The Perils of a Public Intellectual

In 1939 George W. Hartmann was Chairman of the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI) and a prominent activist-scholar. By the end of World War II, his teaching career and psychological health lay in ruin, and he never reestablished his influence as a psychopolitical expert. Thisarticle traces the rise and fall of Hartmann's career and its unique mixture of Gestalt psychology, socialism, and anti-Communism. Unpublished correspondence, family papers, and files from the FBI and other intelligence agencies are used to recreate Hartmann's political personae—including Socialist electoral candidate, chairman of Peace Now, and leader of the War Resisters League. His life as a public intellectual is used to reflect upon the nature of psychological expertise at midcentury.     

Statistical data integration using multilevel models to predict employee compensation

This article considers the case where two surveys collect data on a common variable, with one survey being much smaller than the other. The smaller survey collects data on an additional variable of interest, related to the common variable collected in the two surveys, and out-of-scope with respect to the larger survey. Estimation of the two related variables is of interest at domains defined at a granular level. We propose a multilevel model for integrating data from the two surveys, by reconciling survey estimates available for the common variable, accounting for the relationship between the two variables, and expanding estimation for the other variable, for all the domains of interest. The model is specified as a hierarchical Bayes model for domain-level survey data, and posterior distributions are constructed for the two variables of interest. A synthetic estimation approach is considered as an alternative to the hierarchical modelling approach. The methodology is applied to wage and benefits estimation using data from the National Compensation Survey and the Occupational Employment Statistics Survey, available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Department of Labor, United States.     

It’s more than just luck: A qualitative exploration of breastfeeding in rural Australia

It’s more than just luck: A qualitative exploration of breastfeeding in rural Australia

Leading collective action to address wicked problems

The alleviation of wicked problems requires collective action because these issues are characterized by significant uncertainty and complexity. This research extends prior work by examining how conveners' use robust action to navigate wicked problems' defining characteristics in the mobilization process. It provides a longitudinal study of a health care nonprofit attempting to engage other stakeholders in addressing the high costs and inadequate quality of health care in a region of the United States. Specifically, the convener sought to address this wicked problem by developing a health information exchange. The findings relate five robust action tactics through which the convener advanced collective action.     

A Latent Class Analysis of Factors Associated with Levels of Aggression among Low-Income African American Youth in Chicago

Abstract

African American youth are often stereotyped as being more aggressive than and experience more severe negative social sanctions relative to their European American peers. This cross-sectional study assessed self-reported levels of aggression among a sample of 538 low-income African American youth in Chicago, and employed latent class analysis to determine groups of aggression. Major study findings showed low, middle high aggression group. The largest number of youth fell within the low aggression group. Social factors (e.g., low student-teacher connectedness, high risky peer norms, neighborhood violence, and family conflict) were associated with inclusion in the high aggression group. Intrapersonal factors (e.g., depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder) were associated with inclusion in the middle aggression group. Future longitudinal research should examine what factors are associated with movement across aggression groups and capitalize upon knowledge gained in the current study to develop interventions.     

From waterfall plots to spaghetti plots in early oncology clinical development

Waterfall plots are used to describe changes in tumor size observed in clinical studies. They are frequently used to illustrate the overall drug response in oncology clinical trials because of its simple representation of results. Unfortunately, this visual display suffers a number of limitations including (1) potential misguidance by masking the time dynamics of tumor size, (2) ambiguous labelling of the y‐axis, and (3) low data‐to‐ink ratio. We offer some alternatives to address these shortcomings and recommend moving away from waterfall plots to the benefit of plots showing the individual time profiles of sum of lesion diameters (according to RECIST). The spider plot presents the individual changes in tumor measurements over time relative to baseline tumor burden. Baseline tumor size is a well‐known confounding factor of drug effect which has to be accounted for when analyzing data in early clinical trials. While spider plots are conveniently correct for baseline tumor size, they cannot be presented in isolation. Indeed, percentage change from baseline has suboptimal statistical properties (including skewed distribution) and can be overly optimistic in favor of drug efficacy. We argued that plots of raw data (referred to as spaghetti plots) should always accompany spider plots to provide an equipoised illustration of the drug effect on lesion diameters.     

Are fire services ‘extremely gendered’ organizations? Examining the Country Fire Authority (CFA) in Australia

Emergency management organizations often have military‐based histories and continue to maintain militaristic styles of operation. Similar to the military, these organizations tend to be male dominated and culturally masculinized. The militarization and masculinization of rural fire services in Australia are generally unrecognized but highly important elements defining these organizations, and the example of the Country Fire Authority (CFA) is considered here. Using a cultural artefacts approach, historical and contemporary elements of the CFA's structure and practice are analysed using the concept of an ‘extremely gendered’ organization, with a focus on how the CFA is structurally and culturally gendered. We argue there is value in expanding the notion of ‘extremely gendered’ institutions beyond the military, to include other militarized organizations. Doing so not only helps to better understand and address resistance to change and gender equality measures, it also draws attention to the important role that such organizations play in the greater patriarchal order.     

Deviant Peer Behavior and Adolescent Delinquency: Protective Effects of Inhibitory Control,Planning, or Decision Making?

We examined relations between adolescent perceptions of deviant peer behavior and delinquency as moderated by inhibitory control, planning, and decision making in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development at age 15 (N = 991). Adolescents reported perceptions of deviant peer behavior. Inhibitory control, planning, and decision making were assessed behaviorally. Delinquency was evaluated with a latent variable comprised of parent‐guardian perceptions of adolescent delinquency and adolescent self‐reports. Only inhibitory control moderated the relationship between deviant peer behavior and delinquency, showing that better inhibition protected against delinquency in contexts of high levels of adolescent perceptions of deviant peer behavior. Findings are discussed in the context of theories of adolescent delinquency and risk taking.     

Adolescents' Civic Engagement: Concordant and Longitudinal Associations Among Civic Beliefs and Civic Involvement

Associations between adolescent civic and organized activities (volunteering, standard political, social movement, school/community, religious) and civic beliefs (comprised of should, obligation, and respect judgments) were examined. Cross‐sectional models (N = 703, M_age = 15.87) indicated domain specificity between adolescent civic beliefs and behaviors. Longitudinal models (n = 219, M_age = 15.39) indicated that adolescents' standard political beliefs predicted greater levels of standard political involvement one year later, and school/community activities predicted greater standard political beliefs a year later. Youth volunteering predicted lower standard political beliefs, and standard political involvement predicted lower community service beliefs one year later. Findings support the assessment of adolescent sociomoral civic beliefs and demonstrate how civic experiences and civic beliefs can mutually promote each other during adolescence.     

The influence of radical right populist parties on law and order policy-making

In many countries, be it in America (Trump), in Europe (Le Pen), or in Asia (Duterte), radical right populist leaders or parties succeed in gaining power. To what extent would they be able to influence policy-making? Do they really weight upon public decision-making? While the literature on populism and radical right populist parties (RRPP) is abundant, few authors have addressed the relationship between populist promises and policy-making. Yet it is crucial to assess the influence of RRPP nowadays. This article investigates the influence of a most likely case – the Schweizerische Volkspartei (SVP) – on law and order policy-making. The focus is set on a traditional policy sector and on a party with a long institutionalized participation in power. Based on process-tracing, the results show that the SVP influence varies according to the stages of policy-making and to its instruments. Agenda-setting is more significantly influenced, and popular initiatives are an important component of the populist strategy. Results may be generalized to different countries beyond the Swiss case, as shown in the discussion and the conclusion.