WELFARE AND CITIZENSHIP: The Effects of Government Assistance on Young Adults' Civic Participation

Recent scholarship and public discourse highlight an apparent waning of civic engagement in the United States. Although the welfare state is generally thought to support democracy by reducing economic inequality, it may paradoxically contribute to political disempowerment of some groups. We examine the effects of state interventions on civic participation among young adults, hypothesizing that involvement with stigmatizing social programs, such as welfare, reduces political engagement, while receipt of nonstigmatizing government assistance does not dampen civic involvement. Using official voting records and survey data from the Youth Development Study (YDS), a longitudinal community sample of young adults, a series of regression models suggests that welfare recipients are less likely to vote than nonrecipients, whereas recipients of non-means-tested government assistance participate similarly to young adults who do not receive government help. These effects hold even when background factors, self-efficacy, and prior voting behavior are controlled. Welfare receipt is not associated, however, with suppressed participation in nonstate arenas such as volunteer work. Intensive interviews with YDS welfare recipients are used to illustrate and develop the analysis.     

Using evidence-based research to redirect a conversation: Newspapers’ coverage of strategies to address college binge drinking

This study examines selected newspapers’ coverage of college binge drinking while also serving as an example of evidence-based practices that can be of use to public relations practitioners and health care professionals working to draw attention to important factors that are not being addressed in either public or policy conversations related to this issue. We examine newspaper coverage in 32 newspapers from 1997 to 2006 to determine which strategies to address college binge drinking are being covered and which of those are evidence-based and implemented by colleges. The mix of individual versus environmental strategies was examined based on Social Cognitive Theory. In the 255 articles analyzed, the majority of strategies covered were environmental. The most frequently covered strategy, increasing student knowledge, is individual and not evidence-based. Strategies classified as effective were not frequently covered. Media advocacy is offered as an evidence-based practice that public relations and health care professionals can use to affect change.     

AN ALTERNATING LEAST-SQUARES PROCEDURE FOR ESTIMATING MISSING PREFERENCE DATA IN PRODUCT-CONCEPT TESTING*

Product-concept testing is a popular activity in marketing research. Often the number of new product/service concepts under study far exceeds the time available for any single respondent. Respondents therefore may receive only a subset of the concepts comprising the total design. Researchers are interested in making plausible imputations for the missing evaluations of any given respondent. This paper proposes a model and an iterative estimation procedure to impute missing entries for each evaluator. The model and the procedure incorporate (1) the internal structure of the response matrix and (2) an ancillary matrix of (nonmissing) respondent background data; they also (3) allow for individual differences in respondents' uses of the numerical rating scale. The model is applied to both real and synthetic data. Suggestions also are given on how the data imputations may be used in market segmentation and product-line decisions.     

Transformative learning through international immersion: building multicultural competence in family therapy and counseling

This study explores the experiences of graduate students who completed one of two international courses facilitated by family therapy faculty in a U.S. master's-level counseling psychology department. Participants reported that international courses were personally and professionally transformative. Spending time in a foreign country gave them opportunities to learn from cultural differences, ultimately increasing the social and global awareness required for multicultural sensitivity. Experiential learning, reflection, and dialogue resulted in raised critical consciousness among participants. In this article, we discuss the transformational learning processes embedded in international courses and the potential benefits of these experiences on the development of multicultural sensitivity in family therapists and counselors in training.     

Immigrants’ Employment in Spanish Cooperatives: Outcomes in Relation to the Business Cycle

In this paper, we analyse the interaction between immigrants’ employment in cooperatives and the business cycle. The study is centred on the Spanish economy during the period 2003–2015. The main goal of this paper is to answer the following two key questions: are fluctuations in immigrants’ employment in cooperatives cyclical in relation to the business cycle? And, are immigrant employees more vulnerable to the business cycle than native employees? The cycles and their turning points are identified using the Bry and Boschan (Cyclical analysis of time series: selected procedures and computer programmes, National Bureau of Economic Research, New York, 1971) algorithm. To resolve it we employ the BUSY software, developed by the European Commission. The procedure allows us to identify the features of the cycle phases and to calculate the synchronization index. The results show that (1) employment in cooperatives is procyclical and with no differences between immigrant and native workers, (2) the economic crisis has hit immigrant workers harder than native ones, (3) the immigrants’ birthplace is significant because some cyclical behaviour can be found to vary according to the immigrants’ origins; however, in general, sensitivity to the business cycle is the common factor.     

Social work and the politics of ‘austerity’: Ireland and Italy

ABSTRACT

No detailed analyses have been undertaken comparing and contrasting how social work is responding to the problems generated by the imposition of so-called ‘austerity’ measures in Europe. Comprised of three sections, the discussion is focused on Ireland and Italy. This comparative exploration locates social work within encompassing frameworks related to the changing population, political economy and welfare regime in each of these jurisdictions. Aspects of contemporary social work within Ireland and Italy are charted and the possibilities for confronting neoliberal ‘austerity’ are analysed. The article seeks to prompt and encourage comparative reflection within Europe in relation to how the social work imagination can be imbued with a new radicalism in the first quarter of the twenty-first century.     

Nonparametric estimation of regression models with mixed discrete and continuous covariates by the K-nn method

In this article we consider the problem of estimating a nonparametric conditional mean function with mixed discrete and continuous covariates by the nonparametric k-nearest-neighbor (k-nn) method. We derive the asymptotic normality result of the proposed estimator and use Monte Carlo simulations to demonstrate its finite sample performance. We also provide an illustrative empirical example of our method.     

Maternal singing of lullabies during pregnancy and after birth: Effects on mother–infant bonding and on newborns’ behaviour. Concurrent Cohort Study

Background

Mother–infant bonding is of great importance for the development and the well-being of the baby. The aim of this Concurrent Cohort Study was to investigate the effects of mothers singing lullabies on bonding, newborns’ behaviour and maternal stress.

The influence of top management support for ICTs on organisational performance through knowledge acquisition,transfer, and utilisation

This research analyses, first, whether top management support for information and communications technologies has positive consequences for knowledge management by analysing the specific influence of top management support for ICTs on each of the knowledge management processes (knowledge acquisition, transfer, and utilisation). Second, it analyses the influence of each knowledge management process on organisational performance. The theoretical model is tested using data collected from March to May 2010 from 201 CEOs in Spanish technology organisations. The results indicate that the stage-based disaggregation of the knowledge management process into knowledge acquisition, transfer, and utilisation, and the three-stage management process are the mediating mechanisms in the relationship between top management support for ICTs and organisational performance. CEOs should thus support the information and communication technologies necessary to improve all of the interrelated stages of knowledge management as a mechanism for achieving better organisational performance. Various strategic actions should be stimulated within the organisation to intensify the interrelation between these stages of acquisition, transfer, and utilisation of knowledge.