Impact of the psychosocial work environment on registered absence from work: A two-year longitudinal study using the IPAW cohort

During the Intervention Project on Absence and Well-being (IPAW), a 5-year project conducted in Denmark, we investigated psychosocial work environment factors as independent predictors of the number of absence days per year. The present two-year longitudinal study used the IPAW cohort, but was not intended to study intervention effects, which will be reported later. Data were derived from baseline questionnaires and employers’ registers of absence for 1919 participants (1305 women, 614 men, mainly in low-skilled jobs) in different occupations from 52 workplaces. These workplaces included municipal care, municipal technical services and a large pharmaceutical company. Analyses were performed by Poisson regression accounting for over-dispersion. After controlling for age, family type, health behaviours and physical work environment variables, we found that high levels of decision authority predicted low absence rates in both women and men. We tested two new psychosocial constructs developed for this study: Predictability (relating to being informed on future events at work) and Meaning of Work (relating to how meaningful and useful the work is perceived to be). Higher Predictability was a significant predictor of lower absence rates in men. This study adds to the body of evidence that the psychosocial working environment influences absence and should therefore be considered to be an important target for intervention.     

The Racial Divide in Response to the Aftermath of Katrina: A Boundary Condition for Common Ingroup Identity Model

The disastrous aftermath of Katrina brought to light a great rift between Blacks and Whites in the United States. Polls taken shortly after the disaster gave clear indication that many Blacks felt that the response to Katrina was slowed by racism. At the same time, many Whites felt that the residents of New Orleans were to blame for their predicament. To understand the causal role ethnic identity plays in shaping individuals' perceptions, the present study experimentally manipulated Whites' social identification and measured their perceptions of the Katrina disaster's aftermath. Our results indicate that White Americans exhibited greater prejudice when thinking of themselves as "American" (an identity seemingly inclusive of Blacks) than when identifying as "White American" or "European American" (an identity that seemingly excludes Blacks). This finding demonstrates a boundary condition to the Common Ingroup Identity Model, such that a dual identity is more conducive to positive intergroup relations when strong racial assumptions exist about the overarching identity.     

Aging-related temporal constraints to stability and instability in postural control

In this study, we review the evidence that older adults tend to have both a shorter time to lose stability in the maintenance of standing posture and the functionally related but inverse problem of needing more time to reacquire stability in transitioning to a postural state. These age-related time limitations to processes of stability are hypothesized to enhance the probability of falling with aging and the problems that can occur in the transition between activities, such as sitting to standing and standing to walking. The potential role of fitness and health variables in mediating the temporal constraints on the acquisition and loss of postural stability in aging is discussed.     

Explaining Mothers' Ambivalence Toward Their Adult Children

Interest in applying the concept of ambivalence to the study of intergenerational relations has increased in recent years. However, few empirical studies of this issue have been conducted. Using data from a study of 189 mothers aged 60 and over, the authors examine sources of ambivalence regarding the quality of their relationships with adult children. They hypothesized that adult children's failure to achieve and maintain normative adult statuses and financial independence and mother's developmental stage will predict ambivalent assessments of the relationship. Regression analyses supported these hypotheses and also revealed that the variables predicting ambivalence differed from those that predicted closeness and interpersonal stress.     

In memoriam Erika Brückner (09.09.1927–07.07.2002)

Ohne Zusammenfassung

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In memoriam Erika Brückner (09.09.1927–07.07.2002)

     

Protokoll der Auszählung der Wahlen zum Vorsitz,zum Vorstand und zum Konzil der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Soziologie 2006/2007

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Protokoll der Auszählung der Wahlen zum Vorsitz,zum Vorstand und zum Konzil der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Soziologie 2005

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Debt and Financial Expectations: An Individual- and Household-Level Analysis

In this article we show that optimistic financial expectations impact positively on both the quantity of debt and the growth in debt at the individual and household levels. Our theoretical model shows that this association is predicted under a variety of plausible scenarios. In the empirical analysis we explore the determinants of debt and of growth in debt using British data. We find convincing support for our theoretical priors and show that it is optimistic financial expectations per se that are important in influencing debt, rather than the accuracy of individuals' predictions regarding their future financial situation.     

Do Positive Feelings Hurt? Disaggregating Positive and Negative Components of Intergenerational Ambivalence

Ambivalence has become an important conceptual development in the study of parent–adult child relations, with evidence highlighting that intergenerational relationships are characterized by a mix of positive and negative components. Recent studies have shown that ambivalence has detrimental consequences for both parents' and adult children's psychological well‐being. The underlying assumption of this line of research is that psychological distress results from holding simultaneous positive and negative feelings toward a parent or child. The authors question this assumption and explore alternative interpretations by disaggregating the positive and negative dimensions commonly used to create indirect measures of intergenerational ambivalence. Data for the analyses were collected from 254 older mothers and a randomly selected adult child from each of the families. The findings suggest that the negative component is primarily responsible for the association between indirect measures of ambivalence and psychological well‐being. Implications of these findings for the study of intergenerational ambivalence are discussed.     

A new financial risk ratio

Randomness in financial markets has been recognized for over a century: Bachelier (1900), Cowles (1932), Kendall (1953), and Samuelson (1959). Risk thus enters into efficient portfolio design: Fisher (1906), Williams (1936), Working (1948), Markowitz (1952). Reward versus risk decisions then depend upon utility to the investor: Bernoulli (1738), Kelly (1956), Sharpe (1964), and Modigliani (1997). Returns of a portfolio adjusted to risk are measured by a number of ratios: Treynor, Sharpe, Sortino, M2, among others. I will propose a refinement of such ratios. This possibility was mentioned in my recent book: Antieigenvalue analysis, World-Scientific (2011). The result is a new set of growth-to-return risk-based financial ratios of ratios.