Maternal working conditions and child well-being in welfare-leaving families

In the wake of welfare reform, thousands of low-income single mothers have transitioned into the labor market. In this article, the authors examine how the work conditions of mothers leaving welfare for employment are associated with the emotional well-being of 372 children ages 5 to 15 years. The authors examine the cumulative incidence, over a 5-year period, of maternal non-family-friendly work conditions, including long work hours, erratic work schedules, nonday shifts, and lengthy commute times, in association with children's internalizing and externalizing behavior problems and levels of positive behavior. The authors found that mothers' lengthy commute times are associated with higher levels of internalizing problem behaviors and lower levels of positive behaviors.     

The moderating influence of procedural fairness on the relationship between work-life conflict and organizational commitment

To help employees better manage work-life conflict, organizations have introduced various initiatives, which have met with mixed results. The present studies examined the utility of a procedurally based approach to understanding employees' reactions to work-life conflict. The authors examined whether the fairness of procedures used by organizational authorities to plan and implement decisions moderates the (inverse) relationship between work-life conflict and employees' organizational commitment. Three studies using different methodologies showed support for the moderating role played by procedural fairness. That is, the tendency for greater work-life conflict to lead to lower commitment was significantly less pronounced when procedural fairness was high rather than low. Theoretical contributions to the work-life conflict and organizational justice literatures are discussed, as are practical implications.     

Adaptation to display rotation and display gain distortions during drawing

The relationship between movement extent and movement direction coding mechanisms was investigated using a visuomotor adaptation paradigm. To determine if these mechanisms are either modular or interdependent, young healthy college students were tested while they performed a visually guided drawing task that incorporated varying combinations of movement distance and direction distortions. Analysis of participants' standardized movement duration, initial directional error, and movement length over the course of the adaptation process revealed a certain degree of interdependence between direction and extent coding mechanisms. Specifically, changes in final adaptation levels and after-effects depended on the order of introduction of the visual distortions. This interaction can be characterized as unidirectional, where alterations in rotational feedback interfere with subsequent adaptation to gain changes, whereas alterations in "display gain" do not significantly impede the adaptation to "display rotation". Moreover, simultaneous exposure to gain and rotational distortions resulted in better learning. The results argue against an independent coding of movement direction and extent during adaptation by the central nervous system.     

Illness perceptions or recurrence risk perceptions: What comes first? A longitudinal cross-lagged examination among cardiac patients

Objectives: Previous research suggested that illness perceptions provide the basis for illness risk perceptions through an inductive reasoning process. This study aimed to assess the direction of relationships between illness and recurrence risk perceptions over time, among cardiac patients.

Design: A longitudinal study was conducted among 138 patients undergoing coronary angioplasty. Self-report questionnaires measured perceived recurrence risk and illness perceptions one day and one month after catheterisation.

Results: Cross-lagged Panel Model Analyses revealed that higher perceptions of timeline, consequences and emotional representations of illness at hospitalisation were associated with higher recurrence risk perceptions one month later. Perceived personal control was the only illness perception with bi-directional associations: higher perceived personal control at hospitalisation was associated with higher recurrence risk perceptions one month later; and higher recurrence risk perceptions at hospitalisation was associated with lower personal control one month later.

Conclusions: The findings suggest that the associations between recurrence risk and illness perceptions can only partly be explained by inductive reasoning. Halo effects and defensive processes are suggested as complementary explanations for the observed associations between risk and illness perceptions.     

Perception of parents'' behavior, familial satisfaction, and sense of coherence in hyperactive children

The aim of the study was to compare the perceptions of hyperactive children with those of a nonhyperactive matched control group on the following dependent variables: (a) sense of coherence, (b) life satisfaction, and (c) perceptions of parental roles. Eighty-four children divided into two equal groups (27 boys and 15 girls in each group) were studied, by means of a short form of the Cornell Parent Behavior Inventory (PBI), the Sense of Coherence Scale, and a global measure of the Life Satisfaction Scale. The teachers rated each child on the Conners Abbreviated Symptom Questionnaire (ASQ), the Aggressive Behavior Scale, and a global evaluation of academic status. The data were analyzesd by multivariate analysis of variance, step-wise multiple regression, and Pearson correlation. The hyperactive children demontrated lower levels of sense of coherence: their environment seemed to them to be less ordered, to less manageable, and to bear less meaning. Study of the pereption of familial interactions highlighted the significance of the father's role for life satisfaction of the hyperactive children, and supportive behavior was perceived as contributing more than disciplinary acts to life satisfaction.     

Effect of the Commander's Ethnic Origin on Ethnic Attitudes of Israeli Soldiers1

This study examined the effect of the squad commander's ethnic origin on subordinates' interethnic attitudes. Thirty squads of recruits, serving in the Israeli army, took part in the study. Seventeen of the squad commanders were of Middle Eastern origin, and 13 of Western origin. Each squad contained both Middle Eastern and Western soldiers. Toward the end of the basic training, subjects responded to a series of questionnaires assessing their willingness to share various activities with both squad members and soldiers they did not know, as well as their evaluation of them. The results show- that those serving under a Western commander displayed more willingness to interact with Western than with Middle Eastern others. Subjects serving under a Western commander also evaluated more positively Western than Middle Eastern non-familiar soldiers. Those serving under a Middle Eastern commander displayed more willingness to share activities with Middle Eastern than with Western non familiar soldiers. They also evaluated nonfamiliar soldiers from Middle Eastern origins more positively than Western soldiers. The discussion focuses on the distinction between familiar and non familiar targets, and the role of “equal-status hypothesis” and “expectation states theory.”     

Benefit-Finding Improves Well-Being among Women Who Have Experienced Gender Discrimination

Sex Roles - Women experience gender discrimination in numerous important life domains, which can harm psychological well-being. Benefit-finding—identifying the positive implications of having...     

Mothers' citizenship status and household food insecurity among low-income children of immigrants

Recent data have shown that children of immigrant noncitizens experience more persistent and higher levels of food insecurity than the children of citizens following welfare reform. However, little is known about the range of factors that might explain different rates of food insecurity in the different populations. In this study, the authors used national data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten cohort to assess this question, using multivariate probit regression analyses in a low-income sample. They found that households of children (foreign and U.S.-born) with noncitizen mothers are at substantially greater risk of food insecurity than their counterparts with citizen mothers and that demographic characteristics such as being Latina, levels of maternal education, and large household size explain about half of the difference in rates.