What Makes Single Mothers Expand or Reduce Employment?

To explore single mothers’ labor market participation we analyzed specific circumstances and dynamics in their life courses. We focused on the question which individual and institutional factors determine both professional advancement and professional descent. The German Socio-Economic Panel (1984–2010) provides all necessary information identifying episodes of single motherhood and analyzing restrictions and interruptions of employment during life courses. Since family statuses of single mothers are partially endogenous and can end in multiple ways, we used semi-parametric survival models. Competing risks estimations showed that occupational careers of single mothers are influenced by individual factors such as appointed and reliable working hours, and further by the institutional determinants childcare or welfare benefits.     

Academic mothers,professional identity and COVID-19: Feminist reflections on career cycles,progression and practice

Based on a collection of auto-ethnographic narratives that reflect our experiences as academic mothers at an Australian university, this paper seeks to illustrate the impact of COVID-19 on our career cycles in order to explore alternative feminist models of progression and practice in Higher Education. Collectively, we span multiple disciplines, parenting profiles, and racial/ethnic backgrounds. Our narratives (initiated in 2019) explicate four focal points in our careers as a foundation for analyzing self-definitions of professional identity: pre- and post-maternity career break; and pre- and post-COVID-19 career. We have modeled this research on a collective feminist research practice that is generative and empowering in terms of self-reflective models of collaborative research. Considering this practice and these narratives, we argue for a de-centering of masculinized career cycle patterns and progression pathways both now and beyond COVID-19. This represents both a challenge to neo-liberal norms of academic productivity, as well as a call to radically enhance institutional gender equality policies and practice.     

Institutioneller Wettbewerb und Karrierechancen von Nachwuchswissenschaftlern in der Chemie

This paper examines the interplay between intensifying competition among scientific institutions, on the one hand, and career opportunities of young scientist, on the other hand, using chemistry-departments in German universities and non-academic research institutes as an example. Drawing on Bourdieu, we construct and analyze the filed in which institutional competition takes place. The power relations in the field are structured by the relative amount of “pure scientific capital” and/or “institutional capital” available. In an analysis of professorial appointments we show that the field’s structure has little impact on junior scientsits’ career opportunities. In contrast to the US, where pervasive institutional competition goes hand in hand with a high degree of social closure in academic careers, we find that career opportunities are (still) relatively open in the German case, in spite of growing competition. This openness is due to the special institutional framework that provides the German academic field with a relatively high degree of autonomy. As recent changes in science policy aim to alter the institutional framework, they also jeopardize the autonomy of the academic field.     

Herausbildung einer akademischen Elite?

Given a tendency to higher third-party funding, the mechanisms of distribution of research money become more and more relevant for individual academic careers as well as for scientific institutions at large. This article focuses on an empirical test of hypotheses on the impact of universities’ size and reputation on the chances of grant approval. Using multivariate analysis of register data provided by the German Research Foundation (DFG) for all applications for single grants from 1992–2004, individual chances of grant approval as well as success rates in departmental grant acquisition are estimated. The analyses detect neither strong context effects on individual chances of grant approval nor a clear tendency towards a higher concentration of research funding on fewer universities. Only scientists working in West German universities with a long standing tradition have a slightly better chance to get research funding. At the level of university departments, higher personnel resources translate into a higher number of applications and approvals only for very large institutions. Regarding funding of single grants, there is no trend of a growing inequality among the universities. Finally, these results are discussed with a specific reference to the recently launched “Initiative for Excellence” – a program designed in order to foster high level research in Germany – and are contrasted to some arguments of Richard Münch.     

Relationship patterns in the 19th century: The friendship network in a German boys’ school class from 1880 to 1881 revisited

The article presents a friendship network from 1880 to 1881 in a school class, which goes back to the exceptional mixed-methods study of the German primary school teacher Johannes Delitsch. The re-analysis of the historic network gives insights into what characteristics defined the friendship networks in school classes in Germany at the end of the 19th century. ERGMs of the so far unmarked data show structural patterns of friendship networks similar to today (reciprocity, transitive triadic closure). Moreover we test the influence of the class ranking order (Lokationsprinzip), which allocates the pupils in the class room according to their school performance. This ranking order produces a hierarchy in the popularity of pupils, through hierarchy–congruent friendship ties going upwards in the hierarchy. In this respect, concerning the effect of school achievement on popularity, we find a strong stratification, which is not always prevalent today.     

Wie undicht ist die Pipeline? Wissenschaftskarrieren von promovierten Frauen

Which mechanisms lead to the fact, that the proportion of women in the academic career ladder is the smaller the further up the qualification and career to full professorship gets? This phenomenon, known as the ??leaky pipeline??, is analysed with a unique retrospective dataset of PhDs who graduated between 1996 and 2002 at universities in the German speaking part of Switzerland. Results show women have a lower scientific productivity and smaller academic networks than men. Moreover, they suffer from structural barriers in the scientific system. However, women stay in the sector of higher education more often than men and habilitate as often as their male colleagues. Transition rate models show no gender differences in the chance of a successful academic career. Because meanwhile women start to study as often as men, today??s picture of the leaky pipeline could be a result of gender inequalities of the past. Future research should examine the role of affirmative action for women in academia and how results from scientific careers can be transferred into the private labour market.     

Family Therapy Training: Student And Faculty Perceptions

This study compared the questionnaire responses of 71 faculty and 231 students from 12 university and 10 institute, AAMFT-accredited and non-accredited family therapy training programs. The findings about the preferred type of training program, criteria for program selection, expected student experiences, program policies and interprogram cooperation suggested key differences between universities and institutes as well as important similarities. Non-accredited institutes emerged ashaving significant value differences from other programs in the study. The results also highlighted some of the major issues critical to the continued development of family therapy training.     

Using a Listserv to Extend Classroom Learning: A Content Analysis

ABSTRACT

An integrated theoretical model of adult learning and distance education is used to describe and analyze our experience using a listserv to extend and expand the learning begun in a classroom-based doctoral seminar. Our postings on the listserv provide the data for our study, and we analyze their content to identify themes in how we used the listserv. The content analysis demonstrates that the listserv enhanced the course-related learning of all participants, helped the student participants feel connected with the university and their student role while engaged in their careers back home, and provided social support for professional and personal development.     

Continuing complexity: The university careers of a scientific elite in relation to their class origins and schooling

We report on continuing research on the UK scientific elite, intended to illustrate a proposed new approach to elite studies and based on a prosopography of Fellows of the Royal Society born from 1900. We extend analyses previously reported of Fellows' social origins and secondary schooling to take in their university careers as under- and postgraduates. The composite term ‘Oxbridge’, as often applied in elite studies, is called into question, as members of the scientific elite prove to have been recruited more from Cambridge than from Oxford. Particular interest then attaches to the relation between Fellows' social origins and schooling and their attendance at Cambridge. Among Fellows whose university careers were made at Cambridge, those of more advantaged class origins and those with private schooling are over-represented, although in this, as in various other respects, including Fellows' field of study, family influences persist independently of schooling. One suggestive interaction effect exists in that being privately educated increases the probability of having been at Cambridge more for Fellows from managerial than from professional families. Private schooling leading on to both undergraduate and postgraduate study at Cambridge can be identified as the educational ‘royal road’ into the scientific elite; and Fellows coming from higher professional and managerial families alike have the highest probability of having entered the elite in this way. But the most common route turns out in fact to be via state schooling and attendance at universities outside of ‘the golden triangle’ of Cambridge, Oxford and London; and this route is far more likely to have been followed by Fellows of all other class origins than higher professional. The relation between the degree of social skew in the recruitment of an elite and the degree of social homogeneity among its members can be more complex than has often been supposed.     

Familiäre Netzwerke und Lebenszufriedenheit alter Menschen in ländlichen und urbanen Regionen

Using data from the German Socio-economic Panel (GSOEP) from 1996, we examined whether the size of elders’ family networks differs between rural and urban regions of Germany, and whether the size of the family network gives rural elders an advantage in terms of well-being. We analyzed the association between certain aspects of the family network (size, closeness of relationships, proximity of relatives), feelings of loneliness, sorrow and life-satisfaction in a structural equation model. Results revealed that rural elders do live in larger family networks compared to urban elders. The elders in rural areas had more family relations and felt closer to them; it was especially the latter aspect which had a positive effect on the subjective well-being of older persons. This effect was larger in the western part compared to the eastern part of Germany.     

The impact of socio-economic status and caregiver cooperation on school professionals' reports to child protection services in Switzerland

Children spend a considerable amount of their time at school; many have trusted relationships with their teachers and some are supported by school social workers or school psychologists. However, factors driving school professionals' decision to report child victimisation to child protection services lack research. Based on a stratified random sample, 549 Swiss principals, school social workers and school psychologists participated in an online survey including two vignettes. While the family's socio-economic status was randomly presented as either high or low in the first vignette, caregiver cooperation was randomly varied in the second. Principals, school social workers and school psychologists were less likely to report to child protection authorities if the family had been described as cooperative or of high socio-economic status. The impact of both case characteristics was significant even while controlling for decision-maker and organisational factors. While the increased tendency to report a neglected child of a low socio-economic status family might actually be driven by need, the reluctance to report whether caregivers are cooperative should be examined more critically. Although caregiver cooperation might be considered an asset to working together for the best of the child, it does not guarantee improvement because cooperation might actually be superficial or driven by a hidden agenda.     

Bildung und Übergang in den Ruhestand

On the basis of administrative data from the Research Data Centre (FDZ-RV) of the German Federal Pension Insurance, we examine the effects education has on the timing of retirement for employees in East and West Germany in 2007. The large sample size of the Scientific Use File of the pension inflow statistics (n = 29933) allows a differentiated analysis considering multiple dimensions. Using key demographic indicators such as sex, region, length of career and pension payments, we demonstrate the effects of the level of education on the age of retirement, measured in years between 60 and 65 or older. Our analysis shows that high skilled retire later than low skilled employees. The difference is smaller than one year. But the beginning of the high skilled careers is round about two years later, with higher pension payments. Based on this findings, we discuss to which extent skills can lengthen the lifetime career with respect to pull and push factors.     

Team effects on compensation: an application to salary determination in the National Hockey League

Studies of salary determination largely model pay as a function of the attributes of the individual and the workplace (i.e., employer size, job characteristics, and so forth). This article empirically investigates an additional factor that may influence individual pay, specifically coworker productivity. Data from professional sports are used to evaluate this question because both salary and teammate performance measures are readily available. We find that team attributes have both direct effects on an individual's pay, and indirect effects through altering the rates at which individual player productive characteristics are valued.     

Ethics in an Age of Information Seekers: A Survey of Licensed Healthcare Providers about Online Social Networking

The present study explores how licensed health care providers use social media. The researchers utilized a survey to explore 88 licensed psychologists, physicians, and social workers average numbers of Facebook© friends, social groups, and photo albums as well as attitudes toward possible regulation of online social networking by professional organizations. Statistically significant differences were found among groups regarding the degree to which they wanted guidance on ethically managing this new technology, with psychologists and social workers desiring more guidance than physicians. Overall, this study shows that the majority of the psychologists, physicians, and social workers who participated in this study now frequently use Facebook, often providing information on profiles that may include that which is not generally disclosed in a client–therapist relationship.     

The role of social networks for careers

The aim of this report is to elaborate on the centrality of social networks in the professional context (professional networks) of organizations. Professional networks are a career-relevant resource often called social capital. Social capital from professional networks entail relationships to colleagues or other departments, and can provide relevant and timely information or resources required for advancement on tasks and objectives. We will introduce different types of professional networks such as leadership networks, developmental networks or buy-in networks. Furthermore, the importance of professional networks for employees as well as employers will be explained. For employees, we will also provide information on the relevance of professional networks at different career stages.     

Using egocentered networks in survey research. A methodological preview on an application of social network analysis in the area of family research

Can questions about families be adequately answered with household survey data? This question leads us to the problem to defining the family. To help us answer this question we use network analysis as a tool to examine the family without a preconceived definition. To get information about the population of family configurations in Federal Republic of Germany, we choose a survey technique that measured ego-centered networks (10–12 network generators, 4–6 network interpreters). Based on two pretests (n₁ = 98, n₂ = 534) and the main survey (n = 10,000), we discuss some problems encountered during data collection. We also examine the validity and reliability of the data. We used variations of the measurement instrument and asked a group of 99 respondents twice to test reliability. Then we compare our results with census data and compatible US and German studies to test validity. The results show: (1) It is possible to get reliable network data by using survey technique. (2) Size of networks, named persons, named relations are reasonably stable. (3) The instrument to measure networks is constant against minor changes in formulation of questionnaire and against variation of collecting techniques. These findings hold both on the macro level (aggregate data), and also on the micro level (person related data).     

How to Succeed in a Transnational Labor Market: Job Search and Wages among Hungarian,Slovak, and Czech Commuters in Austria

This paper deals with job search strategies and wages among cross‐border commuters residing in the Central European Region (CENTROPE). Our main aim is to investigate the role of social networks as constitutive for job searching and for successful labor market integration. We build upon a theoretical framework developed by Aguilera and Massey, reflecting on the nexus of social networks, job search methods, and related labor market outcomes. Methodologically, we use a new quantitative survey on the employment careers of cross‐border commuters residing in the regions of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary bordering on Austria, conducted in the winter/spring of 2012/2013 (N = 2,573). Our results corroborate the hypothesis that human and social capital resources as well as labor market characteristics serve as key factors for job search and labor market integration among cross‐border commuters in the CENTROPE transnational labor market.     

The Influence of Gender Composition in Powerful Positions on Public Relations Practitioners' Gender-Related Perceptions

Against the background of the high feminization of the German agency sector, this article investigates 2 specific factors that help explain women's careers in public relations agencies: gender stereotypes and the organizational context. We present parts of a recent German explorative study: Long interviews were conducted with 13 female public relations experts to explain their view on women's situation in public relations in general and to describe their own careers. Findings reveal the evolution of a “PR bunny” stereotype that adds a negative touch to the female image as “natural born communicators.” Furthermore, our results support the argument that women seem to prefer (a) the organizational culture of public relations agencies, (b) agency-specific job tasks, and (c) agency-specific work processes. Possible consequences for practitioners and the profession are discussed.     

Career Compromise Types Among University Graduates During the School‐to‐Work Transition

Because of high youth unemployment caused by structural conditions, South Korean university graduates must compromise their employment preferences and instead accept whatever work is available. In this study, we classified the types of compromises using latent profile analysis to examine various factors involved in the career compromise of 472 recent university graduates during their school‐to‐work transition. We identified four types of compromise patterns with distinct characteristics and discovered that the university graduates who did not compromise their interest and aptitude in their job selection showed a higher level of commitment to their career compared with those who compromised. Results suggest that individuals who do not compromise their interests and aptitudes are more likely to have successful and fulfilling long‐term careers.     

Detecting measurement bias in respondent reports of personal networks

Inaccuracy of sociometric reports poses a serious challenge to social network analysis. Nevertheless, researchers continue to draw potentially misleading conclusions from flawed data. We consider two particular types of systematic error in measurement of network size: individuals over/underreporting others (expansiveness bias), and individuals being over/underreported by others (attractiveness bias). We examine evidence of individual variation in these biases in one apparently typical sociometric dataset. We specifically suggest that variation in expansiveness bias may commonly distort findings concerning characteristics of individual networks (e.g. size, range, density), and properties of whole networks (e.g. inequality, transitivity, clustering, and blockmodels). We suggest methodological improvements and urge further research.