Examining Direct Service Worker Turnover in Three Long-Term Care Industries in Ohio

This is the first study to examine direct service worker turnover and its predictors across three provider types: nursing homes, home health agencies, and providers of services for the developmentally disabled. Stratified random sampling procedures were used to select provider types across five geographic regions in Ohio. Data were collected from administrative staff. Findings indicated that annual direct service worker turnover did not significantly vary by provider type (mean = 33%). Predictors of turnover related to job burnout, negative social support, and region. Policymakers can promote practices to lower direct service worker turnover such as addressing burnout and increasing support.     

Inequalities in students’ union leadership: the role of social networks

Drawing on a national survey of students’ union officers and staff, and a series of 24 focus groups involving both union officers and institutional senior managers, this article explores the characteristics of those who take up leadership roles in their (higher education) students’ union. We show that, in several areas – and particularly in relation to gender, ethnicity and age – union leaders do not represent well the diversity of the wider student body. In explaining these inequalities, we argue that friendship groups and other peer networks play a significant role in determining who does and does not take up leadership positions. Moreover, as friendship groups are often formed on the basis of ‘differential association’ and are thus frequently socially homogenous, inequalities tend to be perpetuated. Wider institutional cultures and societal norms are also implicated.     

Clergy views on their role in city resilience: lessons from the Canterbury earthquakes

Successful emergency management requires effective communication between the civil defence agencies and the community to provide and receive timely and accurate information, and identify needs and resources. Religious communities encompass a wide cross-section of social classes, socio-economic indicators, ethnic groups and ages, and have their own internal communication structures. In this study, clergy in different Christian denominations were asked about their roles in the Canterbury earthquake sequence (CES), the needs of their congregations and the possibilities and obstacles to deeper collaboration with Civil Defence and Emergency Management (CDEM) authorities. Results show a lack of communication between CDEM and religious communities prior to and during the CES, and record suggestions from the participants on how links between organised religion and CDEM can be strengthened to build resilience for future disasters.     

The Changing Legal Status Distribution of Immigrants: A Caution

This article presents arguments and data to show that the decennial census and annual Current Population Surveys include immigrants falling into four broad legal status groups: naturalized citizens; legal immigrants; legal nonimmigrants; and undocumented migrants. Since 1986, the relative rewards and penalties imposed on these four categories have shifted dramatically in response to U.S. policies, as have the relative number of foreigners in each group. In general, the relative share of foreigners in the most vulnerable status groups has increased, with the proportion of undocumented migrants and legal nonimmigrant rising and that of legal immigrants falling. Researchers using census and CPS data need to be aware of the shifting distribution of foreigners by legal status over time and of the changing profile of opportunities experienced by each status group, and they need to exercise caution in their interpretation of trends with respect to immigrant assimilation and the effects of immigration on U.S. society.     

Distributional Phonetic Learning at 10 Months of Age

Infant phonetic perception reorganizes in accordance with the native language by 10 months of age. One mechanism that may underlie this perceptual change is distributional learning, a statistical analysis of the distributional frequency of speech sounds. Previous distributional learning studies have tested infants of 6–8 months, an age at which native phonetic categories have not yet developed. Here, three experiments test infants of 10 months to help illuminate perceptual ability following perceptual reorganization. English‐learning infants did not change discrimination in response to nonnative speech sound distributions from either a voicing distinction (Experiment 1) or a place‐of‐articulation distinction (Experiment 2). In Experiment 3, familiarization to the place‐of‐articulation distinction was doubled to increase the amount of exposure, and in this case infants began discriminating the sounds. These results extend the processes of distributional learning to a new phonetic contrast, and reveal that at 10 months of age, distributional phonetic learning remains effective, but is more difficult than before perceptual reorganization.     

The Sociology of Political Representation and Deliberation

The language of democracy and citizenship is infused with a complicated idea: political representation. While political theorists have explored what representation and deliberation should be like, most research on how political discussion actually happens fails directly to address these theoretical standards. This article shows the importance of representation and deliberation to our contemporary ideas about democracy and citizenship. It shows that there is no clear line between deliberation and everyday conversation. Instead, everyday talk constitutes the foundation on top of which citizens build ideas about politics. These, in turn, are the bedrock of democratic representation.     

Behavioral complexity in leadership: The psychometric properties of a new instrument to measure behavioral repertoire

Research in managerial and executive leadership recognizes the importance of behavioral complexity, particularly for addressing the competing demands and roles expected of managerial leaders. Though some empirical research on behavioral complexity exists, further progress requires a more rigorous instrument to measure behavioral repertoire. We design an elaborated, multi-dimensional instrument based on the Competing Values Framework (CVF). To examine the underlying conceptual structure and remove measurement error, we test this second-order measurement model using structural equation modeling (SEM). We also test the spatial relationship of the factors using a Bayesian circumplex model. Our data largely support the theoretical structure and stringent demands of the CVF model as applied to this instrument. Finally, we test the instrument's ability to predict managerial effectiveness and find that higher overall ability is correlated with greater overall performance. With this new instrument, we suggest the modification and addition of roles associated with the CVF model.     

ECONOMIC GROWTH REGRESSIONS FOR THE AMERICAN STATES: A SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS

We use extreme-bounds analysis to assess the sensitivity of numerous control variables identified in the state growth literature. We employ annual panel data on the American states to identify which variables are robust to small changes in the conditioning information set. The results provide a set of core variables as a starting point for future research that relies on state growth regressions. The findings also demonstrate that several important conclusions in the literature depend on how variables are measured. ( JEL R11, O23, C23, 018)