Faith's wager: How religion deters gambling

The relationship between religion and gambling has only rarely been investigated in sociology and related fields. Prior studies have found that religion, broadly defined, deters gambling, with different religious traditions exhibiting varying degrees of deterrence. Our study, a quantitative analysis of a recent representative sample of U.S. adults, theorizes and tests how three different dimensions of religion affect three distinct forms of gambling. Religious tradition and religious service attendance are found to reduce the likelihood of casino gambling and lottery play; while religious salience is the only dimension that constrains online gambling. We argue that these findings reflect variation in the social visibility, time intensity, and broader legitimacy associated with gambling forms, and that this variation is crucial for understanding the deterring effects of faith.     

College-bound friends and college application choices: Heterogeneous effects for Latino and White students

Friends are among the most influential social forces affecting adolescent behavior, yet little work has focused on the influence of friends on the decision to apply to college. Using data from the senior cohort of the Texas Higher Education Opportunity Project, we employed propensity score matching with sensitivity analyses to investigate links between having college-oriented friends and applying to college. We found that college-oriented friends increased the likelihood of applying to any college and to 4-year colleges, both for White and Latino students. However, Latino students benefited less from college-oriented friends compared to White students. Our findings suggest that college-choice models should more directly account for the influence of friends in applying to college, taking account of racial and ethnic differences, and future research should explore why Latino students benefit less.     

Vocational education: A clean slate for disengaged students?

Students’ social psychological adjustment to school is an important determinant of achievement growth as well as school continuation and post-secondary educational attainment. Yet many students begin high school with low levels of efficacy and self-worth, and low levels of identification with and liking of school. In this study, we investigate the hypothesis that vocational education in high school provides disengaged students with an educational clean slate, leading to a recovery of engagement for at-risk students. Using propensity score models, we assess the relationship between vocational course taking and changes in effort, extracurricular participation, sense of belonging, interest in school, attitudes toward school and teachers, educational expectations, career aspirations, locus of control, and self-concept with the NELS:88 database.     

网络游戏在青少年价值观引导上的两难困境

网络游戏以其逼真的虚拟现实性、超强的娱乐性、操作简易性等特点,受到众多青少年追捧。网络游戏在引导青少年体验团队协作、交往乐趣与生命体验等方面具有特殊的价值。然而,网络游戏的商业推进模式和猎奇竞争机制,极易对青少年产生游戏沉迷、道德失范、暴力行为脱敏、时间意识淡漠等负面影响。发展网络游戏产业,引导游戏价值取向,需要在网络游戏设计开发、运营管理、自律教育等方面加强价值引导,传递社会正能量。     

实践性社群内社会资本对知识分享的影响

实践性社群(Communities of Practice,COP)已被发展为企业内以及企业间知识分享及创造的主要平台,其强调的是松散且非正式的社群架构,而当中的成员组成也是强调自愿加入,所以社群的维系来自于人际关系及社群意识的形塑,即人与人之间的互动也就格外的被重视.本研究以具备实践性社群特质的社群成员为研究对象,在问卷中以社会资本的三大方面为研究角度,企图了解在以创新及知识分享为目标的社群特质下,其社群内人际关系以及社群内知识互动对社群成员的个人知识分享的影响.研究结果发现,除了认知面社会资本外,关系面社会资本和结构面社会资本都对个人在社群中的知识分享有显着影响.     

收益宽幅现象与中国“对赌经济”的治理

刺激经济增长实施宽松的货币政策和扩张的财政政策,导致了低利率与高投资回报率的差,反应在会计收益上就会形成收益的宽幅现象,收益的宽幅现象为财务杠杆的使用提供了空间,财务杠杆的过分使用就会催生资产泡沫,会计上采用公允价值计价把资产的泡沫当作收益进一步吹大了资产的泡沫,非理性投资热充斥市场,在市场上表现为炒作和对赌,专注金融分配而不注重生产。因此,中国经济表现为明显的对赌特征,严重影响了中国的产业结构调整,治理收益的宽幅现象是实现产业结构调整的重要环节。     

Why are some more peer than others? Evidence from a longitudinal study of social networks and individual academic performance

Studies of peer effects in educational settings confront two main problems. The first is the presence of endogenous sorting which confounds the effects of social influence and social selection on individual attainment. The second is how to account for the local network dependencies through which peer effects influence individual behavior. We empirically address these problems using longitudinal data on academic performance, friendship, and advice seeking relations among students in a full-time graduate academic program. We specify stochastic agent-based models that permit estimation of the interdependent contribution of social selection and social influence to individual performance. We report evidence of peer effects. Students tend to assimilate the average performance of their friends and of their advisors. At the same time, students attaining similar levels of academic performance are more likely to develop friendship and advice ties. Together, these results imply that processes of social influence and social selection are sub-components of a more general a co-evolutionary process linking network structure and individual behavior. We discuss possible points of contact between our findings and current research in the economics and sociology of education.     

Does residential mobility improve educational outcomes? Evidence from the Netherlands

This paper explores the impact of residential mobility on educational outcomes. By considering a large Dutch city with substantial internal residential mobility, we examine how residential mobility influences the decision of students to drop out of school. The paper exploits a rich administrative dataset with extensive information on educational, individual, family, housing and moving characteristics of students. It combines a matching design with a multivariate regression analysis, such that the evaluation draws on a well-comparable control group for the treated students. Accounting for individual, family, educational, neighborhood and housing characteristics, as well as for school and year fixed effects, we observe that residential mobility increases the probability of school dropout in the first few years after moving. The estimated effect changes, however, to a lower risk of early school leaving after an initial period, and then changes again to a higher risk after 6 years. This effect remains, regardless the level of education the students attended, or whether the student moves to a better or a worse neighborhood.     

Pathways of disadvantage: Explaining the relationship between maternal depression and children’s problem behaviors

A large body of literature documents that children of depressed mothers have impaired cognitive, behavioral, and health outcomes throughout the life course, though much less is known about the mechanisms linking maternal depression to children’s outcomes. In this paper, I use data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to estimate and explain the consequences of maternal depression for 5-year-old children’s internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors. Ordinary least squared (OLS) regression models and propensity score models show that children exposed to both chronic and intermittent maternal depression have more problem behaviors than their counterparts with never depressed mothers. Results also show that economic resources and maternal parenting behaviors mediate much of the association between maternal depression and children’s problem behaviors, but that relationships with romantic partners and social support do little to explain this association. This research extends past literature by illuminating some mechanisms through which maternal depression matters for children; by utilizing longitudinal measures of depression; by employing rigorous statistical techniques to lend confidence to the findings; and by using a large, diverse, and non-clinical sample of children most susceptible to maternal depression. Given that early childhood problem behaviors lay a crucial foundation for short- and long-term life trajectories, the social consequences of maternal depression may be far-reaching.     

论高校教师在大学生社会责任意识教育中的主导作用

大学生的社会责任意识教育中,必须确立教师的地位,明确教师的主导作用。这主要体现在对学生思想动态的准确把握、教师的师德修养、教学内容的更新方面。强化教师主导作用,改善大学生社会责任意识教育的对策主要包括,严格选拔教师,加强师德建设;不断更新教学手段,提高大学生的认知水平;充分利用公共平台课或素质选修课,加强大学生社会责任感教育;大力加强宣传力度,强化榜样的力量;积极组织社会实践活动、给学生搭建增强社会责任感的平台。     

Underage drinking, alcohol sales and collective efficacy: Informal control and opportunity in the study of alcohol use

Underage drinking among American youth is a growing public concern. However, while extensive research has identified individual level predictors of this phenomenon, few studies have theorized and tested the effect of structural social forces on children’s and youths’ alcohol consumption. In an attempt to address this gap, we study the effects of residential environments on children’s and youths’ underage drinking (while accounting for personality and familial processes). Integrating informal social control and opportunity explanations of deviance, we first suggest that while neighborhood collective efficacy prevents adolescents’ underage drinking, individuals’ access to local alcohol retail shops encourages such behavior. Focusing on the interactive effects of communal opportunities and controls, we then suggest that high presence of alcohol outlets and sales in the neighborhood is likely to increase youths’ probability of alcohol consumption in the absence of communal mechanisms of informal social control. We test our theoretical model using the unprecedented data design available in the PHDCN. Results from a series of multilevel logit models with robust standard errors reveal partial support for our hypotheses; specifically, we find that alcohol sales in a given neighborhood increase adolescents’ alcohol use. In addition, while the direct effect of collective efficacy is insignificantly related to children’s and youths’ alcohol consumption, our models suggest that it significantly attenuates the effect of local alcohol retailers and sales on underage drinking.     

Ability and mobility: The relative influence of skills and social origin on social mobility

The recent PIACC data offer us the first ever opportunity to identify the relative salience of abilities versus social origin in comparative social mobility research. Sampling 21 countries, we identify the degree of meritocratic selection by estimating the relative influence of social origin versus individual cognitive and social skills. We pay particular attention to the possibility of skills combinations as regards both upward and downward mobility. Social skills may compensate for weak cognitive abilities, or vice-versa; and what are the added effects of commanding strong skills on both counts? This is, as far as we know, the first time that comparative mobility research has examined such skills-complementarities. As in previous research we, too, uncover a significantly more egalitarian mobility pattern in the Nordic countries. This however obtains also for Canada and the Netherlands. A unique feature of Scandinavia is its asymmetric profile: significant upward mobility for those of low social origin, but surprisingly little downward mobility among those of privileged origins. Contrary to expectations, this cannot be ascribed to skills compensation. We find, however, that social skills play an important role for upward mobility among low-SES sons.     

试析当代大学生的理想教育

当代大学生是祖国的未来和希望。如何使他们最大限度地为社会主义现代化做贡献 ,需要把他们培养成为“四有”新人和“三个代表”的实践者。而要实现这个目标 ,单靠他们的自觉要求和努力是不够的。尤其是建立社会主义市场经济的今天 ,需要结合社会实际和当代大学生的特点 ,加强理想教育 ,使学生把个人的目标同国家、民族的共同理想有机结合起来     

An experimental investigation into perceptions of disrespect during interpersonal conflict

Perceptions of disrespect are central to everyday life. Despite the importance of disrespect across various social arenas, prior research has failed to empirically examine the factors influencing these perceptions. This problem is magnified when considering that perceptions or disrespect may vary across individuals and social situations alike. Drawing from theories of social geometry and symbolic interaction, this study examines the individual and situational characteristics that inform perceptions of disrespect. Using factorial vignettes, and a large sample of students, respondents were asked to assess actors in various conflicts. Results from a series of hierarchical linear models show that perceptions of disrespect vary across individuals. The content of situations appears to drive perceptions of disrespect more than individual characteristics. Implications for future research on disrespect are discussed.     

学生主体、实践育人与模式创新

主体性教育理论主张人是教育的出发点;自由、自觉的活动是个体主体性发展的决定性因素;教育的最高目的是把人培养成为社会历史活动的主体。在学生主体性视角下,高校实践育人工作应以唤醒学生的主体意识为先导,以发展学生的主体能力为重点,以激发学生的主体参与为保障,以培养学生的主体人格为旨归。基于学生主体性视角,构建"基于课程,面向全体,菜单导引,分段培养"的实践育人创新模式。     

Curricular policy as a collective effects problem: A distributional approach

Current educational policies in the United States attempt to boost student achievement and promote equality by intensifying the curriculum and exposing students to more advanced coursework. This paper investigates the relationship between one such effort – California’s push to enroll all 8th grade students in Algebra – and the distribution of student achievement. We suggest that this effort is an instance of a “collective effects” problem, where the population-level effects of a policy are different from its effects at the individual level. In such contexts, we argue that it is important to consider broader population effects as well as the difference between “treated” and “untreated” individuals. To do so, we present differences in inverse propensity score weighted distributions investigating how this curricular policy changed the distribution of student achievement. We find that California’s attempt to intensify the curriculum did not raise test scores at the bottom of the distribution, but did lower scores at the top of the distribution. These results highlight the efficacy of inverse propensity score weighting approaches for examining distributional differences, and provide a cautionary tale for curricular intensification efforts and other policies with collective effects.     

青岛市民办大学生心理健康影响因素及其教育现状调查探究

为了了解青岛市民办大学生心理健康的影响因素及学生对开展心理健康教育的态度、需求,为有效开展心理健康教育提供参考,对青岛市350名民办大学生进行了调查。调查发现：社会因素对民办大学生心理健康的影响最大,其次是个人、学校及家庭因素。95%以上的民办大学生认为进行心理健康教育很有必要,且需要多种方式提供多样化的心理健康教育内容。因此要开展丰富多彩的心理健康教育活动,切实、有效加强民办大学生心理健康教育工作。     

大学英语新常规教学研究

在大力主张教育变革的今天，重精英、重灌输、重考核的教育模式，已远远不能满足当今国家发展及社会竞争的需要。基于计算机网络技术教学新理念取代传统教育模式已成趋势，大学英语教学应不失时机地进行新型教学模式探索，新理念、新模式也应融入大学英语教学，开创个性化、开放式及自主学习理念。教师应引导学生进行探究性学习，注重综合能力培养，以适应新时期对人才的需要。     

Collective religiosity and the gender gap in attitudes towards economic redistribution in 86 countries, 1990–2008

What is the relationship between gender and the demand for redistribution? Because, on average, women face more economic deprivation than men, in many countries women favor redistribution more than men. However, this is not the case in a number of other countries, where women do not support redistribution more than men. To explain this cross-national paradox, we stress the role of collective religiosity. In many religions, theological principles both militate against public policies designed to redistribute income, and also promote traditionally gendered patterns of work and family involvement. Hence, we hypothesize that, in those countries where religion remains influential either through closer church-state ties or an intensely religious population, men and women should differ less in their attitudes towards redistribution. Drawing upon the World Values Survey, we estimate three-level regression models that test our religiosity-based approach and two alternative explanations in 86 countries and 175 country-years. The results are consistent with our hypothesis. Moreover, in further support of our theoretical approach, societal religiosity undermines pro-redistribution preferences more among women than men. Our findings suggest that collective religiosity matters more to the gender gap in redistributive attitudes than traditional political and labor force factors.     

论大学生诚信教育

诚信是我国公民道德建设的基本内容,是当代大学生成人成才、立身处世的准则。我国大学生诚信缺失的表现形式有信用意识缺乏、失信行为严重、信任感失落等。当代大学生诚信缺失的原因有:外部因素影响、诚信教育滞后、学生自律意识较差等。诚信的社会大环境是大学生诚信教育的前提,多渠道全方位提高诚信教育的实效是大学生诚信教育的重点,完善诚信约束机制是大学生诚信教育的保证。