Altruists or Egoists? Retention in Stipended Service

This study examines stipended volunteers—those volunteers who engage freely in a helping activity within a formal organizational structure but receive some type of remuneration for their services. Based on a sample of AmeriCorps members from three states, we identify several motivational, demographic, and individual factors that affect retention of stipended volunteers. We conclude that retention depends more on instrumental career-related factors than on altruistic motivation or meaningfulness of the service.     

The relationship between newcomer expectations of job stressors and adjustment to the new job

This study examined the relationship between unrealistic expectations of organizational newcomers regarding job stressors and subsequent adjustment to the new job. Using a sample of 91 new employees, measures of expected stressors (gathered prior to the first day of work) were compared with stressors reported after six months on the job. The study examined the relationship between the accuracy of expected stressors (demands) and three indicators of job adjustment: job satisfaction; job involvement; and distress symptoms. The results provided partial support for the hypothesis that newcomers who underestimate job stressors have more difficulty adjusting on the new job than do newcomers who overestimate job stressors.     

Judgments about personal identity in childhood and adolescence

Judgments concerning personal identity were studied in children and adolescents. Each subject was asked to imagine entering a hypothetical machine which simultaneously produced two persons, with each person receiving one of four sets of the subject's characteristics: physical, active, social, or psychological. Subjects were asked to judge which of the resulting persons was most nearly identical with the self. Results from the first study with middle-class Americans demonstrated that the social characteristics are most frequently chosen by young adolescents. With age, the physical characteristics were less frequently selected and the psychological characteristics were more often selected. In Study 2, middle-class American children between the ages of 6 to 7 judged the psychological characteristics of self most important in preserving identity, even though their self-concepts as elicited by other methods appeared physicalistic. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for accounts of self-concept development.     

Client Anticipations About Computer‐Assisted Career Guidance System Outcomes

Although existing literature suggests that client anticipations affect career counseling, previous studies have not systematically assessed client anticipations prior to using computer‐assisted career guidance (CACG) systems in career counseling. This study describes how 55 clients from a career center at a large, southeastern university anticipated using CACG systems to help in their career decision making and problem solving. Using a Cognitive Information Processing framework, responses to a cued and a free response survey indicated that clients' most frequent anticipations included increased career options, enhanced self‐knowledge, and strengthened occupational knowledge.     

Alcohol- and drug-involved driving in the United States: methodology for the 2007 National Roadside Survey

This article describes the methodology used in the 2007 U.S. National Roadside Survey to estimate the prevalence of alcohol- and drug-impaired driving and alcohol- and drug-involved driving. This study involved randomly stopping drivers at 300 locations across the 48 continental U.S. states at sites selected through a stratified random sampling procedure. Data were collected during a 2-hr Friday daytime session at 60 locations and during 2-hr nighttime weekend periods at 240 locations. Both self-report and biological measures were taken. Biological measures included breath alcohol measurements from 9,413 respondents, oral fluid samples from 7,719 respondents, and blood samples from 3,276 respondents.     

Tobacco prevention education in schools for the deaf: the faculty perspective

We report results of a survey of tobacco education practices and perspectives among faculty at four Schools for the Deaf participating in the trial of a tailored tobacco prevention curriculum. Few faculty (20.4%) included tobacco use among the three most important health problems facing their students, although 88.8% considered tobacco education to be worthwhile. Despite perceived unmet needs among their students, classroom or school-wide attention to tobacco prevention was limited. Only 13.9% reported delivering tobacco programming in the prior year, most often reporting lack of deaf-friendly curriculum and materials (60.9%), time (47.8%), and training (43.5%) as barriers to program delivery. Perceptions, attitudes, and institutional issues, including lack of tailored curriculum, were seen as contributing to the limited focus on this important health problem.     

Family planning in choiseul province,Solomon Islands

The results presented are from a rural prevalence survey on family planning in Choiseul Province, Solomon Islands. Married women aged 15–49 years with at least one living child and married men whose wife met the same criteria, provided data on knowledge, attitudes and practices of contraceptive use. Fifty one per cent of the female sample were using some form of contraception, 26 per cent reversible and 25 per cent non-reversible methods. Sixty-five per cent of men claimed that they or their spouse were using a method of family planning. Tubal ligation was the most common currently used method (25 per cent in the female survey). Desired family size was four for both males and females. Knowledge and approval of family planning was high, with 83 per cent of females and 81 per cent of males knowing of at least one method. Problems in accessing information and services for family planning include cultural and logistical constraints. Religious affiliation was the major variable affecting knowledge, use and approval of contraceptive methods. Nearly a quarter of the sample lived further than two hours travel time from the nearest health clinic supplying contraceptive methods. These clinics often have only an intermittent availability of supplies. A strong interest in family planning was demonstrated by both respondents and service providers.     

Family perspectives on the hospice experience in adult family homes

Growing numbers of terminally ill older adults receive hospice services in adult family homes (AFHs); however, little is known about the provision and receipt of end-of-life care in such environments. This article reports findings from a qualitative exploration of family members' perspectives of the hospice experience in AFHs. Analysis of data obtained during interviews of 15 residents' family members exposed significant challenges associated with transition to an AFH, highlighted the importance of AFH and hospice staff in family members' assessment of overall quality of care, and emphasized the critical nature of communication in AFH settings.