A Study of Commitment and Relationship Quality in Sweden and Norway

The Scandinavian countries are often cited as examples of countries where cohabitation is largely indistinguishable from marriage. Using survey data from Norway and Sweden (N = 2,923) we analyzed differences between cohabitors and married individuals in relationship seriousness, relationship satisfaction, and dissolution plans. Our analyses reveal that cohabitors overall are less serious and less satisfied with their relationships and are more likely to consider ending their current relationships than are married respondents. The views of cohabitors who report that they intend to marry their current partners within 2 years, however, differ much less from those of married respondents than cohabitors with no marriage plans. This finding suggests that even in Scandinavia cohabitors are a heterogeneous group.     

Abstracts of Papers Presented at the 1968 Annual Meetings of the O.V.S.S.

Abstract

Preparation for blizzard conditions by respondents in Wood County, Ohio, in 1977–1978 was higher than expected; a majority of those who received warnings responded with further preparation, but planned little more preparation for the winter of 1978–1979. The best predictors of preparation were: place of residence, age, marital status, sex, and occupation. Variables best predicting plans to prepare for the approaching winter were: maintenance expense incurred as a result of the winter of 1977–1978, marital status, the number of family members at home during the blizzard, and place of residence.

The respondents had a reasonably clear understanding of their actual situation; there was little evidence to suggest they were poorly prepared and unrealistic at the same time. Further examination of the theory of “bounded rationality” to determine conditions under which it is most useful is suggested.     

Early social exposure and later affiliation processes within an evolving social network

BackgroundWhile short-term experiments have found that exposure to social contacts affects likeability, this study investigates its long-term effects on friendships in an emerging network.MethodsOne hundred psychology freshmen indicated whether they attended an introductory event before the start of the academic year to assess early exposure and reported on the friendships they formed with their peers at the beginning, middle, and end of their first semester.ResultsRSiena network models revealed that students taking part in the introductory event were more likely to form friendships throughout the first semester, but less likely to keep them.DiscussionWhile early exposure to people in an emerging network might provide a head start for forming friendships for at least a semester, these friendships appear less stable than those of students who did not have that exposure.     

Arenas of comfort and conflict: peer relationship events and young people's educational attainment

Previous research suggests that developments in young people's peer relationships may either compound or alleviate the adverse impacts of other major life changes during adolescence. We explored this proposition with respect to young people's educational attainment upon leaving high school, using longitudinal data from a large cohort of Australian secondary school students (n?=?1612) who have taken part in the Our Lives research study between the ages of 12/13 and 19/20 years. Our analysis focused on the role of peer relationship events such bullying, friendship problems, falling in love, and breaking up with someone. Bullying and romantic involvement were associated with lower odds of receiving a competitive tertiary entrance rank at the end of high school. However, close, resilient friendships – in which status and identity conflicts may be more easily tolerated and resolved – may help to offset the role of these other events. As well as reviewing the consequences of our findings for young people's educational and occupational trajectories in the longer-term, we highlight their implications for future research and policy in this area.     

Defining delayed consequences as reinforcers: some do, some don't, and nothing changes

Results of a survey sent to members of the editorial boards of five behavior-analytic journals in 1990 indicated that there was no consensus among respondents with respect to whether delayed events can function as reinforcers (Schlinger, Blakely, Fillhard, & Poling, 1991). Since that time, several studies with nonhuman animals have demonstrated that events delayed by at least several seconds can increase the probability of occurrence of the responses that produce them. To determine the relative number of contemporary behavior analysts who nonetheless believe that reinforcers must immediately follow the responses that produce them, the present study replicated the procedures used by Schlinger et al., with similar results. That is, respondents did not agree with respect to whether delayed events could be reinforcers.     

Exploring patterns of personal growth initiative and posttraumatic stress: A latent profile analysis

Objective: This study examined the inconsistent relationship found between personal growth initiative (PGI) and posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) by exploring potential subgroups. In addition, after identifying the subgroups, potential predictors of these subgroups were examined. Participants: Participants were 534 undergraduate students who experienced a potentially traumatic event (PTE). Data collection occurred from March 2013 to December 2014. Methods: Because this was a preliminary study, archival data was used. Participants consisted of students who experienced a PTE within the past three years. Results: Latent profile analysis indicated a five-class model as the best-fitting model. Direct exposure and intentionality of the event were significant predictors of class membership; length of time since event and gender did not predict class membership. Conclusions: The current study provides a potential explanation of the inconsistent results between PGI and PTSS and also highlights the importance of acknowledging subgroups when utilizing PGI after a PTE.     

“You Have to Be Strong to Be Gay”: Bullying and Educational Attainment in LGB New Zealanders

SUMMARY

Lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) persons in New Zealand are highly vulnerable to bullying, although bullying appears to have evolved from physical to primarily verbal abuse. Data from the Lavender Islands national study of 2,269 LGBs in New Zealand suggest that coming out early as LGB appears associated with lower levels of educational attainment, which in turn is associated with bullying and verbal assault. LGBs with higher educational attainment are more satisfied with an LGB identity than those with lower educational attainment. The data suggest that the consequences of bullying and assault may be longer term and more far-reaching than even the psychological challenges found in the literature. Consequences may include lower lifelong levels of satisfaction with an LGB identity, and an early coming out “penalty” in education. Quantitative data are supported by the unprompted narratives of respondents who expressed difficulties within the high school environment. The study also found relatively high levels of teacher discrimination and verbal assault reported by high educational attainers. In general, LGB educational attainers may perhaps be more appropriately called “educational survivors.”     

Insights on Professional Identification and Licensure from Community Practice Social Workers

ABSTRACT

This article describes a qualitative study designed to explore both how community practice social workers identify professionally and to examine their view towards professional regulation. Thirty-five MSW-level social workers in a large metropolitan region who self-identified as community practice social worker participated in in-depth interviews. The respondents shared their views regarding professional identification as social workers and the impact of professional identity on their work as community practitioners. Approximately half of the respondents indicated that they only sometimes or never identify as a social worker. The respondents were generally critical of the licensing burden placed upon them as community practice social workers.     

The Role of Father’s Occupation on Intergenerational Educational and Occupational Mobility: The Case of Second‐Generation Chinese Americans in New York1

A considerable body of research has found a positive relationship between parents’ socioeconomic status and children’s educational achievement and attainment. The predictive role of parents’ socioeconomic status generally applies for most racial and ethnic groups, but that association does not always hold for groups that exhibit high levels of education, such as Asian Americans. This article considers the role of parents’ education and occupation on children’s educational and occupational attainment for Chinese Americans aged 18–32. The results corroborate the positive link between parents’ socioeconomic status and children’s educational and occupational attainments. Children of professionals command an educational and occupational advantage over children of entrepreneurs and children of manual workers. Yet, the children of entrepreneurs attend selective colleges and obtain professional occupations in proportions closely following those of the children of professionals. Although the educational attainments between the fathers who worked as entrepreneurs and those fathers engaged in manual work were comparable, it was the children of entrepreneurs who surpassed the children of manual workers with respect to educational and occupational achievement and attainment. This suggests that immigrant entrepreneurship contributes in the upward educational and occupational mobility of the children of entrepreneurs.     

PERCEPTIONS OF SEX OFFENDER REGISTRATION: COLLATERAL CONSEQUENCES AND COMMUNITY EXPERIENCES

ABSTRACT

In the mid-1990s, the Jacob Wetterling Act and Megan's Law were passed, respectively, formalizing the practice of registering sex offenders in publicly accessible, state-wide databases. The laws were passed in an effort to prevent recidivism of sex offenders and to promote community awareness of convicted sex offenders living in communities. However, the creation of these registries have led to numerous unforeseen collateral consequences for offenders. In qualitative in-depth interviews with registered sex offenders in Jefferson County, Kentucky, respondents reported experiencing difficulties with employment and relationships, instances of harassment, stigmatization, and persistent feelings of vulnerability, all of which they believed were attributable to their status as registered sex offenders. The collateral consequences reported by sex offenders are consistent with those reported for felons in past research. However, the extent to which sex offenders experienced these consequences appears to be greater and more intense.     

Who cares about the environment?

ABSTRACT

Environmental behavior substantially differs among individuals depending on their environmental attitudes, connectivity to nature beliefs, and socioeconomic profile. People who adopt an eco-friendly lifestyle and those who are unconcerned about environmental protection represent population segments with diverse characteristics. Consequently, this study aims to identify homogeneous groups based on individuals’ environmental behavior. A total of 400 Greek citizens completed a self-report questionnaire. We used behavioral items adopted from previous studies to measure environmental behavior and background variables to assess the socio-demographic profile of the respondents. Additionally, we used the well-established measures of Connectedness to Nature Scale (CNS) and New Ecological Paradigm Scale (NEP) to measure people's relatedness with nature and their ecological beliefs separately. Multivariate Cluster Analysis results indicated that participants can be grouped into two broad segments, named moderate eco-friends and non-environmentalists. Individual differences between the clusters were detected with respect to gender, education, connectedness to nature and ecological worldview.     

University and Work Organization Influences on Professional Role Orientation

Abstract

The relative importance of university versus work setting socialization experiences and the combined effects of these experiences on professional role orientation is assessed via path analysis for a sample of 1580 engineering and science graduates of a large midwestern university. As hypothesized, the following experiences positively effect professional role orientation: science training; attainment of the Ph.D.; autonomy as a graduate student; knowledge of faculty who endorse the scientific ethos; assignment to an R&D function and exercise of high levels of technical responsibility in initial and current jobs. In general, professional orientation results less from work setting influences than from graudate school training. One exception is that respondents who exercise high levels of technical responsibility in 1965 show a stronger professional orientation than their less successful colleagues.     

Policy Research and Politics: Some Inferences from the “Coleman Report” for the Policy Role of the Social Scientist

Abstract

The major objectives in this paper are to examine (1) the distribution of socioeconomic characteristics for Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland, and (2) the processes of educational, occupational, and income attainment for each religious group. The analysis shows that Catholic and Protestant employed males are not appreciably different in their educational characteristics; however, occupational and income differences are more substantial. The Protestant-Catholic income differences, for example, represent about one-fifth of the mean Catholic income. The analysis also shows that the process of status attainment differs for Protestants and Catholics. The income returns to each additional year of schooling, for example, are higher for Protestants than for Catholics.     

Socioeconomic,sociodemographic and attitudinal correlates of the tempo of divorce

The association between sociodemographic, demographic, and attitudinal measures and the timing or tempo of marital dissolution over a 14-year time span is examined. Separation is considered equivalent to divorce. Early and late divorce are differentiated by whether the event occurred before or after the average number of years married prior to divorce. Data were obtained on husbands and wives within childbearing years (up to 39 years) in the 1st years of the 1st marriage. A random stratified sample of 610 couples was drawn from records of marriages in a midwestern county between 1972-77. Reinterviews were conducted on 544 couples in April 1985. socioeconomic variables included educational attainment, occupational prestige, wife's employment status, wife's future work plans, husband's attitude to wife's future work plans, total family income, and level of satisfaction with current financial status. Demographic variables are age at marriage, number of children in 1985, marital duration, and desired family size. Attitudinal items were religiosity and gender role orientations (traditionalism, modernism, egalitarianism). Exposure to divorce was not equitably distributed for the 108 who divorced, but this was not statistically significant. The results indicate that those divorced earlier were wives who worked outside the home, worked at more prestigious jobs, planned to be employed throughout married life, and whose father had a higher level of educational attainment. This finding is not consistent with prior research which has shown that favorable socioeconomic conditions lower the probability of divorce. The timing of divorce was affected by the presence of children. Those married at younger ages divorced earlier and couples with children delayed divorcing longer than couples without children. These findings were consistent with earlier research. Catholic wives delayed divorce longer than non-Catholic wives. Males lower in sexual satisfaction divorced earlier. Divorce was postponed longer for husbands with traditional values and wives who had higher scores on egalitarianism. Wives with scores on modernism had earlier divorces than wives scoring lower on modernism. The tempo of divorce was in multiple classification analysis predicted best by wife's employment status and number of children. Cross-classification was not possible.     

Coming Out in a School Setting

Abstract

The present study was conducted to learn more about the experiences of gay men and lesbians in educational settings, particularly about experiences relevant to disclosure of their sexual orientation. One hundred six gay men and 156 lesbian women responded to an anonymous questionnaire dealing with how their sexual orientation had affected their experiences in school.

As students, very few respondents had chosen to disclose their sexual orientation to principals, teachers, counselors, or friends. Reasons cited for nondisclosure included fear of the consequences and not wanting others to know. The majority of those who did disclose their sexual orientation received positive feedback for doing so, but respondents reported both positive and negative consequences of coming out. Gay men were aware of their sexual orientation at an earlier age than lesbians and were somewhat more likely to recommend disclosure to principals and teachers. Females were more likely to disclose only to females, whereas males were likely to come out to both males and females. Generally, the similarities between males and females were greater than the differences, with both groups being cautious about coming out in the school setting.     

Ethnic Stratification and Inter-Generational Differences in Japan: A Comparative Study of Korean and Japanese Status Attainment

Abstract: There are plenty of stereotypical discourses concerning the Korean minority in Japan that are widely accepted, not because of their plausibility, but because of the lack of basic empirical data. In order to fill this intellectual vacuum, I conducted a social stratification and mobility survey focusing on resident Korean men in 1995, comparable with the Japanese sample. The purpose of this article is exploratory rather than aimed at hypothesis testing, given the extreme paucity of the earlier empirical data for the ana‐lysis of Korean minority status attainment. The results show that:  

• 1 For the Korean minority in Japan, class resources translate into educational attainment to a much lower extent than for the Japanese.
• 2 Korean status attainment patterns deviate from those of their Japanese counterparts. For the Japanese, the crucial status attainment path is secured through educational attainment, which is not the case among Koreans.
• 3 Despite being denied access to such mainstream status attainment paths, major status indicators for Koreans are not significantly different than those of Japanese, and regarding this equality of outcomes, one of the possible explanations is that Korean ethnic disadvantages in the status attainment process may have been overcome by mobilizing informal bilateral ethnic networks.

     

Religious Discrimination in Social Work

Abstract

Using quantitative and qualitative methods, this study explored perceptions of compliance with the ethical standards related to religion (N = 222). As posited, perceptions of ethical compliance were lower among social workers who affirmed a conservative or orthodox theological orientation compared to those who affirmed a liberal or progressive theology. Standards of particular concern were those related to (a) social work education about religious diversity and the oppression religious people encounter and (b) efforts to prevent and eliminate religious discrimination. In concert with these findings, qualitative analysis indicated two areas of major concern: institutional settings, such as academia, and colleagues. Respondents reported being demeaned, denigrated, ridiculed, and scorned by social work colleagues due to their religious beliefs, particularly in educational settings. Interestingly, 44% of both orthodox and progressive respondents knew of clients who had experienced discrimination due to their religious beliefs at the hands of social work colleagues.     

Private Lives and Public Programs

Abstract

Major late life events, reported in the Dubbo longitudinal study of older Australians, are used to examine the interaction of private lives with public programs. First, the data indicate strong supportive effects of publicly funded income, health, and aged care programs in reducing family burdens from major life changes. In particular, financial crises were rarely mentioned, directly or indirectly, as major threats. Next, the central role of informal social support in these events is demonstrated, first, as in previous studies, family support was responsive to risky events and to aging itself. Also, in new findings, one-third of surviving elderly respondents coped with the burdens of family crises as a substantial proportion of the “major” life changes that occurred over 13 years of the study. Within the security and support provided by the Australian welfare system, and with strong social networks, families with older persons in the Dubbo study manage multiple, major life changes. With rapid population aging, the development of more, and more easily accessible, services for a growing population of older people is a priority. The critical challenge will be to harmoniously grow public financing, private funding, and informal caregiving to deal with the growing burden arising from an aging society.     

Silence and Assumptions: Narratives on the Disclosure of HIV Status to Casual Sexual Partners and Serosorting in a Group of Gay Men in Barcelona

ABSTRACT

Disclosing HIV status and seeking sexual partners with the same serostatus (serosorting) are strategies used by some gay and bisexual men to have unprotected anal intercourse (UAI). This study aims to gain an understanding of the occurrence of disclosure and serosorting with casual sexual partners. A grounded approach was used to analyze 22 interviews with gay men from Barcelona. The results reveal that disclosure of serostatus or the seeking of sexual partners of the same HIV status are not behaviors in the repertoire of most HIV-negative men and were not even taken into account when they engaged in UAI with casual sexual partners. The opposite was observed in HIV-positive respondents who did consider the possibility of revealing their serostatus. Some relied on intuition or subjective elements to evaluate the HIV status of their occasional partners.     

Radical prostatectomy for clinically localized prostate cancer in patients aged 75 years or older: comparison with primary androgen deprivation therapy

Objective: To determine whether radical prostatetomy (RP) is suitable for prostate cancer patients with age ≥75 years in comparison to primary androgen deprivation therapy (PADT).

Patients and methods: A cohort study was conducted in clinically localized prostate cancer patients with ≥75 years of age who underwent RP or PADT at six institutions from 2005 to 2013. Patients who had less than 12 months of follow-up, or received neoadjuvant or adjuvant therapy were excluded. We compared clinical characteristics, cancer-specific and overall survivals, and post-treatment complication rates between two groups.

Results: We included 92 and 99 patients in the RP and PADT groups, respectively. In survival analyses, there were no significant differences in cancer-specific and overall survivals (p?=?.302 and .995, respectively). The incidence of serious adverse events (cardio- or cerebrovascular event, or bone fracture) was higher in the PADT group (p?=?.001). Multivariable analysis showed that PADT had a worse effect on the serious adverse events (OR 10.12, p?=?.038).

Conclusions: In selected elderly patients, RP was safe and effective for treatment of localized prostate cancer, as compared to PADT. Surgical treatment options should be considered in elderly patients with respect to life expectancy, rather than chronological age.