Passion,Intimacy, and Commitment in Casual Sexual Relationships in a Canadian Sample of Emerging Adults

Research on casual sexual relationships (CSRs) among emerging adults is prevalent, yet our empirical and theoretical knowledge of relationship processes involved in these relationships is limited. The present study’s objective was to compare four CSR partner types (acquaintance, friend, non-dating partner, ex-romantic partner) on passion, intimacy, and commitment, the components of Sternberg’s triangular theory of love. A total of 441 Canadians aged 18–25 years who were not in a romantic relationship, and who reported having had more than one sexual contact with their last CSR partner, completed an online survey. Across all partner types, passion was highest, followed by intimacy and commitment. Levels of passion, intimacy, and commitment generally increased with partner familiarity. However, CSR partner type differences on the three components were partially explained by CSR components (i.e., frequency of sexual activity, frequency of social activity, whether partners saw each other with the main goal of having sex, sexual exclusivity agreement, and hopes about the relationship). Results are consistent with CSRs’ emphasis on sexuality, and, to a lesser extent, emotions. However, they challenge the mainstream and scientific conflation of CSRs with an absence of emotional bond, commitment, or love.     

Causes of Disaster: Sloppy Management

The loss of control associated with accidents and disasters can have severe negative consequences for the organizations involved. Some disasters are caused by inadequacies of management, or by unprofessional behaviour but others arise when disaster preconditions are generated as a result of the normal functioning of larger managerial and technical systems. During the incubation period preceding a major incident, therefore, two levels of correction need to be considered to avoid disasters. ‘Sloppy management’ of various kinds can be tackled by establishing, strengthening and asserting appropriate forms of management control. The system properties which constitute disaster preconditions are less immediately accessible to management control. At both levels managers in pursuit of high reliability should expect to have to make a range of trade-offs.     

Tackling strategy management

Managing strategies in a one-man business is second nature to the entrepreneur. Strategic coordination becomes much more problematic as the company grows. In today's large multi-nationals, their size constantly threatens strategic lethargy and inertia. Only those companies which can manage their business strategies effectively in all levels of the enterprise are likely to survive and prosper against the competition. This paper seeks to describe how one manufacturing enterprise, as part of a very large marketing oriented multi-national, sets out to tackle this challenge.     

Homeless mothers and depression: misdirected policy.

This paper is a critique of recent service-intensive shelter programs for homeless mothers and the policies that underlie these shelters. We first document the process by which mental health problems and family homelessness became so closely but mistakenly linked. We then demonstrate empirically that shelter programs for homeless families nonetheless presume that mental health problems are part of the causal nexus of family homelessness and indiscriminately deliver mental health services to homeless mothers. Simultaneously, shelter programs encourage the isolation of their residents from what they presume to be their "problematic" social networks. We show that, while mental health services had little impact on depression levels among homeless mothers, isolation from social networks did increase depression among homeless mothers. Our findings suggest that policy should put more emphasis on rapid reintegration into the community through providing housing, and it should put less emphasis on providing services.     

Negative impact of sexual abuse on adult male gender: Issues and strategies of intervention

Although male sexual abuse has co-existed with female sexual abuse, the professional literature has paid minimal attention to the impact of sexual abuse of male children to their adult adaptation. This paper concentrates on the negative impact of sexual abuse on the adult male's gender identity. Examples of eight male clients' responses to sexual abuse in their adult life and the therapeutic framework utilized to work with them are discussed in the paper.This paper was originally presented at the ICAPP conference, 1993.He teaches advanced clinical practice, Human Behavior and AIDS ELECTIVE. He maintains a private practice specializing in Gay men, persons with HIV virus.     

Social Identities in Black and White*

The theoretical usefulness of a convergence of symbolic interactionism and urban sociology is discussed. A method is proposed for the analysis of large numbers of social identities. Black racial identity, in particular, is considered. Racial identity is found to be far more salient for blacks than for whites, but even for blacks, a number of other identities are seen to be more frequently employed. The notion of a “standard package of identities” is developed, and the utility of such a model for understanding group differentiation and inter-group linkages is explored.     

The Internet's impact on policy evaluation: information compression and credibility

As with all media, the Internet structures and frames information, rewarding some information search and decision behaviors while punishing others and, thereby, strongly influences evaluation research results and possibilities. Now that the Internet is for many evaluators the information medium of choice, the impacts of the medium on evaluation deserve careful attention. The objective of this article is to lay groundwork for a theory of the impact of the Internet on evaluation and policy analysis. Questions addressed include the following: (a) What is the impact of the Internet on the evaluator's professional role, work norms, and work habits? (b) Does the use of the Internet affect who is an evaluator or the meaning of professional evaluation? and (c) How does evaluation via Internet affect the technical quality and credibility of evaluation? A key thesis is that the Internet compresses information in the sense that it is not always easy to distinguish among information resources and, especially, the authority of the information provider and the nature of the knowledge warrant. On one hand, the Internet's information compression seems to hold potential for the democratization of evaluation. On the other hand, the diminished ability to make quality distinctions about evaluation-relevant information may undercut the legitimacy of evaluation.