The Impact of Flexible Working Arrangements on Work–life Conflict and Work Pressure in Ireland

Recent rapid economic growth in Ireland has been accompanied by a strong surge in the number of women in employment, and this has led to a significant increase in the proportion of dual‐earner families. These changes have brought the issue of reconciliation between work and care commitments to the fore. Flexible working arrangements in firms have been identified as one important means of balancing work and other commitments. In this article we investigate the relationship between four flexible working arrangements; flexitime, part‐time hours, working from home and job sharing, and two key employee outcomes; work pressure and work–life conflict, using data from the first national survey of employees in Ireland in 2003. Our results show that while part‐time work and flexitime tend to reduce work pressure and work–life conflict, working from home is associated with greater levels of both work pressure and work–life conflict. We conclude that it is important to distinguish between flexible working arrangements to discover their potential for reducing work pressure and work–life conflict.     

Living on the margin: disabled Iranians in Belgian society

This paper explores the antecedents, experiences and consequences of marginalization as reported and dealt with by disabled Iranian immigrants in Belgium. This work extends the work of Gallie and colleagues and Siegrist demonstrating that the forces of marginalization applicable to all immigrants are particularly pertinent to disabled immigrants. The research is based on 26 in‐depth, face‐to‐face interviews, focus groups, interviews with government officials and immigration experts, ethnographic work and official government statistics. The findings detail how the combined forces of history, context and reasons for immigration; isolation, vulnerability and perceived loss of control; religion and rejection; lack of reciprocity in social exchanges; problems in obtaining jobs; and difficulties in negotiating an entry into Belgian society combine to sustain marginizalation. As a consequence, disabled immigrants in this group are generally excluded from society and discriminated against in terms of citizenship, education, jobs and general acceptance.     

Culture: A Possible Predictor of Morality for African American Adolescents

This study examined the ways in which cultural orientation (communalism and material well‐being) and empathy influence the moral reasoning of African American middle to late adolescents. Specifically, this study utilized path analysis to investigate Ward's (1995) hypothesis that a communal orientation would promote morality among African American adolescents, while a material well‐being orientation would mitigate against it. In addition, it was hypothesized that empathy would mediate the relationship between cultural orientation and moral reasoning. Thirty‐seven high school students and 35 college students participated in the study. Results revealed that communalism was a significant predictor of empathy. Despite prediction, communalism and material well‐being were not predictors of moral reasoning. The findings did not yield support for empathy functioning as a mediator between communalism and moral reasoning. These findings are discussed in terms of previous findings, methodological limitations, and implications for future research.     

Impulse Control Disorder Behaviors Associated with Pramipexole Used to Treat Fibromyalgia

Objective: Compulsivity has been associated with use of dopamine agonists used to treat Parkinson’s disease (PD). Increasing use of these agents to treat fibromyalgia (FM) raises concern for this unexpected toxicity in a new group of patients. This is the first report of compulsive gambling and shopping among patients taking dopamine agonists for treatment of FM. Design: A retrospective chart review of all patients in a large, active FM research practice was used to identify compulsivity associated with dopamine agonists and describe its remission following dug withdrawal. Results: Of 3006 patients with FM treated between 2002 and 2006, 1356 had taken ≥1 dose of a dopamine agonist ( >95% pramipexole). Twenty-one (3 male, 18 female) were identified with compulsive gambling (33%), shopping (40%) or both (27%) after taking a 4.5 mg mean dose of pramipexole at bedtime for 14.4 ± 14.9 months. Compulsivity resolved in 3–10 days for 19 of 21 patients and by 3 months for all following a monitored, compulsory tapered discontinuation over 7 days. Conclusions: While biologic aspects of PD and FM differ considerably, compulsive gambling and shopping have become important, yet unexpected concerns related to use of dopamine agonists for patients with FM and their treating clinicians.     

Relationship between urbanization and bat community structure in national parks of the southeastern U.S.

Urbanization and development are predicted to increase considerably in the United States over the next several decades, and this is expected to result in large-scale habitat loss, fragmentation and loss of wildlife species. Thus, natural parks and preserves are becomingly increasingly important in the conservation of regional biodiversity. We used mist-nets and AnabatII acoustic detectors to survey bats in 10 national parks in the southeastern U.S. and examined the relationship between bat community structure and development in the surrounding 5 km. We predicted that species richness would increase with park size and that species richness and evenness would decrease with development. Species richness was not related to development or any other landscape characteristics including park size. In contrast, species evenness declined with increasing development. Percent Developed land in the surrounding 5 km area was the only variable that entered into the stepwise regression model. The decrease in species evenness in the urban parks was due to the dominance of big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) in these parks. The percentage of big brown bats in our captures was positively related to percent Developed land in the surrounding area. Our data suggest that urban parks may be important for conserving regional bat biodiversity. However, the low species evenness in these parks suggests that some bat species may be susceptible to the effects of urbanization and may be extirpated over time. Thus, management of urban as well as rural parks should strive to conserve as much bat roosting and foraging habitat as possible.     

Exploring types of interference between work and non-work: using a diary study approach

Studies of work and family issues have used predominately between-subject cross-sectional designs. While some researchers have called for more longitudinal studies, others have suggested that a more strategic way forward for the field is the use of daily diary studies (Frone, Russell, & Cooper, 1992). This study explores different types of interference between work and non-work domains, using a diary study methodology. This study consisted of a two-week diary study among 12 Irish employees. Analysis involved a two-step procedure involving both content analysis and interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Results indicated that while individuals reported strain-based and time-based interference, evidence was also found of interference concerning persistent and intrusive thoughts. Despite some limitations to the study, this paper demonstrates that diary studies represent an opportunity for researchers to explore work and non-work experiences in a sensitive and ecologically valid way.     

Reactions of students to different settings of field experience

The study assessed Israeli students’ emotional–experiential reaction and attitude to different client populations, following a week-long experience in one of five social services settings. The study provides preliminary findings regarding the implications of first year students’ experience on their emphatic skills, a subject that generally has not received adequate scholarly attention. Using a purpose-built, self-administered questionnaire, we found students’ emotional–experiential response to their experience differed by the setting in which they were placed, being lowest in the Bedouin oriented services, intermediate among those placed in juvenile correction services, and highest in mental health, adult and child disability services. Responses were independent of all other explanatory variables, including sex, cognitive ability, previous training experience and perceptual shifts concerning the population served. We discuss possible reasons for these differences.

     

The potential of a couples approach to employment assistance: results of a nonexperimental evaluation

We present findings from a nonexperimental evaluation of an employment program in which both partners in young, low-income, primarily African-American couples simultaneously participated. Mothers participating in the couples program had larger immediate gains in employment and earnings and decreases in TANF receipt following their exit from the program relative to mothers who received employment assistance as individuals. Fathers showed similar although weaker results. These immediate benefits appeared to be driven by higher rates of program completion among couples’ participants. Couples in which both partners completed the program experienced the largest quarterly earnings gains, and couples with greater earnings’ gains were more likely to still be together one year after the program ended. Mothers’ earnings gains eroded in the two years following program completion and many reported new pregnancies and problems with child care. We suggest directions for future programs and encourage future studies to consider the range of mechanisms associated with a couples focus, including potential motivational benefits and unintended consequences.