Social indicators of marital instability,U.S.A., 1920–1969

A social indicators model which included demographic variables (birth rate and aged child ratio), economic variable (unemployment) and marriage rates (control variable) was utilized in explaining changes in divorce rates over time. Analysis of time series data for two distinctive periods in the U.S.A. (1920–1940 and 1946–1969) revealed the following significant results:

1. Demographic changes in the age structure of the population while controlling for marriage rates explains significantly larger amounts of the variance in marital instability than economic changes alone (unemployment).
2. In the post-World War II era unemployment was not found to be a statistically significant predictor of marital instability when control for demographic changes were established.
3. In the post-World War II era marriage rates appear to be a significant predictor of divorce rates when control for demographic changes were maintained.
4. In the post-World War II era marriage rates were found to be more sensitive to changes in economic conditions than marital instability (divorce rate).

     

The estimation of normal mixtures with latent variables

This paper considers the class of normal latent factor mixture models. It presents a method for estimating the posterior distribution of the parameters, derives analytical expressions for both the first and second derivatives of the posterior kernel (the score and Hessian), and provides posterior approximations that can be computed relatively quickly.     

Enabling social support and resilience: outcomes of Family Group Conferencing in public mental health care

Family Group Conferencing (FGC) is a decision-making model where clients with their social network formulate their own plan. There is little experience with FGC in mental health care. We studied the outcomes of 41 conferences in a public mental health setting in the north of the Netherlands. We interviewed 312 respondents out of a total of 473 conference participants. In 33 cases, it was possible to obtain scores from 245 respondents on scales ranging from 0 to 10 about the situation prior and after the conference on three outcome measures, namely the quality of: (1) social support, (2) resilience and (3) living conditions. In the 33 cases, t-tests and multilevel analyses indicate on all of the three outcomes measures significant positive changes after the conferences. On average, the scores on the quality of social support (5.04–6.73), resilience (4.09–6.32) and the living conditions (3.73–6.64) had been increased since the conferences were organised. The results are modest but remarkable. That the impact of FGC is not more substantial can be explained. The clients referred to a conference in this particular study, mostly had a limited network and few recourses from whom little support could be expected.     

Group Career Construction Counseling: A Mixed‐Methods Intervention Study With High School Students

This study investigated the value of group career construction counseling in a high school context. The author used purposive sampling to select participants who had sought career counseling. A mixed‐methods intervention study design was also used. Participants (N = 57) completed the Career Adapt‐Abilities Scale–South Africa (CAAS‐SA) before the 1st and after the 2nd intervention. The Career Interest Profile and the Maree Career Matrix were used to facilitate the intervention, and the CAAS‐SA was used to test the research hypotheses. The findings revealed that the boys’ and the girls’ career adaptability had improved meaningfully on all of the CAAS‐SA subscales. No gender‐based differences were found. However, differences were detected between both the boys’ and the girls’ pre‐ and posttest Control and Confidence subscale scores. The findings demonstrate the value of career construction counseling in group settings. More longitudinal research with diverse participants is needed.     

‘Come and live here and you'll experience it’: youths talk about their deprived neighbourhood

This study examined youths' lived experiences of a deprived neighbourhood in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Previous studies assume that deprived neighbourhoods pose serious risks for youths. What is largely missing from these studies, however, are the experiences of young people themselves. Do they indeed experience their neighbourhood as hostile and unsafe? Do they really experience a lack of resources? We conducted a qualitative study among youths aged 13–18 living in Feijenoord, a district of Rotterdam. The research demonstrates how important it is to discover youths' views on and experiences of their environments, as their experiences are very diverse and often differ from the hegemonic discourse. While the respondents were aware of problems, such as crime and violence, they also pointed to several positive aspects of their neighbourhood. In the eyes of the youths, their neighbourhood has both instrumental and affective meaning. Neighbourhood effect research might benefit from paying more attention to the idea that place can have multiple meanings, and from looking at the perceived neighbourhood strengths instead of only focusing on the deficits in deprived neighbourhoods.     

The magic matrix as a smart machine evaluator: Machine performance measurement,level of competitiveness

Today's competitive environment compels companies to be the best at the work they do. Machining efficiency establishes the plant level of performance and thus the ability to compete in the market. However, as product mix changes, and new machines possessing more and better capabilities are introduced, machining efficiency varies over time. Therefore, continuous evaluation of machine fitness for product mix has to be made. This is a huge task and is seldom done due to a lack of efficient tools to perform such an evaluation. This paper presents a computerized method that may be used to perform the evaluation task and establish the company level of competitiveness in an honest, and just way, free from improper influence. Conclusions drawn, and actions and decisions made as a result of the evaluation, are the prerogative of management. The evaluation method employs a matrix concept, which is fully described in this paper.     

Patient compliance,physician empathy and financial incentives within a principal-agent framework

Compliance with medication regimens among patients with chronic conditions in the U.S. and other developed countries averages only 50%. Numerous studies have attributed poor compliance to physicians’ failure to exhibit sufficient empathy with patients’ problems. Can financial incentives help modify physicians’ empathic behavior? In view of contradicting evidence in the health psychology literature, the present paper addresses this question from a rational-choice perspective, introducing a principal-agent model of physician empathy and patient compliance. The model allows the physician to exhibit empathy with the patient, to which the patient responds by choosing his desired level of compliance, which the physician takes into account when determining the level of empathy she exhibits. The model is first applied to rationally substantiate the evidence that patient compliance rises with physician empathy, and subsequently to examining the relationship between physician empathy and the physician's fee. The analysis reveals that the physician will exhibit less empathy in response to a higher fee, implying that the higher the fee the less compliant her patient will be.     

Simple diagnostic tools for inverstigating linear trends in time series

This paper presents a simple diagnostic tool for time series. Based on a coefficient α that veries between 1 and 0, the tool measures the approximation of a time series to an arithmetic progression (i.e., a linear function of time). The proposed α is based on the ratio of the average squared second difference to the average squared first difference of the ginven series. As such, α reduces to the Von Neumann ratio η of the series of first differences, namely, α = 1-η/4. For an arithmetic progression α = 1, and deviations therefrom cause it to decrease. Unlike the correlation coefficient (between the entries and the indics), α is sensitive to local, or piecewise, linearity. Here α is evaluated for an assortment of simple time series models such as random walk, AR(1) and MA(1). Large-sample distribution yields a number of commonly used stochastic models including non-normal process. For most standard deterministic and stochastic models, α stabilizes as n approaches infinity, and provides a statistic that is capable of distinguishing between many different standard random and deterministic models. A further measure τ, which together with α distinguisches between random walks and deterministic trend plus i.i.d., is also suggested. Some examples based on empirical data are also studied.     

SATANISM IN CONTEMPORARY AMERICA:

Sociological discourse has generally represented Satanism as a harmless, law-abiding alternative religion. Conversely, the antisocial and criminal aspects of Satanism have been the focus of most lay writing and media exposure. Such academic and popular portrayals are reflecting different facets of Satanism's heterogeneous nature. Through reexamining the literature, this article provides a conceptual framework for analyzing the differences between sociological and lay depictions. The term "Satanic Establishment" is used to refer to the respectable forms of Satanism, whereas the "Satanic Underground" denotes the reputed criminal elements of Satanism. With the Satanic Establishment and Underground at opposite positions, a Satanic continuum of social acceptability is proposed.