Exploring connections between environmental learning and behavior through four everyday-life case studies

Decades of research emphasize that information alone rarely influences environmental behavior. We addressed the question of, “what, then, does influence environmental behavior?” by asking more specifically: what factors mediate the relationship between learning about environmentally related issues and engaging in environmentally related behaviors? Following Yin’s case study approach, we designed a California (USA)-based case study focused on four everyday-life activities: purchasing food, commuting, engaging in leisure activities, and interacting with mobile technology. We grounded the study in four propositions that previous sociological, psychological, and learning sciences research suggested might influence learning–behavior connections in complex everyday-life contexts. To address the propositions across the four cases, we conducted 197 short, semi-structured interviews grounded in a narrative, relational frame. Using thematic content analysis, we found support for three of our propositions as mediators of learning–behavior connections; we also uncovered two emergent themes. Our findings suggest a web of elements that affect learning–behavior connections; those elements offer insights for environmentally related programming.     

Determinants of foster care placement for the maltreated child

This study examined the records of the North Carolina Central Registry of Child Abuse and Neglect to determine which social, family, and child characteristics were most influential in the decision to place a child in foster care. These records contained all theoretically relevant factors as well as demographic data. Analysis included the computation of odds ratios for foster care for each of 250 variables. A maximum likelihood logistic regression model was constructed to obtain the independent and cumulative contribution of each factor. Some expected variables such as parental stress factors (substance abuse) and types of abuse (burns and scalds) placed a child at a significant risk for placement in foster care (p < 0.01). However, less obvious factors such as referral source (law enforcement agencies) or geographic area also placed children at risk. Overall, the model explained little of the variance of these decisions (R² = 0.168) and poorly predicted placement (sensitivity 66.3 per cent, specificity 74.6 per cent). Using existing data. we were unable to adequately describe the decision process in selecting foster care.     

Personal Motivation Gone Awry: Burnout in Competitive Athletes

How individuals define themselves has considerable implications within the realms of sport. Considering the large proportion of African Americans participating in high profile college sports, matters of identity likely become quite relevant. This article addresses issues related to athletic and racial identity contextualized in the sport domain. The potential relationship between athletic identity (Brewer, Van Raalte, &; Linder, 1993) and the conceptualization of African American racial identity are explored. The framework of the Multidimensional Model of Racial Identity (MMRI; Sellers, Smith, Shelton, Rowley, &; Chavous, 1998) is used to investigate the potentially varied perceptions of African American collegiate student athletes' racial identities. Specifically, the salience and centrality of athletic identity, in addition, the roles that the multiple ideologies of the MMRI may play in sport are discussed. Directions for future research of the intersection of race and sport are forwarded.     

TV's distorted vision of poverty

Avoiding almost entirely the depiction of poverty during prime‐time broadcasts, television networks present a sentimentalized vision of economic deprivation that omits or minimizes hardship while idealizing the supposed benefits of a spartan way of life. Much happier than the harried members of middle‐ and upper‐income groups, poor and working people on television seldom strive against their economic fates or against the system. Conclusions are based on a monitoring of prime‐time entertainment broadcast by the three commercial networks during “ratings month.”