EXPERIMENTS WITH THE MIDDLE RESPONSE ALTERNATIVE IN SURVEY QUESTIONS

A series of experiments shows (1) that people are significantlymore likely to select the middle response alternative on anissue when it is explicitly offered to them as part of the questionthan when it is omitted; (2) that merely mentioning that thereis a middle alternative, in the preface to the question, makesit more likely that respondents will select it, even thoughit is not offered to them as an explicit choice; (3) that theorder in which the middle alternative is presented in the question—inthe middle or last position—can make a significant differencein the results, but that a "recency bias" does not occur invariably,or consistently; and (4) that people who select a middle responsealternative when it is offered would not necessarily answerthe question in the same way as other respondents if forcedto choose sides on the issue.     

The arithmetic of outcome editing in financial and social domains

Outcome editing refers to a set of mental rules that people apply when deciding whether to evaluate multiple outcomes jointly or separately, which subsequently affects choice. In a large-scale online survey (n = 2062) we investigate whether individuals use the same outcome editing rules for financial outcomes (e.g., a lottery win) and social outcomes (e.g., a party with friends). We also test the role of numeric ability in explaining outcome editing. Our results show that people’s preferences for combining or separating events depend on whether those events are in the financial or the social domain. Specifically, individuals were more likely to segregate social outcomes than monetary outcomes, except for when all outcomes were negative. Moreover, numeric ability was associated with preferences for outcome editing in the financial domain but not in the social domain. Our findings extend the understanding of the arithmetic operations underlying outcome editing and suggest that people rely more on calculations when making choices involving multiple financial outcomes and more on feelings when making choices involving social outcomes.     

Prevalence of Traumatic Events and PTSD Symptomatology Among a Selected Sample of Undergraduate Students

Abstract

University faculty and mental health counselors often work with students in distress which may be related to their experiences with traumatic accidents, interpersonal violence, or natural disaster. Traumatic events can have long-lasting effects, which include somatic complaints, substance abuse, “flashbacks,” and a reduction in memory and recall. The purpose of this study is to identify the number, types and severity of traumatic events that occur among a student sample from three academic departments (Sociology and Criminal Justice, Social Work, and Human Development) at a rural southern university. The sample of 234 undergraduate students confirmed previous research regarding the high number of self-reported traumas among college students. The study found that college-aged women are much more likely than men to report trauma and to seek counseling and treatment for its effects. Significant differences were noted in distributional patterns for men and women when reporting exposure to stressful events. The study's findings serve as an important indicator of the need for prevention, early recognition, and treatment for trauma victims. Suggestions are also provided to assist administrators in implementing the appropriate workplace and academic accommodations for PTSD victims under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504).     

Socially unrecognized cumulation

Sociologists tend to believe our field is noncumulative because little knowledge is widely recognized throughout the discipline. Disagreement is most widely publicized among theorists. This social recognition criterion of knowledge begs the question of how large a group must be to validate knowledge. Specialized cumulation of knowledge has however taken place in particular research communities. Examples include world-system research, state-breakdown theory of revolution, military-centered theory of state development, social movement theory, and some micro-sociological research programs. There are also instances of lost specialized cumulation, in which fields shift course and ignore previous results, for example in organizational research and small group research. Some independent specialties converge on parallel findings but do not recognize cumulation across fields (as in different specialties studying networks). We can identify and possibly overcome obstacles to recognizing cumulation.     

Sexuality attitudes: the impact of trauma

This study examines the relationship between traumatic events and attitudes toward sexuality. Our results show that suffering trauma is related to more accepting attitudes concerning sexuality. Generally, people who suffer negative events, many of which are traumatic, are more likely to see both pornography and having a homosexual friend or family member as acceptable. Traumatic events that are sex-related or related to other physical assault proved to be most significant in the prediction of sexuality attitudes for women only. The results are specified by gender: Trauma predicts attitudes toward pornography for women but not for men, and traumatic events are associated with attitudes concerning homosexuality for women. These results are discussed in light of the previous research, and suggestions for future research made.     

Examining Race and Sex Inequality in Recidivism

A low recidivism rate is a goal for any criminal justice system. Poor post‐release outcomes are not random events, however. Some groups are more likely than others to recidivate. This paper will review the literature on inequality in recidivism rates, concentrating on the effects of race and sex. The probability of recidivating is not a randomly distributed event; men are more likely than women to recidivate, and Blacks more likely than Whites, with Hispanics in between. This paper will also address some of the promises (and challenges) that researchers face when trying to identify the causes of race and sex gaps in recidivism rates. This paper will end with recommendations for how to study inequality in recidivism in the future, with the key being to identify the social mechanisms that underlie these consistently unequal outcomes of our corrections system.     

Sexuality attitudes: The impact of trauma

This study examines the relationship between traumatic events and attitudes toward sexuality. Our results show that suffering trauma is related to more accepting attitudes concerning sexuality. Generally, people who suffer negative events, many of which are traumatic, are more likely to see both pornography and having a homosexual friend or family member as acceptable. Traumatic events that are sex‐related or related to other physical assault proved to be most significant in the prediction of sexuality attitudes for women only. The results are specified by gender: Trauma predicts attitudes toward pornography for women but not for men, and traumatic events are associated with attitudes concerning homosexuality for women. These results are discussed in light of the previous research, and suggestions for future research made.     

Timing of Remarriage Among Divorced and Widowed Parents

Research on timing of parental remarriage is important to understanding consequences of remarriage for children. In this study, survival analyses were conducted predicting timing of parental remarriage from parental loss in a sample of 3,774 offspring whose parents divorced or whose mother or father died during childhood. Transition to remarriage was quicker for parents who divorced compared to those who were widowed, especially for fathers. By examining timing of remarriage from the perspective of parents, and thus children, we identify not only who is more likely to experience parental remarriage, but when remarriage is likely to occur.     

Immigrants,Natives and Social Assistance: Comparable Take‐Up Under Comparable Circumstances

Are immigrants on welfare because they are more likely to be eligible or because they are more likely to claim benefits for which they are eligible? The answer is politically important, but because most current research on immigration and welfare is based on data from the United States, the answer is difficult due to the complexities of the transfer system which make eligibility determinations difficult. In Germany, by contrast, eligibility for the main cash transfer program, Sozialhilfe (Social Assistance), is determined by a comparatively simple nationwide formula. We use data from the German Socio‐Economic Panel to test whether immigrants to Germany are more likely than natives to claim welfare benefits for which they are eligible. We find that immigrants are more likely than native Germans to receive welfare, both because immigrants are more likely to be eligible and because they are more likely, when eligible, to claim their benefits. However, we also find that this greater propensity to take‐up benefits is not related to immigrant status per se: when other sociodemographic factors are accounted for in an appropriate manner, immigrant households are no more likely to take‐up benefits than native households.     

WHY HOLD-UPS OCCUR: THE SELF-ENFORCING RANGE OF CONTRACTUAL RELATIONSHIPS

Court enforcement and private enforcement are not alternative contract enforcement mechanisms, but are used jointly by transactors to define the self-enforcing range of a contractual relationship. Within this framework contract terms economize on the limited amounts of private enforcement capital possessed by transactors, either by directly controlling transactor behavior or by shifting private enforcement capital between transactors to coincide with likely future market conditions. Hold-ups occur when market conditions change sufficiently to place the relationship outside the self-enforcing range. This probabilistic view of hold-ups is contrasted with opportunism more generally and with moral hazard behavior.     

The directionality and age selectivity of the health-migration relation: evidence from sequences of disability and mobility in the United States

Evidence regarding the effects of health status on migration are mixed, with some concluding that there is a positive relation while others conclude a negative relation. This study examines the analytical bases for conflicting findings and proposes a model of the health-migration relation which allows for age selectivity, nonlinearities, interactions, and dynamic effects. Often in migration research we focus on migrant-nonmigrant differentials, which helps us to understand the cross-sectional differences between the 2 groups of persons, but it does little to elucidate the complex process by which nonmigrants become migrants. The sequence of migration and health events, from the US National Health Interview Survey from 1979-1980, show that for the population under age 45, there is little temporal connection between migration and health status changes. 2/3 of the younger population with at least 1 health or migration event migrated only, with health status changes neither preceding nor following the migration. Since the migration and health events for these persons are not associated in time, there is little basis for positing strong relations of either direction for the nonelderly. The age groups for which migration and health events are connected in time are those over age 45, and the temporal proximity becomes even more marked for the elderly. Among the elderly, the migrant-only group constituted only 10% of those with at least 1 event. As expected, for the elderly the dominant relation is health deterioration after migration, the pattern displayed by 65% of the elderly with events in the last 5 years. The elderly are also more likely to be in the Destabilized Migrant category, experiencing health status declines both before and after migration. This is also consistent with the theory that the elderly in poor health at the time of migration will be more likely to be stressed by their migration and experience further deteriorations in health. The conditional probabilities indicate that health status declines are unlikely to precipitate immediate migrations, except for those with pre-existing serious conditions or more severe activity limitations.     

Changing households in Britain: do families still matter?

The decline in traditional nuclear family households, and the marked increase in the proportion of people living alone, or alone with dependent children have led some to claim that individualism has replaced the importance of family life. In this paper we use data from a large household panel study of Britain to suggest that this is not true. Regardless of people's own household circumstances, family issues and events are clearly top of the agenda of what people consider matter most in their lives. Moreover, in talking about events that mattered, people are almost as likely to talk about something that happened to other family members, as they are to talk about themselves. Surprisingly, people living alone or alone with children are as likely to mention other family members as those who live in family households. Yet the importance of family does vary considerably by gender and age. Women give more importance to family events and events in the lives of other family members than do men. Young people are far more self-centred than older people but whether this is a generational or life-stage difference is open to question.     

Parent–Child Coresidence: Who Moves in With Whom and for Whose Needs?

Using administrative data on all adult children living in The Netherlands age 30–40 and their parents (N = 1,999,700), we investigated the extent to which situations and events associated with the support needs and privacy needs of either generation determine intergenerational coresidence and the transition to coresidence. Logistic and multinomial logistic regression analyses showed that both generations' support needs increased the likelihood of coresidence and of a move of the generation in need into the other's home. Turning to privacy needs, we found that coresidence and the transition to coresidence was less likely when a partner or stepparent was present and more likely when the adult child was a never‐married single parent.     

Defining Essential Features of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Considerable debate surrounds the search for the defining features of patients with myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Current case definitions were created through clinical consensus. Failure to operationalize these case definitions has led to considerable variability in the identification of patients. In addition, some case definitions do not require cardinal symptoms of this illness, whereas other case definitions do require core symptoms of this illness, and these latter case criteria appear to identify a more impaired group of patients. Criterion variance is most likely to occur when operationally explicit criteria do not exist for diagnostic categories, or when there are varying criteria for contrasting case definitions, which is an impediment to the research in this field. To deal with this problem, it is possible to differentiate those that meet more loosely defined criteria from those that are more narrowly and defined, thus differentiating CFS from ME. In order to progress the search for biological markers and effective treatments, essential features need to be operationalized and broadly used to increase the probability that individuals included in samples have the same underlying illness.     

Do Alcohol and Marijuana Use Decrease the Probability of Condom Use for College Women?

Alcohol and marijuana use are thought to increase sexual risk taking, but event-level studies conflict in their findings and often depend on reports from a limited number of people or on a limited number of sexual events per person. With event-level data from 1,856 sexual intercourse events provided by 297 college women (M _age = 18 years; 71% White), we used multilevel modeling to examine associations between alcohol and marijuana use and condom use as well as interactions involving sexual partner type and alcohol-sexual risk expectancies. Controlling for alternative contraception use, partner type, regular levels of substance use, impulsivity and sensation seeking, and demographics, women were no more or less likely to use condoms during events involving drinking or heavy episodic drinking than during those without drinking. However, for drinking events, there was a negative association between number of drinks consumed and condom use; in addition, women with stronger alcohol-sexual risk expectancies were marginally less likely to use condoms when drinking. Although there was no main effect of marijuana use on condom use, these data suggest marijuana use with established romantic partners may increase risk of unprotected sex. Intervention efforts should target expectancies and emphasize the dose-response relationship of drinks to condom use.     

Progress and cumulation in the human sciences after the fall

What do we mean by progress and cumulation in the social and human sciences? Recent thinking in the philosophy and history of science has led to an abandonment of some versions of logical positivism and of verificationism that had a strong deductive and theory testing orientation. What is to replace them is less clear. This paper argues that progress and cumulation can be seen as a process of evaluation and retention within an epistemic community. Scholarly disciplines differ in their social structure and in their epistemic and normative commitments. Since sociology is a fragmented discipline, progress and cumulation differ within its multiple subdisciplines, which to varying extents represent epistemic communities. Brief sketches of progress (advance) and cumulation in several subdisciplines are offered.     

Workplace discrimination and traumatic brain injury: the national EEOC ADA research project

Using the Integrated Mission System of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the employment discrimination experience of Americans with traumatic brain injury is documented. Researchers compare and contrast the key dimensions of workplace discrimination involving Americans with traumatic brain injury and persons with other physical, sensory, and neurological impairments. Specifically, the researchers examine demographic characteristics of the charging parties; the industry designation, location, and size of employers against whom complaints are filed; the nature of discrimination (i.e., type of adverse action) alleged to occur; and the outcome or resolution of the investigations. Findings indicate that persons with traumatic brain injury were more likely to encounter discrimination after obtaining employment as opposed to during the hiring process. They were also more likely to encounter discrimination when they were younger or Caucasian or when employed in the Midwestern or Western United States. Implications are addressed.     

The competitive dimension of comparative optimism / La dimensión competitiva del optimismo comparativo

We usually think that positive events are more likely to occur to us than to others and vice versa for negative events. This phenomenon, called comparative optimism, increases both social utility and the tendency to present oneself as above average. The literature highlights the same elements in competition. Our objective was to study the links between comparative optimism and competition and to argue that social utility can explain this relation. In our study, we presented participants with comparative optimistic, comparative pessimistic or neutral targets. We observed that a comparative optimistic target was perceived to fit better with a competitive situation than other targets because he/she was deemed socially useful (e.g., assertive, self-confident). Participants also felt that a comparative optimistic target pursued more performance goals than the other targets. This effect was mediated by the perception of this target as a competitive person. These results, consistent with our assumptions, highlight the competitive dimension of comparative optimism.     

Dear old dad

The origin and frequency of spontaneous mutations that occur with age in humans have been a topic of intense discussion. The mechanisms by which spontaneous mutations arise depend on the parental germ line in which a mutation occurs. In general, paternal mutations are more likely than maternal mutations to be base substitutions. This is likely due to the larger number of germ cell divisions in spermatogenesis than in oogenesis. Maternal mutations are more often chromosomal abnormalities. Advanced parental age seems to influence some mutations, although it is not a factor in the creation of others. In this review, we focus on patterns of paternal bias and age dependence of mutations in different genetic disorders, and the various mechanisms by which these mutations arise. We also discuss recent data on age and the frequency of these mutations in the human male germ line and the impact of these data on this field of research.