Supportive parenting moderates the effect of discrimination upon anger, hostile view of relationships, and violence among African American boys

Studies have shown that exposure to discrimination increases the probability that African American adolescents will engage in delinquent behavior, especially acts of violence. The present study extended this research by examining the extent to which supportive parenting buffers a youth from these deleterious consequences of discrimination. Analyses based upon two waves of data from a sample of 332 African American adolescent males and their caretakers supported this hypothesis. Further the results indicated that there are two avenues whereby supportive parenting reduces the probability that discrimination will lead to violence. First, supportive parenting decreases the chances that discrimination will lead to anger and a hostile view of relationships. Second, supportive parenting lowers the risk that anger or a hostile view of relationships, when they develop, will result in violence.     

THE INTERACTION BETWEEN MARITAL STANDARDS AND COMMUNICATION PATTERNS: HOW DOES IT CONTRIBUTE TO MARITAL ADJUSTMENT?

Couples' cognitions about marriage and their communication patterns have both been found to be highly associated with marital distress. To examine the relationships among marital cognitions, communication, and marital adjustment, we had a sample of 387 community couples complete three self-report measures: the Dyadic Adjustment Scale, the Inventory of Specific Relationship Standards, and the Communication Patterns Questionnaire. Results indicated that the correlation of communication with marital adjustment is higher for women with more relationship-focused standards than for women with less relationship-focused standards; this interaction does not occur for men. The implications of the interaction and the gender difference as well as the importance of teaching communication skills, and working with associated cognitions are discussed.     

Adolescents' attention to traditional and graphic tobacco warning labels: an eye-tracking approach

The objective of this study was determine if the inclusion of Canadian-style graphic images would improve the degree to which adolescents attend to, and subsequently are able to recall, novel warning messages in tobacco magazine advertising. Specifically, our goal was to determine if the inclusion of graphic images would (1) increase visual attention, as measured by eye movement patterns and fixation density, and (2) improve memory for tobacco advertisements among a group of 12 to 14 year olds in the western United States. Data were collected from 32 middle school students using a head-mounted eye-tracking device that recorded viewing time, scan path patterns, fixation locations, and dwell time. Participants viewed a series of 20 magazine advertisements that included five U.S. tobacco ads with traditional Surgeon General warning messages and five U.S. tobacco ads that had been modified to include non-traditional messages and Canadian-style graphic images. Following eye tracking, participants completed unaided- and aided-recall exercises. Overall, the participants spent equal amounts of time viewing the advertisements regardless of the type of warning message. However, the warning messages that included the graphic images generated higher levels of visual attention directed specifically toward the message, based on average dwell time and fixation frequency, and were more likely to be accurately recalled than the traditional warning messages.     

Sequential change detection in the presence of unknown parameters

It is commonly required to detect change points in sequences of random variables. In the most difficult setting of this problem, change detection must be performed sequentially with new observations being constantly received over time. Further, the parameters of both the pre- and post- change distributions may be unknown. In Hawkins and Zamba (Technometrics 47(2):164–173, 2005), the sequential generalised likelihood ratio test was introduced for detecting changes in this context, under the assumption that the observations follow a Gaussian distribution. However, we show that the asymptotic approximation used in their test statistic leads to it being conservative even when a large numbers of observations is available. We propose an improved procedure which is more efficient, in the sense of detecting changes faster, in all situations. We also show that similar issues arise in other parametric change detection contexts, which we illustrate by introducing a novel monitoring procedure for sequences of Exponentially distributed random variable, which is an important topic in time-to-failure modelling.     

Poverty,Government Policy and Public Opinion in Britain and Israel: A Comparative Analysis

What are the effects of public opinion on social welfare policies? To what extent is increased financial strain associated with stronger support for anti‐poverty policies? This article tests welfare state theory by comparing poverty, government policy and public opinion on poverty in the UK and Israel, based on rich and detailed comparable survey data on the conditions of the poor in both countries. The results show that, despite similar levels of income poverty and inequality, the poor have a considerably lower standard of living in Israel than the UK. There is considerably greater public support for the poor in Israel but limited government action to end poverty, whereas in the UK there is more limited public support for the poor but significant government action on poverty and exclusion. In both countries there appears to be only a limited connection between social solidarity with the poor and the political elite's rhetoric and action.     

The vanishing physician scientist: a critical review and analysis

Review of the concept of "the vanishing physician-scientist" shows: 1) medical school admissions reject most students wanting medical research careers; 2) college years before medical school are the best time for students to begin research; 3) efforts to entice admitted medical students and residents to do research are too little too late, yielding people not equipped to compete for grants with PhD track peers and less motivated because they have clinical careers to fall back on; 4) the MD/PhD could be replaced by the PhD/MD with uninterrupted research: a full PhD in parallel with part-time medical school followed by part-time residencies. Supplemental materials are available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of Accountability in Research to view the free supplemental file.     

The impact of health insurance cost-sharing method on healthcare utilisation in China

In current Chinese health insurance programmes, there are two types of cost-sharing methods: the time-of-service copayment policy and the reimbursement policy. In contrast to the copayment participants, reimbursement participants need to pay for all medical expenses in advance. We study the effect of the reimbursement policy on the utilisation of healthcare services in China. The theoretical analysis indicates that the medical consumption of low income households will be less than the optimal consumption level when enrolled in a reimbursement programme instead of a copayment programme. Empirically, using data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), we find that the total inpatient expenditure of the reimbursement participants is 12.7% lower than that of copayment enrolees, and the reimbursement arrangement negatively impacts low-income and rural populations. Therefore, reimbursement participants, those who are financially constrained, are more likely to suffer the up-front payment burden and finally reduce their healthcare needs.     

COMMUNITY COHESION,ASYLUM SEEKING AND THE QUESTION OF THE ‘STRANGER’

This paper addresses the changing governance of the social through the conjunction of international, national and local strategies where attempts to regulate migration and promote community safety meet. Migration has been increasingly subjected to processes of ‘securitization’ and ‘criminalization’ that encounter and align with new pressures in ‘domestic’ crime and safety policies. The paper offers a critical evaluation of the sociological grand narratives that frame these events, arguing instead for a more nuanced analysis of the instabilities and volatilities of governance strategies and practices – and the normative issues that they bring into view.     

Toward a Social Work Frame of Reference

Social workers are looking for workable yet exact methods to evaluate practice. Intensive single-case experimental designs have been proposed as promising methods for bridging the research-practice chasm. The application of these designs, however, may compromise practice and generate inconclusive research. Additionally, social workers are unlikely to use such designs because of their discontinuity with current practice methods. A continuum of alternative practice evaluation methods is drawn. Rudimentary ideographic designs are described and proposed for inclusion in social work education to stimulate research interest, perspective, and skill.