Behavior analysts in the war on poverty: A review of the use of financial incentives to promote education and employment

Poverty is a pervasive risk factor underlying poor health. Many interventions that have sought to reduce health disparities associated with poverty have focused on improving health‐related behaviors of low‐income adults. Poverty itself could be targeted to improve health, but this approach would require programs that can consistently move poor individuals out of poverty. Governments and other organizations in the United States have tested a diverse range of antipoverty programs, generally on a large scale and in conjunction with welfare reform initiatives. This paper reviews antipoverty programs that used financial incentives to promote education and employment among welfare recipients and other low‐income adults. The incentive‐based, antipoverty programs had small or no effects on the target behaviors; they were implemented on large scales from the outset, without systematic development and evaluation of their components; and they did not apply principles of operant conditioning that have been shown to determine the effectiveness of incentive or reinforcement interventions. By applying basic principles of operant conditioning, behavior analysts could help address poverty and improve health through development of effective antipoverty programs. This paper describes a potential framework for a behavior‐analytic antipoverty program, with the goal of illustrating that behavior analysts could be uniquely suited to make substantial contributions to the war on poverty.     

Recognition of workplace bullying: a qualitative study of women targets in the public sector

Workplace bullying is increasingly acknowledged as a major workplace stressor in the UK and Europe. However, identification and recognition of workplace bullying remain problematic, among targets and within organisations. This paper reports a qualitative study which explored experiences of bullying among ten British women targets, all public sector professionals. Data were collected using in‐depth interviews and analysed using grounded theory methods. Findings showed how these targets struggled to identify and cope with bullying. Major themes or processes identified from targets' accounts included: minimising interpersonal difficulties; preserving self; maintaining commitments to professional and organisational values and cultures; sickness explanations; and naming the problem. This research has implications for the development of coping strategies by targets and organisations, and raises questions about the type of support needed to facilitate recognition of workplace bullying. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

RACE DIFFERENCES IN TERMINATION AT WORK: THE ROLE OF EDUCATIONAL INEQUALITY

Prior research has demonstrated that race, at least to some extent, is related to employment decisions such as selection and performance appraisals. However, little prior research has addressed the impact of race on employment termination. The current study investigates whether race is related to employment termination and highlights the importance of education, an important component of human capital, in understanding racial differences in termination. Results based on 548 employees from a large hotel chain indicate that race is related to termination; however, race is not predictive of termination when education is included in the regression analysis as a predictor. These findings support the notion that a societal level variable (i.e., education) is an important factor in reducing racial inequality in employment practices.     

The Role of Maternal Employment, Role-Altering Strategies, and Gender in College Students’ Expectations of Work–Family Conflict

We examined the relationship between maternal employment and college students’ expected work–family conflict as well as the relationship between expected conflict and the anticipated use of family-altering and career-altering strategies. Results indicated a positive relationship between the extensiveness of maternal employment and expected work–family conflict only for men. In addition, students who expected extensive work–family conflict anticipated delaying marriage, limiting the number of children they will have, and, in the case of men, intending not to have children. There was no relationship between expected work–family conflict and the anticipated use of career-altering strategies. Implications of the findings and directions for future research are discussed.     

退休规划的研究现状和本土化发展

退休规划是个体在退休前为保障将来的退休生活做出的长期准备。退休规划不仅有利于退休人员生活幸福, 还有助于缓解社会保障体系的压力, 在较早进入老龄化的国家已经得到重视。通过回顾国外相关研究, 本文归纳出退休规划的六个具体领域(财务、健康、社交休闲、工作、心理、居住), 总结并评价了过去研究应用的主要理论基础(角色理论、计划过程理论、资源视角、生态系统理论)和有代表性的测量工具。汇总分析了退休规划在人口学、环境和心理三层面上的影响因素以及对过渡型就业和退休适应两阶段的影响。基于研究概念的发展以及中国国情, 未来研究应该首先开发本土化工具, 合理选择理论视角并系统研究规划的各个领域, 验证并创新退休规划的影响因素研究, 注重中国国情问题并加强干预研究。     

Staying in the Race: Counselor Visits and Job Search Confidence Among People With Disabilities

Support that helps job seekers maintain confidence might decrease unemployment rates among people with disabilities. In this study, clients described their employment barriers (disability, education, and work history) and then reported their job search confidence 3 times at 6‐month intervals. Their employment support agency provided information about the support (counseling visits, support hours, and financial resources) it delivered. Clients with more disabilities and education barriers experienced declines in job search confidence unless they received intensive levels of employment counseling. Three visits to a counselor maintained client confidence, and confidence improved only after 18 visits. Other service intensity indicators (support hours and financial resources) did not halt confidence declines.     

The Inwald Personality Inventory (IPI) and Hilson Research inventories: Development and rationale

This article provides a “behind-the-scenes” account of how and why the Inwald/ Hilson tests were developed. Since the 1970s, personality testing has been adapted and customized for use in selecting applicants for different occupations, including police, public safety, fire and emergency services personnel. The author developed the Inwald Personality Inventory (IPI) in 1979 as the first comprehensive behaviorally-based personality measure designed and validated specifically for use in high risk occupations, such as law enforcement. Over time, studies consistently demonstrated that the IPI was a better predictor of poor job performance than were traditional tests of psychopathology. While antisocial behavior patterns and characteristics measured by the IPI predicted poor job performance, there also developed a need for measures that would predict above-average/excellent performance in the workplace. In 1988, the author designed and validated the first comprehensive test of “positive” work-related characteristics or “emotional IQ,” the Hilson Personnel Profile/Success Quotient (HPP/SQ). Other instruments followed, including the Inwald Survey 5 — Revised (IS5-R) with questions added on domestic violence. This article describes the theoretical rationale, development and validation of several instruments developed by the author and now widely used for high risk occupations and for screening corporate managers and key personnel in occupational settings.     

SOCIAL INTERACTIONS IN THREE SUPPORTED EMPLOYMENT OPTIONS: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

Controversy exists over the benefits that workers with severe disabilities accrue under different supported employment options. This study focused upon one benefit of supported employment: social integration. Direct observation procedures were used to assess the social interactions of 37 adults with severe disabilities in 18 employment programs representing three different supported employment contexts (individual, enclave, and work crew). Results indicated that workers employed in individual and enclave programs had significantly more contact with nondisabled persons than did members of work crews. No differences were detected in the social contact rate between disabled and nondisabled workers in individual versus enclave sites. Furthermore, few differences in type of interactions across the three different work options were revealed. Results suggest that both individual and enclave models are capable of facilitating social integration. However, characteristics of specific job sites, more so than the employment model per se, may determine whether a particular employment setting is conducive to social integration.     

Gender Roles: An Examination of the Hopes and Expectations of the Next Generation of Managers in Canada and China

Through a survey of 214 Canadian and 160 Chinese business students, we investigated students hopes and expectations regarding their future spouses employment and family roles relative to their own. The results of this exploratory study show that a large proportion of the students from both countries hope for equality between spouses, especially in the distribution of domestic tasks. However, significant discrepancies exist between their ideal hopes and their expectations of what will actually happen in reality. Many men and women of both countries expect that the wives will do more of the domestic work and have less prestigious jobs and lower earnings than their husbands. The between-sex and cross-national differences in gender role hopes and expectations were also explored.