Building an Asset-Based Bridge to Higher Education: The American Savings for Personal Investment,Retirement, and Education Act of 2010

Over the last two decades, social research has identified various socioeconomic and psychological effects of asset holding on educational outcomes. Based on empirical studies, a structured savings program, Child Development Accounts (CDAs), was proposed as a promising financial aid strategy. Subsequently, the American Savings for Personal Investment, Retirement, and Education (ASPIRE) Act was developed as a representative asset-building policy that proposes universal CDAs. This article presents the limitations of current financial aids and discusses how the ASPIRE Act could be a novel policy solution for raising college accessibility for low-income children.     

Developmental Foundations and Clinical Applications of Social Information Processing: A Review

Social information processing has emerged as an important construct in understanding children's interpersonal functioning. This article reviews (1) the theoretical models guiding research, (2) the development of normative and atypical social problem solving, and (3) the connection between social information processing and individual differences in functioning. Finally, this review ends with a summary of efficacy of programs aimed at preventing social information processing biases or intervening with youth who display dysfunctional social information processing skills.     

Nonresponse in the American Time Use Survey: Who Is Missing from the Data and How Much Does It Matter?

This article examines nonresponse in a large government survey,the American Time Use Survey (ATUS), which interviews personsin households previously interviewed in the Current PopulationSurvey. The response rate for the ATUS has been below 60 percentfor the first two years of its existence, raising questionsabout whether the results can be generalized to the target population.The article begins with an analysis of the types of nonresponseencountered in the ATUS. Noncontact accounts for roughly 60percent of ATUS nonresponse, with refusals accounting for roughly40 percent. We find little support for the hypothesis that busypeople are less likely to respond to the ATUS but find considerablesupport for the hypothesis that people who are weakly integratedinto their communities are less likely to respond, mostly becausethey are less likely to be contacted. When we compare aggregateestimates of time use calculated using the ATUS base weightswithout any adjustment for nonresponse, estimates calculatedusing the ATUS final weights with a nonresponse adjustment,and estimates calculated using weights that incorporate ourown nonresponse adjustment based on a propensity model, we findsome modest differences, but the three sets of estimates arebroadly similar. The article ends with suggestions for furtherresearch and analysis.     

Downsizing Survival: The Experience of Work and Organizational Commitment

Although downsizing has become a common feature of American workplaces, the existing literature has focused on the effects of how downsizing is conducted, rather than considering how downsizing affects the experience of work for downsizing survivors. Using data from the 1997 National Employee Survey and structural modeling techniques, this study compares downsizing survivors and workers unaffected by downsizing on a variety of sociodemographic indicators, job characteristics, and organizational environment measures in order to explain the lower levels of organizational commitment among survivors. The model in which downsizing survival was directly and indirectly associated with commitment was generally supported. Survivors reported less commitment than unaffected workers. In addition, downsizing survival was positively associated with job-related stress and negatively associated with perceived organizational support, which translated into survivors' lower levels of commitment. This research suggests that organizations that downsize should consider ways to redesign work processes so as to reduce job-related stress and should engage in organizational practices that demonstrate organizational support for surviving employees.     

Psychological Flexibility as a Framework for Understanding and Improving Family Reintegration Following Military Deployment

Postdeployment reintegration may present an exceptional challenge to service members and their families; yet, overcoming this challenge seems to strengthen family relationships through a shared sense of purpose. Navigating family reintegration may be an important determinant of long‐term psychological well‐being. If the needs of military families are to be answered effectively, it is of critical importance to identify the skills that facilitate positive reintegration following deployment. This article proposes psychological flexibility as a group of interrelated skills that could be directly intervened on to facilitate not only resilience but also positive growth and development. This paper focuses on the conceptualization of family reintegration in terms of psychological flexibility, including common deficits observed in this population and potential goals of treatment. Video Abstract     

Family and Religious Antecedents of Civic Involvement In Middle Class African American Late Adolescents

We examined family and religious/spiritual antecedents and correlates of current and intended civic involvement in 76 middle class African American late adolescents (M=18.43 years) who had been followed longitudinally for 3 years. Adolescents' spirituality/religiosity and mothers' current involvement influenced the overall ratings and more specifically, current church and community (but not political) involvement, as assessed on a 14‐item measure expanded from Youniss et al. (1997) . In addition, greater family income, earlier spirituality, and less receptivity to mothers in observed dyadic interactions led to more community involvement in late adolescence. Intended civic involvement was predicted by greater spirituality and mothers' (and in exploratory analyses, fathers') observed positive communication (but not mothers' warmth and prosocial behavior) in dyadic interactions 3 years earlier; the effect of middle adolescents' spirituality on late adolescents' ratings of future civic involvement was fully mediated by adolescents' current spirituality/religiosity.     

THE CULTURAL FRAMEWORKS OF PREJUDICE: Reputational Images and the Postwar Disjuncture of Jews and Communism

Responses to prominent reputations provide a framework for understanding the growth and decline of group prejudice. In the 1930s, the connection between American Jews and Communism was both an empirical and cognitive reality—Jews constituted a significant portion of the American Communist Party and many Americans stereotyped them as such. However, by mid-century, the perceptual linkage between Jew and Communist had largely vanished. We explain the change in public attitudes by treating prejudice as a cultural framework for collective memory. Building on Blumer (1958) and the empirical conclusions of other prominent sociologists of the period, we argue that group prejudice depends on a group's distinctiveness, its perceived moral imbalance, and the discursive utility of attacks. When components of this three-part frame weaken, prejudice dissipates. Specifically, we claim that the specificity of reputations serves as a concrete stand-in for more diffuse images of social groups. While group position is not only the result of the reputation of prominent figures, the public images of these figures help to shape prejudice and its decline. As an empirical case, we examine the cultural framework for interpreting the linkage of American Jews and Communism in the late 1940s and early 1950s through the reputations of Alger Hiss, Roy Cohn, and Adolf Hitler. Presented by reputational entrepreneurs, these images emphasize American Communists who were decidedly non-Jewish, underline the prominence of anti-Communist American Jews, and delegitimize public anti-Semitism.     

Is There an Inherent Mismatch Between How Black and White Students Expect to Succeed in College and What Their Colleges Expect from Them?

Students enter college with expectations about how they will succeed; likewise, colleges configure their courses, resources, and activities according to implicit expectations of how their students will succeed. Data from 1079 students at 6 universities was used to explore whether college-success matches existed for Black students attending historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and for White students attending predominantly white institutions (PWIs) , and whether mismatches existed for Black students attending PWIs. Results confirmed these matches and mismatches, and suggested that Black students worked harder to persist at PWIs. So while Brown aimed to provide educational access across color lines, this study's implications are that once students enter college, they must be supported as individuals who succeed along many paths .