Happiness is not Enough: Cognitive Judgements as Indicators of National Wellbeing

The European Social Survey, on which this issue of the journal focuses, is a 30-nation multi-funded survey series measuring attitude change. Started in 2001, it is characterised by unusually high standards of sampling and data equivalence. Its data are made available on-line with equal access to all, and have already attracted over 20,000 users. Many papers, articles and books based on the ESS have already appeared. But none has yet employed the data—whether alone or with other sources—to derive indicators of citizens’ cognitive judgements of their society. A recent EC grant is enabling the authors to fill this gap, covering topics such as trust in national institutions, tolerance, social cohesion, social trust and fear of crime. The aim is to be able to monitor changes over time in the distance between what citizens believe their society ought to be in these respects and how they actually perceive it to be.

回族流迁人口城市适应过程研究的理论探讨

民族迁移者在城市接受城市化和现代化“洗礼”的过程比较一般农民工的适应。由于加入了民族文化、民族侍统与民族意识的变量。显得更复杂、更丰富。成为当前城市面临的焦点问题。由于回族是我国城市化程度最高的少数民族。且其有着极强经商观念、民族意识。独特的民族宗教文化与饮食、婚丧、居住习俗,因此关注回族迁移人口的城市适应无疑具典型性和突出的现实意义。从回族迁移人口的城市适应的重要性出发。通过国内外研究进展的分析和述评,提出新时期城市化背景下回族流迁人口城市适应过程研究的思路：探讨研究的技术路线、研究方法与研究内容,包括提取城市适应的关键阻碍因素分析,进行城市适应的多维层面和时序过程分析。建立评价指标体系,定量评判城市适应的水平。并籍此提出针对性的城市适应调控策略。从而为促进城市民族工作、建立城市和谐民族关系与和谐城市社会提供理论与实践指导。     

Transparency tested: The influence of message features on public perceptions of organizational transparency

The concept of transparency has been promoted within the public relations and business literature as both ethical and advantageous; however, the effectiveness of transparency is seldom empirically put to the test. In particular, the use of clarity, disclosure, and accuracy in organizational messages needs to be empirically examined. To this end, we conducted an online experiment using a 2 (high vs. low message transparency) x 2 (news story placed before or after an organizational statement) between-subjects design. Participants (n?=?357) perceived organizations as more transparent and credible when exposed to messages exhibiting greater levels of clarity, disclosure, and accuracy as opposed to messages that did not. Placement of an information anchor in the form of an objective news story before the organizational message increased the perceived organizational transparency when messages employed transparent design features and decreased the perceived organizational transparency when messages did not use these features. These results provide significant implications for practitioners attempting to convey organizational transparency at the tactical level through message features.     

The Influence of Career Planning on Career Thoughts in STEM‐Interested Undergraduates

Undergraduate career planning courses have shown efficacy in decreasing students’ negative career thoughts; however, universities have minimally applied these courses to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) populations. This study compared the influence of a STEM‐focused career planning course for undecided STEM students with a seminar course for decided STEM majors. An analysis of covariance with covariate adjustment revealed that undecided career planning students had lower adjusted mean scores on a measure of negative career thinking than the decided STEM majors after the first semester of college. The results provide support for the efficacy of STEM‐focused career planning courses and measuring negative career thoughts with STEM undergraduates.     

Deaf access to justice in Northern Ireland: rethinking ‘Reasonable Adjustment’ in the Disability Discrimination Act

Abstract

This article provides findings of a qualitative study exploring the interactions of eight Deaf participants and one hearing ally with the justice system in Northern Ireland, where the Disability Discrimination Act requires solicitors to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ in order to provide effective access to Deaf clients. Three thematic categories emerged: (a) barriers to accessing justice, (b) work Deaf people do for access, and (c) the need to educate solicitors about access. A central strain ran through these themes: the idea that ‘reasonable adjustment’ must reflect the value of sign language interpreters in facilitating effective communication access for all the parties.     

西部少数民族人口政策的稳定、调整与法制化

西部少数民族人口的发展状况,直接关系到西部地区经济、社会的全面协调和可持续发展。本文就其人口政策的稳定、调整与法制化的战略途径,进行一定的可行性探讨。     

关于武汉市构建城市和谐民族关系调控机制的调研报告

随着改革开放的深入和社会主义市场经济的发展 ,城市化进程逐步加快 ,民族散居化日趋明显 ,城市民族问题日益突出 ,城市民族关系面临着新形势和新问题。本文以武汉市为个案 ,对当前城市民族关系的特点、影响城市民族关系的主要因素进行了调查和分析 ,结合武汉市民族工作实践提出了要构建城市和谐民族关系调控机制的观点 ,并从加强调控主体、完善调控手段、确立调控效果评估体系等方面对调控机制进行了研究探讨。     

Adjustment for nonresponse with variables from different sources: Bias correction and precision loss,with application to the Swiss European Social Survey 2012

ABSTRACT

Adjustment for nonresponse should reduce the nonresponse bias without decreasing the precision of the estimates. Adjustment for nonresponses are commonly based on socio-demographic variables, although these variables may be poorly correlated with response propensities and with variables of interest. Such variables nevertheless have the advantage of being available for all sample units, whether or not they are participating in the survey. Alternatively, adjustment for nonresponse can be obtained from a follow-up survey aimed at sample units which did not participate in the survey and from which the variables are designed to be correlated with response propensities. However, information collected through these follow-up surveys is not available for people in the sample who participated neither in the survey nor in its nonresponse follow-up. These two sets of variables when used in a nonresponse model for the Swiss European Social Survey 2012 differ only slightly with regard to their effect on bias correction and on the precision of estimates. The variables from the follow-up are performing slightly better. In both cases, the adjustment for nonresponse performs poorly.     

坚持稳中求进 确保经济平稳增长——2012上半年上海经济形势分析

2012年以来,世界经济复苏减缓,市场需求明显不足,全球产能过剩压力加剧,经济运行风险进一步加大,未来发展前景难以确定。我国经济下行压力也明显加大,未来经济增长面临产能过剩、财政收入下滑、就业压力增大、国际游资冲击等负面影响。上海结构调整取得新的进展,预计全年经济增幅合理上升,但在经济运行中需要特别关注就业形势、小微企业、房地产市场、消费市场、区县经济增长等方面因素。应继续按照"稳增长"与"调结构"相互促进的要求,制定和出台促进经济稳定增长的地方性政策措施,重点是做好中央和上海已有各项政策的落实工作。     

Differential effects of parental control on preschool-age adjustment depending on child effortful control

This study examined whether parental control differentially predicted children's effortful control and adjustment depending on children's levels of executive control and delay ability. Using longitudinal data, the study included 241 preschool-age children and their mothers. Fifty-seven percent of the sample was lower income and included 64% White, 10% Latino/Hispanic, 9% Black, 3% Asian-American, 2% Native or American Indian, and 12% multiple racial/ethnic backgrounds. Interactions between aspects of parental and child control at 3-years-old were tested as predictors of mother-reported child effortful control at 4.5 years and teacher-reported adjustment at 5.5 years. Children's early levels of executive control and delay ability moderated the relations of some forms of parental control with child outcomes, although several hypothesized interactions were nonsignificant. Low parental autonomy respect predicted higher externalizing for children initially high in executive control but predicted lower externalizing for children initially low in executive control. Conversely, high autonomy respect predicted higher impulsivity for children low in delay ability but higher social competence for children high in delay ability. Finally, low maternal negative control predicted higher internalizing for children low in delay ability, whereas it predicted higher internalizing for children high in delay ability. These findings suggest that in some cases the type and degree of parental control should match a child's level of effortful control to support their social, emotional, and behavioral adjustment optimally.