Twelve-Step Facilitated Versus Mapping-Enhanced Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Pathological Gambling: A Controlled Study

This study examined the efficacy of two group treatments for pathological gambling, a node-link mapping-enhanced cognitive-behavioral group therapy (CBGT-mapping) and twelve-step facilitated (TSF) group treatment. Forty-nine participants meeting criteria for pathological gambling were recruited from local newspaper advertisements. These participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: TSF (n = 11), CBGT-mapping (n = 18), and Wait-List control (n = 9); 11 refused treatment prior to randomization. Outcome measures included number of DSM-IV criteria met, perception of control/self-efficacy, desire to gamble, and frequency of gambling episodes. Analyses revealed a significant treatment group × time interaction (η2_partial = .39). Specifically, the group treatments resulted in significant improvements in the dependent measures, while the Wait-List group remained relatively stable. Overall, CBGT-mapping and TSF had no significant differences on any outcome measure at follow-up assessments. Analysis of post-treatment and 6-month follow-up reveal a significant improvement in gambling outcomes (i.e., fewer DSM-IV criteria met, greater self-efficacy, and fewer gambling episodes (η2_partial = .35), with treatment gains maintained at 6 months. These results are consistent with previous research for group treatment for pathological gambling and provide support for the utility of TSF and a mapping-based CBT therapy as viable intervention for pathological gambling.     

Achievable Hierarchies In Voting Games

Previous work by Diffo Lambo and Moulen [Theory and Decision 53, 313–325 (2002)] and Felsenthal and Machover [The Measurement of Voting Power, Edward Elgar Publishing Limited (1998)], shows that all swap preserving measures of voting power are ordinally equivalent on any swap robust simple voting game. Swap preserving measures include the Banzhaf, the Shapley–Shubik and other commonly used measures of a priori voting power. In this paper, we completely characterize the achievable hierarchies for any such measure on a swap robust simple voting game. Each possible hierarchy can be induced by a weighted voting game and we provide a constructive proof of this result. In particular, the strict hierarchy is always achievable as long as there are at least five players.     

'Good Enough Parenting': parental disability and child protection

This paper presents the findings of research into Children's Court practice in Victoria (Australia) regarding child protection matters involving parental disability. The research examined Court records of hearings and considered the practices of the Court in the light of the particular needs of parents with a disability. The research found that such parents were often unrepresented and that formal Court interventions only infrequently made recommendations regarding the support, training and advice such parents needed in order to retain or regain care of their children. The anecdotal experience of parents with a disability that their capacity to care was likely to be more harshly judged than that of non-disabled parents, was supported. The research also suggested that the assumption of a nexus between parental disability and inability to care must be challenged, given the imperatives of legislation and child protection philosophy.     

Occam's Razor in the contingency theory: A national survey on 86 contingent variables

The purpose of this study is to quantify 86 contingent variables and modify the construct of the contingency theory. A nationwide survey among public relations practitioners first enabled quantitative analysis of the 86 contingent variables affecting public relations practice, divided into 12 factors on two dimensions. This test gave parsimony to the matrix of 86 contingent variables initially offered in the matrix, provided validity to the contingency theory, and suggested its theoretical evolution measured against Occam's Razor, which holds that the simplest explanation is generally the most precise and thus the best approach to follow in building theories.     

Childlessness and Women Managers: ‘Choice’, Context and Discourses

Childlessness is increasing and might reflect acceptance of diversity, scope for individual choice and a creative ‘social imaginary’ about being feminine without being a mother. Childlessness also appears to have a contextual manifestation arising from the recognition that the long‐hours work culture in many organizations does not support appropriate parenting. A qualitative study of Australian managers reveals the contradictory discourses of childlessness around enlightened equality, maternalism, an elusive, ideal ‘work–life balance’ and individualism. The article explores a contextually nuanced, dynamic, generative theory of agency which does not hinge on the mother–child dyad, in explaining women managers’ choices to remain childless.     

Infant and Child Mortality Among the Qing Nobility: Implications for Two Types of Positive Check

Demographers, as early as Malthus, have assumed that in traditional China the positive check, mortality, was largely beyond human control. This paper re-examines the role of the positive check in late imperial China through an analysis of an historical source of unprecedented demographic detail and accuracy: the genealogy of the Qing (1644–1911) imperial lineage. Basing ourselves on our calculations on the infant, child, and young adult mortality of 33,000 lineage members born in Beijing between 1700 and 1840, we conclude that during the late eighteenth century, many lineage couples regularly used infanticide to control the number and sex of their infants. At the same time, they also took advantage of innovations in paediatric care to protect the children they decided to keep. Although these results derive from an elite population, they, nevertheless, call into question our understanding of the operation of the positive check in late imperial China's demographic system, suggesting a much larger potential role for individual agency than was previously thought.     

Reviews of Books and Teaching Materials

ActivStats 2.0.: Paul Velleman. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1998, CD-ROM, $44.25, ISBN: 0-201-31068-6.

The Active Practice of Statistics.: David S. Moore. New York: W. H. Freeman & Co., 1997, xv + 352 pp., $49.95, ISBN: ISBN 0-7167-3140-1. Reviewed by Jon Maatta

Introduction to Statistical Reasoning.: Gary Smith. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 1998, xviii + 654 pp., $46.00, ISBN: 0-07-059276-4. Reviewed by Robert W. Hayden

Modern Applied Statistics with S-Plus (2nd ed.).: William N. Venables and Brian D. Ripley. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1997, xvii + 548 pp., $59.95, ISBN: 0-387-98214-0. Reviewed by Karen Kafadar James R. Koehler

A Course in Mathematical Statistics (2nd ed.): George C. Roussas. San Diego: Academic Press, 1997, xx + 572 pp., $59.95, ISBN: 0125993153. Reviewed by David W. Macky