Millennials and the World of Work: An Economist’s Perspective

This article uses an economic approach to address whether and how the Millennial generation is significantly different from its predecessors. Particular attention is paid to the normal life cycle stages through which all generations pass, and the implications for forecasting how the Millennials’ relationship with the world of work will evolve. A second key issue is the extremely large differences in economic opportunity that exist among the members of each generation, and which have increased for more recent generations, particularly those with lower levels of education. Other key issues include the rise in international competition for jobs, and the rising cost of a college education. These factors together imply that simple stereotypes about Millennials taking a privileged view of the world of work may be simplistic at best, and likely are significantly off target.     

Coherence between emotional experience and physiology: does body awareness training have an impact?

Two fundamental issues in emotion theory and research concern: (a) the role of emotion in promoting response coherence across different emotion systems; and (b) the role of awareness of bodily sensations in the experience of emotion. The present study poses a question bridging the two domains; namely, whether training in Vipassana meditation or dance, both of which promote attention to certain kinds of bodily sensations, is associated with greater coherence between the subjective and physiological aspects of emotion. We used lag correlations to examine second-by-second coherence between subjective emotional experience and heart period within individuals across four different films. Participants were either: (a) experienced Vipassana meditators (attention to visceral sensations), (b) experienced dancers (attention to somatic sensations), and (c) controls with no meditation or dance experience. Results indicated a linear relationship in coherence, with meditators having highest levels, dancers having intermediary levels, and controls having lowest levels. We conclude that the coherence between subjective and cardiac aspects of emotion is greater in those who have specialized training that promotes greater body awareness.     

Does emotionality predict stress? Findings from the normative aging study

Investigated whether emotionality, assessed in 1975, predicted the reporting of both objective stress (life events) and subjective stress (hassles) 10 years later, and how emotionality affected the relation between both objective and subjective stress and mental health. The sample consisted of 1,159 older men, participants in the Normative Aging Study. Path analysis revealed that the reporting of stress was confounded with personality: Individuals higher in emotionality reported both more life events and more hassles. Furthermore, individuals higher in emotionality exhibited slightly higher levels of symptoms under stress than did individuals lower in emotionality. Nonetheless, both stress measures contributed independent variance to the prediction of psychological symptoms, even controlling for prior levels of emotionality. Implications for the assessment of stress are discussed.     

Multidimensional locus of control in sociopolitical activists of conservative and liberal ideologies.

Three studies were conducted to examine the relationship between a multi-dimensional measure of locus of control and sociopolitical activism, controlling for the effects of political ideology. In Study 1, 98 male college students completed a measure of conservatism-liberalism. Kerpelman's Activism scale, and locus of control scales designed to differentiate between two types of externals: belief in powerful others versus belief in chance forces. In Studies 2 and 3, female college students (Ns=26 and 40) who differed in the extent of their participation in leftist political activities or feminist causes responded to the multidimensional locus of control scales. As predicted, results from analyses of variance and trend analyses indicate that for liberals, increases in expectancies of control by powerful others are positively associated with increases in activism, while for conservatives, there is a negative relationship. The importance of controlling for ideology and the implications of the differentiated view of externality for understanding social action are discussed.     

The Relationship between Sex Offender Height and Pedophilic Interest

The current study examined the relationship between offender height and pedophilic interest (as measured by having a victim under 13 years old) in a sample of 22,228 registered sex offenders in the United States. Results revealed that offenders with victims age 12 and under were, on average, nearly one-quarter inch shorter than offenders of adults, and .18 inches shorter than those with minor teen victims. Implications for future research about the biological etiology of child sexual abuse perpetration are discussed, including the role of adverse childhood experiences in the neurodevelopment of offenders.     

Megan's Law and its impact on community re-entry for sex offenders

Community notification, known as "Megan's Law," provides the public with information about known sex offenders in an effort to assist parents and potential victims to protect themselves from dangerous predators. The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of community notification on the lives of registered sex offenders. Two hundred and thirty-nine sex offenders in Connecticut and Indiana were surveyed. The negative consequences that occurred with the greatest frequency included job loss, threats and harassment, property damage, and suffering of household members. A minority of sex offenders reported housing disruption or physical violence following community notification. The majority experienced psychosocial distress such as depression, shame, and hopelessness. Recommendations are made for community notification policies that rely on empirically derived risk assessment classification systems in order to better inform the public about sex offenders' danger while minimizing the obstacles that interfere with successful community reintegration.     

Generating Hypotheses After 14 Years of Marital Followup; Or,How Should One Speculate? A Reply to DeKay,Greeno, and Houck*

Gottman and Levenson (2002) for the purpose of post hoc speculation, developed a number of ordinary least squares regressions to model the length of marriage of divorcing couples in a 14-year longitudinal study. We believe that our analyses are appropriate for our purpose. We do not agree with DeKay, Greeno, and Houck (2002) that a duration-model approach would have been more appropriate, and instead argue that the analyses used are more powerful and generate more interesting speculations. When speculating, one makes an important contribution just by being interesting, not necessarily by being right. The purpose of post hoc speculation is to generate discussion, and we are pleased that even at the outset we have accomplished this goal. In this reply to DeKay et al., we argue that the two-process model for earlier versus later divorcing that we propose is both interesting and clinically useful.     

Sexual Relationships in Psychology Training: A Brief Comment on Ethical Guidelines and Coping Strategies

Research has suggested that sexual relationships between psychology educators and their students often have adverse consequences. Therefore, ethical guidelines setting limits on such relationships are proposed. Coping strategies are offered for students who experience sexual harassment from educators. The task of the administrator in handling complaints of harassment is also discussed.