Harvey Krahn

Being a preceptor is stressful

Results of a mail survey of 295 preceptors indicated preceptoring nursing students can be a stressful experience, with overwork identified as the main source of stress. Overwork resulted from unsuitability of students for the clinical area, lack of time, and insufficient feedback and guidance. The findings suggest that both students and preceptors require proper readiness assessment and preceptorship preparation. Preceptorship stress needs to be acknowledged; it can be addressed through workload adjustments and by providing feedback and support from nurse educators, peers, and managers.

The Persistence of Social Structure: Cohort, Class and Gender Effects on the Occupational Aspirations and Expectations of Canadian Youth

ABSTRACT From a rational action perspective, one might predict that the occupational aspirations and expectations of Canadian youth would have declined between the 1970s and the 1990s as the youth labour market deteriorated. Whether or not such a shift in the level of occupational goals was observed, a late modernity analysis would predict that social class, gender, and urban-rural residence would become less prominent determinants of aspirations and expectations, in contrast to a social structural prediction of continued strong structural effects. Analyses of baseline data from five longitudinal studies of school-work transitions conducted in Canada during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s lead us to reject the rational action argument—a decline in occupational aspirations and expectations was not observed. Instead, male occupational goals remained largely unchanged while female occupational ambitions rose. Social class continues to have strong independent effects on occupational goals, which appear to be media...

The Retention of Newcomers in Second- and Third-Tier Canadian Cities

The federal government of Canada and several provincial governments are anxious to promote a more balanced distribution of immigrants across the country. Currently, 89 percent of all newcomers settle in large cities, 75 percent in Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal alone. This study examines the internal migration of refugees destined to second-and third-tier cities in Alberta. Their decisions to stay in or leave these communities have significant policy implications. The economic vitality of urban centers, the existence of compatriot communities, and the recognition of immigrant skills and educational credentials all contribute to the retention of newcomers in second- and third-tier cities.

Work values and beliefs of ‘Generation X’ and ‘Generation Y’

This study examined cohort differences and intraindividual change in the intrinsic and extrinsic work values and job entitlement beliefs of Canadian high school seniors (classes of 1985 and 1996, representing ‘Generation X’ and ‘Generation Y’, respectively) surveyed at age 18 and again at age 25. The 1996 cohort placed more value on extrinsic work rewards (at age 25) and reported stronger job entitlement beliefs. Intrinsic work values increased in both cohorts during early adulthood, whereas extrinsic work values increased only in the 1996 cohort. Job entitlement beliefs decreased on average but less so in the 1996 cohort and in women. Predictors of intraindividual change depended on the outcome but included gender, academic experiences at age 18 (grades and post-secondary aspirations), post-high school labour market (unemployment) and educational experiences (obtaining a university degree), and adult statuses at age 25 (full-time worker, parent).

Work Aspirations and Attitudes in an Era of Labour Market Restructuring: A Comparison of two Canadian Youth Cohorts

This article tests the assumption that youths work attitudes are changing to reflect the restructured labour markets that often are taken as a characteristic of late-modernity. Comparing 1985 and 1996 cohorts of high school leavers in a Canadian city, we find that occupational aspirations increased significantly since 1985, especially among females, in ways consistent with employment trends in a service-based economy. However, the 1985 and 1996 youth cohorts wanted very similar conditions in a job, and in each cohort we observed significant gender differences. General attitudes towards work and education also remained fairly constant. We discuss the implications of these findings for school-work transition research and for larger debates about youth responses to conditions of late-modernity.

Exploring or Floundering? The Meaning of Employment and Educational Fluctuations in Emerging Adulthood

Youth today spend years moving in and out of different education and employment statuses until they settle into stable employment. This 14-year Canadian longitudinal study reveals how month-to-month fluctuations in employment and educational statuses from age 19 to 25 predict employment success at age 32. Early employment instability was linked to lower income at age 32 and, among men, to lower occupational status and career satisfaction. However, for those who had made at least one career change, employment fluctuation had a positive effect on income and career satisfaction. Greater fluctuation in educational status was associated with higher occupational status at age 32. In general, labor market instability in the early 20smight best be described as floundering, while educational status changes more often reflect exploring.

Paths to success in young adulthood from mental health and life transitions in emerging adulthood

This study followed a school-based sample (N = 920) to explore how trajectories of depressive symptoms and expressed anger from age 18 to 25, along with important life transitions, predicted life and career satisfaction at age 32. A two-group (women and men) bivariate growth model revealed that higher depressive symptoms at age 18 predicted lower life satisfaction in men and women, and lower career satisfaction in women. Slower declines across emerging adulthood in women’s depressive symptoms predicted lower life satisfaction, but slower declines in women’s expressed anger predicted higher career satisfaction. Marital and employment-related transitions were differentially related to men’s and women’s life and career satisfaction. Paths to success in young adulthood are diverse and gendered.

Public attitudes towards unions: Some Canadian evidence

Despite a growing body of research on attitudes towards unions in the U.S. and, to a lesser extent Britain, surprisingly little is known about this topic in Canada. We attempt to fill this gap by examining data from a survey of 736 randomly selected residents of the western Canadian cities of Winnipeg and Edmonton. We find a high degree of latent unionism among non-unionized labor force members: 40 percent would join a union if one existed in their workplace. Union attitudes are better predictors of willingness to join than are demographic and socioeconomic variables, although we can predict instrumental beliefs about unions with some accuracy using such objective measures.

Fractured transitions from school to work : revisiting the dropout problem

This is the first Canadian study to investigate the cause and consequences of the drop-out problem from the perspectives of the participants themselves.

Young and old at risk Comparative trends in “non‐standard” patterns of employment in Canada and the United Kingdom

For many years, the majority of workers in the industrialised West have shared a similar employment life‐course – one based on full‐time permanent work. However, over the last decade the number of such opportunities have started to decline and many more workers are participating in “non‐standard” forms of employment. Using data from the UK’s Labour Force Survey, and the Canadian General Social Survey, this paper traces the trends in “non‐standard” employment over the 1989 to 1994 period. The findings illustrate that, although the majority of workers are still in full‐time permanent jobs, an increasing proportion are engaged in “non‐standard” employment. The paper suggests that certain groups are more likely to be involved in “non‐standard” employment than others, and that increasingly these tend to be made up of workers at one end or other of the working age spectrum.