Jana Grekul

The Impact of Cost on Student Helping Behavior

Abstract The conditions under which Canadian students would help their peers and the extent of that help were investigated. Four variables—relationship, amount of contact, method of grading, and examination material—were manipulated to create hypothetical high-cost and low-cost situations. The results indicate that the respondents were most likely to help when the other students were friends, when there was frequent contact, and when the test was not graded on a curve (absence of competition).

‘I thought people would be mean and shout.’ Introducing the Hobbema Community Cadet Corps: a response to youth gang involvement?

Hobbema, Alberta, Canada is a community comprised of four First Nations. As with many of Canadas Aboriginal communities, Hobbemas population is young. High rates of socio-economic disadvantage, violence, family dysfunction, and substance abuse are linked to colonization, residential school policies, and discrimination. Crime rates, including gang-related crime in the area, are disproportionately high. In 2005 two police officers created the Hobbema Community Cadet Corps, a program which offers youth a pro-social alternative to criminal activity and gang involvement. The program provides youth with the opportunity to learn the value of group identity, discipline, and camaraderie. It also provides opportunities for recreational activities and travel otherwise unavailable to many in this impoverished area. This paper provides a description of the HCCCP, an overview of its activities and structure, and situates it within the crime prevention through social development framework which emphasizes the importance of building protective factors and reducing risk factors surrounding youth. Finally, a preliminary evaluation which highlights some of the challenges faced by program instructors is offered. The authors caution against relying solely on individualizing imperatives in attempts to deal with social structural issues of the types faced by citizens in Hobbema.

Understanding Traffic Safety Culture

Despite the success of various engineering, education, and enforcement measures, fatalities and injuries from traffic collisions remain one of the major global problems. It has been advocated that addressing this massive problem requires a fundamental transformation in the traffic safety culture of road users. Measuring and understanding traffic safety culture has gained growing attention in the field of traffic safety. This study, believed to be the first of its kind in Canada, aimed to (a) measure traffic safety culture related to distracted driving, impaired driving, and speeding; (b) investigate how perceptions of these major issues are associated with self-reported behavior and support for related enforcement and policy; and (c) explore the effect of respondents’ sociodemographic characteristics on traffic safety culture. A telephone survey based on a stratified random sample of approximately 1,000 residents in the Edmonton region of Alberta, Canada, was conducted in 2014. Descriptive analysis, multivariate confirmatory factor analysis, and structural equation modeling were performed. The results demonstrate statistically significant correlations among perceived threat to personal safety, acceptability of behaviors, self-reported behaviors, support for enforcement, and support for law and policy. Perceived threat to personal safety has a statistically significant influence on self-reported behavior, support for enforcement, and support for law and policy. Various sociodemographic characteristics have a significant effect on the perceived threat of traffic behaviors to personal safety. The results can be used to guide educational campaigns to transform traffic safety culture from one that is risk receptive to one that is protective.

Curb the Danger: a police-community collaboration to 'curb' impaired driving

The Edmonton Police Service launched its Curb the Danger (CTD) program in 2006. CTD aims to increase community participation in the real-time detection and apprehension of impaired drivers by encouraging citizens to call 9-1-1 if they observe a suspected impaired driver. This study provides a description and evaluation of CTD. The findings, based on police data and survey results, show CTD has led to an increase in citizen reports of suspected impaired drivers and is a major source of impaired driving charges. The results suggest that community–police collaboration can be effective in impacting impaired driving. Implications for police resource deployment are discussed.