Content and citation analyses of public relations review

This study analyzed 161 cited and 177 uncited articles published in Public Relations Review (1975–1993) to determine if three independent variables—research methods, type of statistics, and topics—influenced whether or not articles were cited in other research articles. Significant differences were found between quantitative and qualitative research methods ( = 3.20, = .002) and topics (χ²(3,1)) = 10.47, = .01), but not by type of statistics. Topics also differed by years with professional topics the most published category and technical topics the least published. The authors provide tables listing the most cited authors, their university affiliations, and the journals citing their articles.     

Racial/Ethnic Minority Vocational Research: A Content and Trend Analysis Across 36 Years

The authors examined 281 racial/ethnic minority (REM) career‐related studies published in the Journal of Vocational Behavior, The Career Development Quarterly (CDQ), the Journal of Career Assessment (JCA), and the Journal of Career Development between 1969 and 2004. Publication trends, article content and type, samples, and leading author and institutional contributors are reported. CDQ published the largest percentage of these articles (33.5%, n = 94), whereas JCA had the largest percentage (13%) of REM career articles relative to other articles it published during this time frame. There was an increase in the number of REM career articles being published across the years.     

Racial/Ethnic Minority Vocational Research Trends: An 11‐Year Update

This study extends Flores et al.'s ( 2006 ) 36‐year analysis of racial/ethnic minority (REM) career research to identify recent trends in choice of topics and leading individual and institutional contributors. The authors identified 166 articles on REM career research published from 2005 to 2015 in the Journal of Vocational Behavior, The Career Development Quarterly, the Journal of Career Assessment, and the Journal of Career Development. Of these studies, 92% were empirical, with more than three quarters of these using quantitative rather than qualitative methodology. Most frequently, the empirical studies (n = 153) were based on samples of high school (30.7%) or undergraduate (34.6%) students. The authors discuss the implications of their findings and suggest ways to expand REM career research in the future.     

The Treatment of Relationship Status in Research on Dating and Mate Selection

The relationship status of study participants (e.g., daters, cohabitors, marrieds, or unmarrieds) has implications for understanding dating and mate selection. Procedures used in studies may blur or ignore status distinctions. The authors examined methods used in 791 studies published from 1991 – 2001. Most commonly, status of participants is unspecified, and different statuses are collapsed for analysis. Status of participants is associated with recruitment method, and type (e.g., romantic, friendship) and form (e.g., perceived, current) of relationship measured. Unspecified samples are associated with research on the topics of universal properties or causal conditions, and specified samples with mate selection. The connection between status and topic is becoming more blurred over time. Recommendations for studying and reporting status are provided.     

Charting Trends in Rural Sociology: 1986–1995

Abstract Christenson and Garkovich (1985) reported on trends in the first 50 years of Rural Sociology; this note employs a similar analytic framework for the 292 articles and research commentaries published from 1986 to 1995. While particular topics ebb and flow in terms of their importance, there continues to be a consistent focus on the substantive issues of traditional concern. Predictions in 1985 as to what the next retrospective would show proved to be fairly accurate. Applied empirical and quantitative studies continue to dominate the pages of the journal, but other types (e.g., qualitative and historical studies) now appear with greater frequency. The theoretical foundation of rural sociology has been enriched with conceptual frameworks from general sociology and other social sciences. New twists on the traditional concerns of agricultural constituencies and rural community leaders have broadened the range of topics addressed, reflecting the major social structures, processes, and issues currently affecting rural peoples and communities. The article concludes with an interpretation of recent trends and speculations on future directions.     

Relationship Quality in Marital and Cohabiting Unions Across Europe

In this study, the authors used data from the first wave of the Generations and Gender Survey to investigate relationship quality among currently married and cohabiting individuals ages 18 to 55 (N = 41,760) in 8 European countries (Bulgaria, France, Germany, Hungary, Norway, Romania, Russia, and The Netherlands). They expected to find fewer differences between cohabitation and marriage in countries where cohabitation is widespread. Controlling for a range of selection characteristics of respondents and their partners (e.g., common children, union duration, and education), the analyses showed that in all countries cohabiters more often had breakup plans and were less satisfied with their relationships than individuals who married. This cohabitation gap in relationship quality was largest in Russia, Romania, and Germany, which indeed were among the countries in the current sample where cohabitation was least prevalent.     

Intersectional Epistemologies of Ignorance: How Behavioral and Social Science Research Shapes What We Know,Think We Know,and Don’t Know About U.S. Black Men’s Sexualities

Epistemologies of ignorance describe how ignorance influences the production of knowledge. Advancing an intersectional epistemologies of ignorance approach that examines how conscious (or unconscious) ignorance about racism, heterosexism, and classism shapes empirical knowledge about Black men’s sexualities, we conducted a critical review of the behavioral and social science research on U.S. Black men, ages 18 and older, for two time frames: pre-1981 and the most recent decade, 2006–2016. Our search yielded 668 articles, which we classified into five categories: sexual violence, sexual experiences and expressions, sexual identities, cultural and social-structural influences, and sexual health and sexual risk. We found that most of the research, particularly pre-1981, centered the experiences of White heterosexual men as normative and implicitly constructed Black men as hypersexual or deviant. Most of the research also color-blinded White privilege and ignored how racism, heterosexism, and classism structured Black men’s inequities. We also found notable exceptions to these trends. Black men who are gay, bisexual, or who have sex with men, and research on HIV risk were prominent in the past decade, as was research that emphasized the social-structural (e.g., poverty, heterosexism, racism) and cultural (e.g., masculinity, religion) contexts of Black men’s lives and sexualities. We provide 10 recommendations to avoid intersectional epistemic ignorance in future research.     

Multicultural and International Research in Four Career Development Journals: An 11‐Year Content Analysis

In an increasingly diverse and global society, it is important to evaluate the cultural responsiveness of vocational research. The authors examined trends in the publication of multicultural‐focused articles from 2005 to 2015 in 4 journals: The Career Development Quarterly, the Journal of Career Assessment, the Journal of Career Development, and the Journal of Vocational Behavior. Methodological, thematic, and construct trends were examined across the identity categories of gender, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, gender identity, ability status, religion/spirituality, age, immigration status, and international research. Results showed increases in social class and international research but continued neglect of sexual orientation, gender identity, and ability status. The themes of career exploration and promoting agency received the most attention; equity in work settings received the least. Findings suggest that more research with underrepresented groups is needed and that counselors may need to rely on resources outside the current literature to ensure best practices with these clients.     

Experience of Racism as a Correlate of Developmental and Health Outcomes Among Urban Adolescent Mental Health Clients

Summary

Correlates of race/ethnicity and perceived racism among 760 urban, predominantly Hispanic/Latino and African-American, adolescent mental health clients were investigated using an exploratory, clinical data-mining approach. All racial/ethnic groups reported substantial rates of racism, ranging from 80.0% for Asian/Pacific Islanders to 32.4% for Hispanic/Latinos. Racism was associated with significantly elevated environmental risk (e.g., violence, sexual abuse or assault, exposure to drug use), behavioral risk (e.g., drug use) and worry (e.g., worry about hurting self or others, worry about doing dangerous things). Overall, racism was significantly associated with more negative health and well-being outcomes than ability to get a gun, sexual orientation, and being enrolled in school. The authors conclude that experience of racism should be routinely assessed at intake to mental health services along with traumatic experiences such as physical or sexual abuse.     

Using Values‐Based Webinar Interventions to Facilitate Career‐Life Exploration and Planning

Using a quasi‐experimental design, the authors examined whether career indecision could be reduced by participation in a values‐based career webinar designed to translate various types of psychological data (e.g., Holland‐type themes) into values‐based language. Participants (N = 67; 36 women, 31 men; mean age = 36 years) were divided into 1 control and 2 treatment groups. The 1st treatment group received an interest‐based intervention. The 2nd received a values‐based intervention. Both interventions consisted of 1 additional webinar spanning 1 hour in length. This study demonstrated a statistical significance of career indecision decrease through use of the values‐based, process‐oriented webinar intervention, which is particularly helpful to career counselors working with adults. The study also illustrated the effective application of online technology as a service delivery tool. Future research might examine the efficacy of this intervention in a variety of settings (e.g., K–12, postsecondary, agency, mental health, corporate).     

Occupational Engagement and Academic Major Satisfaction: Vocational Identity's Mediating Role

This study examined vocational identity as a mediator of the relationship between occupational engagement (i.e., participation in a breadth of activities and interactions) and academic major satisfaction. Furthermore, the authors evaluated whether satisfaction with academic major related to academic success (i.e., grade point average). The mediational model was tested in a sample of undergraduate students (N = 215). Results indicated that occupational engagement significantly predicted academic major satisfaction and that vocational identity fully mediated that relationship. These findings support occupational engagement as an important contributor to adaptive career decision making and encourage research on occupational engagement as an intervention point for career counselors.     

Families With Children and Adolescents: A Review,Critique, and Future Agenda

This decade's literature on families with children and adolescents can be broadly organized around the implications for youth of family statuses (e.g., family structure) and family processes (e.g., parenting). These overlapping bodies of research built on past work by emphasizing the dynamic nature of family life and the intersection of families with other ecological settings, exploring race/ethnic diversity, identifying mechanisms connecting family and child/adolescent factors, and taking steps to address the threats to causal inference that have long been a problem for family studies. Continuing these trends in the future will be valuable, as will increasing the number of international comparisons, exploring “new” kinds of family diversity, and capturing the convergence of multiple statuses and processes over time.     

What Does Parental Divorce or Marital Separation Mean for Adolescents? A Scoping Review of North American Literature

Parental divorce in North America and the resulting changes to the traditional family unit as seen in current academic literature are troubling. These changes are especially worrisome as they relate to adolescent life and development. This scoping review examines the past 11 years of North American English language literature concerning adolescents who have experienced parental divorce. Literature was taken from health-related databases using the search terms adolescent and divorce. The resulting articles were analyzed and pared down to 53 papers that adhered to predetermined criteria. Analysis revealed trends in how the studies are conducted as well as seven themes throughout the literature. The authors suggest future research directions based on the trends, themes, and found knowledge gaps in the recent literature.     

Feasibility,Acceptability, and Initial Efficacy of an Online Sexual Health Promotion Program for LGBT Youth: The Queer Sex Ed Intervention

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth experience multiple sexual health inequities driven, in part, by deficits in parental and peer support, school-based sex education programs, and community services. Research suggests that the Internet may be an important resource in the development of sexual health among LGBT youth. We examined the feasibility of recruiting youth in same-sex relationships into an online sexual health intervention, evaluated intervention acceptability, and obtained initial estimates of intervention efficacy. LGBT youth (16 to 20 years old) completed Queer Sex Ed (QSE), an online, multimedia sexual health intervention consisting of five modules. The final sample (N = 202) completed the pretest, intervention, and posttest assessments. The primary study outcomes were sexual orientation identity and self-acceptance (e.g., coming-out self-efficacy), sexual health knowledge (e.g., sexual functioning), relationship variables (e.g., communication skills), and safer sex (e.g., sexual assertiveness). Analyses indicated that 15 of the 17 outcomes were found to be significant (p < .05). Effect sizes ranged from small for sexual orientation (e.g., internalized homophobia) and relationship variables (e.g., communication skills) to moderate for safer sex (e.g., contraceptive knowledge) outcomes. This study demonstrated the feasibility, acceptability, and initial efficacy of QSE, an innovative online comprehensive sexual health program for LGBT youth.     

Battered Immigrant Mexican Women's Perspectives Regarding Abuse and Help-Seeking

SUMMARY

A qualitative, pilot study employing in-depth ethno-graphic interviews was conducted to examine perceptions and attitudes towards abuse and the help-seeking behaviors of a sample of ten battered immigrant Mexican women. Findings indicated that participants' attitudes about seeking help were influenced more by cultural factors (e.g., gender-role expectations, famialism) than by psycho-social stres-sors (e.g., immigrant status, financial dependency). Children's welfare played a salient role in women's decisions about seeking help, both as a deterrent and a motivating factor. Women's attitudes about their own abuse were more tolerant than their attitudes about hypothetical situations involving others. Changes in women's attitudes about abuse reflected changes only after some type of intervention had taken place. The majority of the women in the sample had misconceptions or were uninformed about shelters. Suggestions for further research and intervention with this population and a model of internal and external determinants of help-seeking behavior are presented.     

The intellectual and scientific basis of science,technology and innovation research

There has been a considerable increase in the literature devoted to innovation in the past few decades. This research area is characterized by prolific interdisciplinary connections and no single domain is able to embrace all aspects of science, technology and innovation. By analyzing nearly 60,000 references included in the 1442 articles published between 1974 and 2007 in the area's seed journal, Research Policy (RP), we have uncovered the following patterns: (1) the most important sources of knowledge are associated with “core” economics (mostly mainstream) and management sources, even though the importance of innovation-related sources has been rising; (2) the degree of autonomy of science, technology and innovation research is still weak, revealing its incipience and lack of a unified theoretical framework; (3) the most influential authors and studies follow heterodox approaches, namely the evolutionary approach (e.g. Richard R. Nelson) and the European approach to innovation (e.g. Keith Pavitt and Chris Freeman), although it is rather surprising that one of the most widely recognized founding fathers of innovation-related studies, Joseph Schumpeter, is absent from the top-10 cited authors list; and (4) the ranking of the most influential studies highlights the relevance of the evolutionary paradigm, with its focus on the capabilities and routines of firms, and the policy-driven nature of topics, evidencing the pervasiveness of the literature on the National System of Innovation.     

A Content Analysis of Quantitative Research in Journal of Marital and Family Therapy: A 10‐Year Review

We examined the trends of quantitative research over the past 10 years in the Journal of Marital and Family Therapy (JMFT). Specifically, within the JMFT, we investigated the types and trends of research design and statistical analysis within the quantitative research that was published in JMFT from 2005 to 2014. We found that while the amount of peer‐reviewed articles have increased over time, the percentage of quantitative research has remained constant. We discussed the types and trends of statistical analysis and the implications for clinical work and training programs in the field of marriage and family therapy.     

Attrition rate in infant fNIRS research: A meta-analysis

Understanding the trends and predictors of attrition rate, or the proportion of collected data that is excluded from the final analyses, is important for accurate research planning, assessing data integrity, and ensuring generalizability. In this pre-registered meta-analysis, we reviewed 182 publications in infant (0–24 months) functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) research published from 1998 to April 9, 2020, and investigated the trends and predictors of attrition. The average attrition rate was 34.23% among 272 experiments across all 182 publications. Among a subset of 136 experiments that reported the specific reasons for subject exclusion, 21.50% of the attrition was infant-driven, while 14.21% was signal-driven. Subject characteristics (e.g., age) and study design (e.g., fNIRS cap configuration, block/trial design, and stimulus type) predicted the total and subject-driven attrition rates, suggesting that modifying the recruitment pool or the study design can meaningfully reduce the attrition rate in infant fNIRS research. Based on the findings, we established guidelines for reporting the attrition rate for scientific transparency and made recommendations to minimize the attrition rates. This research can facilitate developmental cognitive neuroscientists in their quest toward increasingly rigorous and representative research.     

What's (Not) Wrong With Low‐Income Marriages

In the United States, low marriage rates and high divorce rates among the poor have led policymakers to target this group for skills‐ and values‐based interventions. The current research evaluated the assumptions underlying these interventions; specifically, the authors examined whether low‐income respondents held less traditional values toward marriage, had unrealistic standards for marriage, and had more problems managing relational problems than higher income respondents. They assessed these issues in a stratified random sample that oversampled low‐income and non‐White populations (N = 6,012). The results demonstrated that, relative to higher income respondents, low‐income respondents held more traditional values toward marriage, had similar romantic standards for marriage, and experienced similar skills‐based relationship problems. Low‐income groups had higher economic standards for marriage and experienced more problems related to economic and social issues (e.g., money, drinking/drug use) than did higher income respondents. Thus, efforts to save low‐income marriages should directly confront the economic and social realities these couples face.