Do Attitudes and Personality Characteristics Affect Socioeconomic Outcomes? The Case of Welfare Use by Young Women

Objective . We estimate a model of social-psychological determinants of entry into Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), the primary cash welfare program in the United States until 1996. Methods . Using information from the youngest cohorts of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, we estimate logit models of the probability of ever participating in AFDC and hazard models of the timing until first use of AFDC. Results . We find strong associations between welfare use and several attitudes and personality characteristics, but with two exceptions, most of the associations are not robust to the inclusion of exogenous background characteristics. There is consistent, strong evidence that positive attitudes toward school lower the likelihood of using welfare and increase duration until first receipt. Family background and social environment characteristics show strong robust effects. Conclusions . Our results point to relatively weak evidence for the hypothesis that individual attitudes in adolescence have a significant impact on initial welfare receipt.     

TEACHING TRAINEES TO THINK IN TRIADS

This article briefly reviews the concept of triads in family therapy theory and practice. It describes in detail an original exercise designed to teach trainees about triads.     

Privatization of government services: Pressure-group resistance and service transparency

Even when efficiency gains can be expected from contracting out municipal services, it surprisingly rarely occurs. Political pressure by interest groups, especially unions, is usually assumed responsible. We argue that the effectiveness of such pressure is actually a function of a service’s “transparency,” which determines voter’s knowledge of the quality and cost of the service as well as the tax burden. A model is presented of the interplay between union opposition to contracting and service transparency. Policies are offered to increase transparency and make contracting optimal for governments.     

The Green Elephants in the Room: Perceived Environmental Harm and Support for Regulation Among Republicans

Previous research identifies a “great paradox” in attitudes toward environmental regulation: some people close to environmental risk nevertheless oppose environmental regulation for partisan reasons. Does this pattern hold in large survey samples? Unexpectedly, we do not find evidence for it. Instead, we find that Republicans who report higher levels of personal environmental harm also report stronger support for environmental regulation. This pattern holds across varied measurement specifications, and it is weaker for Democrats, suggesting that exposure to environmental harm might directly challenge and change partisan opposition to environmental reform. We present a theory and research agenda that accounts for these “green elephants in the room.” Our work, as we will demonstrate, crosses at least three disciplinary boundaries: social psychology, cultural sociology, and political science. A conceptual replication of results is provided in the Appendices S1 and S2.     

Organizing for Education: A Cross-National,Longitudinal Study of Civil Society Organizations and Education Outcomes

We address two views from organization theory to consider the expansion and effects of nonprofits in education: first, a functional view emphasizing the direct effect of work of civil society organizations (CSOs) and, second, a phenomenological neoinstitutional view focusing on the cultural meaning of education CSOs as indicators of a rationalized, liberal world society. We use panel regression models with country fixed effects to analyze the cross-national expansion of domestic education CSO sectors in 130 countries from 1970 to 2014. We then examine the association between the size of the domestic education CSO sector and memberships in international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) with education outcomes, including spending, education aid, secondary and tertiary enrollments, and the share of women in secondary and tertiary education. Results show that INGO memberships, an expanded state, and an expanded education system are highly associated with the expansion of a domestic education CSO sector. Both domestic CSOs and INGO memberships tend to have a significant, positive relationship with education outcomes net of other factors. We also find preliminary evidence indicating that the causal forces at play are more complex than a straightforward direct effect of education CSOs doing good work. Specifically, CSOs, at least in part, are indicators of a Western, liberal model of a proper modern society; the underpinning culture, represented by CSOs, accounts for some educational expansion above and beyond the benefit (or harm) caused by any given entity.     

An experimental evaluation of foraging decisions in urban and natural forest populations of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Anolis</Emphasis> lizards

Foraging decisions reflect a trade-off between the benefits of acquiring food and the costs of movement. Changes in the biotic and abiotic environment associated with urbanization can alter this trade-off and modify foraging decisions. We experimentally manipulated foraging opportunities for two Anolis lizard species – the brown anole (A. sagrei) in Florida and the crested anole (A. cristatellus) in Puerto Rico – to assess whether foraging behavior differs between habitats varying in their degree of urbanization. In both urban and natural forest habitats, we measured the latency of perched anoles to feed from an experimental feeding tray. We manipulated perch availability and predator presence, while also taking into account population (e.g., conspecific density) and individual-level factors (e.g., body temperature) to evaluate whether and how these contribute to between-habitat differences in foraging behavior. In both species, urban anoles had longer latencies to feed and lower overall response rates compared to lizards from forests. Urban anoles were also larger (i.e., snout-vent length and mass) in both species and urban A. sagrei were in better body condition than the natural forest population. We postulate that the observed patterns in foraging behavior are driven by differences in perceived predation risk, foraging motivation, or neophobia. Although we are unable to identify the mechanism(s) driving these differences, the substantial differences in urban versus forest anole foraging behavior emphasizes the importance of understanding how urbanization influences animal populations and their persistence in anthropogenically-modified environments.     

‘Making lovely nonsense out of everything’: individuated receptions of eugenic theories of cognitive disability

This project examines the rhetorical strategies that parents of children with cognitive disabilities use in appeals to medical authority. A close reading of four sets of letters from the Henry Herbert Goddard Papers reveals that parents were often sophisticated rhetorical agents who internalized, critiqued, and reappropriated eugenic theories and ideas. This archival project explores sites of eugenic thought’s reception, which are often overshadowed by scholarly attention to sites of production and dissemination. In an effort to increase attention to sites of reception, I outline a framework that invites future research to consider how recipients of theories of cognitive disability position themselves within professional networks of expertise in order to make claims from what might appear to be a subordinate position.     

Home Ownership, Affordability, and Mothers' Changing Work and Family Roles

Objective . Elaborating on conventional explanations for rapid employment growth of married mothers of preschoolers, I propose that pursuit of home ownership contributed to this trend differently in different decades since 1950. Methods . Measuring husbands' income in terms of mortgage qualification and using logistic regression analysis of pooled Current Population Survey data to estimate trends standardized for compositional change, I compare hypothetical with observed trends since 1970. Results . Declining ability of husbands' income to qualify for mortgages and rising educational attainment of mothers explains the post-1970 accelerated employment growth for preschoolers' mothers. By the 1980s, other influences have greater relative effects on young mothers' employment. Conclusion . Home ownership contributed to slower growth in preschoolers' mothers' employment through the 1950s and 1960s, raising standard-of-living expectations. Declining affordability in the 1970s inspired even more rapid growth. Pursuit of prescribed standards of living has increasingly motivated families to embrace dual-earner work and family arrangements.     

How Do Students Evaluate Instructors’ Performance? Implication of Teaching Abilities,Physical Attractiveness and Psychological Factors

One instrument regularly seen as a basic resource in assessing pedagogical knowledge and vivid learning in different circumstances is through the method of conducting student assessment appraisal of their instructors. Nevertheless, deciding the nature of instructional abilities requires as rationale and unbiased judgments. The concern is that there are no formal techniques or formulas that would prompt accurate responses from the students. In spite of the contention surrounding students’ rating on instructors, this study aims to investigate how university students in Malaysia would evaluate instructors based on non-instructional factors, such as physical attractiveness and psychological factors, which in turn may affect students’ perceptions towards instructors’ performance. PLS-SEM was appropriated to perform the path modeling analysis. Practical implication is discussed.

     

An analysis of online content related to testosterone supplementation

Objective: To describe the quality of online information on testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) in men.

Methods: A quantitative content analysis was conducted on websites providing patient-directed information on TRT for the purpose of treating late onset hypogonadism (LOH). Websites were identified through Google in March 2017. The DISCERN instrument was used to determine the quality of health information.

Results: A total of 20 websites met inclusion criteria. Websites were primarily from the United States (45%), United Kingdom (25%), and Australia (15%). Sources of information were cited by 40% of websites. Several websites (40%) claimed that TRT had benefits, with 25% claiming that TRT was effective for treating LOH. TRT was described as a safe therapy by one website (5%), with gynecomastia (35%) and increased hematocrit (35%) representing the most commonly described side effects. Prostate specific antigen (35%) and serum testosterone monitoring (30%) were the most commonly described monitoring parameters. The mean DISCERN score was 46.4, indicating fair quality information. The Flesh–Kincaid Grade Level was 12.2.

Conclusion: Online TRT information is incomplete, often failing to describe important safety information and the need for regular monitoring.