How Far Have we Come? An Integrative Review of the Current Literature on Sense of Community and Well-being

Sense of community and well-being are considered core tenets in the field of community psychology, acting as focal points for theory, research, and action. This integrative review synthesizes the empirical literature on sense of community and well-being with respect to four research questions focused on the relationships between these variables, the methodologies used to study those relationships, and how future research might expand upon the current literature. A search of the available literature produced 30 articles that met the search criteria, based primarily on conceptualizations and measurement of both sense of community and hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. This review suggests a general consensus across the literature of a positive relationship between sense of community and well-being among both youth and adults in a variety of settings, and discusses the strengths and limitations of this area of research, pointing to the need for more nuanced, ecologically valid research that incorporates more qualitative and critical methodologies. We hope that this review can promote a more thorough understanding of how sense of community and individual well-being relate to each other, and that ongoing research in this area can be a catalyst for action research and interventions that are applied to pressing contemporary issues as well as strengths-based approaches focused on how to foster and support the well-being of individuals within their community contexts.     

The Influence of Holland's Vocational Interests on Work-Family Conflict: An Exploratory Analysis

Drawing on a sample of 438 working professionals from various organizations across the central United States, the authors investigated the relationship between Holland's (1959, 1997) RIASEC (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, Conventional) model and employee perceptions of work-family conflict. Results revealed that the RIASEC model contributed unique variance in predicting work-family conflict beyond demographic characteristics and the Big Five personality constructs. The RIASEC interests were found to be associated with different dimensions of work-family conflict. These results signal that vocational interests may influence not only work-related attitudes and behaviors (e.g., job satisfaction, performance), but also one's ability to balance work and family demands.     

Probabilistic causality reexamined

According to Nancy Cartwright, a causal law holds just when a certain probabilistic condition obtains in all test situations which in turn satisfy a set of background conditions. These background conditions are shown to be inconsistent and, on separate account, logically incoherent. I offer a corrective reformulation which also incorporates a strategy for problems like Hesslow's thrombosis case. I also show that Cartwright's recent argument for modifying the condition to appeal to singular causes fails.Proposed modifications of the theory's probabilistic condition to handle effects with extreme probabilities (0 or 1) are found unsatisfactory. I propose a unified solution which also handles extreme causes. Undefined conditional probabilities give rise to three good, but non-equivalent, ways of formulating the theory. Various formulations appear in the literature. I give arguments to eliminate all but one candidate. Finally, I argue for a crucial new condition clause, and show how to extend the results beyond a simple probabilistic framework.     

EFFECTS OF WAIT-TIME AND INTERTRIAL INTERVAL DURATIONS ON LEARNING BY CHILDREN WITH MULTIPLE HANDICAPS

We investigated the influence of teacher wait-time and intertrial interval durations on the performance of 4 multiply handicapped students during instruction in 10 skills. Four experimental conditions were evaluated: long wait-time and long intertrial interval, long wait-time and short intertrial interval, short wait-time and long intertrial interval, and short wait-time and short intertrial interval. Instructors attempted to keep short intervals as close as possible to 1 s and long intervals as close as possible to 10 s for both variables. Results showed that student performance was superior under the long wait-time conditions irrespective of the length of the intertrial interval.     

Simplified semantics for relevant logics (and some of their rivals)

This paper continues the work of Priest and Sylvan inSimplified Semantics for Basic Relevant Logics, a paper on the simplified semantics of relevant logics, such asB ⁺ andB. We show that the simplified semantics can also be used for a large number of extensions of the positive base logicB ⁺, and then add the dualising^* operator to model negation. This semantics is then used to give conservative extension results for Boolean negation.     

Deviant logic and the paradoxes of self reference

The paradoxes of self reference have to be dealt with by anyone seeking to give a satisfactory account of the logic of truth, of properties, and even of sets of numbers. Unfortunately, there is no widespread agreement as to how to deal with these paradoxes. Some approaches block the paradoxical inferences by rejecting as invalid a move that classical logic counts as valid. In the recent literature, this deviant logic analysis of the paradoxes has been called into question.This disagreement motivates a re-examination of the philosophy of formal logic and the status of logical truths and rules. In this paper I do some of this work, and I show that this gives us the means to defend the deviant approaches against such criticisms. As a result I hope to show that these analyses of the paradoxes are worthy of more serious consideration than they have so far received.Letting a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend is the policy for promoting the progress of the arts and the sciences.— Mao Tse-TungDedicated to Bob Meyer on the occasion of his 60th BirthdayThis paper was presented to the Department of Philosophy of the University of Queensland, and the 1992 Australasian Association of Philosophy Conference. I'm grateful for comments and criticism from those present; especially Graham Priest, Gary Malinas, Ian Hinckfuss, Mark Lance and Lloyd Reinhardt. The paper has a second half Comparing Deviant Logics that was read at the 1992 Australasian Association for Logic Conference, held in honour of Bob Meyer. Both are dedicated to him with appreciation for his work which, as many can see, provides inspiration for this conception of logic.     

Three forms of stress in Cambodian adolescent refugees

Sixty-nine Cambodian adolescents and young adults were interviewed to determine their experience as children surviving the Pol Pot regime (1975–1979);their first-year experience of resettlement in this country; and their experience of stressful events during the past year. Current DSM-III-R diagnostic status was also determined. A strong relationship between earlier war trauma, resettlement strain, and symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was found. In contrast, the strongest relationship with depressive symptoms was found for recent stressful events. These results are discussed in light of current findings from stress and PTSD research.Dr. Clarke is Assistant Professor of Psychiatry in the Division of Child Psychiatry, Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland, Oregon. Dr. Sack is Director of the Division of Child Psychiatry and Principal Investigator of the Khmer Adolescent Project. Brian Goff is a Research Assistant.This project was supported by the National Institutes of Mental Health [NIMH] grant #5-RO1-MH42927-02, Dr. William H. Sack, M.D., Principal Investigator.