Value Traits Reinforcement and Perceived Importance: Does Context Matter?

This study examines whether business students' perception of value trait reinforcement and importance differ by their university context. Student perceptions in coeducational religious, coeducational public and all-female religious schools were compared. The results of this study indicate areas of similarity and differences among students in regard to the context of school type and that reinforcement differences seemed to contribute to the differences. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Efficacy and Estrangement: Effects of Voting

This study examined changes in political efficacy and feelings of estrangement as a function of voting behavior in the 2008 presidential election in the U.S. Participants (n = 224), recruited from an online marketing company's representative panel of U.S. adults, completed a survey 4-6 weeks before the election and again 2-4 weeks after the election. Changes in internal and external political efficacy and feelings of estrangement were examined for three groups of voters (McCain voters, Obama voters, and non-voters) as well as by party affiliation. Internal political efficacy was and remained relatively high among Obama and McCain voters pre-election to post-election, but decreased for non-voters. Among Democrats, there was a significant increase in internal political efficacy, among Republicans, there was no change, and among those with no or a different party affiliation, there was a significant decrease. External political efficacy significantly increased pre-election to post-election among Obama voters and non-voters, but decreased for McCain voters. Additionally, post-election cultural estrangement was significantly higher among non-voters than voters. The results are discussed in terms of theoretical implications for understanding the potential impact of different forms of political participation. Several of the specific and distinctive aspects of the 2008 election and President Obama's campaign are also highlighted as they relate to voting behavior and potential changes in the American electorate.     

The role of emotion dysregulation in the association between subjective social status and eating expectancies among college students

Abstract

Objective: Research suggests that college is a risky period for changes in eating behavior and beliefs. Although social health determinants relate to health behavior changes, research has not explored subjective social status, one’s societal standing, in terms of eating expectancies among college students. The present study examined the emotion dysregulation in association between subjective social status and eating expectancies among college students. Participants: Participants were a diverse sample of 1,589 college students (80.4% females; M_age?=?22.2?years, SD?=?5.27) from an urban university. Results: Results showed a significant indirect association of subjective social status via emotion dysregulation in relation to expectancies of eating to help manage negative affect, to alleviate boredom, and to lead to feeling out of control. Conclusion: These findings provide evidence that college students with lower subjective social status may have a higher risk for dysregulated emotions, and consequently, expressing maladaptive eating expectancies.     

Dopamine receptor genes predict risk preferences,time preferences,and related economic choices

Outside of economics, researchers have recently identified genetic predictors of “sensation-seeking” that have been linked to risky and impulsive behaviors. We examine the implications of these genetic polymorphisms for economic behavior. Our analysis indicates that the 7-repeat allele of the DRD4 gene that regulates dopamine uptake in the brain predicts risk-taking and time preferences in economic experiments that allow for ambiguity, losses and discounting. These genetic polymorphisms can also be used to directly predict financial choice patterns that are consistent with previous findings in the behavioral genetics literature.     

Therapeutic alliance between youth and staff in residential group care: Psychometrics of the therapeutic alliance quality scale

Therapeutic alliance has been frequently studied in individual counseling sessions; however, research on therapeutic alliance in residential settings for youth with mental health diagnoses has been limited. This may be due, in part, to the presence of multiple service providers often in caregiving roles. The purpose of this study was to examine the psychometric quality of a widely utilized measure of therapeutic alliance used in psychotherapy with youth in residential care where the treatment is provided by a trained married couple. We also compared the relationship between youth ratings of their male and female service providers, as well as examined correlations in ratings between youth and staff on therapeutic alliance. Finally, we investigated the direction, magnitude, and trajectory of change in therapeutic alliance over a 12-month period following admission into residential care. The method was a longitudinal assessment of 135 youth and 124 staff regarding therapeutic alliance over the course of 12 months or discharge from services. Results indicated strong psychometric properties and high correlations for youth ratings of both their male and female service providers. However, the correlation was low between youth and service provider ratings of alliance. Longitudinal analyses indicated that rates of therapeutic alliance changed over time.     

Laggards or Leaders: Conservers of Traditional Agricultural Knowledge in Bolivia

Many sustainable agricultural practices are based on local and traditional farming knowledge. This article examines the conservation and loss of three traditional practices in the Bolivian Altiplano that agronomic research has shown increase the resiliency of small farmers in the face of climate‐related risks. These practices are the use of manure, the use of local forecasts and risk‐management strategies, and the preservation of crop biodiversity. Although these practices are widely used today, farmers have been steadily abandoning them during the past decade. This article examines the characteristics of those who maintain and those who abandon traditional practices to see if the abandonment of local knowledge can be explained by the adoption‐diffusion literature. This research does not support the adoption‐diffusion literature; although the factors related to conservation are slightly different for each practice, the findings do not support the idea that young, educated, and wealthier farmers are more likely to reject local knowledge. Instead, off‐farm activities such as migration, employment, and trade seem to be related to the decline in local practices as each affects the availability of labor and the availability of people to learn these practices.     

Gender and White College Students' Racial Attitudes

New forms of racial attitudes among whites, including racial resentment, help to uphold institutionalized inequalities in the United States. As a way to dismantle institutionalized forms of racial inequalities, colleges and universities have implemented various curricula and programs designed to expose students to diversity and reduce social inequalities. This study attempts to uncover the extent to which college experiences affect levels of racial resentment among white students, with emphasis on whether the effects differ for women and men. Findings from a representative sample of students at a large Midwestern university revealed that white men showed higher levels of racial resentment than white women and that their attitudes were significantly affected by many college experiences. By contrast, white women are less affected by aspects of their college experience.     

Game-Based Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (GB-CBT) Group Program for Children Who Have Experienced Sexual Abuse: A Three-Month Follow-Up Investigation

This study examined the efficacy of a game-based cognitive-behavioral group therapy program for addressing problems typically found among elementary school-aged victims of child sexual abuse immediately after treatment and at three months following treatment. It was hypothesized that positive gains would be observed among the following domains: (a) internalizing symptoms (e.g., anxiety, depression, and trauma); (b) externalizing behaviors (e.g., oppositional behavior, disobedience, and conduct disordered behavior); and (c) sexually inappropriate behaviors. Improved knowledge of abuse and personal safety skills was also predicted. Results indicated that game-based cognitive-behavioral group therapy resulted in improvements in internalizing symptoms, externalizing behavioral problems, total behavioral problems, and personal safety skills both immediately after treatment and at three-month follow-up.     

An Empirical Study of the Relations Between Hospital Volume,Teaching Status,and Service Quality

This paper contributes to research on quality drivers in healthcare settings by examining the relationships between patient volume, teaching mission, and process quality in US hospitals. To develop a model that accurately assesses the impact of patient volume and teaching status on quality, we draw on three related research streams pertaining to the volume–quality relationship, the comparative quality of care in teaching and non‐teaching hospitals, and quality drivers in service institutions. We propose the impact of patient volume on process quality varies across hospitals with different teaching intensities. The test of this proposition uses a large data set that measures process quality for treatments for heart attacks and heart failures in all major US hospitals. Our results suggest that, as hospital teaching intensity increases, greater patient volume is associated with decreased process quality. Never before was such a relationship uncovered. This initial finding has important practical implications. First, the regionalization policy of hospitals should be re‐evaluated in light of their teaching function. Second, the root causes for the lower quality scores of large, high resident‐to‐bed ratio teaching hospitals, compared with smaller versions, must be found.     

Evolved Disease-Avoidance Processes and Contemporary Anti-Social Behavior: Prejudicial Attitudes and Avoidance of People with Physical Disabilities

Drawing on evolutionary psychological logic, we describe a model that links evolved mechanisms of disease-avoidance to contemporary prejudices against individuals with physical disabilities. Because contagious diseases were often accompanied by anomalous physical features, humans plausibly evolved psychological mechanisms that respond heuristically to the perception of these features, triggering specific emotions (disgust, anxiety), cognitions (negative attitudes), and behaviors (avoidance). This disease-avoidance system is over-inclusive: Anomalous features that are not due to disease (e.g., limb amputation due to accident) may also activate it, contributing to prejudicial attitudes and behaviors directed toward people with disabilities. This model implies novel hypotheses about contemporary variables that may amplify or reduce disability-based prejudice. We discuss past research within this context. We also present new evidence linking chronic and temporary concerns about disease to implicit negative attitudes toward and behavioral avoidance of disabled others. Discussion focuses on the conceptual and practical implications of this evolutionary approach.