Gender Variations of Physiological and Psychological Strain Amongst Police Officers

This paper analyses the gender effect on reported—perceived levels of stress through examination of physical and psychological indicators. It is interesting to work with police data due to high stress levels and the male dominated work environment. This paper explores both gender differences in (perceived) stress levels as well as the underlying gender-specific sensitivity to environmental factors, such as unit cooperation, trust in the work partner, higher levels of work-life-balance and home stability, and interactional fairness. Using multivariate regression analysis we find that female officers are significantly more likely to report physical strains than males, while no gender differences are observable in regards to psychological strains. Moreover, higher levels of trust and interactional fairness at work are not able to absorb physical strain among females, but have a strong impact on males. Alternatively for both female and male officers, work-life balance and stability at home appear to reduce physical strain.     

Changes in professional vision in the context of practice

In initial teacher education, it is a challenge to foster the development of teaching skills proximal to classroom action. In this study, the impact of a combined practical and theoretical university-based term on preservice teachers’ professional vision is investigated by a video-based approach to supervising their knowledge acquisition and assessing their learning outcomes. Participants were N = 109 preservice teachers attending a 5-month theory practice term guided through video-based courses about effective teaching and learning. We measured their changes in professional vision using the video-based tool Observer. Our results show that preservice teachers positively change their professional vision during the theory practice term, especially if they show low entry levels at the beginning. Their notes on the observed teaching lessons illustrate these changes.     

Geographic Ancestry and Cause-specific Mortality in a National Population

There are marked differentials in mortality risks across regions in Finland. No exhaustive explanation to this variation has been provided, however. The aim of this paper is to analyse how geographic ancestry, as proxied by persons’ birth region and population group, interrelates with cause-specific mortality risks. Focusing on people aged between their mid-thirties and late-forties, we use longitudinal population register data that offer opportunities to account for variables that represent both persons’ social background and their own social status at young adult age. Results of Cox proportional hazard models say that these variables have substantial effects on mortality of different causes, but only a marginal impact on the variation in death rates by birth region and population group. The geographic mortality pattern is found to be specifically prominent for causes of death that are fairly unrelated to persons’ lifestyles. Our findings suggest that genetic predisposal as expressed in terms of geographic ancestry might play a relevant role in understanding mortality variation within the population of Finland.     

Private versus public financing of education and endogenous growth

This paper examines interactions between education policy and growth. The analysis is carried out in an OLG model with two types of individuals: skilled and unskilled. An increase in public education reduces private costs of education, increases the proportion of skilled individuals, and tends to promote growth. On the other hand, education spending crowds out physical capital and reduces learning-by-doing. A marginal increase in the education subsidy can lower growth. It is yet shown that pure public education maximizes the long-run growth rate. Importantly, a partial subsidy to education can result in lower growth than pure private education. Received: 7 March 1999/Accepted: 25 November 1999     

Becoming working mothers: Reconciling work and family at three particular workplaces in Norway,the UK,and Portugal

This paper investigates how differences in national and organisational welfare policies and in cultural norms on national, organisational, and familial levels influence work–family reconciliation for mothers. Drawing on case study and interview data gathered through a large European study of parenthood and organisations, we compare experiences of transition to motherhood in three organisations in Norway, the UK, and Portugal. The specific question which is considered in this paper is how mothers manage the reconciliation of work and family in the period of time following parental leave. Our case analyses highlight the differences in organisational, national policy, and family support in the three contexts, and show that having a child is still conceptualised as a predominantly ‘private problem’ in the UK and Portugal, while it has come closer to having the status of a ‘public issue’ in Norway.     

Homelessness in Sweden–discussion,patterns, and causes

In a number of countries in Western Europe and in North America homelessness has come to the fore once again over the last 15-20 years, a fact to which many books and surveys bear witness. In a number of countries, organizations have been formed both for and by the homeless.¹Newspapers sold on the street to promote the cause of the homeless are becoming an increasingly common sight.²Despite this trend there is at present still no generally acknowledged explanation of the cause of homelessness and we do not know whether the causes are the same in the social democratic European welfare states, in the USA and Canada, or in countries with a poorly developed welfare system. Nor do we know whether homelessness for the individual is a short-term or permanent state. This article highlights Swedish homelessness. It is based on the results of a research project which I ran from 1993 to 1998.³The article has three objectives. First, I wish to provide a brief presentation of the issue of Swedish homelessness using, among other things, a study of how the media have dealt with the issue. Secondly, I wish to discuss the pattern of homelessness in Sweden and provide an explanation of why the length of homelessness varies. Thirdly, I wish to highlight the question of how we explain why people can be homeless in a country where social welfare and housing policies have, decade after decade, been directed at eradicating housing problems. The last two questions were highlighted in a case study conducted by me in Malmö, the country's third largest city.