AFDC/TANF Exits and Re-entries for Families Raising Children with Educational Disabilities

Having a child with a disability is considered a barrier to self-sufficiency among welfare recipients. This study examines the impact of children's educational disability on single-mother families' welfare exits and re-entries for a cohort of children in a metropolitan region in Missouri, who were born between 1982 and 1994, and received AFDC/TANF at least once from 1990 through 2008 (N=4,928). A semiparametric proportional hazards model for recurrent events is used to analyze the relationship between a child's educational disability and family welfare exit and re-entry. Results show that families with children with disabilities (the disability group) are less likely to exit and more likely to re-enter the welfare system than families with children without disabilities (the nondisability group). After the 1996 welfare reform, the welfare exit rate increases more for the disability group than for the nondisability group, while the welfare re-entry rate decreases less for the disability group than for the nondisability group.     

Intolerance of "Others" among Palestinian and Jewish Students in Israel

This study analyzes intolerance against diverse sociopolitical groups and compares the social and political attitudes of two distinct and highly differentiated groups: Jewish and Palestinian high-school students in Israel. It examines their perceptions of the political context that structurates their "reality," and aims to find the factors that influence the extremity of their intolerance. The proposed model is more applicable to Jewish students than it is to Palestinians and shows that intolerance toward out-groups is influenced by religiosity, the salience of national and civic identity, national security issues, and political ideology.     

Friendships under strain: The work–personal life integration of middle managers

Middle managers in today's organisations have reported experiencing longer working hours and intensified work regimes. These increased pressures, in turn, have led to growing difficulty in addressing the integration of their work and personal lives. In an exploratory study of the daily workplace experiences of Australian middle managers and the impacts on their personal lives, one of the key themes to emerge was respondents’ concerns about the negative effects on their friendships. This paper discusses middle managers’ recognition of the value of friendships for their wellbeing, and the resultant anger and sadness reported at the strain on these relationships due to competing time demands. The significant role that friendships play in alleviating some of the stresses of work demands, while concurrently being impeded by these same demands, is an important issue for organisations to consider. These findings indicate the need for middle managers to truly have an ability to engage in activities – and friendships – which will aid them in their working lives. The study also indicates a need for further investigation into the development and maintenance of friendships for both middle managers and other groups of employees.     

Differentiation of Self and the Process of Forgiveness: A Clinical Perspective for Couple and Family Therapy

In this article we explore the role of differentiation of self in facilitating forgiveness in the context of couple and family relationships. Differentiation is defined from the Bowen perspective as the ability to connect with others without being excessively emotionally reactive to the ebb and flow inherent in all significant relationships (being able to connect to others yet also being able to self‐regulate). Forgiveness is described as the releasing of an emotional injury via a complex psychological and relational process that is less an act of will than a discovery or possibility through understanding and empathy. Differentiation of self is related to emotional intelligence and empathy. The developmental and relational benefits of such are illustrated and discussed. A rationale for viewing differentiation and forgiveness in a contextual, historical, and relational attachment paradigm is suggested. Relevant clinical cases illustrate the dynamics of differentiation and forgiveness as discovery in the context of an understanding and empathic relational environment.     

The Exploration of Role Induction as a Potential Method for Improving Men's Perceptions of Career Counseling

The authors explored the influence of role induction on men's perceptions of career counseling and attitudes toward seeking professional help. Two separate role inductions were presented to 268 male college students; the first discussed holistic career counseling, and the second integrated a discussion of male gender role socialization. Results demonstrated that participants who viewed the holistic role induction reported greater valuing of career counseling when compared with a control group. However, results indicated no difference in perceptions of career counseling between a holistic career counseling role induction and one that included socialized male perceptions of counseling.     

Mental Rotation of Dynamic,Three‐Dimensional Stimuli by 3‐Month‐Old Infants

Mental rotation involves transforming a mental image of an object so as to accurately predict how the object would look if it were rotated in space. This study examined mental rotation in male and female 3‐month‐olds, using the stimuli and paradigm developed by Moore and Johnson (2008) . Infants were habituated to a video of a three‐dimensional object rotating back and forth through a 240° angle around the vertical axis. After habituation, infants were tested both with videos of the same object rotating through the previously unseen 120° angle, and with the mirror image of that display. Unlike females, who fixated the test displays for approximately equal durations, males spent significantly more time fixating the familiar object than the mirror‐image object. Because familiarity preferences like this emerge when infants are relatively slow to process a habituation stimulus, the data support the interpretation that mental rotation of dynamic three‐dimensional stimuli is relatively difficult—but possible—for 3‐month‐old males. Interpretation of the sex differences observed in 3‐ and 5‐month‐olds’ performances is discussed.     

Communitas/Corporatas Tensions in Organizational Rhetoric: Finding a Balance in Sports Public Relations

Sports public relations always serves two masters—both corporatas and communitas. In this article, a close textual analysis of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA's) Stay in Bounds community relations program reveals that the NCAA is both a defender of amateur, communitas values, and a participant in professionalized, corporatas organizational rhetoric. This article offers a typology of the specific competing commitments of communitas and corporatas in sports rhetoric and argues that all sports rhetoric, from little league to big league, must negotiate with publics a balance between these extremes.     

Mother and Grandmother Parenting in Low‐Income Three‐Generation Rural Households

This study draws data from the Family Life Project to examine parenting behaviors observed for 105 mothers and grandmothers raising an infant in rural low‐income multigenerational households. Multilevel models are used to examine the relationships between maternal age and psychological distress and parenting of the infant by both generations. The findings indicate that young maternal age is a risk factor for less sensitive parenting in the presence of other risks, including psychological distress. Further, young maternal age is associated with negative parenting behaviors by grandmothers only. Grandmothers and mothers displayed similar levels of negative intrusive parenting, but different factors were linked to the observed parenting of each generation. These findings contribute to understanding the benefits and risks of three‐generation households.     

Using dialogue to build organization–public relationships,engage publics,and positively affect organizational outcomes

The study and practice of public relations continues to explore the many benefits accrued when organizations adopt a relational approach to public relations management. One area that is relatively unexplored in the relationship management literature is the role of dialogue in organization–public relationships. Historically, scholars have focused dialogic research on either interaction – where an organization and a public exchange information – or a debate – where organizations and public engage in a process of statement counterstatement. The current investigation explores the notion of dialogue and examines the ways in which relationship attitudes and dialogue may positively affect key public member evaluations and behavioral intent. The results suggest that both relationship attitudes and dialogue positively affect respondent evaluations of and intended behaviors toward an organization. The implications of the findings are presented and suggestions for managing organization–public relationships are considered.