If Anything Can Go Wrong It Will: Occupational Stress Among Inexperienced Teachers

The study examined the sources of stress encountered by inexperienced compared to experienced teachers. Sixty-nine female teachers in elementary schools and kindergartens in Israel participated in the study. A questionnaire was administered measuring job-related stress factors, emotional involvement in the job and active coping with stress factors. The results show that inexperienced compared to experienced teachers stated that they experience an overall higher level of stress. The major sources of stress for inexperienced teachers are interaction with pupils' parents and workload. Inexperienced teachers are less involved emotionally in their work, especially in regard to incidents of unsatisfactory performance. However, they are similar to experienced teachers in both their emotional reactions to successful performance and in their actions in stressful situations. Since the research design was quasi-experimental, the differences between experienced and inexperienced teachers might be due to other confounded factors such as general life experience. The results are discussed in regard to the adaptive functions of selective emotional involvement.     

Water - 2nd Place

Journal of Medical Humanities -     

The Educational Crisis in American Reform Judaism

The American Reform Judaism movement has been undergoing revitalization in all areas of its interaction with its rabbis and laity. One of the concerns it is presently addressing is the condition of its educational programs for its children, teenagers and adults; it is now reevaluating and reformulating these programs to bring in maximum benefits. Assimilation, apathy, and acculteration are three of the thorniest problems with which the Reform movement has had to contend for most of its 200-year history. From recent assimilation and apathy comes endemic intermarriage with non-Jewish spouses, and widespread disinterest in ritual observance and in Judaism itself. Acculturation has brought American Jews strong feelings of wanting to be very much part of the American society, and this acculturation has fanned the flames of apathy. Jews have historically maintained their religious individualism and kept their religious collective body whole through education and knowledge of Judaism. Strong educational programs are absolutely essential in the fight against apathy.     

The Role of Negative Emotions on Adolescent Evaluation of Clinical Reproductive Healthcare Services

Despite extensive research on adults, we know relatively little about the factors and processes that influence adolescent satisfaction with clinical reproductive healthcare. In this study, survey responses from 135 adolescent clinic users in the western U.S. support a client-satisfaction model that differs from the traditional coping response framework by featuring negative emotions as a primary antecedent of service-quality evaluations, rather than a consequence. Quality evaluations directly impacted satisfaction, which, in turn, affected word of mouth and intentions to return to the clinic. This research represents an initial step toward better understanding of ways that adolescents may differ from adults on factors influencing satisfaction with clinical reproductive healthcare and, hence, holds both theoretical and managerial significance.     

Religion and Suicide

Religion impacts suicidality. One’s degree of religiosity can potentially serve as a protective factor against suicidal behavior. To accurately assess risk of suicide, it is imperative to understand the role of religion in suicidality. PsycINFO and MEDLINE databases were searched for published articles on religion and suicide between 1980 and 2008. Epidemiological data on suicidality across four religions, and the influence of religion on suicidality are presented. Practice guidelines are presented for incorporating religiosity into suicide risk assessment. Suicide rates and risk and protective factors for suicide vary across religions. It is essential to assess for degree of religious commitment and involvement to accurately identify suicide risk.     

Area-Based Socioeconomic Characteristics of Industries at High Risk for Violence in the Workplace

This study examined socioeconomic factors associated with the presence of workplaces belonging to industries reported to be at high risk for worker homicide. The proportion of 2004 North Carolina workplaces in high-risk industries was computed following spatial linkage of individual workplaces to 2000 United States Census Block Groups (n = 3,925). Thirty census-derived socioeconomic variables (selected a priori as potentially predictive of violence) were summarized using exploratory factor analysis into poverty/deprivation, human/economic capital, and transience/instability. Multinomial logistic regression models indicate associations between higher proportion of workplaces belonging to high-risk industries and Block Groups with more poverty/deprivation or transience/instability and less human/economic capital. The relationship between human/economic capital and Block Groups proportion of high-risk industry workplaces was modified by levels of transience/instability. Community characteristics therefore contribute to the potential for workplace violence, and future research should continue to understand the relationship between social context and workplace violence risk.     

Anchoring in a novel bimanual coordination pattern

Anchoring in cyclical movements has been defined as regions of reduced spatial or temporal variability [Beek, P. J. (1989). Juggling dynamics. PhD thesis. Amsterdam: Free University Press] that are typically found at movement reversal points. For in-phase and anti-phase movements, synchronizing reversal points with a metronome pulse has resulted in decreased anchor point variability and increased pattern stability [Byblow, W. D., Carson, R. G., & Goodman, D. (1994). Expressions of asymmetries and anchoring in bimanual coordination. Human Movement Science, 13, 3-28; Fink, P. W., Foo, P., Jirsa, V. K., & Kelso, J. A. S. (2000). Local and global stabilization of coordination by sensory information. Experimental Brain Research, 134, 9-20]. The present experiment examined anchoring during acquisition, retention, and transfer of a 90 degrees phase-offset continuous bimanual coordination pattern (whereby the right limb lags the left limb by one quarter cycle), involving horizontal flexion about the elbow. Three metronome synchronization strategies were imposed: participants either synchronized maximal flexion of the right arm (i.e., single metronome), both flexion and extension of the right arm (i.e., double metronome within-limb), or flexion of each arm (i.e., double metronome between-limb) to an auditory metronome. In contrast to simpler in-phase and anti-phase movements, synchronization of additional reversal points to the metronome did not reduce reversal point variability or increase pattern stability. Furthermore, practicing under different metronome synchronization strategies did not appear to have a significant effect on the rate of acquisition of the pattern.