Decoding of profile versus full-face expressions of affect

Spontaneous facial expressions were elicited from 64 young adults who watched video segments intended to evoke either positive or negative affect. Subjects viewed the stimuli under conditions where they were alone and thought they were not under visual surveillance. Expressive responses to the emotionally evocative materials were video-taped simultaneously from three perspectives (full-face, a 90° right profile, and a 90° left profile). A subset of facial expressions from 14 males and 14 females was selected and shown to 24 male and 24 female decoders. Judges viewed the expressions in one of the three facial perspectives (full-face, right hemiface, or left hemiface) in either normal or mirror-reversed orientation. Judgments were made for intensity and affective quality of the expressions. Positive expressions were more accurately identified in full-face and in right hemiface views as compared to left hemiface views, while the left hemiface was associated with better accuracy than the right hemiface for negative expressions. Right-looking profiles were associated with higher intensity ratings for both positive and negative affect. Among right-looking profiles, right hemiface expressions were seen as more intense than left hemiface expressions for positive affect. This was also true for full-face views. Full-face views were perceived as more intense for positive affect when the right hemiface was presented to the perceiver's right. This was true for negative expressions when the left hemiface was in the same position.     

Effects of alcohol on the nonverbal communication of anxiety: The impact of beliefs on nonverbal behavior

Three male and three female raters were shown videotapes of 29 male subjects who were speaking to a silent female confederate. Raters were asked to make 10 judgments about the subjects' behavior. The subjects had been assigned to one of two expectancy conditions in which they were led to believe the drink they consumed prior to meeting the confederate contained alcohol and tonic or tonic only. Actually, half of the subjects in each expectancy condition received alcohol and half received tonic only. Judgments of the female raters viewing the videotapes were congruent with physiological measures of the subjects' anxiety. Those subjects who believed they received alcohol were perceived by female raters as more relaxed, less anxious, less inhibited, and more dominant than subjects who believed they received tonic. The actual content of the drink had no significant effects on the raters' judgements of the subjects' behavior. Male raters were unable to discriminate among the experimental conditions. Implications for possible gender of rater effects in behavioral assessment procedures as well as for the impact of beliefs on nonverbal communication are discussed.     

Family characteristics of children in cases of alleged abuse and neglect

Information is presented about the family composition, structure and significant relationships of 2069 children referred to an English social services department for suspected abuse and neglect. Of these children, 373 (18%) were subsequently placed on the child abuse register. Very few members of extended families were recorded as being significant in the lives of these children. Contrary to earlier research, less than one‐third of children lived with a lone or unmarried mother. However, children whose parents were married and living together were less likely to be registered. Nearly half of the mothers and one‐fifth of the fathers of registered children were aged 21 or less at their child's birth. Compared to all those referred, a significantly larger number of children registered were conceived by younger or older men. Two in five of the siblings of registered children were under 6, and the younger the siblings, the more likely the child was to be registered. Children with two or more siblings were also more likely to be registered. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Contribution of Macro-intervention Social Workers to the Success of Volunteer Community Activists

The study examined the contribution of macro-intervention social workers to volunteer activists from the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community. Volunteer activists who were supervised by macro-intervention social workers were compared with those who were not supervised. The comparisons related to internal variables (leadership competence and client participation), as well as to external variables (community activity, and representation), and to support from rabbis for community activity. The sample consisted of 62 activists who were supervised by macro-intervention social workers, and 101 activists who were not. The findings revealed differences between the supervised and non-supervised activists with regard to levels of community activity and representation. With regard to leadership competence and client participation, no significant differences were found. Analysis of the study findings aimed to provide new perspectives on the contribution of professional supervision, as reflected in the differences found between the activists who were supervised versus those who were not.     

Employment outcomes of young parents who age out of foster care

Despite the high rate of early parenthood among youths in foster care, relatively little is known about the employment outcomes of young parents after they age out of the child welfare system. This study analyzed administrative data for 1943 recently emancipated youths who were the parent of at least one child. Like prior studies of former foster youths, this study finds that only half of the parents were employed at any point during the first four quarters after exiting care, most of those who worked were not consistently employed, and the earnings of parents who were employed were very low. Several demographic and placement history characteristics were associated with an increase or decrease in the odds of being employed and/or with total earnings among the parents who worked. The implications of these findings for policy and practice are discussed.     

Predictors of strike voting behavior: The case of university faculty

This study examines the impact of demographic characteristics, job variables, and attitudinal factors on the strike voting behavior of faculty members at a Canadian university. The results show that married faculty members and those from single-income households were more inclined to vote against the strike. Regarding the attitudinal factors, faculty members who were satisfied with existing research facilities and were loyal to the Faculty Association were likely to favor the strike, whereas faculty who were satisfied with working conditions and with the university administration were opposed to the strike. Beliefs about unions, however, did not appear to have an influence on voting behavior. The author thanks J. Dart, A. Dastmalchian, R. Long, D. Maki, and two anonymous referees for their helpful comments.     

Nursing diagnosis of depression

To summarize, based on a sample of six subjects who were depressed, 12 nursing diagnoses were identified. Five of the 12 diagnoses occurred in more than one subject. Criteria for making a diagnosis were specified, and the diagnoses and their defining characteristics were examined for principles of classification.     

Reliability of independent observer judgments of level of lift effort in a kinesiophysical Functional Capacity Evaluation

Functional Capacity Evaluation includes manual materials handling as a primary component. Return to work decisions are often made or influenced by both the heaviest amount of weight that can be safely lifted and the weight that can be handled repetitiously. Kinesiophysical observational criteria were developed to allow trained judges to categorize lifting in order to identify the category of lift effort. Bothinter rater and intrarater reliability were high. When light or heavy categories were isolated for accuracy there were no errors in judge's ratings.     

Substantiation of Sexual Abuse Allegations

Professional practices and decision-making procedures in investigation of child sexual abuse were studied by interviewing child protection professionals in the southeastern U.S. regarding 175 allegations of abuse. Investigation procedures used, factors associated with the decision to substantiate, and the child protection workers' degree of confidence in their decisions were recorded for each allegation. It was found that substantiated cases: (a) involved significantly older children; (b) were more likely to involve intrusive types of abuse and children of minority race; and (c) were less likely to involve a visitation or custody dispute. Characteristics of the child's disclosure served as the primary basis for substantiation decisions, although medical evidence and affective and behavioral indicators also contributed to the decisions. Case workers were less certain of their decisions when allegations involved young children and adolescents and when allegations were made in the context of custody disputes. In terms of investigatory procedures, anatomical dolls and drawings were rarely used, alleged offenders were interviewed in fewer than one quarter of the cases, and medical and law enforcement consultations were obtained at a higher rate than mental health consultations.     

College Student Perceptions of the Content of Father Stereotypes

This study used a three‐step procedure to examine 663 Midwestern university students' perceptions of the content of social stereotypes related to seven types of fathers. Married and adoptive fathers were the most positively stereotyped groups, and divorced residential fathers were also viewed quite positively. There were relatively neutral views of stepfathers and gay fathers, whereas divorced nonresidential and never‐married fathers were the most negatively stereotyped groups. Our results empirically supported the notion that younger adults' stereotypes of fathers depend on the father’s marital status, parental status, and sexual orientation.     

Multiple Stereotypes of Stepfathers

Abstract

Three separate studies were conducted to determine whether university students hold multiple stereotypes of stepfathers. In the first study, 116 undergraduate students were asked to list all of the traits that are typically associated with stepfathers. After semantically similar traits were grouped together, 77 distinct traits (45 negative and 32 positive) remained. In the second study, 34 undergraduate students were asked to sort the 77 traits from Study 1 into one or more groups; each group consisting of traits that could be found together in one and the same stepfather. Hierarchical cluster analysis resulted in nine negative and six positive trait clusters, indicating that people have multiple stereotypes for stepfathers. In the final study, 29 undergraduate students were asked to rate their impressions of a person who possessed each of the 15 sets of traits, using a semantic differential scale. In addition, students were asked to indicate how typical each trait cluster (or stereotype) was of stepfathers in general. The results indicated that the positive stereotypes received higher ratings than the negative stereotypes. Further, the positive stereotypes were seen as more typical of stepfathers, while the negative stereotypes were not viewed as typical of stepfathers.     

A Study of Residential Condition and Satisfaction of the Elderly in China

This article investigates the current housing reality and subjective appraisal of the elderly in China by presenting the latest empirical evidence. Based on a literature review, survey data of September 2009 were analyzed, which included 692 Chinese households with a focus on their elderly members. Major findings were the following: (1) affordability was an outstanding issue, with 56.6% of the elderly respondents feeling overburdened by housing costs; (2) facilities in the homes were less of an issue than their community facilities, which were inadequate especially for the handicapped; (3) the elderly respondents as a whole seemed to enjoy their housing property, though significant differences in homeownership and residential satisfaction were found among them; (4) differences were also found among the elderly in terms of access to healthcare (including emergency help), transportation, and housing environment; and (5) residential satisfaction of the elderly were related to their occupational status before retirement, income, health, distance to healthcare facilities, living arrangements, homeownership, housing conditions, social contacts/visits, and gender. Implications of the findings are discussed for research and policy considerations.     

Ratings of the appropriateness of touch among family members

Increased awareness of inappropriate touch with children may discourage positive parent-child touch. The present study was designed to assess the extent of agreement regarding the appropriateness of various types of parent-child touch. Respondents were 83 men and 121 women who were shopping in an open air market in a metropolitan area. Touches involving parents and children in several settings were rated on a scale of appropriateness. Reasonably clear norms emerged for touching with children of different ages. There were no differences in relation to the gender of the respondents and few in relation to the respondent's age, family income, or marital status. Blacks rated many of the touches as less appropriate than did Whites but cultural differences within the two groups were not investigated. It was concluded that rating scales may be useful in assessing norms for parent-child touch but cultural differences are probably important.     

Effectiveness of use of home health nurses to decrease burden & depression of elderly caregivers

The purpose of this research was to investigate the impact of home health nursing intervention on burden and depression of elderly caregivers who were caring for an ill relative in their home. Two groups of caregivers were compared for differences in caregiver burden and depression. The caregivers in the control group did not use the services of home health nurses, whereas the caregivers in the experimental group did use these services. Data were analyzed using the Burden Interview and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Multiple analysis of variance confirmed that caregivers who used the services of home health nurses were significantly less burdened and less depressed than caregivers who did not use these services.     

The effects of ethnocultural empathy on level of stereotyping toward college athletes

In the current study the author examined whether ethnocultural empathy affects people's beliefs and expectations regarding athletes, hypothesizing that (1) individuals demonstrating a high level of ethnocultural empathy would be less likely to endorse stereotypes toward athletes, (2) females would be less likely to stereotype toward athletes than would males, (3) athletes would be less likely to stereotype toward athletes than would non-athletes, and (4) behavioral science majors would be less likely to stereotype toward athletes than would non-behavioral science majors. As predicted, participants high on ethnocultural empathy were less likely to stereotype towards athletes, females were less likely to stereotype toward athletes than were males, and behavioral science majors were less likely to stereotype toward athletes than were non-behavioral science majors. However, contrary to the hypotheses, athletes were more likely to stereotype toward their own in-group than were non-athletes.     

Teen Sexual Behavior: Applicability of the Theory of Reasoned Action

We examined the utility of the theory of reasoned action for predicting sexual intercourse among teenagers and determined whether it holds for both genders and for those with and without prior sexual experience. The data include 749 students who were in 9th–11th grades when the predictors were measured and in 10th–12th grades when sexual intercourse was assessed. About half (53%) were girls, about half (48%) were non‐Hispanic European Americans. Results showed that prior sexual experience was related to a higher rate of sexual intercourse, but boys and girls did not differ. Tests of the causal model for subgroups (boy and girl virgins, boy and girl nonvirgins) yielded similar results. As predicted, paths from intentions to behavior and from norms and attitudes to intentions were significant, as were paths from outcome and normative beliefs to attitude and norm, respectively.     

Accuracy of nonverbal communication as determinant of interpersonal expectancy effects

The person perception paradigm was used to address the effects of experimenters' ability to encode nonverbal cues and subjects' ability to decode nonverbal cues on magnitude of expectancy effects. Greater expectancy effects were obtained when experimenters were better encoders and subjects were better decoders of nonverbal cues and the separate contributions of experimenter's and subject's nonverbal skills were of similar magnitudes.The authors wish to express their thanks to Rena Baskin for her help.Preparation of this article and the research described was facilitated by a grant [GS-3942] from the Division of Social Sciences of the National Science Foundation to Robert Rosenthal.     

Healthcare providers' treatment of college smokers

About 28% of college students smoke tobacco, and many will continue smoking into adulthood. Although little is known about how to help college students quit smoking, 1 promising strategy is healthcare providers' advice. To estimate their life-time receipt of brief advice and to identify characteristics that predict who may receive that advice, 348 college students completed a survey about their smoking and related practices. Seventy-seven percent of the smokers (73% of the students) were asked about smoking. Of those smokers, 57% were advised to quit, 22% were given advice about quitting, 5% were helped with setting a quit date, and 4% were offered follow-up. Occasional smokers were less likely than daily smokers to be advised to quit. Although 36.2% of the smokers did not report their smoking accurately, smokers who were accurate were more likely to be advised to quit and to be given advice about quitting.     

Correlates of primary orientations of volunteer ombudsmen in nursing facilities

This research investigated the significance of primary orientations to volunteer work. Based on data from 745 volunteer ombudsmen in nursing facilities ( age, 69 years), hypotheses about relationships between background, social-psychological characteristics, in-service training, and four orientations (advocate, mediator, therapeutic supporter, and undifferentiated) were studied. Most ombudsmen identified a primary orientation, and their lives as volunteers were affected by this choice. Orientations of ombudsmen had demonstrable profiles that were differentiated by the resources persons brought to the task, how their skills were developed after they became volunteers, and their eventual strategies. Advocates were distinguished from others by their relative youth, formal education, in-service training, and greater hindrances. Perhaps extending traditional conceptions of gender roles, women more often practiced skills as therapeutic supporters. Those without a primary orientation had the most negative experiences.     

Gambling behavior of adolescent gamblers

An adolescent version of the South Oaks Gambling Screen was administered to 965 high school students, aged 14 to 19 years, in the city of Windsor, Ontario. Ninety percent of the adolescents were involved in gambling activities and a substantial proportion of these were engaged in underage gambling. High levels of problem gambling behaviors were found. Problem gambling behaviors were found to be related to the number of different gambling activities and the amount of money gambled. Problem gambling was defined as a score of five or more on the SOGS-RA screen utilizing a scoring method that paralleled the SOGS scoring method. Problem gambling levels were estimated to be 8.1%±1.8% of the adolescent sample. There were significant gender differences in the level of problem gambling, but no significant difference with age was found.