Investigating Bidirectional Links Between the Quality of Teacher–Child Relationships and Children’s Interest and Pre-Academic Skills in Literacy and Math

This study investigated bidirectional links between the quality of teacher–child relationships and children’s interest and pre-academic skills in literacy and math. Furthermore, differences in the patterns of bidirectionality between boys and girls were explored. Participants were 461 Finnish kindergarteners (6-year-olds) and their teachers (n = 48). Teachers reported their closeness and conflict with each child twice throughout the kindergarten year. Children rated their interest in literacy and math, and were tested on their pre-academic skills. Cross-lagged path models indicated that teacher-perceived conflict predicted lower interest and pre-academic skills in both literacy and math. Results were similar for boys and girls. Implications for reducing conflictual patterns of relationships, together with promoting other factors, are discussed.     

When Corporate Social Responsibility Messages Enter the News: Examining the Effects of CSR-Framed News on Product Purchasing Intentions and the Mediating Role of Company and Product Attitudes

Journalists are frequently reporting about new and innovative products in news articles. Oftentimes, journalists use specific company and product information provided by enterprises that highlight a corporation’s social responsibility (CSR) activities. Based on framing theory and theory of reasoned action, an experiment was conducted to examine how types of CSR-framed news (either highlighting ethical, ecological, or philanthropic responsibilities of a company) affect news recipients’ product purchasing intentions. A mediation analysis showed that CSR-framed news indirectly and positively affected individuals’ purchasing intentions via company and product attitudes. No relevant differences could be detected for the specific type of CSR frame. Implications of the results are discussed.     

Perception of the future and the future of perception

The definition of a problem and the action taken to solve it largely depend on the view which the individuals or groups that discovered the problem have of the system to which it refers. A problem may thus find itself defined as a badly interpreted output, or as a faulty output of a faulty output device, or as a faulty output due to a malfunction in an otherwise faultless system, or as a correct but undesired output from a faultless and thus undesirable system. All definitions but the last suggest corrective action; only the last definition suggests change, and so presents an unsolvable problem to anyone opposed to change (Herbert Brün, 1971).This article is an adaptation of an address given on March 29, 1971, at the opening of the Twenty-fourth Annual Conference on World Affairs at the University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, U.S.A.     

The impact of maternal characteristics and contextual variables on infant-mother attachment

This prospective study examined the effects of maternal characteristics, social support, and risk factors on infant-mother attachment in a heterogeneous sample. Two hundred and six women between the ages of 18 and 40 were interviewed during their last trimester of pregnancy and 1 year postpartum. Structural equation modeling revealed that maternal attachment experiences were significantly related to prenatal representations of the infant and of the self as a mother, which were significantly related to infant-mother attachment assessed by the Strange Situation. Maternal risk factors were significantly related to prenatal representations, and social support from other women predicted infant-mother attachment. The overall model indicated a good fit. Thus, both individual and contextual factors were important in explaining infant attachment security.     

Sportpartizipation in nordostdeutschen Landgemeinden in den Jahren 1973, 1994 und 2008

This article examines the development of sport participation in the rural peripheral area of northeast Germany over a time period of 35 years from modernization and transformation theoretical perspectives. The data are based on 3 healthcare surveys carried out in 1973, 1994 and 2004/2008 in the adult population of 14 rural communities. A comparison of the results of the surveys revealed that participation in sports increased from 23?% in the year 1973 to 55?% in 2004/2008. Women in particular showed an increased participation in sports. In 2004/2008 women had a 1.32 greater chance to be actively engaged in sport than men. In 1973 the chance of women actively engaged in sport to undertake 2 h per week was only half as high as men active in sport; however, sex differences in the extent of sport have leveled off over time. Age and education were associated with sport participation in all three time periods surveyed. In the 1970s the highest sport participation was in the group with an average level of education but in 1994 and 2004/2008 there was a social gradient with the highest participation in sports in the group with the highest education level. In 1973 a social gradient in sport participation could be observed depending on the income. Because sport participation in rural communities lies clearly below the average total German and also East German levels, despite positive developments and is still greatly dependent on sociodemographic features, it is suggested that this can be counteracted by sport developmental programs specific for rural peripheral areas.     

Sport under the Nazis in Norway, 1940–45

Summary

The Nazis won the battle of Skarphedin after a long struggle with the anti‐Nazis, but did not succeed in gaining the support of the ordinary members of the club. They controlled the club activities from July 1941 till the end of the war, but very few competitions were arranged and very few members took part. The Nazisseemed to control the board, the athletics and the soccer group, but not theski group. The last mentioned group made their own report from the war and to some extent they took part in ‘illegal’ competitions that were not controlledby the Nazis. The reasons why Skarphedin was taken over by the Nazis should be seen in the light of Bø's geographical location in the heart of Telemark, the economic crisis of the smallholders, and the electoral pact between the Norwegian Nazi Party and Bygdefolkets Krisehjelp. In many ways Bø appears to have been a Nazi centre during most of the war years, even if the majority ofits inhabitants did not involve themselves actively on any of the fronts.     

Revolution at the Library Service Desk

ABSTRACT

This article will describe how a revolution in customer service provision beginning in 2002 has led to an evolution of library services. When the reference and circulation desks were merged to create a single service point, responsibilities were broadened, core competencies were developed, and staff members were cross trained. In 2005, an analysis of staffing and work patterns demonstrated a need to build upon the original model to better utilize staff and ensure coverage of the desk. Reference librarians were moved to “on call” status, technical services staff were added to the schedule, and core competencies and procedures were refined.     

What Predicts Older Adults’ Adjustment to Aging in Later Life? The Impact of Sense of Coherence,Subjective Well-Being,and Sociodemographic,Lifestyle, and Health-Related Factors

The aim of this study was to build a structural model to explore the predictors of adjustment to aging (AtA) in a community-dwelling older population. A community-dwelling sample of 1,270 older adults aged between 75 and 102 years answered a questionnaire to determine sociodemographic (sex, age, professional and marital status, education, household, adult children, family's annual income, living setting, and self-reported spirituality), lifestyle, and health-related characteristics (perceived health, recent disease, medication, and leisure). Several instruments were used to assert psychological variables, namely AtA, sense of coherence, and subjective well-being. Structural equation modeling was used to explore a structural model of the self-reported AtA, encompassing all variables. Significant predictors are self-reported spirituality (β = .816, p < .001); perceived health (β = .455, p < .001); leisure (β = .322, p < .001); professional status (β = .283, p < .001); income (β = .230, p = .035); household (β = –.208, p = .007); sense of coherence (β = ?.202, p = .004); and adult children (β = .164, p = .011). The variables explain, respectively, 60.6% of the variability of AtA. Self-reported spirituality is the strongest predictor of AtA. Other predictors are perceived health, leisure, professional status, income, household, sense of coherence, and adult children. This study emphasizes the need for deepening the variables that influence older adults’ AtA—in particular, perceived health and further lifestyle-related characteristics—as being relevant for promoting aging well in later life, within a salutogenic context for health care.