STEM Education and STEM Work: Nativity Inequalities in Occupations and Earnings

The recruitment of skilled workers with expertise in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) is a core component of North American immigration policies. However, few studies examine the labour market integration of immigrant STEM educated workers. Multivariate analysis of the 2011 National Household Survey show that STEM educated immigrants who arrive as adults are less likely than the Canadian born to have STEM jobs and they earn less than their Canadian born counterparts. These patterns partly reflect their socio‐demographic characteristics, particularly their lower language proficiencies (measured as a combination of mother tongue and languages spoken at home) and the receipt of their degrees in institutions outside of Canada. These immigrant workers arrived primarily in the skilled worker programme that did not require pre‐arranged employment. Policy changes in recruitment and their implications for future STEM immigrant workers are discussed in the conclusion.     

Status of personal health requirement for graduation at institutions of higher education in the United States

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the proportion of higher education institutions in the United States that require a personal health course (PHC) for graduation and to describe the nature of such requirements. Participants: This study included a random sample of public and private institutions of higher education (IHE) with undergraduate programs within the United States (N = 310). Data were collected between September 2014 and May 2015. Methods: University catalogs were accessed from the institutions' public Web sites to determine whether a PHC was offered, and whether it was exclusively or optionally required for graduation. Results: The majority (55.8%) of the sample offered at least 1 PHC, with only 10% exclusively requiring the course and an additional 10% optionally required the course. Conclusions: Although the utility of undergraduate students completing a PHC is clear, the majority of institutions do not require such a course for degree conferral.     

Becoming aware of the grand social challenges: how an international and interdisciplinary educational context may broaden students’ perspectives on human rights and public health

ABSTRACT

The understanding of contemporary social problems and challenges in an international and national perspective is a significant issue for social work because of globalisation and social problems are too complex to handle by single actors themselves. The need for interdisciplinary and interprofessional collaboration is important. This paper focuses on experiences from an Erasmus Intensive Programme with the title Human Rights, Public Health and Social Service Challenges on Local Government in the Nordic-Baltic Sea Area. Social work students from different countries interacted with students from other disciplines such as political science, psychology and economy to discuss common challenges and solutions in this field. The analysis of the findings shows students reflect upon human rights issues as universal rights and how challenges presented by contextual differences in preconditions for everyday life between the countries, are reflected from different disciplines/professional perspectives. The paper argues that international and interdisciplinary programmes, where students get the opportunity to meet and to work with overarching and transnational issues, have a great potential for engaging students in global development in a rapidly changing world.     

Reconceptualizing the Role of Conformity Behaviors in Family Communication Patterns Theory

Family communication patterns theory is one of the most influential theories in the field of family communication. The current article examines the construct of conformity, arguing that current conceptualizations of conformity paint this behavior as largely a negative familial element. Instead, this research argues for the concept of warm conformity behavior, where parents communicate their ideas in ways that promote warmth and closeness rather than just adherence to hierarchy and rules. This move does not add to the two dimensions of the theory, but rather speaks to the different ways in which parents might communicate the dimension of conformity to their child. To further this idea, our article includes a series of three studies designed to create and validate new measures of warm and cold conformity. Overall, the studies found general support for the validity of the scales. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

Does physical exercise improve perceptual skills and visuospatial attention in older adults? A review

Neuroimaging studies suggest that when the brain ages, more areas are involved to perform a task in order to obtain the same results. This, together with the increase in crystalized intelligence and wisdom, is usually considered as a compensatory strategy. Research has demonstrated that physical activity might also act as a strategy and be one of the main factors that can slow down age-related perceptual and cognitive decline. Research also suggests that different types of physical exercise and sport lead to different changes in perceptual and cognitive skills as well as in several areas of the brain, especially those involving multiple domains, such as exergaming, dance or some sports. This review summarizes the findings of recent studies with older adults investigating the brain and cognitive benefits of different forms of physical exercise. Visuospatial attention, which plays a critical role in our daily lives, especially for older adults, is a central part of this analysis.     

Geocentric Behavior Dimension of the Organization’ Performance in the Context of Globalization

The goal of the present study is to investigate and to base a new qualitative dimension of the organization’s performance, less addressed in the literature, namely the geocentric behavior dimension. Using a cross-sectional sample covering 215 countries over the period 2012–2015, our research provides empirical evidence on significant impact of the political, cultural and emotional factors (such as happiness), on the organization’s performances from a certain geocentric space. Our study may have significant implications for investors, managers, public entities or business environment, providing measurable evidence on the role of qualitative factors such as those mentioned, which act in a certain geocentric space, on the organization’s performances.     

Socio-Economic Disparities in the Development of the Romania’s Border Areas

The Romanian border areas include 898 Local Administrative Units 2 (LAU2), of which 88 are urban and 810 rural. Romania has borderline with the following countries: Bulgaria, Republic of Moldova, Serbia, Ukraine, Hungary, of which 63.5 % is Non-European Union boundary. According to the population structure, 51.6 % of the total population is urban and the rest of 48.4 % is rural. In order to assess the socio-economic territorial disparities in the development of the urban space of Romanian border areas, several research stages were carried out: selecting 22 relevant statistical indicators, analyzing territorial disparities, standardizing the absolute values of the indicators, grouping the elementary indicators by 7 multiple indicator clusters (secondary indexes) in order to reflect the main socio-economic development aspects: (1) housing, (2) public utilities infrastructure and green areas, (3) health, (4) labour market, (5) demography, (6) education and (7) local economy. Finally, the authors were able to compute secondary indexes and the Index of Socio-Economic Development as Hull Score with a mean of 50 and a standard deviation of 14, revealing the levels of socio-economic development (high, average and low). Generally, the outcomes of the current study are in line with Romania’s complex socio-economic disparities, rooted in the historic background of the country. Spatially, the economic development follows a West–East direction, the less developed areas being concentrated in the Eastern and Southern part of the country.     

Television,Sustainability and Subjective Wellbeing in Peru

Social Indicators Research - Earlier studies have concluded that television consumption is detrimental to environmental sustainability and people’s subjective wellbeing due to its promotion...     

Do Quality of Services and Institutional Image Impact Students’ Satisfaction and Loyalty in Higher Education?

Social Indicators Research - The objective of this study is to investigate whether the quality of educational services and the university’s institutional image influence students’...     

Facilitating Fatherhood: A Longitudinal Examination of Father Involvement Among Young Minority Fathers

The effects of father absence on children have been well documented in research and range from increased risk of poverty, to increased risk of incarceration (Anderson et al. Family Relations 51(2):148–155, 2002). This study presents a longitudinal evaluation of young father’s involvement with their children conducted within the scope of a teen parenting program in Arlington County, Virginia. The respondents in the study are young, mainly Hispanic fathers who come from lower socio-economic groups. The theoretical foundation for the parenting program was derived from Prochaska’s Transtheoretical Model of Change (1979). Three scales of fatherhood involvement were assessed at four time periods, including two years post-program. Results from the evaluation indicated that all three fatherhood scales increased steadily and significantly from pre-test to two years post-program. Results support the notion that fatherhood involvement curricula have the potential to positively influence young fathers and keep them involved with their children. Suggestions for further research and discussion of public policy implications are included in the study.