Widowhood and spirituality: coping responses to bereavement

Nearly half of women age 65 or older are widows and nearly 70% of these women live alone. Because older women are three times more likely than their male counterparts to be widowed, widowhood has been labeled a primarily female phenomenon. This review article has two aims: (a) to discuss the impact of widowhood on the lives of older women and (b) to discuss how religion and spirituality may be used as coping methods for conjugal loss. After reviewing the literature the authors conclude that older women use religious coping as well as religious and spiritual beliefs and behaviors to facilitate positive adjustment to the loss of a spouse.     

Think they're drunk? Alcohol servers and the identification of intoxication

Despite alcohol server training programs and legal liability aimed at controlling intoxication, server intervention appears to be rare. Given the difficulty in assessing intoxication, it can be assumed that improvement in assessment skills would increase the likelihood of intervention. Unfortunately, little is known regarding practices servers use to identify intoxication. In order to build a more informed base for policy formation and server training, the focus of this inquiry was to examine practices used by servers to assess intoxication. The analysis was based upon questionnaires mailed to a random probability sample of licensed servers from one state (N = 822). Indicators found to be most important were examined in relation to a variety of occupational characteristics. Implications for training curricula, policy formation, and future research are discussed.     

Heterosocial competence of rapists and child molesters: a meta-analysis

A meta-analysis of 119 effect sizes from 14 papers examined the heterosocial competence of sex offenders. Rapists had significantly lower heterosocial competence than non-sex-offenders, but this effect was relatively small. Rapists in prison differed from non-sex-offenders who were not in prison; however, they did not differ from non-sex-offending prisoners. When unreliable measures were excluded from the analysis, nonincarcerated students and other volunteers who reported committing rape did not differ from nonincarcerated non-sex-offenders. The difference in heterosocial competence between child molesters and non-sex-offenders was significantly larger than the difference between rapists and non-sex-offenders. Also, child molesters had significantly less heterosocial competence than rapists. Findings clarify the relationship between heterosocial competence, rape, and child sexual abuse. Implications for the research and treatment of sex offenders are discussed.     

Differences in African American and White college students' drinking behaviors: consequences, harm reduction strategies, and health information sources

The authors explored the differences between African American and White college students' drinking behaviors and their attitudes toward consequences, harm-reduction strategies, and health information sources. They collected data from a randomly selected sample of 1,110 students in a large public university to examine the effects of a high-risk drinking prevention intervention. In the current analysis, they compared African American and White students on indicators of high-risk drinking, drinking consequences, harm-reduction strategies, the sources that students typically used for health information, and the believability of those sources. The African American students scored lower on drinking measures than the White students did, reported fewer negative consequences, and more regularly employed drinking-reduction strategies, with one exception--choosing a designated driver. Both African and White respondents reported that their parents were their most frequent and usual sources of health-related information and said that parents and health professionals were the most credible sources.     

Cost-effectiveness of a prework screening program for the University of Illinois at Chicago physical plant

A post-offer screening program jointly developed by the Occupational and Physical Therapy Departments (University of Illinois at Chicago) was first implemented in March 1998. A total of 712 screens were completed from 3-01-98 through 2-28-01. A quasi-experimental design was utilized to analyze changes in Workers' Compensation costs between the three-year period prior to, and the three-year period following program inception. Additionally, injury rates and mean cost per injury were compared between injuries sustained between 3-98 and 3-01 which were incurred by workers who had passed screening and those that had not been screened. Finally, the tabulated cost per screen and reduction in Workers' Compensation costs allowed derivation of a dollar spent/ dollar saved ratio. Dramatic declines in number of injuries, total costs and mean cost per case occurred in the three-year period following program inception. Mean cost per case also dramatically declined comparing injured workers who had passed screening versus those who had never been screened. Cost savings were over US dollars 18 per dollar spent on the program. While a number of mitigating variables may have accounted for some of the profound effects noted, decrease in average cost per case (indicating possible reduction in severity of injury) was consistent with existing literature.     

Gamma-secretase--intramembrane protease with a complex

Gamma-secretase catalyzes intramembrane proteolysis of the amyloid beta protein precursor, a process closely linked to the development of Alzheimer's disease. This protease also cleaves the transmembrane domain of the Notch receptor as part of a signaling pathway that is essential for proper embryonic development. Recent findings suggest that gamma-secretase is a complex of at least four integral membrane proteins: presenilin, nicastrin, Aph-1, and Pen-2. Assembly of these four components apparently leads to autocleavage of presenilin into two subunits that together compose the intramembranous active site of gamma-secretase. Understanding the mechanism of this unusual enzyme is important, as it is both a key therapeutic target and a founding member of a newly discovered class of intramembrane-cleaving proteases.     

Relation of Goal Setting and Goal Sharing to Performance and Conflict for Interdependent Tasks

Despite the prevalence of goal setting in organizations, researchers have not thoroughly examined the implications of goal setting to work outcomes in interdependent work settings. A field survey (n= 442) assessed the relation of goal setting and goal sharing, the extent to which others are aware of an individual's work goal, to performance and conflict across varying levels of task interdependence. The results of moderated regression analyses demonstrate that in highly interdependent tasks, the use of goal setting resulted in lower performance levels. Moreover, goal setting and goal sharing in highly interdependent tasks resulted in individuals' reporting more somatic symptoms. The results are discussed in terms of clarifying the role of goal setting for interdependent tasks.     

Strategic management of consumer services

A period of more rigorous strategic management is under way in consumer service businesses. In banking, insurance, lodging, media, retailing, housing, restaurants and education, more growth must come from competitive share shift. This paper b shows the need for a different set of strategies to win in services than have been shaped in the product business context. Specific illustrations show how leading U.S. consumer service companies are building strategic advantage while also improving the value of their business.     

How Close Is Close Enough: Public Perceptions of the Risks of Industrial Facilities

Public opinion poll data have consistently shown that the proportion of respondents who are willing to have a nuclear power plant in their own community is smaller than the proportion who agree that more nuclear plants should be built in this country. Respondents' judgments of the minimum safe distance from each of eight hazardous facilities confirmed that this finding results from perceived risk gradients that differ by facility (e.g., nuclear vs. natural gas power plants) and social group (e.g., chemical engineers vs. environmentalists) but are relatively stable over time. Ratings of the facilities on thirteen perceived risk dimensions were used to determine whether any of the dimensions could explain the distance data. Because the rank order of the facilities with respect to acceptable distance was very similar to the rank order on a number of the perceived risk dimensions, it is difficult to determine which of the latter is the critical determinant of acceptable distance if, indeed, there is only one. There were, however, a number of reversals of rank order that indicate that the respondents had a differentiated view of technological risk. Finally, data from this and other studies were interpreted as suggesting that perceived lack of any other form of personal control over risk exposure may be an important factor in stimulating public opposition to the siting of hazardous facilities.