How Do Students Evaluate Instructors’ Performance? Implication of Teaching Abilities,Physical Attractiveness and Psychological Factors

One instrument regularly seen as a basic resource in assessing pedagogical knowledge and vivid learning in different circumstances is through the method of conducting student assessment appraisal of their instructors. Nevertheless, deciding the nature of instructional abilities requires as rationale and unbiased judgments. The concern is that there are no formal techniques or formulas that would prompt accurate responses from the students. In spite of the contention surrounding students’ rating on instructors, this study aims to investigate how university students in Malaysia would evaluate instructors based on non-instructional factors, such as physical attractiveness and psychological factors, which in turn may affect students’ perceptions towards instructors’ performance. PLS-SEM was appropriated to perform the path modeling analysis. Practical implication is discussed.

     

Four elephants in the room: A reflective analysis of the wailing rage displayed by Baltimore youth after Freddie Gray’s death

Eliminating health disparities is our ethical and generational responsibility to protect and promote the health of all Americans. However, we cannot effectively eliminate health disparities in the United States unless we acknowledge and confront the three social culprits that threaten the elimination of health disparities: poverty, racism, and inequities. When addressing communal health, a multigenerational intentionality approach is needed to combat determinants of health. Retrospectively, we used the 2015 wailing rage demonstrated by youth in Baltimore City after the death of Freddie Gray Jr. to introduce our Multigenerational Intentionality to Communal Health conceptual framework. The conceptual framework directs any determinants of health process (i.e. planning, policy, programming, practice, etc.), to decisively utilize the looking backward-thinking forward method to explore the intersectionality of how generational determinants of health (e.g. poverty, racism, disparities and inequities) threaten communal health.     

Parental participation in child protection case conferences

Child protection case conferences (CPCCs) are a fundamental part of child protection processes within the United Kingdom. They provide a mechanism for professionals and families to share information, enter an assessment dialogue, and develop a plan for intervention and support. The participation of parents is a core feature of U.K. and Scottish CPCCs. This reflects an international trend that recognizes the rights of family members to participate in the decision‐making processes of child protection. This article reports on the analysis of 11 qualitative interviews with parents who had attended CPCCs in Scotland. The findings highlight that parents were profoundly affected by these meetings, which were experienced as distressing. Parents lacked clarity about the purposes of CPCCs and found the large number of professionals in attendance intimidating. The discursive practices and structural arrangements of CPCCs acted to privilege professional voices and marginalize the voices of parents. The findings of this study raise important questions about parental participation in CPCCs in the contemporary context of child protection practice.     

Effects of Conflict Styles and Conflict Severity on Quality of Life of Men and Women in Family Businesses

Studies show that family businesses need to manage conflict, but there has been little research on different conflict manifestations and their impact on families involved in businesses together. This study investigates the impact of six conflict styles on severity of conflict and quality of life for husbands and wives in 206 farm family businesses. Data analysis was done using structural equation modeling, with independent models for each gender. For men, the assertion style negatively impacted, and aggression positively impacted the severity of conflict; for women, aggression and withdrawal styles positively impacted, and denial negatively impacted severity of conflict. There was a strong negative relationship between severity of conflict and quality of life for both men and women in family businesses.     

ARE GOALS AND TOPICS INFLUENCED BY GENDER AND MODALITY IN THE INITIAL MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAPY SESSION?

Establishment of a goal is crucial to therapy, but identification of therapeutic goals may be difficult in conjoint therapy because each participant may identify a different problem. We examined the influence of gender on ability to successfully introduce therapeutic topics in marital and family therapy by conducting two studies. The first study evaluates the ability of therapists to identify therapeutic goals that matched goals prioritized by both women and men clients on pretherapy questionnaires. The second study examines the process of initial therapy sessions to see whether gender influences a client's ability to introduce a therapeutic topic. Results suggest that therapeutic topic is influenced by the interaction of gender and treatment modality. Specifically, therapists were better able to match women's pretherapy stated goals in marital therapy than family therapy, men were more successful at introducing topics in family therapy, and women were more successful at introducing topics in marital therapy.     

Florida’s Changing Rainbow: Identifying Emerging Markets Through the Examination of Racial Composition and Demographic Change in Florida

Minority groups, including African Americans, Hispanics, and Asians, especially in a growing middle class, comprise an emerging market in the United States (Schwartz, Global Business Network, 2000). It is estimated that through 2025, the population of ethnic minorities in the United States will grow eight times faster than the White population; by the year 2050, some estimates project that “minorities” will make up nearly 50% of the United States population. As minority groups continue to grow in population, wealth, and buying power, it becomes imperative that businesses understand the differences among different segments of the population that will be consuming their products. This paper examines projected demographic changes for the State of Florida and the implications these changes have on increasing market opportunities for businesses. Researchers from the Northeast Florida Center for Community Initiatives used Geographic information systems (GIS) computer applications to conduct spatial analysis of U.S. Census Data, as well as proprietary economic and social indicators, to develop an analysis of distribution of certain ethnicities in Florida. The purpose of this paper is to identify potential areas of significant emerging market populations within Florida in order to improve service outreach for various economic opportunities during the coming decade.

America’s Churning Races: Race and Ethnicity Response Changes Between Census 2000 and the 2010 Census

A person’s racial or ethnic self-identification can change over time and across contexts, which is a component of population change not usually considered in studies that use race and ethnicity as variables. To facilitate incorporation of this aspect of population change, we show patterns and directions of individual-level race and Hispanic response change throughout the United States and among all federally recognized race/ethnic groups. We use internal U.S. Census Bureau data from the 2000 and 2010 censuses in which responses have been linked at the individual level (N = 162 million). Approximately 9.8 million people (6.1 %) in our data have a different race and/or Hispanic-origin response in 2010 than they did in 2000. Race response change was especially common among those reported as American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, Other Pacific Islander, in a multiple-race response group, or Hispanic. People reported as non-Hispanic white, black, or Asian in 2000 usually had the same response in 2010 (3 %, 6 %, and 9 % of responses changed, respectively). Hispanic/non-Hispanic ethnicity responses were also usually consistent (13 % and 1 %, respectively, changed). We found a variety of response change patterns, which we detail. In many race/Hispanic response groups, we see population churn in the form of large countervailing flows of response changes that are hidden in cross-sectional data. We find that response changes happen across ages, sexes, regions, and response modes, with interesting variation across racial/ethnic categories. Researchers should address the implications of race and Hispanic-origin response change when designing analyses and interpreting results.     

Family Structure Experiences and Child Socioemotional Development During the First Nine Years of Life: Examining Heterogeneity by Family Structure at Birth

A vast amount of literature has documented negative associations between family instability and child development, with the largest associations being in the socioemotional (behavioral) domain. Yet, prior work has paid limited attention to differentiating the role of the number, types, and sequencing of family transitions that children experience, as well as to understanding potential heterogeneity in these associations by family structure at birth. We use data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study and hierarchical linear models to examine associations of family structure states and transitions with children’s socioemotional development during the first nine years of life. We pay close attention to the type and number of family structure transitions experienced and examine whether associations differ depending on family structure at birth. For children born to cohabiting or noncoresident parents, we find little evidence that subsequent family structure experiences are associated with socioemotional development. For children born to married parents, we find associations between family instability and poorer socioemotional development. However, this largely reflects the influence of parental breakup; we find little evidence that socioemotional trajectories differ for children with various family structure experiences subsequent to their parents’ breakup.