Contested milieux: Small firms,unionization, and the provision of protective structures

Three trends in the workplace point to the importance of considering work relations as well as governance structures for the development of protective benefits such as pensions. The increasing concentration of employment growth in smaller firms, the general decline of unionization, and the changing composition of the work force constitute the new exigencies of worker-employer contracts. The 1983 Current Population Survey Pension Supplement is used in conjunction with certification data from the National Labor Relations Board to examine the interaction between firm size and the influence, as opposed to the prevalence, of unionization in the provision of pensions. Unionization is found to be more influential in the provision of pensions for workers in small firms despite the established prevalence of unionization in larger firms. The implications of these trends for labor market theory are discussed.This is a revised version of papers that were presented at the annual meetings of the Gerontological Society of America, November 1988, and the American Sociological Association, August 1989.     

The Changing Nature of Rape: The New South Wales (Sexual Offences) Amendment Act 1981

The new legislation introduced in New South Wales in July 1981 is a dramatic evolution of the law regarding rape, one which is intended to render the law more flexible in terms of penalties, broader in the definition of the offence, and fairer in the provision on trial procedure. Through a consideration of some of the provisions of the Act, the argument is developed that while some of these aims are met, the law is, in places, less than ideal. An attempt is made to determine the shortcomings of the law, the conclusion involving both the provisions themselves and the proposition that attitudes and prejudices cannot be eliminated by the legislative pen.     

Coital debut: the role of religiosity and sex attitudes in the Add Health Survey

Recent reviews suggest that religiosity is associated with the delay of adolescent coital debut (Rostosky, Wilcox, Wright, Randall, in press; Wilcox, Rostosky, Randall, Wright, 2001). Few studies, however, have examined this association using longitudinal data to test theoretically driven models. We analyzed data from 3,691 adolescents (ages 15-21), testing the hypothesis that adolescent religiosity and sex attitudes (at Wave 1) predict later coital debut (at Wave 2) and that these predictive relationships vary by gender. Findings indicated that beyond demographic factors and number of romantic partners, religiosity reduced the likelihood of coital debut for both males and females. After accounting for the effects of religiosity, anticipation of negative emotions after coital debut (sex attitude factor 1) further reduced its likelihood for females and males. Finally, adolescent girls - but not boys - who anticipated positive emotions following sexual intercourse (sex attitude factor 2) were more likely to debut. While virginity pledge status was associated with coital debut for boys and girls, more conservative beliefs about sex appeared to mediate its effect. Finally, a significant interaction between race and religiosity indicated that African American adolescent males who had either signed a virginity pledge or were more religious were significantly more likely to debut than both White non-Hispanic males and African American males who were less religious and/or who had not signed a pledge. The implications of these results for adolescent pregnancy prevention programming are discussed.     

Predictors of maternal support: the point of view of adolescent victims of sexual abuse and their mothers

Maternal support received by sexual abuse victims is considered a key factor in coping with the aftermath of abuse. The present study looked at four groups of potential predictors of maternal support: mothers' psychosocial characteristics, abuse characteristics, victim's characteristics, and disclosure characteristics. A total of 120 adolescents aged 12 to 17 years and their mothers, who were recruited from Child Protective Services, completed questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. Multiple regression analyses performed separately on mother and child data sets revealed five significant predictors of maternal support in each analysis, four of which were common to both. The discussion underscores the importance of taking into account both the mother's and the victim's perceptions regarding psychological adjustment and family environment.     

Analyzing Media Effects on Advertising Responses

If the form of the transmission shapes the nature of response,media effects become quite interesting. On the basis of a studyinvolving print and broadcast media, this article analyzes manyaspects of communication response.     

Crisis and diagnosis: Infantile autism

This paper outlines a theoretical model for presenting diagnoses to parents of autistic children. The model is based on crisis theory. Actual professional practice, as determined by interviews with the parents of 22 autistic children of various ages, is compared with the theoretical model. This, study demonstrated that professional practice did not seem to have given adequate recognition to mourning reactions but did show a tendency toward increased involvement of parents in treatment. The failure to recognize or encourage adaptive mourning is seen as fostering denial which might impair the ability of the parents to cope effectively with the problem.