Support for Climate Change Policy: Social Psychological and Social Structural Influences*

Abstract We investigated preferences for climate change mitigation policies and factors contributing to higher levels of policy support. The sample was comprised of 316 Michigan and Virginia residents, all of whom completed mail surveys. Of the eight policies proposed to reduce the burning of fossil fuels, respondents overwhelmingly indicated they would not support a gas tax, while support was highest for shifting subsidies away from fossil fuels and towards sustainable energy strategies. With the exception of taxes on gasoline and “gas guzzlers,” a majority of respondents supported all other mitigation policies. Multivariate analyses revealed that greater trust in environmentalists and less trust in industry, greater recognition of the consequences of climate change, higher income, being black, and older age were predictive of greater policy support. Personal values (e.g., altruism), future orientation, and political affiliation were strong predictors of policy support but only indirectly via worldviews and environmental beliefs.     

Fetal Positions: Unraveling the Influence of Religion on Premarital Pregnancy Resolution*

Objective. This study illustrates the ways religiosity and denominational affiliation influence the probability that a young woman will have an abortion. Methods. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), measures of sexual behavior, out‐of‐wedlock pregnancy, and out‐of‐wedlock pregnancy resolution are regressed on religiosity and denominational affiliation. Results. Religiosity indirectly reduces the likelihood that a woman will have an abortion by reducing the probability that she will have an out‐of‐wedlock pregnancy. Among women who conceive out of wedlock, religiosity increases the likelihood of marriage before birth, and thereby reduces the probability of abortion. However, among women who conceive out of wedlock and do not marry before birth, religiosity is unrelated to the probability of having an abortion. Conclusions. Religiosity affects the probability that a woman will obtain an abortion more through its influence on choices about sex and marriage, and less through its influence on attitudes about abortion.     

Mothers' Reports of Events Causing Anger Differ Across Family Relationships

Mother's reports of anger causes within the family were analyzed in terms of the family relationships of the persons experiencing and eliciting anger and three independent components of the anger-eliciting event—Type of Cause, Focus of Anger, and Temporal Specificity. Mothers' reports suggest substantial differences (a) in anger causes across relationships, (b) depending on whether parents or children were experiencing or eliciting anger events, and (c) for the three independent components of the anger events. For example, for type of cause, mothers' reports indicated more expectancy violations for parents' than children's anger, but more goal blockages for children's than parents' anger. Also, elicitormattered; mothers' reports indicated more goal blockages elicited by parents than by children, but more expectancy violations elicited by children than by parents. These patterns are interpreted in terms of differential power and status within the family.     

Squaring Farm Security and Food Security in Two Types of Alternative Food Institutions*

Abstract Even though both farmers' markets and community supported agriculture were first developed to provide markets for farmers, recently the goals of food security have been attached to these market‐based alternative food institutions, based on their potential to be 'win‐win” economic solutions for both small‐scale farmers and low‐income consumers. This article reports on survey and interview research conducted in California during 2004–2005 designed to examine to what extent CSAs and farmers' markets are addressing food security in both concept and practice. Findings show that managers of these institutions generally support the idea of improving the affordability of the food they provide, and most have made an effort to do so, although these efforts vary with institutional capacity. Still, some hedged their interest in supporting food security goals with countervailing concerns such as the need to support farmers first. It is ironic, then, that the way that private CSAs and farmers' markets achieve some elements of food security is by virtue of the support of public food assistance programs.     

CLIENTS ROLE CHOICES: UNEXPLORED FACTORS IN INTERVENTION DECISIONS

The role of the client in social work interventions has not been extensively explored in the professional literature. However, the client role varies significantly in different models of care and carries vast differences in the expectations and behaviors required of clients in the process. Clients’ individual characteristics, preferences, and expectations make them better suited to some approaches than others. This paper explores the change in perspectives on consumers emerging in the field and analyzes client role factors in four intervention models. It will also discuss the “fit” between the client and the particular approach as well as implications for outcomes and evidence-based practice.     

Globalizing Firms and Small Communities: The Apparel Industry's Changing Connection to Rural Labor Markets*

Abstract This paper explores changing relationships between apparel firms and rural labor markets in Wisconsin over the last decade. Mainstream explanations of recent changes in the apparel industry suggest that rural communities will lose tedious or physically demanding, low‐skilled apparel manufacturing jobs but will gain more information‐intensive and desirable “apparel service” employment. Through case studies of apparel firms located in two Wisconsin communities, the paper argues that current changes in the industry not only affect communities unevenly but, even in regions where apparel service firms have provided significant numbers of new jobs, these jobs are less well paid, more casually structured, and less secure than manufacturing employment has been. The paper argues that current concepts of the economic embeddedness of firms in communities need to be refined to permit consideration of the kinds of leverage and voice that community organizations have in confronting new forms of corporate capital. The two case studies demonstrate that corporate embeddedness and its labor market outcomes are linked to changes in the global market in which firms compete.     

Audience effects in affective imagery: Replication and extension to dysphoric imagery

Subjects imagined situations during which they reported feeling happiness, sadness, anger, or fear, at both low and high levels of imagined sociality. Electromyographic (EMG) activity was recorded from four facial sites overlying the left forehead, brow, cheek, and lip. Controlling for reported emotion, facial EMG activity was influenced by the sociality of the imagery. Results corroborate previous findings of imaginary audience effects on smiling, and extend these effects to imagined situations that elicit dysphoria.This research was supported in part by a University of California Academic Senate grant to the first author. We thank Norman Severe for his assistance in running subjects.     

College Women’s Plans for Different Types of Egalitarian Marriages

This study examined college women’s plans for egalitarian marriages. One hundred and forty‐four heterosexual undergraduate women completed surveys about their preferences for different life scenarios and their attitudes about work and family life. The pattern of their preferences showed a distinction between home‐centered, balanced, and job‐centered egalitarian families. Regressions showed that gender ideology, ideas about parenting and motherhood, career orientation, and family dynamics were associated differentially with the three types of egalitarian families, which reflected the different values that underlay the pursuit of each. The results also cast doubt on whether outsourcing is truly an egalitarian path. Outsourcing domestic labor may simply be a means for women to pursue careers without achieving real equality in families.     

Investigating the Effects of Mediated and Passive Prompts on Pedestrian and Bicycle Lane Adherence on a College Campus Footbridge

The current study investigated the effects of passive prompts (e.g., posted signs) and mediated prompts (e.g., spoken reminders) encouraging the lane adherence behavior of pedestrians, bicyclists, and other transportation users (i.e., skateboarders, people riding scooters, etc.) on a college campus. Results showed an increased percentage of bridge user lane adherence compared to baseline in both the mediated and passive prompting conditions, with mediated prompting yielding higher (but not significantly higher) adherence measures across sessions. The feasibility and comparative effectiveness of each prompting method are discussed.     

Thirty‐Year Trends in U.S. Adolescents' Civic Engagement: A Story of Changing Participation and Educational Differences

Using annual cross‐sectional data from Monitoring the Future, the present study examined trends in high school seniors' current and anticipated civic participation and beliefs over a 30‐year period. We examined overall trends and patterns based on youths' post‐high school educational plans. Findings point to declines in recent cohorts' involvement in conventional and alternative forms of engagement but greater involvement in community service. Regardless of period, the majority of youth said they intended to vote when eligible, but few expressed trust in the government or elected officials. All civic indicators showed significant differences based on youths' college aspirations: Youth who planned to graduate from a 4‐year college were more civically inclined than their peers with 2‐year or no college plans.