Unfreiwillige Helfer von Selbstmördern

Using participant observation and interviews the article examines the social context of emotional stress experienced by railway drivers who are confronted with railway suicides. A consequence of activities around railway suicides is a lack of resources for drivers, to control their body and definition of the self. Whereas the view of dead bodies may be delegated to others, railway drivers are routinely made suspects of involuntary manslaughter. There are various strategies railway drivers have developed to cope with a suicide accident. It is stated a change in the emotional culture of engine drivers: in earlier times it was considered appropriate (and typical male) to bear the consequences of such an incident and not to talk about it, whereas today the naming and expression of emotions, most of the time in the course of psychological treatment, is a legitimate strategy. The authors argue, that coping with railway suicides mainly focuses on techniques to manage emotional stress, whereas activities that produce emotional stress in the first place are not appreciated.     

Identity status differences among Italian adolescents: Associations with time perspective

Based on Marcia's identity status model, this cross-sectional study examined adolescents' identity formation analyzing its association with time perspective. A sample of 1300 Italian adolescents filled in self-report measures assessing two major developmental processes: identity resolution and time perspective. Adolescents who achieved an integrated identity status seemed to primarily adopt a future time perspective and to have a positive view of the past. By contrast, Diffused adolescents reported negative experiences in the past, a lower future orientation and a greater inclination to fatalism compared to others.     

Understanding selection bias,time-lags and measurement bias in secondary data sources: Putting the Encyclopedia of Associations database in broader context

Secondary data gathered for purposes other than research play an important role in the social sciences. A recent data release has made an important source of publicly available data on associational interests, the Encyclopedia of Associations (EA), readily accessible to scholars (www.policyagendas.org). In this paper we introduce these new data and systematically investigate issues of lag between events and subsequent reporting in the EA, as these have important but under-appreciated effects on time-series statistical models. We further analyze the accuracy and coverage of the database in numerous ways. Our study serves as a guide to potential users of this database, but we also reflect upon a number of issues that should concern all researchers who use secondary data such as newspaper records, IRS reports and FBI Uniform Crime Reports.     

Gerechtigkeit in der Sozialpolitik – Aufgaben und Befunde einer kritischen Soziologie der Moral

In a modern differentiated society interpretations of social justice occur necessarily manifold; they cannot be derived from an absolute point of reference. The following article takes up this thought of Günther Dux in terms of justice. It is argued—in difference to philosophy—that the strength of sociological justice research lies in the empirical reconstruction of images of social justice. It will be outlined which ideas of social justice in regard to a reform of the welfare state are currently dominating. In social political reform debates it is observable these days that there is no longer a mere normative dispute about justice and moral. The issue is rather finding productivist justice solutions, which enable the concomitance of economic efficiency and fair distribution solution.     

Investigating the Relation Between Infants' Manual Activity With Objects and Their Perception of Dynamic Events

We examined the relation between 6‐ and 7‐month‐old infants' (N = 60) manual activity with objects during free play and their perception of the features of dynamic, multimodal events. Infants were habituated to a single event in which a hand reached for and manipulated a colorful, multifeatured object, and a sound was heard (e.g., a hand squeezed a purple round object, causing a whistling sound) and then their response to events that involved a change in the appearance of the object, the action, or the sound was assessed. Infants responded least to changes in the appearance of the objects, and their sensitivity to this feature was related to their manual activity with objects during free play. Infants' responding to changes in the sound or action was unrelated to motor activity, suggesting that at this age motor achievements related to object exploration are associated with infants' perception of some, but not all, object features.     

Coping with guilt and shame in the impulse buying context

In this study we investigate how consumers cope with guilt and shame in the impulse buying context. Based on recent psychological research on guilt and shame, we posit that the intensity of shame experienced after buying on impulse will be positively associated with the use of avoidant coping strategies, whereas the intensity of guilt experienced will be positively associated with the use of problem-focused coping strategies. Furthermore, we predict that the use of avoidant coping strategies will be linked with more frequent depressive symptoms and worse financial well-being. These hypotheses were generally supported in an on-line survey of 274 respondents who had recently made an impulse purchase and reported the emotions and coping strategies associated with the event.     

Spatial heterogeneity in drinking water sources in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA), Ghana

Population and Environment - Universal access to safe drinking water is essential to population health and well-being, as recognized in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). To develop targeted...     

Rapid response to a conjunctivitis outbreak: the use of technology to leverage information

When an outbreak of conjunctivitis was identified at a rural New England college early in 2002, the college health center medical staff used various information management and communication systems to alert the community to the situation. They called upon the state Department of Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to help them understand and manage the outbreak. Technological systems already in place at the college allowed for rapid collection of data by means of a survey delivered over the Internet and a carriage study facilitated by a Web-based appointment and communication system. Within days, the data were collected and analyzed and an immediate response to contain the outbreak was launched.