The case for small area microdata

Summary.  Census data are available in aggregate form for local areas and, through the samples of anonymized records (SARs), as samples of microdata for households and individuals. In 1991 there were two SAR files: a household file and an individual file. These have a high degree of detail on the census variables but little geographical detail, a situation that will be exacerbated for the 2001 SAR owing to the loss of district level geography on the individual SAR. The paper puts forward the case for an additional sample of microdata, also drawn from the census, that has much greater geographical detail. Small area microdata (SAM) are individual level records with local area identifiers and, to maintain confidentiality, reduced detail on the census variables. Population data from seven local authorities, including rural and urban areas, are used to define prototype samples of SAM. The rationale for SAM is given, with examples that demonstrate the role of local area information in the analysis of census data. Since there is a trade-off between the extent of local detail and the extent of detail on variables that can be made available, the confidentiality risk of SAM is assessed empirically. An indicative specification of the SAM is given, having taken into account the results of the confidentiality analysis.     

Dispositional Affect and Job Outcomes

This longitudinal study examines the influence of dispositional affect,defined as self-rated cheerfulness at college entry, on three job outcomes – current income, job satisfaction, and unemployment history – assessedabout 19 years later. Analysis shows that individuals with a highercheerfulness rating at college entry have a higher current income and ahigher job satisfaction rating and are less likely ever to have beenunemployed than individuals with a lower cheerfulness rating. Althoughcheerfulness generally has a positive effect on current income, this effectis curvilinear, with current income increasing more rapidly at lower thanat higher cheerfulness ratings; the effect is also moderated by parentalincome, with the increase in current income between any two cheerfulnessratings becoming greater as the level of parental income increases. Theeffect of cheerfulness on current income is not moderated by sex; the effectof cheerfulness on job satisfaction and on unemployment history is notmoderated by either sex or parental income.     

A Poem to Memorialize an Experiential Focal Group1

Thirteen women enrolled in a master’s level group therapy class participated in an experiential focal group culminating in the writing of a poem. The poem was part of the framework developed by the students to evaluate an in-class personal and professional growth experience. The poem provided greater meaning to the participants than a mere letter grade assigned by the professor for class participation alone. The emotional intensity created through class participation in a group therapy class lends itself to memorializing a deeply shared temporal experience in a form of expression that is apposite to a poem. ¹The author expresses gratitude to the students who participated in a classroom experiential focal group producing this poem and granting permission to write this paper.     

Counselor and client perceptions of the effect of social and physical contact on the therapeutic process

In 1991 a random sample of former clients of a metropolitan counseling center were surveyed as to their perceptions of the effect on therapy of 21 forms of social or physical contact between client and counselor. This article reports the results of a follow-up study conducted in 1992 in which the professional counseling staff of the same center were surveyed as to their perceptions of the effect on therapy of the same 21 types of contact. The results of both studies are compared, and statistically significant differences in evaluation of the behaviors by the two groups are noted.     

A method of choosing multiway partitions for classification and decision trees

A method is given of choosing k-way partitions (where 2 ≤ k ≤ (number of categories of predictor variable)) in classification or decision tree analyses. The method, like that proposed by Kass, chooses the best partition on the basis of statistical significanceand uses the Bonferroni inequality to calculate the significance. Unlike Kass's algorithm, the algorithm does not favour simple partitions (low values of k) nor does it discriminate against free-type (no restriction on order of values) predictor variables with many categories. A method of adjusting the significance for the number of predictor variables and of using multiple comparisons to put an upper bound on the significance is given. Monte Carlo tests show that the algorithm gives slightly conservative tests of significance for both small and large samples and does not favour one type of predictor variable over another. The algorithm is incoroporated in a PC software program, Knowledgeseeker,which is briefly described.     

Pathological gambling among adolescents: Massachusetts Gambling Screen (MAGS)

This article describes the development of the Massachusetts Gambling Screen (MAGS). The purpose of the MAGS is to provide a brief clinical screening instrument that can (1) yield an index of non-pathological and pathological gambling during a 5 to 10 minute survey or interview and (2) document the first psychometric translation of the proposed DSM-IV pathological gambling criteria into a set of survey or clinical interview questions. The development data for this instrument were obtained from a survey of 856 adolescents who were students in suburban Boston high schools. The results provided evidence that weighted item scores (i.e., discriminant function coefficients) could correctly classify 96% of adolescent gamblers as pathological, in transition or non-pathological when DSM-IV criteria were employed as the conceptual referent. The results also describe the prevalence of a variety of social and emotional problems associated with adolescent gambling. Finally, the discussion examined the normalization and contemporary social context of gaming and the impact of these influences on the measurement and identification of pathological gambling.Thanks are extended to Dr. Thomas Sharkey, Mary Kaddaras, Alan Bryce, David Shaffer, and Reingard Heller for their assistance during the development and implementation of this project.     

Subjective well-being among Russian students

The subjective well-being of 116 Soviet students at two locations in the Soviet Union was assessed with traditional self-report measures and with an event memory task. Both measures showed the Soviet students to be low in well-being compared to students in most of 38 other countries. Soviet well-being was especially low when considered in relation to per capita GNP. The single domain which best predicted global well-being in the Soviet Union was leisure satisfaction. Soviet students were most satisfied with their religion, living partner, friendship, and family relations, and least satisfied with transportation, education, and finances. The structure of well-being was very similar in the C.I.S. (U.S.S.R.) as in the U.S. For example, the Satisfaction with Life Scale formed a unitary factor, as it does in the U.S., and the PANAS formed two clear affect factors, as has been uncovered by Watson, Clark, and Tellegen (1984) in the U.S. and Japan. Overall, the measures divided into life satisfaction, peasant affect, and negative affect components, replicating data in the U.S. (Andrews and Withey, 1976). These results suggest the structural invariance of well-being across cultures. The paper discusses several potential reasons that Russian students report low levels of well being.     

Motivations and Differential Participation in a Community Currency System: The Dynamics Within a Local Social Movement Organization1

Community currency is an understudied, alternative social movement. These local networks are grassroots, collective efforts to form an alternative market with the hopes of empowering the economically marginalized and building social capital. Original data collected from members of a local currency system are employed to investigate their motivations to join and the congruence between motivating factors and various forms of participation. Four categories of motivations are identified and multivariate models are estimated to assess which are the most salient predictors of differential participation. The results provide some support for the congruence hypothesis. As Knoke (1988) predicted, member motivations play a role in shaping forms of participation. This evidence is used to draw larger implications for social movement research.     

新年伊始,常敲安全之钟

<正>刚刚过去的2010年,对于生活在上海这座都市的每一个中国人,"安全"二字显得那么刻骨铭心:正是因为安保工作部署得极其严谨、周密、细致,我们得以胜利举办了一届成功、精彩、难忘的世博会;而在世博会刚刚落下帷幕不久,不幸发生的"11·15"特大火灾之所以猝不及防,伤亡惨重,恰恰是缘于某些行业管理部门对安全管理工作的懈怠。可以说,经历了大喜大悲的2010年,我们无论把安全问题提到一个怎样的高度,都不为过:     

National differences in reported subjective well-being: Why do they occur?

There are marked variations between nations in reported subjective well-being (SWB), but the explanations for this diversity have not been fully explored. It is possible that the differences are entirely due to true variability in SWB, but it is also reasonable that the differences may be due to factors related to self-report measurement such as variation across nations in whether it is desirable to say one is happy. At a substantive level, there might be differences in the norms governing the experience of emotion such that cultural differences in SWB are due to affective regulation. Pacific Rim countries (e.g., Japan, the People's Republic of China, and S. Korea) appear to have lower SWB than their material circumstances warrant, and the U.S.A. has higher SWB than is predicted based on its income per person. The genesis of these differences was explored by comparing students in S. Korea, Japan, and the People's Republic of China to students in the U.S.A., and it was concluded that: (1) The Pacific Rim subjects score lower on both happiness and life satisfaction in both absolute terms and when income is controlled, (2) There probably is not a general negative response set in the Pacific Rim which causes lower SWB, as evidenced by the fact that the Asians express dissatisfaction in some areas (e.g., education and self) but not in other areas (e.g., social relationships), (3) Artifacts are not causing the lower reported SWB, (4) The general suppression of mood in the Pacific Rim is unlikely to be the cause of SWB differences, but Chinese students do appear to avoid negative affect, (5) SWB is no less important and salient in Japan and S. Korea, but does appear to be a less central concern in China, and (6) There are different patterns of well-being depending on whether life satisfaction or hedonic balance are considered.