Effects of Classroom Composition on the Development of Antisocial Behavior in Lower Secondary School

Early adolescence is a critical period during which classroom composition may affect behavioral development. This study investigated whether classmates’ levels of aggression and delinquency influenced individual antisocial behavior during the first year of secondary school. At this point, students had just transitioned to a new classroom peer environment. A short‐term longitudinal design with four measurement points distributed across the school year was applied. Data were collected from the anonymous self‐reports of 825 seventh graders. Longitudinal negative binomial multilevel analyses revealed that classmates’ antisocial behavior influenced pupils’ behavioral development (other peer influences were controlled). Furthermore, classroom behavioral heterogeneity moderated the peer effect regarding delinquency but not aggression.     

Exploring the Dynamics of Incongruent Beliefs about Women and Leaders

People tend to have similar beliefs about leaders and men but dissimilar beliefs about leaders and women. A decrease in this perceived incongruity between beliefs about women and leaders might follow from perceived changes in either or both of these stereotypes. In two experiments we investigated the dynamics of this stereotype incongruity by examining cross‐temporal perceptions of change in women's roles and leadership demands. In Experiment 1 , participants judged a target group (leaders, men, or women) in a specified year in the past, the present and the future with regard to gender‐stereotypic traits. In Experiment 2 , participants evaluated the same target groups in a future society in which the role distribution between the sexes was described as traditional, same‐as‐today, or equal. Altogether our findings indicate that the perceived incongruity between the leader stereotype and the female stereotype is a dynamic phenomenon. Participants' beliefs indicated erosion of the perceived incongruity between leaders and women because of a perceived change in women's roles. We discuss the implications of these beliefs for future social change.     

Convergent Validity and Test–Retest Reliability of the Authentic Happiness Inventory in Working Adults

This study aimed to test the convergent validity and test–retest reliability of a measure of happiness questionnaire; the authentic happiness inventory questionnaire (AHI), with a convenience sample of working adults (n = 30). Participants completed the AHI on two consecutive days. On the second day, participants also completed the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) and the positive and negative affect scale (PANAS). Internal consistency was determined using Cronbach alpha coefficients, test–retest reliability using a one-way intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) model, and convergent validity using Pearson product-moment correlations. A further sample of working adults (n = 192) was included to conduct an exploratory factor analysis using principal component analysis (total n = 222). High internal consistency and overall test–retest reliability for the AHI was found (Cronbach alpha = .92 and ICC = .92, p < .001). There was a strong positive correlation between AHI and SWLS (r = .76, p < .005) and AHI and PANAS positive (r = .82, p < .005). There was a medium negative correlation between AHI and PANAS (r = .48, p < .005). Principal components analysis revealed the presence of five components with eigenvalues exceeding one, with one factor explaining 36.1 % of the variance. Findings confirmed the convergent validity and test retest reliability of the Authentic Happiness Inventory in working adults.

     

First‐Generation African American Male College Students: Implications for Career Counselors

The path to upward mobility or economic success for African American men is often filled with obstacles and roadblocks. Many first‐generation African American men entering colleges and universities face limited resources and opportunities to aid in their career development and efforts to meet their career objectives. This article explores the career development needs of African American men attending colleges and universities. The article provides suggestions, techniques, and strategies that career counselors and student affairs personnel can use to assist these African American men in their career development. Implications for career counselors are also addressed.     

Judicial Social Theorizing and Its Relation to Sociology

Qualitative Sociology - The scope and structure of social theory are often analyzed as part of or preamble to theorizing proper. This paper takes an indirect approach to the metatheoretical...     

Working together: using group relations theory to understand and rethink the interplay between administrators and social work practitioners

This essay attempts to explain and theorise observable tensions between the roles of social work practitioner and administrator. It uses the psychoanalytic concepts of primary task and authority to draw attention to this under examined area. Employing illustrative vignettes from practice, it argues that a lack of integration between the roles leads to worker dissatisfaction and weakens service delivery. The essay then suggests that the false split between the roles of social worker and administrator is symptomatic of wider political policy in which public sector budget control is set in opposition to service user need and/or professional judgement. Taking inspiration from the work of Clare Winnicott, it calls for an integrated managerial system in which both roles are enabled to work together to develop common, service user orientated goals and practice.     

Factors affecting children's disclosure of secrets in an investigatory interview

The present study aimed to identify how children's understanding of the investigatory interview process influenced their disclosure of secrets. Forty‐four 6‐year‐ and 7‐year‐old children participated in the study. Four short stories were read to each child. The stories were about young children who witnessed an event (e.g. witnessing a person stealing a pizza) and were asked to keep the witnessed event secret, then they were interviewed by an authority figure (e.g. security guard) and asked repeatedly about what they had witnessed. After each story, a series of questions were asked that related to factors that might aid the disclosure of the secret. Three main factors were investigated: children's perception of the interviewer's knowledge of the incident; children's perception of the purpose of the interview; and children's understanding of the purpose of asking repeat questions. Results indicated that a child's perception of how much an interviewer appeared to know about a secret, and whether the child was repeatedly asked about the secret do influence a child's disclosure of a secret. However, there was no effect for the purpose of the interview. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

O Other,Where Art Thou? Support for Multiparty Politics in the United States*

Objective. We test hypotheses about support for multiparty politics in the United States. We expect that individual‐level attitudes and state‐level partisan context determine who supports having more parties. Methods. Survey data are used to model attitudes about having additional parties to challenge Democrats and Republicans. Results. Self‐identified partisans are opposed to additional parties, but independents who “lean” toward a major party are most supportive. Independents who say they are closer to Democrats, as well as independents who say they are closer to Republicans, tend to support having new parties. The latter effect is contingent on a state's partisan context. Independents closer to Republicans are most receptive to additional parties in states where fewer conservative representatives are elected. Conclusions. Support for multiparty‐ism among “leaning” independents challenges our understanding of how they may be similar to partisan identifiers, and illustrates that a base for new parties may exist in the “mainstream” public if electoral rules were changed.