Using Vignette Methodology as a Tool for Exploring Cultural Identity Positions of Language Brokers

This article examines how vignette methodology can aid understanding of cultural identity. This is demonstrated through a study of child language brokers, wherein a child is engaged in the cultural contexts of both the host culture and the home culture and must therefore negotiate new cultural identities. Participants were young people aged 15 to 18 years; some of them were brokers, others were not. Drawing on notions of adequacy and inadequacy, visibility and invisibility, theoretical ideas around cultural identity theory and dialogical self-theory can provide an understanding of how the young people moved through different (often conflicting) identity positions.     

“Editing” Genes: A Case Study About How Language Matters in Bioethics

Metaphors used to describe new technologies mediate public understanding of the innovations. Analyzing the linguistic, rhetorical, and affective aspects of these metaphors opens the range of issues available for bioethical scrutiny and increases public accountability. This article shows how such a multidisciplinary approach can be useful by looking at a set of texts about one issue, the use of a newly developed technique for genetic modification, CRISPRcas9.     

Why are unemployed aged fifty and over less likely to find a job? A decomposition analysis

Reemployment chances for unemployed aged fifty and over are low compared to those of younger persons. To explain the different chances, the job search literature has largely focused on the job search behavior of unemployed individuals. Based on job search models, we propose that not only job search behavior, but also wage setting behavior, attitudinal variables and personal variables impact the difference in reemployment opportunities. Besides gaining insight into which variables explain the difference in reemployment opportunities, we also test how much of the difference each of these variables explains. We do this by drawing on a decomposition analysis. Using data from 647 recently unemployed, we find that about one third of the reemployment gap can be explained by the variables suggested by job search models, mostly in terms of age differences in search behavior, educational levels and reservation wage. Hence, about 70 % can be ascribed to other factors, such as employer preferences for those aged between 18 and 49. Implications of these results for theory, policy and practice are discussed.     

When Do Personality and Emotion Predict Destructive Behavior During Relationship Conflict? The Role of Perceived Commitment Asymmetry

The current research examined whether perceived asymmetries in relationship commitment moderate the associations of personality traits and emotional states with enactment of hostile behavior during relationship conflicts. Participants included both members of 53 heterosexual romantic couples (M_age = 25.5 years). Participants completed questionnaire measures assessing personality traits, emotional states, relationship commitment, and perceptions of their partner's commitment. Participants then had an observed conflict discussion with their partner, which was rated by a panel of objective observers for hostile behavior. When participants perceived that they were less committed than their partners, their enactment of hostile behavior was predicted by traits and states that are associated with antisocial and pro‐social orientations (i.e., agreeableness, trait anger, chronic jealousy, and state negative emotion). In contrast, participants who perceived that they were more committed than their partners tended to refrain from hostile behavior, despite traits or states that may suggest hostile inclinations. These results suggest that perceiving that one is less committed than one's partner promotes behavioral expression of interpersonal dispositions and emotions, whereas perceiving that one is more committed than one's partner motivates inhibition of hostile behavior.