Sex differences in social support in sororities and fraternities

Abstract

The purpose of this investigation was to assess differences between sorority and fraternity members with regard to the social support provided by the “sisters”; and “brothers”; with whom they live. Based on sex differences in communication in general, and the few findings of sex differences in social support, two research questions were posed: Do members of sororities and fraternities differ in the social support they provide? How do the various types of social support compare with each other within fraternities and within sororities?

Differences found in this study corroborate results of research on sex differences in communication that characterize women as using communication to connect with, support, and achieve closeness with others, and men using communication to accomplish some task and to assert their individuality. In general, differences were mostly confined to two of the eight types of social support studied: members of sororities, in comparison to members of fraternities, reported being more satisfied with the emotional support they receive and perceiving greater availability of listening support. If the goal of fraternities and sororities is to provide their members with the full range of social support, then findings indicate members of fraternities could benefit from becoming more skillful at providing types of support that tend to promote closeness and connection (e.g., emotional support and listening support); and members of sororities could benefit from becoming more skillful at providing types of support that tend to create distance and separation (e.g., technical challenge support and emotional challenge support).     

Social support and perceived understanding in the brother relationship

Social support is an important factor in peoples' physical and psychological well‐being. Pierce, Sarason, & Sarason (1991) identified three social support styles: relationship support, relationship conflict, and interpersonal depth. This study was interested in the relationship between these three styles with perceived understanding in the brother‐brother relationship. Ninety‐six sets of brothers completed a questionnaire reporting on the styles they use with their brothers and their feelings of being understood. Results showed overall positive relationships between the styles of relationship support and interpersonal depth with perceived understanding. The style of relationship conflict was negatively related to perceived understanding. Additionally, brothers reported using similar support styles with one another.     

Saying no in Chinese and English: Cultural similarities and differences in strategies of refusal

This study examines cultural similarities and differences in strategies of refusal by presenting realistic request scenarios which manipulate levels of imposition of the request, the amount of obligation to the requestee as well as the relational closeness. Differences in self‐reported refusal strategies between Chinese in Taiwan and Americans were assessed across four conditions. It was hypothesized that obligation and relational closeness would determine whether or not Chinese in Taiwan would refuse and that they would be likely to select less assertive refusal strategies while US subjects would generally find it easier to refuse using more assertive strategies regardless of obligation or relational closeness. Subjects were asked to judge what was the most important value for them in each of four situations. These outcomes were compared with scores on Markus and Kitayama's (1991) interdependence/independence scale to test hypotheses about how Taiwan and US subjects would be likely to behave. Several unexpected findings based on culture and gender were observed in the study. This study suggests that refusal is a much more complex behaviour than we expected for both US culture and that of Taiwan.     

MARC21和CNMARC对网络信息资源编目的异同分析

网络信息资源有序化是网络环境越来越重要的需求,图书馆利用MARC格式能够有效组织网络资源。文章分析对比了MARC21和CNMARC两种格式为网络信息资源编目的异同,提出利用两种格式分别组织中文和西文网络资源,从而提高图书馆在网络环境中的地位和作用。     

Examining the quality of social support messages produced face-to-face and in computer-mediated communication: The effects of hyperpersonal communication

ABSTRACT

The hyperpersonal communication model was used to investigate the implications of the reduced social cues in computer-mediated communication (CMC) for the production of social support messages. Participants were randomly assigned to interact with a confederate seeking help about a problem for which the confederate was or was not responsible. The interactions took place either face-to-face or in one of two CMC conditions. The results were partially consistent with the intensification effect proposed in the hyperpersonal model. Participants evaluated the confederate most negatively, but produced the highest quality support messages, in the CMC condition with visual anonymity followed by the CMC condition and face-to-face condition. Participants’ evaluations of the confederate were also influenced by the confederate’s responsibility for their problem.     

Use of social networks and information seeking behavior of students during political crises in Pakistan: A case study

This study was undertaken to investigate the use of social networks and political activism on the Internet by the students of three universities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi during the political crises for the last one year and the emergency imposed by the Government of Pakistan on November 3, 2007. The findings conclude that Internet use by the students promoted democracy, freedom of expression and greater awareness about their rights during the political crises in Pakistan.

The survey method of research was used to collect data. The sample consisted of 420 students studying at the Quaid-e-Azam University Islamabad, Fatima Jinnah Women University, Rawalpindi, and International Islamic University Islamabad, Pakistan. The questionnaire was sent to the students by email. The survey was administered through SurveyMonkey website. The response rate was 72.23%.

The paper is a useful source of information about how the social networking tools have been influencing and changing communication channels in Pakistan.     

中外在数字信息长期保存中有关知识产权问题的法律对策异同分析

知识产权问题是当前中外各国数字信息保存领域面临的共同难点。文章对中外各国数字信息从采编到利用服务的全过程所遇到的知识产权问题进行详尽剖析,揭示各国在数字信息长期保存中面临的知识产权困境和相关法律法规的制订及不足,并由此提出初步的解决方案与建议。     

A scoping review of individual differences in information seeking behavior and retrieval research between 2000 and 2015

Individual differences have long been of interest in information science as they bear on the design of information systems and services for specific populations. Yet little is known as to which individual differences make a difference to search outcomes, both across applications and for diverse user groups. A scoping study of information seeking and retrieval research from 2000 to 2015 was conducted. Over 2100 articles retrieved from eight scholarly databases were screened based on title, abstract, and full-text (using specified inclusion criteria), resulting in 223 papers for analysis. Data were extracted to provide an overview of the literature, including types of individual differences studied, publication volume over time, measures, samples, and study outcomes. Findings are inconclusiveness regarding how individual differences affect search outcomes, and raise issues around measurement and generalizability. This study represents an essential first step to developing a more systematic investigation of individual differences research and connecting individual research studies to anchor and guide future work.     

Research universities on the ResearchGate social networking site: An examination of institutional differences,research activity level,and social networks formed

As one of the largest active academic social networking sites, ResearchGate (RG) has been utilized by scholars to share publications, seek collaborators, communicate work in progress, and build scholarly reputation. This study collects data from RG users from 61 U.S. research universities at different research activity levels, as categorized by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, to examine the impact of institutional differences on RG reputational metrics. The results confirm that RG is a research-oriented academic social networking site that closely and realistically mirrors the research activity level of institutions. With an increase in the research activity level of a university, its affiliated RG users tend to have higher RG scores, more publications and citations, and more profile views and followers, while the average number of reads of their publications and followees tend to be lower and fluctuant. In addition, RG users primarily follow others from institutions of a higher research activity level, forming virtual social networks centered around esteemed institutions. The study suggests academic social networks can serve as indicators in evaluation of research activities among research institutions, and such sites can be helpful and credible for acquiring resources, keeping informed about research, and promoting academic influence.     

Approaching the motivators for information seeking: The viewpoint of attribution theories

Psychological attribution theories can be applied to understanding the motivators of information seeking. Attribution theory, which was developed by Bernard Weiner in the 1970s and subsequently updated, suggests that an individual's willingness to engage in information seeking in a current situation is dependent on how the person attributes the causes of past success or failure of information seeking efforts. The main causal factors affecting information seeking efforts are ability, effort, task difficulty, and luck. Motivation to seek information depends on whether the causal factors are seen as internal or external, stable or unstable, and controllable or uncontrollable. Weiner's ideas can be used to examine the motivators for information seeking and information avoidance. The theory can also be used in information literacy education approaches.     

Cognitive and emotional dimensions of perceived risk characteristics,genre-specific media effects,and risk perceptions: the case of H1N1 influenza in South Korea

This study explicates the mechanism underlying the process through which news and entertainment media shape people's personal- and societal-level risk perceptions. It combines the psychometric paradigm with the impersonal- and differential-impact hypotheses, highlighting the roles that cognitive and emotional dimensions of risk characteristics play in risk perceptions. Analysis of an online survey among 384 adults from the general population of South Korea in the context of H1N1 flu yields three major findings: (1) exposure to news media is positively correlated with the cognitive dimension of risk characteristics, while exposure to entertainment media is positively correlated with both the cognitive and the emotional dimensions of risk characteristics; (2) the emotional but not the cognitive dimension of risk characteristics is positively related to both personal- and societal-level risk perceptions; and (3) exposure to entertainment media affects personal-level risk perceptions – not directly but indirectly through the emotional dimension of risk characteristics. Theoretically, this study expands the impersonal- and differential-impact hypotheses by explicating their underlying mechanisms and incorporating arguments from the psychometric paradigm. It also adds new knowledge to the psychometric paradigm by highlighting the differential roles of the cognitive and emotional dimensions of people's perceived risk characteristics in risk perceptions. For risk communicators, this study highlights the importance of using entertainment media for shaping risk perceptions and educating the public about risk issues.     

Democracy in the workplace: Theory and practice from the perspective of communication

This essay considers a range of issues related to workplace democracy in the contemporary industrialized world. Although drawing from a broad multi‐disciplinary literature, the essay emphasizes topics that can be usefully explored from the perspective of communication and sound contributions that can be made to theory and practice from such an engagement of the field. The essay essentially argues for the widespread democratization of work but not without considering realistic limitations to that ideal. The case of the Mondragon worker cooperatives, in the Basque region of Spain, is offered to demonstrate both the promise and problems of workplace democracy.     

Social support within an on-line cancer community: an assessment of emotional support,perceptions of advantages and disadvantages,and motives for using the community from a communication perspective

This study investigated an on-line cancer support community emphasizing communication concerns important to the community administrators. The researcher conducted an on-line survey of participants (N v = v 103) focused on their on-line communication activities and social support. The results indicate a modest negative correlation between emotional support received on-line and perceived stress, differences in emotional support scores based on perceptions of disadvantages of on-line support groups, and different motives for using the community between people with cancer and family members. The study also describes suggestions based on the results that were made to community administrators and which could be used by other on-line support communities.     

Internet in the workplace: censorship, liability, and freedom of speech

Most hospital medical libraries are supported by private, corporate funds and thus fall under the corporation's policies in regard to discrimination, harassment, and sexual harassment. With the free flow of information available on the Internet and through e-mail, it is mandatory to create a corporate policy for appropriate use and review of materials. Access to "questionable" or inappropriate Internet sites is not a freedom of speech issue in a private corporation; it is a potential liability for the corporation, the library, and the librarian. It is also a misuse of company resources.     

The importance of the library in medical education

The medical library assumes increasing importance to teaching and research. While funds for research, medical education, and improved facilities for patients have been increasing and are relatively easy to obtain, however, it has been extraordinarily difficult to obtain funds for the building and maintenance of medical libraries. The National Library of Medicine is attempting to preserve the record of medical knowledge and by means of mechanization provide more efficient service to physicians and scientists, but one, or a few, great libraries cannot serve the medical interests of the country. Federal support such as the program of grants in the proposed Medical Library Assistance Act is needed to assist local and regional efforts to improve library service.