Effects of age and domestic commitment on the sleep and alertness of female shiftworkers

Abstract

In this study, the combined effects of age and domestic commitment on sleep duration, sleep difficulties and alertness in a sample of female shiftworkers were studied. A total of 572 nurses working in general hospitals in England completed a questionnaire. Two main shift systems were worked by the nurses: permanent nights or rotating shifts. Initial analysis revealed significant differences between these two groups of nurses, resulting in separate analysis of each group. Regression analysis showed that although older nurses had shorter sleep duration they did not report more sleep difficulties, in addition, their overall on-shift alertness was higher compared to younger nurses. Domestic commitment, defined as the number of dependants in the household and the level of perceived work-home conflict, not only reduced sleep duration, but also resulted in more sleep difficulties and lower on-shift alertness for most of the shifts. Two implications with regards to the relationship between age and sleep are discussed. First, the study points to the relevance of considering both biological and social factors when looking at age and sleep. Secondly, the study shows that the effects of age on sleep duration and sleep difficulties are not similar. This finding requires further research, especially in the light of the higher levels of alertness reported by older nurses.     

Does Gender Matter?

In this article we explore gender differences in opinion regarding controversial social issues. The issues we selected are: attitudes toward African Americans, Jews, Muslims, Affirmative Action, abortion, and gays and lesbians. This selection is based on the importance of these issues in public debate and electoral politics. A number of these issues, mainly those related to opinions toward religious and racial groups, reflect the development of the American society and draw lines of possible disagreements and social cleavages. Our purpose is to draw attention to an important factor in determining public opinion toward these issues. We aim to explore issues where gender makes a clear difference, where it does not only hold an important role as other factors such as race and political affiliation, and where considerations of gender need to be combined with other personal attributes in order to understand their real impact. These highlights are intended to shed light on the role of gender in social issues as well as understanding these issues from a perspective that includes gender as a dimension in opinion making.     

Dependency of Crop Production between Global Breadbaskets: A Copula Approach for the Assessment of Global and Regional Risk Pools

As recent events have shown, simultaneous crop losses in different parts of the world can cause serious risks to global food security. However, to date, little is known about the spatial dependency of lower than expected crop yields from global breadbaskets. This especially applies in the case of extreme events, i.e., where one or more breadbaskets are experiencing far below average yields. Without such information, risk management approaches cannot be applied and vulnerability to extremes may remain high or even increase in the future around the world. We tackle both issues from an empirical perspective focusing on wheat yield. Interdependencies between historically observed wheat yield deviations in five breadbaskets (United States, Argentina, India, China, and Australia) are estimated via copula approaches that can incorporate increasing tail dependencies. In doing so, we are able to attach probabilities to interregional as well as global yield losses. To address the robustness of our results, we apply three different methods for constructing multivariate copulas: vine copulas, ordered coupling using a minimax approach, and hierarchical structuring. We found interdependencies between states within breadbaskets that led us to the conclusion that risk pooling for extremes is less favorable on the regional level. However, notwithstanding evidence of global climatic teleconnections that may influence crop production, we also demonstrate empirically that wheat production losses are independent between global breadbaskets, which strengthens the case for interregional risk pooling strategies. We argue that through interregional risk pooling, postdisaster liabilities of governments and international donors could be decreased.     

‘Their families or the disability services will take care of them’: the invisible homeless and how Irish government policy is designed not to help them

Most intellectually disabled adults in Ireland continue to live with their parents. For those who want and/or are forced to move out of the parental home, the default option is to avail of the various kinds of accommodation offered by the Irish disability services. This paper critically investigates the range of housing options available to intellectually disabled adults living in Ireland – some more nominal than others – and the governmental role in facilitating members of this population to live in accommodation of their choosing. The relevant issues are given voice by a mother of an adult with Down syndrome. In her search for appropriate accommodation for her daughter, she provides important experiential knowledge regarding both the shortcomings of current Irish policy and the hidden discrimination to which intellectually disabled people are subjected on a daily basis by banks and private landlords alike.     

Social Problem Solving in High‐risk Mother–Child Dyads: An Intergenerational Study

This study examined the contribution of maternal childhood histories of aggression and social withdrawal to the prediction of mother–child social problem solving in the next generation. Fifty‐seven women (M = 37.32 years), previously rated (on a version of the pupil evaluation inventory) by their peers during childhood on measures of aggression and withdrawal, discussed conflicts with their 9‐ to 13‐year‐old children. Problem‐defining statements, solutions, and resolution strategies were coded using an observational measure developed by the authors. Maternal childhood histories of aggression and withdrawal predicted poorly sophisticated solutions in both mothers and children as well as antisocial solutions in children. Histories of withdrawal predicted solitary solutions in children as well as less guidance and structure during decision making. Findings suggest that mothers who were withdrawn, and those aggressive and withdrawn in childhood, display less sophisticated problem solving, which may be mirrored in children. Results have implications for the development of aggressive and withdrawn girls into parenthood and highlight a potential pathway for the transfer of risk.     

Educational and Employment Survey of University Faculty Wives: A Case Study

Abstract

Nations engaged in a dispute may escalate their use of coercion in order to raise the costs of the fight to the other side and gain concessions. As a fight continues, escalation is made more probable by changes in the motivation and the expectations of the participants. The goals of each participant may expand and winning the dispute may become more important than it was initially. Each may come to expect the other to increase its coercion beyond previous boundaries and no longer see the prospect of a negotiated settlement. In addition, normative and other inhibitions on the use of force tend to decrease once the use of coercion has begun. The ways in which a conventional war might escalate to a nuclear war are discussed. The conditions under which deescalation of coercion will occur are outlined.     

Parental Emotion Coaching and Child Emotion Regulation as Protective Factors for Children with Oppositional Defiant Disorder

We assessed linkages of mothers' emotion coaching and children's emotion regulation and emotion lability/negativity with children's adjustment in 72 mother–child dyads seeking treatment for oppositional defiant disorder (ODD). Dyads completed the questionnaires and discussed emotion‐related family events. Maternal emotion coaching was associated with children's emotion regulation, which in turn was related to higher mother‐reported adaptive skills, higher child‐reported internalizing symptoms, and lower child‐reported adjustment. When children were high in emotion lability/negativity, mothers' emotion coaching was associated with lower mother and child reports of externalizing behavior. Results suggest the role of emotion regulation and emotion lability in child awareness of socio‐emotional problems and support the potential of maternal emotion coaching as a protective factor for children with ODD, especially for those high in emotion lability.     

Cause identity: A measurement of disability organizations’ communicated values

This article introduces the concept of “cause identity” as an important consideration in public relations practice as well as research. Ten different disability organizations were used to examine how – as measured through communicated values – organizational identity is expressed. Results of a quantitative content analysis of marketing and public relations materials used by the organizations indicated very few distinctions in their organizational identities. Rather, a strong collective identity was shared among all ten organizations.     

Assessment of problem behaviour by foster parents and their foster children

This study investigates the level of agreement between foster parents and foster children about problem behaviour and how this is associated with the breakdown of a foster care placement. The study took a sample of foster parents and their foster children (n= 60), who were aged 11–17 years, and analysed the severity of problem behaviour displayed by the foster children within 3 months of placement in the foster family and a year and a half later. The level of agreement was established with the intra‐class correlation coefficient, which represents both the differences in scores and the differences in ranking. This coefficient shows that there is a statistically significant difference in the level of agreement on the Internalizing Problems scale of the Child Behaviour Checklist between the placements that broke down and those that continued. The level of agreement is associated with the severity score, which in turn is associated with the outcome of the foster care placement. To avoid placement breakdown, problem behaviour should also be assessed from the perspective of the foster child.