Differences in perceived barriers to volunteering to formal organizations: Lack of time versus lack of interest

This article reports the findings of a study of perceived barriers to volunteering to formal organizations by nonvolunteers. We examine the types of barriers, their frequencies, and their relationships with individual‐level sociodemographic characteristics of nonvolunteers. Data from a 2001–2002 national survey conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics are analyzed using multiple regression techniques. Contrary to general expectations, only three barriers—lack of time, lack of interest, and ill health—are fairly common. Furthermore, as expected, different social class groups identify different types of barriers. The article concludes with a discussion of the theoretical implications of the findings (for example, how indicators of social and cultural capital affect access to volunteer opportunities) and practical implications concerning recruitment of volunteers.     

Editorial collaborators

Editorial collaborators     

Trademarks,Geographical Indications and Environmental Labelling to Promote Biodiversity: The Case of Agroforestry Coffee in India

The district of Kodagu, also called Coorg, in the Western Ghats of India produces 2% of the world's coffee, the expansion and intensification of which have reduced the forest cover by more than 30% in 20 years. Innovative actions are therefore urgently required to link economic development and biodiversity conservation, and stakeholders are exploring three strategies to add value to coffee from Coorg and prevent further biodiversity erosion: registration of trademarks; geographical indications; and environmental certification, via eco‐labels. This article analyses their respective strengths and weaknesses and discusses the synergies between them.     

What Keeps Passion Alive? Sexual Satisfaction Is Associated With Sexual Communication,Mood Setting,Sexual Variety,Oral Sex,Orgasm, and Sex Frequency in a National U.S. Study

Passion and sexual satisfaction typically diminish in longer-term relationships, but this decline is not inevitable. We identified the attitudes and behaviors that most strongly differentiated sexually satisfied from dissatisfied men and women who had been together for at least three years (N = 38,747). Data were collected in 2006 from cohabiting and married men (M) and women (W) via an online survey on a major national U.S. news Web site. The vast majority of these participants reported being satisfied with their sex lives during their first six months together (83% W; 83% M). Satisfaction with their current sex lives was more variable, with approximately half of participants reporting overall satisfaction (55% W; 43% M) and the rest feeling neutral (18% W; 16% M) or dissatisfied (27% W; 41% M). More than one in three respondents (38% W; 32% M) claimed their sex lives were as passionate now as in the beginning. Sexual satisfaction and maintenance of passion were higher among people who had sex most frequently, received more oral sex, had more consistent orgasms, and incorporated more variety of sexual acts, mood setting, and sexual communication. We discuss implications of these findings for research and for helping people revitalize their sex lives.     

The Philippine Male Aging Survey

The aging male is fast becoming a global concern. The problem is predicted to become a major health issue that should be addressed immediately in order to prevent disability, morbidity, and, more importantly, mortality. As part of its commitment to increase awareness and create interest in the care of Filipino aging males, The Philippine Society for the Study of the Aging Male Foundation, Inc. (PhiSSAM), a multi-specialty society established in 2000, embarked on a survey among Filipino physicians to determine their knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding male aging. Results showed that the majority of doctors (about 87%) thought that men may experience andropause. Most would diagnose patients based on symptoms alone, while only 20–30% used testosterone levels to make a diagnosis of andropause. Decreased libido and less strong erections were the symptoms very closely associated with low testosterone. Of those doctors responding, 89% agreed that andropause can affect the quality of a man's life as much as menopause can affect a female; only 38% had already prescribed/instituted treatment for andropause. Of the 62% non-prescribers, 58% said they were either very likely or fairly likely to institute treatment in the future if there were more clinical trials, more medical information, and more information on drugs. Major concerns on testosterone replacement therapy included prostate cancer, benign prostatic hypertrophy, and heart disease. The findings in this pilot survey indicate a need among the doctors in the Philippines for education about andropause and the available treatments.     

Four forms of youth civic engagement for diverse democracy

Which form or forms of civic engagement have the most potential to involve young people in a socially-just diverse democracy? At a time when civic engagement will benefit from conceptual clarification, this paper addresses this question and some of the issues it raises. It analyzes four forms of youth civic engagement for a socially-just diverse democracy. It examines each one according to analytic categories, compares their similarities and differences, and raises questions for future work. It draws upon research in psychology, sociology, and other academic disciplines; and on intergroup relations, multicultural education, social work, and other professional fields. The expectation is that systematic analysis of these phenomena as a subject of study will contribute to the quality of their practice, and move discussion of civic engagement to the next level.     

Teaching Note—Infusing Social Justice Into Doctoral Programs of Social Welfare: An Incremental Approach

This article describes an effort to further infuse social justice education into doctoral programs in social welfare. It articulates the rationale and tactical approaches for aligning mission statements with the operational realities of university contexts. Within 1 school of social work, doctoral students with diverse orientations to social justice came together to articulate a vision for social justice education that expanded the educational contract between students and the institution by enhancing their respective opportunities and responsibilities in the areas of scholarship, teaching, and service. This article shares 30 learning objectives emergent from an incremental change process for enhancing social justice education at the doctoral level and reflects on the strengths and limitations of this approach to advancing social justice priorities.     

AN URBAN ENCOUNTER

Computing research has long been interested in location-aware mobile games, such as hybrid reality games, location-based games and urban games. With an increasingly pervasive IT infrastructure and comparatively affordable mobile devices, such games are becoming part of everyday play around the world. A study of an urban night-game called Encounter widely played in the Former Soviet Union and the Russian-speaking Diaspora is presented. The ways in which IT enables a complex interaction between the local experience of play in the urban environment and the geographically distributed nature of the player community are considered. The findings illustrate how this form of location-aware mobile game-play pulled together local engagement and global player communities into socio-technical assemblages, showing the interplay between local attachments, distant connections and the location-based communication in daily experience. The most important outcome of these games then was not the direct individual engagement with the urban environment through technology or the collaboration with strangers in the course of play (although these were the necessary prerequisites), but the social relationships that, while gained in-game, could be leveraged for civic engagement, belonging and mutual support. While the local, physical experience of the everyday and the game was important, the connections to the distributed community resulted in expanded horizons and changed the nature of the local experience as players felt they could belong to something larger than the locales they physically inhabited.