Unidimensional Concept Research Articles

The conditional party mandate: A model for the study of mass and elite opinion patterns

Abstract. This article explores the pattern of opinions within political parties. What is the level of issue congruence between voters and elected leaders? The article introduces two ideas for the analysis of mass and elite opinion patterns. First, the authors challenge the unidimensional conception of mass‐elite linkages, and argue that the opinion structure of political parties may best be understood in the context of a multidimensional policy space. Second, they contest the proximity logic of the traditional party mandate model. In so doing, they propose the ‘conditional party mandate model’, arguing that ‘direction’ rather than ‘proximity’ attracts voters' interest and attention. The authors contend that in issues of principle significance for a particular party (so‐called ‘core issues’), the party's voters and representatives will proceed in the same direction, but the representatives will stress their position more strongly than the voters. In issues that are less significant to the parties, the relationship between the two levels will be fortuitous and less clear. The analyses, which are based on elite and mass survey data from the Norwegian political system, support the authors' hypotheses concerning positional issues. When the direction of an issue is given, representatives are more extreme than voters.

A dimensional option for the diagnosis of substance dependence in DSM-V.

In this paper we discuss the creation of dimensional equivalents for categorically defined substance use disorders (SUDs) in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-V), which now is being created. We begin with a review of the considerable literature that has accumulated on the dimensional properties of the SUDs. These studies have primarily examined the alcohol use disorders, but work relevant to other substances is reviewed as well. The weight of evidence indicates that SUDs fit well into a unidimensional concept. We next discuss potential advantages, drawbacks, and challenges in developing a dimensional alternative for the SUDs and highlight some issues for an ongoing research agenda to further explore the challenges. Finally we offer a specific proposal for a SUDs dimensional option for DSM-V. The model we propose is based on, and would relate directly back to, the categorical criteria that will be created for the SUDs by the substance use diagnostic workgroup. It is our contention that offering a dimensional equivalent for the DSM-V categories would be of great value, but that the categorical and dimensional definitions should be based on the same symptoms and closely linked. A dimensional scale that does not relate directly to the categorical definition would be counterproductive.

Implications of Contemporary Intelligence Theories to Marketing Education

In recent years, prominent psychologists have redefined intelligence to refer to one's ability to successfully perform within a sociocultural context. They have also questioned the historical unidimensional conceptualization of intelligence. In this article, the author briefly reviews the history of intelligence research to this point then presents a discussion of the implications of contemporary intelligence theories to marketing education.

Damaging confusions in England's KS2 reading tests: a response to Anne Kispal

AbstractThis article is written in response to the article published in issue 39.3 of this journal, in November 2005, on the nature of the Key Stage 2 National Curriculum reading tests: ‘Examining England's National Curriculum assessments: an analysis of the KS2 reading test questions’ by Anne Kispal of the National Foundation for Educational Research. It argues that, far from providing a valid and rewarding assessment experience for pupils as Kispal suggests, the primary English tests at the end of KS2 are invalid as a measuring instrument and are having a damaging effect on pedagogy. The tests and the information on them provided by the Qualifications and Curriculum Agency are based on a misleading unidimensional conception of reading literacy attainment. Because the test assessment simply adds together marks achieved for very different cognitive skills, it propagates a dysfunctional model of literacy pedagogy that conflates and confuses two separate developmental trajectories – word reading and text comprehension. The article goes on to argue that the unidimensionality of the national tests and their pedagogic apparatus has constricted the primary English curriculum in ways that are damaging for young pupils and for the national need for creativity and enterprise.

An Evaluation of the Psychometric Properties of the Coaching Efficacy Scale for Coaches From the United States of America

This study extends validity evidence for the Coaching Efficacy Scale (CES; Feltz, Chase, Moritz, & Sullivan, 1999) by providing an evaluation of the psychometric properties of the instrument from previously collected data on high school and college coaches from United States. Data were fitted to a multidimensional item response theory model. Results offered some supporting evidence concerning validity based on the fit of a multidimensional conceptualization of coaching efficacy (i.e., motivation, game strategy, technique, and character building) as compared to a unidimensional conceptualization of coaching efficacy (i.e., total coaching efficacy), the fit of the majority of items to the measurement model, the internal consistency of coaching efficacy estimates, and the precision of total coaching efficacy estimates. However, concerns exist relating to the rating scale structure, the precision of multidimensional coaching efficacy estimates, and misfit of a couple of items to the measurement model. Practical recommendations for both future research with the CES and for the development of a revised instrument are forwarded.

Medicalisation: A Multi-dimensional Concept

Originally, the concept of medicalisation was strongly associated with medical dominance, involving the extension of medicine's jurisdiction over erstwhile ‘normal’ life events and experiences. More recently, however, this view of a docile lay populace, in thrall to expansionist medicine, has been challenged. Thus, as we enter a post-modern era, with increased concerns over risk and a decline in the trust of expert authority, many sociologists argue that the modern day ‘consumer’ of healthcare plays an active role in bringing about or resisting medicalisation. Such participation, however, can be problematic as healthcare consumers become increasingly aware of the risks and uncertainty surrounding many medical choices. The emergence of the modern day consumer not only raises questions about the notion of medicalisation as a uni-dimensional concept, but also requires consideration of the specific social contexts in which medicalisation occurs. In this paper, we describe how the concept of medicalisation is presented in the literature, outlining different accounts of agency that shape the process. We suggest that some earlier accounts of medicalisation over-emphasized the medical profession's imperialistic tendencies and often underplayed the benefits of medicine. With consideration of the social context in which medicalisation, or its converse, arises, we argue that medicalisation is a much more complex, ambiguous, and contested process than the ‘medicalisation thesis’ of the 1970s implied. In particular, as we enter a post-modern era, conceptualizing medicalisation as a uni-dimensional, uniform process or as the result of medical dominance alone is clearly insufficient. Indeed, if, as Conrad and Schneider (1992) suggested, medicalisation was linked to the rise of rationalism and science (ie to modernity), and if we are experiencing the passing of modernity, we might expect to see a decrease in medicalisation.

Relational Control-Motivated Aggression: A Theoretically-Based Typology of Intimate Violence

Although there is consensus about power and control's central role in violent interpersonal relationships, researchers have characterized control as a unidimensional concept. Also, researchers have viewed interpersonal violence as a unitary phenomenon, assuming that all couples experience violence in the same way. Recognizing these gaps, the goal of this essay is to explicate a conceptually and empirically derived typology of violent couples that is grounded in different properties of control and other associated theoretical constructs that, in isolation, have been found to be key to understanding interpersonal violence. Five propositions are posited, articulating the anticipated differences between couple types.

Towards Desistance: Theoretical Underpinnings for an Empirical Study

Abstract: This article presents the initial theoretical underpinnings for a fresh prospective study of desistance, focused on 20‐year‐old recidivists. It is argued that significant crime‐free gaps appropriately form part of the subject matter of desistance. An interactive theoretical framework is presented, involving ‘programmed potential’, ‘social context’ (structures, culture, situations) and ‘agency’. It is argued that agency, while rightly attracting increasing interest within criminology, needs to be used with greater precision. Aspects of the social context of the research subjects' lives are summarised, with special reference to their age‐transitional status and the relevance of ‘community’ in their lives. Since most criminal careers, even of recidivists, are short, the implications of subjects' movement from conformity to criminality and back to conformity require greater thought among criminologists and criminal justice professionals. However, these broad movements contain significant oscillations, and ‘crime’ is not a unidimensional concept in the lives of the research subjects. Capturing and explaining the complexity of these matters longitudinally is a significant challenge for the research.

GOALS: CONGRUITY AND CONFLICT AMONG POLICE OFFICERS AND POLICE CHIEFS

ABSTRACT It is said that community policing is transforming police organizations and officer behaviors. Community police officers, moreover, may differ from other officers in wajs that necessitate new management strategies. Specifically, do community police officers differ from traditional police officers in their motivations, goals, and receptiveness to direction from management? This study examined whether community police officers hold different goals and values from their chief compared to officers assigned to traditional duties. The analysis indicated that goal congruity was not a unidimensional concept, but that it consisted of congruity in the areas, of public relations and job structure. While community police officers did not differ from patrol officers in terms of goal congruity, the departmental environment and officers’ tenure did predict goal congruity.

Strategic adaptation: A uni or multi dimensional concept?

Strategic adaptation: A uni or multi dimensional concept?

Deciphering Sex Segregation: Vertical and Horizontal Inequalities in Ten National Labor Markets

Scholars and policy-makers increasingly treat occupational sex segregation as a generic indicator of female economic disadvantage. This view is difficult to reconcile with evidence that levels of sex segregation are lower in reputably ‘gender-traditional’ countries such as Italy, Japan, and Portugal than in ‘progressive’ Sweden and the United States. Understanding such seemingly anomalous patterns requires a two-dimensional conceptualization of occupational sex segregation - in particular, an analytical distinction between vertical and horizontal gender inequalities. Based on data from 10 industrialized countries, claims regarding (1) the hybrid nature of sex segregation and (2) the cultural and structural factors that influence its various components are empirically assessed. Results confirm that unequal distributions across the manual-non-manual divide (‘horizontal segregation’) and status differentials within these sectors (‘vertical segregation’) together account for a considerable share of occupational gender inequality. Gender-egalitarian cultural norms are associated with lower levels of vertical segregation in the non-manual sector, while postindustrial economic structures coincide with greater horizontal segregation (and more vertical segregation of non-manual occupations). The complex horizontal and vertical dynamics revealed here cast further doubt on unidimensional conceptualizations of sex segregation. They also provide the key for deciphering some long-standing empirical puzzles in the field.

Deciphering Sex Segregation

Scholars and policy-makers increasingly treat occupational sex segregation as a generic indicator of female economic disadvantage. This view is difficult to reconcile with evidence that levels of sex segregation are lower in reputably ‘gender-traditional’ countries such as Italy, Japan, and Portugal than in ‘progressive’ Sweden and the United States. Understanding such seemingly anomalous patterns requires a two-dimensional conceptualization of occupational sex segregation - in particular, an analytical distinction between vertical and horizontal gender inequalities. Based on data from 10 industrialized countries, claims regarding (1) the hybrid nature of sex segregation and (2) the cultural and structural factors that influence its various components are empirically assessed. Results confirm that unequal distributions across the manual-non-manual divide (‘horizontal segregation’) and status differentials within these sectors (‘vertical segregation’) together account for a considerable share of occupational gender inequality. Gender-egalitarian cultural norms are associated with lower levels of vertical segregation in the non-manual sector, while postindustrial economic structures coincide with greater horizontal segregation (and more vertical segregation of non-manual occupations). The complex horizontal and vertical dynamics revealed here cast further doubt on unidimensional conceptualizations of sex segregation. They also provide the key for deciphering some long-standing empirical puzzles in the field.

L2 Vocabulary Learning from Context: Strategies, Knowledge Sources, and Their Relationship with Success in L2 Lexical Inferencing

This study examines the use of strategies and knowledge sources in L2 lexical inferencing and their relationship with inferential success. Data consist of introspective and retrospective think-aloud protocols of 21 intermediate ESL learners who attempted to infer new word meanings from context. Analysis reveals that (a) overall, the rate of success was low even when learners used the strategies and knowledge sources they had at their disposal, (b) different strategies contributed differentially to inferencing success, and (c) success was related more to the quality rather than the quantity of the strategies used. Findings challenge a unidimensional conception of the role of strategies in L2 lexical inferencing and instead support an inferencing model that distinguishes between strategies and the ability to use them appropriately and effectively in conjunction with various sources of knowledge in lexical inferencing. This article discusses the pedagogical as well as theoretical implications of the findings for an integrated model of lexical inferencing.

Beyond attitudinal ambivalence: effects of belief homogeneity on attitude‐intention‐behaviour relations

AbstractAttitudinal ambivalence extends the traditional unidimensional conceptualization of attitude by acknowledging that people can simultaneously evaluate attitude objects as positive and negative. The present paper argues that this bidimensional view of attitudes may be extended further to take account of multidimensional influences on attitudes using measures of belief homogeneity. Study 1 (n = 155) showed that attitudes based on homogeneous belief‐sets were significantly more predictive of subsequent behaviour (β = 0.47, p<0.01) than were attitudes based on heterogeneous belief‐sets (β = 0.08, ns). Study 2 (n = 136) manipulated belief homogeneity and found that when beliefs were made heterogeneous, attitudes based on heterogeneous belief‐sets were significantly less predictive of behavioural intentions (β = 0.46, p < 0.01) than attitudes based on homogeneous belief‐sets (β = 0.84, p < 0.01). Implications for research on attitudinal ambivalence and attribute importance are discussed. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Looking through a prism—multiple perspectives to commitment to international R&D collaboration

The number of technological alliances has been rapidly increasing, particularly in high-tech, fast-growth industries. However, previous research suggests that our knowledge of managing R&D co-operation is quite limited. The problems related to R&D co-operation have been analysed by several researchers and it seems that one of the central problems has been the partners' unequal commitment. The number of studies on commitment has been limited and in the existing studies, it has often been analysed as a simple, unidimensional concept. This study points out the multiple dimensions of the concept in the context of international R&D collaboration and generates propositions about the relevant and topical phenomenon.

A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis of a 'State of the Art' Talent Identification Model

Sport Interactive is a talent identification (TI) program that matches young people to sports based on proficiency on 11 simple physical and performance tasks. An evaluation of the program with Scottish girls ( n = 1217, mean age = 12.68 years) and boys ( n = 1239, mean age = 12.54 years) identified a number of problems. Firstly, although talent is conceptualized as static, children are evaluated on unstable variables. Additionally, the proposed correlation between proficiency on the Sport Interactive tasks and specific sport aptitude lacks theoretical justification. Finally, problems accrued from the use of Australian norms to interpret the performances of Scottish children. It is concluded that models that are based on a static and uni-dimensional concept of talent are likely to lead to the premature de-selection of many talented children. An alternative TID process that is based on a dynamic and multi-dimensional concept of talent is discussed.

Optimism and Pessimism: Underlying Structure and Dimensionality

The purpose of the study was to investigate the underlying structure and dimensionality of dispositional optimism as measured by the Life Orientation Test (LOT). Whereas the LOT was originally developed to measure a unidimensional construct, several studies have suggested a bidimensional underlying structure (i.e., separate optimism and pessimism factors). Data were collected among adolescents in Norway (total N = 2,239). Support was found for a hierarchical factor model comprising optimism and pessimism as first-order factors and ‘life orientation’ as a second-order factor. Additionally, some empirical support for an unfolding tendency was found, implying that the bidimensionality typically found in several studies is partly due to a method artifact. In conclusion, a unidimensional conceptualization of dispositional optimism was supported.

A Better Look at Intelligence

The Planning, Attention, Simultaneous, and Successive (PASS) model is offered as an alternative to the unidimensional conceptualization of intelligence as a general ability. The unidimensional conceptualization has not helped researchers and clinicians understand variations of cognitive functions within special populations such as individuals with learning disabilities, disorders of attention, or mental retardation. Neither has this conceptualization aided in program planning for these individuals. PASS is a model of cognitive function based on contemporary research in both cognition and neuropsychology and provides a theory for both assessment and intervention. This article reviews concepts and examples of PASS theory and its application to reading disabilities and mental retardation. For example, the article links dyslexia with a deficit in successive processing. It also identifies the major difficulties of individuals with Down syndrome in phonological memory and articulation. Further research on successive processing, and planning as it relates to language, is suggested.

Different Racisms and the Differences They Make: Race and “Asian Workers” of Prewar Hawai`i

In the past two decades, the scholarship on prewar Hawai`i, particularly of its workers, took a much needed critical turn toward the study of racial and class confl icts, challenging the long-standing dominance of the assimilationist framework. However, an anachronistic deployment of a pan-Asian racial category and an attenuated conceptualization of racism have impeded the turn, an important consequence of which has been an inadequate grasp of the racial inequality and division between Japanese and Filipino workers. I argue that a key to overcoming these shortcomings is the abandonment of a unidimensional conceptualization of racism that underlies not only the study of Hawai`i but also much of the sociology of race. Focusing on the 1920s and 1930s, this essay seeks to demonstrate why and how Japanese and Filipino workers faced different racisms, different not only in intensity but in kind, and what differences they made in relation to the production and reproduction of working-class racial inequality and division.

The dystrophin–glycoprotein complex, cellular signaling, and the regulation of cell survival in the muscular dystrophies

Mutations of different components of the dystrophin-glycoprotein complex (DGC) cause muscular dystrophies that vary in terms of severity, age of onset, and selective involvement of muscle groups. Although the primary pathogenetic processes in the muscular dystrophies have clearly been identified as apoptotic and necrotic muscle cell death, the pathogenetic mechanisms that lead to cell death remain to be determined. Studies of components of the DGC in muscle and in nonmuscle tissues have revealed that the DGC is undoubtedly a multifunctional complex and a highly dynamic structure, in contrast to the unidimensional concept of the DGC as a mechanical component in the cell. Analysis of the DGC reveals compelling analogies to two other membrane-associated protein complexes, namely integrins and caveolins. Each of these complexes mediates signal transduction cascades in the cell, and disruption of each complex causes muscular dystrophies. The signal transduction cascades associated with the DGC, like those associated with integrins and caveolins, play important roles in cell survival signaling, cellular defense mechanisms, and regulation of the balance between cell survival and cell death. This review focuses on the functional components of the DGC, highlighting the evidence of their participation in cellular signaling processes important for cell survival. Elucidating the link between these functional components and the pathogenetic processes leading to cell death is the foremost challenge to understanding the mechanisms of disease expression in the muscular dystrophies due to defects in the DGC.