A Second Look at Debriefing Practices: Madness in Our Method?

This article is a reconsideration of Tesch's (1977) Tesch, F. E. 1977. Debriefing research participants: Though this be method there is madness to it.. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 35: 217–224. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] ethical, educational, and methodological functions for debriefing through a literature review and an Internet survey of authors of articles published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and Journal of Traumatic Stress. We advocate for a larger ethical role for debriefing in nondeception research. The educational function of debriefing is examined in light of the continued popularity of undergraduate participant pools. A case is made for the methodological function of debriefing to clarify aspects of research participation. Recommendations are made to improve the conducting and reporting of debriefings.     

Stress Among African American Emerging Adults: The Role of Family and Cultural Factors

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of family and cultural variables on stress among African American emerging adults. Data from this study was collected as part of a larger study that examined cultural, family, and contextual factors and smoking among African American youth in 5th, 8th, and 12th grades. Data were collected from high school seniors at the end of their 12th grade year and 6 months post high school. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to determine whether racial identity, family cohesion, and parental monitoring influence students’ perceived frequency of stress. Higher levels of racial identity were associated with more perceived stress. There were no significant main effects for either parental monitoring or family cohesion on stress. There were significant interactions between racial identity and parental monitoring and between parental monitoring and family cohesion. Study implications are discussed regarding the importance of stress reduction programs for African American emerging adults and for parents of these adults.     

Preferences for religious help-seeking: racial and gender differences,interfaith intolerance,and defensive theology

We examined the relation between preference for religious help-seeking and defensive theology, interfaith intolerance, spiritual conceptualisations of mental health problems, race/ethnicity, and gender in a predominantly Christian sample of 389 college students. MANOVA revealed significant main effects for race/ethnicity, with African American participants showing higher scores than Caucasians and Latinos/as across all main study variables. Follow-up ANOVA yielded main effects for race across all four variables and main effects for gender on spiritual conceptualisation of mental health problems and defensive theology. All race/ethnicity by gender interactions were nonsignificant. Preference for religious help-seeking was regressed in a hierarchical manner on race/ethnicity and gender, followed by interfaith intolerance, defensive theology, and spiritual conceptualisation of mental health problems. A statistically significant model explaining 46% of the variance emerged incorporating all variables except race. A framework for understanding help-seeking preference is presented, followed by directions for future research.     

Understanding Affirmative Action

The purpose of this article is to lay a conceptual groundwork that is needed if social scientists and policy makers are to design and implement fair and effective affirmative action programs. Because affirmative action is not well understood, in or out of the academy, the article starts with definitions, both general and technical, contrasts affirmative action with equal opportunity, and touches on the distinction between policy and practice. I then argue that affirmative action is a necessary policy, that it can be effective, and that it is fair. But the policy is for three other reasons: (a) it focuses on deficiencies, (b) it disturbs expectations, and (c) it poses a threat to individualism, interfering with self-congratulations.     

Neighborhood Environment, Sexual Risk Behaviors and Acquisition of Sexually Transmitted Infections Among Adolescents Diagnosed with Psychological Disorders

The association between neighborhood environment and prevalence of STIs, sexual partner variables and condom use among adolescents with psychological disorders was examined. Cross-sectional data in three urban areas of the US (Southeast, Northeast and Midwest) were obtained from 384 sexually active male and female participants who provided urine samples for laboratory-confirmed testing of Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Chlamydia trachomatis and Trichomonas vaginalis. A total of 15.4% of participants tested positive for one of the three STIs. Results indicated that relative to adolescents living in low risk neighborhood environments, those living in high risk environments were significantly more likely to have a STI and to report having casual partners. Findings suggest that in high risk neighborhoods, STI acquisition may be less dependent on condom use and more dependent on other contextual factors. The importance of expanding public health research to include assessment of neighborhood context as a determinant of sexual risk-taking is emphasized.     

Judging the fairness of voice-based participation across multiple and interrelated stages of decision making

Recent multifoci research reports that multiple sources of justice exist in organizations. In expanding this framework, we address how judgments of overall procedural fairness and behavioral intentions are influenced by different experiences of voice-based participation across a multi-stage decision-making process. The results of two experiments were consistent with a fairness theory framework. Overall, decision procedures were judged to be the fairest and the intention to volunteer was highest when participants were allowed voice in their team and when their team was allowed voice by organizational authorities. When voice was denied by both the team and the organization or was denied by either party, fairness ratings, and participant intentions were depressed and did not significantly differ from each other. This pattern of results suggests that individuals are influenced by transactions across decision-making stages and that such interdependence should be considered when attempting to understand the meaningfulness of voice-based participation.     

Impacts on children of a policy to promote employment and reduce poverty for low-income parents: new hope after 5 years

The impacts of New Hope, a program to increase parent employment and reduce poverty, were measured 5 years after parents were randomly assigned to program or control groups. New Hope had positive effects on children's school achievement, motivation, and social behavior, primarily for boys, across the age range 6-16. In comparison to impacts measured 2 years after program onset, effects on achievement were robust, but effects on social behavior were reduced. The program produced improvements in family income and use of organized child care and activity settings, suggesting possible pathways by which the New Hope package of policies influenced children's behavior.