Deterrence in the workplace: perceived certainty, perceived severity, and employee theft

The phenomenon of employee theft is examined empirically, utilizing a deterrence paradigm. Employees selected randomly from three different industry sectors and metropolitan areas were asked to self-report their involvement in a number of property theft activities within the employment setting. Using a weighted least-squares logit regression analysis, the study found that the perception of both the certainty and severity of organizational sanctions were related to employee theft. Males reported more theft than did females, but contrary to previous research, no gender/certainty or gender/severity interactions were observed. The best-fit model did, however, contain two significant first-order interactions: age/certainty and age/severity. These interactions strongly suggest that younger employees are not as deterrable as their older peers, especially under conditions of both high certainty and high severity of punishment. While a number of possible explanations might account for differential deterrability according to age, a commitment to or stakes in conformity explanation is proposed.     

Perceptions of suicide and their impact on policy,discourse and welfare

In recent years, there has been an increase in suicide rates throughout the Western world. However, psycho-social responses to the problem are limited, as is public awareness of suicide and its consequences. This article presents findings from a survey on public attitudes toward suicide in Israel. The survey was conducted among a representative sample, and examined the extent to which the problem is a public priority for developing interventions aimed at preventing and reducing the rates of suicide. The findings revealed that despite the prevalence of suicide in Israel, and even though many of the participants had been personally acquainted with the families of suicide victims, suicide still ranks low on the hierarchy of bereavement. The Israeli public is ignorant about suicide, and does not consider it a problem that calls for government intervention and accountability. The study highlights the need for social workers to play an active role as social agents in an attempt to change the social ‘bereavement pyramid’ perception and effect on government policy toward suicide.     

Las Comadres and adult day care centers: The perceived impact of socialization on mental wellness

Using a semi-structured interview format, this study examined the narratives of 24 Mexican-American, elderly impoverished women in order to gain their perception of the effects of adult day care centers (ADCs) on their mental and physical wellness. Some of the emergent themes and categories included 1) popular activities, crafts, dances, prayers and services, 2) depression, isolation and boredom 3) family stress, children living far away, history of verbal and physical abuse, 4) reliance on other comadres, and 5) perceived positive affect of ADCs and socialization on health, easing of depression, and relying on other comadres. Pearlin's Stress Process Model [Pearlin, L. I. 1999. “The Stress Process Revisited: Reflections on Concepts and their Interrelationships”. Pp. 395–415 in Handbook of the Sociology of Mental Health, edited by C. S. Aneshensel and J. C. Phelan. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.] provides explanations for the buffering effects of socialization and activities that ADCs provide. Data suggests that ADC activities buffer stress related to growing old and play an important role in alleviating depression.     

Effects of visual and verbal sexual television content and perceived realism on attitudes and beliefs

Previous studies of the effects of sexual television content have resulted in mixed findings. Based on the information processing model of media effects, I proposed that the messages embodied n such content, the degree to which viewers perceive television content as realistic, and whether sexual content is conveyed using visual or verbal symbols may influence the nature or degree of such effects. I explored this possibility through an experiment in which 182 college undergraduates were exposed to visual or verbal sexual television content, neutral television content, or no television at all prior to completing measures of sexual attitudes and beliefs. Although exposure to sexual content generally did not produce significant main effects, it did influence the attitudes of those who perceive television to be relatively realistic. Verbal sexual content was found to influence beliefs about women's sexual activity among the same group.     

Effects of visual and verbal sexual television content and perceived realism on attitudes and beliefs

Previous studies of the effects of sexual television content have resulted in mixed findings. Based on the information processing model of media effects, I proposed that the messages embodied in such content, the degree to which viewers perceive television content as realistic, and whether sexual content is conveyed using visual or verbal symbols may influence the nature or degree of such effects. I explored this possibility through an experiment in which 182 college undergraduates were exposed to visual or verbal sexual television content, neutral television content, or no television at all prior to completing measures of sexual attitudes and beliefs. Although exposure to sexual content generally did not produce significant main effects, it did influence the attitudes of those who perceive television to be relatively realistic. Verbal sexual content was found to influence beliefs about women's sexual activity among the same group.     

Art in my world: Exploring the visual art experiences in the everyday lives of young children and their impact on cultural capital

This paper presents data from a unique longitudinal study exploring the visual art experiences of nine children in two Scottish primary schools. Using a theoretical lens of cultural capital, the study is focused on spaces where children experience visual art and the value of these experiences, using arts-informed, visual methods. While each child presented a particular insight, the findings question the value of current school visual art experience over other spaces. The findings also demonstrate the capacity of children to resist the control of cultural capital by adults, engaging with visual art on their own terms.     

Changes in health, mortality, and disability and their impact on long-term care needs

The need for long-term care is driven both by the growth of the elderly population and changes in the age relations of morbidity, disability, and mortality. Data show these relations changed in the U.S. elderly population from 1982 to 1989. Chronic disability prevalence declined between the 1982 and 1989 U.S. National Long Term Care Surveys. Among those impaired, many persons using personal assistance to meet their needs shifted to the use of assisted housing and special equipment. The relation of these trends to other changes--such as the increasing educational level of the elderly population--is examined to estimate how future changes in disability and morbidity may affect the demand for long-term care. Disabilities at specific times as well as their transition rates were examined to determine how long individuals need long-term care. The analyses suggest that, while the amount of long-term care services needed will increase rapidly, the types and amounts of services used by the U.S. elderly population will undergo significant change.     

Influences of the edge radius of curvature of tactile dots and bars on their Discriminability

Tactile dots and bars serve as tactile landmarks so that people with visual impairment can use same consumer products as those used by sighted people. However, reliable age-related data on the appropriate sizes and the shapes was not necessarily available. The purpose of this study is to evaluate influences of edge radius of curvature of tactile dots and bars on their discriminability in younger and older people to determine the appropriate size of tactile bars (as distinguished from tactile dots). Sighted younger and older participants tactually discriminated the tactile dots and bars presented individually, in random order, by a two-alternative forced-choice task. The results showed that both participants discriminated tactile bars from tactile dots faster and more accurately as the dimensional difference between bar length and width increased, regardless of conditions of edge radius of curvature. Therefore, longer dimensional difference between width and length of tactile bars is an important factor to discriminate tactile bars correctly. On the other hand, tactile dots with a larger edge radius of curvature have higher discriminability than tactile dots with a smaller edge radius of curvature in the case of dots of identical height.     

Experience of technological and natural disasters and their impact on the perceived risk of nuclear accidents after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan 2011: A cross-country analysis

This paper uses cross-country data compiled immediately after the Fukushima nuclear accident to investigate how the experience of such disasters affects the perception of the risk of nuclear accidents. Estimation results show that the perceived risk of a nuclear accident is positively associated with experiencing technological disasters but not with that of natural disasters.     

Parent-adolescent concordance on perceived need for mental health services and its impact on service use

Mental health service underutilization among African American adolescents is well documented, yet not fully understood. Discordance between adolescents and their parents on perceived need for seeing a counselor for an emotional need or psychiatrist for psychiatric or medical services may help explain low service use among this population. This exploratory, prospective study examined the relationship between parent-adolescent concordance on perceived need for emotional counseling or psychiatric services and mental health service use. The relationships between gender and perceived service need and concordance and adolescent severity of depressive symptoms were also explored. Parent-adolescent dyads (n = 108) receiving community-based adolescent outpatient mental health services responded to interview questions concerning their perception of whether an emotional counselor and a psychiatrist were needed in the past six months. Findings revealed low parent-adolescent concordance on perceived need for an emotional counselor and a psychiatrist. A greater proportion of adolescents reported a need than parents. There was no association between gender and perceived need for an emotional counselor and a psychiatrist. Lower rates of parent-adolescent concordance were found among youth reporting elevated depressive symptoms compared to youth reporting normal range symptoms. Concordant dyads kept a higher number of appointments than discordant dyads. Implications for clinical social work practice and future research are discussed.     

Crowdfunding digital platforms: Backer networks and their impact on project outcomes

Crowdfunding platforms serve to connect project creators and backers. Previous research has explored several project and platform determinants that impact crowdfunding outcomes. However, there has been limited research on these determinants at an individual level. Our paper addresses how backers may influence the outcomes of projects in crowdfunding platforms. We explore several methods commonly used in the industry to identify influence and show that centrality measures through a backer affiliation network best exemplifies influence. Using data from Kickstarter, we construct a weighted backer network based on 52,678 common projects backed by 11,134 backers. Controlling for digital media mentions and project quality, we find evidence that backers in central positions within the network have a positive impact on multiple project outcomes such as the project success rates, amount of funds raised, speed of reaching the crowdfunding goal as well as the number of backers contributing to the project. These findings are replicated and reinforced by using data from a different crowdfunding platform using the entire backer network based on 1095 projects backed by 87,896 backers. Several robustness tests are used to validate these results.     

Global Climate Emergency: after COP24, climate science,urgency, and the threat to humanity

ABSTRACT

This Special Editorial on the Climate Emergency makes the case that although we are living in the time of Global Climate Emergency we are not yet acting as if we are in an imminent crisis. The authors review key aspects of the institutional response and climate science over the past several decades and the role of the economic system in perpetuating inertia on reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Humanity is now the primary influence on the planet, and events in and around COP24 are the latest reminder that we live in a pathological system. A political economy has rendered the UNFCCC process as yet a successful failure. Fundamental change is urgently required. The conclusions contain recommendations and a call to action now.     

Obsessive relational intrusion: incidence, perceived severity, and coping

Two studies investigated the phenomenon of obsessive relational intrusion (ORI), defined as repeated and unwanted pursuit and invasion of one's sense of physical or symbolic privacy by another person, either stranger or acquaintance, who desires and/or presumes an intimate relationship. In Study 1, we sought to identify the incidence of a broad range of relationally intrusive behaviors, to identify the coping responses employed by victims of ORI, and to assess the associations between coping responses and ORI behaviors. Study 2 assessed the perceived degree of severity of ORI behaviors. Results revealed that each of 63 ORI behaviors was experienced by 3-78% of respondents in three different samples. Factor analysis revealed four types of ORI behavior: pursuit, violation, threat, and hyper-intimacy. Responses for coping with ORI consisted of interaction, protection, retaliation, and evasion. Virtually all intrusive behaviors were perceived to be annoying. Some types of ORI behaviors were perceived to be relatively more threatening, upsetting and privacy-invading than others. Although sex differences were not observed for the incidence of ORI or coping, women consistently perceived ORI behaviors to be more annoying, upsetting, threatening, and privacy-invading than did men.     

Emotional school engagement among minority youth: the relevance of cultural identity,perceived discrimination,and perceived support

ABSTRACT

Minority student school dropout represents a challenging issue for educational systems in many countries. Notwithstanding minority families' overall high academic aspirations, there is a stable achievement gap between majority and minority students. Minority students who are emotionally engaged with their school tend to be psychologically and socioculturally better adapted to their country of residence and, as a result, report higher academic success. Therefore, emotional school engagement represents a relevant factor for integration into the host society. The goal of this paper is to investigate the interrelation between ethnic and national identity, perceived discrimination, and perceived support from parents, peers, and teachers with emotional school engagement. Results indicate that cultural capital within the family, cultural self-identification, and perceived support from peers and teachers play an important role for students’ emotional school engagement.     

Ergonomic recommendations and their impact on child care workers' health

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact ergonomics has had on the occurrence of musculoskeletal symptoms and injuries among child care workers in Wisconsin using a Classroom and Work Methods Survey developed for this investigation. Information on perceived need for and knowledge of ergonomic interventions, the extent to which ergonomic interventions had been introduced to child care settings, and barriers to implementation of ergonomic recommendations was gathered. Two hundred and fifty-eight respondents completed the survey. The majority of respondents was aware of most (18 of 20) of the recommended ergonomic interventions for child care centers and did not perceive a need to make ergonomic changes. Although the majority of respondents had implemented 15 out of the 20 recommendations, they were currently experiencing musculoskeletal pain while performing their jobs. The results of this study highlight the need for further analysis of specific child care tasks and identification of more effective methods to reduce the risk for musculoskeletal pain and injuries.     

Assistive technology for disabled visual artists: exploring the impact of digital technologies on artistic practice

Abstract

Disabled artists with physical impairments can experience significant barriers in producing creative work. Digital technologies offer alternative opportunities to support artistic practice, but there has been a lack of research investigating the impact of assistive digital tools in this context. This article explores the current practice of physically impaired visual artists and their experiences around the use of digital technologies. An online survey was conducted with professional disabled artists and followed up by face-to-face interviews with 10 invited artists. The findings illustrate the issues disabled artists experience in their practice and highlight how they are commonly using mainstream digital technologies as part of their practice. However, there is little awareness around novel forms of technology (e.g. eye gaze tracking) that present new creative opportunities. The importance of digital tools for supporting wider practice (i.e. administrative and business tasks) was also highlighted as a key area where further work is required.     

Appliances and their impact: the ownership of domestic technology and time spent on household work

Ever since the appearance of Vanek's pioneering article in 1974, there has been a controversy about whether 'labour saving' domestic appliances actually save labour time. Vanek argued that time spent in housework had barely changed since 1926, despite the diffusion of practically every known domestic appliance over this period. Gershuny and Robinson challenge Vanek's 'constancy of housework' thesis, arguing that, between 1965 and 1985, domestic technology has significantly reduced the weekly hours of women's routine housework. Although there is much talking past each other, none of the protagonists in this dispute have any direct data about which households own or do not own domestic appliances. Instead, they all rely on the passage of the years as a proxy for ownership of domestic appliances, since a higher proportion of contemporary households now own domestic appliances. The Australian 1997 Time Use Survey (Australian Bureau of Statistics 1998b) is rare among official surveys, as it simultaneously provides detailed information on time spent in housework and an inventory of household appliances. The analysis of this data show that domestic technology rarely reduces women's unpaid working time and even, paradoxically, produces some increases in domestic labour. The domestic division of labour by gender remains remarkably resistant to technological innovation.