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Domestic violence

Domestic violence in the former Republic of Kazakhstan, as in many cultures, has been considered a family problem and not a concern of law enforcement. But that's changing, with some help from the FSU School of Criminology and Criminal Justice.

People in the Kazakhstani criminal justice system came to Tallahassee early this year to talk to local and state agencies about domestic violence and providing services to victims.

FSU has also trained police in Kazakhstan.

FSU researchers have worked with officials of Kazakhstan since 1999 in a project sponsored by the U.S. State Department to improve the response to domestic violence.

Edward Snajdr and Dmitri Vyortkin, researchers in the School of Criminology, are the project directors.

Fat and sugar

Feeling guilty about eating fat and sugar? Well, now you can say it's only natural, you can't help it and an FSU psychologist is figuring out why.

James C. Smith, FSU psychology professor, this year received the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior's highest honor, the Distinguished Career Award.

Ingestive behavior is the term psychologists use for eating and drinking behavior.

Smith has spent his career studying the taste of fat, why people like fat and why they like fat in combination with sugar. The award is given to scientists who have a sustained record of high achievement in the field as judged by their peers.

Mattering

How much do you think you matter to other people?

The answer may depend on whether you are a man or woman, whether or not you have children, how much education you have and what kind of work you do.

John Taylor, an FSU assistant professor of sociology, has learned that gender, having children and holding a challenging job all affect a person's conviction that he or she matters.

Taylor reported, with Scott Schieman of the University of Maryland, a study in the Decem-ber 2001 Journal of Sociological Perspectives.

The study used a sample of 18- to 55-year-old working people in Toronto.

"Individuals with a strong sense of mattering perceive that their actions are acknowledged and relevant in the lives of other people," Taylor said.

Study subjects were asked a series of questions including "How much do you feel others would miss you if you went away?" and "How much do other people depend on you?"

The study showed that the influences on the sense of mattering are different for men and women. For example, women derive greater benefits for mattering from education, but they also are affected more negatively by work-home conflict. Conversely, the study showed that men gain more from having children and being involved in a relationship, but they are affected more negatively by relationship strains.

While education affected men's sense of mattering when it led them to better jobs, for women, education was a factor in itself - even if they did not derive favorable work-related benefits from it.

Both men and women experienced a higher degree of mattering when they held jobs with more autonomy, complexity and supervisory duties.

"Having children can be a source of gratification and cultivate a sense of purpose. However, the payoff for working women is surprisingly weaker, possibly because working women may experience greater time and energy demands from multiple role commitments."

Records in Caribbean

With a Fulbright grant, Charles William Conaway, an associate professor in FSU's School of Information Studies, consulted with the Jamaican Archives and taught a course in records management at the University of the West Indies, in Mona, Jamaica, last summer.

Conaway teaches archives and records management and information science at FSU.

He has been an active volunteer with the Florida International Volunteer Corps and a USAID consultant in the Caribbean and in Central and South America.

Geography and women

Geography Professor Janet Kodras has won the top honor given by the Association of American Geographers, the Distinguished Service Honors, for her contributions as a role model and mentor for women, minorities and young scholars.

She has produced several works on women in politics and has reported on diverse geographical issues.

She has written several articles and books, including "Money Politics in the 'Year of the Woman': Campaign Funding in 1992 U.S. Senate Races Involving Women" and "Documenting Women's Roles in India."

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