Loan performance and race

Recent studies find evidence of racial discrimination in mortgage markets. Although these studies explore loan approval rates for whites versus minorities, they do not specifically consider loan performance, either in the form of default rates or loan administration costs. This study considers discrimination in the used car credit market, where the collateral is not subject to location externalities, collateral value and quality do not vary as much as in real estate, and the loan terms are shorter. We find administration costs and default rates are higher for minorities than for whites, controlling for age, income, home ownership, wealth, occupation, loan terms, and geographic location.     

The influence of age and gender on the driving patterns of older adults

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influences of age and gender on the driving patterns of 300 older adults. Odds of driving less than every day increased significantly with age and female gender. However, no differences were found in the reduction of overall driving. Females were more likely than men to have stopped or reduced driving under certain adverse conditions and for elective purposes. The driving patterns of today's cohort of older females suggest that the gender gap may be narrowing. Social and cultural issues such as security, safety, and identity with driving may explain existing gender differences.     

The Nature of Infants' Visual Expectations for Event Content

Recent studies have revealed that young infants can form expectations for the spatial location of future visual events. Four experiments examined whether 3‐month‐old infants also form expectations for content features of events, defined as an invariant color combination. Infants viewed a spatially alternating (left–right) sequence of varying pictures in which pictures on one side (invariant colors) always appeared with the same color combination (e.g., red/green), while on the other side (varied colors) the pictures appeared with any of 4 possible color combinations. Results indicated that infants formed a content expectation for the invariant color combination on the invariant side, such that their anticipatory responding was disrupted by a novel color combination event and by a novel pattern event. A dissociation between reactive and anticipatory eye movements in their sensitivity to the content manipulation suggests that infants' expectations for spatial and content information engage somewhat different processes.     

Mandatory Testing of Drivers on the Basis of Age and Degenerative Diseases: Stakeholder Opinions

Concerns about the driving competence of older drivers have led to policy discussions about mandatory aged-based and disorder-based assessments. This study explored the attitudes, beliefs, and preferences of older adults, law enforcement officers, and licensing authorities toward reexamination of driving skills for persons with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Parkinson's disease (PD) and at varying ages. With few exceptions, participants across all groups supported retesting drivers with AD. Moderate support was given for further evaluation of 90-year-olds and those with PD. Least endorsement was given for reassessment of 70-year-old drivers. Findings have implications for legislative changes to address drivers with AD and PD and at older ages.     

A temporal investigation of the direct,interactive, and reverse relations between demand and control and affective strain

Abstract

Few studies have tested how stressors affect outcomes over time. We sought to extend the literature by means of a longitudinal study testing for direct, interactive, and causal relations between demands and control and affective strain. We extended prior work testing causal relationships for Karasek's (1979 Karasek, R.A. Jr. 1979. Job demands, job decision latitude, and mental strain: Implications for job redesign. Administrative Science Quarterly, 24: 285–307. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) Job Demand-Control (JDC) model by examining both the effects of demands and control on strain and in turn the effects of strain on demand and control. We tested our hypotheses using hierarchical linear modelling with a military sample of 1539 soldiers who completed six waves of survey data at 3-month time lags. The results replicate earlier cross-sectional studies reporting effects of work characteristics on strain; however, in our study these effects did not persist past three months. The results also provide evidence for reverse causal effects such that higher strain was associated with higher subsequent work overload and lower control over a six month time period. Similar to past research, we did not find support for the interactive effects of work overload and control on strain. We discuss the implications of our findings for theory and practice (such as the optimum time for applying interventions during the management of change), especially in terms of understanding the specific time lags for different stress–strain associations and the need for additional theories to explain reverse relationships.     

"Bessie done cut her old man": race, common-law marriage, and homicide in New Orleans, 1925-1945

This essay examines domestic homicide in early twentieth-century New Orleans. African-American residents killed their domestic partners at eight times the rate of white New Orleanians, and these homicides were most often committed by women, who killed their partners at fifteen times the rate of white women. Common-law marriages proved to be especially violent among African-American residents. Based on nearly two hundred cases identified in police records and other sources as partner killings between 1925 and 1945, this analysis compares lethal violence in legal marriages and in common-law unions. It also explores the social and institutional forces that buffeted common-law marriages, making this the most violent domestic arrangement and contributing to the remarkably high rate of spousal homicide by African-American women in early twentieth-century New Orleans.     

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN JOB AUTONOMY:

This research investigates the impact of gender, occupational segregation, and authority position on various forms of job autonomy. The empirical analysis was guided by theoretical concerns over the relevance of occupational characteristics and authority position in explaining the gender gap in job autonomy. Ordinary Least Squares regression results show that after taking various individual and employment-related factors into account, authority position, but not female-dominated occupation, explains a large portion of the gender gap in the degree of job autonomy. Furthermore, logistic regressions indicate that no gender differences in the likelihood of having any of five components of job autonomy remain, after taking all other factors in the model into account. It is concluded that authority position at work is more instrumental in explaining the gender gap in job autonomy than the gender composition of occupations.     

The sociologist as celebrity: The role of the media in field research

In the literature on qualitative methodology, little has been written about researchers who become public media figures, either with regard to the research process or the researcher's self. In this paper I discuss experiences I underwent and roles I assumed while doing research on a nationally publicized college athletic team. Unwittingly, my relations with my subjects thrust me into a highly visible position which led me to receive much media attention. Press coverage precipitated roles I had not planned to adopt: these include active force, bearer of the truth, defender of the faith, expert, and celebrity. This paper assesses the media's influence on my relations with research subjects, on my relations with others (strangers, acquaintances, fans, boosters, colleagues, friends, and family), and on my sense of self. In each case the media were potent in redefining situations and relationships.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the annual meetings of the American Sociological Association, Detroit, 1983. I would like to thank David Altheide, Andy Fontana, David Hayano, Joe Kotarba, Peter Manning, Shulamit Reinharz, Carol Warren, Louis Zurcher, and three anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on earlier drafts of this paper. In addition, Patti Adler and Jean Blocker provided essential support in all phases of the research.