Preverbal Infants' Ability to Encode the Outcome of Distributive Actions

This research examined whether 10‐month‐old infants expect agents to perform equal distribution of resources. In Experiment 1, infants saw a distributor performing either an equal distribution where one strawberry was given to each of two recipients, or an unequal distribution that favored one of the recipients. Infants looked longer at the unequal test event, suggesting that they expected the strawberries to be distributed equally. In Experiment 2, the potential recipients were replaced with inanimate objects to rule out a lower‐level alternative explanation of the results in Experiment 1 based on symmetric movement of the distributor. Infants' looking times did not reveal a preference for one of the two outcomes of the test events (i.e., symmetric or asymmetric movement). Experiment 3 controlled for the role of the distributive action, that is, here the distributors only removed barriers revealing strawberries that the recipients already had. No preference was observed when an equal or unequal initial allocation of resources was revealed. Experiment 4 assessed whether infants relied on affiliative information provided by the distributor's movements. The distributor made the same movements as in Experiment 1, but without distributing any strawberries, and no difference in looking times was observed. These findings support the view that preverbal infants expect agents to behave according to a simple principle: Resources are to be distributed equally among equivalent recipients. We discuss the possible links between such reactions and the emergence of an early sense of fairness.     

Childbearing and Marriage: Investigating the Importance of Context for Meaning-Making of First-Time Marriage

Previous research reveals that the temporal ordering of childbearing and marriage can have an impact on the meaning of first-time marriage. This article aims to obtain a deeper understanding of meaning-making of first-time marriage in relation to childbearing. Narrative interviews with 16 brides and grooms in 8 couples in Sweden were conducted. The material was analyzed in relation to the temporal ordering of childbearing and marriage. The study reveals that the construction of meaning of marriage does not only relate to the temporal context. Social factors such as social class or family formation might also be relevant for how meaning is constructed. This article contributes to a deeper understanding of meaning-making as a relational process constructed within particular contexts.     

TRANSFORMING DISCOURSE INTO PRACTICE: COMPUTERHYSTORIES AND DIGITAL CULTURES AROUND 1984

This paper discusses some theoretical approaches to the question of how culture, technologies and the social interact. These considerations result from the author' research in the genesis of digital cultures in the 1980s. The paper begins by outlining the author' research project, and then continues with a discussion of some of the most influential approaches in the cultural studies of technology.This article then presents a small sample of the author' analysis, which combines narratological and discourse analytical methods with practice-oriented cultural theories, such as those of Pierre Bourdieu, Régis Debray and Bruno Latour.     

A Mission of Civic Engagement: Undergraduate Students Working with Nonprofit Organizations and Public Sector Agencies to Enhance Societal Wellbeing

Universities in the U.S. have been criticized for not contributing enough to the social well-being of the communities within which they operate, and business schools have been accused of failing to prepare students adequately for careers in business. These criticisms have led to increased focus on service learning, a form of experiential learning that aids students in the application of theoretical knowledge to “real-life” situations—including problems and opportunities—faced by local as well as international communities. Even though service-learning has become fairly popular in business schools throughout the U.S., there is relatively little literature that illuminates its application. Thus, the present article describes a service-learning project in a marketing research course and how this project supports the university’s mission of civic engagement. Included are also a discussion of course-specific objectives as well as learning goals, objectives, and assessments as commonly required by regional and national accreditation agencies.     

Balancing Control and Coaching in CSO Governance. A Paradox Perspective on Board Behavior

How can the internal governance of civil society organizations be conceptualized more adequately by accounting for the dual and simultaneous requirements of controlling and coaching in board behavior? Empirically, we seem to agree that effective governance of a civil society organization is crucial to its sustained viability. Conceptually, however, we observe a lack of consensus on how to best understand CSO governance. By critically juxtaposing two major theoretical lenses to conceptualize governance, namely, agency and stewardship theory, we identify a number of challenges when dealing with board–management relations that deserve our attention. While agency theory privileges controlling behavior, stewardship theory emphasizes the coaching behavior of boards. The purpose of this article is to offer a concept of governance that is informed by a paradox perspective advancing a subtler, more adequate conceptualization of board governance that accounts for these often conflicting demands on CSO governance. Drawing on illustrations from a longitudinal interpretive case study, we exemplify our propositions empirically. The article concludes with discussing the implications of our argument for CSO governance research and practice.     

Support,social networks and the family in Portugal: two decades of research

This article presents two major surveys, carried out in Portugal, on the inclusion of families and individuals in social networks of support and affinity. The first, dating from 1999, sought comprehensively to reconstruct families' social networks by mapping effective support relations. The second survey, fielded in 2009–10, followed a family configuration perspective which sought to reconstruct individuals' networks of close relationships, and the issue of informal support only arose as providing further insight into the characteristics of personal networks. Both surveys will be analysed from a comparative perspective which, while stressing their different but connected conceptual orientations, compares each one's methodological strategies and operationalization procedures. Finally, the main results of each survey are outlined, leading to a brief discussion of the ways in which the two surveys complement each other.     

A cohort analysis of employment status and homicide victimization in the United States

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the study was to examine the impact of employment status on homicide victimization among cohort members. Data were derived from the US National Longitudinal Mortality Study. Cox proportional hazards regression models were fitted to the data. Analysis showed that employment status was significantly associated with homicide. The unemployed were over 50% more likely to become homicide victims than the employed. Persons not in the labor force were 1.3 times more likely to be victimized than employed cohort members. Results also showed that race was significantly associated with homicide. Non-Hispanic Blacks were over 4.5 times as likely to die as whites. Hispanics were nearly 1.9 times as likely to be victims as Non-Hispanic whites. When the sample was stratified by race/ethnicity, unemployment was highly significant for both non-Hispanic white and non-Hispanic African American men. Employment status is a significant risk factor for homicide victimization.     

The Uniqueness of the Child–Father Attachment Relationship: Fathers' Sensitive and Challenging Play as a Pivotal Variable in a 16-year Longitudinal Study

This longitudinal study of forty‐four families explored fathers’ as compared to mothers’ specific contribution to their children's attachment representation at ages 6, 10, and 16 years. In toddlerhood, fathers’ and mothers’ play sensitivity was evaluated with a new assessment, the sensitive and challenging interactive play scale (SCIP). Fathers’ SCIP scores were predicted by fathers’ caregiving quality during the first year, were highly consistent across 4 years, and were closely linked to the fathers’ own internal working model of attachment. Qualities of attachment as assessed in the Strange Situation to both parents were antecedents for children's attachment security in the Separation Anxiety Test at age 6. Fathers’ play sensitivity and infant–mother quality of attachment predicted children's internal working model of attachment at age 10, but not vice versa. Dimensions of adolescents’ attachment representations were predicted by fathers’ play sensitivity only. The results confirmed our main assumption that fathers’ play sensitivity is a better predictor of the child's long‐term attachment representation than the early infant–father security of attachment. The ecological validity of measuring fathers’ sensitive and challenging interactive play behavior as compared to infant proximity seeking in times of distress is highlighted. Findings are discussed with respect to a wider view on attachment in that both parents shape their children's psychological security but each in his or her unique way.