I know there is no justice: Palestinian perceptions of higher education in Jordan

This qualitative study utilizes critical ethnography methods to illustrate Palestinian refugee perceptions of higher education in Jordan. Participants addressed their assimilation to the Jordanian national identity as a means of obtaining education. Content and access to education were more important than assimilation, maintenance of ethnic identity, and a homogeneous national identity. The more immediate need for academic access and social or professional capital thwarted their desire to infuse their ethnic identity in academia.     

Peer Contacts of 15-Month-olds in Childcare: Links With Child Temperament, Parent–Child Interaction and Quality of Childcare

Seventy 15‐month‐old children were observed during 90 minutes of free play with their peers in childcare centers. The study aimed to describe individual differences in the children's contacts with peers and to explain the individual differences in relation to: (1) child temperament, (2) the quality of parental behavior toward the child and (3) the quality of the professional childcare environment. Three distinct peer contact factors emerged from our analyses; one reflects children's involvement in peer contacts initiated by peers and two reflect the positive and negative contacts initiated by the target children themselves. Children in groups with more children per caregiver were found to be involved in more contacts initiated by peers. Children with a relatively difficult temperament were less involved in contacts initiated by peers although only in cases of lower quality childcare, as assessed using the infant/toddler environment rating scale. Boys initiated significantly more negative contacts with peers than girls. In addition, more peer‐directed negative initiatives were observed in lower quality childcare.     

Child Maltreatment, Abortion Availability, and Economic Conditions

Child maltreatment is a substantial problem in the U.S. yet has received relatively little attention from economists. This article examines the relationship between abortion availability and economic factors at the time children were conceived and subsequent measures of child maltreatment in the U.S. as well as the influence of contemporaneous economic conditions. Our measures of child maltreatment are state-level rates of child abuse and neglect reports, the fraction of children receiving social services, and child deaths and murders. The results indicate that legalized abortion for each successive cohort led to a decline in total reported incidents of child abuse and neglect of about 10 percent and a negative effect on the fraction of children receiving social services. Child deaths and murders are not related to abortion legalization. Medicaid funding restrictions are associated with an increase in substantiated reports of abuse and an increase in murders by relatives or parents; other post-legalization restrictions are not consistently associated with the various measures of child maltreatment. The effects of welfare benefits, average income, and unemployment rates are mixed.     

Sense of coherence: definition and explanation

The present study is one of a few that have used 'sense of coherence' (SOC) as a dependent variable in an explanatory model. After studying three different samples – 680 students, 180 parents and 315 couples – we conclude that family relational and psychopathological variables contribute significantly to the explanation of SOC (explained variance between 10–27 and 26–50 per cent). In total, we obtained an explained variance of between 42 and 64 per cent. This leads us to the conclusion that in all three samples, SOC is multifaceted and thereby is more than simply an opposite state to depression. Context may play an important part in the explanation of SOC.     

Career or family: What choices do college women have?

Much has been written about the problems of combining job and family. Among the best-known scholarly works is Goldin’s (1997) study in which she found that only 12–17 percent of college-educated women managed to attain both a career and a family. We re-examine these conclusions, first duplicating Goldin’s definitions of career but using a somewhat older group, then using alternate definitions of career. We reach far more optimistic conclusions about what lies ahead for today’s college women.     

Psychological and physiological stress responses during repetitive work at an assembly line

The association between psychological and physiological stress responses was examined in 20 male workers at an assembly line. Each worker was studied during a 2 h period on two consecutive days in their normal job and, in order to obtain physiological baseline values, during a corresponding paid 2 h period off the job on the third day. Self-reports of work demands, mood, etc., measurements of catecholamine and cortisol excretion and of systolic and diastolic blood pressure and heart rate were obtained at the end of each of the three 2 h periods. Work induced a significant elevation in almost all psychological and physiological measurements. Levels were consistently lower in workers reporting a 'good' workday compared to those reporting a 'normal' or a 'bad' day. Correlations between self-reports and physiological values showed that catecholamine and cortisol responses, respectively, tended to be associated selectively with different psychological conditions, catecholamine values being associated with feelings of time pressure and pressure by demands, cortisol values with irritation, tenseness and tiredness. The results show that perceived stress at an assembly line is consistently reflected in cardiovascular and neuroendocrine functions of the workers.     

Questioning the Pro‐Poor Agenda: Examining the Links between Social Protection and Poverty

This article investigates an empirical puzzle. Taking the case of Botswana, how is it that poverty is so high, when the country largely conforms to pro‐poor growth strategies? This article suggests that the minimal role of social‐security policies partly explains the relatively high poverty levels. This hypothesis is tested in a large‐N study of developing countries which shows that broad‐based and generous, rather than pro‐poor, social‐security policies impact strongly on poverty levels. The analysis further alludes to other obstacles to poverty reduction, such as economic transformation, which may be combined with a pro‐active social‐policy agenda. Thus, poverty‐alleviating strategies should be refocused to allow for a wider and more coherent role for social‐security policies.     

The Lived Experience of Work and Career: Women Whose Parents Lack Postsecondary Education

There is a dearth of research exploring the career and work development of adults and the influence of family of origin on that development. In this qualitative study, the authors used a phenomenological approach to examine the career and work experiences of women whose parents have no education beyond high school and the influences of family on these experiences. Findings revealed 5 invariant themes, or constituents, that shaped the experiences of these women: being a daughter/woman, support and encouragement, what matters, why I chose, and limits and options. Perseverance was found to be a related underlying component, or essence. Authors present implications for counselors working with adult women whose parents lack postsecondary education.     

Real Versus Imagined Gender Harassment

Sexual harassment studies that use hypothetical situations and retrospective surveys may overestimate the degree to which victims actually confront their harassers. The result is that immediate emotional reactions are little understood and victims are often taken to task for nonconfrontational behavior. To address this neglect, we describe our experimental investigation of immediate reactions to sexually harassing questions encountered during a realistic job interview. Behavioral and emotional responses are compared to those in an imagined harassing interview. Results indicate that interviewees who are actually harassed react very differently than those who only imagine their responses. For example, imagined victims anticipate feeling angry but actual targets report being afraid. Anticipated behavior also did not mesh with actual behavior. Implications of these discrepancies for perceptions of correct ways to respond to harassment are examined.