Executive Turnover and the Legal Environment: The Case of California Hospitals, 1960–1995

Examinations of executive turnover have analyzed whether poor organizational performance predicts changing leadership. However, few have examined environmental factors affecting turnover. Applying event history analysis to a random sample of California hospitals, we find that poor performance prompts executive turnover and that the legal environment impacts turnover in three ways. First, the legal form of hospitals shapes evaluation and replacement of executives. Second, a shift in the legal definition of not-for-profit hospitals affects turnover. Finally, turnover increases when hospitals change from for-profit to not-for-profit and vice versa. These findings persist in the presence of numerous control variables.     

The effects of racial/ethnic segregation on Latino and Black homicide

Racial/ethnic residential segregation has been shown to contribute to violence and have harmful consequences for minority groups. However, research examining the segregation–crime relationship has focused almost exclusively on blacks and whites while largely ignoring Latinos and other race/ethnic groups and has rarely considered potential mediators (e.g., concentrated disadvantage) in segregation–violence relationships. This study uses year 2000 arrest data for California and New York census places to extend segregation–crime research by comparing the effects of racial/ethnic residential segregation from whites on black and Latino homicide. Results indicate that (1) racial/ethnic segregation contributes to both Latino and black homicide, and (2) the effects for both groups are mediated by concentrated disadvantage. Implications for segregation–violence relationships, the racial-invariance position, and the Latino paradox are discussed.     

Age and Change in Public Opinion: The Case of California, 1960-1970

This study examines the relationship between age and changein public opinion on various types of political questions, usingevidence from repeated cross-sectional surveys conducted inCalifornia between 1960 and 1970. The supposed connection betweenage and resistance to change may be the exception, not the rule.Age was found related to opinion stability only on partisanquestions. In other areas of public opinion, except on questionswhich produced age-related cleavages in the electorate, changesoccurred equally in older and younger age groups. Politicalsocialization during adulthood may be largely confined to thoseorientations which serve as guides to political action.     

The effects of gainsharing on grievance rates and absenteeism over time

We sought to better understand the long-term impact of gainsharing by analyzing longitudinal changes in two key indicators of workplace union-management relations: grievance rates and employee absenteeism. Using a seven and one-half year longitudinal data set and an interrupted time series design, we found that the introduction of a Scanlon-type gainsharing plan was followed by a gradual and permanent decline in both of these indicators. These results provide strong quantitative evidence for the ability of gainsharing to transform existing labor-management relations. Using qualitative data, we consider the relationship between labor relations outcomes and other plant-level performance improvements following the introduction of gainsharing in this case.     

The Irish brawn drain: English League clubs and Irish footballers, 1946-1995

This paper draws on world systems and resource dependency theories to show how the changing recruitment practices of English League clubs have deepened the brawn drain from Irish football, thereby compounding its underdevelopment. An analysis of the origins, method of recruitment and destinations of Irish players (North and South) who appeared in the English League between 1946 and 1995 shows that English clubs imported large numbers of Irish players throughout the second half of the twentieth century. However, it was the inclusion of Irish teenagers within the youth policies of the largest clubs in the period after the 1970s that marked a break from the traditional pattern of buyer-supplier relations. Instead of continuing to purchase players who had established reputations within the Irish leagues, English clubs began to hire the most promising schoolboys before they joined Irish sides. As this practice spread, it eventually eliminated a valuable source of income: the selling of players to English clubs. Despite this development it would, however, be inappropriate to view the relationship between the Irish and English football industries as a simple zero sum game as Irish clubs benefit from employing highly trained young players who return home after failing to establish careers in England.     

The effect of unemployment duration on national suicide rates: a time series analysis, 1948-1982

The relationship between unemployment and suicide in the United States is examined. Data for the period 1948 to 1978, primarily from the U.S. Public Health Service, are used to examine the effect of the duration of unemployment on suicide. "The results of a Cochrane-Orcutt iterative regression analysis indicate that the greater the duration of unemployment the greater the suicide rate. Using ex post forecasting techniques it is estimated that increases in unemployment during the Reagan administration have been associated with at least 929 additional deaths from suicide."     

The effects of secondary stimulus characteristics on men's sexual arousal

The penile plethysmograph is believed by many researchers and clinicians to be the most valid and reliable instrument currently available for assessing male sexual arousal patterns. Stimuli used to elicit sexual arousal in research studies as well as in plethysmographic assessments, however, have varied considerably. We examined the effects of two stimulus characteristics that may greatly influence the measurement of male sexual arousal—the type of sexual behavior depicted and the presence of accompanying audio cues. The sexual arousal of 18 male college students was individually assessed via penile plethysmograph and self‐report while they viewed 60‐second erotic video clips. Each video clip depicted a single sexual behavior; half of the clips were presented with accompanying audio. Separate 2 (sound) x 6 (behavior) x 2 (session) repeated measures ANOVAs revealed significant main effects for sound and behavior for both the physiological and self‐report data, as well as a significant sound x behavior interaction for the self‐report data. The physiological data and self‐report data were also highly correlated (r = .78). Results are discussed in the context of implications for male sexual arousal research and penile plethysmographic assessments.     

Mandatory, preferred, or discretionary: how the classification of domestic violence warrantless arrest laws impacts their estimated effects on intimate partner homicide

Warrantless arrest laws for domestic violence (DV) are generally classified as discretionary, preferred, or mandatory, based on the level of power accorded to police in deciding whether to arrest. However, there is a lack of consensus in the literature regarding how each state's law should be categorized. Using three classification schemes, this study examined whether variations among these schemes impact research outcomes by analyzing the effects of discretionary, preferred, and mandatory warrantless arrest laws on intimate partner homicide (IPH). Variations in classification schemes and in the dates of law passage presented in the literature resulted in differing estimated effects of the laws.     

The effects of communicator characteristics on patterns of reciprocity and compensation

This experiment examined gender, reward valence, and level of involvement as potential discriminators between dyadic partners who reciprocate, compensate, or do not respond to the communicator's changes in involvement. Fifty-one dyads engaged in a baseline interview followed by a second interview during which one participant increased or decreased involvement significantly. Partner's resultant change in involvement level was examined for reciprocity, compensation, or nonaccommodation. A gender by involvement interaction and a near significant reward by involvement interaction obtained. Female partners were more responsive to a communicator's involvement change than were men and subjects were generally more responsive to a high reward than a low reward communicator. However, contrary to predictions, females and partners of high reward communicators were most likely to reciprocate decreased involvement and compensate increased involvement.An earlier version of this article was presented to the Speech Communication Association annual meeting in Boston, November 1987.     

The effect of war on marriage,divorce and birth rates

The impact of war on marriage, divorce, and birth rates in the United States from 1933 to 1986 is explored. The author concludes that "the involvement of the nation in military activities was accompanied by a decrease in marriage and birth rates but not by any change in divorce rates. Mobilization of the armed forces and demobilization had no discernible impact on divorce, marriage or birth rates."     

A time series analysis of Swedish illegitimacy rates, 1911-1974

Using a sociodemographic model of the determinants of illegitimacy rates, a multivariate regression analysis of annual change in age-specific Swedish illegitimacy rates is applied to the 1911-74 period. The proxy measure of change in sexual activity was significant for all age groups. Legitimation rates for out-of-wedlock conceived births were significant for all ages except teenagers, and the final predictor, women's status, was significant for all ages except women 35-44. Explained variance for annual change was highest among ages 20-24 (66%), 25-29 (66%), and 30-34 (63%) and lower among teens (34%) and women 35-44 (47%). These results support earlier research that used a sociodemographic model to explain post-World War II change in cross-national illegitimacy rates among 23 developed countries.     

School and county characteristics as predictors of school rates of drug, alcohol, and tobacco offenses

Despite evidence that school factors are associated with differences in various types of student behavior, little research has explored the predictive utility of school factors for school-level substance offense rates. Using data from the State of Florida Department of Education and the Census, we explore the associations between school climate and school substance offense rates, controlling for county level characteristics. Results from a multilevel analysis show that school culture, school organization, and social milieu predict variation in school substance incident rate. We interpret the findings as consistent with research utilizing the "school culture/school effectiveness" model.     

So long as they both shall live: marital dissolution and the decline of domestic homicide in France, 1852-1909

This article suggests that the growth of European states, the decline of familism, and the rise of individualism generated the institutionalization of judicial separation and divorce. Time-series analyses of France (1852-1908) reveal a persistent negative association between separation/divorce and domestic homicide, especially among males. Neither indicators of economic change nor trends in the wider pattern of violent crime account for the relationship. Although marital dissolution is a negative correlate of premeditated domestic homicide, the rate of separation/divorce is directly associated with spontaneous domestic homicide, for both females and males and may indicate that abandoned spouses can become homicidal.     

Book Review: A Generation Divided: The New Left,The New Right,and the 1960s. By Rebecca E. Klatch. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999. 386 pages,paperback, ISBN: 0-520-21714-4

Qualitative Sociology -     

The political economy of urban homicide: assessing the relative impact of gender inequality on sex-specific victimization

This research examines the ways in which the changing political economy of urban areas has contributed differently to the homicide victimization rates of females and males across US cities. Recent research, while relatively limited, has presented disparate results regarding the effect of gender inequality on urban sex-specific victimization. Our work further explores this relationship by taking into account relative gender disparities in income, education, labor market opportunities, and politics in an examination of sex-specific homicide victimization in 1990. Key to this current investigation is the evaluation of feminist and lifestyle arguments that suggest that structural gender inequality has a unique effect on female victimization. Overall, our findings reveal gender inequality to be a significant predictor of both male and female urban homicide. While these findings suggest mixed support for theoretical arguments regarding gender inequality, further analyses reveal significant differences in specific types of gender inequality on victimization patterns across genders. These additional results highlight the need for greater attention toward both methodological and theoretical issues when examining the interconnections between gender, political economy, and violence in research.     

The Impact of Migration on Poverty Concentrations in the United States, 1995–2000

Poverty is frequently conceptualized as an attribute of either people or places. Yet residential movement of poor people can redistribute poverty across places, affecting and reshaping the spatial concentration of economic disadvantage. In this article, we utilize 1995 to 2000 county‐to‐county migration data from the 2000 United States decennial census to explore how differential migration rates of the poor and nonpoor affect local incidence of poverty, and how migration reconfigures poverty rates across metropolitan, micropolitan, and noncore counties. We further examine the impact of differential migration rates on African American and Latino poverty rates, two groups that have experienced higher than average poverty rates and have a sizable presence in rural areas. Our analysis indicates that during the 1990s the poor moved at rates equal to or greater than the nonpoor, and that, especially in micropolitan counties, this movement tended to deepen existing poverty concentrations. Both African American and Latino migration patterns tended to reinforce existing poverty concentrations, a result similar to that of the population as a whole, although the migration patterns of both groups more severely exacerbated poverty in high‐poverty noncore counties.