An Eight-Step Guide to Creating and Sustaining a Mentoring Program

Mentoring is an extremely valuable activity for both individuals and organizations. Mentoring within organizations can develop and integrate employees into their corporate culture. Mentoring outside the mentees’ work groups or through professional development organizations can give broader perspective and support, especially in times of transition. But mentoring programs require tremendous effort to start, organize, and maintain. Few last more than two years. This article provides a structured approach to starting and sustaining a successful program. The steps include understanding an organization’s particular needs, learning from small pilot programs, following up with mentoring pairs during a committed formal mentoring period, and evaluating results from each program’s cycle to learn and grow the program. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.     

Unaffiliated voters

According to the conventional wisdom, political parties are hurt by unaffiliated voters (those who are not registered as Democrats or Republicans). These independents are irresponsible and unpredictable. Recent election law reforms throughout the country have encouraged affiliation by restricting voting in a primary to party members. This study examines the effect of the closed primary system in Connecticut. Research found that since the advent of the primary, the proportion of voters registered as unaffiliated has undergone a steady decline. But the decline in the proportion unaffiliated, however, does not appear to have strengthened partisan commitments. Rather it has changed the meaning of unaffiliated registration. In the past unaffiliated voters tended to be Democrats. Today they are equally likely to be either party.     

Closed-form evaluation of integrals involving the gamma function

In this article, we obtain simplified as well as original closed-form expressions for integrals involving the gamma function. These explicit results are found neither in the literature nor using symbolic computation software. Subsequent results follow, giving rise to explicit expressions for integrals involving the error function, with application in order statistics. In particular, these results can be used within the framework of reliability theory.     

A Quantitative Evaluation of the Multi-Disciplinary Approach to Prevention Services (MAPS) Program to Protect Children and Strengthen Families

This article presents the results from an evaluation of a state-funded, prevention-based, pilot program called the Multi-Disciplinary Approach to Prevention Services that was designed to reduce the potential for child abuse and neglect. The program served 64 families of various races and ethnicities over two years. A quantitative pretest–posttest design was used to analyze existing program data related to client outcomes including parenting skills, parenting satisfaction, and the use of non-family resources to assist in improving skills and satisfaction. Means comparisons were used to assess the relationship between three standardized instruments (the Parenting Scale, the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory and the Kansas Parental Satisfaction Scale). Findings indicated a statistically significant improvement regarding resource engagement by families, parenting behaviors and perceptions, and involvement with Child Protective Services. The results from this study offer insight into how to improve parenting behaviors and increase child protective factors for youth who are at risk of maltreatment. In addition, these findings contribute to strengthen the legitimacy of Weiner's Attribution Theory while providing the social work profession with additional data in areas of research targeting the intersection of financially viable prevention programs, family stability, parental education, resources engagement, and the reduction of child abuse and neglect. If additional research supports the efficacy of prevention programs such as MAPS, funding similar programs could lead to improved parenting and decreases in child maltreatment.     

Gender differences in gambling preferences and problem gambling: a network-level analysis

Most gambling studies have a gender-blind research approach, although a large body of scientific evidence suggests that gambling in females is on the rise and that males and females have different gambling behaviours and experience specific gambling-related harm. This study addressed these gender differences using a network analysis, an innovative approach considering disorders/concepts as dynamic systems of interacting symptoms/items. Data on gambling activities, problem gambling, substance use and mental health were collected in a representative sample of French adult gamblers (n = 8805). The study capitalized on the network analysis directly to compare associations of specific gambling activities with gambling disorder symptoms separately for both genders. The network analysis revealed that problem gambling was strongly associated with gambling machines among females, whereas it was related to sports betting, poker and casino games among males. The networks that included substance use and mental health showed that substance use was related to specific gambling activities. These findings confirm the links between various gender-specific gambling patterns and problem gambling and suggest a need to consider these gender differences to improve prevention efforts. More broadly, the present study further supports the importance of gender differences for gambling research and policy.     

That Man Behind the Curtain: Investigating the Sexual Online Dating Behavior of Men Who Have Sex With Men but Hide Their Same-Sex Sexual Attraction in Offline Surroundings

This study investigates how men who have sex with men (MSM) use chat and dating sites based on theories of stigma-related offline behavior and online self-disclosure. We hypothesize that hidden MSM (those who self-label as heterosexual or who hide their same-sex sexual attraction from family, friends, acquaintances, or a female romantic partner) differ from open MSM in how they behave on gay chat and dating sites and in offline gay venues. Drawing on a survey of 12,002 MSM, we show that hidden MSM tend to mask their identity on gay chat and dating sites while avoiding offline gay venues. They also focus more strongly on online sexual activities (e.g., masturbating during online chats) when using gay chat and dating sites. However, they spend the same amount of time on these sites, and they use them to initiate offline sexual encounters as often and as fast as open MSM.     

Efficacy of screening and treatment of latent tuberculosis infection

ABSTRACT

Sixty-three percent of the total active tuberculosis cases in Canada were diagnosed among foreign-born individuals, representing 20% of the total population. The majority of these cases occur from the reactivation of tuberculosis infections acquired prior to immigration. A preventive policy consisting of screening and treating new immigrants for latent tuberculosis infection is evaluated on its efficacy for reducing the total number of tuberculosis cases, using tuberculosis incidence data between 1986 and 1995 from the Canadian tuberculosis reporting system. The most effective intervention is to screen for and treat latent tuberculosis infection among arriving immigrants from countries of birth with a tuberculosis incidence rate greater than 15 cases per 100,000.     

Gender and self-employment selection: An empirical assessment

This paper presents a unique assessment of the factors that influence men's and women's decisions to switch from wage employment to self-employment; virtually all studies of self-employment entry have heretofore focussed solely upon men. Using longitudinally matched data from the Current Population Survey, novel empirical patterns adduced here include: (1) the relatively strong, positive influence of fertility upon women's selection into self-employment; (2) the greater propensity of small business employees to switch to self-employment; and (3) the significant relationship between wage-sector occupation and predisposition to self-employment.     

Progress,democracy, efficiency: normative narratives in political science EU studies

ABSTRACT

This article identifies influential political narratives in the 73 currently most highly cited political science articles on the EU. It is based on systematic analysis of expressions of normativity, which signal that European integration, or its institutions or policies, are bad, good, flourishing or declining. A normative narrative of continuous progress in integration, connected with a 1990s grand theoretical debate in EU studies, accounts for much of the positive tone of EU studies until about 1998. Narratives about the EU's democratic deficit and its impact beyond its borders help explain the subsequent negative turn in EU studies normativity.