The Interaction of Job Satisfaction, Job Search, and Job Changes. An Empirical Investigation with German Panel Data

Using the rich data set of the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) this article analyzes the effects of job characteristics on job satisfaction as well as the conditions under which low job satisfaction leads to job search, and under which job search leads to job changes. Individual fixed effects are included into the analysis in order to hold unobserved heterogeneity constant. According to the empirical results, the strongest determinants of job satisfaction are relations with colleagues and supervisors, task diversity and job security. Furthermore, job satisfaction is an important determinant of the self-reported probability of job search, which in turn effectively predicts actual job changes. The effect of job search on the probability of changing jobs varies with job satisfaction and is strongest at low levels of job satisfaction. The effects of job dissatisfaction on job search and of job search on quits are stronger for workers with lower tenure, better educated workers, workers in the private sector and when the economy and labor market are in a good condition.     

Effect of an intervention to prevent unwanted pregnancy in adolescents. A randomized,prospective study from Nordland County,Norway, 1999–2001

The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of an intervention designed to prevent unwanted pregnancy in adolescents. A stratified sample of 74 compulsory schools was drawn at random from all compulsory schools in the county of Nordland in northern Norway. Of these 54 schools were willing to participate. The participating schools were assigned to four different groups according to a Solomon four‐group design. A total of 1183 pupils gave their informed consent for participation. For the intervention, a textbook in sex education was developed and handed out to pupils and teachers participating in the intervention groups. Data collections were carried out 1999–2001. The results from this study stem from data collected at post‐test 1. The individual was used as unit of analysis. Among adolescents who made their coital debut between the pre‐test and post‐test 1, more of those in the intervention group than in the pre‐test group reported use of contraception during first sexual intercourse. No other statistically significant effect of the intervention was found. The reason may be biased drop‐out. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Guidance theory and practice: the status of career exploration

Career intervention can be designed to enhance constructive attitudes, emotions and behaviours that will improve clients' career attainment. In this sense, mobilisation of career exploration constitutes one of the most important tasks of career counsellors, particularly with emphasis in developmental career guidance models, first developed in the 1950s. The authors present a brief review of career exploration conceptualisation and empirical research lines. The implications for career guidance and counselling are addressed.     

The Variety of Lattice Effect Algebras Generated by MV-algebras and the Horizontal Sum of Two 3-element Chains

It has been recently shown [4] that the lattice effect algebras can be treated as a subvariety of the variety of so-called basic algebras. The open problem whether all subdirectly irreducible distributive lattice effect algebras are just subdirectly irreducible MV-chains and the horizontal sum of two 3-element chains is in the paper transferred into a more tractable one. We prove that modulo distributive lattice effect algebras, the variety generated by MV-algebras and is definable by three simple identities and the problem now is to check if these identities are satisfied by all distributive lattice effect algebras or not. Presented by Daniele Mundici     

Evaluations of pleasurable experiences: The peak-end rule

Prior research suggests that the addition of mild pain to an aversive event may lead people to prefer and directly choose more pain over less pain (Kahneman, Fredrickson, Schreiber, & Redelmeier, 1993). Kahneman et al. suggest that pain ratings are based on a combination of peak pain and final pain. Similarly, people rate a happy life that ends suddenly as being better than one with additional years of mild happiness (Diener, Wirtz, & Oishi, 2001), even though the former objectively consists of less pleasure than the latter. Applying these concepts to material goods, we investigated the impact of positivity and timing on the retrospective evaluations of material goods. We found strong evidence that the peak-end rule applies to both material goods and pain.     

Confidence judgments in syllogistic reasoning: the role of consistency and response cardinality

In two experiments, we examined the resolution of confidence judgments in syllogistic reasoning and their heuristic bases. Based on the assumptions of Koriat's Self-Consistency Model of confidence, we expected the confidence judgments to be related to conclusion consensuality, reflecting the role of consistency as a heuristic cue to confidence. In Experiment 1, the participants evaluated 24 syllogisms with conclusions that varied with respect to validity and consensuality. In Experiment 2, the participants produced conclusions to 64 pairs of premises. The correlation between confidence and reasoning accuracy was low. In both experiments confidence was related to the consensuality of the responses. For consensually correct items, correlation between confidence and accuracy was positive; however, for consensually incorrect items it was negative. In Experiment 2, confidence was lower for syllogisms with higher response cardinality, or syllogisms that elicited a greater variety of conclusions.     

The Assessment of Preterm Infants' Behavior (APIB): furthering the understanding and measurement of neurodevelopmental competence in preterm and full-term infants

The Assessment of Preterm Infants' Behavior (APIB) is a newborn neurobehavioral assessment appropriate for preterm, at risk, and full-term newborns, from birth to 1 month after expected due date. The APIB is based in ethological-evolutionary thought and focuses on the assessment of mutually interacting behavioral subsystems in simultaneous interaction with the environment. The subsystems of functioning assessed include the autonomic (respiration, digestion, color), motor (tone, movement, postures), state organization (range, robustness, transition patterns), attention (robustness, transitions), and self-regulation (effort, success) systems as well as the degree of facilitation required to support reorganization and subsystem balance. The environment is represented by a sequence of distal, proximal, tactile, and vestibular challenges, derived from the BNBAS. The APIB conceptualizes infant competence as the degree of differentiation of subsystem function and degree of modulation of subsystem balance at any stage in infant development. Infants are understood as actively seeking their next differentiation, while counting on good enough environments to assure progressing developmental competence. In the case of interference such as premature birth, the mismatch of expectation and actual experience causes misalignment, which may become developmentally costly. The assessment is a finely tuned dialogue between examiner and infant, which requires training, skill and self-knowledge. The APIB has well established inter-rater-reliability, concurrent and construct validity, and is clinically relevant for behavioral intervention and individually appropriate and supportive care.     

Consumer satisfaction and attributions of improvement among fully recovered schizophrenics

As people with serious mental illness are viewed as consumers rather than patients, their views and needs are increasingly seen as essential to the treatment process. The aim of the present study is to add valuable knowledge about how to help patients by reporting what fully recovered schizophrenics, as consumers, had found helpful in their treatment as well as which factors contributed to their recovery. In addition to a semistructured interview, two instruments were used: the "UCLA Social Attainment Survey Premorbid Adjustment Scale" (SASPAS) to measure patients' premorbid adjustment and the "Global Assessment Scale" (GAS) to obtain an assessment of the present general functioning of the subjects. The results showed that a majority of the recovered subjects emphasized their own will-power and the human qualities in their therapists as helpful to them in the process towards recovery. The therapeutic relationships were characterized by the kindling and sustaining of hope in the clients.     

Differences between elite,junior and non-rowers in kinematic and kinetic parameters during ergometer rowing

This paper presents an analysis of the rowing parameters of differently skilled rowers. The study focuses on technique dependency on stroke rate. Five elite, five junior and five non-rowers participated, and the biomechanics of rowing on an ergometer was analyzed at stroke rates of 20, 26 and 34 str/min. The results show that elite rowers use a similar, consistent rowing technique at all stroke rates, the technique of junior rowers follows similar principles, while the technique of non-rowers varies. Elite rowers’ stroke length, handle motion and body posture do not change with stroke rate while the ratio of stroke phases, maximum forces, stroke work and joint loadings are constant at the same stroke rate but dependent on stroke rate. Junior rowers with stroke rate change also the stroke length. In non-rowers the differences can be observed in the handle motion and body posture during the stroke, their stroke length changes with stroke rate while the ratio of stroke phases stays constant. Although different movement execution is evident and variable with stroke rate, non-rowers demonstrate a consistent pattern at the same stroke rate. On the basis of the results, the crucial parameters that differentiate elite, junior, and non-rowers are identified.