The place of sociology in a drug education curriculum

This article gives consideration to the part a sociological perspective can play in a drug education curriculum. Sociology's study of human behavior from the context of various social groupings is considered appropriate to any understanding of drugs and drug use, as are a number of substantive areas common to the discipline. The sociological perspective is examined from the broad foci of structure and process, and with each focus examples of a sociological approach to drug use is offered. The common concerns of these approaches, as well as their points of divergence, are discussed. A sample outline of a course in "Drugs and Society" is also presented, suggesting the ways in which the sociological issues discussed could provide an orientation to the study of drug use in a social context.     

Neighborhood Residents’ Fear of Crime: A Tale of Three Cities

Neighborhood characteristics impact residents’ fear of crime. Empirical research supports these ideas, but the majority of these studies are based on residents of a single city. The relationship between social control, disorder, perceptions of crime, and residents’ fear of crime has not been fully explored across multiple cities. The current study examines the relationship between residents’ perceptions of neighborhood safety, disorder, and social control using survey data from residents across three cities in the United States. The findings suggest that shared expectations lead to decreased fear, while increased levels of social disorder lead to a greater fear of crime across each of the three cities. Other factors, including perceptions of crime, exposure to victimization, and demographic characteristics are not consistently related to the fear of crime. This suggests the structural impact of city factors, or increases in disorder and crime, might be influencing the perceptions of risk and constrained behaviors of residents.     

Race and psychological distress: the South african stress and health study

We analyze data from the South African Stress and Health Study, a nationally representative in-person psychiatric epidemiologic survey of 4,351 adults conducted as part of the World Mental Health Survey Initiative between January 2002 and June 2004. All blacks (Africans, Coloreds, and Indians) initially report higher levels of non-specific distress and anger/hostility than whites. Access to socioeconomic resources helps explain differences in non-specific distress between Coloreds and whites and Indians and whites. However, only when social stressors are considered do we find few differences in psychological distress (i.e., non-specific distress and anger/hostility) between Africans and whites. In addition, self-esteem and mastery have independent effects on non-specific distress and anger/hostility, but differences between Coloreds and whites in feelings of anger/hostility are not completely explained by self-esteem and mastery. The findings contribute to the international body of work on social stress theory, challenge underlying assumptions of the minority status perspective, and raise a series of questions regarding mental health disparities among South Africans.     

Biography,Trauma, the Holocaust and the Sociological Eye

My book, A Boy’s Journey: From Nazi-Occupied Prague to Freedom in America (2019) chronicles the first 15 years of my life in the context of the Holocaust, a war and an occupation, relatives disappearing, father returning from a concentration camp, and meeting Jewish relatives who resisted and survived. It is also a story of immigration and assimilation, learning a new language and a new culture in America, of forgetting the old and developing a new identity.     

Self–other agreement in empowering leadership: Relationships with leader effectiveness and subordinates' job satisfaction and turnover intention

We investigated the effect of self–other agreement in empowering leadership on leader effectiveness, job satisfaction, and turnover intention using a sample of 50 Norwegian municipal leaders (46 for leader effectiveness) and 168 (158) of their subordinates. The findings indicated that considering both self and subordinate ratings of empowering leadership was useful in predicting the outcome variables. In particular, subordinates of over-estimators reported lower job satisfaction and higher turnover intention. Moreover, leaders who underestimated their leadership were perceived as more effective by their superiors. For agreement (i.e., leader's self-ratings were in agreement with subordinates' ratings) the relationship between empowering leadership and leader effectiveness was curvilinear with an inverted U shape. Agreement in ratings of empowering leadership was not found to be related to subordinates' job satisfaction and turnover intention. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

Effect of relational bullying on attitudes,behavior and injury among adolescent bullies,victims and bully-victims

This study examined whether dysfunctional correlates of relational bullying parallel those that have been found for physical bullying. We used data from the population of 2,494 respondents in grades 7–12 from a school district in Colorado to compare latent variables of self-esteem, attitudes toward school, delinquent behavior, physical injury, physical bullying, and physical victimization among 291 relational bullies, 303 victims, 213 bully-victims, and 1,687 neutrals. We used gender as a control variable. Neutrals had the best school attitudes, least problem behavior, least injury, and were less likely to be physical bullies or victims. Bully-victims reported worse outcomes on the latent variables than either neutrals or victims, and they were more likely to be physically victimized than bullies. These outcomes parallel findings among physical bullies in a similar sample. Results show the need for improved intervention, heightened awareness, and particular attention to relational bully-victims.     

Videoconferencing: A Viable Teaching Strategy for Social Work Education?

The findings of a study that examined students' reports about their experience with ITV are presented. The results are based on two different courses with different instructors and different composition of students. Results show that students in both sites report that the use of technology does not compromise their learning but they dislike it. Strategies for future research to understand the nature of the reaction are suggested.