Dynamic and Static Work-Family Relationships

This study investigated the linkages between work and family of 281 dual-employed couples. First, we developed a theoretical framework, distinguishing between the causal direction and the sign of the relationship between work and family. We classified the social and psychological mechanisms that explain specific directions and signs of work–family relationships and reviewed the empirical literature from the point of view of this framework. We then provided an illustration of how this framework can be used to generate a model for a specific sample. We generated a model and corresponding hypotheses for a sample of dual-employed couples in which the male′s career was dominant and analyzed these hypotheses by testing males and females separately using LISREL 7. In our sample, the relationship between work and family was reciprocal for males, suggesting a dynamic system in which males were able to adjust one domain to compensate for the other. Females exhibited a unidirectional relationship from family to work involvement, suggesting a static system. For both males and females, the family → work involvement relationship was negative as hypothesized. For males, the work → family relationship was positive. There were some similarities and some differences in the influence of exogenous constructs in the models for males and females. Results are discussed in terms of the importance of understanding dynamic versus static models of work and family relationships and the potential role of organizations in helping their employees lower the fixed demands of the family.     

Some fear-potentiating effects of fluprazine hydrochloride in mice

The fear-potentiating effects of fluprazine hydrochloride were explored in a series of five experiments. The drug was found to strongly inhibit entry into a novel open field, exploration of a complex maze, or approach to a novel object placed in the animal's home cage. Time sampling techniques were used to assess drug effects on frequencies of immobility, activity, and grooming and rearing responses prior to and for 70 min after footshock. There were no group differences during the 10 min immediately following shock but the groups diverged steadily in immobility, activity, and grooming for the remainder of the observations. Post-shock activity and grooming responses increased steadily towards baseline values among control mice but remained at low levels or declined among drug-treated mice. Immobility responses declined steadily among control mice but increased substantially among the fluprazine-treated mice throughout post-shock observations. Pairs of male mice treated with fluprazine were also found to maintain greater intermouse distances in a novel linear runway than pairs of undrugged adult males, juvenile males, or male-female pairs. It is suggested that fluprazine hydrochloride both potentiates fear and alters its time course in addition to interfering in some way with normal olfactory processes.     

Adults' beliefs about children and mathematics: how important is it and how do children learn about it?

A series of studies was conducted which focused on US adults' beliefs about the relative importance of acquiring mathematical skills for preschool children and about how children acquire these skills. In Study 1, adults rated general information, reading and social skills as all being more important than mathematical skills. They also claimed that parents have the most influence on preschool children's learning regardless of content area. In Study 2, the parents of kindergarten children also rated reading, general information and social skills as all being more important than mathematics in preparing children for the first grade. The more important parents felt mathematics were, the more they reported engaging in a variety of mathematical-related activities with their children. However, the importance they placed on mathematics was not related to their child's actual mathematical performance. In summary, adults seem to value mathematics less than other skills in preparing young children to enter elementary school. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Language-experience facilitates discrimination of /d-th/ in monolingual and bilingual acquisition of English

To trace how age and language experience shape the discrimination of native and non-native phonetic contrasts, we compared 4-year-olds learning either English or French or both and simultaneous bilingual adults on their ability to discriminate the English /d-th/ contrast. Findings show that the ability to discriminate the native English contrast improved with age. However, in the absence of experience with this contrast, discrimination of French children and adults remained unchanged during development. Furthermore, although simultaneous bilingual and monolingual English adults were comparable, children exposed to both English and French were poorer at discriminating this contrast when compared to monolingual English-learning 4-year-olds. Thus, language experience facilitates perception of the English /d-th/ contrast and this facilitation occurs later in development when English and French are acquired simultaneously. The difference between bilingual and monolingual acquisition has implications for language organization in children with simultaneous exposure.     

A longitudinal examination of breadth and intensity of youth activity involvement and successful development

Connections between youth activity involvement and indicators of successful development were examined in a longitudinal high school sample. Drawing on theories of expertise skill development (e.g., J. C?té, 1999); the selection, optimization, and compensation framework (P. B. Baltes, 1997); and theories of positive youth development (e.g., R. M. Lerner, J. B. Almerigi, C. Theokas, & J. Lerner, 2005), reciprocal associations between breadth and intensity of activity involvement and developmental success were explored. Time 1 breadth (but not intensity) and increases in breadth predicted higher levels of successful development at Time 2 (20 months later). Time 1 developmental success and improvements predicted greater Time 2 breadth and intensity. Implications for research and theory related to connections between youth activity involvement and successful development are discussed.     

Mentorship behaviors and mentorship quality associated with formal mentoring programs: closing the gap between research and practice

Formal mentoring programs continue to gain popularity within organizations despite limited empirical research regarding how these programs should be designed to achieve maximum effectiveness. The present study examined perceived design features of formal mentoring programs and outcomes from both mentor and protégé perspectives. The outcomes examined were career and psychosocial mentoring, role modeling, and mentorship quality. In general, the results indicated that perceived input into the mentoring process and training perceived as high in quality were consistently related to the outcome variables. Implications for the design of formal mentoring programs and future theory development are discussed.     

The efficacy of noncontingent escape for decreasing children's disruptive behavior during restorative dental treatment

We evaluated the effectiveness of a dentist-implemented behavioral intervention in which brief escape from dental treatment was provided on a regular basis, independent of the child's behavior. Within a multiple baseline design across subjects, 5 children, ages 4 to 7 years, were provided with temporary escape from dental treatment on a fixed-time schedule. The intervals were signaled by an electronic timer worn by the dentist. Clinically significant reductions were observed in physically disruptive behavior across all 5 children with the introduction of noncontingent escape, and verbally disruptive behavior was markedly reduced in 4 of the 5 children. In addition, the dental staff s use of physical restraint was reduced to near zero across all 5 children. The research extends the literature in both clinical dentistry and in applied behavior analysis by demonstrating that a dentist can easily and effectively implement noncontingent reinforcement to produce clinically significant and socially important changes in children's health behavior.     

Socialized charismatic leadership, values congruence, and deviance in work groups

The authors conducted a field study to investigate the relationship between socialized charismatic leadership and deviance in work groups. Because socialized charismatic leaders are thought to play an ethical leadership role, the authors hypothesized that the socialized charismatic leadership style would be associated with reduced deviance in the leader's work group. This prediction was supported for both the interpersonal and the organizational dimensions of deviance. Next, the authors examined the mediating role of values congruence. The results were partially supportive of the values congruence mediating hypothesis. Implications for future research and for management are discussed.     

Gender-specific movement strategies using a computer-pointing task

Females typically demonstrate a movement time advantage for tasks requiring high levels of manual dexterity, whereas males are notably better at targeting activities. According to D. Kimura (2000), the hunter-gatherer hypothesis primarily accounts for those performance advantages; that dichotomy fails, however, when one makes movement outcome predictions for tasks that are not clearly fine-motor or interceptive in nature. Investigators have recently proposed that time constraints (M. Peters, 2005) and gender-specific response style differences (M. Peters & P. Campagnaro, 1996; L. E. Rohr, 2006) affect motor performance. Here, the author used a computer-pointing task measuring both movement error and movement time in 16 participants to further investigate response style differences. Kinematic and linear regression analyses between resultant error and both movement time and task difficulty reinforced the notion that gender-specific movement biases emphasize speed and accuracy, respectively, for men and women.