Social Status and Prestige in the Selection of a Program of Study in the Community-Junior College

This study examines the relative emphasis placed upon social status and prestige in the selection of an occupation and program of study by students in the community-junior college. The following results were noted: (1) Students enrolled in college transfer programs stressed prestige in the selection of an occupation to a greater extent than did those in technical and semi-professional programs. (2) When the students in the sample were grouped according to occupational aspiration level, a positive correlation was found to exist between occupational aspiration level and prestige emphasis. (3) No significant relationship was found to exist between the social status of students and prestige emphasis in the selection of an occupation.     

Reviews of current books

Pastoral Psychology -     

Physical distance and sex in moderated groups: Neglected factors in small group interaction

An experiment examined the effects of sex of subjects, sex of moderator, and seating distance between members of a small group on moods, evaluations, attraction, and attitude expression. Groups of three subjects and a moderator discussed a socially relevant issue and then made several ratings. During the discussion, group members sat either very close to each other or "very far apart, q?he expectation that males would react unfavorably while females would react favorably to close seating was not obtained. Instead, sex of moderator interacted strongly with distance. Regardless of sex, groups were more positive close to a female moderator and far from a male moderator. Attitudes showed the same interaction. Interpretations were that (1) the ranking person helps define the spacing norms for a group, and (2) there are sex differences in “personal space.”     

Catholics and the Christian Right: A View from Four States

Christian Right Organizations in the 1990s have tried to avoid the pitfalls for the religious particularism that undermined the earlier efforts of such groups as Moral Majority to build long lasting political coalitions. For many Christian Right leaders, conservative Catholics appear to be a particularly appealing group to reach for membership recruitment and political coalition-building. Yet such leading groups as the Christian Coalition have largely experienced disappointment with such efforts.
This essay presents data that offer reasons why conservative Catholics might be willing to form political coalitions with activists of the Christian Right but remain reluctant to join Christian Right organizations. The findings are based on a large survey of Republican party state convention delegates in four states. The data show that Catholic delegates hold very conservative issue positions in line with Christian Right organizations, and have positive feelings toward Christian Right leaders and organizations. Yet Catholic delegates hold somewhat distinctive positions among Republicans on certain issues, and therefore remain reluctant to join the Christian Coalition and other such groups.     

Beyond Compliance: Mother–Child Joint Action During a “Do” Task

Much of the literature on parent-toddler interactions does not account for the lack of independence in data. This investigation used a theory and method appropriate for examining the moment-to-moment patterns of joint actions between mothers and toddlers during a “do” task. Using contextual action theory to guide a mixture of methods, we observed and described the joint goal-directed series of actions of mothers and their toddlers as well as mothers’ intentions, meanings, and emotions they ascribed to their actions. Additionally, the associations between the patterns of joint mother-toddler actions and children’s negative emotionality were examined. Thirty mothers and their children participated in the study. Data collection included video-recorded activity, video recall interviews, and self-report questionnaires. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of the data revealed that (a) children were mostly engaged in the task alongside with their mothers’ on-going involvement; (b) mothers attributed a range of meanings to their interactions with their children; and (c) mothers’ perceptions of their toddlers’ dimensions of emotional negativity were associated with the organization of dyads’ joint goal directed actions—both when children were engaged in the task or self-focused.     

A Population Study of Victimization, Relationships, and Well-Being in Middle Childhood

The paper presents a population-based study on the association of victimization and peer and adult relationships with children’s life satisfaction, self-esteem, anxiety, and depressive symptoms. The study extends previous research by examining 2-, 3-, and 4-way higher-order interaction effects (moderation hypotheses) of adults and peer relationships, victimization, and gender on positive and negative aspects of children’s well-being. The study draws from a representative population-level sample of 2,792 4th graders (M _age = 9.70 years; 48.2 % girls). Data were obtained via student self-report survey on the Middle Years Development Instrument (MDI). Given the nested data (children within classrooms), we employed multi-level regression analyses. Positive relationships with adults and peers were most strongly associated with life satisfaction and self-esteem, whereas victimization was most strongly associated with depressive symptoms and anxiety. No significant 2- or 3-way interactions were identified. The 4-way interaction of gender, adult connectedness, peer connectedness, and victimization was significant for three outcomes; that is, victimization was particularly strongly associated with low life satisfaction, low self-esteem, and high depressive symptoms for girls with low self-reports of peer and adult connectedness. The findings have implications for promoting children’s well-being in school and community contexts, corroborating interventions that foster relationship-building skills and simultaneously reduce victimization.