Prejudicial Attitudes Toward Older Adults May Be Exaggerated When People Feel Vulnerable to Infectious Disease: Evidence and Implications

Prejudice against elderly people ("ageism") is an issue of increasing social concern, but the psychological roots of ageism are only partially understood. Recent theorizing suggests that ageism may result, in part, from fallible cue-based disease-avoidance mechanisms. The perception of subjectively atypical physical features (including features associated with aging) may implicitly activate aversive semantic concepts (implicit ageism), and this implicit ageism is likely to emerge among perceivers who are especially worried about the transmission of infectious diseases. We report an experiment (N = 88) that provides the first empirical test of this hypothesis. Results revealed that implicit ageism is predicted by the interactive effects of chronic perceptions of vulnerability to infectious disease and by the temporary salience of disease-causing pathogens. Moreover, these effects are moderated by perceivers' cultural background. Implications for public policy are discussed .     

An experiment in helping social work practitioners to design and conduct research

A twelve-week short course, “Understanding Social Work Practice through Research” was conducted for experienced social work practitioners during the Spring of 1982. The course, experimental in character, began with the practice interests of individual course members and used the resources of the class members and the course tutors to help each person to devise a research design suitable to his or her personally declared practice interests. The work was supported by handouts (e.g., “Turning an interest in a practice issue into one or more researchable questions”; “Decisions required when constructing a research design”; etc.) and by worksheets.

Eight persons attended all or most sessions (one dropped out early in the sequence) and all of these completed a research design and indicated an interest in implementing it. Optional follow-up sessions were provided in the form of group support meetings held at four-month intervals and individual consultation as required. In addition to producing a viable research design, members gained increased confidence in themselves as researchers as well as practitioners, clarified their understanding of the relationship between research and practice, and in some cases emerged with a renewed enthusiasm for social work practice.     

What Money Cannot Buy: The Distinctive and Multidimensional Impact of Volunteers

Although it is assumed that volunteers make an extremely important contribution to organizations and the community, studies that examine their direct impact are scarce. Using quantitative and qualitative data collected from clients, volunteers and staff at the Philadelphia Ronald McDonald House, examined is the impact of volunteers on the organization, the clients and on themselves. Volunteers had a high direct and indirect impact on recipients, including on their attitudes toward volunteering and their future behavior. Volunteers gained intrinsic and extrinsic benefits and, as expected, their participation had a positive impact on the organization. The study contributes to the body of knowledge on social impact and volunteering.     

Idle No More,Facebook and Diffusion

The indigenous-led movement Idle No More leapt into public view during the winter of 2012–2013, bringing round-dance flash-mobs and blockades to communities across Canada and internationally, becoming a symbol of twenty-first century indigenous resistance. This profile examines the first two months of the movement by analysing the structure of social networks being mobilized, by breaking down the Facebook architecture and interface into its various elements, and by examining how these influence diffusion and its constituent sub-processes. It argues that the combination of dense clusters and weak ties in indigenous social networks leveraged the way Facebook facilitated the movement.     

Fear of Crime and Collective Action: An Analysis of Coping Strategies

Recent research addressing fear of crime largely concerns the causes of that fear; this article expands our understanding of fear of crime by examining whether people cope with their fear individually or collectively. Our guiding questions were two: Do coping strategies differ by those individual-level characteristics established in the fear-of-crime literature? And do strategies differ based upon conceptually distinct types of fear? This research, based on a 1995 telephone survey of a random sample of New Orleans residents, suggests that the answer to both questions is yes. Commodified, individual-level precautionary techniques are explained primarily by characteristics that reflect differential abilities to pay for such precautions. Conversely, collective-level coping strategies are predicted primarily by degree of affective fear based on emotional reactions, regardless of actual levels of victimization.     

Supporting Asian Deaf Young People and their Families: the role of professionals and services

This paper discusses how Asian deaf young people and their families engage with welfare provision. Our findings, based on group and individual interviews with young deaf people and individual interviews with their parents, explore the assumptions underlying current provision and how they influence the options available to young people and their families. The paper suggests that the welfare state exerts a form of social control where professional help, although well intended, may disempowers Asian deaf people by privileging 'oralism' over sign language, and western norms over other cultural values. On the other hand, positive constructions of deafness privilege Deaf identity while failing to accommodate ethnic or religious diversity, resulting in Asian deaf young people and their families having an ambivalent relationship with the Deaf community. We argue that services need to recognise and address the reasons for this ambivalence if they are to adequately engage Asian deaf people and their families.     

Exploring Adolescents’ Relationships with Non-Parental Adults Using the Non-Parental Adult Inventory (N.P.A.I.)

Adolescents’ relationships with non-parental adults is one identified protective factor that has received comparable little attention. Previous work indicates that significant, non-parental adults play an important role in adolescent development. This exploratory study examines the frequency of adolescent contact with non-parental adults, and their enjoyment of that contact using the Non-Parental Adult Inventory (N.P.A.I.). Gender and age differences among adolescent reports, and differences between parent and adolescent reports are explored. Frequency and reported enjoyment of adolescent contact within select categories of non-parental adults differed by gender. Parent and adolescent reports significantly differed with parents both underestimating and overestimating the strength of adolescents’ relationships with select adult groups. Results provide preliminary data regarding the nature of adolescents’ relationships with a broad range of non-parental adults.