The Gambling Environment and Gambler Behaviour: Evidence from Richmond-Tweed,Australia

As opportunities to gamble proliferated rapidly during the 1990s, accessibility to gambling facilities has been cited as a factor driving increased gambling consumption. However, research examining this relationship is limited. Most assessments have tended to be at a broad regional rather than a local level. Furthermore, explanations for why greater access encourages increased gambling activity have been inadequate. Using the framework of time-geography, this paper outlines new empirical evidence to assist in clarifying relationships between the accessibility to and consumption of gambling. Data on gambling behaviour were obtained from 1,018 persons in seven residential centres of the Richmond-Tweed region of NSW, Australia and compared to local provision of gambling facilities. In this study, availability of gambling opportunities—measured here by electronic gaming machines (EGMs) per capita—is often reflected in differences in gambling activity by the local population. It is concluded that accessibility to EGM facilities at a particularly local level is an important factor driving their use.     

Midwives,Marginality, and Public Identity Work

Because midwifery in the United States is an occupation at the margins of medicine, midwives must frequently negotiate competing identity claims. This article examines the public identity work of a group of midwives by focusing on two important tools they use to accomplish this work: boundary negotiation and impression management. Drawing on data from in‐depth interviews with twenty‐six licensed, nurse, and empirical midwives in the state of Florida, this article illustrates the ways in which midwives frame their identities in relation to history and media representations and manage public identities through boundary negotiation and impression management. I argue that the marginality of this occupation lends itself to competing categories of identity that midwives must negotiate. These categories become salient when midwives confront historical and media representations of childbirth and midwifery as well as the perceptions of the general public, consumers, lawmakers, and medical professionals.     

Frames of reference that address the impact of physical environments on occupational performance

A frame of reference is the mechanism for linking theory to practice. It may be the most practical and important tool a professional uses. As the practice of occupational therapy has evolved, so has the basis of information, or theories, on which it is grounded. From the theories, models have been developed that typically view occupational performance as a transaction between the person, occupation and environment. Occupational therapy practitioners use many frames of reference. Not all of them address all areas of occupational performance identified within this overarching model. Often the area of the environment does not receive attention. To do their jobs thoroughly, occupational therapy practitioners need frames of reference for thinking about the environment. The purpose of this paper is to identify and explore frames of reference that may be useful to occupational therapy practitioners when they are taking into consideration the physical environment. Included are the following frames of reference: ergonomics, industrial hygiene, environmental psychology, accessibility and feng shui. A case study is presented to illustrate the unique perspective of each frame of reference.     

贫困地区农村大龄青年未婚失婚影响因素分析

人口出生性别失衡和婚姻挤压背景下,贫困地区农村男性的大龄未婚问题突出。对冀西北贫困地区农村的专项调查发现。大龄未婚男性仅在所从事职业方面与已婚男性没有明显差别,而在教育、健康、技能、收入、住房、沟通能力等方面均明显劣于已婚男性;个体素质和经济条件较差的男性更可能处于大龄未婚状态,尤其是适婚年龄时的家庭经济条件对征婚的影响尤为显著。总体来看。在性别结构、择偶梯度和婚姻流动性别差异等条件约束下。地区经济发展水平、男性适婚年龄时的家庭经济条件及个体人力资本的全面劣势是农村大龄未婚男性在婚姻市场上竞争失利的决定因素。     

Implicit frames of CSR: The interplay between the news media,organizational PR,and the public

This study focuses on the implicit framing of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the interplay between the news media, organizational public relations (PR), and the public. The aim of the study is to investigate the multidirectional causal relationships between these three domains in terms of the use of implicit frames. An automated content analysis of Dutch newspaper articles and organizational press releases is employed. In addition, Google Trends data is examined in order to determine implicit frames of CSR among the public. Monthly level Vector Autoregression (VAR) analyses show different effects across frames. Overall, in line with our expectations, results show positive effects of the news media on the public and of organizational PR on the news media. Moreover, contrary to expectations, we found a negative effect of the public on the news media and mixed results with regard to the effect of the public on organizational PR. Investigating the multidirectional relationships between the news media, organizational PR, and the public provides insights into how they – as a domain – affect and get affected by each other in their communications.     

Transnational dimensions of the digital divide among Salvadoran immigrants in the Washington DC metropolitan area

Abstract In this article I explore some dimensions of digital divide among Salvadoran immigrants in the Washington DC metropolitan area. Three main issues are addressed: the configuration of social networks, local axes of inequality and the transnational forms of appropriation and usage of the Internet and other Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). Based on a media ethnography approach, the analysis combines structuration theory with diasporic media studies. It includes an examination of Internet communications, Salvadoran diasporic websites, the use of mobile phones and teleconferencing, and the transnational dimensions of the digital divide. The study's findings include the limited accessibility to the Internet and ICTs among Salvadoran immigrants, the importance of understanding the transnational dimensions of the digital divide (particularly in terms of generation) and the need to design and implement communication and technology policies in the Salvadoran transnational society.     

Influence of responsiveness,accessibility, and professionalism on journalists’ perceptions of Southwest Airlines public relations

This longitudinal study presents the results of three biennial surveys of key national journalists who routinely report on Southwest Airlines, a company widely recognized for its extraordinary public relations efforts. Synthesizing data garnered through relationship, utility, and perception scales as well as robust open-ended responses, the results support and advance media relations best practices. Ultimately, data confirm that practitioner responsiveness and accessibility to reporters are the keys to ensuring that journalists maintain positive perceptions of Southwest Airlines’ public relations. The results provide an instructive case study and recommendations to corporate public relations practitioners for cultivating favorable media relationships through a commitment to dialogic communication principles.     

New media and cultural disconnect: A study on the lodha tribal community of India

A qualitative study was undertaken among Lodha tribals in the Mayurbhanj district of Odisha to examine how digital media accessibility has affected the social and cultural life of the youths of this tribal community. It also assessed any interrelationship between new media existence and cultural exclusion among the youths. Face-to-face interviews, focus group discussions, and observation methods were applied for accessing and generating information. Five villages with more than 70 percent Lodha population were selected for the study. A stratified random sampling method was used to determine the sample. The results directly link new media consumption and cultural disconnect among the Lodha youths. The young tribals were moving away from their traditional cultural systems into a more urbanized existence that is far removed from the life known to their previous generations.     

The Effects of First Occupation on Long Term Health Status: Evidence from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study

In this paper, we use a longitudinal survey that has collected information for 50 years on a large cohort of Wisconsin high school graduates and their siblings to examine the long term impact of early occupational choice on health status. We find evidence that beginning a career in a blue collar occupation is correlated with several measures of poor health outcomes at ages 50–65. Since our dataset includes usually unobserved pre-labor market characteristics, including IQ and childhood health status, we can show that controlling for these variables is important for many results and suggests a high level of selection into occupation based on health and ability. We also provide evidence of gender differentials in the association between first occupation and later health. Then, we replace our basic measure of occupational categories with summary measures of job characteristics and find that employment at “bad jobs” at the beginning of an individual’s career predicts later health outcomes. Finally, we use sibling information in the dataset to show that unmeasured family background factors explain a large share of the effects of occupation on later health. Overall, the evidence points to limited, though heterogeneous, long term effects of health from blue collar employment.     

Problematic Online Pornography Use: A Media Attendance Perspective

Since the rise of the popularity of the Internet, the accessibility of pornography has been a growing concern. One particular concern is the potential risk for addictive behaviors to occur as a result of the ease of viewing online pornographic material. The research presented herein explored online pornography addiction using a media attendance perspective, which allows media critics to examine the needs that people seek to fulfill from engaging with various media. Past studies that have used a media attendance perspective to explore media addiction, rephrased here as problematic media use, have done so using social cognitive theory and the concept of deficient self-regulation. Deficient self-regulation may be experienced by all media consumers and can range from normally impulsive media choices to pathological media choices which may result in detrimental life consequences. Borrowing from this, the current study reevaluated online pornography addiction using deficient self-regulation within a sociocognitive framework of media attendance. Results of our model show deficient self-regulation influences habitual online pornography consumption. Moreover, online pornography use motivated by social needs is perpetuated by deficient self-regulation and may lead to negative life consequences in some individuals. These findings contribute a new perspective and framework for understanding problematic online pornography use.     

Framing political public relations: Measuring success of political communication strategies in Germany

The main goal of political public relations is the use of media outlets to communicate specific political interpretations of issues in the hope of garnering public support for political policies. This study elaborates on the question how successful political PR is at bringing its specific perspectives into the media. It uses the ‘framing’ concept to analyse the meanings and contexts of media coverage and political PR during the national debate on immigration in Germany between May 2000 and March 2002. The results show a high level of correlation between the preferred thematic and position frames of the political players and those in the press coverage. Yet, the media examined clearly did not have a passive relationship to PR. The findings indicate that journalists tend to use their power to alter PR messages when the communications from political players do not have a distinct focus and/or when the PR focuses were not among the (mainstream) aspects dominating the general political debate.     

Information,Interactivity, and Social Media

The aim of this paper is to provide a conceptual theoretical framework to the term “social” in a social media context. This is done by exploring the relationship between three central terms in a social media environment: information, interactivity, and sociability. We suggest a model that describes the relations between these terms in a social media context. As the model suggests, information is the basic unit of a communication process, but social media users are the ones that decide whether and how much information to share, and when and whether to comment on a social media platform. Hence, not solely the technological features of a platform determine its level of interactivity and sociability, but the actual performances of its users.     

From Iraq to Katrina and Back: Bureaucratic Planning as Strategic Failure,Fiction, and Fantasy

Bureaucratic planning is a complex sociocultural process rife with vested interests, contradictory aims, and internal conflicts. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina and the US occupation of Iraq, contemporary media discourses on planning have downplayed this complexity and diverted attention away from a more nuanced understanding of planning as a sociological process. In this article, I show how policy and press debates regarding bureaucratic planning in Iraq and New Orleans are rooted in technocratic and rationalist perspectives, constituting a kind of modernist faith. These contemporary discourses are often one‐dimensional, failing to consider the conflicts, contradictions, and counter‐intuitive outcomes that are inherent in planning in complex situations, including urban reconstruction, military occupation, and disaster response. I show how flawed approaches in the present are deeply linked to the past, connecting Iraq and Katrina to a detailed ethnographic case study on failed urban planning in colonial Zanzibar. Even though the three cases of Iraq, Katrina, and Zanzibar differ across time, context, and conditions, they reveal that bureaucratic planning is best understood as a multidimensional strategic practice that is intrinsically shaped by sociocultural forms. Plans may ostensibly fail in one sense and yet still produce quite enduring effects. They may remain ‘fictions’ at one level but still wield real impact. And even if they are informed by fantasy, bearing little utility from a functional perspective, plans still serve as performative and persuasive acts, informed by political ends.     

Internet alternative media,movement experience,and radicalism: the case of post-Umbrella Movement Hong Kong

This article examines the relationship between online alternative media consumption and public support for radical social movement goals and tactics. Theoretically, online alternative media use could relate to the holding of more radical views either because such views are propagated by the alternative media or because of the breeding of extreme views through communications among like-minded people. At the same time, this relationship is expected to be particularly strong when online alternative media use is coupled with specific types of movement experiences. Analysis of a representative survey (N = 1012) in Hong Kong shows that both online alternative media use and participation in the Umbrella Movement in 2014 related positively to the attitude toward violent protests and toward Hong Kong independence, and the relationship between online alternative media use and radical views was particularly strong among the Umbrella Movement participants. The analysis also shows a distinction between the implications of consumption of alternative media belonging to different political factions.     

HISPANIC MEDIA USE AND PERCEPTIONS OF DISCRIMINATION:

This study utilizes data from the Latino National Political Survey to evaluate the relationship between several social and cultural variables, media use, and Hispanic perceptions of discrimination. We examine the effects that level of income and education, personal experience, ethnicity, and political party preference and media exposure have on these perceptions. The examination builds on social-psychological theories and media framing/cultivation arguments. The cross-section, regression analysis considers Hispanics as a whole and as various subgroups (Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and Cubans), respectively. Contrary to conventional wisdom that media use is positively related to perceived discrimination, we find that socioeconomic and ethnic conditions are of greater import for understanding perceptions. Further, it appears that media use has little impact on perceptions of discrimination.     

Occupational variations in drinking and psychological distress: a multilevel analysis

The relationship between alcohol intake and psychological distress has been overlooked in studies on the working population. Using a multilevel multivariate model, this study reports results obtained from a sample of 8812 workers nested in 387 occupations. Results show that alcohol intake and psychological distress vary significantly at the worker and occupation levels, but they do not show a large variation at the occupation level. Occupational socioeconomic status appears to be a common factor explaining the correlation between alcohol intake and psychological distress at the occupation level. Semi-professionals, middle management, foreman and semiskilled clerical-sales-services occupations are particularly at risk. Gender is related to both outcomes, while work schedule and number of weekly working hours are associated only with psychological distress. Implications and limitations of these results are discussed.     

Grunig's Situational Theory: A Replication,Application, and Extension

Grunig's situational theory segments publics from a larger population based on the activeness or passiveness of communication behavior. This study found support for the Grunig model in a survey conducted during the 1990 governor's race in Kansas. The variables of the theory—problem recognition, level of involvement, and constraint recognition—accurately predicted different levels of communication activity about the election. The theory also predicted the outcomes of communication successfully. In contrast to previous studies using the situational theory, this study found a strong relationship between the situational variables and standard demographic characteristics of age, education, and income—thus suggesting the possibility of using segmentation procedures that include both situational variables and media demographics. Finally, the article suggests that the situational theory could be enhanced by including an energy variable—specifically Hull-Spence's behavior equation—and a media use variable.     

Equally unequal: gender discrimination in the workplace among adults with mental retardation

Gender discrimination in the work place has been widely reported. Women are usually discriminated against both with respect to level of occupation and salary. The current study explored the correlation between gender and employment among adults with mental retardation, specifically, whether gender discrimination in the work place is as prominent among people with mental retardation as in the general population. Level of occupation and salary earned were studied in 227 adults with mild and moderate mental retardation residing in institutions, hostels, and sheltered homes in Israel. The findings suggest a correlation between gender and employment similar to that in the general population. Women were found to be employed mainly in sheltered workshops and lower levels of occupation, and to earn significantly less than the men. However, closer examination of each work place revealed that within each level of occupation there were no significant gender differences in salary. The finding suggests that while women with mental retardation earn lower salaries than men, this is mainly the result of their lower level of occupation. Rehabilitation efforts should therefore be directed toward ensuring higher levels of occupation as well as community employment among women with mental retardation.     

Assessment method of accessibility conditions: how to make public buildings accessible?

The enforcement of accessibility today has faced several difficulties, such as intervention in historic buildings that now house public services and cultural activities, such as town halls, museums and theaters and should allow access, on equal terms to all people. The paper presents the application of a method for evaluating the spatial accessibility conditions and their results. For this, we sought to support the theoretical foundation about the main issue involved and legislation. From the method used--guided walks--it was possible to identify the main barriers to accessibility in historic buildings. From the identified barriers, possible solutions are presented according to the four components of accessibility: spatial orientation, displacement, use and communication. It is hoped also that the knowledge gained in this research contributes to an improvement of accessibility legislation in relation to the listed items.     

Engagement across three social media platforms: An exploratory study of a cause-related PR campaign

This study analyzed a social media campaign promoting child welfare to explore the associations among people's social media use, their engagement with different social media platforms (blog, Facebook page, Twitter account), and three intended behavioral outcomes (social media behavior, offline communication behavior, and helping behavior). An online survey of 73 participants shows that people's use of each social media platform was significantly related to their engagement with it at a bivariate level (when the other control variables were not considered). Social media use was also related to all three behavioral outcomes. Additionally, users’ engagement played a significant mediating role in the relationship between their social media use and their offline communication behavior.