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Despite the growing interest in perceived social support as a means of achieving sustainable psychological development and well-being in the various contexts of the adolescent, its definition and composition remain unclear. The aim of this study is to test both the hierarchical order and the types and sources of a theoretical model of the social support perceived by adolescents. The model is based on the theories of Tardy and Lin, as well as on the findings of recent studies on the construct. Three theoretical models are compared using the structural equations method. The participants were 1081 randomly selected secondary school students (aged 12–18 years) from the north of Spain, who completed the APIK Perceived Social Support Questionnaire. The model positing that perceived social support comprises a hierarchical first level formed by sources of support (family, friends and teachers) and a lower second level derived from the first one, formed by types of support (emotional, material and informational), proved to be the first-choice solution. The results establish a solid theoretical base for both future studies on perceived social support during adolescence and possible educational interventions designed to improve social support for teenagers.

Three groups of rats were given avoidance training followed by extinction. One group received one acquisition session immediately followed by extinction. A second group received two acquisition sessions while in the non-drug state, followed by extinction. A third group received two acquisition sessions, one while under the effects of alcohol and the second under no-drug conditions, followed by extinction. The group trained under two drug states made significantly more responses than the other two groups, while the group which received two training sessions while undrugged also made more responses than the group which received a single session. The results indicated that an avoidance response trained under more than one drug state is more resistant to extinction than a response learned only in one drug state.

Building on cornerstone traditions in historical sociology, as well as work in environmental sociology and political-economic sociology, we theorize and investigate with moderation analysis how and why national militaries shape the effect of economic growth on carbon pollution. Militaries exert a substantial influence on the production and consumption patterns of economies, and the environmental demands required to support their evolving infrastructure. As far-reaching and distinct characteristics of contemporary militarization, we suggest that both the size and capital intensiveness of the world’s militaries enlarge the effect of economic growth on nations’ carbon emissions. In particular, we posit that each increases the extent to which the other amplifies the effect of economic growth on carbon pollution. To test our arguments, we estimate longitudinal models of emissions for 106 nations from 1990 to 2016. Across various model specifications, robustness checks, a range of sensitivity analyses, and counterfactual analysis, the findings consistently support our propositions. Beyond advancing the environment and economic growth literature in sociology, this study makes significant contributions to sociological research on climate change and the climate crisis, and it underscores the importance of considering the military in scholarship across the discipline.

Although recent studies have suggested that environmental participation may be a countertrend to decreasing civic engagement in the United States, there are very few empirical studies that examine ...

Desde o fim da Guerra Fria os países com tropas recrutadas tornaram-se uma minoria. É essencial compreender o porquê da mudança para forças exclusivamente voluntárias, como ocorreu e os impactos nas sociedades europeias. Um grande número de tropas torna-se inútil, o serviço passou a ser visto como um fardo e diferentes tipos de acção militar implicam um novo sistema. O debate público não se verificou e só ocorre entre especialistas. Em geral, os períodos de transição são mais curtos do que o determinado por lei. Existem vários tipos de impactos desta mudança: estruturais (como a redução das forças armadas e alterações distintas entre os três ramos); recrutamento, reinstalação e retenção; impacto institucional (como a liberalização dos estilos de liderança e a mudança cultural causada pelo aumento da presença de mulheres e minorias), e impacto sociopolítico. AVF (Forças Armadas Voluntárias) ainda precisam de responder à questão da sustentabilidade e da necessidade de maiores níveis de força.

AbstractObtaining sustainable renovation in large housing cooperatives is often a challenge. Two thirds majority vote at the general meeting is required. A lack of engagement may delay the process, and the residents often remain passive until they realize there is a risk of increased fees if the plans are carried out. Even if the investments are well grounded economically, the residents’ fear of economic consequences is often an obstacle during the process. The residents may get involved, but will oppose the renovation. The decision process is then often called off, and needs to start over. As postponing necessary renovations substantially increases the risk of building degradation, it is of importance to map factors that increase the chances of housing cooperatives coming to an agreement on sustainable and energy efficient renovations. Through action research, three pilot studies, looking at decision processes for sustainable upgrading are followed over a period of two years. Preliminary results show that openness in the initial stages of the process is crucial. Also, visualizing the results and consequences may be effective means to obtain a dialogue with the residents, who are often more interested in the aesthetic factors than the technical solutions. Visualization of AMS (Advanced Monitoring Systems) and other household specific measurements can make residents more aware of their energy use, and explain/illustrate the need for upgrading. If communicated (visualized feedback) to the residents in a comprehensive and user friendly way, the introduction of AMS may make people more aware of their energy use, hence facilitate the decision making process regarding sustainable renovation. After renovation, the indoor climate may be more easily influenced by the building use than previously. AMS can help maintain an environmental friendly life style.

Urban households are an intimate nexus of food and food waste, connecting people to challenges of sustainability and inequality, in wider food systems. Household food waste (HFW) studies, including those which explored consumption practices during COVID-19, have tended to emphasize the reduction in food waste as part of behaviour change. In 2018/19 an exploratory, interdisciplinary, mixed method study was conducted of HFW perceptions and practices of urban residents in The Hague (Netherlands) with purposeful sampling (n = 19), speaking either Dutch, English or Arabic. Participants took photographs of their HFW for photovoice interviews and focus group HFW stories. The research provided a space for participants to become self-aware of the explicit and implicit understanding of their food practices and their household food waste and its related practices (i.e. food-related packaging). This finding resonated across all hierarchical levels of waste management from best practices, such as, reduction to mixed waste least preferred options. Performing HFW appears to lack comprehensive ecological contextualisation as per the latter part of the urban food system. Dutch and English-speaking focus groups seemed mostly unaware of ‘what happened next’ to their disposed HFW and food-related packaging, whilst the Arabic speaking focus group appeared more comprehensively ecosystem attuned. Given the impetus to a zero-waste more sustainable lifestyle, the transitory implications of knowing more explicitly about ‘what happens next’ to different forms of urban HFW disposal, once it is ‘out of sight’, could potentially offer insights into reconfigured routine HFW performance and therefore require further research.

One of the main interdisciplinary challenges today is to understand and change the dominant social perceptions and values that support and perpetuate unsustainable practices. Social computational simulations have been conceived in recent years to understand emergent results from complex systems. These dynamic social models are of interest to sustainability researchers because they provide a means to implement hypotheses and explore scenarios that could help extend our understanding of the future role of change agency in society. Change agents are individuals who directly or indirectly enable sustainable behaviors or inhibit practices that damage the environment and large social groups. Evidence-based strategies, guidelines and methods are necessary in order to manage creative change agency more effectively. This paper presents work with computational simulations, known as cellular automata, in order to explore the role of timing in triggering social change through uncoordinated, autonomous individual action. The paper identifies a number of issues related to creative change agency and proposes associated guidelines for practitioners. As a means of early validation, these findings are portrayed against empirical studies in the literature.