The Role of the Group in Peer Group Entry

This study explored psychological conditions affecting children's receptiveness to a newcomer (the guest) in a peer group entry task. Subjects were 93 host dyads (48 male) of 7- to 9-year-old children. Hosts played a word-naming game for 5 min before being joined by a male or female guest. The hosts' pre-entry interaction was coded to reflect an orientation toward the game (agentic) or toward each other and toward experimental setting demands (communal). Hosts' psychological orientation predicted entry outcomes. Specifically, hosts of excluded children verbally competed with each other (an aspect of agency) more than hosts of children who entered. Male hosts competed more than female hosts and female hosts helped and encouraged each other (aspects of the communal orientation) more than male hosts. These findings suggest that the strategies and effort required by children to achieve group entry may depend on prior psychological conditions attending the interaction of the peer group.     

Tongue Sandwiches and Bagel Days: Sex,Food and Mind‐Body Dualism

The substantive content of our paper is that of mind‐body dualism, which we explore through food metaphors. However, our primary aim is to use these food metaphors to explore the difficulties in going beyond dualistic thinking. We do this by focusing on dualism as a learnt state of being. Accordingly, and using an analysis of pedagogies of the everyday that takes account of particular communities of practice, we seek to demonstrate the (re)production of dualistic frameworks in organizational life. Our conclusion returns to a political agenda that is concerned to go beyond the inevitable hierarchization implicit in dualistic construction. Here we present the case for the retention of the binary and we indicate the work that now needs to take place if we are interested in developing interpretations that express the fluidity of gendered identities.     

Meaningful Youth Engagement as a Protective Factor for Youth Suicidal Ideation

Youth suicide is a leading cause of mortality. Greater still is the prevalence of suicidal behavior and ideation. In this study with 813 secondary school students, we explored youth engagement in structured extracurricular activities as a possible protective factor for suicidal ideation. Personally meaningful youth engagement significantly moderated the relationships between depressive symptoms, risk behaviors, self‐esteem, and social support in the prediction of suicidal ideation. Specifically, the more meaning found in engagement, the less likely youth were to report suicidal thoughts in spite of risk factors. Acknowledging limitations, a focus on engaging youth in well‐selected activities of interest might represent a nonstigmatizing approach to universal prevention. Further research into the mechanisms of such an approach is warranted.     

Book reviews

The Green City: Sustainable Homes, Sustainable Suburbs by Nicholas Low, Brendan Gleeson, Ray Green, Darko Radovich. Routledge, New York (published/distributed by University of New South Wales Press, Sydney). 2005. 247 p. NZ$59.95 (paperback). ISBN 0868406937.

More than Law and Order: Policing a Changing Society 1945–92 (The History of Policing in New Zealand, Vol. 5) by Susan Butterworth. University of Otago Press, Dunedin. 2005.348 p. NZ$49.95 (paperback). ISBN 1877276995.

New Rights New Zealand: Myths, Moralities and Markets by Dolores Janiewski and Paul Morris. Auckland University Press, Auckland. 2005. 206 p., NZ$34.99 (paperback). ISBN 1869403452.

Faith, Politics and Reconciliation: Catholicism and the Politics of Indigeneity by Dominic O'Sullivan. Huia, Adelaide. 2005. 296 p. NZ$44.99 (paperback). ISBN 1869691512.

Body Work: The Social Construction of Women's Body Image by Sylvia K. Blood. Routledge, London and New York. 2005. 149 p. NZ$61.95 (paperback). ISBN 0415272726.

The Word of a Woman ? Police, Rape and Beliefby Jan Jordan. Palgrave Macmil‐lan, Houndmills, Basingstoke and New York. 2004.267 p., NZ$172.95 (hardback). ISBN 1403921695.     

“I don’t want to be selling my soul”: Two experiments in environmental economics

We conducted two experiments in the context of environmental protection. We found that profit considerations and personality traits are among the essential determinants of individual contributions to the solution of environmental problems. The results show that environmental considerations are powerful motivators and subjects are willing to forgo pecuniary profits for the sake of “doing-the-right-thing”. The study shows that the environmental groups can purchase carbon offsets directly from the providers at a lower-than market price and still obtain a relatively large market share.     

Correlates of Hazard Education Programs for Youth

Virtually no research has examined the hypothesized benefits of hazard education programs for youth in helping to increase community resilience. This exploratory study examined the role of these programs in helping to increase child and family resilience to a range of future hazards. Various aspects of hazards programs were examined in relation to a wide range of child- and parent-reported hazard adjustments in a sample of 560 schoolchildren. Additional factors assessed included childrens' risk perceptions, knowledge of response-related protective activities, and hazard-related emotional factors. Overall, the results supported the role of hazards education programs in increasing hazard adjustments in the home. The findings also supported various aspects of education program involvement as being related to more realistic risk perceptions, increased knowledge, and increased interaction with caregivers. Analyses identified the following features of these programs as being particularly important: provision of specific knowledge (e.g., an emergency management perspective); multiple program involvement over time; and, importantly, promotion of increased interaction between children and parents. Overall, findings supported the idea that hazards education programs for youth provide one gateway through which communities can increase their resilience to the effects of a major hazardous event. Findings also provided an initial foundation for further research in this emerging area.