Racial Discrimination as a Moderator of the Links Among Stress,Maternal Psychological Functioning,and Family Relationships

This study focuses on the links between social contexts and normative family patterns to identify factors at the societal, community, family, and individual levels that enhance African Americans' ability to overcome stressful life events and foster positive family relationships. The Mundane Extreme Environmental Stress Model was used to explore these links. From urban and rural areas in Iowa and Georgia, 383 families with 10‐ or 11‐year‐old children were recruited. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses. Maternal psychological distress was linked with parent‐child relationship quality both directly and indirectly through its association with intimate partnership quality. When racial discrimination was greater, stronger links emerged between stressor pileup and psychological distress, as well as between psychological distress and the quality of both intimate partnerships and parent‐child relationships. Future research on African American family processes should include the effects of racial discrimination.     

Grandiose and vulnerable narcissism: Associations with alcohol use,alcohol problems and problem recognition

Objective: This study fills a gap in the literature by examining the relationship between two types of narcissism, vulnerable and grandiose, and five alcohol-related outcomes (ie, alcohol use, alcohol problems, evaluation and expectancies of problems, and readiness to change).

Participants: 345 college students (28% men, 72% women) from a Midwestern university were recruited from undergraduate psychology courses from April 2015 to October 2016.

Methods: Participants completed an online survey with questionnaires measuring the variables of interest. Multiple regression analyses were used to test the hypotheses.

Results: Grandiose narcissism was a positive predictor of alcohol consumption and a positive (ie, good) evaluation of alcohol-related problems. Vulnerable narcissism was a positive predictor of alcohol-related problems, problem recognition (ie, readiness to change), and problem expectancies.

Conclusions: The results speak to the effects that different types of narcissism have on alcohol use, alcohol problems and attitudes towards alcohol problems among young adults.     

A new variant of dual-record population estimation with an application in remote indigenous communities

Dual-record system methods are commonly used as a basis for population estimation. A basic assumption is that the units sampled are drawn only from the population to be estimated. This assumption cannot be met for remote Indigenous communities in Australia. A new variant of dual-record population estimation is presented, which relies on the availability of specific additional information to relax the assumption of perfect frame specification. This variant is applied to two remote Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory of Australia, using locally available data sources. Further theoretical exploration of this method is presented along with possible applications in estimating area-enumerated populations and census coverage.     

Linking Community Context to Quality of Parenting: A Study of Rural Families1

Abstract Virtually all past studies of the effect of community context on families and children have focused on large metropolitan communities. Using a sample of divorced women living in small, Midwestern communities, the present study tests a model of the processes whereby community structure influences parenting practices. Results obtained through structural equation modeling supported the hypotheses. High concentrations of disadvantaged people within a community were indirectly related to parenting through community social disorganization. Community social disorganization had a direct effect on quality of parenting, as well as indirect effects through negative events, access to social support, and depressed mood. The various methodological and theoretical implications of these findings are considered.     

How conservative are British attitudes to reproduction?

Current British attitudes concerning fertility are examined, and the probabilities that these will lead either to a further decline to below replacement-level fertility or to a level that will sustain population replacement are assessed. The author concludes that the optimistic, or replacement-level, alternative is the more likely. The evidence for this conclusion is examined, including evidence of conservative attitudes toward fertility and childbearing, and the relative stability of the family structure; comparisons are made with the situation elsewhere in Europe.     

Politics,Evidence and the New Aid Agenda

Based on study of (a) the HIPC debt relief initiative, (b) the linking of aid to policy conditionality and (c) transactions‐cost arguments in favour of programme aid, this article argues that major elements in the new aid agenda may not be well‐based empirically. This is partly because of inadequate knowledge, but particularly because the evidence often conflicts with political preferences. As a result, it is likely that large amounts of aid resources are being misdirected. Ways are suggested of narrowing the gap between evidence‐based and ‘political’ decision‐making. In the meantime, donors should avoid diverting more aid into debt relief, should roll back their reliance on policy conditionality, and should exercise pragmatic caution in the expansion of programme assistance.     

Still Searching for Excellence? International Accounting and the World's Most Outstanding Companies

This paper measures the effect of accounting policy choices in the context of Davis, Flanders and Star's (DFS) (1991) league table of the world's most outstanding companies. Our study is an investigation of the robustness of the research underlying Kay (1993). The sensitivity of the rankings to the three major conventions that are used in calculating added value are examined: depreciation policy, the estimation of the cost of capital inputs and consistency of international generally accepted accounting principles. The key finding is that the degree of disruption caused by international accounting differences is likely to be the most material. It is equivalent, in this study, to a 60% increase in the cost of capital or an 80% change in the depreciation lives of fixed assets. After adjusting towards consistent international accounting, we now find that four Japanese companies appear in the top ten. Before adjustment there were none.