Alcohol involvement and the Five-Factor model of personality: a meta-analysis

The purpose of this meta-analysis was to quantify the relationship between the Five-Factor Model of personality and alcohol involvement and to identify moderators of the relationship. The meta-analysis included 20 studies, 119 effect sizes, and 7,886 participants. Possible moderators examined included: five-factor rating type (self vs. other); study time-frame (cross sectional vs. longitudinal); sample type (treatment vs. non-treatment); type of alcohol involvement measure used; gender of the participants; and age of the participants. The meta-analysis showed alcohol involvement was associated with low conscientiousness, low agreeableness, and high neuroticism, a personality profile that: a) fits on the low end of a superordinate personality dimension that has been called self-control; and b) makes treatment difficult. Several significant moderators of effect size were found, including the following: studies of individuals in treatment for alcohol problems showed a more negative pattern of personality traits than did other studies; cross-sectional studies, but not longitudinal studies, showed a significant effect for agreeableness, perhaps suggesting that low agreeableness may have a different causal link to alcohol involvement from the other factors; mixed-sex samples tended to have lower effect sizes than single-sex samples, suggesting that mixing sexes in data analysis may obscure effects.     

Women and class – a problematic relationship?

The relationship between gender and class is important and controversial within sociology and has significant theoretical and political dimensions. But how do women experience class?Is it a meaningful dimension of everyday life The experiential aspects of class were explored with two hundred women, A third of them perceived social class m terms perceived of income. Others perceived it in terms of occupation their parents. their partner's or their own type of housing or the need to work to earn a living These different perceptions relate to women's own occupational class and educational background more closely than they relate to the occupational class of their partners. Women occupied full-time as housewives did not appear to differ from those m full or part-time paid employment m terms of their perceptions of class, nor did they experience their situation as marginal to the class structure of society. Although women's class does count there arc problems with assigning individual women to classes solely on the basis of their current position in the occupational hierarchy.     

Gender equality,resilience to climate change,and the design of livestock projects for rural livelihoods

Currently, there is growing interest in how livestock projects can contribute to resilience to the effects of climate change. In this article we recommend a shift away from gross productivity to sustainability, via the use of thrifty local breeds, with an additional emphasis on improving survival of young animals. These animals, due to their local adaptations, are more likely to be resilient to climate change. There is a gender dimension to these proposals, since smaller animals and local breeds are more likely to be perceived by communities as suitable for husbandry by women. We recommend a re-orientation towards an explicit gender-equality focus for these projects.     

Regional now- and forecasting for data reported with delay: toward surveillance of COVID-19 infections

AStA Advances in Statistical Analysis - Governments around the world continue to act to contain and mitigate the spread of COVID-19. The rapidly evolving situation compels officials and executives...     

Knowledge Diversity and Venture Growth: The Contingent Effects of Early Planning and Experimentation

Drawing on an information processing perspective, we explore to what extent early venture activities allow founding teams to leverage their diverse knowledge to achieve venture growth. Using data from 103 young ventures, we find that early planning enables founding teams to better exploit the diverse knowledge resulting from their heterogeneity in educational background. However, venture growth is highest when diverse teams simultaneously plan and experiment in the early venture phase. This study challenges extant explanations of when early behaviours shape the efficient usage of existing venture resources. We discuss the contribution of these findings to the literature on founding teams, planning and experimentation, and team diversity.     

Let's stay close: An examination of the effects of imagined contact on behavior toward children with disability

In line with current developments in indirect intergroup contact literature, we conducted a field study using the imagined contact paradigm among high-status (Italian children) and low-status (children with foreign origins) group members (N = 122; 53 females, mean age = 7.52 years). The experiment aimed to improve attitudes and behavior toward a different low-status group, children with disability. To assess behavior, we focused on an objective measure that captures the physical distance between participants and a child with disability over the course of a five-minute interaction (i.e., while playing together). Results from a 3-week intervention revealed that in the case of high-status children imagined contact, relative to a no-intervention control condition, improved outgroup attitudes and behavior, and strengthened helping and contact intentions. These effects however did not emerge among low-status children. The results are discussed in the context of intergroup contact literature, with emphasis on the implications of imagined contact for educational settings.     

Unemployment and Search for Work: Exploratory Analyses of Labour Market Attachment and its Dynamics

This paper deals with measuring unemployment and labour market attachment in Italy, on the basis of Labour Force Survey data. Based on the answers to a set of questions on search for work, a cluster analysis is performed, which yields four groups, clearly characterized as regards their labour market conditions and attachment. Analyses are then carried out on the gross flows between these groups, estimated over a quarterly interval. Results of the dynamic analysis confirm the relevance of the classification established through exploratory techniques. The various groups exhibit a different dynamic behaviour, thus documenting that the exploratory classification has predictive power.