Bowling Alone in Taiwan? Political Trust and Civic Participation of Taiwanese and Their Appraisal of Liberal Democracy and Personal Wellbeing

Social Indicators Research - Based on a nationwide survey dataset collected by Taiwan’s Executive Yuan (2017) (N?=?2737) and adopting structural equation modelling with...     

Enriching Surveys with Supplementary Data and its Application to Studying Wage Regression

We consider the problem of supplementing survey data with additional information from a population. The framework we use is very general; examples are missing data problems, measurement error models and combining data from multiple surveys. We do not require the survey data to be a simple random sample of the population of interest. The key assumption we make is that there exists a set of common variables between the survey and the supplementary data. Thus, the supplementary data serve the dual role of providing adjustments to the survey data for model consistencies and also enriching the survey data for improved efficiency. We propose a semi‐parametric approach using empirical likelihood to combine data from the two sources. The method possesses favourable large and moderate sample properties. We use the method to investigate wage regression using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth Study.     

Generational Sexualities,Subterranean Traditions,and the Hauntings of the Sexual World: Some Preliminary Remarks

In this article I argue that generation is a relatively neglected concept for thinking about both the social and the sexual, and that symbolic interactionism has much to offer in developing our understanding of this idea. Using both personal experience and the wide‐ranging literature on sexualities, I explore the role of synchronic and diachronic time in organizing both the flow of sexual lives and the hierarchy of age‐sexual orders. The core organizing concepts are those of generational sexualities and subterranean traditions; the approach is seen to provide a further complication to standpoint, queer, and intersectionality theory. The core of the article suggests an array of sensitizing concepts and research areas that might sharpen future analyses. Schematic and exploratory, the article draws from a wide range of examples. Careful the things you say, Careful the tale you tell, Children will listen. Stephen Sondheim, Into the Woods (1986) Reality exists in a present … we look forward with vivid interest to the reconstruction, in the world that will be, of the world that has been for we realize that the world that will be cannot differ from the world that is without rewriting the past to which we now look back. George Herbert Mead, The Philosophy of the Present (1932) Generations are in a constant state of interaction. Karl Mannheim, Essays on the Sociology of Knowledge (1997) How long is a man's life, finally? A thousand days or only one? One week or a few centuries? How long does a man's death last? And what do we mean when we say, “gone forever”? Brian Patten, “So Many Different Lengths of Time,” Selected Poems (2007) To study social life one must confront the ghostly aspects of it. Avery Gordon, Ghostly Matters (1997)     

Consensual commitment: A grounded theory of the meso-level influence of organizational design on leadership and decision-making

This research examined the relationship between organizational design and leadership in decision-making teams. It used a grounded theory-based qualitative research design. The validity of the research was enhanced by data triangulation, wherein quantitative psychometric data augmented the qualitative data that are traditionally used. The research was based upon two organizations within the substantive setting of the knowledge industry. The higher order category of consensual commitment explained effective decision-making. At the meso-level of leadership modeling, organizational design influenced both leadership style and decision-making. Specifically, an organizational design that generated lateral job roles and a relational leadership orientation was found to enhance consensual commitment, and provided a level of assurance against dysfunctional team dynamics.     

Screening for Alcohol Problems Among 4-Year Colleges and Universities

Abstract

Objective: To assess the use of alcohol screening tools across US colleges. Participants: Directors of health services at 333 four-year colleges. Methods: An online survey was conducted regarding the use of alcohol screening tools. Schools reporting use of formal tools were further described in terms of 4 tools (AUDIT, CUGE, CAPS, and RAPS) that the authors judged to be the most favorable based on prior empirical comparative studies. Results: Forty-four percent of colleges reported use of at least 1 formal alcohol screening tool and nearly all of these used a tool appropriate for college students. However, less than half of the 44% of colleges that used a screening tool used 1 of the 4 most favorable tools. Conclusions: Continued efforts are needed to encourage colleges to use the most effective available screening tools to identify alcohol-related problems that require intervention among students.     

The Social Vulnerability Scale for Older Adults: An Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analytic Study

The Social Vulnerability Scale (SVS), a 22-item informant report of vulnerability to exploitation and, in particular, financial exploitation of older adults, was administered to 266 respondents who assessed the social vulnerability of a significant other aged 50 years or over, either a person with dementia or other neurological condition (n?=?116), or a healthy adult (n?=?150). Exploratory factor analysis in the combined sample revealed a 15-item two-factor solution labeled gullibility and credulity. Stability in factor structure was established in an independent sample (n?=?123) using confirmatory factor analysis, and sound reliability (internal consistency) and validity (known-groups) were demonstrated. The SVS15 is a potentially useful instrument for assessing older adults' vulnerability to exploitation.     

Workplace flexibility: a model of change

The inception of When Work Works – a theoretical- and research-based model of change in promoting effective and flexible workplaces – dates back to the confluence of a number of factors in the early 1990s. One decade later, this ‘perfect storm’ of factors led to the creation of When Work Works, and two decades later, to this critical assessment of the foundation for and results of this model of change. When Work Works has used partnerships with nationwide business organizations with community chapters in combination with media coverage, educational events, the creation of tools and materials and grassroots methods to communicate well-researched information to employers that show workplace flexibility is not just a favor or perk for employees but can be a powerful strategy for promoting better outcomes for both employers and employees. The program has been responsible for implementing a rigorous award and providing numerous community-based recognition and educational events on workplace effectiveness and flexibility around the country and for assisting many employers to effectively create more flexible and effective workplaces. When Work Works has been designed around eight key principles for creating change on a national level. This paper presents the context in which When Work Works evolved, a detailed discussion of the eight principles of Families and Work Institute's model of change, its results and lessons other organizations may wish to apply in their own change initiatives.     

A Social Relations Analysis of Children's Trust in Their Peers across the Early Years of School

Two hundred and five (103 female and 102 male) children enrolled in school years 1 and 2 in the UK (mean age 6 years 1 month at Time 1) were tested twice over a 1‐year period. The children reported the promise keeping and secret keeping behaviours of classmates (all peers and same‐gender peers) and provided friendship nominations (Time 2 only). Round robin social relations analyses for all peers and same‐gender peers revealed: (1) perceiver variance, demonstrating consistent individual differences in trust beliefs in peers; (2) target variance, demonstrating consistent individual differences in eliciting trust from peers; and, (3) dyadic reciprocity, demonstrating reciprocal trust between individuals. Replicability across measures, stability, and cross‐measure stability of these effects were found for all peers only. As hypothesized, the perceiver and target effects of trust were associated with the number of friendships. The findings support the conclusion that young children demonstrate multiple components of trust in dyadic relationships, which are associated with their social relationships.     

Parenting,Uncertainty, and Expert Advice: How Privileged American Families Work with Private Counselors in Their Children's College Race

This article uses privileged families who hire Independent Educational Consultants (IECs) as an instance to examine how privileged parents collaborate with individuals whom they consider educational experts to support their children in the college race. We argue that advantaged parents' anxieties about their children have created a market for IECs who provide expert advice in order to mitigate the uncertainties that these parents experience and to manage various goals that they want to achieve at an important turning point in their children's lives. Drawing primarily on interviews with parents who work with IECs, we introduce the concept of “collaborative cultivation” to analyze the processes whereby advantaged parents rely on the expertise and expert status of private counselors to cope with their and their children's vulnerability in the college race while at the same time preparing their children for the unknown future. The parental method of “concerted cultivation” reveals how elite parents rely on individuals they perceive as experts to establish “bridges” between their own social worlds and the academic worlds that appear to beyond their control. This bridging labor points to the myriad cultural beliefs enacted to justify the child‐rearing goals that privileged parents wish to accomplish by working with IECs.     

Grant monitoring by charities: The process of grant-making and evaluation

This article presents the results of a survey of grant monitoring in 170 UK charities. The monitoring and evaluation process is modelled and the extent to which donors follow this is explored. Although over 70 per cent of donors monitored grants, a much smaller percentage proceeded to evaluate results. Reasons for this and an indication of how the processes are carried out are presented.