Changing Workplaces to Reduce Work-Family Conflict: Schedule Control in a White-Collar Organization

Work-family conflicts are common and consequential for employees, their families, and work organizations. Can workplaces be changed to reduce work-family conflict? Previous research has not been able to assess whether workplace policies or initiatives succeed in reducing work-family conflict or increasing work-family fit. Using longitudinal data collected from 608 employees of a white-collar organization before and after a workplace initiative was implemented, we investigate whether the initiative affects work-family conflict and fit, whether schedule control mediates these effects, and whether work demands, including long hours, moderate the initiative's effects on work-family outcomes. Analyses clearly demonstrate that the workplace initiative positively affects the work-family interface, primarily by increasing employees' schedule control. This study points to the importance of schedule control for our understanding of job quality and for management policies and practices.     

The folder feedback system: Making research content more understandable,enjoyable, and usable 1

This paper describes the use and evaluation of the folder feedback system. The folder feedback system is a useful teaching tool based in principles of adult learning. It is designed to help organize student learning, increase communication with the instructor, insert an element of fun into the class, and assist with student/teacher relationship building. An evaluation of the teaching tool produced mixed results. The treatment group received higher grades than the comparison group, yet in all other measures no differences were found.     

The narrative self in autobiographical accounts of illness

The paper analyzes autobiographical acounts of the experience of chronic illness and its treatment to develop a sociological theory of the self. It is suggested that ‘self’ is not a biologistic or psycologistic thing. Rather self is autobiographical narrative – hence the narrative self. It is argued that four elements constitute such narrative selves in autobiographical discourse: evaluative relationships between events in time; cosmology; power relationships; and conceptualisation of self as object.     

Social Support Networks of African-American Children Attending Head Start: A Longitudinal Investigation of Structural and Supportive Network Characteristics

This study examined the stability and coherence of African‐American children's social support networks. Participants included a total of 106 3‐ to 4‐year‐old children attending Head Start centers located in the southeast. Children completed a social network interview in two consecutive years at the Head Start centers. These interviews tapped multiple dimensions of the support network including social embeddedness, proportion of the network providing support, and perceived support. Analyses focused on both the rank‐order stability of children with respect to network characteristics as well as stability of network relationships (the same individuals included in the network at both time periods). Results indicated age‐related increases in network size for adult and child categories, network size across three support domains, proportion of support scores, and perceived support from adults. In addition to age‐related changes, analyses revealed considerable rank‐order stability with respect to structural network dimensions, but very little rank‐order stability in proportion of support and perceived support scores. In contrast, both structural and supportive components of the children's networks were shown to be coherent over a one‐year period when specific network member relationships were examined. Discussion highlights both continuities and discontinuities in young children's social networks, and how data obtained in this study contribute to theory building and the systematic examination of African‐American children's emerging social networks.     

The Bordes-LeBreton exceptional case

Bordes and LeBreton have found a set D of weak orderings of X that includes all linear (strong) orderings of X but where there exists a social welfare function f on D ^N satisfying all of Arrow's (non-domain) conditions. In this paper we characterize all such D and f possibilities.     

Reports of Conferences,Institutes, and Seminars

In the span of four weeks, from late March to early April 2008, three important technical services conferences were held: the Electronic Resources & Libraries Conference, the New England Technical Services Librarians Conference, and the North Carolina Serials Conference.     

Of Sex and Romance: Late Adolescent Relationships and Young Adult Union Formation

To better understand the social factors that influence the diverse pathways to family formation young adults experience today, this research investigates the association between opposite‐gender relationships during late adolescence and union formation in early adulthood. Using data from the first and third waves of the Add Health (n= 4,911), we show that, for both men and women, there is continuity between adolescent and adult relationship experiences. Those involved in adolescent romantic relationships at the end of high school are more likely to marry and to cohabit in early adulthood. Moreover, involvement in a nonromantic sexual relationship is positively associated with cohabitation, but not marriage. We conclude that the precursors to union formation patterns in adulthood are observable in adolescence.     

Political correctness and multiculturalism: Who supports PC?

What is the nature and content of political correctness and multiculturalism? Are both these movements solely products of left-wing politics masquerading as an effort to create more racial, sexual, ethnic, and religious diversity throughout social institutions in the name of fairness and equity or are these movements addressing legitimate concerns about tolerance and equality? What of right-wing allegations that information used by proponents of these two movements is biased? What are the social and political implications of these movements and the relationship between economics and multiculturalism? Finally, why is there such controversy surrounding these movements, and who is in fact the opposition? These are some of the questions addressed in this essay.