Bureaucratization and Goal Succession in Alternative Organizations

Abstract

A review of the literature of counterculture-inspired efforts at organizing alternatives to commercialism and technocracy reveals that the duration of many of these organizations was quite short. However, in spite of a general fading away of the larger counterculture, some of these efforts did indeed survive. Among the survivors are the crisis centers, organizations originally seeking to provide nondirective, empathetic, problem-solving help to individuals undergoing a personal crisis. An analysis of a sample of crisis centers based in midwestern states reveals that the internal structure of most of them has, with the passage of time, become increasingly formalized. Furthermore, many of these alternative organizations now serve persons who are less socially marginal and more socially acceptable than were the centers' original clients. Our results seem to suggest that, for both internal organizational reasons and external societal reasons, such groups may provide feelings of worth for their members but often change their initial goals somewhat. Also, despite their initial commitment to a less bureaucratic structure alternative organizations in fact become more bureaucratic.     

Real Limits in the Virtual World: Self-Limiting Behavior of Internet Gamblers

The recent expansion of Internet gambling has stimulated debate, policy, and research on this relatively new phenomenon and its potential consequences. The current study focuses on bettors experiencing problems by sampling Internet gamblers who imposed limits on the amount they were allowed to deposit to a betting site. We analyzed the betting transactions over 18 months of all gamblers who subscribed to an online betting site in February, 2005 (N = 47,134), 567 of whom utilized the site’s self-limit feature. Self-limiting gamblers played a wider variety of games and placed more bets than others prior to imposing limits. After imposing limits, self-limiters reduced their activity, but did not reduce the amount they wagered per bet. Time spent gambling, not just money spent, appears to be an important indicator of gambling problems. Self-limit programs appear to be promising options for Internet gamblers at-risk for gambling problems.

Trends in Gambling Studies Research: Quantifying, Categorizing, and Describing Citations

As opportunities to gamble have increased during the 20th century, so has gambling research. This study used new strategies, methods, and technology to examine citation trends and the growth of knowledge in the field of gambling studies. The sample included 2,246 citations that were published between 1903 and 2003. By using multiple keywords to classify each citation into distinct topic areas, this study yielded a more comprehensive analysis than was previously available. The results reveal that gambling-related research has grown at an exponential rate. The most prevalent topics explored within gambling studies citations have been pathology, risk-taking, decision-making and addiction. Between 1999 and 2003, studies addressing epidemiology, drug abuse, comorbidity and neuroscience have become increasingly prevalent. Based on these trends and their implications, this paper provides several recommendations for both future areas of inquiry within the field of gambling studies and better classification techniques for citations within all fields of psychology.     

The Proxy Effect: Gender and Gambling Problem Trajectories of Iowa Gambling Treatment Program Participants

Recent research has found that men and women who end up in gambling treatment tend to follow different trajectories to that endpoint: women generally begin gambling later in life, but progress to problems and seek treatment more quickly. With women’s prevalence rates of gambling and disordered gambling increasing, it has become important to identify the causes and consequences of these trajectory differences. The current study used a sample of 2,256 gamblers enrolled in the Iowa Gambling Treatment Program to examine the relationship of gender and other demographic, economic and health-related (i.e., psychosocial) factors to empirically-identified gambling problem trajectories. The results indicated that gender made a statistically significant contribution to the prediction of trajectory, but increased predictive accuracy by only 1–2% beyond a model with psychosocial predictors. Gender’s contribution was limited to its relationship to age of initiation; men and women’s problem progression did not differ meaningfully once age of gambling initiation was taken into account. Gender is a unique contributor to the development of gambling problems among treatment seekers, but it is only one small part of the myriad psychosocial characteristics that influence gambling problem development.

Gambling Participation and Social Support Among Older Adults: A Longitudinal Community Study

The purpose of this preliminary study was to examine associations between leaving home to engage in bingo or gambling activity and indices of physical and mental health and social support among a representative community cohort of 1016 elderly people. Cross-sectional and longitudinal data gathered from a prospective epidemiological study in a rural, low socio-economic status, area of Pennsylvania was employed. The cohort had a mean age of 78.8 (SD = 5.1) (range 71–97) and participated in three consecutive biennial waves of data collection. Nearly half (47.7) of the cohort reported gambling. To predict gambling, the independent variables included age, sex, education, employment, social support, depressive symptoms, self-rated health, alcohol use, cigarette use, and cognitive functioning. In cross-sectional, univariate analyses, gambling was associated with younger age, sex (male), fewer years of education, greater social support, lower depression scores, better self-rated health, alcohol use in the past year, and higher cognitive functioning. In a cross-sectional multiple regression model, younger age, greater social support, and alcohol use in the past year remain strongly and independently associated with gambling activity. Longitudinally, age, sex, social support, alcohol use, and gambling are predictive of future gambling activity. The results revealed that gambling may offer a forum of social support to older adults who are often isolated as they age.     

How Do Gamblers End Gambling: Longitudinal Analysis of Internet Gambling Behaviors Prior to Account Closure Due to Gambling Related Problems

Objective: To examine behavioral patterns of actual Internet gamblers who experienced gambling-related problems and voluntarily closed their accounts. Design: A nested case–control design was used to compare gamblers who closed their accounts because of gambling problems to those who maintained open accounts. Setting: Actual play patterns of in vivo Internet gamblers who subscribed to an Internet gambling site. Participants: 226 gamblers who closed accounts due to gambling problems were selected from a cohort of 47,603 Internet gamblers who subscribed to an Internet gambling site during February 2005; 226 matched-case controls were selected from the group of gamblers who did not close their accounts. Daily aggregates of behavioral data were collected during an 18-month study period. Main outcome measures: Main outcomes of interest were daily aggregates of stake, odds, and net loss, which were standardized by the daily aggregate number of bets. We also examined the number of bets to measure trajectory of gambling frequency. Results: Account closers due to gambling problems experienced increasing monetary loss as the time to closure approached; they also increased their stake per bet. Yet they did not chase longer odds; their choices of wagers were more probabilistically conservative (i.e., short odds) compared with the controls. The changes of monetary involvement and risk preference occurred concurrently during the last few days prior to voluntary closing. Conclusions: Our finding of an involvement-seeking yet risk-averse tendency among self-identified problem gamblers challenges the notion that problem gamblers seek “long odds” during “chasing.”     

Beyond Assessment: Social Work Intervention in Family Court Enquiries

Most parents or carers who separate or divorce are able to makearrangements themselves about where their children will resideand how the children’s contact with the non-resident parentwill be managed. A further group of parents or carers are ableto come to agreement with the assistance of community- or court-baseddispute resolution/ mediation services. There are times, however,when disputes cannot be resolved without recourse to the courtsand, when this happens, the court will normally request thata welfare report be prepared by a CAFCASS (Children and FamilyCourt Advisory and Support Service) practitioner. While theboundary between assessment and intervention in social workis often less than clear, the commissioning of a court welfarereport in family proceedings strongly suggests an assessmentfocus and appears to carry little expectation that the practitionershould intervene in order to meet the needs of the childrenor adults involved. This article presents recent research findingsthat illustrate ways in which CAFCASS practitioners do go beyondthe assessment role expected of them in the course of the enquiriesthey undertake. Implications for policy and practice in thisarea of social work are then discussed.     

Behavioral Mimicry and Interaction Expectations Influence Affect in Interracial Interactions

Journal of Nonverbal Behavior - The current research tested how expectations and mimicry in an interracial interaction influence positive and negative affect. Existing research suggests that...     

Use of open-ended essays and computer content analysis to survey college students' knowledge of AIDS

This study used computer content analysis of written essays to explore university students' knowledge and attitudes about AIDS. Because the essays were long, averaging 650 words each, and were on the very general topics of what individuals and society should do about AIDS, it was possible to study a wide variety of subjects. Computer scoring of the essays showed that education and individual changes in sexual behavior were the two methods of prevention mentioned most often. The majority of students accurately identified the most important methods of transmitting the disease. Only one fourth of the respondents discussed casual contact; a majority of those knew that the disease could not be transmitted in this manner. A minority of the students advocated isolating people infected with HIV or marking these individuals in ways that are accessible to others in society. The new computer methods used to analyze the essays offer flexible and efficient procedures for analyzing text on a variety of topics.     

Games and Gambling Involvement Among Casino Patrons

A growing literature is addressing the nature of the relationships among gambling activity, gambling involvement, and gambling-related problems. This research suggests that among the general population, compared to playing any specific game, gambling involvement is a better predictor of gambling-related problems. To date, researchers have not examined these relationships among casino patrons, a population that differs from the general population in a variety of important ways. A survey of 1160 casino patrons at two Las Vegas resort casinos allowed us to determine relationships between the games that patrons played during the 12 months before their casino visit, the games that patrons played during their casino visit, and patrons’ self-perceived history of gambling-related problems. Results indicate that playing specific gambling games onsite predicted (i.e., statistically significant odds ratios ranging from .5 to 4.51) self-perceived gambling-related problems. However, after controlling for involvement, operationally defined as the number of games played during the current casino visit and self-reported gambling frequency during the past 12 months, the relationships between games and gambling-related problems disappeared or were attenuated (i.e., odds ratios no longer statistically significant). These results extend the burgeoning literature related to gambling involvement and its relationship to gambling-related problems.