Validation of the 12 Item Short form Health Survey in a Sample from Region Central Jutland

In 2010 the Danish regions started a new program of public health surveillance in collaboration with the national and local health authorities using the short form health survey (SF-12) for measuring and reporting on health related quality of life among the Danish adult population. The instrument has not, however, been validated in a Danish setting. The aim of this study was to assess the reliability and validity of the physical component summary (PCS) and the mental component summary (MCS) score of the 12-item short form health survey (SF-12) in a sample from Central Denmark Region. A total of 26,397 persons above the age of 25 were included in the analyses. Reliability was assessed by Cronbach’s α. The validity was assessed using known-groups comparisons and convergent validity. The factor structure was investigated through exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The Cronbach’s α showed high reliability with a score of 0.90 and 0.85 for PCS and MCS respectively. The SF-12 discriminated well with respect to gender, age, educational status and long term illness. Individual items correlated higher with own hypothesized scales than with other scales and summary measures corroborating the convergent validity. The EFA gave a two-factor structure. Irrespective of the chosen rotation method (varimax and oblimin) the items related to PCS loaded on one factor and the items related to MCS loaded on another factor. The factor structure was validated with acceptable model-fit values in CFA. The SF-12 instrument is a reliable and valid measure of health related quality of life among the population of Central Denmark Region.     

Drug addiction as a lifestyle

Drug addict rehabilitation programs receive a small proportion of the funds made available through the social welfare system. Emphasis has traditionally been placed on the pathological rather than the salutogenic elements of an addicted lifestyle. A new test of a person's sense of coherence in life (Antonovsky's 9-item Sense of Coherence scale) may be of interest in rehabilitation work with drug addicts, and in focusing more attention on this aspect of addiction treatment. Thirty drug addicts in treatment and rehabilitation and 10 former drug addicts were interviewed using the 9-item Sense of Coherence scale. The results obtained were compared to a well known test of distress, the 24-item Symptom Checklist. Drug addicts in treatment facilities had significantly lower mean scores on the 9-item Sense of Coherence scale (2.3) and higher scores on the 24-item Symptom Checklist (2.3) than both drug addicts in rehabilitatively oriented institutions (3.3 and 1.6) and the long-term rehabilitated non-using former drug addicts (4.2 and 1.5 respectively). The differences between the group in rehabilitation and the former drug addicts were also statistically significant. The levels of the two psychometric tests suggested a gradual movement towards normal values and an increased sense of meaning in life among the former drug addicts, contrary to findings by other researchers. The length of time before these tests return to normal values may exceed the observation period often used in follow-up at treatment facilities. Increased social welfare may follow if a disclosure of salutogenic possibilities in drug addicts is obtained. Further prospective research is, however, necessary to confirm our findings.     

The expected personality characteristics of alcohol-dependent individuals

The Big Five personality factors were used as a framework for examining the expected personality characteristics of individuals who are alcohol-dependent. In an experimental study, participants used a measure of the Big Five personality factors to rate two individuals, each described with either signs of alcohol dependence or not. The ratings of the participants showed that they expected the alcohol-dependent versions of both individuals to be less agreeable and less conscientious. The participants expected the alcohol-dependent college student to be more extraverted and the alcohol-dependent lawyer-father to be more neurotic. The expected personality characteristics of the alcohol-dependent versions of the two described persons were very similar to the actual personality characteristics of alcohol-dependent individuals. The results were consistent with prior findings regarding narrow-band personality traits related to the Big Five. The results help explain prior findings about the social handicap of problem drinking with regard to making friends, dating, marriage, and working. The findings have potential use in alcohol-problem prevention and treatment.     

Low emotional intelligence as a predictor of substance-use problems

This study explored the relationship between low emotional intelligence and substance-use problems in adults. One hundred and forty-one participants completed the Self-Administered Alcoholism Screening Test, the Drug Abuse Screening Test, an emotional intelligence scale, and a measure of psychosocial coping. Low emotional intelligence was a significant predictor of both alcohol-related problems and drug-related problems. Poorer coping predicted drug-related problems, but not alcohol-related problems. Coping was not found to be a significant mediator between emotional intelligence and substance-use problems. Possible implications for intervention and treatment efforts are discussed.     

A Bivariate Generalization of Gamma Distribution

In this article, a bivariate generalisation of the gamma distribution is proposed by using an unsymmetrical bivariate characteristic function; an extension to the non central case also receives attention. The probability density functions of the product and ratio of the correlated components of this distribution are also derived. The benefits of introducing this generalized bivariate gamma distribution and the distributions of the product and the ratio of its components will be demonstrated by graphical representations of their density functions. An example of this generalized bivariate gamma distribution to rainfall data for two specific districts in the North West province is also given to illustrate the greater versatility of the new distribution.     

Small area estimation: the EBLUP estimator based on spatially correlated random area effects

This paper deals with small area indirect estimators under area level random effect models when only area level data are available and the random effects are correlated. The performance of the Spatial Empirical Best Linear Unbiased Predictor (SEBLUP) is explored with a Monte Carlo simulation study on lattice data and it is applied to the results of the sample survey on Life Conditions in Tuscany (Italy). The mean squared error (MSE) problem is discussed illustrating the MSE estimator in comparison with the MSE of the empirical sampling distribution of SEBLUP estimator. A clear tendency in our empirical findings is that the introduction of spatially correlated random area effects reduce both the variance and the bias of the EBLUP estimator. Despite some residual bias, the coverage rate of our confidence intervals comes close to a nominal 95%.     

Behavioural Addictions in Adolescents and Young Adults: Results from a Prevalence Study

Our study aims to assess the prevalence of behavioural addictions in an adolescent population, evaluating the effects of gender and age, and to assess the correlations among different behavioural addictions. 2853 high school students were assessed in order to evaluate the prevalence of behavioural addictions such as Pathological Gambling (PG), Compulsive Buying (CB), Exercise Addiction (EA), Internet Addiction (IA), and Work Addiction (WA), in a population of Italian adolescents. The South Oaks Gambling Screen-Revised Adolescent (SOGS-RA), the Compulsive Buying Scale (CBS), the Exercise Addiction Inventory (EAI), the Internet Addiction Test (IAT), and the Work Addiction Risk Test (WART), were compiled anonymously by the students. Overall prevalence was 7.0% for PG, 11.3% for CB, 1.2% for IA, 7.6% for WA, 8.5% for EA. PG and EA were more common among boys, while gender had no effect on the other conditions. CB was more common among younger (<18 years old) students. The scores of all of these scales were significantly correlated. The strong correlation among different addictive behaviours is in line with the hypothesis of a common psychopathological dimension underlying these phenomena. Further studies are needed to assess personality traits and other clinical disorders associated with these problems behaviours.     

The duration of unemployment in Russia

This paper uses longitudinal survey data to assess factors affecting the duration of unemployment in Russia. We examine four types of marginalised labour force participants, according to ILO guidelines and survey responses, and we estimate duration models for each type. It turns out that the sets of characteristics with the strongest effects on the duration are remarkably similar across the different unemployment definitions and model specifications. Therefore, despite the formidable practical measurement problems, problematic groups of individuals can actually be identified. Received: 27 January 1999/Accepted: 27 January 2000     

Psychology Implies Paternalism? Bounded Rationality may Reduce the Rationale to Regulate Risk-Taking

Behavioral economists increasingly argue that violations of rationality axioms provide a new rationale for paternalism – to “de-bias” individuals who exhibit errors, biases and other allegedly pathological psychological regularities associated with Tversky and Kahneman’s (in Science 185:1124–1131, 1974) heuristics-and-biases program. The argument is flawed, however, in neglecting to distinguish aggregate from individual rationality. The aggregate consequences of departures from normative decision-making axioms may be Pareto-inferior or superior. Without a well-specified theory of aggregation, individual-level biases do not necessarily imply losses in efficiency. This paper considers the problem of using a social-welfare function to decide whether to regulate risk-taking behavior in a population whose individual-level behavior may or may not be consistent with expected utility maximization. According to the social-welfare objective, unregulated aggregate risk distributions resulting from non-maximizing behavior are often more acceptable (i.e., lead to a weaker rationale for paternalism) than population distributions generated by behavior that conforms to the standard axioms. Thus, psychological theories that depart from axiomatic decision-making norms do not necessarily strengthen the case for paternalism, and conformity with such norms is generally not an appropriate policy-making objective in itself.     

Which Domestic Firms Benefit from FDI? Evidence from Selected African Countries

The existing literature on the effects of FDI inflows on domestic firms' performance offers ambiguous evidence. Macro‐level studies suggest that the characteristics of inward FDI and the ‘absorptive capacity’ of the host economy matter in determining the sign (or the mere existence) of these effects. Studies based on micro‐level data have so far mostly focused on finding a nexus between FDI inflows and the productivity of domestic firms, suggesting that the effects might be highly heterogeneous. This article, using a recent firm‐level survey conducted by UNIDO in 19 sub‐Saharan African countries, explores the channels through which multinational enterprises may exert an impact on local firms: products’ market, input availability and costs, access to finance and export opportunities, and analyses the strategic reactions of domestic firms induced by the presence of foreign affiliates.