Peer status in an ethnic context: Associations with African American adolescents' ethnic identity

This investigation examined the association between ethnic identity centrality and peer status for African American adolescents who represented a sizable proportion, yet numerical minority within a high school context. Initial analyses indicated that a traditional sociometric nomination procedure did not adequately characterize peer status for African American adolescents. A modified nomination procedure varying the ethnicity of nominators yielded measures of African American adolescents' peer acceptance/rejection and perceived popularity as rated by African American or European American peers. Results suggest that high levels of peer acceptance and popularity as rated by African American peers were associated with high ethnic identity centrality; however, acceptance and popularity as rated by European American peers were unrelated to ethnic identity centrality among African American adolescents. Findings suggest the importance of examining peer status of African American adolescents with consideration given to ethnicity as a relevant context.     

The promise and potential of studying the “invisible hand” of teacher influence on peer relations and student outcomes: A commentary

Peers influence children's social-emotional development and school engagement in important and unique ways. Recent research on peer social networks documents that children are affected by the nature of the school-based peer ecology, as well as by their personal peer experiences. Yet, little is known about how teachers affect the peer ecology, nor how teachers can promote positive peer influences in the school context. The four studies in this special section examine this issue. Together, they document the promise and the potential of studying the “invisible hand” of teacher influence on peer relations, and illustrate the need for further research in this area. This commentary considers the contributions of these papers for conceptualizing processes of transactional teacher and peer influence on student outcomes, and implications for interventions designed to reduce problem behaviors or increase school engagement. In addition, it considers the limitations of current knowledge and directions for future research.     

Aligning inside and outside perspectives of the self: A cross‐cultural difference in self‐perception

Past research shows that European Americans tend to take a first‐person perspective to understand the self and are unlikely to align the inside look with the outside gaze, whereas Asians tend to take a third‐person perspective and are likely to shift their inside look in the direction of the outsize gaze. In three experiments, we compared Asians and European Americans' self‐perceptions when the presence of their parents in the background of self‐perception was primed or otherwise. Without the priming, both European Americans and Asians viewed themselves more positively from their own perspective than from their parents' perspective. With the priming, only Asians lowered the positivity of their self‐perceptions to match the perceived positivity of the self in the parents' perspective. These results suggest that Asians do not have a static, passive tendency to assimilate their self‐views into the perceived external assessments of the self. Rather, their self‐views are fluid and flexible.     

Supervisory interpretation of safety climate versus employee safety climate perception: Association with safety behavior and outcomes for lone workers

Research has shown that safety climate predicts safety behavior and safety outcomes in a variety of settings. Prior studies have focused on traditional work environments in which employees and supervisors work in the same location and the mechanisms through which safety climate affects behavior are largely understood. However, the nascent research examining safety climate among lone workers suggests that safety climate may have some uniqueness in this context. Based on leadership theories and utilizing an exploratory approach, this study increases our understanding of the lone worker context by examining employee perception of safety climate and supervisory interpretation of safety climate; how similar or different they are, and how they are related to important safety outcomes. Surveys were administered to a matched sample of 1831 truck drivers and their 219 supervisors at four different trucking companies. Objective data on employee injuries were collected six months after survey administration. The results provided support for the measurement equivalence of the Trucking Safety Climate Scale at the organization level for both employee and supervisor respondents. For both organization- and group-level safety climate, employee perceptions of safety climate and supervisory interpretation of safety climate were significantly different, such that supervisors provided higher ratings for both safety climate sub-scales. Further, only employee safety climate perceptions significantly predicted self-reported safety behavior (directly) and objective injury outcomes (indirectly). This suggests that when trying to gauge and improve upon a trucking company’s safety climate, we should rely on employee perspectives, rather than supervisory interpretation, of safety climate.     

Looking back and falling further behind: The moderating role of rumination on the relationship between organizational politics and employee attitudes,well-being,and performance

The current study tested the theoretically relevant, yet previously unexamined, role of rumination on the relationship between politics perceptions and a variety of threat responses. Drawing from Response Styles Theory, it was argued that rumination amplifies the effects of politics by enhancing the influence of negative information on cognition, interfering with problem-solving, and undermining sources of social support. The work stress literature, along with extant politics research, served to identify four variables – job satisfaction, tension, depressed work mood, and employee effort/performance – that served as study outcomes. Across three unique samples, hypothesized relationships were strongly supported, indicating that politics perceptions negatively affected work outcomes of high ruminators, but demonstrate little influence on those who engage in less rumination. Moreover, the nonlinear influences of the focal constructs were considered and the results confirmed atypical relational forms. Contributions, implications for theory and practice, strengths and limitations, and future research directions are described.     

Crossing road intersections in old age—With or without risks? Perceptions of risk and crossing behaviours among the elderly

Pedestrians aged over 65 are known to be a critical group in terms of road safety because they represent the age group with the highest number of fatalities or injured persons in road accidents. It is widely recognized that the latter is due to the physical vulnerability of this age group in case of injury. However, physical and cognitive decline come into play during the action of crossing a street. Various studies have attempted to connect the crossing behaviours of the elderly with variables such as age, gender, sensory acuity, level of attentiveness, physical decline and the design of intersections. In demonstrating the complexity of the relationship between people and their environments, the literature suggests that age, physical ability, and the spatial configuration of roads are major components of road safety. Moreover, people’s knowledge and mastery of their environments, as well as their ability to adapt to change affects how they move through space. Taking these factors into account, this study examines the perceptions of elderly pedestrians with regards to the quality and risks of road crossings in the context of Montréal, Québec, in Canada. The analyze are based on observations and questionnaires in order to bring to light a better understanding of the relationship between the crossing behaviours, characteristics and perceptions of the elderly. While previous studies have examined perception and observation separately, this study is unique in having looked at both angles simultaneously. Five profiles of elderly people in both urban and suburban environments were established. A sample of 181 elderly pedestrians (65–93 years of age, AVG = 74) were surveyed using a questionnaire. In addition to close-ended questions, respondents were asked to evaluate 17 environmental ambiance and risk behaviours according to various scales. Using principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), the data was grouped into 6 categories that define and distinguish 7 profiles of elderly people. These profiles were explored according to the socioeconomic status and crossing behaviours of respondents. The probabilities of adopting different crossing behaviours were tested by employing logistic regression models. The results reveal greater variability in the perceptions of the elderly in terms of risk related to crossing behaviours and type of signalisation at intersections. Even among seniors, the perceptions of risk varied greatly, which may have had an impact on their behaviours. While some of the behaviours observed coincided with the perceptions of respondents, the results of this study suggest that they only play a marginal role.     

Staff and Administrators’ Perceptions of Music Therapy with Acute Care Mental Health Inpatients: A Qualitative Investigation

The purpose of this qualitative study is to understand staff members’ and administrators’ perceptions of group-based music therapy in an acute care mental health setting. The researcher conducted semi-structured interviews with six experienced administrators and unit staff who were familiar with music therapy. Using an inductive approach to thematic analysis, the author identified six themes: (a) music constitutes an important role in patients’ lives, (b) patient-centricity and competence of the music therapist, (c) music therapy uniquely engages the patient with music, the music therapist, and peers, (d) music therapy shifts patients’ focus from internal to external, (e) music therapy is a normalizing experience that facilitates interaction, and (f) music therapy provides optimal conditions for cognitive, affective, and behavioral change. Implications for clinical practice, suggestions for future research, and limitations of the study are provided.     

Peer Assessment of Aviation Performance: Inconsistent for Good Reasons

Research into expertise is relatively common in cognitive science concerning expertise existing across many domains. However, much less research has examined how experts within the same domain assess the performance of their peer experts. We report the results of a modified think‐aloud study conducted with 18 pilots (6 first officers, 6 captains, and 6 flight examiners). Pairs of same‐ranked pilots were asked to rate the performance of a captain flying in a critical pre‐recorded simulator scenario. Findings reveal (a) considerable variance within performance categories, (b) differences in the process used as evidence in support of a performance rating, (c) different numbers and types of facts (cues) identified, and (d) differences in how specific performance events affect choice of performance category and gravity of performance assessment. Such variance is consistent with low inter‐rater reliability. Because raters exhibited good, albeit imprecise, reasons and facts, a fuzzy mathematical model of performance rating was developed. The model provides good agreement with observed variations.     

How Do Groups Work? Age Differences in Performance and the Social Outcomes of Peer Collaboration

Do children derive different benefits from group collaboration at different ages? In the present study, 183 children from two age groups (8.8  and 13.4 years) took part in a class quiz as members of a group, or individually. In some groups, cohesiveness was made salient by awarding prizes to the top performing groups. In other groups, prizes were awarded to the best performing individuals. Findings, both in terms of social outcomes and performance in the quiz, indicated that the 8‐year olds viewed the benefits of group membership in terms of the opportunities to receive information from other members. The 13‐year olds, in contrast, viewed group collaboration as a constructive process where success was connected with group cohesiveness.