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Teaching for the first time can be a challenging but rewarding experience. For first-time graduate student instructors, however, it also officially marks the transition from student to teacher--a process that can be both transformational and emotion-laden. In this article, we use content analysis of 86 first-time sociology graduate student instructors' reflections on their first semester teaching to explore the emotional aspects of first-time college teaching, an aspect that has received little attention in the existing literature. We describe the range of emotions--both positive and negative--first-time instructors highlighted in these written reflections, as well as their discussions of emotional highs and lows, emotional surprises, connections to pedagogical strategies, and the role of formal and informal departmental support in dealing with the emotional aspects of teaching. We conclude with the implications of these findings for graduate student teacher training and preparation programs and directions for future research.

Dating rituals include dating--courtship methods that are regularly enacted. This study explores gender and race differences in the relative importance placed on certain symbolic activities previously identified by the dating literature as constituting such rituals. Using information collected from a racially diverse sample of college students (N = 680), it is found that some traditional gender differences persist, but that these are also cross-cut by racial contrasts. Men, overall, place more emphasis on gifting, as well as sexual activity. Gender differences, however, are significantly greater among African Americans as compared with Whites in the sample studied. African American respondents are also significantly more likely than White respondents to associate meeting the family with a more serious dating relationship. The findings highlight the need for greater efforts to uncover and account for racial differences in dating, relationships, and courtship. (Contains 5 tables and 11 notes.)

This article assesses the health implications of emerging patterns in the organization of work time. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979, we examine general mental and physical health (SF-12 scores), psychological distress (CESD score), clinical levels of obesity, and the presence of medical conditions, at age 40. Overall, we find that health varies more across work hours than across types of shifts, and part-time workers report worse physical and emotional health than full-time workers. However, controlling for individual, family and job characteristics explains the poorer health observed among part-time workers. Those who are satisfied with their jobs, have more education, or have an employed spouse, report better health, while women and those with a prior health limitation report worse health. After taking these factors into account, we find a curvilinear relationship between work hours and health, with those working between 40 and 59 hours per week reporting worse mental and physical health than those working 40 hours per week. We also find that obesity differs from current health problems in its relationship to work time. Those who work part-time or fixed-hour schedules are less likely to be obese, suggesting that long-term health risks operating through obesity, such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes, are affected by time availability. (Contains 4 tables and 11 notes.)