The inverted-U relationship between stress and performance: A field study

To investigate the shape of the relationship between stress resulting from excessive demand and performance, 306 officer cadets in the Israel Defence Forces completed stress questionnaires during their training. Stress was consistently negatively related to various measures of performance. The prediction derived from the inverted-U hypothesis, that those whose ability exceeded demand and those who felt that demands taxed their ability would perform worse than those whose ability matched their demands, was not supported. Until all the requisite conditions for testing the inverted-U hypothesis are met, the authors propose relegating it to the laboratory.     

Subjective well-being as a function of age and gender: A multivariate look for differentiated trends

Studies on subjective well-being (SWB) suggest that its cognitive aspect, or life satisfaction, is positively correlated with age, whereas its affective aspect, often separated into positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA), is negatively correlated with age. Gender differences in SWB are usually small. The present study attempted to explore these trends in an Israeli sample of 447 community-dwelling people aged 21 to 87, with special reference to relatively unattended issues as the effect of control variables on the affective aspect and the feasible age by gender interaction in SWB. The results showed that Cantril's Self-Anchoring Scale (SAS), Bradburn's Affect Balance Scale (ABS), and Neugarten et al.'s Life Satisfaction Index A (LSIA) were all significantly and negatively correlated with age. No significant gender differences emerged, but a significant age by gender interaction was found in SAS and LSIA. Controlling for personal variables (education, health, place of birth, and marital status) could wipe out the age effects on SAS and LSIA, but not on ABS. By the same procedure, the age by gender interaction could be wiped out in SAS, and substantially reduced in LSIA. The age effect on ABS was mainly due to PA, rather than NA. The results indicate the differential impact of personal variables on the aspects of SWB. Refering to the Israeli context, it seems that both cohort- and aging-related variables account for the decline of life satisfaction in the older subjects. Age-associated decline of affect is apparently connected to some other adaptive mechanisms, which regulate both positive and negative affect in old age.     

The spread of urbanization in England and Wales, 1851–1951

Each county in England and Wales has been classified as rural or urban for each of the decennial census years 1851–1951. One index has been used as the basis for these classifications, the percentage of adult males occupied in agriculture. Thus, for each census year a value, in term of this index, was fixed as the criterion to determine whether a county was rural or urban in that year. This criterion of classification varies, over time. This is to allow for the reduction in the percentage of adult males occupied in agriculture as a result of structural changes in the occupational distribution (associated with general modernization), rather than through a shift away from agriculture. The geographical patterns of urbanization in England and Wales during the period 1851–1951, and some associated social and economic changes, are discussed in the paper.     

Reviews

International Law in the Service of Soviet Anti‐Zionism

L.A. Modzhoryan, Sionizm kak forma rasizma i rasovoy diskriminatsii (Zionism as a Form of Racism and Racial Discrimination). Moscow: Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya, 1979. 240 pp.

‘White Book’ Against the Jewish Emigration Movement

L.N. Smirnov and others (eds), Belaya kniga: svidetelstva, fakty, dokumenty (White Book: Evidence, Facts, Documents). Moscow: Yuridicheskaya literatura, 1979. 280 pp. 1.20 roubles.

‘Academic’ Exposition of Soviet Policy

Evgeny Primakov, Anatomiya blizhnevostochnogo konflikta (The Anatomy of the Middle East Conflict). Moscow: Mysl, 1978. 374 pp. Index.

A Report on Human Rights

Human Rights in the Soviet Union: Report of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence, Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service, 1979. xxi+211 pp. Maps. Diagrams. Appendices.

A Monument to Polish Jewry

Moshe Mishkinsky (ed.). Galed. Measef le‐toledot yahadut polin (Galed. On the History of Jews in Poland*). Vols. 1, 2, 3, 4–5. Tel‐Aviv: Tel‐Aviv University, 1973–79.

Romanian Jewry Between the Wars

Shlomo Bickel, Yahadut Romania. Historia, Bikoret Sifrutit, Zikhronot (The Jews of Romania. History, Criticism, Recollections). Tel Aviv: The Association of Romanian Emigrants in Israel and The Groper Legacy Literary Committee, 1978. 429 pp.     

Modelling of unexpected shift in SPC

Optimal statistical process control (SPC) requires models of both in-control and out-of-control process states. Whereas a normal distribution is the generally accepted model for the in-control state, there is a doubt as to the existence of reliable models for out-of-control cases. Various process models, available in the literature, for discrete manufacturing systems (parts industry) can be treated as bounded discrete-space Markov chains, completely characterized by the original in-control state and a transition matrix for shifts to an out-of-control state. The present work extends these models by using a continuous-state Markov chain, incorporating non-random corrective actions. These actions are to be realized according to the SPC technique and should substantially affect the model. The developed stochastic model yields a Laplace distribution of a process mean. An alternative approach, based on the Information theory, also results in a Laplace distribution. Real-data tests confirm the applicability of a Laplace distribution for the parts industry and show that the distribution parameter is mainly controlled by the SPC sample size.     

Self-Perceived Parental Role and Mental Health Concomitants Among Israeli Gay and Heterosexual Fathers

ABSTRACT

In this study we examined the association between self-perceived parental role and adverse mental health (indicated by depressive symptoms, neuroticism, and negative affect) in a sample of 82 Israeli gay fathers (Mean age = 39.57, SD = 6.70) that were individually matched with 82 heterosexual fathers (Mean age = 39.11, SD = 7.88). Results showed that although self-perceived parental role was associated with adverse mental health, this association was moderated by sexual orientation, such that a significant negative association between self-perceived parental role and adverse mental health was evident only among gay fathers. The findings are understood by features of gay fatherhood, which is intentional and purposeful, and usually achieved after contending with particular difficulties in the journey to fatherhood. These features presumably shape the perceived parental role, and thus may link more strongly with lower levels of adverse mental health among gay fathers, compared to heterosexual fathers.     

Mass immigration and population dynamics in israel

Israel, in her 25 years of existence, received an unprecedented volume of immigration, which was the major source of her high population growth. This immigration was heavily concentrated in the first five years, 1948-1952; mass immigration of 711,000 supplemented an initial population of 630;000. Subsequently, since 1952, a very peculiar age-sex structure has developed: namely, instead of a pyramid, a wide rectangle for the younger age groups "topped" with a narrow pyramid for the older age groups. The peculiar age-sex dynamics is analyzed in relation to the volume of immigration with its uneven time distribution, the age selectivity of migrants and fertility-mortality patterns of migrants. It is concluded that the uneven time distribution of immigration and the higher fertility of migrants are jointly responsible for the development of Israel's peculiar age dynamics, and that the absence of either of these two factors alone would eliminate it. The peculiar dynamics has societal implications in the short and the long run, some of which are discussed.