The Role of Coping Strategies in Understanding the Relationship Between Parental Support and Psychological Outcomes in Anxious Youth

The current study examined the moderating role of coping strategies on psychological outcomes at varying levels of parental support in a sample of clinically anxious youth. Youth (N?=?174, mean age 11.89) completed the Children’s Coping Strategies Checklist, Child and Adolescent Social Support Scale, Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children and Children’s Depression Inventory. Data was gathered at a large, university-based anxiety disorders treatment clinic. This nonexperimental design analyzed the use of active and avoidant coping strategies as a moderator of anxiety and depression, while controlling for parental support. Results revealed active coping strategies did moderate the relationship between parental support and anxiety, however, not as expected while the significant moderation role of avoidance coping was mixed. Findings showed that anxious youth with more parental support and more active coping were at risk for higher levels of anxiety, yet protected from higher depression. Avoidant coping strategies did moderate in a manner that was predicted for higher anxiety symptoms. Results suggest increased need for parental involvement in the treatment of anxiety disorders in youth.     

Sociology’s Sacred Victims and the Politics of Knowledge: Moral Foundations Theory and Disciplinary Controversies

The field of sociology has long been subject to critique for alleged ideological bias and left-wing groupthink linked to its social justice mission. Critics contend that the construction of “sacred victims” by progressive intellectuals hinders their ability to objectively appraise the circumstances of such vulnerable groups. To address this criticism, we survey 479 sociologists in national universities and colleges in the U.S. regarding three sensitive controversies: urban poverty in the black community; gendered differences in occupational choices; and immigration. We find significant patterns in the data. Commitment to the field’s “moral mission,” preferred research paradigm, gender, and especially political orientation are all significant predictors of sociologists’ views. The results, we suggest, can be understood by conceptualizing the field of sociology as an “emotive community.” In doing so, we draw upon current social psychological research on moral foundations theory developed by Jonathan Haidt and colleagues.     

Spousal,Family and Gender Effects on Expected Retirement Age for Married Pre-retirees

The overall purpose of this study was to examine the degree to which retirement is a contextually embedded, family decision rather than an individualized, male-centric one. Using data from a 2010 survey of married pre-retirees ages 35–70 in Michigan, US, we created a General Linear Model to predict expected retirement age. The model incorporated the effect of spousal and family variables on expected retirement age, and because the work/family interface is highly gendered, we explored interactions with gender. The study used a life course perspective in its framing and analysis, and found that expected retirement age was related to both personal and family characteristics and that the relationship of spousal and family factors were gendered and complex.     

Group Therapy for Emotional Dysregulation: Treatment for Adolescents and Their Parents

A dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) group has been conducted for a number of years at a public outpatient clinic for adolescents suffering with emotional regulation difficulties and their families. A detailed account of the rationale, design, and content of both the adolescent and parent groups are provided. Data from these groups adds to the limited evidence regarding the efficacy of such groups. A retrospective analysis of changes in the adolescent participants’ emotional dysregulation, depression, anxiety and stress, following their participation in the group (N?=?12) was conducted. Several substantial improvements were noted across the measures of psychopathology, following the completion of the group. These findings support the teaching of DBT skills to adolescents and their families, with some modifications being appropriate for their application to this population. Future avenues for research stemming from the group program are also discussed.     

An autecological interpretation of the firm and its environment

Explaining the survival and failure of firms is an important issue for researchers and managers of firms in society. Ecological approaches to the study of firms have existed for over 100 years, and have been increasingly popular during the past 40 years, especially since the pioneering works of Hannan and Freeman on one hand, and Aldrich on the other. This paper, in keeping with recent developments elsewhere in mainstream ecology outlines and positions the theoretical and philosophical foundations of an alternative ecological approach, autecology, that has not yet been formulated for the study of firms. The autecological approach affords the individual firm more autonomy in creating its own future evolutionary trajectory. The idea of an ecological complex is developed to provide clear focus on what is central to the application of autecology to the study of firms. The paper also considers several emergent research opportunities that highlight the potential value of employing an autecological approach to the study of firms.     

Die Kontaktgestaltung im Coaching

This article focusses on the many forms of the contact behaviour of systems. To this end, the gestalt theoretical concept of contact, and the system functions of the sociological system theory are combined to a new approach. In the second part of the article, this approach is transferred to the counseling format of coaching and ultimately made usable for coaches.     

Reporter in der Organisation – Systemisches Storytelling für Journalisten

This article describes a storytelling method, which combines the craft of journalism with premises of systemic organizational development. It transfers the model of press freedom to the organization. Companies hire reporters to be free to cover the everyday life and culture inside the organization. Part of the method are storytelling-events where the reporters present their investigation to an internal public. The radical independence sets the systemic storytelling apart from other formats of corporate communications. The benefit is reliability. This opens new opportunities for companies to deal with itself and defines new turfs for journalists.     

Fathers’ Imprisonment and Mothers’ Multiple-Partner Fertility

We consider the intersection between two striking U.S. trends: dramatic increases in the imprisonment of fathers and increases in the proportion of mothers who have children with more than one partner (multiple-partner fertility, or MPF). Using matched longitudinal administrative data that provide unusually comprehensive and accurate information about the occurrence and timing of imprisonment, fertility, and MPF for the population of the state of Wisconsin, we consider the relationship between paternal imprisonment and MPF among unwed mothers. Employing discrete-time event history analysis with multinomial logistic regression, we model the occurrence and timing of the mother’s second birth, distinguishing between a birth with the same father and a birth with a different father, and distinguishing between current imprisonment and a history of imprisonment. We find that current imprisonment is associated with an increased likelihood of MPF and a decreased likelihood of fertility with the same father (compared with no additional birth) and that a history of imprisonment is associated with increased MPF in some models but not in our preferred model. To control for unobserved heterogeneity among mothers and assess the evidence of a causal effect of fathers’ imprisonment, we also employ the case-time-control method, a fixed-effects method for the analysis of nonrepeated events. Results suggest that fathers’ current imprisonment may increase mothers’ MPF. Policy implications are discussed.     

Vice versus virtue investing around the world

This paper assumes the role of advocatus diaboli by testing whether an investment in sin stocks can financially outperform an investment in socially responsible stocks. We create a set of global, regional, and domestic portfolios consisting of a large number of stocks belonging to what could be labeled as a sextet of sin: adult entertainment, alcohol, gambling, nuclear power, tobacco, and weapons. We assess the performance of sin stocks against well-known benchmarks, and rerun the identical assessment for socially responsible stocks. We find no compelling evidence that sin stocks, or socially responsible stocks outperform or underperform, and establish this result in several ways. Consistent with this finding, a hedge portfolio long in sin stocks and short in socially responsible stocks does not outperform the market, either. However, sin stocks are substantially tilted towards value, bear less market risk with an average beta below one, and are prone to momentum relative to socially responsible stocks.