The interactive effects of request form and speaker status on judgments of requests

The interactive effects of request form and speaker status on judgments of requests were investigated in a laboratory study of metapragmatics. College students (N=132) read scenarios in which speakers made requests of them. Speakers were higher in status, peers, or lower in status than the subjects, and the requests were imperatives with semantic aggravators, embedded imperatives, or permission directives with semantic softeners. Subjects rated the speakers with respect to how rude/polite, humble/arrogant, and powerful/weak they were being. Significant interactions were obtained for the first two ratings, indicating that the speaker status effect was stronger with permission directives than with the other requests. These findings suggest that listeners view unexpectedly indirect requests as more impolite and sarcastic than requests used in other situations and, more generally, that language meaning is a function of both form and context.     

Ethnic populations: Community mental health services ten years later

In a replication of a series of studies conducted by Sue and colleagues in the mid-1970s, demographic and service data were retrieved for the Seattle-King County area from the Washington Mental Health Information System. Caucasian clients were compared against Asian, black, Hispanic, and Native American client groups, and, where possible, against the findings reported earlier by Sue. These clients were compared in terms of basic demographic characteristics, characteristics of staff providing the services, dropout rates, and average number of services received. The most notable findings are (a) that failure-to-return rates are dramatically lower for the current sample than for Sue's and not greatly different for minorities than for Caucasians, (b) that variability in failure-to-return rates is most strongly related to level of functioning and not related to minority status, and (c) that although Asian Americans still average fewer services than Caucasians (other minorities do not differ significantly), the mean number of services had increased substantially for all groups but more for minorities than for Caucasians.     

Toward an understanding of social consequences of “feminine immodesty” about personal achievements

Two studies examine the hypothesis that females who are immodest about their achievements are perceived more negatively than are males who are immodest. The assumptions that there are social consequences of immodesty, and that women and girls believe there to be such consequences, have been raised in self-presentational explanations of women's tendencies to undervaluate and underestimate their performances. This study provides a test of this assumption is a sample of 236 high school students and 144 teachers. Each judged the intelligence, personality, popularity, and adjustment of a very successful (hypothetical) high school student who was presented as male or female, mdoest or immodest. Two replications allowed this assumptions to be tested for diverse areas of success. Results showed consistent and negative social consequences of immodesty, which were, however, differentially worse for girls in only one of four tests. Other significant effects revealed that the characteristics of the judges was a factor. The findings are interpreted in the context of assumptions in both the popular culture and the research literature that feminine immodesty may be perceived differently than immodesty on the part of males. Directions for future research to elucidate these findings are offered.The help of Mr. W. Alden, Assistant Superintendent, and the teachers at Mt. Greylock High School is gratefully acknowledged. We would also like to thank the Massachusetts teachers who participated in the study during their annual convention, as well as the high school students who participated. This study was supported by research funds from the Bronfman Science Center, Williams College.     

The voices in children's literature: The impact of gender on the moral decisions of storybook characters

The study examined the moral and self orientations of 212 male and female characters in 50 works of fiction for school-aged children. A modified version of Lyons' coding scheme was used for differentiating between Justice and Care moral orientations, and Separate/Objective and Connected self orientations. It was hypothesized that male characters would demonstrate Justice morality and a Separate/Objective self, whereas female characters would demonstrate Care morality and a Connected self, regardless of sex of author. The results confirmed the hypotheses. The importance of literature in providing symbolic models of moral decisioning and the need to expand children's moral orientations beyond gender-linked stereotypes was discussed.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, April 1988, New Orleans, Louisiana.     

The initial social encounters of high and low social effectiveness school-aged children

The initial social encounters of 30 pairs of unacquainted high/high, high/low, and low/low popularity status third- and fourth-grade boys and girls were observed in an analogue free-play setting. Pairwise comparisons revealed that the dyads did not differ according to pairing on the exchange of global play information. The low/low popularity dyads, as compared to the high/high and the high/low popularity dyads, exchanged significantly less personal information as indexed by both the patterns and the content of personal information exchange. Analyses revealed no differences between the high/high and high/low dyads on the patterns and content of personal information exchange. However, as compared to the high/high dyads, the high/low dyads and the low/low dyads were less likely to evidence a pattern of initial steps in their social encounters that began with greeting and introduction and that was followed by the exchange of play information. The observations of the high/high dyads were considered as a model for developing social skills training programs designed to facilitate acquaintanceship development, and the need for further research on the processes underlying peer pairing and the components of social skillfulness was discussed.     

Women returning to school: The consequences of multiple roles

Previous research suggests that strain is a predominant consequence of multiple-role incumbency. The likelihood of negative outcomes is increased when the role combination is non-normative. The validity of these assertions is tested for a group of women who have returned to school at midlife, comparing them to a group of their neighbors who are primarily housewives. Findings demonstrate that the students experienced significantly greater positive outcomes or gratifications from their multiple roles than the housewives experienced from their relatively unitary roles. However, the students also reported significantly more negative consequences or strain than did the housewives. Though the students had a net positive gain, the difference was not significant. Moreover, role strain was negatively correlated with high levels of involvement in leisure and volunteer activities for both subsamples. Finally, feminist ideology varied directly with gratification for both students and housewives. The mix of positive and negative corollaries of multiple roles challenges the assumption in the literature that strain is an ubiquitous outcome. The implications of these results are discussed in terms of sexual division of labor and strategies for enhancing net gratification.I am grateful to Judith Long for her assistance in conceptualizing and designing this research. Anne Foner, Peggy A. Thoits, and anonymous reviewers for Sex Roles made numerous helpful comments which strengthened the final version. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, San Antonio, Texas, August 1984.     

The Eschatological Turn in German Philosophy

This article argues that modern European philosophy was significantly shaped by the transposition of eschatology from a theological into a philosophical register. By ‘eschatology’, I here mean thought about the ‘last things’ as they relate to present systems of life and action; and about those systems as determined, at least in part, by their end. I take as my starting point the claim that the scepticism regarding revelation that was such a central characteristic of the Enlightenment did not eradicate the importance of eschatology as a structuring frame of historical and moral thought, but merely changed it. Modern theologians and philosophers tended to shift the ground of eschatology from revelation to the inner logic of a system; eschatology was seen as legitimated by, and in turn legitimating, the shape of a given philosophical account of history. The questions and challenges arising from this shift were important drivers of early twentieth‐century European philosophy. This article works out this claim through indicative accounts of several large debates of early twentieth‐century philosophies of history and of politics as contestations about the meaning of eschatology: the crisis of historicism, the rise of existentialism, and the surge of political religions. It concludes with a discussion of Martin Heidegger’s eschatological thought of the 1930s, illuminated by the recent publication of his Black Notebooks.     

The Impact of Parental Suicide on Child and Adolescent Offspring

Child and adolescent survivors of parental suicide experience two stressful events simultaneously: (1) the loss of a primary caregiver, and (2) suicidal death of a significant person. These youths are thought to be at increased risk for mental health problems, but a systematic review of studies on these survivors has not yet been conducted. A comprehensive search for published literature identified nine studies. The existent studies provided modest yet inconsistent evidence on the impact of parental suicide on offspring psychiatric and psychosocial outcomes. More methodologically rigorous research is needed to inform and guide postvention efforts for these survivors.     

Epidemiologic Characteristics and Trends of Fatal Suicides among the Elderly in Taiwan

Taiwan has one of the highest suicide rates in the world, especially among its elderly. The epidemiologic characteristics and trends of the surging elderly suicide rates from 1993 to 2003 are described, with a special emphasis on the risk groups, the methods used in suicide, and their geographical variations. Data on annual mortality for persons over 65 years of age with external cause‐of‐death codes E950–E959 were obtained from the Death Certification data file provided by the Department of Health and used in the analysis. The suicide rate for each 5‐year age group over 65 years old increased during the 11‐year period. Elderly males had the highest suicide rate and experienced an increased rate of 49% during the decade. The average suicide ratio between elderly males and females was about 2:1. Never‐married males had the highest age‐adjusted as well as sex‐ and marital status‐specific suicide rates, and showed an increased rate of 66% over the 11‐year period. Geographical variations in suicide rates were significant, with the lest urbanized eastern Taiwan having a higher rate than other regions. Hanging, strangulation, and suffocation were the most used methods for committing suicide by the elderly, but their use had decreased from 63% to 54% during the decade; but jumping off a building and drowning increased significantly. Variation in suicide rate among months was not significant. With the increase in the elderly suicide rate, more governmental and societal interventions are needed to alleviate this social and human problem.     

Recent Suicidal Ideation Among Patients in an Inner City Emergency Department

The rates and associated features of suicidal ideation among 5,641 patients seeking routine, nonsuicide related care in an inner‐city emergency department were examined. Approximately 8% of patients seeking routine care in the emergency department reported some form of suicidal ideation within the past 2 weeks. Suicidal ideation was common in individuals who were single with poorer mental health, had higher depression, and had received some drug or alcohol treatment in the past 3 months or had used cocaine or marijuana in the past 30 days. Improved screening procedures could help to identify routine care patients who are at risk for suicide.