Moral Reasoning in Interactional Context: Strategic Uses of Care and Justice Arguments in Mediation Hearings*

Previous studies of moral reasoning have treated moral reasoning as a product of the individual. This article extends the study of moral reasoning by analyzing its use in strategic interaction. I analyze how participants in a naturally occurring situation of conflict use moral arguments strategically and negotiate over the types of arguments that are acceptable. Gilligan's Care and Justice modes of moral reasoning are identified in participants' justifications for positions taken in nine videotaped mediation hearings. I found that participants may use both modes of reasoning during the course of a hearing, and that the type of moral argument used is often a response to the actions of other participants. Strategic uses of moral arguments included shifting mode to challenge or support another's position, bridging a difference in mode between two disputants, and shifting mode to refocus the topic. Because of their institutional and interactional roles in the hearings, mediators play a major role in negotiations over mode of moral reasoning.     

Interorganizational collaboration in social service organizations: A study of the prerequisites to success

Organizational scholars have identified four prerequisites to effective interorganizational collaboration: incentive, willingness, ability, and capacity. This study analyzes data drawn from participants in eight family services collaboratives in order to assess the relationships identified in the literature. Our findings support the premise that each of these prerequisites is positively related to collaborative effectiveness. Implications for collaboration leaders are suggested.     

Are the Effects of Monetary Policy Asymmetric?

By building on the Hamilton (1989) Markov switching model, we examine questions like: Does monetary policy have the same effect in expansions and recessions? Given that the economy is currently in a recession, does a fall in interest rates increase the probability of an expansion? Does monetary policy have an incremental effect on the growth rate within a given state, or does it only affect the economy if it is sufficiently strong to induce a state change (e.g., from recession to expansion)? As suggested by models with sticky prices or finance constraints, interest rate changes have larger effects during recessions.     

The Role of Parent and Peer Support in Predicting Adolescent Depression: A Longitudinal Community Study

This study examines whether perceived parent support, peer support, and the interaction between them predict depression symptoms and depression diagnosis 2 years later in a community sample of 389 adolescents. Controlling for Time 1 depression, parent support and anticipated peer support were not independently related to Time 2 depression in either linear or logistic regression analyses. However, there was a significant interaction between the two support variables, suggesting that parent support moderates the relationship between anticipated peer support and depression symptoms and diagnosis. Anticipated peer support is protective among adolescents with high parental support, but may act as a risk factor for adolescents with low parental support. Regarding developmental differences, low anticipated peer support at Time 1 was a stronger predictor of Time 2 depression symptoms among older, compared with younger, adolescents. These findings highlight the importance of parent and peer support in predicting future depression among community adolescents.     

Predicting Commitment to Wed Among Hispanic and Anglo Partners

Ethnic differences in commitment to wed were examined between 46 Hispanics (27 women, 19 men) and 160 Anglos (84 women, 76 men). Although limited by sample sizes, findings indicated that Hispanics and Anglos did not differ, on average, on measures of attitudes toward marriage, perceived family influence, commitment to wed, belongingness, and trust. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that, after controlling for age and income, attitudes toward marriage, perceived family support, and trust predicted commitment to wed for women, whereas only perceived family support emerged as a predictor among men. Finally, although no ethnic differences emerged for men, the degree to which trust, perceived family support, and attitudes toward marriage predicted commitment to wed for women varied by ethnicity.     

Past Present: Discordant Gay Male Couples,HIV Infection History,and Relationship Dynamics

Discordant couples are unique because partners do not share the same serostatus. Yet research overlooks how they became discordant, mistakenly assuming that they have always been that way and, by extension, that being discordant impacts the relationship in a similar manner. This study examines HIV infection history and its impact on relationship dynamics using qualitative data from 35 discordant gay male couples. Most couples were discordant when they met (69%); however, many were not (31%). Those couples that met discordant felt being discordant had a lesser impact on their sexual and relational satisfaction, while those that did not meet discordant felt it had a greater impact, reporting sexual frustration and anxiety over seroconverting. This suggests that relationship dynamics may differ for discordant couples depending on HIV infection history. HIV prevention and counseling services for discordant couples can be better tailored and more effective when differences in HIV infection history are recognized.     

Extending the Quantitative Assessment of Industrial Risks to Earthquake Effects

In the general framework of quantitative methods for natural‐technological (NaTech) risk analysis, a specific methodology was developed for assessing risks caused by hazardous substances released due to earthquakes. The contribution of accidental scenarios initiated by seismic events to the overall industrial risk was assessed in three case studies derived from the actual plant layout of existing oil refineries. Several specific vulnerability models for different equipment classes were compared and assessed. The effect of differing structural resistances for process equipment on the final risk results was also investigated. The main factors influencing the final risk values resulted from the models for equipment vulnerability and the assumptions for the reference damage states of the process equipment. The analysis of case studies showed that in seismic zones the additional risk deriving from damage caused by earthquakes may be up to more than one order of magnitude higher than that associated to internal failure causes. Critical equipment was determined to be mainly pressurized tanks, even though atmospheric tanks were more vulnerable to containment loss. Failure of minor process equipment having a limited hold‐up of hazardous substances (such as pumps) was shown to have limited influence on the final values of the risk increase caused by earthquakes.     

Christian Religion,Society and the State in the modern World

This paper is an attempt to explain why religious beliefs and practice have strongly declined in some parts of the world, in particular in Europe, while in other parts religion continues to play a central role in the public sphere and in private life. It is argued that the following factors determine the patterns of religiosity in contemporary Christian societies: substantive differences between religious doctrines and denominations with respect to theological teachings but also the use of rituals and symbols; the level of welfare state services; and the historical connections between church and state. These theses are empirically investigated in two ways: first, through a quantitative, multilevel analysis of the effects of individual and context variables on individual religiosity in 28 Christian countries around the world; and, second, through short case studies of four countries – Norway, Ireland, the United States and Chile – each exemplary of a specific type of state–church relations over time.