Career Research From an Action Perspective: The Self-Confrontation Procedure

A videotape playback procedure (self-confrontation) following a career-related conversation is proposed as a means of studying career development from an action perspective. This perspective is premised on an understanding of career development as intentional, goal-directed, and occurring in a social context. In this article, a career conversation between a parent and an adolescent is used to illustrate the procedure. During the individual playback, the participants are asked for their thoughts and feelings (cognitions) while the conversation took place, and their interpretation of it. The categories used in the analysis are described. This procedure provides contextually-sensitive and empirically-grounded data useful for researchers and practitioners.     

Psychosocial variables related to transit safety: The application of catastrophe theory

This research applied a paradigm for the study of occupational safety and health risks in manufacturing settings to the risks associated with urban and regional transit operation. Subjects were 290 transit operators who completed a questionnaire measuring safety management, danger ratings, beliefs about accident control, work experience, physical stress, social stress, anxiety, environmental hazards, transit hazards (assaults and insults upon the operator, the need to reprimand passengers for various infractions, etc.), vehicle crashes and operator injuries, and alcohol and drug use. Principal findings were that operator injuries were most closely associated with transit hazards, which were more frequent at night and on the least desirable routes. Injuries occurred in a climate of elevated stress and anxiety which may have hampered the operators' ability to respond effectively to potentially dangerous situations. The cusp catastrophe model provided a non-linear dynamic explanation for accident occurrence and was more accurate (R = 0.71) for modelling accident incidence than the next best linear alternative (R = 0.51).     

Patterns of consent: evidence from a general household survey

Summary.  We analyse patterns of consent and consent bias in the context of a large general household survey, the 'Improving survey measurement of income and employment' survey, also addressing issues that arise when there are multiple consent questions. A multivariate probit regression model for four binary outcomes with two incidental truncations is used. We show that there are biases in consent to data linkage with benefit and tax credit administrative records that are held by the Department for Work and Pensions, and with wage and employment data held by employers. There are also biases in respondents' willingness and ability to supply their national insurance number. The biases differ according to the question that is considered. We also show that modelling questions on consent independently rather than jointly may lead to misleading inferences about consent bias. A positive correlation between unobservable individual factors affecting consent to Department for Work and Pensions record linkage and consent to employer record linkage is suggestive of a latent individual consent propensity.     

Joining forces,fortunes, and futures: Restructuring and adaptation in nonprofit hospice organizations

Nonprofit organizations operate in tumultuous times characterized by constrained funding, increased competition, and greater demand for social services. Existing bases of intangible and tangible assets often are insufficient to fulfill service missions. These organizations appear to be responding by joining forces and restructuring to better accommodate diminished resources. Relatively little is known about the reorganization strategies being employed. The study described in this chapter examined the phenomenon of organizational restructuring among nonprofit hospice organizations. In particular, it identified the factors that propel nonprofits to pursue restructuring as a strategic solution, the elements that impede such restructuring efforts, and how organizations that pursue and implement restructuring differ from those that do not. The study found that an organization's relative placement along a continuum of political and economic strength is determinative in the outcome of its restructuring efforts. Those that take affirmative steps operate from a position of economic strength and exhibit independence in governance and decision making; those that do not are impeded by internal political factors.     

The development and disturbance of emotions: An application of self psychology to clinical work with children

This article applies self psychology, as developed by Heinz Kohut, to clinical work with children. It begins with a brief summary of self psychology as a theoretical framework, focusing on the role of selfobjects in the development of the self. Then, the role of selfobjects in the development and disturbance of emotions is discussed. The paper concludes by describing the treatment implications of the self psychological perspective for clinical work with children, illustrating them through three case vignettes, and identifying certain questions for further inquiry.     

Explaining support for the Moral Majority

The purpose of this paper is to examine the usefulness of several theoretical perspectives for understanding the popular appeal of the Moral Majority. The perspectives used were cultural fundamentalism, diffusion, resource mobilization, status loss, and alienation. Data came from a series of surveys between 1981 and 1984 carried out in Middletown, Indiana. Overall, diffusion theory was useful in understanding who knew about the Moral Majority, and cultural fundamentalism was most helpful in understanding support for the Moral Majority.