What Do Urban Black Mothers Tell Their Adolescents About Alcohol and Other Drugs?

This study utilized qualitative content analysis to examine messages conveyed about alcohol and other drugs by urban Black mothers (N = 130) with a personal, familial, or personal and familial history of problematic substance use to younger and older adolescents (M = 15.2 years). Data from a two‐cohort longitudinal sample revealed considerable similarity in themes across the younger and older cohorts. Results suggest Black mothers offer more messages of information and advice to younger adolescents, while communicating directives related to use to older adolescents.     

“We're in this together”: Attachment insecurities,dyadic coping strategies,and relationship satisfaction in couples involved in medically assisted reproduction

Attachment is an important predictor of relationship satisfaction and attachment insecurities are a risk factor for couples under stress. Drawing from the Vulnerability–Stress–Adaptation model, we investigated whether dyadic coping strategies (DCS) would explain the links between attachment insecurities and relationship satisfaction in 97 couples involved in medically assisted reproduction (MAR). Path analyses revealed that for women and men, attachment insecurities (anxiety, avoidance) were associated with their own lower relationship satisfaction through their lower use of positive DCS. Attachment avoidance was also associated with participants' own lower relationship satisfaction through their own lower use of negative DCS. Men's attachment avoidance was also related to their partner's lower relationship satisfaction via their own and their partner's lower use of positive DCS. The findings suggest that promoting the use of positive DCS may be important to preserve relationship satisfaction in couples involved in MAR.     

The Effects of Knowledge Management on Team Members' Ratings of Project Success and Impact*

Many organizations are trying to improve the generation and utilization of knowledge. The activities associated with these efforts are identified as organizational knowledge management (KM). While much has been written about knowledge management from the organizational level, the success of such efforts over the long run will depend upon on how KM activities impact important outcomes as perceived by those at the employee level who actually implement the activities. This study used the input‐process‐output framework of team effectiveness to investigate the relationship between selected KM‐related activities on integrated product and process development team members' satisfaction with their project's success and the impact they expected it to have on the organization. The results indicate that team‐level leadership and support (i.e., inputs), along with knowledge generation and dissemination (i.e., processes), are key drivers of member performance‐related ratings (i.e., outputs). Finally, and possibly most importantly, a number of interactions were evident suggesting that the KM processes moderate the effects of the KM inputs. These findings and their implications are discussed.     

Environmental migration as short- or long-term differences from a trend: A case study of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita effects on out-migration in the Gulf of Mexico

An environmental event that damages housing and the built environment may result in either a short- or long-term out-migration response, depending on residents' recovery decisions and hazard tolerance. If residents move only in the immediate disaster aftermath, then out-migration will be elevated only in the short-term. However, if disasters increase residents' concerns about future risk, heighten vulnerability, or harm the local economy, then out-migration may be elevated for years after an event. The substantive aim of this research brief is to evaluate hypotheses about short- and long-term out-migration responses to the highly destructive 2005 hurricane season in the Gulf of Mexico. The methodological aim is to demonstrate a difference-in-differences (DID) approach analysing time series data from Gulf Coast counties to compare short- and long-differences in out-migration probabilities in the treatment and control counties. We find a large short-term out-migration response and a smaller sustained increase for the disaster-affected coastal counties.     

Attachment insecurities and under-commitment in distressed couples: The role of positive and negative partner behaviors

Research has rarely considered intermediate variables in the association between attachment insecurities and relationship commitment. Based on attachment theory and Rusbult's Investment Model, we tested whether positive and negative partner behaviors explain this association in 91 distressed couples undergoing therapy. Path analyses based on the Actor–Partner Interdependence Model revealed that individuals with attachment avoidance reported perceiving fewer positive behaviors from their partner, which was associated with their own higher under-commitment. Partners of individuals with avoidance also reported perceiving fewer positive partner behaviors, which was in turn associated with their own higher under-commitment. Partners of individuals with attachment anxiety perceived more positive behaviors from their partner, which was associated to their own lower under-commitment. Perceived negative partner behaviors were only directly associated with higher under-commitment. These findings imply that perceived positive partner behaviors may be a key aspect to target in relationship therapy in couples who present with high attachment insecurities.