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Until quite recently the psychological and emotional effects of miscarriage on women were little understood. Research has now established that such effects are potentially very significant (Neugebauer and Kline, 1992; Leppert and Pahlka, 1984; Lasker and Toedter, 1991), but the role and response of the male partner has received very little attention (Cummings, 1984). When acknowledged at all, the response of the male partner has generally been perceived to be largely as a provider of emotional support to his partner during and after her miscarriage. In this study, based on personal interviews with 20 partners of women in the north of England who experienced a recent miscarriage, a complex set of thoughts, feelings and considerable confusion about appropriate behaviour is revealed, to the extent that such males might feel it necessary to deny their own feelings of grief in a double-bind situation. Key words - miscarriage, partner, grieving

The reaction of residents of a small district in the Northeast of England to the perceived compromising of existing community boundaries was examined in the light of Tajfel and Turner's (1986) social identity theory. Social identity theory was found to provide a useful framework for explaining specific psychological reactions of residents and spokespersons to the perception of ingroup status inferiority., Oommen (1995) recently commented that the contestation and defense of boundaries is more than merely a dispute about geography: Forceful erasures of boundaries may lead to 'the degeneration and even [...]

Respondents completed public opinion surveys regarding preferred options for local government, conducted by the Local Government Commission for England and Wales. The surveys included a briefing to ensure that the respondents were adequately informed. A detailed analysis of the first results from Durham and Cleveland counties indicated that the social characteristics of the respondents who changed their preferences after the briefing were only marginally atypical compared with those of the other respondents, but that district of residence was an unexpectedly important factor. A change in preferred option did not seem to be related in any simple manner to the information that was provided in the briefing. The findings from this field research are discussed in the context of experimental studies of persuasive communication, with an emphasis on communication coherence and complexity., SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGISTS HAVE MADE a significant contribution to researchers' knowledge about the effects of persuasive communications. Numerous carefully controlled and well-reported experimental studies have pinpointed the effects of communicator variables, [...]

“Personal” and “shared” aspects of sense of community identity are explored in a an established community in Durham City, England. Durham City has a history of over 1,000 years of continuous settlement, and is generally viewed as a stable and relatively harmonious setting. In the study 102 residents responded to a Community Response Questionnaire based on Puddifoot's taxonomy of elements of sense of community. The findings suggest the existence of three underlying “personal” dimensions of Sense of Community Identity (SOCI), namely, “Sense of Personal Support,” “Sense of Personal Contentedness,” and “Personal Involvement,” and three “shared” dimensions of SOCI, namely, “Perceived Community Engagement,” “Perceived Neighborliness,” and “Perceived Settledness.” This article discusses these findings and the prospect of creating a measure for comparative analysis around these dimensions. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose. This study examines the influence of experi enti al vari ables, such as reported contacts with the poli ce, upon attitudes towards the use of police weaponry i n England and Wales. Method. A factor analysis (N = 605) of response to a special ly devel oped questionnaire l ed to the identification of five underl ying dimensions of publ ic attitudes towards pol ice weaponry. Further anal yses explored the role of demographic and experi ential variables in these attitudes. Results. Neither age nor sex were found to have a significant eVect upon attitudes towards poli ce weaponry, but specific experi ential variables had a significant eVect, notably respondents' personal experi ence of responsible or irresponsible behavi our by the poli ce. For those partici pants who were themsel ves victims of crime, such experiences were i mportant in al tering their views of the poli ce, whether positively or negativel y. Trust i n the police appeared to be a key mediating influence upon attitudes towards poli ce weaponry. Conclusions. Experiential variables relating to perceptions of pol ice behaviour and to actual contacts with police officers appear to be influential in forming attitudes towards poli ce weaponry in England. The perceived character of response, assistance and support received from the pol ice foll owing criminal vi ctimization were found to be significant predictors of favourable or unfavour-able attitudes towards pol ice weaponry, possibly through the mediation of increasing or decreasing trust in the police. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT. The authors explored attitudes of young women in the United Kingdom (n = 108) and the United States (n = 91) toward (a) the possession and use of guns through the Attitude to Guns Scale (N. R. Branscombe, J. A. Weir, & P. Crosby, 1992) and (b) guns' perceived functional and symbolic significance through the Symbolic Nature of Guns Scale (C. A. Cooke & J. E. Puddifoot, 1997). There were significant differences in beliefs concerning the fight to own a gun and the protective effect of guns but not in the perceived contribution of guns to crime. Although neither group strongly equated guns symbolically with power or control, the U.S. women were more likely to perceive guns as expressions of freedom or independence, and the U.K. women were more likely to view guns as expressions of danger and violence. The findings were contextualized by comparison with samples of male control participants of similar ages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent challenge of Dynamical Systems Theory (also known as ComplexityTheory or Chaos Theory) to the social sciences, is based largely on the beliefthat processes in the social arena can be considered as analogous to those of the natural world, and that in consequence general theoretical advances in explaining the latter might with advantage be applied to the former. This paper aims to show that claims for Dynamical Systems Theory with respect to the understanding or measurement of social processes would be premature; the reasons for this lying not only in the unfamiliarity and operational difficulties of Dynamical Systems Theory in itself, but also in the problematic nature and history of our usage of the term 'social process'. Reviewing some examples of such usage from Sociology and Social Psychology, it is concluded that Dynamical Systems Theory might serve as a catalyst for a re-examination of existing orthodoxies and major concepts, but that progress would be retarded by the uncritical application of it's terminology, concepts, and techniques of mathematical modelling, without this prior and demanding first step. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although community identity is an area of research interest with important ramifications for all those concerned with issues of community. This paper argues that, with the possible exception of the psychological sense of community (PSOC). There is relatively link coordinated research emerging under the influence of a strong body of psychological theory. An approach emphasizing the common ground between this and related psychological approaches is put forward, such that both the common and unique qualities of the identities of communities might be made subject to rigorous and meaningful analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The important research area of community identity has failed to develop a practical means of measurement and comparative analysis. Scrutiny of the research literature suggests that this is in part due to the conceptual difficulties related to community in general, a restrictive emphasis on individual level psychological variables, and a reluctance or inability to proceed beyond exploratory methods of research to fuller field studies. Through a review of the related research in community identity in the UK, and from wider research in the areas of Psychological Sense of Community, Social Cohesion, and Community Satisfaction, a number of underlying dimensions of community identity are identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A renewed interest in the concept of perceived 'social distance' has recently occurred in relation to intercultural perception. The research reported here examines the utility of the generalized grid technique in measuring intercultural distance in a sample of English adolescents. The methodology described offers some advantages in ease of administration and comprehension by participants and a form of analysis that allows for the representation and examination of patterns of response of numerous individuals collectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]