Willingness to Engage in Consensual Nonmonogamy Among Emerging Adults: A Structural Equation Analysis of Sexual Identity,Casual Sex Attitudes,and Gender

Research on consensual nonmonogamy (CNM) has increased over the past decade. However, willingness to engage in CNM is an understudied phenomenon within this body of literature. Little research has examined the correlates of this aspect of CNM or focused on individuals in the developmental period of emerging adulthood. This study used multigroup structural equation modeling (SEM) to test a conceptual model of emerging adults’ (ages 18 to 29; N = 890) willingness to engage in CNM. Results indicated that emerging adult experimentation/possibilities, sexual identity exploration, and permissive attitudes toward casual sex were all related to willingness to engage in CNM. Results also showed that the pathway from emerging adult experimentation/possibilities to willingness to engage in CNM was differentially mediated across gender. Specifically, for women there was an indirect (and positive) pathway from experimentation/possibilities to willingness to engage in CNM through sexual identity exploration. For men there was an indirect (and positive) pathway from experimentation/possibilities to willingness to engage in CNM through permissive attitudes toward casual sex. Implications for future studies on CNM among emerging adults are discussed.     

How the world's top universities provide dialogic forums for marginalized voices

Viewed through the lens of the dialogic theory of public relations, this study examines if universities use new media tools and how the world's top universities use Facebook as an interactive forum that give voice to key stakeholders. With the declining economy and limited access to resources, it is important to know how organizations utilize Web-based tools to build and maintain relationships at national and global levels. Because prior research found that users had negative feelings about lack of dialogue on college websites, it is also important to know whether universities are tapping into the dialogic potential. The content analyses of the websites and Facebook platforms show that more than half of the universities have Facebook pages. The results also show that users cannot post content or photos, or participate in discussions and wall posts. In essence, the voices of key stakeholders are being silenced via a media that is intended to provide open forums for dialogue.     

Understanding "elder abuse and neglect": a critique of assumptions underpinning responses to the mistreatment and neglect of older people

This article provides an overview of the ways in which the mistreatment and neglect of older people have come to be understood as a social problem, one which is underpinned by a variety of substantive and theoretical assumptions. It connects the process of conceptualizing elder abuse and neglect to political-economic and social evolution. The authors draw on a review of the literature, government sources, interest group websites, and their own research to provide a critical commentary illustrating how these understandings have become manifest in legislation, policies, and programs pertaining to "elder abuse and neglect" in Canada. Suggestions are provided for changes in direction for policies, programs, and research.     

No Degree,No Job: Adolescent Mothers’ Perceptions of the Impact that Adolescent Fathers’ Human Capital has on Paternal Financial and Social Capital

Becoming an adolescent father truncates young males’ opportunities to complete high school and secure employment, which can hinder their capacity to contribute financial and social capital to their children. Based on 69 adolescent mother reports, results suggest that whereas employment status is associated with adolescent fathers’ physical and financial presence, high school completion is strongly associated with the nature and quality of parenting and co-parenting behaviors. Implications for school counselors, teachers, social workers, and future research are discussed.     

Cross-cultural re-entry for missionaries: a new application for the Dual Process Model

Nearly half a million foreign aid workers currently work worldwide, including over 140,000 missionaries. During re-entry these workers may experience significant psychological distress. This article positions previous research about psychological distress during re-entry, emphasizing loss and grief. At present there is no identifiable theoretical framework to provide a basis for assessment, management, and prevention of re-entry distress in the clinical setting. The development of theoretical concepts and frameworks surrounding loss and grief including the Dual Process Model (DPM) are discussed. All the parameters of the DPM have been shown to be appropriate for the proposed re-entry model, the Dual Process Model applied to Re-entry (DPMR). It is proposed that the DPMR is an appropriate framework to address the processes and strategies of managing re-entry loss and grief. Possible future clinical applications and limitations of the proposed model are discussed. The DPMR is offered for further validation and use in clinical practice.     

Pathological gambling and switching addictions: Report of a case

The phenomenon of switching addictions, defined as a substitution of one chemical or behavioral addiction pattern for another, has been observed in clinical practices for some time. This case study describes a patient who, in attaining abstinence from alcohol and other drug dependence, became a pathological gambler. The complexities of personal history, medical history and psychiatric history are described as well problems in treatment.     

Of Disasters and Dragon Kings: A Statistical Analysis of Nuclear Power Incidents and Accidents

We perform a statistical study of risk in nuclear energy systems. This study provides and analyzes a data set that is twice the size of the previous best data set on nuclear incidents and accidents, comparing three measures of severity: the industry standard International Nuclear Event Scale, the Nuclear Accident Magnitude Scale of radiation release, and cost in U.S. dollars. The rate of nuclear accidents with cost above 20 MM 2013 USD, per reactor per year, has decreased from the 1970s until the present time. Along the way, the rate dropped significantly after Chernobyl (April 1986) and is expected to be roughly stable around a level of 0.003, suggesting an average of just over one event per year across the current global fleet. The distribution of costs appears to have changed following the Three Mile Island major accident (March 1979). The median cost became approximately 3.5 times smaller, but an extremely heavy tail emerged, being well described by a Pareto distribution with parameter α = 0.5–0.6. For instance, the cost of the two largest events, Chernobyl and Fukushima (March 2011), is equal to nearly five times the sum of the 173 other events. We also document a significant runaway disaster regime in both radiation release and cost data, which we associate with the “dragon‐king” phenomenon. Since the major accident at Fukushima (March 2011) occurred recently, we are unable to quantify an impact of the industry response to this disaster. Excluding such improvements, in terms of costs, our range of models suggests that there is presently a 50% chance that (i) a Fukushima event (or larger) occurs every 60–150 years, and (ii) that a Three Mile Island event (or larger) occurs every 10–20 years. Further—even assuming that it is no longer possible to suffer an event more costly than Chernobyl or Fukushima—the expected annual cost and its standard error bracket the cost of a new plant. This highlights the importance of improvements not only immediately following Fukushima, but also deeper improvements to effectively exclude the possibility of “dragon‐king” disasters. Finally, we find that the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES) is inconsistent in terms of both cost and radiation released. To be consistent with cost data, the Chernobyl and Fukushima disasters would need to have between an INES level of 10 and 11, rather than the maximum of 7.