The development, validation, and implications of a measure of consumer competitive arousal (CCAr)

This paper details the conceptual and empirical development of a 10-item scale to measure consumer competitive arousal (CCAr). Consumers experience competitive arousals in a wide variety of consumption contexts. Though the subject has been of interest in several recent studies, neither a consistent definition nor a reliable and valid measurement of the construct has been developed. The study offers a reliable and valid measurement scale of consumer competitive arousal by testing it in three pre-purchase and one post-purchase situation. The findings support three distinct dimensions of the CCAr construct (performance anxiety, rivalry, and scarcity recognition), which help shape a clear definition of the construct. Both the composite and its individual dimensions demonstrate predictive power for several behavioral and attitudinal outcomes.     

Migration Decisions,Acculturation, and Overweight among Asian and Latino Immigrant Adults in the United States

Using the 2002–2003 National Latino and Asian American Study (NLAAS), we examine relationships between acculturation, migration decisions, and overweight among Latino and Asian immigrants. Pooled logistic regression models showed no evidence that acculturation and migration decisions were related to overweight among Asians, but models for Latinos indicated that aspects of acculturation (duration of US residence and English proficiency) and migration decisions (moving to find a job) were significantly associated with overweight status. However, interaction models also highlighted the gendered nature of the acculturation–weight relationship, such that country‐of‐origin ties can have different implications for the overweight status of male and female immigrants.     

The mental health problems of mothers experiencing the child protection system: identifying needs and appropriate responses

This article presents the findings of a small pilot study which examined the needs of 13 mothers with severe mental health problems whose children were involved in the child protection system. The use of the diagnosis of ‘personality disorder’ in relation to this group of women is discussed and the finding that all these women had experience of domestic violence is considered in the context of other research findings. The extent to which child protection social workers and mental health professionals worked together on these cases was explored and only limited evidence of good communication and collaboration was found. The need for effective inter‐professional and inter‐agency coordination is argued, but differing conceptions of maternal mental health problems and their relationship to children's needs may make for difficulties in professional communication and decision‐making. The article seeks to identify the differing approaches to maternal mental health problems which appear to be developing out of different groups of research studies and argues that practitioners need to be explicit in identifying their perspectives on the associated issues of maternal mental health problems and child protection. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A review of the epidemiological research on child sexual abuse. Clinical samples

This article reviews the major empirical studies which have been carried out in an attempt to estimate the prevalence of child sexual abuse among females in clinical inpatient and outpatient samples. Along with the earlier review (Pilkington and Kremer, 1995) dealing with community and student samples, this paper likewise highlights a number of unresolved methodological issues which may contribute to the variance in reported prevalence rates. These include a myriad of definitions of child sexual abuse and different methods of eliciting information on possible histories of abuse. These issues are here discussed in the context of the findings of both review articles.     

An Integrative Examination of Peer Conflict: Children's Reported Goals, Emotions, and Behaviors

The primary purpose of the present study was to examine the interrelations among children's typical emotions, goals, and behavior during peer conflict and to examine emotions and goals as joint predictors of behavior. Children (7 to 11 years old) described recent conflicts with peers and were questioned about their emotions, goals, and behaviors. The friendliness of children's reported goals during conflict was associated with low anger intensity and with high intensity of sadness. Children who tended to report nonconstructive behavior also tended to report relatively intense anger and relatively unfriendly goals. Furthermore, in regression analyses, the friendliness of goals uniquely predicted the constructiveness of children's behavior after controlling for the effects of anger intensity, age, gender, provoking event, and friendship with the peer. Although boys and girls reported similar levels of anger and sadness, girls reported friendlier goals and more constructive behavior than did boys. The use of self‐reports of actual events to examine peer conflict during middle childhood is also discussed.     

Mothers' and Children's Positive Emotion: Relations and Trajectories across Four Years

The goals of this study were to examine the relations between and trajectories of mothers' and children's social positive expressivity (PE). Mothers' and children's PE were observed annually for four years beginning when children were approximately 18 months old (N = 247; 110 girls). Based on correlations, there was evidence of rank‐order stability in children's and mothers' PE. Based on growth curve analyses, mothers' and children's PE followed curvilinear trajectories; thus, mean‐level instability was found. Children's PE during a free‐play interaction with their mothers increased then decreased slightly whereas mothers' affect during the same task decreased then stabilized. Children's PE during a joy‐inducing situation (i.e., bubbles) with an experimenter slightly decreased and then increased. In panel models, there was no evidence of prediction over time across children's and mothers' PE when taking stability into account. These unique trajectories and relations provide insight into the developmental pattern of young children's and their mothers' PE elicited within social contexts.     

Premature Birth and Asthma Among Young Puerto Rican Children

Puerto Rican children are more likely to have asthma than children in any other racial/ethnic group in the United States, yet little research has examined the factors contributing to childhood asthma among Puerto Ricans. Using data from a representative sample of mainland Puerto Rican children, the present study investigates the relationship between preterm birth and early-childhood asthma (i.e., in the first years of life). The roles of other risk factors (i.e., socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, environmental conditions, and maternal health behavior) in the development of asthma in early childhood also are considered. The analysis reveals a relatively high rate of asthma for preterm children as well as differences between term and preterm children in the risk factors for early-childhood asthma. Measures of socioeconomic status and the cleanliness of the home environment are related to asthma for term, but not preterm, children; in contrast, demographic characteristics and maternal health behavior are important risk factors for asthma among preterm children.     

Support Groups for Mentally Ill People

This paper outlines demand levels for day care for the mentally ill and explores the contribution that support groups can make within the package of care. It outlines costings and results of one particular experimental low cost venture which involved public and voluntary sector cooperation.     

The Everyday Violence of Hepatitis C Among Young Women Who Inject Drugs in San Francisco

A theoretical understanding of the gendered contours of structural, everyday and symbolic violence suggests that young addicted women are particularly vulnerable to the infectious diseases caused by injection drug use-especially hepatitis C. Participant-observation fieldwork among heroin and speed addicts in San Francisco's Haight Ashbury neighborhood reveals that extreme levels of violence against women are normalized in the common sense of street-youth drug culture. Physical, sexual and emotional violence, as well as the pragmatics of income generation, including drug and resource sharing in the moral economy of street addicts, oblige most young homeless women to enter into relationships with older men. These relationships are usually abusive and economically parasitical to the women. Sexual objectification and a patriarchal romantic discourse of love and moral worth leads to the misrecognition of gender power inequities by both the men and women who are embroiled in them, as well as by many of the public services and research projects designed to help or control substance abusers. Despite deep epistemological, theoretical and logistical gulfs between quantitative and qualitative methods, applied public health research and the interventions they inform can benefit from the insights provided by a theoretical and cross-methodological focus on how social power contexts shape the spread of infectious disease and promote disproportional levels of social suffering in vulnerable populations.     

A profitability index for alternative research projects

Success in research is supposed to be achieved by success in just one of a number of alternative research projects. The problem is investigated on how to allocate research effort to minimise the expected cost to success. The optimal strategy is determined by a profitability index attached to each project.