Browsing by Subject "Employment"
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Item Abstinence-contingent wage supplements for adults experiencing homelessness and alcohol use disorder: A randomized clinical trial(Elsevier, 2023-11-01) Novak, Matthew; Toegel, Forrest; Holtyn, August F.; Rodewald, Andrew M.; Arellano, Meghan; Baranski, Mackenzie; Barnett, Nancy P.; Leoutsakos, Jeannie-Marie; Fingerhood, Michael; Silverman, KennethThis study evaluated the effectiveness of abstinence-contingent wage supplements in promoting alcohol abstinence and employment in adults experiencing homelessness and alcohol use disorder. A randomized clinical trial was conducted from 2019 to 2022. After a 1-month Induction period, 119 participants were randomly assigned to a Usual Care Control group (n = 57) or an Abstinence-Contingent Wage Supplement group (n = 62). Usual Care participants were offered counseling and referrals to employment and treatment programs. Abstinence-Contingent Wage Supplement participants could earn stipends for working with an employment specialist and wage supplements for working in a community job but had to maintain abstinence from alcohol as determined by transdermal alcohol concentration monitoring devices to maximize pay. Abstinence-Contingent Wage Supplement participants reported significantly higher rates of alcohol abstinence than Usual Care participants during the 6-month intervention (82.8% vs. 60.2% of months, OR = 3.4, 95% CI 1.8 to 6.3, p < .001). Abstinence-Contingent Wage Supplement participants were also significantly more likely to obtain employment (51.3% vs. 31.6% of months, OR = 2.6, 95% CI 1.5 to 4.4, p < .001) and live out of poverty (38.2% vs. 16.7% of months, OR = 3.7, 95% CI 2.0 to 7.1, p < .001) than Usual Care participants. These findings suggest that Abstinence-Contingent Wage Supplements can promote alcohol abstinence and employment in adults experiencing homelessness and alcohol use disorder. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03519009Item Digital Atlas of Megalopolis(Originally published by:) Short, John Rennie; School of Public PolicyItem Evaluating a Workshop for Non-Traditional College Students Experiencing Career Transitions(American Counceling Association, 2010) Gasser, Courtney E.The world of work has changed dramatically in the past few decades (Arnold & Jackson, 1997; Borgen, 1999; Maglio, Butterfield, & Borgen, 2005). Gone are the days when one would find a satisfying job and keep that same job until retirement. Now, it is far more common to expect that one will be faced with several, if not many, job and career transitions over the course of one’s work life (Arnold & Jackson, 1997). Furthermore, successfully completing a career transition may often require additional training and skills, with the implication for some to attend college to seek degrees. In fact, it is likely that with the current global economic issues, and with larger percentages of unemployed Americans, that some individuals will be looking to change career paths to pursue existing employment opportunities that may be perceived to lead to steadier paychecks. Given these employment trends, it is not a stretch to imagine more individuals seeking out collegiate experiences in order to make these occupational shifts possible. It appears that we have entered into what could be called the age of the “career transitioner.” Career transitioners can be defined as those working adults who are makinga change in their choice of work (Fouad & Bynner, 2008). These transitioners may have experienced either voluntary or involuntary job loss, and may be retraining in preparation to enter another career. Given the trends of our changing world of work, it seems likely that there will be an increasing number of career transitioners in need of counseling interventions tailored to their unique needs. To date, few studies have focused on evaluating career interventions with mature adult workers (Bobek & Robbins, 2005). This study seeks to expand on what is known about effective career interventions for mature adult workers who are experiencing career transitions.Item EVALUATION OF THE EFFECTS OF TWO EARLY CHILDHOOD INTERVENTIONS ON ADULTHOOD INCOME: EXAMINING THE ASSOCIATION OF PROXIMAL AND DISTAL INTERVENTION EFFECTS WITH SUBJECT-LEVEL HETEROGENEITY(2019-01-01) Johnston, Stephen S.; Salkever, David S; School of Public Policy; Public PolicyThe long-term evaluation and subsequent replication of early childhood interventions can be costly. Thus, approaches that maximize the efficiency of these tasks are critical to the economic feasibility of such interventions. I use longitudinal data from the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) Prevention Research Center (PRC) intervention trials to: (a) evaluate the impact of two randomized classroom-based early childhood interventions - the Good Behavior Game (GBG) and Mastery Learning (ML) - on adulthood income, and (b) explore the role of various forms of subject-level heterogeneity in the impact of these interventions on adulthood income. My dissertations centers around three core empirical analyses: (#1) Empirical evaluation of the effects of the GBG and ML interventions on adulthood income: testing a recursive model of proximal and distal effects vs. a reduced-form model of distal effects; (#2) Empirical evaluation of subject-level heterogeneity in sociodemographic and behavioral characteristics and their influence on the effects of the ML and GBG interventions on adulthood income; (#3) Empirical evaluation of subject-level heterogeneity in polygenic propensity for educational attainment and its influence on the effects of the ML and GBG interventions on adulthood income. In each analysis, I use multivariable generalized linear models to test my statistical hypotheses. In sensitivity analyses, I apply inverse probability of attrition weights to address longitudinal loss to follow-up. I find that universally, the ML and GBG interventions do not appear to have a significant impact on adulthood income. However, the ML intervention increased the probability of adulthood employment. The impact of these interventions, particularly the ML, varied by sociodemographic and behavioral heterogeneity and by polygenic propensity for educational attainment. Proximal measures of young adulthood educational attainment were strongly predictive of adulthood income and employment and therefore may serve as a proximal marker of distal intervention success. Aside from the interventions, participants' grade 1 global Teacher Observation of Classroom Adaptation - Revised (TOCA-R rating), grade 1 free lunch status, and EduYears GPS (a score summarizing the polygenic propensity for educational attainment) for the were remarkably predictive of adulthood income and employment outcomes, and these factors may be ideal for targeting at-risk populations for interventions.Item Five-Factor Model Personality Measures and Sex-Based Differential Prediction of Performance(International Association of Applied Psychologists, 2012-04-12) Berry, Christopher M.; Kim, Anita; Wang, Kim; Thompson, Rebecca J.; Mobley, William H.Despite mean differences between sexes, virtually no research has investigated sex-based differential prediction of personality tests in civilian employment samples. The present study investigated the degree to which personality test scores differentially predicted job performance ratings in two managerial samples. In both samples, participants completed a Five-Factor Model personality test and the participants' supervisors, peers, and subordinates provided ratings of participants' task and contextual performance. The current study found sex-based differential prediction in 6.7 per cent of differential prediction analyses in Sample 1, but found no sex-based differential prediction in Sample 2. Across the two samples sex-based differential prediction of performance only occurred 3.3 per cent of the time, which is less than would be expected by chance alone, given alpha = .05. Thus, based on the present study and the extant literature to date, no sex-based differential prediction studies have identified evidence of personality test bias.Item In the Shadow of Steel(Originally published by: Urbanite Magazine, 2010-04-01) Rudacille, Deborah; EnglishItem Law's Presence, Law's Absence: Reporting Stories of Employment Discrimination in the Academy(The Women and Politics Research Section of the American Political Science Association, 2018-06-21) Sterett, SusanI wrote most of this article before October 2016. The news has brought to the fore points made in scholarship on sexual harassment, including that people do not complain, that sexual harassment is widespread and ordinary in some work settings, that legal settlement contributes to allowing problems to go unaddressed, and that sexual harassment is experienced well beyond the high-profile settings that made the news in the fall of 2016 or winter of 2017. Political science most recently finds itself in the professional press in contests over individual stories of sexual harassment as unwanted sexual attention and the use of professional power (Gluckman, 2018). The New York Times's 2017 reporting of sexual assault by Harvey Weinstein (Kantor and Twohey, 2017) sparked the spread of #MeToo, a term that an African-American woman had first deployed years earlier (Vagianos, 2017). The term relies on framing a wrong but often without the law. Before the fall of 2016 and the spread of #MeToo, law and decisions by administrators in higher education had generated reporting about the academy. Generated in part by law and decisions by administrators in higher education, sexual harassment reporting about the academy predated the fall of 2016. This article concerns that earlier reporting and the way that sexual harassment as unwanted sexual attention can crowd out other ways of seeing law in employment problems and other ways of interpreting employment problems without relying on law.Item Mass Incarceration: The Subjugation of Black Men's Health(2019-05-19) Stern, Bianca; Bess, Jennifer; Pringle, Rick; Greenberg, Patricia; Center for Geographies of Justice - Peace Studies; Bachelor's DegreeThere has been an ongoing effort to lessen racial health disparities in the United States, but little headway has been made. Despite tremendous advances in medicine, the life expectancy gap between black and white men has remained. This paper argues that because black men are imprisoned at a disproportionate rate to all other racial and ethnic groups, mass incarceration plays in integral role in maintaining this life expectancy gap. A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that heart disease, cancer, stroke, and diabetes, which are all exacerbated by stressors like incarceration and reentry, are the causes of death that contribute most to the life expectancy gap between black and white men. Drawing on stories given by participants from Turnaround Tuesday, a jobs movement in Baltimore, I explore how incarceration shapes returning citizens’ return to community, with a specific focus on social determinants of health, stigma, and status. This case study indicates that chronic stress puts returning citizens at risk for the four major causes of death, but that Turnaround Tuesday’s focus on employment and social network building positions them to reduce this risk.Item A phenomenological inquiry examining the lived experiences of African-American male senior executive service members in the United States federal government(2015-05) Beckett, Corey A.; Wyatt-Nichol, Heather; Henderson, Lenneal J.; Mitchell, Robbie, Jr.; University of Baltimore. College of Public Affairs; University of Baltimore. Doctor of Public AdministrationFederal agencies have made significant efforts to implement equal employment opportunities and workplace diversity through the development and implementation of diversity programs and policies. However, the evidence indicates that Senior Executive Service (SES) glass ceilings still exist for certain minorities, thereby hindering the overall achievement of workplace diversity. African-American males make up only 5.3% of total employees in the SES, one of the lowest percentage of all racial groups. This suggests that African–American males may be at a disadvantage in evaluations for leadership positions due to their race. However, no previous research has focused on this issue. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore African-American males’ lived experiences of progressing to and holding federal SES positions. It was designed to investigate the organizational and individual-level factors that have shaped these experiences and the strategies used to ascend to and remain relevant in SES roles. A qualitative, phenomenological research design enabled the researcher to achieve deep insights into the lived experiences of a sample of African-American males in SES positions. The findings indicate that the African-American males in this sample have struggled in various ways to achieve and succeed in their roles. This appears to be due to a lack of organizational support in their paths to success, as well as the negative impact of stereotypes and misconceptions relating to African-American men. Despite this, the research participants have successfully overcome the challenges and have drawn on personal strengths and skills as well as specific strategies in achieving success. As a result, they are delivering high levels of value to their respective organizations and positive role models to other African-American males. By providing greater organizational support and enforcing compliance with diversity policies, federal agencies are likely to benefit from a more diverse racial representation in the SES while improving social equity in employment.Item Supervisee Avoidant Attachment and Supervisors’ Use of Relational Behavior: Contributions to the Working Alliance(University at Albany, State University of New York, 2015) Shaffer, Katharine S.Supervision research has demonstrated the importance of a strong supervisory working alliance in the context of clinical training. However, little is known about what specifically occurs in clinical supervision that contributes to a strong supervisory working alliance. The present study of counselor trainees was designed to investigate relations among their avoidant attachment style, perceptions of relational behaviors used by their supervisors in the most recent supervision session, and the supervisory working alliance. Competing hypotheses stated that greater use of relational behavior on the part of supervisors would either mediate or moderate the inverse relationship between trainees’ avoidant attachment style and their perceptions of the supervisory working alliance. Master’s and doctoral trainees in the mental health professions were contacted through listservs, training directors, and social media with a link to the web-based study. The measures were the Experiences in Close Relationships Scale-Revised ( ECR-R; Fraley, Waller & Brennan, 2000), the Relational Behavior Scale (RBS), which was developed based on Ladany, Friedlander, and Nelson’s (2005) Critical Events model of supervision and assesses perceptions of supervisors’ use of 5 specific interpersonal behaviors in supervision (exploration of feelings, focus on therapeutic process, attend to parallel process, focus on countertransference, and focus on supervisory alliance), and the Working Alliance Inventory – Trainee version (WAI-T; Bahrick, 1989). Based on the present sample (N = 141) and a similar earlier sample (total N = 262), a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted on the Relational Behavior Scale, which confirmed that a 5-item, one factor solution best fit the data and accounted for 53.38% of the total variance. Results indicated that neither the mediation nor vii moderation hypotheses was supported. Specifically, trainees’ avoidant attachment style was not significantly related to the supervisory working alliance or to the perceived relational behavior of supervisors. However, a significant positive association (r = .62, p = .0001) emerged between scores on the RBS and the WAI-T, providing evidence that supervisors’ use of specific in-session relational strategies are strongly associated with trainees’ more favorable perceptions of the working alliance. Continued study of relational behavior may enhance theories of interpersonal supervision, provide training guidelines for new supervisors, and suggest strategies for purposeful intervention to build strong alliances with trainees, who in turn may use these modeled behaviors to build strong alliances with their clients.Item The Impact of Right-to-Work Laws on Wages and Employment(2016-01-01) Rowe, Samuel T; Gindling, Thomas H; School of Public Policy; Public PolicyThis research focuses on whether state-level "Right-to-Work" (RTW) laws improve or worsen labor outcomes for workers. The impact of RTW laws is controversial, with proponents arguing that these laws benefit workers and opponents arguing that they harm workers. Proponents for RTW laws argue that RTW laws help workers, since these laws improve employment growth and labor market flexibility. Opponents of RTW laws have argued that RTW laws have adverse effects on worker wages and employment, since it reduces collective bargaining and increases the ease of firing. This dissertations utilizes policy changes in Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin for short-run analyses. Utilizing panel data on individuals derived from the Current Population Survey, the impact of RTW laws on unionization, employment, unemployment, and weekly earnings are assessed using a difference-in-difference methodology. This methodology controls for unobserved heterogeneity that may bias the impact of RTW laws. It also utilizes a policy change in Oklahoma for a long-run analysis of RTW laws. For the long-run analysis, county-level data from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages are used with a regression discontinuity design before and after Oklahoma'sRTW law. This methodology assesses the impact of RTW laws along Oklahoma'sstate borders before and after its law. As a comparison, the same methodology is applied to all RTW/union-shop state borders. The results find that there is support for opponents of RTW laws, while it finds little to no support for proponents of RTW laws. The results find that RTW laws do have an impact on individual outcomes in the Midwest. RTW laws are associated with a 1.4 to 2.2 percentage-point reduction in the likelihood of being a union member. Also, RTW laws are associated with a 2% to 4% reduction in earnings. The impact of RTW laws on employment and unemployment is consistent, but not always statistically significant. RTW laws were associated with an increased likelihood of being unemployed and with a decreased likelihood of being employed. For a long-run analysis of RTW laws, the research finds very limited support for proponents of RTW laws. RTW laws were associated with higher employment shares in manufacturing along Oklahoma'sstate borders before its RTW law, but these discontinuities remained after Oklahoma adopted a RTW law. However, other states that did not have a policy change in RTW laws experienced slight declines employment shares between RTW states and union shop states. These results likely point to other state policies and factors causing these discontinuities along state borders. Also, these results may have been due to low unionization in Oklahoma before the adoption of its RTW law.Item What are the True Employment and Wage Impacts of Casinos?(2016-01-01) Perlman, Evan; Carpenter, Robert E; School of Public Policy; Public PolicyThis dissertations assesses the economic impact of casinos on their host and nearby counties, in terms of net increase in total employment and median weekly wages. The legalization of casino gaming (both commercial and Indian-owned) continues to be debated as state and local governments throughout the United States look for economic development opportunities. Using a long and wide panel data set involving the entire population of U.S. counties, between 1984 and 2013, this study finds that, on average, employment gains are relatively modest, inconsistent across industries, and begin to tail off significantly between four and seven years after a county'sfirst casino opens. Wage gains, however, are on average significant and persistent for at least ten years after casino opening, both for host counties and those that border them. Impacts vary between urban and rural counties, and by industry type (construction, service, and retail) but results follow the expected patterns. Regional models are also estimated. In general, the public should be suspicious of claims that casinos will greatly increase the net total employment in a county, especially for urban/suburban areas, and especially for timeframes greater than 5-10 years. The major question for policymakers and the public to consider is how these impacts compare to other economic development strategies available to them. Further research is needed to compare the projected effects of casinos against the effects of other strategies.