Weak Peer Research Articles

Cyber-victimization and Its Impact on Victim’s Psychosomatic Status

Cyberbullying is an important issue to discuss and investigate. This study is a theoretical and empirical research aimed at proving cyber-victimization’s negative impact on psychosomatic health. A direct relationship between these two phenomena is that poor mood regulation in childhood entails dissatisfaction with surrounding world causing rage against weaker peers, victimization, which affects victims’ psychosomatic status. Methods used are literature analysis for the research and empirical part assessing aggressiveness in children (Buss-Darkey Inventory), their emotional state and psychosomatic health problems caused by victimization (authors’ questionnaire. As a result young victims’ psychosocial problems are seen as having negative consequences in later life. Because of these consequences, bullying becomes a hot topic and causes researchers, parents’, as well as school teachers and school psychologists’ concern. Cyberbullying will continue as long as electronic gadgets and communication devices are plugged in and used which is becoming an increasing problem due to dissemination of information, telecommunication technologies and the involvement of children and adolescents in the widespread digitalization of various spheres of life. In conclusion we recommend teachers and parents to develop understanding of cybervictimization, besides to pay attention to their children’s emotional intelligence development that should help them resist victimization and avoid health problems.

The Role of Professional Learning Communities for Teacher Innovation: A Comparative Study in Beijing and Hong Kong

This research explores how professional learning communities influence teacher innovation and how contextual factors differ in their impact. Teacher innovation, which refers to the implementation of innovative ideas raised by teachers, has become increasingly popular over the last decades. Teachers as innovators can significantly enhance the likelihood of improving schools' educational practices due to their professional judgment and knowledge engagement. Teachers' ongoing learning is crucial for successful innovation, and professional learning communities have been widely accepted as an effective way for schools and educational institutions to sustain professional learning with the collective purpose of enhancing students' performance. The theoretical framework guiding this research is the social capital theory. Through semi-structured interviews with 94 teachers and school leaders, this study reveals that professional learning communities foster teacher innovation through four key dimensions: 1) mutual trust and respect as a foundation; 2) shared practice and knowledge as a source of inspiration; 3) peer collaboration to provide feasibility; and 4) shared responsibility to provide guarantee. When comparing Beijing and Hong Kong, it is observed that promoting teacher innovation through professional learning communities is easier in Hong Kong due to the relatively diverse admission pathways and low power distance. However, the low in-group collectivism in Hong Kong may limit teacher innovation due to weak peer collaboration. This research offers valuable guidance for teachers and school leaders on how to promote teacher innovation effectively during professional learning communities.

Peer performance and the asymmetric timeliness of earnings recognition

This paper investigates the impact of peer performance on the asymmetric timeliness of earnings recognition. We find a positive relationship between peers' weak performance and timely bad news disclosure. Our results are robust to a variety of tests, including instrument variable approach, difference-in-differences analysis, alternative measures and subsample analysis. Consistent with the notion that weak peer performance increases investors' demand for information, the relationship is more profound for firms suffering from high information externality, with weak governance and high information asymmetry. Furthermore, we find that the relationship is difficult to reconcile with the explanation of managers' herding behaviour. In addition, we show that conservative accounting information disclosure due to weak peer performance alleviates managerial bad news hoarding and information asymmetry for underperforming firms, but distorts investment decisions for outperforming firms. We highlight the spillover effect of peer performance on conservative accounting information and the related heterogeneous outcomes.

Issues with Communicative Language Teaching Implementation in Saudi Arabia Concerning the Government Policy, Teachers, and Students: Two Decades of Research

This paper focuses on the most significant empirical studies on the topic of challenges facing the communicative language teaching approach in Saudi Arabia. The communicative language teaching method has been used for more than two decades in Saudi Arabia and research conducted during this period offers some insight into the main challenges of the implementation. The main goal of this paper is to synthesize findings from research studies conducted in the past and by doing so, suggest the possible avenues for tackling these challenges. Four broad categories of challenges have been adopted from Li’s (1998) comprehensive framework in an attempt to structure the challenges under meaningful labels. This, in turn, enabled us to categorize the challenges according to their source which helped our understanding of how to resolve them. The findings suggest that the most frequently observed policy-related challenges are the current exam system, overcrowded classes, no AV equipment, and low quality of in-house training programs for teachers. Teacher-related challenges mostly relate to conflicting ideas about CLT, low confidence in these methods, preference for the traditional learning model, focus on developing skills that feature in the exams, and deficiencies in teachers’ English. Student-related challenges are found to be their low-level proficiency, passive learning style, lack of motivation to learn the target language, and fear of their marks being negatively affected if they are paired with weaker peers during communicative activities. This paper concludes that these challenges are all interconnected, and a systematic approach is essential in trying to tackle these with the government intervention being a potential first step.

Analysis of a Monitoring System for Bacterial Wilt Management by Seed Potato Cooperatives in Ethiopia: Challenges and Future Directions

Collective action is required to deal with various complex agricultural problems such as invasive weeds and plant diseases that pose a collective risk to farmers. Monitoring systems could help to stimulate collective action and avoid free-riding. The paper develops a novel framework consisting of essential elements of a monitoring system for managing a complex disease like bacterial wilt in potato crops. The framework is used to explore how seed potato cooperatives in Ethiopia operationalised the essential elements of a monitoring system and identifies which challenges remain to be overcome. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, reflective workshops, participant observation, and document analysis. We found that the cooperatives had organised a self-monitoring system to monitor disease occurrence and the disease management practices of their members. Monitoring committees were in charge of the data collection and enforcement of sanctions on farmers who did not adhere to the cooperatives’ bylaws. The main challenges included the dependency on visual observation, which does not disclose latent infections, limited financial incentives for the monitoring committee members, lack of trust, weak peer monitoring, and the social and ecological interdependency between producers of ware and seed potatoes. Suggestions are provided to strengthen the monitoring systems of farmers’ seed potato cooperatives in Ethiopia. In addition, we discuss the broader value of our novel framework for describing and analysing monitoring systems for future research and intervention.

The effects of grouping types on promoting critical thinking in EFL collaborative writing

Nurturing critical thinking (CT) has been acknowledged as a core objective of tertiary education, and drawn attention from academia of teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL), particularly in EFL argumentative writing. It has been claimed that collaborative learning which stimulates the active exchange of ideas within small groups not only increases interest among the participants but also promotes critical thinking. One of the important aspects of learning and teaching through collaboration is the group composition or grouping “who with whom”. The present study was an attempt to investigate the impact of homogeneous and heterogeneous groupings on critical thinking in collaborative writing. Having been required to write an argumentative essay as a pre-test, 75 participants, who were categorized by their prior critical thinking levels, were assigned into three group types: heterogeneous, homogeneous high and homogeneous low groups. As a consequence, four types of students were considered their improvement before and after the experiment: high-level students in heterogeneous groups, lowlevel students in heterogeneous groups, high-level students in homogeneous groups, low-level students in homogeneous groups. The results demonstrated that learners improved their critical thinking level through collaborative writing, whether working with stronger or weaker peers. However, heterogeneous grouping showed superiority over homogeneous grouping at the low level. The results revealed that cooperative learning could be especially beneficial for low students. It is hoped that the findings of the present study will give teachers deep insights into group compositions in collaborative learning courses, and will help them make better group experiences for students.

Dinamika Kontrol Sosial Keluarga dan Teman Sebaya pada Remaja Berisiko Penyalahgunaan NAPZA

The purpose of this research is to know in depth how the dynamics of social control family and peers on adolescents who are at risk of drug abuse. Method: This research method using qualitative research method, which uses data collecting interviews and observation. Participant: This study focused on participants who are at risk of drug abuse with the following criteria: (a) willing to be a participant, (b) gender to male or female, (c) ± adolescents aged 15-18 years, (d) adolescents who are indicated are at risk of drug abuse. Result: The results of this study indicate that adolescents who are at risk of drug abuse are smoking and drinking. High risk factors cause adolescents to be at risk for drug abuse, ie family conflicts, negative parental models, involvement of negative activities with peers, and peer-to-peer conformity. This is supported by the weakness of protection factors in adolescent behavior at risk of drug abuse. Weak family controls supported by weak peer control will increase the risk rate for adolescent drug abuse behavior. This suggests that family and peer social controls are very influential to reduce the risk of adolescent drug abusers, especially in prevention and intervention.

Drug use and postgraduate students’ career prospects: Implications for career counselling intervention strategies

The study investigates the effect of drug use on postgraduate students’ career prospects by exploring associated risks of drug use and subsequent implications for career counselling intervention strategies within a university context. Students’ awareness of the psychosocial and health risks of drug use, knowledge and use of existing drug intervention services as well as behavioural impediments to their career prospects are assessed. An exploratory design within the qualitative approach was adopted involving in-depth interviews with professional informants and drug users within the postgraduate student cohort. Interpretive phenomenological analysis was applied for the synthesis and formulation of discursive themes. The article notes that denial and lack of coping strategies, improper personal conduct and unresponsive behaviour; poor academic performance and incriminating personal profiles were major potential impediments to postgraduate students’ career prospects. It was further noted that the current interventions’ continued use of scare tactics and information-based programmes needed to undergo a systematic evaluation. The article calls for more inclusive intervention strategies based on the life skills approach to address poor social coping strategies, mundane decision-making, low self-esteem and weak peer pressure resistance mechanisms to enhance students’ sober habits and competitiveness in the job market.

Developing sarcopenia criteria and cutoffs for an older Caucasian cohort - a strictly biometrical approach.

BackgroundThe aim of this strictly statistical approach was to provide a figure discrimination in a homogeneous cohort that is based on a main component, which includes disability, physical performance, and autonomy parameters.MethodsWe used data of 939 community-dwelling men aged ≥70 years, living in the area of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany. Briefly, we conducted a scaled principal component analysis based on criteria related to “physical function”, “disability”, “weakness”, and “autonomy” to identify men who are likely to have sarcopenia as per the recognized sarcopenia criteria. Next, we applied fast-and-frugal decision trees, logistic regression, and classification and regression decision trees to classify men with and without sarcopenia, applying the 5% prevalence rate identified for this cohort by recent studies.ResultsIn summary, the best fast-and-frugal decision trees included gait velocity, handgrip strength, and two skeletal muscle mass indices (SMI) – appendicular skeletal muscle mass (ASMM)/body mass index (BMI) and ASMM/height2. Briefly, men below the cutoff point of 1.012 m/s for gait velocity were directly classified as sarcopenic. Faster men with a handgrip strength of >34.5 kg were excluded from further screening, while their weaker peers were assessed for SMI. Firstly, an ASMM/BMI-based exclusion criterion of >0.886 indicates no sarcopenia; while in men with a lower BMI-based SMI, an ASMM/height2 of <7.25 kg/m2 indicates sarcopenia. Of importance, about 72% of the participants can be classified without an SMI assessment.ConclusionThe present approach that applied recognized sarcopenia criteria and was based on a predominately functional understanding of sarcopenia provided a simple and feasible decision rule for sarcopenia discrimination. In summary, we consider our approach as a strictly biometrical contribution within the development of sarcopenia screening methods. However, our tool needs to be further evaluated to validate its appropriateness to discriminate sarcopenia in this relevant cohort.

Angels and Loners: An Examination of Abstainer Subtypes

ABSTRACTScholars speculate that there may be both prosocial and antisocial modes of abstention; however, few attempts have been made to examine this idea empirically. Using a pooled sample from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979, group-based trajectory analysis is presented to identify adolescents who abstain from marijuana, vandalism, violence, and theft during their teenage years, and latent class analysis is used to examine within-group heterogeneity among abstainers. A subset of abstainers report weak peer integration, psycho-emotional instability, worse academic performance, and more conflict with their parents. Implications of findings are discussed.

Cooperative learning: Homogeneous and heterogeneous grouping of Iranian EFL learners in a writing context

AbstractOne of the important aspects of learning and teaching through cooperation is the group composition or grouping “who with whom”. An unresolved issue is that of the superiority of heterogeneity or homogeneity in the structure of the groups. The present study was an attempt to investigate the impact that homogeneous and heterogeneous groupings of Iranian EFL learners regarding their prior levels had on their writing ability when working cooperatively. Having administered a standardized preliminary English test (PET) and a writing test taken from PET sample tests as a pre-test, 66 high and low proficient learners were assigned into three groups: heterogeneous, homogeneous high, and homogeneous low groups. Following the end of the treatment that took 10 sessions each for 30 min, all groups received a writing test as a post-test. The results demonstrated that learners improved their performance through cooperation, whether working with stronger or weaker peers. However, heterogeneous grouping showed sup...

Peer bullying and substance abuse among first grade university students

Abstract Aim . Peer bullying is defined as systematic, deliberate, intentional, and periodic agressive acts inflicted by physically or psychologically stronger children on their weaker peers without any evidence of provocation. In our study, we investigated the incidence of the peer bullying among university students, diversity and the relationship between of the peer bullying and substance use and socio-demographic characteristics. Method. Our study was conducted between April, 11 and May 20, 2011 with 2177 undergraduates training in Faculty of Education, Economics, Administrative Sciences, and Faculty of Science and Literature localized at Central Campus of Gaziosmanpasa University using cluster sampling method. Based on the results obtained from previous prevalence studies, working with a 45% sampling distribution was decided upon. Accordingly, questionnaire surveys were applied on 985 students in their classrooms under the observance of a supervisor, and statistical analyses were performed on 964 completed questionnaire forms. Results. Two thirds of our study participants were first grade female students. Mean age of the participants was 19.8±1.6 years. A 10% of all students were smokers, 6.9% of them were using alcohol. Currently 0.4% of them were heroin, and cocaine users, while a very small percentage of the students were using thinner (0.4%) and cannabis (0.5%). Some of the male students stated that they could fight for their girl friends (32%) or for any friend (30%). A 22.3% of all the participants who were mostly male (40.8%) and at a lesser proportion female (13.4%) students expressed that they could fight frequently, and incessantly with those who would swear at them. Apart from verbal violence, in all types of violence, incidence of exposure to violent behaviours has observedly risen in line with the educational level of parents. Mostly among substance abusers (88.9%), then alcohol, and tobacco addicts have been exposed to physical violence in decreasing order. Verbal violence was directed mainly to alcohol abusers, while smokers were predominantly subjected to emotional violence. Conclusion. In our study a significant correlation was found between alcohol, and other substance abuses and increased incidence of bullying. In fact, in many studies performed, an association between substance abuse, and criminal acts has been revealed. Social, and individual awareness about the relationship between the substance use, and tendency to commit criminal acts should be created via informative programs encompassing both users, and their families. Keywords: Peer bullying, substance use, school, risk factors Ozet Amac. Akran zorbaligi, icerisinde kiskirtma unsuru olmaksizin aralarinda fiziksel ya da psikolojik acidan guc esitsizligi olan cocuklardan guclunun karsi tarafa bilerek ve isteyerek, kasitli, sistemli bir bicimde belli zaman araliklari ile uyguladigi saldirilar olarak tanimlanmaktadir. Bu calismada universite ogrencileri arasinda akran zorbaliginin sikligi, cesitliligi ile akran zorbaliginin madde kullanimi ve sosyodemografik ozellikler arasindaki iliskisinin arastirilmasi amaclandi. Yontem. Calismamiz Gaziosmanpasa Universitesi Tokat merkez kampusunde egitim gormekte olan 2177 birinci sinif lisans ogrencilerinde kume ornekleme yontemi ile %45 orneklemle 985 ogrenciye sinif ortaminda gozetmen esliginde anket uygulanmis ve istatistiksel analizler 964 anket uzerinden yapilmistir. Bulgular. Calismamizda arastirmaya katilanlarin 2/3'si 1. sinif ogrencilerinin cinsiyet oranlarina paralel olarak kiz ogrenci idi. Katilimcilarin yas ortalamalari ise 19,8±1,6 idi. Tum ogrenciler arasinda sigara kullananlarin orani %10, alkol kullanan ogrenci orani %6,9 iken ogrencilerin halen %0,4'u eroin ve kokain kullanmakta %0,1'i tiner, %0,5'i ise halen esrar kullandigini ifade etmektedir. Kiz arkadasi icin kavga edebilecegini ifade eden erkek ogrencilerin orani %32, arkadasi icin kavga edebilecegini ifade eden erkek ogrencilerin orani ise %30, kendisine kufreden arkadasiyla sik sik ve devamli kavga edecegini ifade eden ogrenci orani %22,3 iken bu oran erkek ogrencilerde %40,8, kiz ogrencilerde %13,4 olarak bulunmustur. Sozel siddet haric siddet turlerini hepsinde anne ve baba egitim duzeyi yukseldikce siddetle karsilasma oranlarinda artma gozlenmistir. Ogrencilerden fiziksel siddetle karsilasma oranlari en yuksek oranda madde kullananlarda (%88,9) bulunmakta iken bunu alkol ve sigara kullanimi izlemektedir. Sozel siddete ise en cok oranda alkol kullananlar, duygusal siddetle ise en fazla oranda sigara kullananlar karsilasmaktadir. Sonuc. Calismamizda alkol ve diger madde kullanimlari ile zorbalik arasinda anlamli bir iliski bulunmustur. Yapilan bircok calismada da madde kullanimi ile suc arasinda bir iliskinin oldugu ortaya konulmustur. Akran zorbaligi ve madde kullanimi ile ilgili olarak hem kullanicilar hem de ailelerinin katilimiyla bilgilendirici programlar yapilarak toplumsal ve bireysel farkindalik yaratilmalidir. Anahtar sozcukler: Akran siddeti, madde kullanimi, okul, risk faktorleri

Competition of individual and institutional punishments in spatial public goods games

We have studied the evolution of strategies in spatial public goods games where both individual (peer) and institutional (pool) punishments are present in addition to unconditional defector and cooperator strategies. The evolution of strategy distribution is governed by imitation based on the random sequential comparison of neighbors' payoff for a fixed level of noise. Using numerical simulations, we evaluate the strategy frequencies and phase diagrams when varying the synergy factor, punishment cost, and fine. Our attention is focused on two extreme cases describing all the relevant behaviors in such a complex system. According to our numerical data peer punishers prevail and control the system behavior in a large segments of parameters while pool punishers can only survive in the limit of weak peer punishment when a rich variety of solutions is observed. Paradoxically, the two types of punishment may extinguish each other's impact, resulting in the triumph of defectors. The technical difficulties and suggested methods are briefly discussed.

The role of peers and grades in determining major persistence in the sciences

Using longitudinal administrative data from a large elite research university, this paper analyzes the role of peers and grades in determining major persistence in the life and physical sciences. In the physical sciences, analyses using within-course, across-time variation show that ex-ante measures of peer quality in a student's introductory courses has a lasting impact on the probability of persisting in the major. This peer effect exhibits important non-linearities such that weak students benefit from exposure to stronger peers while strong students are not dragged down by weaker peers. In both the physical and the life sciences, I find evidence that students are “pulled away” by their high grades in non-science courses and “pushed out” by their low grades in their major field. In the physical sciences, females are found to be more responsive to grades than males, consistent with psychological theories of stereotype vulnerability.

Chapter 13: Promoting the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning at Community Colleges

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) is a powerful vehicle for professional development. Faculty make their teaching public as they investigate phenomena in their classes. This process encourages sustained discussions of teaching. In conducting SoTL, community college faculty face substantial hurdles: heavy workloads, few institutional supports, no employment rewards, perceived irrelevance, and weak peer networks. Can these challenges be overcome within existing institutional structures? This chapter explores this question by examining how SoTL is pursued in two learning communities. Evidence from these institutional case studies suggests that SoTL programs are viable in community colleges, despite major challenges.

Performance, priorities, and future of biomedical research publications in Africa: Need for networks between scientists in developed and developing countries.

Scientific publications play an important role in the scientific process providing a key linkage between knowledge production and use [1]. Africa’s health challenges and research needs have been well documented for many years now. Scientific publishing activity worldwide over the past decades shows that most countries in Africa have low levels of publication [1–10]. In the 1990s, the term “the 10/90” gap was coined to express the acute global imbalance whereby developing countries experienced 90 per cent of the world’s major health problems, but received only 10 per cent of its resources for health research [11–13]. The difficulties in research, publication, editorial bias, and information access facing Africa are profound and seem almost intractable [1, 14]. Richard Horton, editor-in-chief of The Lancet in his excellent discussion of this issue has highlighted some of the barriers to information exchange between North and South [14]. Lack of funding, poor laboratory, limited technical support, little available training, few tutors or mentors, no career structure, weak peer networks, diffuse relation between research and academic reward, and research biased to Northern interests are important factors affecting research production from Africa. The low proportions of published articles from authors from Africa have been reported in many research fields [1–10], and may be due to fear of rejection, uncertain about journal options, and no culture of publication to draw on. In addition, serious under-representation of editorial and advisory board members from countries with a low human development index in medical journals has been documented recently [15–17]. This editorial bias may be due to low interest in less-developed countries and reviews fail to take account of local research conditions. Another difficulty facing African researcher is dissemination of findings to other parts of the world. Most of the information published in African journals are largely not included in major databases. Access to technological tools, information access, and other equipment and supplies to ease the work is not always possible. Researchers in Africa are poorly paid [18, 19]. Many have to work in private practice to make ends meet. Many research units in Africa are struggling to cope with a “brain drain” of basic scientist and clinical researchers to developed countries which offer more opportunities and greater political and financial securities [20–23]. There is an urgent need to strengthen local research capacity in Africa, to tackle compelling questions about health and disease vital to enhancing people’s health, lives and livelihoods. More support should be provided by developed countries to Africa, for the advancement of local research efforts. This support should aim to improve the infrastructure of research in Africa. In addition, there is a need for Africa countries to develop and sustain research capacity by attracting, developing and retaining excellent scientists, providing and sustaining the infrastructure and equipment that high-quality research needs; developing strong research institutions with effective leadership, governance and management systems; sustaining a balanced research portfolio in the Africa and partner countries. Researchers from Africa should work effectively through partnerships internationally, nationally; regionally and locally to ensure that research agenda is relevant to Africa’s need and deliverable. There is a need for schemes to promote research as a viable career option and by giving more research awards and supplementing researchers’ salaries. This can be inform of non-bond research grants to PhD students studies in local universities that are have a good links to reputable institutions in the North. Researchers from Africa should join national, regional, and global networks. Developing computerized knowledge management systems to more accurately track research output including grey literature may help eliminate intellectual isolation. Health research priorities in Africa have often been determined by funders, institutions or individuals, rather than by means of a truly participatory and rational process. There is a need to strengthen the “African Voice” in determining the priorities for future health research. On a final note, I believe like others, that adopting a philosophy of friends-helping-friends and intellectual solidarity will help promotes a commitment to research to equity in health development in Africa.

Bullying among Italian Middle School Students

This article illustrates the relevance of combining methods to understand bullying. The aim of the study was twofold. First, to measure the prevalence of bullying in a middle school in Rome by administering a self-report questionnaire. Second, to understand and interpret the results of the questionnaire by adopting a qualitative method. Combining methods can be a useful research method to validate quantitative results and further investigate complex social problems such as bullying in school. Results from the structured questionnaire revealed that a high proportion of students reported being victims, bullies or both. To disclose some of the causes and possible explanations of the onset and persistence of these behaviours, a focus group discussion with students was then conducted. According to the students, the bully harasses others to gain a social status and affiliation to a group and to dominate the weaker members. Some victims, in order to defend themselves, start picking on weaker peers, thereby reinforcing the cycle of violence. Bullying should be stopped, but punishing the perpetrator is unlikely to solve the problem. Victims should be helped to find someone they trust to talk to without fear of being threatened or blamed.

Primary Socialization Theory: The Etiology of Drug Use and Deviance. I

The fundamental theorem of primary socialization theory is that normative and deviant behaviors are learned social behaviors, products of the interaction of social, psychological, and cultural characteristics, and that norms for social behaviors, including drug use, are learned predominantly in the context of interactions with the primary socialization sources. During adolescence, learning of social behaviors is frequently dominated by interactions with peer clusters. There are a number of additional postulates: 1) The strength of the bonds between the youth and the primary socialization sources is a major factor in determining how effectively norms are transmitted. 2) Any socialization link can transmit deviant norms, but healthy family and school systems are more likely to transmit prosocial norms. 3) Peer clusters can transmit either prosocial or deviant norms, but the major source of deviant norms is usually peer clusters. 4) Weak family/child and/ or school/child bonds increase the chances that the youth will bond with a deviant peer cluster and will engage in deviant behaviors. 5) Weak peer bonds can also ultimately increase the changes of bonding with deviant peers. Primary socialization theory is consistent with current research, has strong implications for improving prevention and treatment, and suggests specific hypotheses for further research.

Affiliation and reciprocity in sibling and peer relationships among free-ranging immature male rhesus monkeys

The social relationships of immature male rhesus monkeys ( Macaca mulatta) were studied during 1977, 1978 and 1981 at the Cayo Santiago colony, Puerto Rico. Three types of social relationship were selected for comparison: the sibling relationship, the strong peer relationship and the weak peer relationship. Sibling relationships were initially distinguished from peer relationships on the basis of individual characteristics (age and relatedness), whereas the two types of peer relationship were initially differentiated on the basis of criteria that concerned their structure. Although the three types of relationship showed certain similarities these were far outweighed by differences in the content, diversity, qualities and the relative frequency and patterning of their interactions, and the degree to which their interactions were characterized as reciprocal or complementary. These findings are discussed in relation to a number of questions concerning the sturucture of relationships and it is concluded that, in broad terms, the three types of relationship can be contrasted in terms of a multidimensional quality, their degree of affiliation.

The Effectiveness of Pre-Employment Strength Testing for Manual Materials Handling Jobs

With the advent of both affirmative action programs for women and disabled individuals and the growing need for better occupational health and safety programs in heavy industry, it has become necessary to develop more objective pre-employment selection and employee placement tests. This paper reviews the eight years of research conducted on this subject by the University of Michigan, Human Performance and Safety Research Laboratory. Various human strength testing methodologies are described and critiqued. Population strength data are reviewed as they pertain to the problem of matching a person's physical capabilities to a job's physical demands. The development and use of biomechanical strength models are reviewed, and their potential contributions and limitations are enumerated. Several major results of the use of such models for the design of manual materials handling tasks are presented. The transition from such biomechanical analyses to the development of a physical job evaluation methodology is presented. Two studies using this job evaluation methodology are then described. The first study involved over 100 jobs requiring significant manual materials handling which were located in five different plants. The workers on these jobs were strength tested. Any low-back problems developed by these people were carefully documented over a one-year period. The results indicated that those jobs requiring high strength performance were associated with about an eight times higher incidence rate of low-back pain than the jobs having little strength requirement. Also, it was shown that those employees having a high strength capacity were significantly less prone (about 3X less) to low-back pain when required to lift heavy loads than their weaker peers. The second study describes a larger on-going study of the same nature as the first. This study involves over 900 job evaluations. The jobs are located in six different plants. As people are transferred or hired into these jobs, their strengths are assessed by standardized tests, and a medical history is obtained. Both supervisor performance ratings and medical incident data are recorded while the person remains on the job. Correlations between the job demands relative to a person's strength test results and their performance and medical incident scores are reported as a measure of how effective strength testing could be in achieving a better employee/job match.