The Gender‐Neutral Feminism of Hannah Arendt

Though many have recently attempted either to locate Arendt within feminism or feminism within the great body of Arendt's work, these efforts have proven only modestly successful. Even a cursory examination of Arendt's work should suggest that these efforts would prove frustrating. None of her voluminous writings deal specifically with gender, though some of her work certainly deals with notable women. Her interest is not in gender as such, but in woman as assimilated Jew or woman as social and political revolutionary. In this paper, I argue that Arendt recognized that what frequently passes for a gender question is not essentially a matter of gender at all, but rather an idiosyncratic form of loneliness that typically affects, though is by no means limited to, women. In her work one finds the conceptual tools necessary to understand the “woman problem” rather than an explicit argument or a solution to it.     

Multi-Iteration Usability Testing of the U.S. Navy's Performance Management System

The U.S. Navy has undertaken the second of two iterations of usability testing for the Navy's Human Performance Feedback and Development (HPFD) and ePerformance system. This second of two iterations included 34 officer and enlisted supervisors and nonsupervisors in usability testing conducted at three Navy locations—Naval Meteorology and Oceanographic Center (NAVMETOCCEN) Norfolk in Norfolk, Virginia; USS HOWARD (DDG 83) in San Diego, California; and the Bureau of Naval Personnel (BUPERS) in Arlington, Virginia. Each participant completed a usability test scenario in addition to pretest and posttest surveys designed to obtain Navy personnel's subjective impressions of the HPFD and ePerformance systems. Results from analyses comparing data from Iteration 1 (reported in Schwerin, Dean, Robbins, Bourne, &; Reed, 2006 Schwerin, M. J., Dean, E., Robbins, K. M., Bourne, M. J. and Reed, L. 2006. Subjective and objective results of usability testing for the U.S. Navy's Performance Management System.. Military Psychology, 18(3): 227–245. [Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and Iteration 2 (reported in Dean, Aspinwall, Schwerin, &; Kendrick, 2006 Dean, E., Aspinwall, K. R., Schwerin, M. J. and Kendrick, D. 2006. Usability results from Human Performance Feedback and Development (HPFD) and ePerformance system users (Tech. Rep. No. 1)., Research Triangle Park, NC: RTI International. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) show an overall reduction in user burden (e.g., fewer errors and less time to complete usability tasks) and increased user satisfaction (e.g., more satisfied with the professionalism, efficiency, and overall effectiveness). These findings indicate that the Navy HPFD and ePerformance systems are easier to use but, more generally, results support the value and effectiveness of usability in human systems integration (HSI) and usability testing. Recommendations for system refinement, policy development, and implementation planning are discussed.     

The contribution of executive function and social understanding to preschoolers’ letter and math skills

The influence of executive function and social understanding on letter and math skills was examined in 129 3–5-year-olds. Tasks were administered to measure working memory, inhibition, social understanding, letter and math skills, and vocabulary. Using latent variable analyses, multiple models were compared in order to examine the influence of executive function and social understanding on participants’ emerging academic skills. In the best-fitting model, working memory contributed to letter and math skills, over and above inhibition, social understanding, age, and vocabulary. Inhibition and social understanding did not uniquely contribute to letter and math skills, but significant relations were found among working memory, inhibition, and social understanding. Findings are discussed with respect to improving ways to examine the complex relations among preschoolers’ executive function, social understanding, and school readiness skills.     

The Relative Importance of Correlates of Organizational Citizenship Behavior and Counterproductive Work Behavior Using Multiple Sources of Data

Many correlates of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and counterproductive work behavior (CWB) have been established, but their relative importance has rarely been investigated. A dominance analyses based on data from 375 participants and 214 of their supervisors indicated that individual differences accounted for more of the variance associated with OCB and with CWB than did organizational attitudes. Confirmatory factor analysis and dominance analyses provided discriminant validity for a four-factor model based on the target of these behaviors that included interpersonal OCB, organizational OCB, interpersonal CWB, and organizational CWB. A comparison of supervisor- and self-report data indicated that relationships were stronger when using self-report data, but the overall pattern of results was similar.     

Development and Validation of the Navy Climate Index

Because military work environments have unique contexts, characteristics, and challenges, military policymakers need to understand how personnel perceive the work environment and how this affects individual and organizational outcomes. This study describes the development and testing of the Navy Climate Index (NCI), a new measure comprising items from the Navy-wide Personnel Survey (NPS) that captures eight aspects of psychological climate: advancement/promotion, autonomy/challenge, leadership, communication, fairness, job security, Tempo, and work group. Using NPS data for 3,610 active duty personnel, confirmatory factor analyses support the validity of the NCI. NCI scores were positively associated with job satisfaction, morale, organizational commitment, and retention intentions.     

Longitudinal Associations among Parental Acceptance,Familism Values,and Sibling Intimacy in Mexican‐Origin Families

Prospective associations among parent – adolescent acceptance and familism values in early and middle adolescence and sibling intimacy in late adolescence and young adulthood were assessed in 246 Mexican‐origin families. Older sibling gender and sibling gender constellation were investigated as moderators of these associations. Sibling intimacy was stable over time and younger siblings with older sisters reported higher levels of sibling intimacy than those with older brothers. As predicted, stronger familism values were associated with greater sibling intimacy, but this link was evident only for older sisters and for girl‐girl dyads. The links from mother‐ and father‐acceptance to sibling intimacy also depended on the gender constellation of the sibling dyad: Higher levels of maternal warmth were associated with greater sibling intimacy for older sisters and girl‐girl sibling pairs but higher levels of paternal warmth were linked to greater sibling intimacy only for older siblings in mixed‐gender sibling dyads. Findings are consistent with prior research on the role of gender in family relationships but extend this work to encompass the effects of both parents' and siblings' gender, as well as the role of sociocultural values in parents' socialization influences.