Providing Financial Empowerment to Mothers on Welfare

SUMMARY

Three samples of urban Latina and African-American women in hospitality training programs were assessed on their perceived self-efficacy. In Sample 1, the typical Latina (n= 25) and African-American (n= 71) woman was a young, single, mother of three children who had received benefits for over six years and who, at the start of a two-week training program, reported low self-efficacy and moderate social desirability. Sample 2 participants were mostly single Latina (n= 25) or African-American (n= 49) mothers who received six weeks of training/internship, but reported no significant change in their level of self-efficacy, social desirability, or hopefulness from pre- to post-training. Sample 3 (16 Latinas, 36 African-Americans) was a subset of women from the first sample who were interviewed by telephone four months after completing the two-week training program and were now employed. These working women reported a significant increase in their level of self-efficacy compared to the start of training. Results suggest that some minority women may benefit from job skill training in terms of their sense of mastery over their life situation, although the impact of such training may not emerge until after they have been actively employed.     

Practicing What We Preach

SUMMARY

This paper describes the creation of a “Job Club” at Michigan State University to facilitate employment searches in Community Psychology. The goal of the Job Club was to provide a setting where graduating Ph.D. candidates could gain the skills necessary to be successful in both academic and non-academic job searches. The Job Club was student-driven, and emphasized principles of community psychology such as collaboration, network development, social and instrumental support, and empowerment. The importance of small group size and the ongoing commitment of a senior faculty mentor are highlighted. A curriculum for Job Club was created that included: resource allocation; network development; document development (vitae, resumes); practicing job talks, teaching demonstrations and interviews; and accepting the offer. Successes, lessons learned, and suggestions for creating Job Clubs in other settings are offered.     

岗位实训量化管理模式构建与实践——安徽省2011年省级示范实习实训中心项目研究内容

岗位实训是指公安院校的校外实训。岗位实训量化管理模式是根据实训计划内容和要求,对学生在公安机关基层工作中所承担工作任务进行分解统计,将工作内容转化为一定数据,及时、客观反映实训过程、状态和效果,并以此为依据实施实训管理的方式。实训中,对学生从事的工作进行统计量化,形成反映实训实时动态的量化数据,以此作为管理基础,可增强管理的科学性和有效性。由于工作量统计内容多、过程复杂,为确保量化管理模式有效运行,必须建立和完善实训量化机制,在统计项目、统计人员、统计过程、统计职责等关键环节上要有明确规定,以保证统计结果的真实性和教学管理的有效性。实践证明,将量化统计方法应用岗位实训中,构建实训量化管理模式,着力解决管理难题,能为岗位实训教学实现精细化发展奠定坚实基础。     

To be committed or not: examining effects of personal and workplace variables on the organizational commitment of Southern prison staff

This study examined how personal and workplace variables were related to organizational commitment among staff working at a large Southern prison. The personal variables were gender, age, position, tenure, educational level, and supervisory status. The workplace variables were assessment of training, job variety, role clarity, input into decision-making, and instrumental communication. The results indicate workplace variables play a greater role in shaping affective commitment of surveyed Southern prison staff than do personal variables. The personal variables explained only 10% of the variance in the commitment index, while workplace factors accounted for approximately 59% of the variance and were significant determinants of organizational commitment among the respondents. In the multivariate regression analysis, age, assessment of training, job variety, role clarity, input into decision-making, and instrumental communication all had positive associations with commitment. Educational level had a negative relationship with commitment. Implications of these findings for policy and future research are also discussed.     

交通警察人际信任现状分析

文章以北京市交通警察常态工作状况下人际信任和工作满意度问卷调查数据为基础,采用层次分析方法将人际信任分为对社会制度和政治的信任以及对同伴或家庭的信任两个维度,将此两个维度归因为性别、年龄、文化程度、婚姻状况、从警时间、职务等个人属性。采用统计检验方法,分析了交通警察在常态工作下的人际信任现状及其与工作满意度的相关性。     

An Assessment of Judges’ Self‐Reported Experiences of Secondary Traumatic Stress

Many judges experience occupation‐specific stress, such as secondary traumatic stress (STS), burnout, compassion fatigue, and vicarious traumatization. A content analysis of 762 judges’ open‐ended responses to a survey asking whether they had suffered from STS revealed that judges moderately experienced most types of stress. Some case types (e.g., family court) and some job aspects (e.g., gruesome evidence) were particularly stressful. Judges reported both positive (e.g., social support) and negative (e.g., distractions) coping mechanisms. Interventions should be tailored to judges’ characteristics, (e.g., gender), job (e.g., family court), beliefs (e.g., that STS does not exist), and level of distress.     

Modeling job stress among police officers: interplay of work environment,counseling support,and family discussion with co-workers

Existing literature indicates that various factors affect police stress. This article uses data from the ‘Work and Family Services for Law Enforcement Personnel in the United States, 1995’ downloaded from the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (‘ICPSR’) website. Respondents include 594 sworn police officers from 21 agencies in New York City. Using structural equation modeling, results indicate that sex, race, education, and tenure do not have a direct influence on total job stress, but have a direct impact on family discussion with co-workers, counseling support, and negative working environment. Rank has a direct impact on total job stress, negative working environment, and family discussion with co-workers. In addition, both negative working environment and counseling support directly impact police total job stress.     

当代大学生对女性角色期望的比较研究

对264份问卷,在探索性因子分析的基础上,应用独立样本 T 检验的方法,探讨不同性别大学生对女性角色期望差异的研究结果显示：（1）女性角色期望可分为工作角色期望和家庭角色期望两个构面;（2）男女大学生对女性工作角色期望和家庭角色期望存在显著差异;（3）男性对女性工作角色的期望值低于女性;（4）男性对女性家庭角色的期望值高于女性。     

The effects of occupational stress on cognitive performance in police officers

The occupational stress of police officers, and its’ effect on working memory and other psychological and behavioral factors over a two-week work period have been investigated. Cognitive performance and stress levels were examined at pre and post work cycles by using a memory test and several self-reporting surveys, each designed for a specific purpose and to gauge a particular set of behaviors and personality traits. The police officers were assigned to patrol duties at the time of the investigation and placed into three groups based on years of service (1–20 years). The results of the investigation identified a deficit in working memory in Junior, Veteran, and Senior Officers, based on the Ray Osterreith Complex Figure Scores at Baseline (pre-stress) vs. Test Day (post-stress). The other survey tools measuring stress impact on personality and behavior, did not demonstrate any statistical differences in the responding groups of officers in their survey performances.     

Social explanations for job insecurity: Group influences on causal attributions

Job insecurity—a concern about the future existence of the job—is one of those unexpected events which lead to a search for causal explanations. This paper pays attention to the social nature of these attributions. The social character of the causal attribution process investigated here appears from the kind of attributions that employees make and the degree in which causal attributions are influenced by social ideas shared by colleagues and other groups. We research these social explanations for job insecurity on the basis of the results of a survey of job insecurity and causal attributions among 311 employees in the Netherlands.