Religiosity,nationalism and fertility in Israel

The present paper seeks to re-evaluate explanations for the apparently high level of Jewish fertility in Israel. We suggest that previous explanations, based on ethnic origin or religiosity, are sociologically incomplete, and substitute well established empirical correlational associations for theoretically grounded explanations. We argue that Israel's high fertility stems, directly, from the form and salience of nationalist sentiments in the Israeliconscience collective, which in turn derives from Israel's special position in the Middle East and in the world-economy. Using voting returns from Israel's proportional vote elections, we classify census statistical areas by religiosity and their support for radical nationalist parties. We show that area-level fertility is a function of nationalist support and the area standard of living, and that once these are controlled the effect of religiosity is insignificant. We therefore conclude that the statistical association between fertility and religiosity in Israel is spurious, and that much of the religiosity recorded in fertility surveys is an expression, in consciousness and in the mode of daily living, of a strongly felt nationalist sentiment.     

Comprehensive Interests Measurement in Counseling for Congruence

This article suggests that counselors measure vocational interests by using three interest inventories: the Ramak Interest Inventory, the Courses Interest Inventory, and the Self-Directed Search (Holland, 1985). Some implications from studies on (a) vocational congruence, (b) environmental congruence, (c) the structure of occupational fields and (d) within-occupation congruence are discussed. Five defense mechanisms for clients who happen to be in an incongruent occupation or environment are presented.     

From communal charity to national welfare: Jewish orphanages in Eastern Europe before and after World War I

This article examines Jewish institutions for the care of orphans in an attempt to understand several aspects of Jewish life in Eastern Europe: (1) attitudes towards orphans on the part of communal leaders, intellectuals, and political activists; (2) the transition of Jewish charitable and (in the modern period) philanthropic institutions from the pre‐modern communal charity of the early nineteenth century to modern “scientific philanthropy” at the fin de siècle to national welfare in the interwar period; (3) and, to a lesser extent, the experiences of orphans themselves, as far as is possible to ascertain from documents relating to the institutions that cared for them. Marginal figures such as orphans were of growing concern to the organised Jewish community in its increasingly complex encounter with modernity in the Russian Empire, and traditional patterns of charity, family life, and relations between socioeconomic classes were cast into doubt by new government policies and modern scientific attitudes arriving from Western and Central Europe. The religiously mandated charity of the pre‐modern kehillah gave way to a paternalistic philanthropy that aimed to mould a generation of “productive” working‐class Jews. However, the upheavals of World War I and the mass politicisation of East European Jewry brought about a transformation in attitudes towards orphans and other marginal groups, whose care was made a centrepiece of national, and nationally minded, Jewish communal life in the interwar Polish Republic.     

Male Batterers’ Alcohol Use and Gambling Behavior

Little work has examined the interrelations among intimate partner violence (IPV), alcohol use, and gambling behavior, and no studies have examined these relationships among males court-ordered to batterer intervention programs (BIPs). The aim of the current investigation was to explore the associations between IPV, alcohol use, and gambling behavior among 341 males court-mandated to attend BIPs utilizing self-report measures. Voluntary, anonymous questionnaires were administered and completed during regularly scheduled BIP sessions. Compared to the general population, a higher percentage of the sample met criteria for pathological gambling (9%), and problem gambling (17%). Further, males exhibiting pathological gambling were more likely to be hazardous drinkers, and hazardous drinkers were more likely to exhibit pathological gambling. Additionally, pathological gamblers were at an increased risk for the perpetration of both physical and sexual aggression. Finally, gambling behavior uniquely predicted the perpetration of sexual aggression above and beyond alcohol use, impulsivity, and relationship satisfaction. The implications of these results for future research and intervention are discussed.     

Type of activity and fitness benefits as moderators of the effect of physical activity on affect in advanced age: a review

This study aimed to review studies exploring the effect of physical activity on affect in advanced age with a special focus on the moderating role of fitness improvement and mode of exercise and to examine those studies in relation to the potential mechanisms for explaining the physical activity–affect relationship. Studies were assembled through a computer search of online psychological, medical, and exercise science databases. Randomized controlled studies having as their purpose the examination of physical activity effects on affect, with a mean sample population age of at least 50 years, were included. Thirty-nine studies were collated and divided into three groups: those applying aerobic activity, those applying strength training, and those applying non-specific physical activity. The main finding was that aerobic exercise and aerobic fitness do not moderate the effect of physical activity on affect. While fewer than 50% of the aerobic studies reporting fitness improvement also reported improvement in affect, over 50% of the strength training studies and of the non-specific exercise studies reported improvement in affect. Theories with a physiological orientation claiming that aerobic fitness is the mediator between physical activity and affect are not supported, whereas theories with a psychological orientation maintaining that alterations in affect are not dependent on physiological alterations do receive support. It is argued that the differentiation between physiologically and psychologically oriented theories is arbitrary. It is recommended that the relationship between physical activity and affect be explored further, embracing a psychophysiological perspective in which the psychological and physiological perspectives are complementary.     

Evaluation of intervention outcomes: Agreement among evaluators and internal consistency

This paper describes and assesses the inter-rater and internal consistency of evaluations of the process and results of social work intervention. The research was conducted by 28 students in the last year of their BA studies at the Bob Shapell School of Social Work at Tel Aviv University. The intervention outcomes were evaluated by the student social worker, his/her field supervisor, and a student peer in the same class using the single case design and uniform evaluation tools. Findings showed both agreement among evaluators and internal consistency.     

Aggressive behaviour in at‐risk children: contribution of subjective well‐being and family cohesion

We examined the contributors to aggressive behaviour in 111 at‐risk Israeli children aged 9–13 years who attended day centres over several years to prevent removal from their homes. This non‐normative transition to a day centre represents a difficult period of change for these children, which often manifests in aggressive behaviours, at least in the short term. To elucidate predictors of aggressive behaviour, we investigated a familial variable (family cohesion) and a personal variable (subjective well‐being [SWB]) that were previously shown to correlate with various aspects of children's aggression. Children's self‐reports underscored the importance of SWB for their aggressive behaviour. SWB's cognitive component – life satisfaction – correlated significantly with all four measures of aggressive behaviour (physical violence, verbal violence, anger and hostility). SWB's emotional component – negative affect – correlated significantly with all but verbal violence. Interestingly, SWB was found to mediate the hostility dimension of aggression (as well as family cohesion). Other significant findings revealed that family cohesion correlated positively with SWB (life satisfaction and positive affect) and correlated negatively with aggression (physical violence, verbal violence, anger and hostility). Various explanations were discussed alongside implications for day care staff's individual and family interventions.     

Social mobility in 20 modern societies: The role of economic and political context

It is commonly argued that social mobility rates are influenced by economic and political conditions. Nevertheless, research on this issue has tended to be hindered by two limitations that make it difficult to draw strong conclusions about contextual effects: (1) seldom have country-level and individual-level influences been tested simultaneously, and (2) only rarely have data more recent than the 1970s been employed. We improve on previous research by employing multilevel models fitted to relatively recent survey data collected from 20 modern societies by the International Social Survey Program (ISSP) and national-level characteristics derived from various official sources. Our findings demonstrate systematic cross-national variation in the association between the occupational status of respondents and their fathers. Consistent with the industrialization thesis, this variation is positively associated with per-capita GDP, suggesting that more affluent nations are characterized by more open and fluid stratification structures. Our results also suggest the importance of political regimes and migration for social mobility. In contrast, economic inequality appears to explain very little of the cross-national variation in mobility rates.     

Educating the adult minority professional: a case study of the national rural fellows program

The authors describe the critical issues that emerged during the first years of the National Rural Fellows Program at its academic base, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning, and how these issues were subsequently addressed.The Program is designed to provide intensive training leading to a Master's degree for adult minority professionals from rural backgrounds throughout the United States. As a case study, the paper has implications for other departments considering innovations of this sort. It particularly describes the pedagogical and socio-cultural issues regarding the education of adult minority professionals, the potential for new faculty perspectives to be gained from such interaction, and the challenge to traditional regional planning curricula for rural planning across the United States.