A Swedish Prevalence Study of Deaf People Using Sign Language: a prerequisite for Deaf studies

A widely used estimate claims that one per thousand individuals is deaf, but few recent studies exist on the actual prevalence. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of deaf people, defined as deaf individuals who use sign language as their main mode of communication, in the county of Scania, Sweden. To achieve high validity, data were collected from a large variety of sources including both public institutions and voluntary associations, working with deaf people. The study demonstrates a prevalence of 0.7 per thousand inhabitants, a figure considerably lower than the traditional estimate. One interpretation of this finding is that the prevalence of deafness is on the decrease. Another interpretation reflects the problem to define deafness. As prevalence figures vary with the definition used, one single estimate valid for the prevalence of deafness is not possible to make. We therefore question the traditional one-per-thousand estimate of deafness.     

Fehlzeitengespräche — Instrument betrieblicher Gesundheitsförderung?

Talking about absenteeism from the job as an instrument of health promotion in companies? The author outlines the problems of the systematic use of talks about absenteeism from the job, that is talking with employees, when they return to the job, after their having been sick. Do these instruments promote occupational health? The author presents the results of an empirical qualitative evaluation of a health promotion project implemented in a service company. The main topics of the study ask whether employees accept the mentioned instrument and which expectations and fears they anticipate being confronted with its systematic use. The result of the study are discussed in detail and will be complemented by recommendations for the future development of the ongoing health promotion project.     

Emancipation, crime and problem behavior of women: A perspective from Germany

The debate on women and crime has been dominated by two paradigms during the last decades: The “power-paradigm” predicted a steep rise of female crime rates, as a result of the thorough change of gender roles in this period, while the “victim paradigm” directed attention to rising rates of alcohol and drug addiction as well as mental health problems and suicides among women. Both paradigms have been linked by the proposition that the low involvement of women in crime was compensated by their higher rates of all types of passive problem behavior like depression or addiction. In this study, which covers the period from 1965 to 1990, both paradigms are examined by analysing female and male crime rates, as well as respective rates of alcohol and drug addiction, mental disorders, and suicides for all of Germany (before reunification), an urban metropolitan region and a rural state in the North of Germany. The results clearly show that both paradigms were wrong in exaggerating a negative impact of the process of emancipation. Until the early 1980s, female crime rates as well as proportions of other types of problem behavior only slightly gained compared to men, but since 1985 this trend has levelled off and has been inverted, most visible for crime rates. In contrast to both paradigms, these results show that women profited enormously in terms of mental health and other problem behaviors from the opportunities opening up in the process of emancipation. They clearly lend more support to two more recent theories, the “power-control” theory by Hagan and the “control-balance” theory by Tittle that both stress potential gains for women. Susanne Karstedt is an asociologist and criminologist. She is Professor of Criminology at the Department of Criminology of Keele University, Great Britain. In the field of gender studies she has pbulished on female criminality, problem behavior of women in social crises (postwar Germany), on the definition of social problems by the women's movement in the 19th century from a, comparative perspective and on the women's movement from a historical and comparative perspective.     

Can TV shows promote acceptance of sexual and ethnic minorities? A literature review of television effects on diversity attitudes

Until recently, western TV programming rarely featured sexual or ethnic minority members; if present, their representation was mostly negative. Increasingly, though, diverse characters start to play likeable protagonists as well. Thus, television can promote negative diversity attitudes and, at other times, positive ones. The present article reviews and connects theories and research from sociology, psychology, and media and communication studies to clarify the role of television in diversity attitudes formation and to identify directions for future research. Specifically, two research questions are addressed. First, through which processes does television influence diversity attitudes? Second, what features of TV shows contribute to positive diversity attitudes formation among viewers, according to different theories of television effects? Findings indicate that television can entrench existing negative diversity attitudes through the echo chamber phenomenon. However, TV content featuring numerous, likeable, attractive, and typical minority characters that have friendly interactions with the rest of society can promote positive diversity attitudes. Future research should study openness to view content with minority characters, examine the effects of the complete video media diets, check media effects in non-western countries, explore media effects in longitudinal studies and investigate what constitutes attractive, likeable, and typical representation of ethnic and sexual minorities.     

Mother–infant Interaction Quality and Infants' Ability to Encode Actions as Goal‐directed

The current study investigated the relationship between mother–child interaction quality and infants' ability to interpret actions as goal‐directed at 7 months in a sample of 37 dyads. Interaction quality was assessed in a free play interaction using two distinct methods: one assessed the overall affective quality (emotional availability), and one focused on the mother's proclivity to treat her infant as an intentional agent (mind‐mindedness). Furthermore, infants' ability to interpret human actions as goal‐directed was assessed. Analyses revealed that only maternal emotional availability, and not maternal mind‐mindedness, was related to infants' goal‐encoding ability. This link remained stable even when controlling for child temperament, working memory, and maternal education. These findings provide first evidence that emotionally available caregiving promotes social‐cognitive development in preverbal infants.     

Digitales Recruiting

This article in the journal Gruppe. Interaktion. Organisation. provides an overview of past, present and future of recruitment and assessment. It illustrates how in the process of digitization the methods of recruitment and assessment change through the use of Artificial Intelligence, which opportunities and risks are associated with these developments, and what needs to be considered when introducing the new technologies.     

Touch in residential child care: staff’s bodies and children’s agency

This paper concerns the significance of touch in the everyday life of those living and working in residential child care. Public and professional awareness about child abuse has focused attention on the bodies of children and their vulnerability – but the same cannot be said of the bodies of staff members who touch children. This ethnographic study of a Scottish residential child care unit shows such touch to be central to the everyday participation of children and young people in care. On the basis of participant observation, the paper analyses how care workers influence the agency of children and young people by bringing their own bodies into their relationships with them. Based on a relational understanding of care, the paper elaborates on how tender and restraining forms of touch form part of care workers’ professional repertoire of actions. The analysis of various instances of touch in terms of sociology of the body shows how staff members can help to shape children and young people’s opportunities for participation with their own bodies. In conclusion, the paper therefore argues for a professional and reflexive engagement with bodies rather than a general avoidance of touch between care workers and young people.     

Paths towards Family‐friendly Working Time Arrangements: Comparing Workplaces in Different Countries and Industries

Although studies have examined the distribution and conditions of employer‐provided work–family arrangements, we still lack a systematic investigation of how these vary for different countries and industries. Based on the European Working Conditions Survey 2010, this study examines the conditions under which firms provide family‐friendly working time arrangements and what the differences are across four countries (Austria, Denmark, Italy and the UK) and four industries. The impact of employee representatives, employee involvement, manager support and female managers varies across countries and industries because of the institutional environment (prevailing family model, industrial relations) and workforce composition (gender). The impact of employee representatives depends on their co‐determination rights, and the direction of their effect on the prevailing family model (e.g. negative in conservative countries such as Austria) and the gender composition of the workforce (negative in male‐dominated production, but positive in services). Employee involvement in the work organization is significantly positive in Austria and Denmark (both with co‐operative industrial relations), while manager support has the strongest effect in the UK (liberal regime). At the industry level, female supervisors are positively associated with family‐friendly working time arrangements only in the male‐dominated production industry. These findings suggest that the effects of agency variables and their direction vary depending on the institutional context.