Stages of change and engagement in a family intervention

Prochaska and DiClemente's stages of change model facilitate understanding of engagement difficulties in psychosocial intervention processes. We assessed the link between stages of family change and intervention dropout in a sample of 141 families with relational conflicts between parents and adolescent children. Each family member's stage of change was defined according to three criteria: seeing the conflict as a relational problem, assuming part of the responsibility for the dysfunctional relationship, and understanding one's own mental and emotional states and those of the other family members involved in the conflict (mentalization). Our dropout rate for the sample was 41.8% and was higher for immigrant families. We found a strong association between engagement and the contemplation stage of change, particularly the mother's. In family conflict interventions, participation of all the family members is essential so as raise awareness of the relational aspects of the conflict and the shared responsibility for the conflict and its resolution.     

Evaluating and Visualizing the Economic Impact of Commercial Districts Due to an Electric Power Network Disruption

Critical infrastructure networks enable social behavior, economic productivity, and the way of life of communities. Disruptions to these cyber–physical–social networks highlight their importance. Recent disruptions caused by natural phenomena, including Hurricanes Harvey and Irma in 2017, have particularly demonstrated the importance of functioning electric power networks. Assessing the economic impact (EI) of electricity outages after a service disruption is a challenging task, particularly when interruption costs vary by the type of electric power use (e.g., residential, commercial, industrial). In contrast with most of the literature, this work proposes an approach to spatially evaluate EIs of disruptions to particular components of the electric power network, thus enabling resilience‐based preparedness planning from economic and community perspectives. Our contribution is a mix‐method approach that combines EI evaluation, component importance analysis, and GIS visualization for decision making. We integrate geographic information systems and an economic evaluation of sporadic electric power outages to provide a tool to assist with prioritizing restoration of power in commercial areas that have the largest impact. By making use of public data describing commercial market value, gross domestic product, and electric area distribution, this article proposes a method to evaluate the EI experienced by commercial districts. A geospatial visualization is presented to observe and compare the areas that are more vulnerable in terms of EI based on the areas covered by each distribution substation. Additionally, a heat map is developed to observe the behavior of disrupted substations to determine the important component exhibiting the highest EI. The proposed resilience analytics approach is applied to analyze outages of substations in the boroughs of New York City.     

The Value of a Statistical Life for Risk‐Averse and Risk‐Seeking Individuals

This article estimates the value of a statistical life (VSL) for Chile under the hedonic wage method while accounting for individual risk preferences. Two alternative measures of risk aversion are used. First, risk aversion is directly measured using survey measures of preferences over hypothetical gambles, and second, over observed individual behaviors that may proxy for risk preferences, such as smoking status, are used. I reconcile the results with a theoretical model of economic behavior that predicts how the wage‐risk tradeoff changes as risk aversion differs across individuals. The VSL estimates range between 0.61 and 8.68 million dollars. The results using smoking behavior as a proxy for risk attitudes are consistent with previous findings. However, directly measuring risk aversion corrects the wage‐risk tradeoff estimation bias in the opposite direction. The results are robust to other observed measures of risk aversion such as drinking behavior and stock investments. Results suggest that, consistent with the literature that connects smoking behavior with labor market outcomes, smoking status could be capturing poor health productivity effect in addition to purely risk preferences.     

Beyond Neighborhoods and Crime: Expanding the Scope of Social Disorganization to Explain Occupational Deviance

This article proposes a structural explanation for the occupational deviance dimension of white collar crime. The systemic model of social disorganization theory is used as a framework for understanding organizational conditions that produce high rates of occupational deviance. The model of workplace disorganization proposed here posits parallel mechanisms can be found in communities as well as organizations. Marginalized workplaces, employee turnover, and employee heterogeneity are antecedent factors that discourage employee network formation and collective action against deviance. By refocusing on organizational factors, we offer a broader understanding of occupational deviance, one that can predict and explain the workplace conditions under which counterproductive behaviors occur.     

Interpersonal and Societal Mattering in Work: A Review and Critique

The need exists for a comprehensive literature review of the concept of mattering with regard to work. In response, this review examined a theoretical framework of societal and interpersonal mattering, mattering within the work context, and existing psychometric measures of mattering. The author analyzed the research on the current state of mattering at work, identified core frameworks and psychometric issues that have been investigated to date, and suggests the use of a more comprehensive framework for work mattering that illuminates both the relational and social aspects of the work experience. Several promising directions for future research and potential benefits of incorporating work mattering in career counseling practice emerged and are discussed.     

Stepchildren's Views About Former Step‐Relationships Following Stepfamily Dissolution

Remarriages end in divorce more often than first marriages, so many stepchildren experience multiple parental divorces and the potential loss of significant family ties. Although there is substantial research on parent–child relationships after divorce, little is known about stepparent–stepchild relationships after divorce. Therefore, the authors conducted a grounded theory study of 41 adults who had undergone a stepfamily dissolution to explore their experiences with former stepparents. Postdivorce relationships with former stepparents are a function of whether stepchildren thought of their former stepparents as kin. Postdivorce step‐relationships were based on whether the stepchild had claimed the stepparent as kin, had once claimed them as kin but disclaimed them after the divorce, or had never claimed them as family members (unclaimed stepparents). Emotional reactions to parental divorce, patterns of support or resource exchanges, and parental encouragement or discouragement for continuing step‐relationships were identified. Implications for families, practitioners, and researchers are discussed.     

Social-ecological research in urban natural areas: an emergent process for integration

Urban Ecosystems - Understanding the structure and function of urban landscapes requires integrating social and ecological research. Here, we integrate parallel social and ecological assessments of...     

“I Don’t Want to Work in Agriculture!” The Transition from Agricultural Education to the Labor Market in Rural Russia

In Russia, the shift in career incentives from agriculture‐related jobs to other sectors, even among agriculturally educated students, presents two main challenges to rural labor markets. The first relates to the shortage of agricultural employees. The second concerns difficulties in the school‐to‐work transition, characterized by long periods of unemployment. This article addresses these challenges by studying the career incentives of postsecondary agriculturally educated students, based on data from the Altai region, Siberia (N = 474). We use a logit regression to predict the probability of career transition, given the incentives. We examine whether familial background and life expectations are associated with plans to pursue a career in agriculture within a life course context. The results show that students’ career plans with respect to agriculture vary according to both sociofamilial background and views about one’s life course.     

Framing Effects,Procedural Fairness,and the Nonprofit Managers’ Reactions to Job Layoffs in Response to the Economic Shock of the COVID-19 Crisis

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations - The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged the viability and effectiveness of nonprofit organizations compelling them to make...