influenced the utilization of these methods. These results demonstrate the importance of considering contextual factors when examining language/communication development; in addition, the implications of these findings for infant communication development are discussed.
Adolescents' Judgments of Economic Arrangements
Authors: Winocur Sharon , Siegal Michael
Published: March 2006

Adolescents in Grade 8 (aged 12-13 years) and Grade 12 (aged 16-18 years) were asked to allocate rewards between a male and female worker in four separate cases. In one case, a male with no children was contrasted with a female with three children. In the second, a male with three children was contrasted with a female with none. In the third case, both workers had no children; in the fourth, both had three. The results indicated that concern for need significantly decreased with age with subjects preferring to allocate rewards according to the norm of equal work for equal pay. Boys' concern for need was correlated with a self-report measure of mother identification.
Patterns of Health Behavior, Life Satisfaction, and Future Time Perspective in a Group of Old Aged Women: Data of 'Survivors' from a Longitudinal Study on Aging
Authors: Fooken Insa
Published: March 2006

A widespread "old woman"-stereotype depicts the aging female as hypochondriac and illnessstricken. Considering several health-related variables (objective health assessment done by a physician; subjective health ratings on physical well-being and perceived stress; the degree of concern about health as a major theme of life; coping styles with regard to health status) data of 39 old aged women, born between 1890 and 1905 and grouped according to the manifestation of marital status, from the Bonn longitudinal study of aging were carefully analyzed. Evidence was yielded for 'future time perspective' being an important aspect of the psychological construct 'life satisfaction' because of having a strong impact on health-related behavior. Furthermore, some rather distinct patterns of dealing with health-related aspects were sketched out according to the specific manifestation of marital status. In general, the popular stereotype could not be supported: congruence between objective and subjective health ratings was more common than the reverse. While some women rather experienced physical decline, there were others who manifested "transcendence from bodily restriction" thus giving proof of growth-oriented developmental change and a high degree of plasticity and flexibility in very old age.
Beyond Ponce de Leon and Life Satisfaction: New Directions in Quest of Successful Ageing
Authors: Ryff Carol D.
Published: March 2006

Previous approaches to the study of successful ageing are reviewed. It is argued that there has been an absence of theory guiding this research; an implicit negativism in the proposed conceptions of well-being; a neglect of the possibility for continued growth and development in old age; and a failure to see conceptions of positive ageing as human constructions that are open to cultural variations and historical change. An alternative approach that draws on the convergence in life-span developmental theories, clinical theories of personal growth, and mental health perspectives is presented. Six criteria of well-being result from this integration: self-acceptance, positive relations with others, autonomy, environmental mastery, purpose in life, and personal growth. These dimensions are defined and their relevance for the study of adulthood and ageing is discussed. New avenues for investigating successful ageing as a human construction are presented with emphasis given to the complementarity between quantitative and qualitative research strategies.
Benefits of and Barriers to Dietary Sodium Adherence
Authors: Welch Janet L. , Bennett Susan J. , Delp Roberta L. , Agarwal Rajiv
Published: March 2006

Failure to limit dietary sodium leads to thirst, large fluid weight gain, and poor outcomes in patients receiving hemodialysis. Perceived benefits and barriers may influence adherence; however, tools measuring these relationships are not available. This study's purpose, based on the health belief model, was to evaluate the reliability and validity of the Beliefs about Dietary Compliance Scale (BDCS), describe perceived benefits and barriers over time, and identify individual benefits and barriers that may be amenable to tailored interventions. A convenience sample of 229 completed the BDCS at baseline. One week after baseline, 52 participants completed the BDCS to assess test-retest reliability. Four months after baseline, 187 participants (81%) remained. Cronbach's alphas for the scale ranged from .66 to .81. One-week test-retest reliabilities ranged from .68 to .86. Factor structure was supported by factor analysis. Scores remained stable over time. Barriers to dietary sodium limitations were common and more in need of intervention.
Sexuality Among Women Recipients of a Pancreas and Kidney Transplant
Authors: Muehrer Rebecca J. , Keller Mary L. , Powwattana Arpaporn , Pornchaikate Atittaya
Published: March 2006

Significant improvements in health and quality of life generally follow organ transplantation; however, there is evidence that women who have received transplants experience difficulty with sexual function. The specific nature and extent of this difficulty has not been documented. The purpose of this study was to describe sexual functioning and sexual self-esteem among women recipients of a simultaneous pancreas and kidney transplant. Perceived effect of the transplant on sexualitywas also explored. Participants completed a questionnaire that measured their sexual functioning (including sexual difficulties), sexual self-esteem, illnesses, medications, and perceived effect of the transplant on sexuality. Data analysis revealed that only 39% of the women would be classified as having normal sexual functioning. The majority reported either some difficulty with sexual function (34%) or sexual dysfunction (27%). About one third of the women reported that transplantation had only positive effects on their sexuality, whereas 28% reported negative effects, and 29% reported no effect.
Guidelines for Developing and Testing Clinical Decision Rules
Authors: Shapiro Susan E.
Published: March 2006

Clinical decision rules (CDRs) are decision support tools that synthesize evidence for use in bedside practice. They differ from other decision support tools in the methodological rigor with which they are developed. This article describes the important considerations in developing a CDR, including identifying the need for the rule, carefully defining the outcome variable, identifying and selecting the possible predictor variables, and guidelines for initial testing of the CDR. The process of developing and testing CDRs is best undertaken by teams of researchers, with clinical nurses providing important input in both the development and testing. It's important that clinical nurses understand both the contributions of CDRs and their inherent limitations, as appropriate use of well-developed, well-validated CDRs will become more and more a necessity in evidence-based nursing.
Juvenile Female and Male Sex Offenders
Authors: Vandiver Donna M. , Teske Raymond
Published: March 2006

This research examines 61 juvenile female sex offenders in terms of their offending patterns, demographics, and victim characteristics; these findings are compared to 122 juvenile male sex offenders. Relying on sex offender registration data and criminal history records, bivariate analyses are conducted to assess male-female differences. Logistic regression is also employed to further assess group membership (male and female). Females were typically younger than males at the time of their arrest for a sex offense. Female offenders also chose male and female victims proportionately, whereas males were more likely to choose female victims. Logistic regression analysis revealed two significant predictors of the offender's sex: victim's sex and length of sentence. This research, therefore, indicates different modalities of offense characteristics for males and females, which predicates different management strategies in terms of identification for these groups of offenders.
Personality Disorders and Romantic Adult Attachment
Authors: Bogaerts Stefan , Vanheule Stijn , Desmet Mattias
Published: March 2006

This study analyzed personality disorders in a group of 33 securely and 51 insecurely attached child molesters. A total of 51 child molesters were selected from a community based educational training program, and the other group was selected from a Belgian prison ( n = 33). Research shows that adult attachment styles and personality disorders share a common underlying structure. It is remarkable that very little is known about differences between securely and insecurely attached child molesters. In this study, the authors found that the schizoid personality disorder differed between securely and insecurely attached child molesters. These findings have implications for the aetiology and treatment of child molesters. Future research is necessary to determine patterns of attachment in relationship to personality disorders.
Screening for Suicide Among Juvenile Delinquents
Authors: Kaczmarek Teri L. , Hagan Michael P. , Kettler Ryan J.
Published: March 2006

The purpose of this study was to test the reliability and validity of a new instrument for assessing suicidality in adjudicated delinquents. The Suicide Screening Inventory (SSI), a 14-item interview, was evaluated based on archival data from 442 adolescents, primarily male, between the ages of 12 and 20. Two estimates of reliability indicated moderate internal consistency. In addition, a moderate correlation ( r= .53) between the SSI and the Reynold's Adolescent Depression Scale suggested convergent validity. Expert ratings of the instrument's utility also provided content validity evidence. Descriptive data were collected on four youth who made suicide attempts. Elevated scores among these select cases provided some evidence for consequential validity. These results are discussed with regard to practical and research implications.
Use of the Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles to Predict Disciplinary Adjustment in Male Inmate Program Participants
Authors: Walters Glenn D.
Published: March 2006

The Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles (PICTS) was administered to program participants in two different federal prisons—a medium-security federal correctional institution and a maximum-security penitentiary—who were subsequently followed for a period of 24 months for evidence of disciplinary adjustment problems. Disciplinary outcome was measured by the total number of incident reports, the number of nonaggressive incident reports, and the number of aggressive incident reports received during the 24-month follow-up. Negative binomial regression was used to test the relationship between the eight PICTS thinking style scales and three disciplinary outcome measures because the total and nonaggressive disciplinary report distributions showed signs of overdispersion. The only PICTS thinking style scale to achieve statistical significance in this study was the Cutoff scale that successfully predicted total, nonaggressive, and aggressive incident reports in both samples.
Sense of Community and Being a Volunteer Among the Young-Old
Authors: Okun Morris A. , Michel Josef
Published: March 2006

This study tests the hypothesis derived from Omoto and Snyder’s context-and-process model that sense of community is an independent predictor of volunteering among young-old adults. A secondary analysis was carried out on data from the U.S. Survey of Midlife Development using respondents 60-74 years old (N = 653). Controlling for demographic factors and human, social, and cultural capital variables, a logistic regression model indicated that as sense of community increased, the likelihood of volunteering increased. Among the control variables, working 40 or more hr per week (relative to not working) and being divorced, separated, or widowed (relative to being married) were associated with lower rates of volunteering. The likelihood of volunteering increased as education, organizational ties, church attendance, and generative concern increased. Efforts to retain young-old adult volunteers should emphasize how the organization’s activities reflect humanitarian values, provide opportunities to show a concern for the community, and benefit community members.
Supermax Prisons
Authors: Pizarro Jesenia M. , Stenius Vanja M. K. , Pratt Travis C.
Published: March 2006

In recent years, a number of new policies in corrections have developed, one of which is the placement of disruptive inmates in supermaximum, or supermax, prisons. The extant empirical research on supermax facilities suggests that these institutions have the potential to damage inmates' mental health while failing to meet their purported goals thereby resulting in added problems for correctional administrators and increased economic costs to public budgets without apparent benefits. As a result, one has to ask why supermax prisons are so popular. This article explores changes that have occurred in penal thought, policy, and practice in the United States in the last 3 decades that contributed to the increase in popularity of supermax prisons. Existing research suggests that these prisons are a prime example of the shift in cultural sensibilities in American society toward greater punitiveness.