Benevolence-dominant,authoritarianism-dominant,and classical paternalistic leadership: Testing their relationships with subordinate performance

We propose a new typology of paternalistic leadership styles based on how leaders demonstrate authoritarianism and benevolence, the two essential components of this type of leadership. Benevolence-dominant paternalistic leadership refers to leaders' sole dependence on the use of benevolence without their strong assertion of authority, whereas authoritarianism-dominant paternalistic leadership is based mainly on authoritarianism itself; classical paternalistic leadership, which best fits early observations of paternalistic leaders, refers to the salient combination of both leadership components. We used two distinct samples and methods to test this typology and the association with subordinate performance. Across the two studies, a field investigation with Taiwanese military supervisor-subordinate dyads and a hypothetical scenario experiment with U.S. working adults, we found a positive relationship between classical paternalistic leadership and subordinate performance as strong as that between benevolence-dominant paternalistic leadership and performance. Our findings echo the phenomenon that paternalistic leaders tend to combine benevolence with authoritarianism to affect subordinate performance.     

Trade-Offs Between Formal Home Health Care and Informal Family CareGiving

Using 1994 National Long Term Care Survey data, we estimated logistic regressions of formal and informal home health care use and hours. Home health care use and intensity were differentially impacted by chronic conditions, are higher for Medicaid enrollees and rural or small town residents, but lower for HMO enrollees. Decreases in the probability of home health care use increased informal instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) support four hours and decreased informal activities of daily living (ADL) support eight hours weekly. IADL caregiving substituted for formal care, but ADL caregiving declined with reductions in formal care. Public policy reducing formal home health care access may reduce informal ADL caregiving and increase informal IADL caregiving, producing net declines in support.     

FAMILY THERAPISTS' RESPONSE TO AIDS: AN EXAMINATION OF ATTITUDES,KNOWLEDGE, AND CONTACT*

As the number of individuals and families impacted by AIDS continue to multiply, family therapists will increasingly be asked to become engaged in the challenge of caring for those affected. To date, little has been written in family therpy journals regarding the response of family therapists to this crisis. This paper represents an initial attempt to examine the atitudes of clinical members of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy toward AIDS and persons with AIDS. Included in the study are data regarding the therapists' contact with persons with AIDS, gays, and lesbians, and the impact of such contact on attitudes. Implications for future research, training, and treatment of those affected by AIDS are also provided.     

A research note on Keyfitz's ‘The demographics of unfunded pensions’

Keyfitz (1985), The demographics of unfunded pensions, discusses the performance of pay-as-you-go old age insurance plans under different financial structures. One arrangement is to pay a fixed pension to retirees and collect the necessary contributions from the working population. Another is to fix the contribution per worker and distribute whatever monies are collected to the retirees. Unfortunately, equity problems arise in a pay-as-you-go plan when the population is not stable. Generally, large cohorts will receive greater rates of return than small cohorts when the pension is fixed, while small cohorts will receive greater rates of return when the contribution is fixed. Social security analysts in the U.S. have been concerned with minimizing inequities in cohort rates of return. In considering the US population in 1980, Keyfitz shows that disparities in cohort rates of return are less under a fixed contribution scheme than under a fixed pension scheme. This research note points out that Keyfitz's finding is limited to the specific situation in 1980. When analyzing in a broader framework the mechanics of unfunded pensions and their interaction with nonstable populations, the reverse is true: fixing the pension yields less disparity in cohort rates of return than fixing the contribution.Keyfitz (1985) a déjà discuté dans cette revue des résultats d'un système de répartition pour le financement des pensions de retraite sous diverses conditions financières. Une solution consiste à payer une pension fixée aux retraités et à collecter les fonds nécessaires auprès de la population active. Une autre solution est de fixer la contribution par actif et de distribuer ce qui a été ainsi collecté aux retraités. Malheureusement des problèmes d'équité surviennent dans ces systèmes de répartition lorsque la population n'est pas stable. Généralement, les cohortes nombreuses bénéficieront de plus forts taux de rendement que des cohortes moins nombreuses lorsque la pension est fixée, tandis que l'inverse se produit lorsque la contribution par actif est fixée. Aux Etats-Unis les analystes des systèmes de sécurité sociale ont cherché à minimiser les inégalités dans les taux de rendement. Lorsque Keyfitz considérait la population des Etats-Unis en 1980, il avait montré que les disparités dans les taux de rendement des cohortes étaient moindres sous la condition d'une contribution par actif fixée que sous celle d'une pension par retraité fixée. Cette note the recherche indique que le résultat obtenu par Keyfitz est propre à la situation spécifique de l'année 1980. Lorsque l'on analyse d'un point de vue général le fonctionnement des pensions de retraite et leurs interactions avec des populations non-stables, l'inverse est vérifié : le fait de fixer la pension conduit à moins de disparités dans les taux de rendement des cohortes que le fait de fixer la contribution des actifs.

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This research was undertaken when the author was completing her dissertation at the Graduate Group in Demography at the University of California, Berkeley. The author now operates Lapkoff Demographic Research, a private research consulting firm.     

Patient assertiveness in ethnically diverse older women with breast cancer: Challenging stereotypes of the elderly

Patients' views of patient-physician interactions—particularly the perspectives of older, ethnically diverse women—are poorly understood. The older patient's attitude toward and understanding of the medical encounter, however, are essential to the design of strategies to improve patient-physician communication. To date, investigations have primarily emphasised the ways in which the therapeutic relationship is influenced by immutable patient characteristics. This qualitative study extends previous research findings by looking beyond the effect of ascribed categories (such as age, race, and gender) and focusing on aspects of patient behavior, specifically assertiveness. Focus groups were conducted with older African-, Chinese-, European-, and Hispanic American breast cancer patients from sites in the eastern and western United States. The study explores the potential of a form of patient activation for challenging stereotypes of the elderly and changing health care practitioners' behavior.     

Substance use disorders and referral to treatment in substantiated cases of child maltreatment

Parents with substance use disorders (SUD) require treatment and support in order to provide children with appropriate care and protection. Using the 2012 National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS), this paper analysed 464 313 substantiated child maltreatment reports to determine (i) the proportion and characteristics of reports involving substance abuse; and (ii) the child and caregiver/perpetrator (C/P) characteristics that predicted referral to treatment as recorded in service plans. Findings indicate that 12% (N = 53 234) of maltreatment reports involved C/P SUD. Yet, of those reports, only (19%) (N = 10 088) were referred to substance abuse treatment as part of their service plan, indicating a large gap between those who need treatment and those who receive it. This finding is important given that parental SUD is consistently linked to poorer child outcomes. Amongst other variables, reports indicate that C/P with co‐occurring emotional disturbance were three times more likely to be referred to treatment for SUD as part of service plans. Additional research is needed regarding the characteristics that distinguish C/P who receive referrals for SUD treatment in substantiated cases of child maltreatment.     

Sexual practices and the duration of last heterosexual encounter: findings from the Australian longitudinal study of health and relationships

This study investigated the association between sexual practices and duration of a sexual encounter. Using data from a population-based computer-assisted telephone survey of 8,656 Australians aged 16 to 64 years, four distinct patterns of sexual practices among respondents were found: "basic sexual encounter" (involving mainly kissing, cuddling, stroking one's partner and being stroked, and vaginal intercourse), "basic sexual encounter plus oral sex," "all assessed sexual practices" (all sexual behaviors included in the survey), and "mainly vaginal intercourse" (characterized by lower levels of kissing, cuddling, and stroking). For both men and women, respondents classified in the basic sexual encounter plus oral sex, and all assessed sexual practices clusters reported significantly longer durations than those in the basic sexual encounter group, whereas respondents in the mainly vaginal intercourse cluster reported shorter durations. These differences were found even after allowing for demographic differences in sexual duration-specifically, age and partner type of the most recent opposite-sex partner. These findings add to the understanding of what typically happens in a sexual encounter. Overall, longer sexual encounters appear to be associated with the inclusion of the least common sexual practices-namely, oral sex and self-stimulation.     

Women's Marriage Behavior Following a Premarital Birth in Sub‐Saharan Africa

This study examines the relationship between premarital childbearing and the timing of women's entry into their first marriage in sub‐Saharan Africa. The study shows that African women who have a premarital birth generally experience later transitions to marriage than do their childless peers. Although the birth of a child precipitates a quicker transition to marriage initially, unmarried mothers, on average, marry at older ages than their childless peers and remain single for between 2 and 14 years. Evidence from a subsample of countries confirms that the time between having a child and first marriage has lengthened slightly in some countries; however, this reflects mainly the overall trend toward later marriage, rather than a further bifurcation of the marital trajectories of mothers versus childless women. The study raises policy concerns about the welfare of Africa's single mothers and their children.     

Environmental Risk Exposure,Risk Perception,Political Ideology and Support for Climate Policy

The degree to which risk perceptions are socially constructed versus the result of actual exposure to risk is highly contested; how risk exposure and risk perception influence policy attitudes is also poorly understood. We examine how personal exposure to risk factors impacts risk perceptions and policy support related to air pollution and climate change. Our selection of risk exposure variables is informed by the “mental models” literature, and we employ an array of variables to capture subjective risk perceptions using novel survey data. We find that exposure to risk does little to predict risk perception and has a small influence on policy support. Overall, our findings lend support to a constructionist understanding of risk perception and support for policies related to environmental risks.