Welfare and Work: Complementary Strategies forLow‐Income Women?

We examine the effects of mothers' strategies of combining employment and welfare receipt during the first 3 years of their child's life on the child's cognitive development, behavior problems, and home learning environment at ages 5 to 6. We compare the child outcomes of those mothers who were continuously employed and received no welfare with (a) those who worked some or all of the 3 years and also received public assistance and (b) those who were totally dependent on public assistance. We studied children in single‐parent families (N= 1271 ) living below 200% of the poverty threshold using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth—Child Supplement. No negative association was found on most child outcomes with a mother's employment whether or not it was combined with public assistance. However, mothers' not working at all and receiving financial support solely from AFDC was associated with negative child outcomes. We discuss the implications of these findings for the possible effects of the new welfare laws on families and young children.     

Median treatment effect in randomized trials

For two response variables y _t and y _c corresponding to two treatments for two policies) T and C , we wish to learn about quantiles of y _t− y _c from the marginal quantiles of y _t and y _c; only one of y _t and y _c is observed for an individual. We find that, in general, this is difficult for quantiles other than the median unless strong assumptions are imposed on how y _t is related to y _c. For the median, we present conditions under which the sign of the median treatment effect is identified.     

Who Pays? Can We Pay Them Back?

This chapter is about a very old question that is thrown up again in discussion related to ANT. Do orders have necessary limits to what can belong to them? It is possible to read ANT as containing or demanding a moral commitment to the inclusion of the disenfranchised. It can often seem to be in the business of giving credit where credit is due, spreading recognition to even the most unexpected quarters. To sustain itself such a morality would depend on the possibility of infinite inclusion. By identifying this picture of 'belonging-by-assemblage' and its traditional counterpart 'belonging-by-banishment' and by finding both at play within ANT, the papers argues that ANT is an ethical rather than a moral enterprise, bringing the unanswered question of the nature of belonging to bear across domains, rather than approaching each domain with a 'cookie-cutter' moral formula. The disturbing 'unsecuring' of belonging that ANT involves continues within the philosophical tradition ANT trades on and contributes to in the form of an abiding controversy over the place of the natural world.     

Methodological and conceptual issues confronting a cross-country Delphi study of educational program evaluation

Although the Delphi is widely used, research on certain methodological issues is somewhat limited. After a brief introduction to the strengths, limitations, and methodological challenges of the technique, we share our experiences (as well as problems encountered) with an electronic Delphi of educational program evaluation (EPE) in the Asia-Pacific region. The study is described followed by a discussion of the difficulties in participant recruitment and selection, sample size, instrumentation, data collection and analysis and attempts to resolve them. Some of these problems are generic to the Delphi whereas others related to the specifics of the investigation. What we learned should be useful for future Delphis with a similar focus.     

The functional capacity of healthcare workers with history of severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (SARS) complicated with avascular necrosis--case report

Two years after the SARS outbreak in Hong Kong, 128 healthcare workers continued to present with musculoskeletal complaints and 38 workers were diagnosed with avascular necrosis (AVN) in different joints. 13 healthcare workers were referred to six designated Physiotherapy Departments of the Hospital Authority for a tailor-made standardized Functional Capacity Evaluation (FCE) from 2004 to 2005 on a voluntary basis. Job analysis, workers' self-perceived disability and functional capacity, non-material handling tests, and the cardiopulmonary fitness test were performed. Retrospective review of the FCE data showed that there were 17 AVN of hips, 16 AVN of knees, 3 AVN of shoulders. All patients had AVN of lower limb joints. Nearly full ranges of movement (ROM) were observed in the knees involved, but the hip range was decreased for most subjects suffering from hip AVNs. Most workers (n=12) could not complete the cardiopulmonary test due to intolerable joint pain. Six workers' self-perceived physical demands level (PDC) matched with the physical demands level identified by the FCE. 12 healthcare workers attained a sedentary physical demands level and were unable to match with their previous job demands. One staff was classified as light physical demands and managed his original duty. Four workers had returned to work at the time FCE was performed. The tailor-made FCE added information to facilitate the return-to-work planning for the staff. Four more workers returned to work with modified duties one year after the FCE.     

Role of Gambling Media Exposure in Influencing Trajectories Among College Students

In the study, a model of the relationship between mass media depictions of gambling and subsequent gambling attitudes and behavioral intentions of college students was developed. A survey was conducted with 229 undergraduate students (79.5% female, mean age = 20.5, SD = 2.04) enrolled in three different communication courses at a large southeastern university. Through structural equation analysis, the six hypotheses of this study were analyzed using the method of maximum likelihood with AMOS 6. The model was consistent with the hypotheses that media exposure impacts gambling attitudes and behavioral intentions both positively and negatively, depending on the valence of the gambling depiction. Theoretical and practical implications of mass media exposure and gambling behaviors are discussed, and future research directions are outlined.     

Registered domestic partnerships among gay men and lesbians: the role of economic factors

In this paper, we predict the demand for a marriage-like status—registered domestic partnership–among same-sex couples. Domestic partnership in the state of California now comes with almost all of the rights and responsibilities of marriage that a state can provide. We use the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender) Tobacco Use Survey conducted by the California Department of Health and the Field Research Corporation in 2003. From this telephone survey, we use a probability sample of 1,002 lesbian and gay individuals in California. Using multinomial probit models of partnership status (single, not cohabiting, cohabiting, or registered), we find limited evidence of economic motivations in the choice to register. Gay men’s likelihood of registration rises with income; lesbians’ probability of registration rises with age. Couples with longer duration are more likely to register, suggesting that registration and duration are complementary signals of commitment and possibly of the need for rights and benefits of registration.

Hazards of neoliberalism: delayed electric power restoration after Hurricane Ike

This case study explores how neoliberal policies shape the impacts of a natural disaster. We investigate the reactions to major damages to the electric power system and the restoration of power in the wake of Hurricane Ike, which devastated the Houston, Texas, metropolitan area in September 2008. We argue that the neoliberal policy agenda insured a minimalist approach to the crisis and generated dissatisfaction among many residents. The short-term profitability imperative shifted reconstruction costs to consumers, and prevented efforts to upgrade the electric power infrastructure to prepare for future disasters. We illustrate the serious obstacles for disaster mitigation and recovery posed by neoliberal policies that privatize public goods and socialize private costs. Neoliberalism neither addresses the needs of a highly stratified public nor their long-term interests and safety.