Coping With Overload and Stress: Men and Women in Dual‐Earner Families

This study tested gender differences in a model positing relationships between work and family demands, overload, 4 coping mechanisms, and stress. The coping mechanisms were hypothesized to moderate the relationship between overload and stress. The sample consisted of 1,404 men and 1,623 women in dual‐earner families. Respondents relied on 2 coping strategies: scaling back and restructuring family roles. Men were more likely than women to respond to overload by scaling back and less likely to respond by work‐role restructuring. Coping by family‐role restructuring moderated the relationship between role overload and stress for both groups; however, the gender difference was not significant. Coping by work‐role restructuring moderated the relationship between overload and stress only for men.     

Cultural influences on parental bereavement in Chinese families

The purpose of this study was to explore the bereavement experiences of parents who had experienced the death of a child in Chinese families. In-depth interviews were conducted with 10 bereaved parents in Macau, China. Narrative accounts of Chinese parents' experience in the loss of a child were explored to understand how their connection to the deceased child and their worldview were influenced by cultural beliefs and values. Study themes related to parental connections with the deceased child included the use of object linking, memorializing acts, and avoidance of traditional funeral processes, with clear patterns of Chinese cultural influence. Additionally, themes related to impacts on parental worldview included use of the concept of fate as a rationale for child loss and influences on religious orientation. The influence of cultural beliefs and background on Chinese parents as they deal with the issue of a child's death was apparent. Further research is needed and will benefit our understanding of parental bereavement in Chinese families.     

From C. P. Ellis to School Integration: The Social Psychology of Conflict Reduction

In this article, the authors review social psychological theories of intergroup conflict reduction. Emphasis is placed on three interrelated social conditions which facilitate conflict reduction: intergroup contact, superordinate goals, and shared identities. Bridging experimental research with real‐world studies of schooling, these concepts are applied to understanding the process of school integration. Social contexts which present conflicting parties with a new shared goal and identity, as well as opportunities to become familiar with others beyond stereotypes and anxious reactions, dramatically increase the likelihood of diffusing conflict.     

A meta-analytic review of leadership impact research: Experimental and quasi-experimental studies

In this study we set out to conduct a comprehensive quantitative research analysis of literature reporting results on the causal impact of leadership by focusing on examining what we refer to as ‘leadership interventions.’ We defined leadership interventions as those studies where the researcher overtly manipulated leadership as the independent variable through training, assignment, scenario or other means. Our focus included both examining experimental and quasi-experimental as well as lab and field studies conducted in public and private organizations. Our goal was to address a simple question: do leadership interventions have the intended impact and if so to what degree? We conducted a comprehensive review of the published and unpublished literature and uncovered 200 lab and field studies that met our criterion as leadership intervention studies. We report here the findings of a series of meta-analyzed effects comparing the relative impact of leadership interventions across intervention types, leadership theories, and several common dependent variables. Overall, leadership interventions produced a 66% probability of achieving a positive outcome versus a 50–50 random effect for treatment participants, but this effect varied significantly when assessing moderators such as type of leadership theory.     

Facilitating Arts-Based Mindfulness Group Activities with Vulnerable Children: An Example of Nondeliberative Social Group Work Practice

ABSTRACT

This article discusses the process of facilitating arts-based mindfulness group work and activities with vulnerable children age 8 to 12 years who were involved with the child welfare or mental health systems. Specifically, it delineates connections between our group program and Norma Lang’s nondeliberative social group work practice. Importantly, in working with vulnerable children, the authors purposefully fostered the development of mutual aid, creativity, and strengths and recognized that each group had a life of its own.     

Institutional Incentives and Trust: Marginalized Groups and the Creation of Trust in Local Government*

Objectives. There is an important theoretical debate concerning whether institutional trust can be created. Since very few governments actually try to promote trust directly, it has been difficult to test this debate empirically. To investigate this debate, we examine an innovative new program in Japan that is specifically designed to promote trust in institutions—community currencies. Methods. We use propensity score matching to determine if community currency program participation in Japan increases institutional trust. Results. We find that participation increases institutional trust. Additionally, we find that supporters of political parties with little political power receive a greater impact from program participation. Conclusions. These results show that institutional trust can be increased by participation in incentive programs of cooperation, and suggest that members of marginalized groups will benefit more from program participation.     

Moral Community of Weisheng: Contesting Hygiene in Republican China

Weisheng, literally “guarding life,” serves as the Chinese translation for the English term “hygiene.” Nevertheless, the respected author of a Chinese textbook on public health from 1934 stated in his preface: “Weisheng is about ‘maintaining health’ and not at all about ‘guarding life.’” When read against the rise of weisheng in Ruth Rogaski's sense of “hygienic modernity” in China during the Republican period, this statement reveals a local and alternative conception of weisheng, linked more closely to traditional Chinese notions of “nurturing life” than to modern practices related to “germ warfare”. Public health advocates, as well as many modern historians, saw little value in this popular discourse and mostly disregarded it. This paper takes this alternative discourse of weisheng seriously, tracing its emergence, articulating its specific features, and exploring its historical significance as an alternative to the notion of hygienic modernity. The central discovery of this article is that Chinese critiques of modern hygiene—personal hygiene, to be specific—did not focus on the actual techniques for preserving health but on their moral implications, i.e., their effects in the context of the dual construction of self-identity and moral community. Drawing on this discovery, this paper explains the curious reasons why political leaders of the Republican period devoted so much energy to the seemingly trivial practices of personal hygiene while leaving untouched the construction of a national system of public health. As the contestation over hygiene became closely connected with larger debates about individualism, nationalism, and modernity, critiques of, resistance to, and local visions of hygiene revealed the development of localized modernities in China, characterized by alternatives in hygiene, self-hood, bodily sensibility, and moral community.     

Does size really matter?: A reexamination of Sheldon's somatotypes and criminal behavior

In the mid-20th century, William Sheldon developed the idea of somatotypes in explaining different types of criminal behavior. Sheldon defined three body types believed to be associated with criminality: mesomorphs, who are athletically fit; endomorphs, who are overweight, and ectomorphs, who are characterized by fragility and thinness. Sheldon's research implied that mesomorphic individuals were more prone to committing violent and aggressive acts. This research explores a new method of somatotyping using the Body Mass Index (BMI). What follows is an examination of prisoners from the State of Arkansas, using information provided by the Arkansas Department of Correction's database on inmates. In particular, this paper examined prisoners’ physical characteristics such as age, height, and weight in comparison to the types of crimes that these prisoners committed. The findings of this paper show that the BMI is a useful alternative to traditional somatotyping techniques; the findings also suggest that a prisoner's somatotype is associated with criminal patterns while being a meager predictor of criminality. Methodological and theoretical implications of this study are discussed.     

Therapeutic Engagement of Adolescents with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

Youth engagement is increasingly recognized as a preferred approach and often necessary step in the treatment of emotional and behavioral disorders. The purpose of this study was to explore the degree and quality of youth engagement in the therapeutic process, compare engagement scores between youth accessing residential and day treatment, and explore the association between engagement and interpersonal difficulties in a sample of youth with an emotional and/or behavior disorder in residential and day treatment programs based in Southern Ontario. Cross-sectional surveys of standardized measures were administered to youth and a separate survey to their Prime Workers. Relevant constructs included client engagement (as rated by youth and Prime Workers), and youth-rated behavioral screen, interpersonal problems and family functioning. Both Prime Workers and youth rated youth as moderately high in their level of engagement in therapy. Furthermore, Prime Worker and youth ratings did not significantly differ statistically, suggesting that youth may have actually engaged at a moderate level. Interpersonal problems were shown to be negatively associated with youth engagement, and family functioning approached significance for only youth in residential treatment. Assessing youth engagement during the treatment process as an intervention technique may highlight areas where greater clinical efforts are needed. Future considerations include testing methods of sharing and discussing results of an engagement measure within the context of a one-on-one clinical encounter with youth.