Explaining Social Class Inequalities in Smoking: The Role of Education, Self-Efficacy, and Deprivation

Rates of smoking have decreased dramatically in most Northern European countries over the last 50 years or so, but manual working class groups are substantially more likely to smoke daily than are the professional and managerial classes. This article examines three hypotheses about the processes producing these inequalities. The first argues that social class inequalities reflect differences across education groups in knowledge of the risks of smoking. The second suggests that the living conditions of lower social class groups leads to the development of lower self-efficacy and a lower propensity to quit smoking. The third states that smoking has a functional use among poorer individuals. This article draws upon data from the Republic of Ireland to assess these hypotheses. Our analysis provides some support for the first hypothesis in that education independently reduces the odds of a manual class person smoking relative to a non-manual by 12 per cent. The second hypothesis is not supported by the data. The third hypothesis gains the most support: measures of disadvantage and deprivation account for almost one-third of the class differential in smoking. The results suggest that smoking cessation policy should reflect the importance of social and economic context in quitting behaviour.

Influence of the type of coarse lightweight aggregate on properties of Semi-Lightweight Self-Consolidating Concrete

This paper presents studies on the properties of fresh and hardened semilightweight self-consolidating concrete (SLWSCC) mixtures, produced with two types of manufactured coarse lightweight aggregates (LWA) and normal weight sand. The first type, a sintered pulverized fuel ash, was made from an industrial by-product, fly ash, whereas the second one, an expanded clay, was produced from a naturally sourced clay. For all mixtures, normal weight sand was used as a fine fraction of aggregates, and the portland cement was partially replaced with a limestone powder. The SLWSCC was produced with different water presaturation regimes of the LWAs. The desired initial slump-flow spread was set between 700 and 800 mm. The effect of three superplasticizers was evaluated by testing properties of SLWSCC, normal weight SCC, and paste mixtures. Three SCC fresh properties were measured: the slump-flow, the V-funnel flow time, and the J-ring blocking step. Moreover, the slump-flow loss was evaluated. The degree of segregation was assessed in both fresh and hardened states. Additionally, the hardened density and the compressive strengths were tested. All SLWSCC mixtures were produced with a desired range of slump-flow spread and with satisfactory passing ability assessed with the J-ring test. SLWSCCs prepared with the expanded clay LWA were less sensitive to the variation of water presaturation levels and showed lower viscosity than those made with the sintered pulverized fuel ash LWA. Only mixtures containing SP-3 superplasticizer showed acceptable workability loss resistance. The saturated surface-dry density of all of the mixtures varied in a range of 2,025–2,125??kg/m 3 . Mixtures containing 29% of coarse LWAs and 71% of sand (by mass) had 24-h and 28-day compressive strengths above 20 and 40 MPa, respectively, but the mixtures made with the expanded clay were slightly weaker.

Measuring the psychosocial characteristics of family caregivers of palliative care patients:psychometric properties of nine self-report instruments

Researchers and clinicians have experienced substantial difficulties locating measures that are suitable for use within palliative care settings. This article details the psychometric properties of nine instruments designed to assess the following psychosocial characteristics of family caregivers: competence, mastery, self-efficacy, burden, optimism, preparedness, social support, rewards, and mutuality. Results are based on the responses of 106 primary family caregivers caring for relatives dying of cancer. Principal components extraction with varimax rotation was used to explore the underlying structure of each measure. Following the exclusion of complex variables, suggested components for most measures comprised relatively homogenous items, which were good to excellent measures of each component. Some components comprised only two items; however, Cronbach's alphas typically indicated moderate to high levels of internal consistency. Overall, the results of this study suggest that most of the measures analyzed, excepting the mastery and mutuality scales, can be recommended to examine the family caregiver experience and test supportive interventions.

An analysis of the masking of speech by competing speech using self-report data (L)

Many of the items in the “Speech, Spatial, and Qualities of Hearing” scale questionnaire [S. Gatehouse and W. Noble, Int. J. Audiol.43, 85–99 (2004)] are concerned with speech understanding in a variety of backgrounds, both speech and nonspeech. To study if this self-report data reflected informational masking, previously collected data on 414 people were analyzed. The lowest scores (greatest difficulties) were found for the two items in which there were two speech targets, with successively higher scores for competing speech (six items), energetic masking (one item), and no masking (three items). The results suggest significant masking by competing speech in everyday listening situations.

Paranoia and self-concepts in psychosis: A systematic review of the literature.

The purpose of the present study was to review systematically, research exploring the relationship between self-concepts and paranoia in psychosis. A literature search was performed by two independent raters in relevant databases (MedLine, PsychInfo and Web of Science) and articles meeting the inclusion criteria were cross-referenced. Following scrutiny according to inclusion criteria, 18 studies were selected for review. A narrative synthesis of findings, in which methodological variability is discussed, is presented relative to three key areas: the nature of the relationship between paranoia and self-concepts; the association between paranoia and discrepancies in self-concepts; the nature of the relationship between paranoia and self-concepts when other, dimensional aspects of these constructs are taken into account. The systematic literature review indicated relatively consistent findings, that paranoia is associated with more negative self-concepts when measured cross-sectionally. Results are somewhat more mixed in regards to research on paranoia and self-concept discrepancies. Studies investigating dimensional aspects of self-concepts and paranoia yield findings of particular interest, especially in regards to the association indicated between instability of self-concepts and paranoia. Limitations in research and of the present systematic review are discussed. Clinical and theoretical implications of findings are outlined and possible directions for future research are suggested.

Shame, intimacy and self-definition: An assessment of the emotional foundation and intimate relationship consequences of an introjective personality orientation.

The current study sought to elaborate and test a theoretical proposition that introjective personality functioning, which has been implicated in various psychological difficulties (e.g., self-critical depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder), has an emotional foundation in the self-conscious emotion of shame and is supported by dissociation. Moreover, introjective functioning was predicted to be associated with reduced interpersonal intimacy. To test the model, a Web-based survey design using path analysis was used. Three hundred and fifteen university students were assessed with measures of self-conscious emotions (i.e., shame, guilt, and embarrassment), introjective (self-definition) and anaclitic (relational) personality style, pathological dissociation, and interpersonal intimacy. Introjective personality was found to be associated with increased shame and reduced interpersonal intimacy. However, the path between pathological dissociation and introjective functioning was not significant. The results are discussed with reference to the moderating influence of introjective functioning between shame and reduced interpersonal intimacy.

Trying similarity, doing difference:The role of interviewer self-disclosure in interview talk with young people

Advocates of semi-structured interview techniques have often argued that rapport may be built, and power inequalities between interviewer and respondent counteracted, by strategic self-disclosure on the part of the interviewer. Strategies that use self-disclosure to construct similarity between interviewer and respondent rely on the presumption that the respondent will in fact interpret the interviewer's behaviour in this way. In this article we examine the role of interviewer self-disclosure using data drawn from three projects involving interviews with young people. We consider how an interviewer's attempts to ‘do similarity’ may be interpreted variously as displays of similarity or, ironically, as indicators of difference by the participant, and map the implications that this may have for subsequent interview dialogue. A particular object of concern relates to the ways in which self-disclosing acts may function in the negotiation of category entitlement within interview interactions.