The Social Meaning of Children's Narratives: A Review of the Attachment-Based Narrative Story Stem Technique

Recent attachment-based research with the Narrative Story Stem Technique (NSST), a laboratory method using family doll figures and structured story stems, has proven to be useful in assessing young children's perceptions of social relationships. Eleven studies are reviewed that have validated this method with measures of children's social behavior or experience, contributing to a long-needed empirical basis for interpretations of children's play. Meaningful themes found in children's responses with the NSST are presented and organized with concepts from attachment theory, particularly the child's perception of the caregiver's trustworthiness and self-perception of worthiness to receive care. Implications for continuing research and for clinical interviewing are discussed.     

Regional variation in the effect of structural factors on homicide in rural areas

A significant literature has evolved in the last 40 years investigating regional variation in lethal violence, with most studies focusing on Southern homicide rates. One question posed by this research involves the effect of structural conditions on violence in the context of a regional culture of violence. We take a unique approach to this problem by detailing two distinct conceptual processes, amplification and attenuation of structural influences on violence. We then investigate regional variations in the effects of resource deprivation on White homicide in rural areas—a context in which the Southern culture of violence should be most prominent. The results of our county-level analyses of census and homicide data around the year 2000 reveal that White homicide rates are higher in Confederate South states and that resource deprivation has a positive association with White homicide. The effect of resource deprivation also accounts for the Confederate South effect, and an interaction model indicates that the effect of this variable is significantly stronger in the non-South as predicted by the attenuation argument. Overall, these results suggest that both structural and cultural forces contribute to rural White homicide rates.     

Biomedical research and the commercialization agenda: a review of main considerations for neuroscience

This article reviews a range of issues associated with the commercialization of biomedical research and speculates on how these issues might apply to the neuroscience context. Drawing on existing studies of the impact of research commercialization activities on various areas of biotechnology research, the authors explore normative benchmarks for assessing and resolving issues likely to arise from the commercialization of neuroscientific research, including such topics as patenting, marketing pressures, and representations of research prospects.     

A Mead‐Chomsky Comparison Reveals a Set of Key Questions on the Nature of Language and Mind

The social psychologist George Herbert Mead and the cognitive linguist Noam Chomsky both investigated the nature of language and mind during the 20^th century. They approached the issues broadly, pursuing both philosophical and scientific lines of reasoning and evidence. This comparative analysis of Mead and Chomsky identifies fourteen questions that summarize their collective effort, and which animated much of the debate concerning language and mind in the 20^th century. These questions continue to be relevant to 21^st century inquiries. This paper identifies which questions have been resolved and which have not, and discusses each in the context of relevant literature. The net result is a set of questions that inform interdisciplinary‐minded inquiries today into the nature of language and mind.     

Out of Sight,Out of Mind? Geographic and Social Predictors of Flood Risk Awareness

The persistent gap in flood risk awareness in Canada, and elsewhere in North America, is a continual source of worry for researchers and emergency managers; many people living in at‐risk places are simply unaware of risks and of their proximity to hazards. This study seeks to understand which residents were aware of flood risk, using unique representative survey data of Calgary residents living in the city's flood‐prone neighborhoods collected after the devastating and costly 2013 Southern Alberta Flood. The article uses logistic regression models to analyze which residents were aware of risk to their homes. Findings indicate that, in addition to various demographic predictors, many of the geographic predictors (including the elevation of one's home relative to the river) are significant predictors of awareness. Having a direct sight line to one of Calgary's two rivers is also a significant predictor in some of the models, suggesting that the visibility of hazards matters for flood risk perception, although this effect fades when many of the geographic predictors are added. Finally, the models indicate that several variables related to local, neighborhood‐based social networks are significant as well. These findings reveal that both physical surroundings and social context are important for understanding risk awareness. The article concludes by discussing the relevance for social science research on disasters and hazards, as well as for planners and emergency managers.     

Resolving inconsistencies in trends in old-age disability: Report from a technical working group

In September 2002, a technical working group met to resolve previously published inconsistencies across national surveys in trends in activity limitations among the older population. The 12-person panel prepared estimates from five national data sets and investigated methodological sources of the inconsistencies among the population aged 70 and older from the early 1980s to 2001. Although the evidence was mixed for the 1980s and it is difficult to pinpoint when in the 1990s the decline began, during the mid- and late 1990s, the panel found consistent declines on the order of 1%-2.5% per year for two commonly used measures in the disability literature: difficulty with daily activities and help with daily activities. Mixed evidence was found for a third measure: the use of help or equipment with daily activities. The panel also found agreement across surveys that the proportion of older persons who receive help with bathing has declined at the same time as the proportion who use only equipment (but not personal care) to bathe has increased. In comparing findings across surveys, the panel found that the period, definition of disability, treatment of the institutionalized population, and age standardizing of results were important to consider. The implications of the findings for policy, national survey efforts, and further research are discussed.     

Natives and migrants in the London labour market, 1929–1931

Migrants are sometimes regarded as marginal workers in metropolitan labour markets. London has long been a major destination for migrants from elsewhere in Britain and abroad. In this paper we examine the earnings and unemployment experience in 1929–1931 of male workers who migrated to London, or within London. We use data from the New Survey of London Life and Labour, a large survey of working class households, the records from which have recently been computerised. Our findings indicate that migrants were not marginal, in fact they enjoyed slightly higher earnings and lower unemployment incidence than native Londoners. Much of the advantage can be explained by differences in average skill levels and personal characteristics. Received: 2 November 1999/Accepted: 3 August 2000     

Evaluating the demographic impact of societal events through intervention analysis: The brown vs. Board of Education decision

Using intervention analysis--a time-series technique gaining increasing use for analyzing the impacts of policy decisions/historic events--this paper reexamines the hypothesis offered by Rindfuss et al., that one consequence of the Brown vs. Board of Education decision in 1954 was a temporary decline in childbearing by white southerners. With data from the 11 former Confederate states, alternative Box-Jenkins/intervention models were estimated to identify/quantify such a decline, but no statistical evidence of a temporary shift in southern white fertility could be found.     

Dropping the ball on media inquiries: The role of deadlines in media catching

Deadlines have always played a significant role in the practice of public relations, especially the media relations specialization. Public relations textbooks and practitioner handbooks encourage budding practitioners to learn how and when journalists, broadcasters, and Internet authors work so that they may pitch story ideas to them appropriately. Even though media catching, an emerging trend in media relations, reverses the traditional direction of story pitching, deadlines are still critical for this new media relations approach. Through a content analysis of 2802 Help-A-Reporter-Out media requests, this study examines how deadlines vary among media outlets engaging in this new media relations story. Statistically significant differences provide insights for public relations practitioners as to how they can best utilize the service to compete for media placements.