A Longitudinal Examination of the Associations between Fathers' and Children's Attributions and Negative Interactions

The present investigation examined the concurrent and longitudinal relations between attributions and negative behavioral interactions in the context of the father-child dyad. Participants were 177 fathers and their young adolescents recruited from non-metropolitan counties in the southeast. Results indicated that for children, attributions about their father play a significant role in their negative behavioral interactions with their father both within and across time. Interestingly, father's earlier negative behavioral interactions with their children predicted children's subsequent attributions about their father in the longitudinal analyses. In addition, both attributions and behavioral interactions were highly stable across time for both fathers and children.     

Beyond “linking knowledge and action”: towards a practice-based approach to transdisciplinary sustainability interventions

ABSTRACT

The imperative to “link knowledge and action” is widely invoked as a defining characteristic of sustainability research. The complexities of sustainability challenges such as climate change and biodiversity loss mean that linear models of knowledge and action, where knowledge is produced first (by researchers) then “applied to” action (by policy actors), are considered insufficient. Researchers have developed more dynamic, open-ended and collaborative forms of policy engagement such as transdisciplinary and co-production research. Although promising these approaches often remain captive to linear assumptions that hinder their transformative potential. We contribute by providing a relational model of knowledge and action rooted in contemporary practice theory. A practice-based approach suggests the primary task of participants in transdisciplinary interventions is to find workable solutions to situations of dynamic complexity that are fundamentally indeterminate and unpredictable. Knowledge is not “applied to” action, but drawn upon, produced and used from within the situation at hand, allowing researchers and policy actors alike to better harness the emergent character of situational developments and outcomes. A practice-based approach provides a conceptual language that captures the experienced complexities of intervening for sustainability, reconfigures the nature of “actionable knowledge,” and identifies appropriate modes of evaluation for transdisciplinary and co-produced research.     

Culture and contact in the promotion and reduction of anti-gay prejudice: evidence from Jamaica and Britain

Jamaica has been called "the most homophobic place on Earth" ( Padgett, 2006 , p. 1), and has been involved in numerous international incidents with Britain, and other countries, concerning anti-gay prejudice. However, neither the severity of Jamaican anti-gay prejudice, nor any means of reducing this prejudice has ever been empirically investigated. Intergroup contact-social interaction with a person from another group-is one of the most successful and widely used social-psychological interventions to reduce prejudice and improve intergroup relations. In this article, we compared sexual prejudice in Jamaica to that in Britain and investigated the relationship between contact and sexual prejudice in both countries. Jamaican participants reported more negative attitudes toward gay men than did British participants, but contact was more strongly associated with reduced sexual prejudice for Jamaican participants than for British participants. Implications for reducing Jamaican sexual prejudice are discussed.     

Trends in smoking cessation: a Markov model approach

Intervention trials such as studies on smoking cessation may observe multiple, discrete outcomes over time. When the outcome is binary, participant observations may alternate between two states over the course of the study. The generalized estimating equation (GEE) approach is commonly used to analyze binary, longitudinal data in the context of independent variables. However, the sequence of observations may be assumed to follow a Markov chain with stationary transition probabilities when observations are made at fixed time points. Participants favoring the transition to one particular state over the other would be evidence of a trend in the observations. Using a log-transformed trend parameter, the determinants of a trend in a binary, longitudinal study may be evaluated by maximizing the likelihood function. A new methodology is presented here to test for the presence and determinants of a trend in binary, longitudinal observations. Empirical studies are evaluated and comparisons are made with the GEE approach. Practical application of the proposed method is made to the data available from an intervention study on smoking cessation.     

Reconceptualizing and expanding the positive feedback network effects model: A case study

During the 1980s, economists developed the concept of positive network effects and switching costs as the key dynamics of de facto standards competition. They concluded that a positive feedback loop usually “tips” a market to the standard with the most users and complementary assets. While recent scholars have acknowledged that not all markets tip, and suggested some possible limitations on this phenomena, these limitations have not been integrated systematically into a model for competition in these industries. Using examples drawn from the standards contests of the past 20 years, this case study develops an integrated model for competition in these industries.     

DSM-5 substance use disorders among college-age young adults in the United States: Prevalence,remission and treatment

Abstract

Objective: To determine the prevalence, remission, and treatment associated with DSM-5 substance use disorders (SUDs) among young adults based on college attendance. Participants: The population-based sample included 2,057 young adults aged 19–23 in college/school and 1,213 not currently attending college/school who participated from April 2012 through June 2013. Methods: Face-to-face interviews were conducted as part of a cross-sectional national survey. Results: The prevalence of any past-year DSM-5 SUD was 39.6% among young adults in college and 44.5% among those not attending college. Past-year tobacco use disorder and multiple DSM-5 SUDs were more prevalent among those not attending college. Among those with prior-to-past-year SUDs, abstinent remission was low among college (1.0%) and noncollege (1.9%) young adults. Conclusions: Approximately two in five U.S. college students had at least one past-year DSM-5 SUD. Sustained abstinent remission from SUDs is extremely rare (1–2%) and the majority of those with SUDs do not receive treatment.