Women’s work and “women’s work”: LDS dual-earner couples and the work–family nexus

In the context of religious expectations that their primary obligations should be child care and maintenance of the home, how do Church of Latter-day Saint (LDS) women and their spouses view the relationship between women’s work and the family? Are these perceptions similar or dissimilar for men and women? This study addresses the work–family nexus by examining associations among religiosity, traditional gender ideology, work-to-family spillover, and family cohesion using data from a random sample of dual-earner LDS couples. Our findings indicate that for LDS men, women’s work outside the home is negatively associated with perceptions of family cohesion. However, this relationship is not significant for women. Gender, therefore, is a key factor in how women’s work is perceived among dual-earner Latter-day Saints.     

Job insecurity and coworker support among U.S. Workers

Abstract

The negative outcomes associated with job insecurity have been well established in the literature. Yet, scholars know very little about how job insecurity is related to coworker relationships in the workplace. Informed by the life stress perspective, this study examines the relationship between job insecurity and coworker support among U.S. workers. It also considers whether relationships diverge by gender. We use data from a nationally representative sample of U.S. workers (N?=?2,822) to examine these relationships. The results showed that job insecurity was negatively related to coworker support among both men and women, with no evidence of gender disparities. Altogether, the findings suggest job insecurity is damaging to the workplace environment, creating barriers to supportive coworker relationships among both men and women.     

Parental Divorce and College Students’ Persistence and Degree Attainment

The purpose of this study is to analyze whether college students from divorced families are more or less likely than their peers to persist and graduate in 4, 5, or 6 years. Utilizing data from the 2007 Cooperative Institutional Research Program survey of first-year students, the results of multinomial logistic regression analyses suggest that students whose parents were divorced were significantly less likely to graduate in 4, 5, or 6 years. These findings held controlling for demographic variables, precollege academic indicators, college experiences, and academic motivation.     

Challenges of Using Secondary Data to Study Rural Caregiving within the United States

When health fails, rural residents often turn to informal caregivers for assistance and are more likely to do so than those living in urban areas. Scholarship is clear in demonstrating the many burdens that accrue to those providing informal care. Furthermore, caregivers in rural areas face amplified health disparities and stressors, and limited access to resources and formalized supports. Yet, the study of informal caregiving within geographic context is made difficult by the limitations inherent in existing secondary data sources. In this report, we discuss three available data sources that provide information about US caregivers: the National Family Alliance Caregiving in the US Survey; Health and Retirement Survey; and National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States. These datasets illustrate common challenges of studying rural caregiving, including how to define rural residence, issues with data access, and difficulties attaining an adequate sample size. After reviewing these methodological issues, we identify two additional data sources that while promising, suffer from challenges of their own. We conclude by offering suggestions about how to capture the unique experiences of rural caregivers beyond the use of secondary data.     

‘You care for your work; I'll care for your family’: perceptions of paternalistic managerial actions and employee commitment in Mexico

This study focuses on paternalism as a managerial strategy to foster employee commitment. Using in-depth, qualitative interviews during extended fieldwork at a Mexican multinational company, I examine employee perceptions of managerial actions within the context of workplace transformation. Employees perceived management as caring toward them and their families and characterized the workplace as a considerate and respectful environment. Employees interpreted managerial actions positively because a company cooperative provided family-supportive policies and cultivated a family-supportive culture, even after workplace transformation. Rather than disrupt the paternalistic practices, management combined them with the new strategic management practices. In exchange, employees were committed to the organization as evidenced by expressions of loyalty, pride, and appreciation. With its focus on how a specific family-supportive setting matters in the global south, this study extends the research on managerial strategies to promote employee commitment.     

Influence of human population size and the built environment on avian assemblages in urban green spaces

While studies of how habitat patch dynamics structures avian communities in urban environments has received some attention, there is considerably less known of how the built environment and human population size may influence the structuring of urban bird communities. We investigated bird populations in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (U.S.A.) through replicated point count surveys of breeding birds in 50 parks and cemeteries of varying sizes. We counted 4,435 individual birds in 441 counts. Of the 61 species detected, 27 were rare (detected at <8 points). Migratory species accounted for 46.1 % of all individuals, while 23.2 % of all individuals were of introduced species. Species richness increased significantly with green area size, as did the number of rare species. Species diversity decreased significantly with an increase in the proportion of individuals of introduced species; in particular, cavity nesters were less abundant when introduced species were present. Elements of the built urban environment including commercial development and transportation corridors were associated with significant reductions in park-wide species richness, mean number of species per point, and mean number of individual birds recorded per point. Human population size was positively related to increased numbers of individuals of introduced species, but a lower mean number of species per point. Ours is among the first to identify specific relationships between avian population characteristics and human population size, as few other studies have specifically incorporated human population size into a local, fine grain study design. Our data suggest that human population size is an important parameter that can be measured independently of characteristics of the built environment and the physical characteristics of the park itself as a correlate of avian diversity and abundance. Our study points to a variety of trade-offs needed to manage habitat for birds in urban settings.     

Work-Family Conflict Among Dual-Earners: Are Partner,Family, and Friends Resources or Liabilities?

Using dyadic data from a random sample of dual-earner couples from an upper Midwestern city in the US (N?=?99), this study examined how each partner’s strain and support from family, partner, and friends relate to work-family conflict. The findings showed several significant relationships. Among men, friend support was associated with lower work-to-family conflict and higher family-to-work conflict, whereas partner support was related to lower family-to-work conflict. Partner strain was associated with work-to-family conflict among women and family-to-work conflict among men. Men’s friend support was related to less work-to-family conflict among women, and women’s family support was associated with less family-to-work conflict among men. Men’s friend strain was associated with higher family-to-work conflict among women. The implications of these findings were discussed, with an eye towards identifying theoretical and practical implications of this study.     

A meta-analytic review and future research agenda of charismatic leadership

Charismatic leadership is a critical construct that draws much attention from both academic and practitioner literatures. Despite the positive attention received by the charisma construct, some have criticized its conceptualization and measurement. These critiques have, in turn, cast doubt on what we know regarding the antecedents and outcomes of charismatic leadership. In this review, we adopt a recently developed definition of charismatic leadership and then conduct a meta-analysis of its antecedents and objective outcomes. Following an examination of 76 independent studies and 36,031 individuals, results indicate that the Big Five traits and cognitive ability vary in their association with charismatic leadership. Other findings show that dimensions of charismatic leadership predict outcomes of interest, such as supervisor-rated task performance, supervisor-rated citizenship behaviors, and group or organization performance. Several shortcomings are identified, however, in testing theoretical and methodological moderating variables. The present research ultimately provides a roadmap for new frontiers in theoretical, measurement and empirical work on charismatic leadership.     

Sharing personal information in the child protection context: Impediments in the Australian legal framework

Professionals, including social workers, in the child protection context are frequently required to make decisions on whether to share sensitive personal information about children, their families, and others with colleagues and across institutional and jurisdictional boundaries. Sharing information across agencies and organisations is essential to allow joined‐up service provision and to effectively protect and support children and their families. A legal framework that supports this decision making is a necessary, although not sufficient, condition for effective information sharing. This article examines the complex legal framework that governs information sharing across the Australian states and territories. It identifies a number of structural and regulatory elements that unnecessarily limit information sharing or have a tendency to create a culture that is risk averse, rather than proactive, in sharing information. The article suggests structural and regulatory reforms that would improve the legal framework for sharing information, while at the same time giving due recognition to the human rights that come into tension in this policy context: the right to privacy and the rights of the child.     

Beyond Race/Ethnicity: Skin Color,Gender, and the Health of Young Adults in the United States

Population Research and Policy Review - Researchers typically identify health disparities using self-reported race/ethnicity, a measure identifying individuals’ social and cultural...