Self-reports of information seeking: Is social desirability in play?

Social desirability, the likelihood of individuals to overreport behaviors they perceive to be approved by others, is often cited as a limitation in research but rarely controlled in a systematic manner. Social desirability can influence self-reported behaviors (e.g., voting behavior) and communication variables (e.g., argumentativeness). Information seeking may be susceptible to the effects of social desirability as knowledge and information are generally desired, and thus may be prone to overreporting. This article presents results from two online, information-seeking tracking studies investigating the influence of social desirability on self-reported information seeking. Participants indicated how much time they actually spent seeking information on a website. Unbeknownst to participants, their website use was being tracked using Google Analytics. This article compares actual time spent seeking information to reported information-seeking time. Results suggest that participants overreport information seeking in these two studies; social desirability may explain this result.     

EFFECTS OF INTERVIEWER GENDER, INTERVIEWER CHOICE, AND ITEM WORDING ON RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS CONCERNING SEXUAL BEHAVIOR

We examined factors influencing responses to questions on sexualbehavior among adult respondents 18–49 years old (unweightedN = 2,030) obtained through a random-digit dialing survey. Basedon self-disclosure and perceived control the ory, we hypothesizedthat giving people a choice in selecting the gender of theirinterviewer rather than being assigned an inter viewer, andusing questions that are "supportive" of what may be perceivedof as nonnormative behavior (enhanced items), would increasedata quality relative to, respectively, matched-or opposite-genderinterviewer conditions and standard worded items. The enhanceditems facilitated responding to a number of sensitive topics.However, the effects of item wording on item response are oftenmediated by interviewer conditions. The "choice" results suggestthat giving respondents greater control decreases question threat.However, the overall findings argue for matching respondentsand interviewers on gender over opposite-gender interviewersor allowing respondents to select their interviewer's gender.Wording and interviewer manipulations reduced the discrepanciesbetween men's and women's self-reports of sexual behavior, butthey did not eliminate them, and in some cases they had no effect.The present findings suggest that males tend to be influencedby variations in item wording, interviewer gender, and respondentcontrol across a somewhat wider range of sexual topics. In general,the findings recommend matching respondents and interviewerson gender and the use of more supportive wording in sexual behaviorquestions. However, for assessment of some topics (e.g., sexualviolence) in particular segments of the population (e.g., men),other procedures, such as increasing respondent control, maybe a better choice. Overall, the data support the view thatin terms of preferred procedures, not all sexual topics arecreated equal.     

PRIVATE MATERIALISM, PERSONAL SELF-FULFILLMENT, FAMILY LIFE, AND PUBLIC INTEREST THE NATURE, EFFECTS, AND CAUSES OF RECENT CHANGES IN THE VALUES OF AMERICAN YOUTH

From the early seventies through 1986–87, private materialismas a life goal increased greatly in importance among Americanyouth, goals relating to family life increased somewhat, publicinterest concerns diminished modestly, and the goal of personalself-fulfillment declined sharply. Accompanying this shift invalues was a change in young people's college majors and careerplans toward those leading to higher paying jobs and a markedincrease in the attractiveness of working in large corporations.Jobs offering money and status became more preferred relativeto those with opportunities for self-fulfillment or public service.Support grew for capitalist institutions such as profit makingand advertising. At the same time, there was a retreat frompolitical involvement, and a conservative shift in politicalbeliefs. Explanations of the shift in values in terms of theimpact on the young of major political and social events orthe emergence of a feeling of economic insecurity among theyoung are not supported by the evidence. Nor are a number ofhypotheses relating to changes in young people's family structureor social ization experience. The shift in values of the youngdoes, how ever, apparently correspond to a similar change inthe values of adults generally and, thus, may reflect changesin the values transmitted to young people as they were growingup. We specu late that the shift in values among adults was,in turn, caused by a growing feeling of economic deprivationin the post-1973 period as real wage rates declined and materialaspirations continued to rise. In the last few years, the shiftin the life goals of the young appears to have ended and mayeven have started to reverse, but young people today are stillmuch different from those 15 years ago.     

THE LANGUAGE OF TIME: TOWARD A SEMIOTICS OF TEMPORALITY

This article examines temporality from a semiotic perspective, as a quasi-linguistic system of signification, shedding light on the rudimentary elements of the "language' of time and the way both individuals and societies use them in their "speech.' It first explores how people manipulate various dimensions of temporality (e.g., duration, speed, frequency, timing) as virtual semiotic codes through which they manage to convey various social messages (e.g., about priority, importance, commitment, respect, intimacy, informality) without having to articulate them verbally. It then proceeds to show that this schema of symbolic relations between the temporal and the social seems to operate not only at the microsocial level of interpersonal relations but also at the macrosocial level of societal politics. Using the Jewish Sabbath, the Christian Lord's Day, and the French Republican calendar as case studies, it examines the way "temporal contrasts' are used to substantiate and accentuate social (conceptual, cultural, and political) contrasts. The article introduces the "semiotic quadrangle,' the use of which enables the student of symbolic communication to view meaning as a function of an entire system of symbolic associations at both semantic and syntactic levels.     

Contest time: time, territory, and representation in the postmodern electoral crisis

Prior generations’ electoral crises (e.g., gerrymandering) have dealt mainly with political maneuverings around geographical shifts. We analyze four recent (1998–2003) American electoral crises: the Clinton impeachment controversy, the 2000 Florida presidential election, the Texas legislators’ flight to Oklahoma and New Mexico, and the California gubernatorial recall. We show that in each case temporal manipulation was at least as important as geographical. We highlight emergent electoral practices surrounding the manipulation of time, which we dub “temporal gerrymandering.” We suggest a theory of postmodern electoral crises, in which the rules of time and space are simultaneously in flux. These crises expose concerns with early American democratic theory, which was based on an understanding of “the people” as geographically and temporally unidimensional. Representative systems, therefore, were designed largely without reference to geographic and temporal complexity.     

Winnicott,Tomkins, and the Psychology of Affect

Donald Winnicott’s work is rather well-known to most clinicians, and many of his concepts––e.g., facilitating environment, spontaneous gesture, going-on-being, impingement, annihilation, True and False Self––are utilized clinically and theoretically. Silvan Tomkins and his colleagues provide a profound understanding of the psychology of affect, and their work furnishes a lens through which Winnicott’s ideas can be further appreciated. The author suggests such an integration is crucial not only to deepening our understanding of Winnicott’s concepts, but also to enhancing the clinical dimension of affect theory. This discussion also has important implications for social work with respect to both treatment issues as well as prevention and early intervention programs.

Keywords and Cultural Change: Frame Analysis of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Business Model</Emphasis> Public Talk, 1975–2000

Keywords chronicle and capture cultural change by creating common categories of meaning against diverse local usages. We call this the global-local tension. To test competing theories of this tension, we employ frame analysis of more than 500 journal abstracts over a 25-year period, tracking the spread of business model as an economic keyword generated during unsettled economic times. Analyses reveal the simultaneous adoption of “global” and “local”frames without one supplanting or co-opting the other. The global-local tension is conciliated by providing primacy across communities of discourse to a small collection of frames (i.e., the global presence) while maintaining a plurality of local use within communities (i.e., the local alternative).     

FROM RACISM TO TOKENISM: THE CHANGING FACE OF BLACKS IN NEW YORKER CARTOONS

Cartoons published in the weekly magazine New Yorker duringthe years 1946–87 were analyzed to determine how oftenblacks appeared as characters and whether the proportion ofblacks portrayed had changed over time. Cartoons were furtherexamined for possible changes in the styles of characterizationof U.S. blacks since the post-Word War II period. Although blackcharacters were extremely rare throughout the 42 years, therelative numbers of blacks depicted decreased with the passageof each time period. Styles of portraying black characters alsochanged markedly over the years, in keeping with the changingstatus of blacks in the United States. All cartoons from theearliest period presented U.S. blacks in stereotypic occupationalroles, cartoons in the late 1960s and early 1970s were dominatedby racial themes, and blacks appeared in "token" roles in themajority of cartoons from the most recent period investigated.In the entire 42 years, only a single U.S. black appeared asa main character in a cartoon in which race was completely irrelevant.     

Falls recall��limitations of the most used inclusion criteria

The demographic changes in the industrialized countries place new and important challenges to health care providers, politicians, and modern society. Many older persons wish to maintain independence and mobility as long as possible. Falls and their consequences constitute a serious threat to these most important goals of the older person, and they do occur frequently in the community-dwelling cohort of people aged 65 years and older. This article discusses the limitations of one of the most important independent risk factors to predict future falls: a positive fall history. Several issues arise with assessing fall history in an older population. Firstly, several studies indicated that self-reported recall of falls may lead to underreporting and that older persons perceive a fall differently compared to health professionals and researchers. Secondly, falls can be reported retrospectively or prospectively. In general, a prospective design is favored by researchers with “daily fall calendar” considered the golden standard. Thirdly, different research has been conducted to find the most reliable time frame for self-recorded falls in the past. Self-reported recall of falls by older persons may lead to underreporting due to older persons not recognizing (the severity of) a fall or not remembering a fall and due to different interpretation of “a fall”. Data on fall history should be expanded with questions about trips, slips, and self-perceived problems in balance, gait or mobility and preferably fear of falling or a quick physical assessment. In general, a prospective design is favored by researchers with “daily fall calendar” considered the golden standard. Computerized interactive response technology may be of additional value to prospectively monitoring falls in older persons. The best time frame for obtaining self-reported falls seems a period of 12 months, ruling out any seasonal influence.     

Why has the prevalence of obesity doubled?

The prevalence of obesity has doubled over the last 25 years. We estimate the effects of multiple socio-environmental factors (e.g., physical demands at work, restaurants, food prices, cigarette smoking, food stamps, and urban sprawl) on obesity using NLSY data. Then we use the Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition technique to approximate the contribution of each socio-environmental factor to the increase during this time. Many socio-environmental factors significantly affect weight, but none are able to explain a large portion of the obesity increase. Decreases in cigarette smoking consistently explains about 2–4 % of the increase in obesity and BMI. Food stamp receipt also consistently affects the measures of weight, but the small decrease in food stamp program participation during the period we examine actually dampened the increases in obesity and BMI. Collectively, the socio-environmental factors we examine never explain more than about 6.5 % of the weight increases.     

No time to lose: time constraints and physical activity in the production of health

Although individuals are all endowed with the same time budgets—1,440 minutes per day—time use patterns differ owing to heterogeneity in preferences and in other constraints. In today’s health policy arena there is considerable discussion, but little conclusive strategy, about how to improve health outcomes by increasing levels of physical activity. In this paper, we explore how individuals with different levels of human capital (educational attainment) allocate time to physically-demanding activities that we characterize as health-producing behaviors. Our hypothesis is that many individuals are confronted with significant constraints on their allocation of time to exercise, and that these constraints differ importantly by level of human capital (e.g., educational attainment). However, the prediction of how human capital influences time allocated to physical activity is ambiguous because there are both substitution and wealth effects at work: since the shadow price of non-labor time use is relatively greater for high-wage individuals, they may spend less time engaged in health-promoting activities (as has been documented for activities like sleep); yet individuals who have amassed high levels of human capital are both more able to afford health-producing behaviors and more likely to prefer greater levels of produced health. We explore a set of empirical questions suggested by this framework using data from the American Time Use Survey (ATUS), administered by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. We focus on respondents ages 25–64 using the combined 2005 and 2006 ATUS data. The ATUS data are based on daily time use diaries completed by individuals aged 15 and older, including information on a large number of detailed physical activity time uses. We compare time allocated to physical activity to time allocated to sleep, household and personal activities, care for others, work, and non-exercise leisure activities. Since the ATUS time use categories are mutually exclusive and exhaustive (i.e. “multitasking” is not accommodated) we employ econometric share equation techniques to enforce the adding-up requirement that time use is constrained to 1,440 minutes per day. Our findings largely bear out the hypothesis that different levels of human capital endowment (educational attainment) result in different manifestations of how time is used in ways that may produce different health outcomes. While more-educated individuals tend to sleep much less than less-educated individuals and to work more hours, they are more likely to allocate time to physical activity in their leisure time. Our application of economic share equation techniques allows us to extend the literature by demonstrating not only how educational status is associated with time allocated to physical activity, but also where the other minutes of the day are allocated to and from.     

Generic Reference is Less Marked Than Specific Reference in Children’s Gestures

Generic noun phrases, or generics, refer to kinds (e.g., Birds lay eggs) rather than specific individuals (e.g., This bird lays eggs). Prior research with adults has indicated that adults are less likely to gesture in association with generic versus specific reference. In the current studies, we examined this phenomenon in children, comparing children’s gestures in scenarios of generic versus specific reference. Across two pragmatic contexts, three- to six-year-old children’s pointing was reduced during generic reference compared to specific reference. Results thus suggest that the tendency to reduce gestural marking for generics emerges early in development. We discuss these results within the context of a claim known as the “generics-as-default” proposal, which holds that reduced marking reflects that generics are basic and cognitively default.     

Serious games in prevention and rehabilitation—a new panacea for elderly people?

Digital games cannot only be used for fun and entertainment. The term “serious games” (SG) denotes digital games serving serious purposes like education, training, advertising, research and health. Recently, a new generation of games has emerged involving whole-body movements. Compared to traditional interventions, these games may help elderly people to improve their health by enhancing physical fitness and coordinative abilities by combining increased motivation, game experience like fun and game flow and training. Serious games, particularly adventure and shooter games, already play an important role in health education, prevention and rehabilitation, e.g. to enhance health-related physical activity, improve sensory–motor coordination, prevent asthma, change nutrition behaviour and alleviate diabetes and prevent smoking or HIV. In this paper, the impact of SG on prevention and rehabilitation is discussed. Three criteria are applied. Beyond effectivity and efficiency, the additional benefits of serious games can be described and explained by different models including social, psychological, physiological and sensory–motor factors. The quality of study serves as a third criterion. Despite first promising results, there are only few high-quality studies. Adequate content, game interfaces, sustainability and appropriate settings are critical factors for the success of SG. In this regard, (sport) science can help to develop and evaluate SG and test appropriate settings that ensure sustainable use of serious games.     

"THE NEWS MEDIA, THE PROBLEM FRAME, AND THE PRODUCTION OF FEAR"

The role of the news media in promoting a public discourse of fear is examined. A conceptual model is offered that is based on recent developments in communication formats and frames. The emphasis is on the impact of media forms and frames for guiding the selection and presentation of reports emphasizing fear (e.g., crime, drugs, violence). A "problem frame' compatible with format and entertainment needs is used by the news media as a secular version of a morality play. This promotes messages that resonate fear. The role of the problem frame is described as part of the process for promoting widespread messages stressing fear and danger. Materials from a qualitative content analysis approach, "tracking discourse,' of selected news media illustrate how the focus and content of "fear' shifts over a period of time. Conceptual and methodological implications of this approach are discussed.
The sociological imagination…consists of the capacity to shift from one perspective to another, and in the process to build up an adequate view of a total society and its components.
C. Wright Mills, The Sociological Imagination .     

Estimation of energy expenditure using accelerometers and activity-based energy models��validation of a new device

Over the last few years, the estimation of energy expenditure with accelerometers has become more and more accurate due to improvements in sensor technology. Significant enhancement could be reached by model-based estimation regarding different activity types. The kmsMove-sensor (movisens GmbH, Karlsruhe, Germany) is a device that is used to compute human energy expenditure using motion-dependent calculation models. It is outfitted with an accelerometer to measure body acceleration during certain movements and activities. To validate its accuracy, the sensor was compared to indirect calorimetry as criterion measure. For this experiment, nine subjects (all males, age 46.4 ± 10.9 years, 28–64 years) were equipped with the kmsMove-sensor as well as a portable indirect calorimeter and their energy consumption was measured over a time period of 100 min. Additionally, the energy consumption of seven out of the above-mentioned nine subjects was measured over an average of 7 h. The measurements took place in a rehabilitation clinic, where the subjects completed their regular daily rehabilitation activities. An analysis of the data revealed ICCs between the kmsMove-sensor and indirect calorimetry for the time period of 100 min of 0.82 (0.38–0.96; p = 0.003) and for an averaged measuring time of 7 h of 0.81 (0.22–0.97; p = 0.01). Furthermore, a Bland–Altman analysis for the time period of 100 min led to a difference of the means of 4.3 kcal (limits of agreement: −94.3 and 102.9 kcal) and for the time period of an average of 7 h to −14.0 kcal (limits of agreement: −320.0 and 292.0 kcal). These findings indicate that the kmsMove-sensor is an appropriate measuring device with relatively good accuracy to assess human energy expenditure in rehabilitation patients. However, this study has some limiting aspects (small sample size, artificial setting) which could influence validity.     

Youth,activism, and social movements

There has been considerable debate over the extent and role of young people's political participation. Whether considering popular hand‐wringing over concerns about declines in young people's institutional political participation or dismissals of young people's use of online activism, many frame youth engagement through a “youth deficit” model that assumes that adults need to politically socialize young people. However, others argue that young people are politically active and actively involved in their own political socialization, which is evident when examining youth participation in protest, participatory politics, and other forms of noninstitutionalized political participation. Moreover, social movement scholars have long documented the importance of youth to major social movements. In this article, we bring far flung literatures about youth activism together to review work on campus activism; young people's political socialization, their involvement in social movement organizations, their choice of tactics; and the context in which youth activism takes place. This context includes the growth of movement societies, the rise of fan activism, and pervasive Internet use. We argue that social movement scholars have already created important concepts (e.g., biographical availability) and questions (e.g., biographical consequences of activism) from studying young people and urge additional future research.     

The South Oaks Gambling Screen Revised for Adolescents (SOGS-RA): Further Psychometric Findings from a Community Sample

The broad expansion of gambling across North America during the last two decades has generated concern about the extent of gambling and problem gambling in youth, and the need to more accurately monitor it. The South Oaks Gambling Screen-Revised for Adolescents (SOGS-RA) is a promising instrument for screening problem gambling (Winters, Stinchfield, & Fulkerson, 1993) that requires more evaluation. Accordingly, further psychometric analysis of the instrument was conducted as part of a community survey of gambling in a sample of 1,000 male and female youth, aged 12 to 17 years. The analyses extended previous focus by including females, young adolescents, and an evaluation of youth classified as at-risk. Consistent with preliminary findings obtained during scale development, the distribution of item endorsement revealed trends of over-endorsement for some items (e.g., gambled more than intended, felt bad about the amount bet), and under-endorsement for others (e.g., criticized or told you had a gambling problem). These results suggest consideration of some form of weighting procedure, item deletion or re-wording. A factor analysis of the SOGS-RA items suggested a two-factor solution, with one factor interpreted as Control over Gambling and the other Gambling Consequences. It is proposed that the two factors may represent early versus more severe levels of gambling problems, respectively. The results highlight the need for further psychometric evaluation and refinement of instruments used to identify gambling problems in young people.     

Perceptions of and Reactions to the Homeless: A Survey of Fourth-Grade,High School,and College Students in a Small Midwestern Community

A total of 459 fourth-graders, high school students, and undergraduates completed a Homelessness Questionnaire developed for use in this study. Although participants generally expressed positive and supportive attitudes toward the homeless, attributing homelessness to either social maladjustment (e.g., drug problem) or negative characteristics (e.g., laziness) within the homeless was positively associated with “fear of and anger toward the homeless” for all groups of participants. In addition, perceptions of and reactions to the homeless were influenced by both the participants’ gender and age group. Although high school and college students’ interest in helping the homeless was associated with various attitudes and reactions (e.g., feelings of sympathy/support), their indication that they had ever helped homeless people (either directly or indirectly) was consistently associated only with the acknowledgment that their mother and father had ever helped homeless people (either directly or indirectly). Among these older participants, homelessness in the United States was rated as a more serious problem at the end of the questionnaire than at the beginning.     

THE EFFECTS OF PRESTIGE NAMES IN QUESTION WORDING

Although survey researchers are often warned against using prestigenames in questions (e.g., identifying Contra aid as "PresidentReagan's policy"), prestige names are still commonly used. Tolearn more about the effects of using prestige names, we analyzetwo sets of experiments—on judicial confirmation electionsand on an initiative on tax indexing. The results indicate thatprestige names do more than shift responses in one direction—they eliminate the effect of education on DKs and provide moreof a political basis for the responses.