Beyond the Self: External Influences in the Career Development Process

The purpose of this article is to explore the wide spectrum of external influences that affect career decision making across the life span and, in particular, how these factors may directly or indirectly alter one's career trajectory and the extent of one's work volition. Career development practitioners are encouraged to respect externally oriented frameworks, explore the social influence of career choice alternatives faced by clients, encourage clients to voice their emotional responses to external constraints, and use career decision‐making strategies that seek an optimal balance of internal and external influences.     

Visual Sequence Learning in Infancy: Domain-General and Domain-Specific Associations with Language

Research suggests that non-linguistic sequence learning abilities are an important contributor to language development (Conway, Bauernschmidt, Huang, & Pisoni, 2010). The current study investigated visual sequence learning as a possible predictor of vocabulary development in infants. Fifty-eight 8.5-month-old infants were presented with a three-location spatiotemporal sequence of multi-colored geometric shapes. Early language skills were assessed using the MacArthur-Bates CDI. Analyses of children's reaction times to the stimuli suggest that the extent to which infants demonstrated learning was significantly correlated with their vocabulary comprehension at the time of test and with their gestural comprehension abilities 5 months later. These findings suggest that visual sequence learning may have both domain-general and domain-specific associations with language learning.     

Social work ‘logged on’: contemporary dilemmas in an evolving ‘techno-habitat’

Information and communication technologies have become an integral part of daily life. This article explores the impact of the social networking site, Facebook, e-mail and text messaging for social workers in the Republic of Ireland. The study is small-scale and the findings, derived from a number of research interviews with practitioners and a survey of social work students, cannot be regarded as representative. However, the findings illuminate key dilemmas which are becoming apparent in social work’s evolving ‘techno-habitat’ and these are likely to be replicated, to different degrees, elsewhere in Europe.     

Neighborhood Organizations and Resident Assistance to Police1

Police and scholars note that successful crime fighting requires police and residents to “co‐produce” public safety. However, residents are often reluctant to get involved in policing initiatives or even report crimes they witness. One possible means of stimulating resident involvement in crime‐control activities is through neighborhood organizations. This research, conducted on 1,313 residents of 42 neighborhoods in western South Carolina, investigates whether neighborhood organization participation increases the likelihood of assisting police in crime‐control efforts. Results indicate that organization participants are more likely to assist police than are nonparticipants, even after controlling for social cohesion, perceptions of police legitimacy, various policing strategies, fear of crime, and demographic factors.     

Doctor/politician. Physicians often shocked by political reality

What motivates doctors to get into politics? Some say it's a broader sense of accomplishment--helping not only patients, but society as a whole. Learn how some doctor/politicians got into the game, and what they're learning as they play it.     

The effect of cross-cultural dialogue on child welfare parenting classes: anecdotal evidence in black and white

The child welfare system indicates that evidence of successful completion of parenting classes is instrumental in determining whether parents are actively engaged in the process of permanency planning. Such classes vary in length and intensity with topics ranging from "How to Raise Healthy Families" to "How to Discipline Your Child." Two social workers (one white and one black), who initially disagreed about the format of a parenting class, chronicle their efforts to collaborate and create a class format that recognizes the psychosocial and, more specifically, the cultural influences inherent in facilitating these classes. The juxtaposition of the clinical concepts of projection and projective identification are evaluated against the backdrop of the social concepts of empowerment and diversity.     

The Gambling Self-Efficacy Questionnaire: An Initial Psychometric Evaluation

Instruments to assess individuals' self-efficacy for the control of addictive behaviors have been useful for monitoring behavior change, predicting maintenance of treatment gains, and identifying potential relapse situations. The Gambling Self-Efficacy Questionnaire (GSEQ) was developed to assess perceived self-efficacy to control gambling behavior. A demographically diverse sample of 309 adult gamblers completed an initial set of 42 items, of which 16 were selected to form the final version of the GSEQ. The GSEQ showed high internal consistency ( = .96) and good test-retest reliability (r = .86). A factor analysis provided some support for a unitary factor structure. As expected, GSEQ scores were negatively correlated with reports of problematic gambling behavior. Participants experiencing problems related to their gambling behavior scored significantly lower on the GSEQ than those who were not experiencing gambling problems. This psychometric examination of the GSEQ supported its potential utility for treatment planning and outcome evaluation with problem gamblers.