Age and Education Differences in Marriages and their Effects on Life Satisfaction

Within marriages husbands typically tend to be older and higher educated than their wife. This paper tries to explain this by analyzing whether age and education differences between spouses have an effect on happiness. Two alternative hypotheses are tested on the relation between age and education gaps between partners and life satisfaction. It is found that a positive age gap between husband and wife increases both male and female life satisfaction, while female life satisfaction increases if the education gap is smaller.     

Can we disregard the whole model? Omnibus non-inferiority testing for R2 in multi-variable linear regression and in ANOVA

Determining a lack of association between an outcome variable and a number of different explanatory variables is frequently necessary in order to disregard a proposed model (i.e., to confirm the lack of a meaningful association between an outcome and predictors). Despite this, the literature rarely offers information about, or technical recommendations concerning, the appropriate statistical methodology to be used to accomplish this task. This paper introduces non-inferiority tests for ANOVA and linear regression analyses, which correspond to the standard widely used F test for and R², respectively. A simulation study is conducted to examine the Type I error rates and statistical power of the tests, and a comparison is made with an alternative Bayesian testing approach. The results indicate that the proposed non-inferiority test is a potentially useful tool for ‘testing the null’.     

Social Capital, Social Networks, and Political Participation

Social Capital is created through the patterns of interdependence andsocial interaction that occur within a population, and we attempt to understand the participatory consequences of these patterns relative to the effects of human capital and organizational involvement. The production of social capital in personal networks was examined with the use of social network and participation data from the 1992 American study of the Cross National Election Project. The results suggest that politically relevant social capital (that is, social capital that facilitates political engagement) is generated in personal networks, that it is a by-product of the social interactions with a citizen's discussants, and that increasing levels of politically relevant social capital enhance the likelihood that a citizen will be engaged in politics. Further, the production of politically relevant social capital is a function of the political expertise within an individual's network of relations, the frequency of political interaction within the network, and the size or extensiveness of the network. These results are sustained even while taking account of a person's individual characteristics and organizational involvement. Hence, the consequences of social relations within networks are not readily explained away on the basis of either human capital effects or the effects of organizational engagement.     

Use of experimenter-given cues in dogs

Since the observations of O. Pfungst the use of human-provided cues by animals has been well-known in the behavioural sciences (“Clever Hans effect”). It has recently been shown that rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) are unable to use the direction of gazing by the experimenter as a cue for finding food, although after some training they learned to respond to pointing by hand. Direction of gaze is used by chimpanzees, however. Dogs (Canis familiaris) are believed to be sensitive to human gestural communication but their ability has never been formally tested. In three experiments we examined whether dogs can respond to cues given by humans. We found that dogs are able to utilize pointing, bowing, nodding, head-turning and glancing gestures of humans as cues for finding hidden food. Dogs were also able to generalize from one person (owner) to another familiar person (experimenter) in using the same gestures as cues. Baseline trials were run to test the possibility that odour cues alone could be responsible for the dogs’ performance. During training individual performance showed limited variability, probably because some dogs already “knew” some of the cues from their earlier experiences with humans. We suggest that the phenomenon of dogs responding to cues given by humans is better analysed as a case of interspecific communication than in terms of discrimination learning. Received: 30 May 1998 / Accepted after revision: 6 September 1998     

New frameworks for careers guidance: developing a conceptual model of the interview

Recent research has highlighted limitations in our understanding of the dynamics occurring within the careers guidance interview. A study was conducted of how the client and practitioner engage in the exchange within the interview and how meanings are negotiated and received by each of the participants. The objectives for the study were to examine a sample of guidance interviews in order to: (i) identify which interventions by practitioners are perceived as helpful and unhelpful by clients and practitioners; (ii) establish how helpful and unhelpful interventions relate to change in understanding; and (iii) compare and contrast the identification and commentaries by practitioners and clients. The results showed that practitioners reported significantly more helpful interventions than clients and that there was limited agreement in the identification of interventions. Three thematic categories were derived to group the helpful interventions. This analysis provided the basis for the development of a conceptual model of the interview. Further research to test the model and assess its potential to inform careers guidance training and practice is outlined.     

“God as Friend”: Metaphoric Theology in Pastoral Care

Because of postmodernity's claim of deconstruction, the naming of God has become a crucial issue for a hermeneutics of pastoral care. Inadequate and inappropriate perceptions of God, because of specific experiences of faith, create unhelpful images of God which eventually lead to a pathology of faith. Taking into consideration the figurative means of symbolic language and its rootedness in culture, this article explores the possibility of the metaphor, God as Friend, in order to move beyond the paradigm of the suffering God (theopaschitic theology) to the paradigm of the faithful God—God as our Soul Friend.     

The curvilinear effect of work engagement on employees' turnover intentions

Numerous studies have shown the positive consequences of work engagement for both organisations and employees experiencing it. For instance, research has demonstrated that work‐engaged employees have lower levels of turnover intentions than non‐engaged employees. However, in this research, we examined whether there is a dark side of work engagement. More precisely, we investigated whether the relationship between work engagement and employees' turnover intentions might be non‐linear. Based on two different samples, our results indicated that the relationship between work engagement and employees' turnover intentions is curvilinear. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.     

Exposing information sharing as strategic behavior: power as responsibility and “Trust” buttons

Online platforms' success depends on individual's information sharing (IS). However, previous research showed that “knowledge is power” is a default‐perception in organizations and that individuals share relatively unimportant information while keeping the important private information for themselves. Trust has also been identified as important enabler of IS. We examined the role of power construed as responsibility for others' outcomes and of a “Trust” button, a theory‐inspired technological feature, using a 2(Power construals: opportunity vs. responsibility) × 2(Buttons: “Like” vs. “Like‐or‐Trust”) × 2(Information sharedness as within‐subjects factor; public, private) design. Findings showed that construing power as responsibility and “Trust” button's presence increased the sharing of private information; clicking behavior yielded insights into the underlying mechanisms. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.