Complicating Patriotism in the Elementary Grades: An Examination of Rugg and Krueger's Overlooked Textbooks

In the late 1930s several prominent self-described patriotic groups attacked social studies pioneer Harold Rugg as “un-American.” The largest instance of textbook censorship in American history unfolded. Yet little attention was given (and continues to be given by scholars) to Rugg's elementary textbooks that he wrote with Louise Krueger. This article examines Rugg and Krueger's complete “Elementary Series” in light of the un-American criticisms levied at Rugg. It documents how, despite critics’ claims, the books were immediately celebratory of the United States and its people, teaching a traditional patriotism that casts the nation as the supreme level of social analysis through an unquestioning, best-story approach. Furthermore, it shows how the books lack Rugg's justice-oriented philosophy of the “American Problem.” The article concludes by charging elementary social studies teachers, teacher educators, and researchers to consider critical questions related to the teaching of patriotism in the elementary grades.     

Inbreeding in Social Work Education: An Empirical Examination

Academic inbreeding frequently has been asserted to be detrimental to the quality of educational institutions. Prior empirical studies, however, have been equivocal in supporting this position and sizeable proportions of inbreeding have been noted in high-prestige institutions. This study found inbreeding to be quite prevalent in graduate schools of social work, but not related to an institution's ranking on measures of prestige, scholarly and professional productivity, and teaching quality. Similarly, the academic nativity of individual faculty members across schools was not related to their scholarly productivity. It was concluded that inbreeding alone is not predictive of institutional or individual calibre.     

Sexual Development in Adolescence: An Examination of Genetic and Environmental Influences

Sexual development entails many experiences and is a major feature of adolescence. Most relevant behavioral genetic studies, however, focus primarily on sexual behaviors associated with health risks. We took a more normative, developmental perspective by examining genetic and environmental influences on five sexual behaviors ranging from dating to pregnancy in middle (M_age = 14.90 years) and late adolescence (M_age = 17.85 years) in a sample of twins (N = 3,762). Overall, behaviors that are more common and socially sanctioned (e.g., dating) were more heritable than behaviors that are less common and socially acceptable (e.g., sexual intercourse). That the etiology of different sexual behaviors is tied to their normativeness highlights the importance of considering the broader developmental context when studying sexual development.     

An Empirical Examination of Sexual Relations Between Adolescents and Adults

SUMMARY

The American view that adolescent-adult sexual relations are by definition “child sexual abuse” has spread throughout the Western world and reshaped public policy. This paper, originally presented as a talk, examines the scientific validity of this view. A historical perspective traces the conflation of the adolescent experience with rape, incest, and that of the young, prepubescent child. Biological and cognitive perspectives support the view that adolescents have more in common with adults than children. Sweeping claims that adolescents react as children are said to is critically tested by examining two types of relations-those between heterosexual teenage boys and women and those between gay or bisexual teenage boys and men. Non-clinical empirical data show overwhelmingly that such relations are characterized mostly by positive reactions based on consent if not initiative on the part of the minor, with perceived benefit rather than harm as a correlate. It is concluded that the American view is false, and that public policy that heightens official reaction to such relations, such as that currently proposed by the European Union, are either misinformed or disingenuous in alleging to protect when the motive is to control adolescents.     

Social Structure, Crime and Criminalization: An Empirical Examination of the Conflict Perspective*

Using available data from a variety of secondary sources, this research examines the empirical validity of arguments maintained by conflict theorists about the interrelations among economic inequality, the incidence of crime, and the official crinrinalization of people through arrest. The reported findings, although not definitive, suggest that official criminalization may be a function of the structure of dominant/subordinate relations within populations, rather than the incidence of crime. These findings are dependent, however, on whether the incidence of crime is measured by official or unofficial statistics on criminal activity. The implications of the findings are discussed, and we conclude that they lend some support to conflict criminology and suggest that further aggregate tests using structural variables are desirable.     

An Empirical Examination of Quality Certification in a "Lemons Market"

This article examines the effect third-party certification has on a market characterized by adverse selection. Using an original data set from the market for young thoroughbreds, we show that certification alleviates problems of adverse selection by examining the effect certification has on breeder decisions to retain or sell horses and the effect these decisions have on observed prices. Data on the racetrack performance of the horses confirm the results.     

Intercultural Perspectives on Cyberspace: An Updated Examination

Cyberspace is the Global Village, a sphere for interaction between users from multiple cultural backgrounds. It can unite people or divide them for motives rooted in ideology, politics, historical background, race, or religion. Readers will find it useful to read an article on cyberspace from an intercultural perspective because, most likely, they will be able to relate their experience and knowledge of cyberspace to the analytical and theoretical framework presented in this article. An important conclusion is that cyberspace facilitates the creation of a second order of culture, which differs from the synchronous exchange of symbols and sounds between people in three-dimensional space.     

Combining Stated and Revealed Preference Data to Construct an Empirical Examination of Intrahousehold Bargaining

Most analysis of intrahousehold decisions has been conducted using aggregate revealed preference data where preferences of individual agents are never observed, only the household consumption outcomes are observed. We examine household behavior in a bargaining framework by combining stated preference information from individual members of the household with revealed preference information on the household’s actual choices. The resulting model provides information on the degree to which the decision is the result of a bargaining process as well as information on the factors affecting bargaining power.

Rumor: An Examination of Some Stereotypes

Third in Symbolic Interaction's symposium tribute to Tamotsu (Tom) Shibutani (1920–2004), this article pays homage to Shibutani's work on rumor. In his book, Improvised News, Shibutani introduced a grounded theory of rumor that was a radical break from the dominant approach of the time. This break was based on the observation that rumor is not a deviant act, but rather the routine social act of defining ambiguous but important situations. Implicit in his work is a critique of rumor stereotypes including the notion that those involved in rumoring are highly suggestible, irrational, and dangerous; that rumors are inaccurate, distorted, and exaggerated; and that rumors threaten the social order. The article concludes by challenging assumptions about the spread of rumor and that rumors are single, stand‐alone statements.     

The Teaching of Listening as an Integral Part of an Oral Activity: An Examination of Public-Speaking Texts

This article presents the results of a content analysis of 10 current public-speaking textbooks to determine the nature and extent to which they teach listening in an integrated approach with public speaking as an oral activity. Lewis and Nichols (1965 Lewis, T. R. and Nichols, R. G. 1965. Speaking and listening: A guide to effective oral-aural communication, Dubuque, IA: W.C. Brown.  [Google Scholar]) predicted that listening would increasingly be taught especially in an integrated approach with speaking. Beyond the prediction, they established a template for the pedagogy that emphasized the oral modality. Their prediction has not proved accurate. Ample research illustrates the lack of listening instruction. The current study sought both to replicate these findings and to examine the emphasis on the oral modality as reflected in public-speaking texts. Six research questions asked about listening inclusion and concentration, differences in written and oral modalities, delivery, development via writing, discussion of the oral modality, and pedagogy. The results of this analysis confirmed that these texts do contain treatments of listening but with one exception, only to a slight degree. Listening was seldom integrated with the teaching of speech within these texts. Second, with two exceptions, the texts seldom developed instruction with an emphasis on speech as an oral activity. Overall, the texts failed to reflect the pedagogy for teaching the oral modality essential to listening instruction. The results are discussed in terms of the extent to which the texts advance the teaching of listening and speaking as an interdependent oral activity. The conclusions indicate that the pedagogy advanced through these texts focus too greatly on writing to appropriately advance an understanding of the oral aspects essential to listening education.     

An Empirical Examination of the Characteristics,Consequences, and Causes of Elder Abuse in Nursing Homes

This study examines the characteristics, consequences, and potential causes of patient abuse in U.S. nursing homes. Using standard thematic content analysis, 488 incidents of abuse reported to Medicaid Fraud Control Units throughout the nation were reviewed. Results suggest that the presence of a witness, gender of the offender in relation to the victim, and job-related factors have important implications in the prevention of nursing home patient abuse.     

An Empirical Examination of Characteristics of Mexican Migrants to Metropolitan and Nonmetropolitan Areas of the United States*

Abstract This research examines differences between those Mexican migrants choosing metropolitan destinations and those choosing destinations outside metropolitan areas of the United States. Using general estimating equations, the study presents data indicating that since the 1960s migrants choosing rural destinations are less fluent in English, slightly older, much less educated, far more likely to be unskilled, more likely to be married, and more likely to be undocumented. The picture is more complex when consideration is restricted to those migrants arriving in rural areas since the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement. These migrants are far more likely to be single, have more education but have less English fluency, have less work experience, and have less family experience with migration to the United States. They are more likely to come from small towns and rural areas of Mexico.     

Juvenile Offender Recidivism: An Examination of Risk Factors

One hundred and seventy three male juvenile offenders were followed two years postrelease from a residential treatment facility to assess recidivism and factors related to recidivism. The overall recidivism rate was 23.9%. Logistic regression with stepwise and backward variable selection methods was used to examine the relationship between recidivism and nine specific variables: offense type, age at initial involvement in juvenile justice, child welfare system involvement, termination of parental rights, parental criminal history, family support, program completion status, length of treatment stay, and discharge placement. Offender type was the only factor found to have a significant impact on recidivism with general and substance-involved offenders more likely to recidivate than sex offenders. Implications for future research are discussed.     

Homeless Children and Stress: An Empirical Study

Families with children constitute the fastest-growing segment of the homeless population. Past literature has indicated that children who are homeless experience more stress than children who are not homeless. This study measured the level of psychosocial stress experienced by homeless children by utilizing two direct and two indirect measurement tools. The sample included 52 children from family-shelter facilities in Central Florida. T-test results indicated a statistically significant difference between the sample's scores and that of the normative group. Prompt intervention at both the individual and environmental level is recommended.     

Inflation in Transition Economies: An Empirical Analysis

The present research works with yearly data on backward looking measures of inflation i.e. GDP deflator series for Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, and Slovakia. Because of the data limitations in the transition economies annual series are converted to smooth quarterly series before they are employed for inflation prognosis using state space models. The results show statistically significant evidence of time-varying volatility in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, and Slovakia using critical values obtained from χ₃² distributions. The results also show that the non-normality hypothesis cannot be rejected in all the series using critical values due McCulloch (J Bus Econ Stat 15:74–81, 1997). The efficiently estimated inflation forecast range between 0.925 for Bulgaria to 99.106 for Latvia. The estimated value of the characteristic exponent α of 2.000 for Hungary, and for the other countries having α equal to 1.999 shows tendency toward normal behavior in exception of Bulgaria, where α equals 1.861.      

Migration Motives of University Students: An Empirical Research

The main aim of this paper is to analyse the motives affecting the migration decisions of young people, particularly university students. Two scales were developed for measuring the perception of the importance of these motives. The data used in the research were collected via a survey of the opinions and attitudes of university students in Osijek, in June 2010. The paper also analyses psychometric properties of the scales – their dimensionality and reliability. The results of a confirmatory factor analysis undoubtedly indicate that both scales are multidimensional constructs. A combination of the results of t‐tests for an independent sample, factor analysis (exploratory and confirmatory) and reliability analysis suggest that emigration and stay motives are two sides of the same migration decision, and that they can be classified into several factors: the economic situation, social networks, insider advantages (that can be divided into inherited amenities and public‐safety conditions) and the wealth of opportunities. Depending on the power of the initial and target destination, the factors can function as ‘push’ or ‘pull’ factors. The results of the study show social networks as being the only ‘pull’ factor for the city of Osijek, whereas the other factors, especially the economic ones, proved to demonstrate the ‘push’ effect. However, the effects of all factors were very mild.     

Control Balance Theory and Violence: An Examination of Contingencies

Abstract

Control balance theory has been previously tested using measures of contingencies. This article builds upon these studies by using data collected from 460 undergraduate students to examine the role of constraints and sensation-seeking in the control balancing process. The findings provide partial support for control balance theory (i.e., that the control deficit and the control surplus both have significant links to predation). Examining the contingency effects showed that the influence of the control deficits and surpluses on deviance was conditioned by contingencies (i.e., high levels of sensation-seeking and low levels of constraint). The findings from this study suggest the need for further exploration of control balance theory, with the focus to shift to Tittle's 2004 revision of the theory.