Fitting In and Fighting Back: Stigma Management Strategies among Homeless Kids

Using data collected during a four‐year ethnographic study, this article examines the stigma management strategies of kids who are homeless in the San Francisco Bay area. We focus specifically on strategies of inclusion and exclusion. Strategies of inclusion are attempts by homeless kids to establish harmonious relationships with both peers and strangers. The most common are forging friendships, passing, and covering. Strategies of exclusion are aggressive and nonconciliatory attempts to gain social acceptance. They include verbal denigration and physical and sexual posturing. Some of these strategies successfully protect the kids’ sense of self, while other strategies had the unintended effect of reinforcing their spoiled identities. We argue that these stigma management strategies are both informed by and interpreted through their disadvantaged social structural location.     

DO MEN “NEED” A SPOUSE MORE THAN WOMEN?: PERCEPTIONS OF THE IMPORTANCE OF MARRIAGE FOR MEN AND WOMEN

This study examines how important men and women feel marriage is for men and for women. Using data from the National Survey of Families and Households, we find that both men and women feel that men need to be married more than women do. Women are more likely than men to think that both men and women can have satisfying lives without marriage, but they are also more likely to think that only women can have satisfying lives without marriage. Younger, more educated people are less likely to emphasize marriage. On the other hand, religious people and those who are married with children are particularly likely to think that neither men nor women can have satisfying lives without marriage.     

What unions do: Insights from economic theory

Conclusion I have attempted to distill a quite sizable body of literature written by modern economists on the theory of labor unions, with particular emphasis given to the “two faces” view of unions developed by Freeman and Medolf in What Do Unions Do? Many important ideas and contributions have necessarily been omitted, but hopefully the main contours and implications are captured.     

The Selfobject in the Age of Technology

The author considers self-psychology concepts including the selfobject and influences on self-esteem in the observation and exploration of the significance patients assigned to their cellular telephones, computers, and other electronic communication devices. The intrusion of these devices in sessions and their presence in the patients lives is explored.     

The family size utility function

This article discusses the family size utility function (FSUF), which portrays the relative strengths of preferences among family sizes, as held by an individual, couple, or group. Derivable from the FSUF are indications of motivation to seek or avoid additional children, indications which may prove useful for understanding fertility decisions and for predicting completed fertility. A method is described for assessing the FSUF with data obtainable by interview surveys, and case studies of actual FSUF’s are presented. The article concludes with theoretical and empirical questions for further investigation of the FSUF.     

Adolescent Gambling: Understanding the Role of Stress and Coping

The central variables of stress, coping, and gambling severity were examined along three lines of inquiry. The first addressed whether adolescents with gambling problems reported a greater number of minor or major stressful (i.e., negative) life events relative to others. The second examined whether more with gambling problems employed less-effective coping styles, such as those characterized as less task- or solution-focused, and more emotion- or avoidance-focused coping. Finally, the third question explored whether adolescents’ coping styles mediated the association between stress and gambling severity. Ranging from 11 to 20 years of age, 2,156 high-school students completed instruments assessing gambling involvement, gambling severity, stressful life events, and coping styles. Results indicated that, overall, adolescents with gambling-related problems reported more negative life events relative to social gamblers and non-gamblers. When negative life events were further separated into major and minor events, results revealed that problem gamblers reported more major negative life events but not more minor negative life events relative to others. Results indicated that adolescents with gambling-related problems used less task-focused coping, and more avoidance-focused coping. Males, but not females, who experience gambling-related problems reported using more emotion-focused coping strategies. Finally, emotion-oriented coping was found to mediate the relationship between negative life events and gambling severity. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

BANKING AND PUBLIC POLICY: TOO BIG TO FAIL

“Too big to fail” (TBTF) is a major policy issue in banking. Large bank failures may impose losses on depositors and creditors that may impose large collateral damage on other financial institutions and beyond. Regulators are frequently incentivized either to delay recognizing a bank's insolvency or fail the bank but protect its creditors against loss. This paper argues that, while there is wide agreement that the cost of protecting creditors in the resolution of large financial institutions is excessively high, it is difficult to prevent this practice for a number of reasons. Until these disagreements are settled, TBTF will survive. (JEL G01, G18, G28)     

Physician/hospital business relationships. Sorting through the options

Providers recognize the critical role of physician/hospital partnerships in the newly emerging health care delivery system. However, the possibilities available for establishing such partnerships can be overwhelming. The authors provide a critical review of the options for physician/hospital business relationships. They emphasize the need to match physician/hospital strategies to local market characteristics, develop market-based business objectives, and structure physician/hospital relationships to support the achievement of business objectives.