Effects of Concerns About Child Care Among Single, Employed Black Mothers with Preschool Children

This study investigated whether differences in child care arrangements and mothers' attitudes about leaving their child in nonmaternal care were associated with maternal psychological well-being and perceptions of children in a sample of single, employed, low-income, Black mothers who were former welfare recipients. Feelings of discomfort with regard to nonmaternal care were associated with higher levels of maternal depressive symptomatology, which, in turn, predicted more negative perceptions of children. Preference for employment and increased working hours were associated with greater life satisfaction. Maternal education and the gender of the child were important moderating variables. Type of child care arrangement was nonsignificant. Policy implications are discussed.     

Descartes' Metaphysical Doubts about Clear and Distinct Perception

Descartes' metaphysical doubts in the Third and Fifth Meditations present a scenario like this:it is possible that I (the Meditator) am so imperfect as to be deceived by my author (i.e.,an omnipotent God/Deceiver) in the matters which I think I perceive clearly and distinctly.The metaphysical doubts attempt to cast doubt on beliefs based on present or recollected clear and distinct perceptions.This paper clarifies the intension of the metaphysical doubts by answering the question of how an omnipotent God/Deceiver might exercise a deceptive influence on clear and distinct perception.My analysis shows:(1) the memory interpretation and the retrospective interpretation to be implausible;(2) the incoherence interpretation to be ill-founded,though its conclusion is partly right,such that we should accept a weaker version of it;(3) the misrepresentation interpretation,the defective-origin interpretation,the truth-value variation interpretation and the radical interpretation to be plausible;(4) all of these credible interpretations to be compatible with each other as well.     

Are You Being Served? The Relationship between School Climate for Service and Teachers' Engagement,Satisfaction, and Intention to Leave: A Moderated Mediation Model

The notion of service has been receiving increasing attention in organizational psychology literature in recent years, due to the client-oriented managerial movement. Yet, little to no attention has been paid to the service notion in educational psychology despite its high relevance to educational settings, given the pressure to be more service-oriented and possess a client-focused state of mind. The present study explores the notion of service in school domains by examining the joint effects of climate for service and the internal service in schools on teachers' work attitudes: work engagement, job satisfaction, and intention to leave their work. The notion of climate for service emphasizes the school's attitude of teachers as service providers to its clients (students and their parents); internal climate emphasizes the school's attitude of providing service to its teaching staff. The study was conducted via a sample of 423 teachers from 30 different schools in Israel. We hypothesized that the indirect relationship between the climate for service and teachers' job satisfaction and intention to leave work would be mediated by teacher work engagement. Our findings supported this hypothesis. Moreover, this indirect relationship via teacher work engagement was demonstrated most strongly when the internal service quality received was high, providing teachers with the capability to deliver what the service climate motivates them to do. Therefore, service-oriented resources—both climate for service and internal service—may be crucial in affecting teachers work attitudes and should be specifically targeted by principals and other educational decision makers.