The Evolution and Continuing Challenges of E‐Governance

E‐governance comprises the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to support public services, government administration, democratic processes, and relationships among citizens, civil society, the private sector, and the state. Developed over more than two decades of technology innovation and policy response, the evolution of e‐governance is examined in terms of five interrelated objectives: a policy framework, enhanced public services, high‐quality and cost‐effective government operations, citizen engagement in democratic processes, and administrative and institutional reform. This summary assessment of e‐governance in U.S. states and local governments shows that the greatest investment and progress have been made in enhanced public services and improved government operations. Policy development has moved forward on several fronts, but new policy issues continually add to an increasingly complex set of concerns. The least progress appears to have occurred in enhancing democracy and exploring the implications of e‐governance for administrative and institutional reform. ICT‐enabled governance will continue to evolve for the foreseeable future providing a dynamic environment for ongoing learning and action.     

Religiosity and Alcohol Use in Sexual Minority and Heterosexual Youth and Young Adults

Despite interest in the role of religiosity in youth development and health behavior, few studies have examined these associations in sexual minority youth. Participants (n = 11,699) who were adolescents (wave 1) and young adults (wave 3) in the Add Health survey were used to examine proximal and distal religiosity by sexual identity group and to test group differences in associations between religiosity and alcohol use. Sexual minorities were less likely than heterosexuals to report a current religious affiliation. In young adulthood, heterosexual females reported significantly higher distal and proximal religiosity than heterosexual males and sexual minority young adults. From adolescence to young adulthood, religiosity in all three sexual identity groups (heterosexual, bisexual, gay/lesbian) significantly declined, with the largest effects found for the sexual minority groups. Distal and proximal religiosity scores were significantly associated with less alcohol use and less binge drinking among heterosexuals, but not among sexual minorities. Future studies of sexual minority youth and their religious contexts are suggested.

Emotional Labor and Job Stress in Caring Professions: Exploring Universalism and Particularism in Construct and Culture

Passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in the US increases demand for nurses and brings health care into the public sphere with all that entails, including public accountability and performance measurement. In the UK’s long-standing national healthcare system, revelations of several years of neglect and poor oversight at one hospital might have contributed to nearly 1,200 deaths. The resulting Francis Report cited, among many factors, undue emphasis on reaching national access targets and balancing budgets for substandard care. Scholars of emotional labor note these trends with interest, because emotional labor is essential to nursing practice. But is emotional labor a universal construct, or is it particular to cultural context? How much can be imported from one study to the next? We compare nurse job stress in individualist and collectivist countries and reveal a statistically significant relationship: The higher a country’s individualism index, the greater the frequency of emotional-labor-demanding job stress.     

A Closer Look at an Eye for an Eye: Laypersons’ Punishment Decisions Are Primarily Driven by Retributive Motives

According to recent research on laypersons’ punitive attitudes people’s sentencing decisions are primarily driven by a desire for retribution. The research designed to test this notion, however, can be criticized for suffering from several limitations. Three online-based studies were conducted with samples from Western Europe with the aim of replicating the findings of Carlsmith (J Exp Soc Psychol 42:437–451, 2006) in which participants’ punishment motives were inferred from their behavior in a process tracing task. In the present research, this approach was adopted and modified in order to provide a more conservative test for the notion that people mainly care about retribution. Although these modifications strongly influenced the overall pattern of results, retribution still was the most important punishment motive in all three studies.     

Gentrification and Fair Housing: Does Gentrification Further Integration?

ABSTRACT

On the 50th anniversary of the Fair Housing Act, long-time residents of cities across the country feel increasingly anxious that they will be priced out of their homes and communities, as growing numbers of higher-income, college-educated households opt for downtown neighborhoods. These fears are particularly acute among black and Latino residents. Yet when looking through the lens of fair housing, gentrification also offers a potential opportunity, as the moves that higher-income, white households make into predominantly minority, lower-income neighborhoods are moves that help to integrate those neighborhoods, at least in the near term. We explore the long-term trajectory of predominantly minority, low-income neighborhoods that gentrified over the 1980s and 1990s. On average, these neighborhoods experienced little racial change while they gentrified, but a significant minority became racially integrated during the decade of gentrification, and over the longer term, many of these neighborhoods remained racially stable. That said, some gentrifying neighborhoods that were predominantly minority in 1980 appeared to be on the path to becoming predominantly white. Policies, such as investments in place-based, subsidized housing, are needed in many gentrifying neighborhoods to ensure racial and economic diversity over the longer term.     

FAMILY COURT ASSESSMENT:Dissolution of Marriage in Florida—Preliminary Assessment Findings

To obtain the empirical data necessary for the development of an effective family court case management model, staff from Florida's Office of the State Courts Administrator undertook a comprehensive assessment of (a) the movement of dissolution of marriage cases through the court system, (b) the factors affecting case flow and time frames, and (c) the system's responsiveness to the families and children it serves. Findings from this study are guiding the Florida Supreme Court's Family Court Steering Committee in its efforts to design an effective case management system that includes intake and referral, differentiated case management and tracking, case monitoring, and alternative dispute resolution.