Salient Consequences Research Articles

Parity and the expected consequences of childbearing

In this study 163 young married women with 0, 1, or 2 children described the advantages and disadvantages of having a (another) child in the next three years and the expectations of significant others regarding their childbearing behavior. Childless women were more likely than women at first and second parity to mention self-fulfillment, pleasing parents, strengthening their marriage, less time and freedom, interference with career and education, being emotionally unprepared, and creating friction in their marriage. Women with one child were most likely to mention companionship and achieving family size goals. For women with two children gender preference and less time for present children were particularly salient consequences. Women with one child report experiencing the strongest pronatalist normative pressures but the perceived preferences of significant others were most closely related to own childbearing plans for childless women. The results are discussed in terms of a parity specific approach to the study of motivations for parenthood.

Statistical properties of quantum systems: The linear oscillator

Statistical fluctuations in linear quantum-mechanical systems are shown to result from a projection of the total quantum system onto a restricted subspace. The resulting equations of motion are of the generalized Langevin form, with fluctuating and dissipative terms. These terms are related by a quantum-mechanical fluctuation-dissipation relation that ensures thermal equilibration. We analyze the dynamical behavior of the subsystem and elucidate the meaning and interrelation of several ubiquitous concepts in the following context: weak-coupling limit, Markovian limit, rotating-wave approximation (RWA), and low-temperature behavior. The three most salient consequences of our analysis are as follows: (1) The time scale for the correlation of fluctuations and the dissipation can be quite distinct, (2) the traditional implementation of the RWA only gives valid results in the strict weak-coupling limit, and (3) a reformulation of the RWA valid at arbitrary coupling strengths, and hence at arbitrarily low temperatures, is possible.

Police occupational solidarity: Probing a determinant in the deterioration of police/citizen relations

The deterioration of police/citizen relations has had a major impact on the administration of justice. Mutual suspicion, hostility, distrust, and fear have resulted in minimal citizen cooperation and, consequently, an increase in police use of aggressive enforcement procedures. These procedures adversely affect the police as well as the citizenry. Use of aggressive enforcement has two salient consequences: it isolates the police from the citizen, and it generates occupational solidarity among police personnel. Solidarity subsequently increases police/citizen polarization. The process, thus, is circular. The purpose of this study is to empirically investigate the determinants of social isolation and occupational solidarity. To investigate these determinants, a multivariate, multistage conceptual model was developed and analyzed. The findings suggest that the conceptual model, save two minor modifications, fits the data. Policy implications based on these findings are presented and discussed.

Verbal plans: A conceptualization and investigation

A two‐part model of verbal plans is developed in this paper. The first portion of the model posits that the probability of a verbal plan's being implemented is a function of perceptions of salient desirable and undesirable consequences. The second part of the model is a conceptualization of the favorableness of verbal plans. This portion of the model contains attitudinal and compliance components. Four hypotheses were derived from the propositions of the second part of the model. An experiment is reported that observed support for all four hypotheses.