Communication and helping behavior: The effects of information,reinforcement, and sex on helping responses

While the phenomenon of helping behavior is usually preceded by some kind of communicative interaction, the communicative interaction has not been studied as extensively as other factors. In this study, information and reinforcement were varied, along with requester and receiver sex. In a field study, individuals were selected randomly from the telephone directory and were asked to help the caller by placing another telephone call (to a confederate). Of all the possible interactions, only the receiver‐sex‐information‐helping, and the helping‐caller sex‐receiver sex were significant. In general, the effects of information were much stronger than those of reinforcement, and male receivers tended to help female callers more than male callers, while females helped indiscriminately. The results are discussed from the point of view of exchange theories.     

Testing Leader–Member Exchange Theory as a Lens to Understand Students’ Classroom Justice Perceptions and Antisocial Communication

The purpose of this study was to test whether leader–member exchange theory (LMX) offers an explanatory lens for the program of classroom justice research. To that end, relationships among justice, LMX, and antisocial communication were explored. Findings indicated that perceptions of justice and LMX were positively related. Likewise, perceptions of interactional and procedural justice negatively predicted indirect interpersonal aggression, hostility, and revenge. Similarly, LMX perceptions were negatively related to students’ hostility and revenge and mediated the relationships between students’ perceptions of distributive justice and these outcomes. LMX also moderated the relationships between students’ perceptions of classroom justice and indirect interpersonal aggression and deception. Implications, limitations, and future research are discussed.     

When Hurt Continues: Taking Conflict Personally Leads to Rumination,Residual Hurt and Negative Motivations Toward Someone Who Hurt Us

Individuals sometimes are hurt by the comments of others, and residual feelings of hurt are experienced after the episode. Because of individuals’ tendency to ruminate, we argue that residual hurt and its consequences may be especially common among individuals who tend to take conflict personally (TCP). We hypothesized that TCP would be positively related to motivations to avoid and to seek revenge against offenders, and these relationships will be mediated by the link between rumination and residual hurt. To test our hypotheses, we conducted a survey among undergraduates about how they reacted to a hurtful message. We confirmed our hypotheses.     

High-School Teachers’ Attempts to Promote Self-Regulated Learning: “I may learn from you, yet how do I do it?”

This study examined how urban high-school students responded to increased academic expectations. The intervention included increased expectations for reading and writing, collaboration, and the completion of multi-day assignments. Twenty-four students (8 lower, 8 average, and 8 higher performers) from 4 classrooms were interviewed across a 9-week period to evaluate their reactions to the increased expectations. While students approached lessons with learning versus performance orientations, they were unsuccessful because they could not transfer classroom successes to their outside of school studying efforts. Their difficulties were related to a lack of strategies, a failure to manage distractions, or an inability to monitor studying behaviors. Discussion focuses on the difficulties among students based on performance levels and on the challenges of increasing academic expectations within a climate of high-stakes testing.     

Coordination between child welfare agencies and mental health service providers,children's service use,and outcomes

ObjectiveInterorganizational relationships (IORs) between child welfare agencies and mental health service providers may facilitate mental health treatment access for vulnerable children. This study investigates whether IORs are associated with greater use of mental health services and improvement in mental health status for children served by the child welfare system.MethodsThis was a longitudinal analysis of data from a 36-month period in the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW). The sample consisted of 1,613 children within 75 child welfare agencies who were 2 years or older and had mental health problems at baseline. IOR intensity was measured as the number of coordination approaches between each child welfare agency and mental health service providers. Separate weighted multilevel logistic regression models tested associations between IORs and service use and outcomes, respectively.ResultsAgency-level factors accounted for 9% of the variance in the probability of service use and 12% of mental health improvement. Greater intensity of IORs was associated with higher likelihood of both service use and mental health improvement.ConclusionsHaving greater numbers of ties with mental health providers may help child welfare agencies improve children's mental health service access and outcomes.Practice implicationsPolicymakers should develop policies and initiatives to encourage a combination of different types of organizational ties between child welfare and mental health systems. For instance, information sharing at the agency level in addition to coordination at the case level may improve the coordination necessary to serve these vulnerable children.     

Preliminary study on the role of alternative educational pathways in promoting the use of problem-focused coping strategies

Coping styles are generally considered to be environmentally driven. Up to now, research has mainly focused on family influences. However, some studies underline the effect of educational settings on the development of problem-focused coping strategies. Consistently with previous reports on the enhancement of autonomy and problem-solving in alternative schools, and the relationship established by self-determination theory between autonomy-supportive climates and positive coping, we hypothesized that alternative school students develop more problem-focused coping styles. This hypothesis was tested on 80 traditional school students and 50 alternative school students (Steiner, Montessori and New schools), during their last secondary school year, using the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (Endler & Parker, 1990a). We also assessed psychological factors which can influence coping styles measures (anxiety and depression), using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (Spielberger, 1983), and the Beck Depression Inventory (Beck, Ward, Mendelson, Mock, & Erbaugh, 1961). The proportion of problem-focused coping strategies was compared in traditional and alternative settings, adjusting for potential confounding factors, using logistic regression. Results show that the proportion of students using predominantly problem-focused coping strategies is higher in the population of alternative schools. Directions for further research on alternative schools are highlighted concerning coping as well as autonomy-supportive class climates.     

The international transferability of immigrants’ human capital

This paper uses the approach in the under/over education literature to analyze the extent of matching of educational level to occupational attainment among adult native born and foreign born men in the US, using the 2000 Census. Overeducation is found to be more common among recent labor market entrants, while undereducation is more likely among older workers. Among immigrants, greater pre-immigration labor market experience is associated with poorer job matches, presumably due to the less-than-perfect international transferability of foreign experience. A longer duration in the US, however, is associated with a lower probability of being overeducated and a greater probability of being undereducated. This is consistent with immigrants being favorably selected for occupational advancement but this effect becomes realized only after overcoming the disadvantages of the less-than-perfect international transferability of their pre-immigration skills.     

Anticipated IT infrastructure and supply chain integration capabilities for RFID and their associated deployment outcomes

This study looks at the perceived ability of components of IT infrastructure integration and supply chain process integration to predict specific radio frequency identification (RFID) system deployment outcomes—exploration, exploitation, operational efficiency, and market knowledge creation. Data for this pilot research study was collected using a survey questionnaire administered online to members of the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP). It was hypothesized that data consistency and cross-functional application integration, both elements constituting IT infrastructure integration, and information flow integration, physical flow integration, and financial flow integration, all elements constituting supply chain process integration would be positively associated with and predict the four RFID system outcomes. Multiple regression results show partial support for all four proposed hypotheses. Cross-functional application integration and financial flow integration predicted exploration, while data consistency and physical flow integration predicted exploitation. Data consistency and cross-functional application integration, on the other hand, predicted both operational efficiency and market knowledge creation. Supply chain managers planning to deploy RFID systems are alerted to the criticality of these IT infrastructure issues as they brace for a likely widespread implementation of RFID in supply chains they participate in.