Sampling Television Programs for Content Analysis of Sex on TV: How Many Episodes are Enough?

Content analysis is widely used to analyze sexual themes and messages on television. Although researchers generally use a sampling procedure to identify programs for analysis, there is currently no gold standard for the number of episodes needed to establish a valid, representative sample. This study sought to explore how many episodes of weekly television programs should be examined for an accurate assessment of sexual content present throughout the season. Various sampling strategies were used to select episodes from programs that ran in the 1998–1999 season, and results were compared with data collected from all episodes of these programs to test representativeness. Findings suggest that to provide a representative assessment of sexual content on television programs for behavior-level variables, a random sample of five episodes of weekly television programs is sufficient, while three episodes may be acceptable if variation is minimal. A random sample of seven episodes is needed for character-based analyses.     

Transitions of Youth in Mental Health Residential Care to Less Restrictive Settings: The Role of Strengths and Gender

ABSTRACT

Changes in youth's behavioral/psychosocial functioning has been found to play an important role in the transitions from mental health residential care to less restrictive settings, and this functioning differs significantly by gender. However, there has been little attention paid to the roles played by psychosocial strength and gender in transitions out of residential care. The current study examined gender differences in the role of strengths in transitions to less restrictive settings using data on 675 youth's admission and discharge records collected from Illinois Residential Treatment Outcome System during 2005–2007 (Mean age = 15 years, SD = 2.0; 57.5% = boys). The results of multivariate logistic regression model indicated that positive recreational activities and lack of chronic illness were related to a higher likelihood of transitions to less restrictive settings among girls, while appropriate sexual development, psychological strengths, and strong spiritual/religious strengths were related to the transitions among boys. This study demonstrates the potential importance of youth strengths in the provision of mental health services and suggests a need to develop models of outcomes that take gender into account. Additional research based on multiple informants including youth self-report is needed to understand the role of gender in transitions out of residential care.     

Coping Strategies and Caregiving Outcomes Among Rural Dementia Caregivers

We studied the coping styles by which family caregivers living in rural areas of Alabama deal with the demands of caring for an older relative with dementia. Data were obtained from a sample of 141 caregivers through the random-digit dialing telephone survey. Two coping styles were identified: deliberate coping and avoidance coping. Deliberate coping was related to higher life satisfaction scores and, avoidance coping was related to lower life satisfaction scores and higher caregiver burden scores. Avoidance coping appeared to moderate the effects of caregiver health on caregiver burden. Social workers should pay greater attention to caregivers with dysfunctional coping styles.     

Lesbian,Gay, and Heterosexual Couples in Open Adoption Arrangements: A Qualitative Study

Little research has attended to the role of gender and sexual orientation in shaping open adoption dynamics. This qualitative, longitudinal study of 45 adoptive couples (15 lesbian, 15 gay, and 15 heterosexual couples) examined adopters' motivations for open adoption, changes in attitudes about openness, and early relationship dynamics. Key findings revealed that heterosexuals often described feeling drawn to open adoption because they perceived it as the only option, insomuch as few agencies were facilitating closed adoptions. In contrast, sexual minorities often appreciated the philosophy of openness whereby they were not encouraged to lie about their sexual orientation in order to adopt. Attitudes about openness varied over time, and changes in attitudes were attributed to a variety of factors such as perceived birth parent characteristics and the perceived nature of the birth parent relationship. Overall, although some participants reported tensions with birth parents over time, most reported satisfying relationships.     

Assisting older victims of disasters: roles and responsibilities for social workers

The tumultuous catastrophic tragedies of the Oklahoma bombing in 1995 and September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon have caused urgency for the profession of social work to be ready to respond to unexpected crises whether directed to an individual, group, or nation. While there has always been the possibility of tragedies in the U.S. caused by nature (so-called "acts of God") or the spontaneous or planned acts of criminals or the deranged, the increased awareness of catastrophes includes, as never before, disasters that are perpetrated by terrorist acts from within or outside of the U.S. The creation of the Department of Homeland Security, in 2003, underscores the need for awareness and for preparation on the part of the nation. Based upon its skills and values, social workers have significant roles to play in the face of potential and actual disasters; yet, gerontological social workers have additional responsibilities for addressing the needs of older persons. It is the purpose of this article to provide an overview of issues to be considered by social workers, in general, and gerontological social workers, in particular, with regard to preparation for possible disasters and the consequences from such catastrophes that affect older persons.     

Interpersonal Emotion Regulation in the Workplace: A Conceptual and Operational Review and Future Research Agenda

Employees need to regulate their own emotions as well as the emotions of others to enhance the quality of interactions with their colleagues. How well this is achieved has important outcomes for both employees and the organizations in which they work. In the field of organizational science, however, differing approaches have emerged regarding the conceptualization and operationalization of emotion regulation (ER) particularly in terms of interpersonal interactions. The present review examines contemporary theoretical perspectives of ER and its measurement with a view to resolving the confusion that currently exists around interpersonal ER in a workplace context. To understand how this field of research has developed so diversely, the authors begin by demonstrating the influence of three major individual‐level ER models on interpersonal‐level approaches: (1) the ER process model; (2) emotional labor; and (3) emotional intelligence. Moreover, to make sense of the range of interpersonal‐level research underpinned by these theories, the authors present a 2×2 categorization, developed by Zaki and Williams (2013), which shows how workplace researchers have variously approached interpersonal ER as an intrinsic vs. extrinsic process, with activation of either response‐dependent or response‐independent categories. This categorization broadly shows interpersonal ER theory used in work contexts tends to fall into four groupings as: (1) a purely extrinsic process; (2) a differentiation of extrinsic interpersonal from intrinsic individual ER; (3) co‐occurring intrinsic and extrinsic interpersonal ER; or (4) interpersonal coregulation. This paper also discusses the measurement of interpersonal ER and concludes by highlighting emerging research directions.     

ON THE SENSITIVITY OF BRAND-CHOICE SIMULATIONS TO ATTRIBUTE IMPORTANCE WEIGHTS

This paper critically reviews the report by Green, DeSarbo, and Kedia “on the insensitivity of brand-choice simulations to attribute importance weights”. The review suggests that results from two of their four weight distortion conditions should be viewed with suspicion and that their procedure for selecting brand scores biased the sensitivity analysis and inflated individual-level hit rates. The most unfortunate problem is that their simulation-experimental design precludes a global test of the main research issue. Results are presented from an alternative simulation approach that has the power to detect the sensitivity of brand shares to a wide range of conditions that affect the shape of attribute weight distributions. The results suggest that conclusions of Green, DeSarbo, and Kedia apply only to a limited domain and would not obtain in many likely market situations. Extensions to nonadditive decision structures are suggested and several unresolved issues are outlined.