An investigation of predictors of mental health in single men and women experiencing homelessness in three Canadian cities

Homelessness is related to poorer mental health, yet, there is limited understanding of the predictors of mental health of men and women experiencing homelessness. To support service providers in identifying individuals who might be at particular risk of poor mental health, this study investigated the predictors of mental health in 501 single men and women experiencing homelessness in Vancouver, Toronto, and Ottawa, Canada. Data were obtained via in-person, structured interviews. In order to identify whether predictors differ by gender, multiple linear regressions were conducted separately for men and women. Mental health status was measured by the Mental Component Summary score of the 12-item Short-Form Health Survey. Better mental health for men and women was associated with the presence of fewer chronic health conditions and a higher level of social support. An older age, not having experienced a recent physical attack, and absence of a mental health diagnosis were related to better mental health for women. The absence of unmet mental health needs within the past 12 months was associated with better mental health for men. The study highlights differences in factors associated with mental health for men and women. Service providers should be aware of the association of these factors with mental health to guide assessment and service planning.     

Consistency and dynamic approach of indexes

The purpose of this article is to study two indexes, the marginal index and the Banzhaf–Coleman index. For each of these two indexes, there is a corresponding reduced game that can be used to characterize it. In addition, we consider the efficient extensions of two indexes. In comparison to each characterization of two indexes, we establish a similar characterization for each extension of two indexes through an identical approach. Finally, for each of two efficient indexes, we propose a dynamic process leading to that corresponding efficient index, starting from an arbitrary efficient payoff vector.     

The impact of organizational culture on men's use of parental leave in Sweden

This article examines the impact of organizational culture on men's usage of parental leave in Sweden, a society that promotes men's sharing of childcare. Results from a mail survey of 317 fathers in six companies suggest that men's use of parental leave is significantly affected by organizational culture, including the company's commitment to caring values, the company's level of 'father friendliness', the company's support for women's equal employment opportunity, fathers' perceptions of support from top managers, and fathers' perceptions of work group norms that reward task performance vs. long hours at work. These effects were independent of the influence of individual- and family-level attributes previously acknowledged to affect men's participation in early childcare. While findings support the social constructionist perspective on gender arrangements, men's advocacy of shared parenting and perception of partners' advocacy of shared leave remained strong independent correlates of leavetaking. Fathers can become agents of change within organizations, as they become more supportive of equal parenthood and as they gain rights to longer periods of parental leave that do not need to be negotiated with mothers. Éste articulo evalúa el impacto de la cultura de organizaciones sobre el uso de la baja por paternidad en Suecia, una sociedad que promueve la involucracion de los hombres en el cuidado de niños. Los resultados de una encuesta por correo de 317 padres de familia en seis empresas sugieren que el uso de la baja por paternidad está afectado por la cultura de la organización, incluido la obligación de la empresa en cuanto a valores humanitarios, el nivel de apoyo a los padres (father friendliness), el apoyo por la igualdad de oportunidades por el empleo de mujeres, las percepciones por parte de los padres del nivel de apoyo desde la gerencia alta, y las percepciones por padres de normas de labores de equipo que recompensan el rendimiento de tareas vs. horas largas de trabajo. Estos efectos eran independientes de la influencia de atributos de individuos y familias que anteriormente han sido reconocido por influir la participación de los hombres en el cuidado de niños pequeños. Mientras los resultados apoyan la perspectiva del construccionismo social, el apoyo de los hombres a la participación conjunta en el cuidado de los niños, y sus percepciones de la medida del apoyo por parte de sus parejas acerca del compartir la baja por paternidad/maternidad quedaron en correlación fuerte con la medida de la baja por paternidad. Los padres pueden hacerse agentes de cambio dentro de las organizaciones, mientras apoyan cada vez más la paternidad/maternidad igual y mientras ganan derechos de periodos de permiso mas largos que no tienen que negociarse con las madres.     

Continuous-time capture-recapture models with time variation and behavioural response

This paper develops a likelihood-based inference procedure for continuous-time capture-recapture models. The first-capture and recapture intensities are assumed to be in constant proportion but may otherwise vary arbitrarily through time. The full likelihood is partitioned into two factors, one of which is analogous to the likelihood in a special type of multiplicative intensity model arising in failure time analysis. The remaining factor is free of the non-parametric nuisance parameter and is easily maximized. This factor provides an estimator of population size and an asymptotic variance under a counting process framework. The resulting estimation procedure is shown to be equivalent to that derived from a martingale-based estimating function approach. Simulation results are presented to examine the performance of the proposed estimators.     

An assessment of the accuracy of a regional economic-demographic projection model

A large number of regional economic-demographic projection models have been developed but their accuracy has seldom been evaluated. This article examines the accuracy of one such model in projecting total populations for 1980, using 1970 base data, for 106 counties and 553 places in two states. Comparisons of the model's projections to 1980 Census counts reveal mean percentage absolute differences of 10 percent for counties and 14 percent for places. In addition, the model's accuracy was comparable to that for alternative projection systems. When projections for places of less than 1,000 are excluded, differences are substantially reduced. Economic-demographic models appear to be quite useful and deserve further attention.     

In Search of Asian war brides

Because of the long presence of U.S. soldiers in Asia, war-bride marriages involving servicemen and Asian women have been formed throughout the century. The literature, however, contains little empirically sound information on Asian war brides. This analysis develops a methodology to identify war brides and applies it to estimate the number of war brides from the six major Asian groups, using the national 1980 Public Use Microdata Sample. Further analysis comparing Asian war brides with other groups of Asian wives tends to support the traditional and lower socioeconomic images commonly associated with Asian war brides.     

Subjective Quality of Life Among Individuals who are Homeless: A Review of Current Knowledge

The purpose of this article was to review the current literature on subjective quality of life (SQOL) in individuals who are homeless, with a focus on differences in SQOL (a) between homeless individuals and the general population, (b) based on housing situation, and (c) associated with demographic characteristics (such as age and gender), physical and mental health, and external variables such as service program type. A literature search was conducted of the online databases PubMed and PsycInfo for relevant studies published from January 1981 to August 2011. Although this review showed that individuals who are homeless tended to have lower levels of SQOL compared to the general population or housed individuals, it was also evident that our current understanding of the relationships between SQOL and various demographic, health, and other variables is based on very limited information. More information about the relationships between various characteristics and experiences of individuals who are homeless and SQOL is clearly needed to aid researchers, service providers, and policy-makers in addressing the needs of this population and examining the effectiveness of interventions to end homelessness and improve health among homeless individuals.     

The Estimation of the South Korean Government's Diplomacy for Its Opposing Public North Korea

Based on the influence of the contingency factors of inner organizational and external situational factors, contingency theory of accommodation provides a good explanation for the real public relations practices. A recent series of experimental studies supports the idea that the theory is also applicable in the public's estimation pattern regarding an organization's public relations practices. This survey study is theoretically important when examining and sorting out significant factors in the real population of a notable public diplomacy domain. That is, this research examines how the South Korean people perceive the contingency factors and how people estimate the South Korean government's stance toward its opposing public, North Korea. The regression model of perceived contingency factors and stance estimation was generalizable in the population of this study (R ² = .279). The most influential perceptual predictors in the model include: the North Korean leader's preference for the South Korean president, the relative power of South Korea, the level of commitment of North Korea, the South Korean president's preference for the North Korean leader, the US government's support for the South Korean policy toward North Korea, the South Korean government's certainty to deal with the North Korean military threat, situational difficulties, the South Korean government's knowledge and skill to deal with the threat, the situational duration of threat, and the South Korean president's relation-oriented leadership. Finally, this study discussed practical implications for the government practitioners.     

Trade union support for fathers' use of work–family benefits – lessons from Sweden

Trade unions have traditionally been male-dominated organizations serving men's interests as family breadwinners, primarily through wage-setting. This study explores whether unions will contest the gendered division of parenting to develop values and practices that support men as caregivers. It takes place in Sweden, where unions are strong and fathers have legislated rights to paid parental leave. A mail survey of local unions revealed that the vast majority of unions did not believe it was important to focus attention on men as family caregivers. Only about one-fourth reported activities to improve men's benefit knowledge; only about one-third reported that they helped to implement parental leave at the workplace and only about one-fourth had negotiated contracts that extended leave benefits for fathers. Unions were more active in supporting men as fathers when they prioritized women's equal employment opportunity and when fathers requested union help. Stronger unions were more likely than others to have won enhanced benefits; contracts tended to increase compensation rather than offer more leave time. Swedish unions are in a strong position to promote, help implement and extend work–family benefits for fathers, dissolving the boundary between work and family spheres, but this potential has not yet been realized.     

Cultural Similarities and Differences in Emblematic Gestures

Despite longstanding interest in cultural differences in emblems, there have only been a few systematic investigations of those differences, and to date there is no study that catalogues and compares emblems across different cultural groups to a standard list of verbal messages. This study does so. Encoders from six world regions produced potential emblems from a standard verbal message list. Gestures that were encoded by at least 70% of the encoders in a region were shown to observers from the same regions, and gestures that were judged correctly as the message intended by at least 70% of the decoders in that region were considered emblems. These procedures resulted in the cataloguing of cultural differences in emblems to the same verbal message list. Surprisingly, the results also indicated a small group of emblems that were similarly encoded and decoded across cultures.