Relational Aggression, Relational Victimization, and Language Development in Preschoolers

We investigated language development, relational aggression, and relational victimization in ethnically, socioeconomically diverse preschoolers. Relational aggression was positively related to language development. Girls were more relationally aggressive than boys, and higher‐socioeconomic status (SES) children were more relationally aggressive and victimized than lower‐SES children. Neither gender nor SES conclusively moderated the relation between language and relational aggression, though some findings suggest the possibility of stronger relations among boys and lower‐SES children. Teachers agreed on ratings of relational aggression and relational victimization to a moderate extent.     

Small Parts Aspiration, Ingestion, and Choking in Small Children: Findings of the Small Parts Research Project

Obtaining information on current child injury trends and their associated issues is an important factor in developing products that meet or surpass acceptable toy safety boundaries. Understanding these boundaries helps determine safe product design characteristics that reduce the risk of product-related injury. Inchcape Testing Services developed a Small Parts Aspiration, Ingestion, and Choking Hazards Research Project, independent of an ongoing consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) project. The project's purpose was to determine, independent of CPSC, whether a more stringent small parts regulatory standard was necessary and, if so, to ensure that the standard was determined objectively. This article reports on the project's findings relating to critical characteristics (size, shape, and consistency) relative to the victim's age, of objects responsible for child choking injuries and fatalities.     

Aces and Bombers: The Post-Exam Impression Management Strategies of Students

In this study we attempted to develop a classification of the strategies students employ to manage self-impressions after grades have been awarded and examination papers returned. These encounters between students are of three types: first, when students who have scored a top grade in this exam (Aces) encounter other students who received a low or even failing grade (Bombers); second, when Aces encounter other Aces; and, third, when Bombers encounter other Bombers. The impression management strategies employed in these encounters are constrained by well-known rules of modesty in regard to one's own achievements and considerateness for lesser achieving peers, dictated by the particular encounter type described above. These rules are spelled out and an attempt made to generalize the findings to a wider universe of interactions.     

Alcohol use and alcohol-related problems in self-identified lesbians: age and racial/ethnic comparisons

Age cohort and racial/ethnic differences in alcohol-use patterns and alcohol-related problems were examined in a diverse sample of self-identified lesbians using data from the Chicago Health and Life Experiences of Women Study (CHLEW). Significant differences in lifetime drinking patterns and lifetime alcohol-related problems were found across three generational cohorts; few differences were found across racial/ethnic groups. Findings are discussed in relation to previous research on lesbian alcohol use.     

Social work and end-of-life care: reviewing the past and moving forward

This paper reviews the professional literature with respect to the social work profession's involvement in end-of-life care. The search process was conducted by entering key words in various combinations to electronic databases. Eligible articles were required to address one of the following: roles and activities of social workers in providing end-of-life care; core principles valued by social workers in the provision of end-of-life care; and barriers to provision of effective end-of-life care. The literature from 1990 through July 2004 was searched most rigorously. Based on this review, suggestions for where the profession of social work should focus its energies are offered. These key areas include focusing on generating empirically-based knowledge for practice and policy analysis and developing a system of social work education that addresses the unique knowledge and skills needed to participate in end-of-life practice as competent and informed professional practitioners. Current initiatives with regard to critical areas are summarized.     

The potential for successful family foster care: conceptualizing competency domains for foster parents

The potential to foster successfully starts with developing and supporting competency in 12 domains: providing a safe and secure environment, providing a nurturing environment, promoting educational attainment and success, meeting physical and mental healthcare needs, promoting social and emotional development, supporting diversity and children's cultural needs, supporting permanency planning, managing ambiguity and loss for the foster child and family, growing as a foster parent, managing the demands of fostering on personal and familial well-being, supporting relationships between children and their families, and working as a team member. This article describes each domain and reviews relevant research to help guide the assessment of practicing and future foster parents.     

Strategic Product/Service Innovations of an Online Firm

We study the incentives that drive an online firm to make various types of innovations in a competitive environment. We develop and use a simplified price competition model between two retailers, one online and one offline. A given fraction of consumers, called the Internet penetration, comparison shop online, independent of their customer type, thereby creating two markets for the offline retailer, a captive market and a competitive market. The online product has the steeper of the two linear utility functions, which means that the customers who buy online in our model are high end. We focus on the competitive region in which both retailers are (strictly) profitable in the competitive market and consider innovations that increase high‐end appeal, low‐end appeal, and/or reduce unit cost. We find that the online firm has a strong incentive to invest in innovations that either reduce unit cost and/or, equivalently, increase the appeal to all consumers equally. Investments of this type are strategic complements: implementing one increases the value of another, so the value of two innovations of this type is more than the sum of the values of each individually. We identify a relative strength measure of the online firm such that, as its high‐end appeal increases and/or its unit cost decreases, we say that the online firm is stronger. This strength measure facilitates drawing an explicit dividing line between strong and weak online firms. If Internet penetration increases, the online firm's profits increase if and only if it is strong. If penetration increases over time, it is possible for a strong firm to turn weak and see its profits decrease and possibly disappear completely. A strong online firm has more opportunity to profit from low‐end innovations than does a weak one, while the opposite is true for high‐end innovations. Interestingly, some innovations may actually decrease the online firm's profits. We discuss the implications of our results for existing and future online innovations.