Impact of perceived second-hand consequences related to alcohol use on college students' drinking behavior intent: a test of feasibility

This article presents the results of an experiment designed to determine the impact of a group discussion about second-hand consequences of alcohol use on college students' intentions to consume alcohol. Participants were students enrolled in two large Community Health courses at a large Midwestern university (n = 184). After randomization of class sections into an intervention or a control group, intervention group students participated in a class discussion on the negative consequences college students experience as a result of other students' drinking behavior, prior to answering survey questions regarding their drinking behavior intent. Compared to controls who completed the questionnaire only, intervention group participants reported intent to limit themselves to fewer drinks per drinking occasion (p = .003) and fewer drinks per week (p = .004). The effects of the brief educational intervention were analyzed using structural equation modeling, to test the feasibility of a hypothesized intervention mechanism.     

Evaluating consumer satisfaction in residential continuing care settings

The outcome of the project reported on here is a client-centered consumer satisfaction questionnaire designed to evaluate new models of residential continuing care in Alberta, Canada. Satisfaction is defined as a multi-dimensional construct that is grounded in the consumer's experience. Consultation with the clients of the services during development of the instrument ensured that characteristics important to the clients were assessed. The result is an instrument with which to measure satisfaction that is fully client-centered and that, with appropriate modifications, can be used to monitor any client-centered program for cognitively-able continuing care clients.     

Neighborhood disadvantage, stress, and drug use among adults

This paper explores the relationships among neighborhood disadvantage, stress, and the likelihood of drug use in a sample of adults (N = 1,101). Using the 1995 Detroit Area Study in conjunction with tract-level data from the 1990 census, we find a positive relationship between neighborhood disadvantage and drug use, and this relationship remains statistically significant net of controls for individual-level socioeconomic status. Neighborhood disadvantage is moderately associated with drug related behaviors, indirectly through increased social stressors and higher levels of psychological distress among residents of disadvantaged neighborhoods. A residual effect of neighborhood disadvantage remains, net of a large number of socially relevant controls. Finally, results from interactive models suggest that the relationship between neighborhood disadvantage and drug use is most pronounced among individuals with lower incomes.     

Interactional Associations of Gender on Savings Behavior: Showing Gender’s Continued Influence on Economic Action

This study looks at how gender relates to a critical economic behavior—savings activity. We start with the proposition that gender is not merely an additional variable to explain savings choices. Gender is the primary type of social categorization in the U.S. today. Therefore, other variables will be differently relevant to savings depending on gender. We use a national survey, the 2006 Economic Decision Making Survey conducted by Michigan State University’s Institute for Public Policy and Social Research, to examine the proposition. Basic frequencies reveal nonsignificant differences in savings participation across gender, but regression analysis including interactions of gender with other key variables reveals that multiple aspects of individuals’ lives are influenced by gender to predict savings plan participation.     

Coming Together: New Taxonomies for the Analysis of Social Relations

In previous work, we have noted a certain rigidity in sociology's approach to the topic of social relations (Cerulo 1997; Cerulo and Ruane 1997; Cerulo, Ruane, and Chayko 1992). With few exceptions, literature on the subject dichotomizes social relations with reference to the scope of the interaction (small group versus large group) and the mode by which social actors connect (direct connections versus mediated connections). Further, many researchers implicitly rank the social value of each relational form. Sociologists typically identify a society's primary and most valuable relations as the result of direct, physically copresent exchange, exchange involving relatively few interactants. In contrast, secondary relations often are characterized as faceless, impersonal, ingenuous, and fleeting–the result of large-group exchange established via mediated or mechanized connections. Cerulo (1997) suggested the need to reformulate any definition of social relations built upon the small group/large group or the direct/mediated dichotomies. She presented several critical elements upon which new definitions could be built. In this piece, we configure those elements, building six new analytic taxonomies–tools we hope will provoke a richer discussion of connecting, interacting, and resulting forms of social relations.     

GREAT MEN AND HARD TIMES: SOCIOLOGY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA

Sociology at the University of Minnesota has had a long and distinguished history. From its founding in 1910 many prominent sociologists have taught and have graduated from the department. We present an overview of the growth of the department, and certain influential events which affected the direction of department governance and intellectual development. The department achieved its "Golden Age" under the leadership of F. Stuart Chapin, who chaired the department for nearly three decades (1922–1951). We speculate about the internal and external pressures that have affected the Minnesota department-and other sociology departments-over the past two decades, during its period of greatest expansion but of significant tensions as well.     

Gendered Power and Privilege: Taking Lenski One Step Further

In Power and Privilege , Gerhard Lenski's theory of the evolution of systems of inequality, he showed some recognition of gender inequality but, as universally accepted in sociology at the time, "social" stratification was conceptualized implicitly as inequality between male household heads. To move from this to explaining gender inequality requires consideration of constructs in addition to those developed by Lenski, but in terms of his typology of societies based on technology and size of economic surplus, the level of gender stratification tracks that of "social" stratification and the basic variables he delineates remain centrally important.     

The Johnson Typologies of Intimate Partner Violence: An Investigation of Their Representation in a General Population of New Zealand Women

Typologies of intimate partner violence (IPV) can inform practice and aid with the development of interventions. To maintain utility, typologies should be constantly reviewed in light of emerging results generated from internal and external validation. The presented study is an empirical exploration of the M. P. Johnson (2008 Johnson, M. P. (2008). A typology of domestic violence: Intimate terrorism, violent resistance, and situational couple violence. Boston, MA: Northeastern University Press. [Google Scholar]) typology of IPV using data gathered from the New Zealand replication of the World Health Organization Violence Against Women survey. We could not identify all types of IPV described by Johnson, and we suggest that mutually exclusive types of violent relationships do not exist. Further exploration of the validity of the Johnson typologies, including an exploration of the utility of categorization for suggesting appropriate responses to IPV, is required.