The Benefits of Dispositional Mindfulness in Physical Health: A Longitudinal Study of Female College Students

Abstract

Objective: This article examines the relationship between dispositional mindfulness, health behaviors (eg, sleep, eating, and exercise), and physical health. Participants: Participants included 441 college women. Methods: Women completed self-report surveys at the beginning and end of a 10-week academic quarter. The study was conducted over 5 academic quarters from fall 2008 to fall 2010. Results: Findings indicated that higher levels of dispositional mindfulness were related to healthier eating practices, better quality of sleep, and better physical health. Dispositional mindfulness contributed to better physical health even after controlling for traditional health habits. Finally, bidirectional mediational relationships were found between healthy eating and dispositional mindfulness as well as between sleep quality and dispositional mindfulness when physical health was the outcome variable. Conclusions: Findings suggest that incorporating mindfulness training into programming on college campuses may be beneficial, as results indicate that dispositional mindfulness is related to positive physical health among college students.     

The “Feminization” of British Television and the Re-Traditionalization of Gender

This article explores shifts that have taken place in British television and British forms of feminine-gendered fiction from the late 1990s. These shifts will be discussed with reference to discourses of the “feminization of television” circulating in British culture during this period. This article contests the suggestion that discourses of the “feminization of television” and texts such as the female ensemble drama produced in this postfeminist period represent unproblematic “narratives of progress” for women (Georgina Harris 2006, Beyond Representation: Television Drama and the Politics of Identity, Manchester University Press, Manchester, p. 1). Rather, this article will suggest that accounts of the “feminization of television” found in the popular press along with contemporary examples of the female ensemble drama re-traditionalize women in relation to the spaces and discourses associated with twentieth-century femininity.     

Creating ‘stability’ for children in step‐families: time and substance in parenting

Children are said to be in need of stability for a ‘successful’ upbringing. This article focuses on the implications of this for parenting and childrearing practices in step‐families. It addresses the ways that conceptions of stability for children in family policy are tied to a particular family form and to maintaining continuity in biological parenting obligations, while parenting research has largely been concerned with measuring the consequences of changing family forms for children. In contrast, parents and step‐parents in step‐families themselves have far more complex understandings about the creation of stability for children in their care, around issues of dis/continuity in linear time and the social and material substantive constitution of stability. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Robust designs for experiments with blocks

ABSTRACT

For experiments running in field plots or over time, the observations are often correlated due to spatial or serial correlation, which leads to correlated errors in a linear model analyzing the treatment means. Without knowing the exact correlation matrix of the errors, it is not possible to compute the generalized least-squares estimator for the treatment means and use it to construct optimal designs for the experiments. In this paper, we propose to use neighborhoods to model the covariance matrix of the errors, and apply a modified generalized least-squares estimator to construct robust designs for experiments with blocks. A minimax design criterion is investigated, and a simulated annealing algorithm is developed to find robust designs. We have derived several theoretical results, and representative examples are presented.     

Rethinking power in public relations

In the United Kingdom, popular sceptism about the merits of public relations has prompted self-reflection among practitioners and industry bodies. At the root of the public debate is the assumption that public relations wields unjustified social influence on behalf of already privileged organizational interests. The core concern of this discussion, therefore, is the power that a public relations has in democratic societies.     

Marginality and migration: cultural dimensions of the Afghan refugee problem

Given the duration of time that has passed since the Afghan refugee influx into Pakistan began and the absence of any immediate prospect for a political settlement which would allow the refugees to return home, it is necessary to consider what the long-term requirements of this population might be and the implications of permanent resettlement on both the refugees and the host country. For policy makers, these are urgent questions that must be confronted not only to help ensure the health, safety, and productive future of the refugees, but also to minimize the risks of even greater political instability in this troubled region. This article attempts to provide some basic insights into the society and culture of the Afghan refugees and will consider what impact dislocation and settlement have had specifically on tribally-organized Pakhtuns, who comprise approximately 50% of the Afghan population generally and perhaps 80-90% of the refugee population (author's).     

Organizational Legitimacy and Stakeholder Information Provision1

One interpretation of the concept of organizational legitimacy is that it stems from the cultural values of society, and suggests that businesses operate under a mandate that may be withdrawn if organizations are seen not to be doing the ‘right’ things. This suggests there is something in the nature of a principal-agent relationship in existence, and that some form of accountability is then owed by the agent (the organization) to the principal (society). This paper seeks to investigate the nature of this accountability, distinguishing between the accountability which exists towards those elements of society with which an organization has a contractual relationship, and those where it does not. Adopting a pluralist stance, stakeholder theory is then used to illustrate the possible nature of both the form of legitimacy relationship extant, and of the accountability that the principal might expect of the agent.     

Looking for Their Dick Vermeil: How Prior Performance Influences the Selection Decision

When replacing an executive, an organization is faced with the choice of either promoting someone internally or hiring an outsider. Prior research in the private sector supports the contention that poor performing organizations will be adaptive and seek an outsider in hopes of initiating change that will improve performance. Do public organizations behave similarly? We address this question in the context of public education and examine the superintendent hiring decisions in 491 school districts. We find that school boards make sophisticated assessments of the district’s performance and these assessments influence their selection decisions.     

Commitment to Work Among Welfare‐Reliant Women

The purpose of this article is to describe the work of welfare‐reliant women and to reveal commitment to work in the experiences of 84 welfare‐reliant, rural women interviewed for this study. Understanding the domains where welfare‐reliant women exhibit commitment to work may help policy makers, trainers, and employers design and implement interventions that enhance chances of success for these women in the formal, paid workforce. Discussion focuses on the women's formal labor force participation in the past and desire for wage work in the future; barriers to labor force participation, both personal and in the rural job market; informal work and the work of care; support networks; survival strategies for making ends meet while receiving welfare; and the stigma of welfare receipt.