Measuring the cognitive domain of the quality of life of university students

The purpose of this study is to develop an instrument for measuring the cognitive domain of the quality of life of university students, and to report the validity and reliability of the scales that are created. The study uses a representative sample of undergraduate students from the faculty of education at a major Canadian university. The construct validity of the scales is assessed by Thomas Piazza's procedures for analyzing attitudinal items. The findings support conceptualizing the cognitive domain in terms of Structural and Functional dimensions. The Structural Dimension includes the Knowledge and Comprehension dimensions from Bloom's taxonomy and the Functional Dimension includes the Application, Analysis, Synthesis, and Evaluation dimensions. The alpha reliability coefficients of the two scales are 0.88 and 0.85, respectively. Some potential applications of these scales for understanding educational attainments, as well as for the evaluation of university departments and faculties, are suggested.     

Growth Promotion Activities in Rural Areas: Do They Make a Difference?1

Abstract Can leaders in small towns and surrounding areas actually influence local economic and demographic growth? Competing views but few studies of this issue characterize recent debates about the effects of “growth machines” in local areas. This paper uses alternative indicators of growth during the 1980s for a sample of local areas in rural Pennsylvania to examine the effects of development efforts, controlling ecological and structural characteristics. The analysis considers local participation in state programs and maintenance of a favorable business climate as well as measures of local growth promotion for business and industry, recreation and tourism, development of forest products, and services development. Hierarchical regressions, taking account of the statistically dominant effects of ecological and structural variables, show that local efforts can influence local growth.     

The Giffords shootings in Tucson: Exploring citizen-generated versus news media content in crisis management

This study expands on previously published research into the role citizen generated content plays in the coverage of crisis situations and discusses implications for public relations practitioners who must respond to this type of coverage. Using a content analysis of newspapers and the websites of cable and broadcast news networks, the authors explored the use of both official versus non-official sources and the use of citizen generated content during coverage of the January 2011 shootings in Tucson that injured Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) and 12 others, and killed six people. Results revealed reporters were more likely to use non-official sources. Reporters also were more likely to use non-official technology sources, or citizen generated content, than official technology sources such as web-based news releases and statements. This study finds additional support for the concept that crisis managers must learn to deal with reporters’ use of citizen generated content while also leveraging social media to control their organization's message during a crisis.     

Hospital Patient Behavior: Reactance, Helplessness, or Control?

Hospitals are commonly regarded as unpleasant places to be. The reason is that, as a total institution, the hospital creates a depersonalizing environment that forces the patient to relinquish control over his or her daily existence. It is suggested that patients cope with depersonalizing loss of control by assuming "good patient" behavior or "bad patient" behavior. Predictions are offered as to who will show which behavior pattern under which circumstances. However, a review of these patterns suggests that some "good patients" may actually be in a state of anxious or depressed helplessness, whereas "bad patients" are exhibiting anger and reactance against the perceived arbitrary removal of freedoms. An analysis of the behavioral, cognitive, affective and physiological correlates of these patterns, as well as the behaviors they elicit in staff, suggests that both the "good patient" and the "bad patient" sustain health risks. It is argued that a more informed and participative role for the hospital patient can eliminate or offset many of these risks and actually improve the level of physical and psychological health in the hospital setting.     

Measuring State TANF Policy Variations and Change After Reform*

Objectives. Our objectives are to describe the policies adopted after PRWORA, which vary across states, to test for common underlying policy concepts, demonstrating how these policies are interrelated, and to examine whether policy stringency diffused to neighboring states results in greater policy stringency across all states over time. We convert textual TANF welfare guidelines into empirically derived policy dimensions and use the derived quantitative scores to describe variation and change in welfare policy dimensions across status during the 1996–2003 post‐welfare‐reform period. Methods. Utilizing the Urban Institute's Welfare Rules Database, we apply a factor analytic methodology to 78 unique state policy guidelines that were coded on a lenient‐to‐stringent continuum. Regression analyses, employing spatial contiguity weighting, are used to describe policy diffusion. Results. The results identified 15 underlying first‐order post‐welfare‐reform policy dimensions, which for scientific parsimony were further reduced to three second‐order underlying dimensions representing rules governing eligibility: eligibility requirements for groups, behavioral responsibilities for maintaining eligibility, and eligibility time limits and exemptions. Analysis of the quantitative scores showed that by 2003 states had become more lenient regarding eligibility criteria for groups but decidedly more stringent regarding behavioral guidelines for maintaining eligibility and eligibility time limits and exemptions. Spatial clustering is not found globally but is significant for some states at the local level. Spatial diffusion is apparent only for behavioral rules. Conclusions. Our results suggest that TANF policy variations across states go beyond payment levels to include salient eligibility rules. The patterns of variability in change scores across states do not support a pervasive “race to the bottom” conclusion.     

Revolution in the making? Social media effects across the globe

Social networking sites are popular tools to engage citizens in political campaigns, social movements, and civic life. However, are the effects of social media on civic and political participation revolutionary? How do these effects differ across political contexts? Using 133 cross-sectional studies with 631 estimated coefficients, I examine the relationship between social media use and engagement in civic and political life. The effects of social media use on participation are larger for political expression and smaller for informational uses, but the magnitude of these effects depends on political context. The effects of informational uses of social media on participation are smaller in countries like the United States, with a free and independent press. If there is a social media revolution, it relates to the expression of political views on social networking sites, where the average effect size is comparable to the effects of education on participation.     

Divided Loyalties? Understanding Variation in Latino Attitudes Toward Immigration*

Objective. In this article, we develop and test a model of competing theoretical explanations of Latino attitudes toward immigration; specifically examining their policy preferences on legal immigration, illegal immigration, and a proposed policy for dealing with illegal immigrants. We also consider whether Latino attitudes toward legal and illegal immigration are related and comprise a single coherent structure. Method. Using data from a 2004 national survey of Latinos, we perform regression, logit, and ordered logit analyses to examine the determinants of Latino attitudes toward immigration. Results. We highlight three important findings. First, our results demonstrate “within‐group” differences in immigration attitudes among Latinos, based on both national origin and generational status; we find that Mexicans are more pro‐immigration than Latinos from other countries and that foreign‐born Latinos have much more positive attitudes about immigration than second‐generation and third‐generation Latinos. Second, we find that Latino support for various aspects of immigration is primarily a function of ethnic and linguistic identity and attachment to American culture, with self‐interest, contextual variables, and political and demographic attributes playing a smaller, more specialized role. Finally, we demonstrate that Latino attitudes toward legal and illegal immigration are highly interrelated. Conclusion. There is a coherent structure underlying Latino attitudes toward legal immigration, illegal immigration, and a policy option for dealing with illegal immigrants. Our tests of competing theoretical approaches reveal the importance of national origin and ethnic attachment and acculturation in explaining differences among Latinos on their attitudes toward immigration.