Effects of Duration on Perceptions of Teacher Sexual Misconduct

This study explored how respondent gender, gender dyad (male teacher–female student versus female teacher–male student) and duration/frequency (weekly sexual contact over 4 months versus a single incident) affected perceptions of teacher–adolescent student sexual involvement. Respondents were 224 undergraduates (104 men, 120 women) recruited from a psychology research pool. Most (87%) were 18–21 years old, and 59% were Caucasian. Each respondent read one of four scenarios (varied by gender dyad and duration/frequency) depicting a teacher–adolescent student sexual interaction and then completed a series of questions about his or her perceptions. Results indicated that men perceived these experiences less negatively than did women, and the female teacher–male student dyad was viewed less negatively than the male teacher–female student dyad. Relatively few significant interactions emerged, and the only main effect for duration/frequency was for commitment. Results are discussed in terms of the need for more research and education.     

Hitting the jackpot: the influence of monetary payout on gambling behaviour

Restrictions on monetary payout may promote player engagement in gambling as a form of entertainment rather than as a source of income. Our objective was to evaluate the effects of monetary prize magnitude upon gambling behaviour in a community sample, and the degree to which this association is moderated by gambling risk factors. One hundred and eighty-seven adults completed an online survey assessing motivation, impulsivity and affect. Participants were given a series of vignettes and asked to estimate how much they would gamble to win monetary prizes of increasing amounts with and without accrued gambling debt. Participants reported increased gambling in response to increased monetary payout. Debt moderated these outcomes, such that electronic gaming machine (EGM) and lottery expenditures and number of lottery games played decreased with increased debt; this effect was most pronounced at elevated monetary prizes. The association between duration of EGM play and monetary payout was moderated by gender only. Results suggest that self-reported gambling behaviours increased with monetary payout even across qualitatively different gambling products, and across gamblers with different motivations for gambling, levels of impulsivity, and negative affect. The restriction of monetary payouts warrants further research attention as a form of problem gambling prevention.     

Prize Level and Debt Size: Impact on Gambling Behaviour

No studies to date have specifically determined the relationship between prize levels, debt size, and impulsivity on reported gambling behaviour on Electronic Gaming Machines (EGM). The present study reports the findings of a pilot study designed to investigate whether or not the likelihood of increasing the size of a bet was related to the level of prize offered and personal debt. The sample consisted of 171 first year psychology students (61 males and 120 females). Participants completed a series of gambling vignettes designed to elicit data on reported bet size according to different prize levels and debt sizes; the Eysenck Impulsivity Scale (Eysenck and Eysenck 1977); the Canadian Problem Gambling Index; and an author-constructed questionnaire eliciting data on demographic and gambling behaviours. Results indicated that as prize levels increase the odds (relative risk) of an individual placing a bet on an EGM and the amount of money reportedly bet tends to increase. A negative relationship between debt size and reported gambling behaviour moderated by prize level was found. No differences were found in the odds of placing a bet according to impulsivity. It was concluded that prize and debt sizes do influence propensities to gamble and level of bets. The findings have implications for restricting jackpot and general prize levels as a responsible gambling strategy designed to reduce motivations to gamble.     

“I Deserve a Family”: The Evolution of an Adolescent’s Behavior and Beliefs About Himself and Others When Treated with Theraplay in Residential Care

This article chronicles a seriously disturbed adopted adolescent’s experience in an attachment focused residential program at which the primary treatment was Theraplay^®. Adopted at age four following significant abuse and neglect, Tom lived in institutions for 5 years before participating in Chaddock’s Developmental Trauma and Attachment Program (DTAP). He now resides successfully in the home of therapeutic foster parents. Theraplay treatment directly meets attachment needs through adult-guided, highly positive, engaging and nurturing interactions to change the child’s working models of attachment and to develop affect regulation. Theraplay was especially useful with this adolescent who was born addicted and who had little ability to participate in insight oriented therapy. Topics include adolescence and attachment, Theraplay theory, process and applications, and the DTAP milieu and treatment program. This case study demonstrates that it is possible to improve the outcome for adolescent development by directly meeting the adolescent’s attachment needs through the Theraplay model.     

The Effects of an Interactive Graphics-Based DSS to Support Problem Structuring

Graphical, interactive, problem-structuring tools were devised and incorporated into a DSS. These tools were based on concepts of structural modeling and motivated by propositions and findings in memory theory and imagery theory. A laboratory study was then conducted to investigate the relationship between decision-maker characteristics and use of the problem-structuring aid. The experiment was designed to determine whether use of the tool to assist in problem formulation led to a better understanding of problem structure. A moderately complex management simulation and its companion DSS were used in the experiment. Eighty-four subjects were divided into two groups: a control group that did not use the Graphical Interactive Structural Modeling Option (GISMO), and an experimental group that did. The results showed a statistically significant effect between cognitive ability and use of GISMO. Field independents (i.e., high cognitive ability) effectively combined GISMO use with image processing skills to understand the structure of the problem domain, but field dependents (i.e., low cognitive ability) were ineffective. There was very little difference in problem understanding in field dependents who used the tool and those who did not.     

Non‐job work/unpaid caring: Gendered industrial relations in long‐term care

This article explores the operation of gender and industrial relations in long‐term care work or nursing home work, ‘from within’ the experience of the predominantly female workforce in seven unionized facilities in Canada. Drawing on qualitative case study data in non‐profit facilities, the article argues that the main industrial relations challenges facing long‐term care workers are that their workplace priorities do not fit within existing, gendered, industrial relations processes and institutions. This article starts from the experience of women and threads this experience through other layers of social organization such as: global and local policy directions including austerity, New Public Management, and social and healthcare funding; industrial relations mechanisms and policy; and workers’ formal [union] and informal efforts to represent their interests in the workplace. The strongest themes in the reported experience of the women include: manufacturing conditions for unpaid work; increasing management and state dependence on unpaid care work; fostering loose boundaries; and limiting respect and autonomy as aspects of care work. The article extends the feminist political economy by analysing the links between the policies noted above and frontline care work. Building on gendered organizational theory the article also introduces the concept of non‐job work and suggests a fourth industrial relations institution, namely the needs and gendered expectations of residents, families and workers themselves, operating within the liminal spaces in care work.     

Teaching Note—Preparing Doctoral Students to Confront the Grand Challenges: Strengthening Baseline Statistical Skills

We describe a statistical seminar designed to provide a common foundation in core statistical concepts among all students as they enter a social work PhD program. Student feedback surveys assessed students’ statistics preparation prior to entering the program, and pre- and posttests were compared for increases in statistical knowledge. Nearly half (42.1%) reported no prior statistics training, and exposure to IBM SPSS Statistics software was low (M=1.54 out of 5, SD=1.38). Students showed significant gains in posttest knowledge. Findings suggest substantial variability in students’ statistical preparedness, and for many, knowledge of basic concepts is rudimentary. Such a seminar may allow programs to begin with more advanced quantitative course work and move to increasingly more complex topics over time (e.g., multilevel modeling).     

Power in and around nonprofit boards: A neglected dimension of governance

In this article we propose five patterns of board governance based on the distribution of power in and around boards of nonprofit organizations. The typology proposed grew out of our findings in in-depth case studies in which the dispersion of power became the critical variable for making sense of the patterns of governance observed. These governance patterns were then incorporated into a survey of boards in the voluntary sector. We present the results of this latter phase of the research by focusing on the associations between the five patterns and the background characteristics of board members, organizational and environmental variables, and board and organizational effectiveness. The results of the study suggest that power is an important while largely neglected aspect of board governance in the not-for-profit sector.