Structural Validation and Multiple Group Assessment of the Short Internalized Homonegativity Scale in Homosexual and Bisexual Men in 38 European Countries: Results From the European MSM Internet Survey

Internalized homonegativity (IH) is the internalization of negative attitudes and assumptions about homosexual people by homosexual people themselves. To measure IH, Smolenski, Diamond, Ross, and Rosser (2010) and Ross, Rosser, and Smolenski (2010) revised the Reactions to Homosexuality Scale (RHS) to develop the Short Internalized Homonegativity Scale (SIHS) with eight items. Using the European Men Who Have Sex With Men Internet Survey (EMIS) data, with an analytic sample of 130,718 gay and bisexual men in 38 European countries, we confirmed the validity of the SIHS scale in both training and validation data, in strata of Ross, Berg, et al.’s (2013) three “homosexual discrimination” country clusters, of age, and of education level. However, the performance was less adequate in comparison of gay versus bisexually identified individuals. The latent SIHS structure contains only minor variations across these three strata. The seven-item scale performed as well as the eight-item scale. The SIHS is a promising candidate for standard IH measures, which is invariant across cultural, age, and educational strata.     

The Present Retirement Crisis and How Social Workers Can Respond

ABSTRACT

Research on Americans’ retirement readiness indicates a wide range of preparedness for the golden years. Called a “crisis” by researchers, retirement for some may include significant choices: continued employment or utilization of social welfare services. This article describes factors contributing to the retirement crisis and roles social workers can play in assisting older retirees. Disparity in household retirement savings exists by ethnicity. On the front lines serving aging individuals and their families, social work professionals are well situated to collaborate with individuals, and other providers, to address financial, social and emotional pillars necessary in facilitating a safe and secure retirement.     

User involvement and empowerment among asylum seekers in Norwegian reception centres

A considerable amount of literature has been published on conditions in reception centres for asylum seekers. The previous studies show that the life of residents in the centres is characterised by uncertainty, passivity, powerlessness and gradual disqualification. Drawing from data collected from asylum seekers and service providers in Norwegian reception centres, this article examines the tools used to counteract these processes. The article maintains that organised activities, such as language courses and user involvement in the form of cooperative councils, have an impact on the empowerment of asylum seekers. However, user motivation for participation and involvement in these arrangements is undermined, due to residents' responses on factors which operate both at the structural and relational level. The findings and questions raised in the article have wider implications for social work with asylum seekers in other European countries, as well as for current efforts being made by EU countries to regulate reception conditions for asylum seekers. Among other things, the authors relate their findings to reception standards as defined in the EU Directive on Reception Conditions for asylum seekers.     

Risk, Statistical Inference, and the Law of Evidence: The Use of Epidemiological Data in Toxic Tort Cases

Toxic torts are product liability cases dealing with alleged injuries due to chemical or biological hazards such as radiation, thalidomide, or Agent Orange. Toxic tort cases typically rely more heavily than other product liability cases on indirect or statistical proof of injury. There have been numerous theoretical analyses of statistical proof of injury in toxic tort cases. However, there have been only a handful of actual legal decisions regarding the use of such statistical evidence, and most of those decisions have been inconclusive. Recently, a major case from the Fifth Circuit, involving allegations that Benedectin (a morning sickness drug) caused birth defects, was decided entirely on the basis of statistical inference. This paper examines both the conceptual basis of that decision, and also the relationships among statistical inference, scientific evidence, and the rules of product liability in general.     

Fathers in Family Therapy: A Survey of Family Therapists

Sixty family therapists were surveyed in an investigation of resistance by family members to family therapy. Consistent with other investigations, the father was viewed as the most resistant along a number of dimensions. Therapist behaviors that related to difficulties with the father, specifically, and to family therapy generally, were identified. The implication of these results and possible strategies to reduce the resistance of the father are discussed.     

Trends in the age at reproductive transitions in the developing world: The role of education

Girls’ school participation has expanded considerably in the developing world over the last few decades, a phenomenon expected to have substantial consequences for reproductive behaviour. Using Demographic and Health Survey data from 43 countries, this paper examines trends and differentials in the mean ages at three critical life-cycle events for young women: first sexual intercourse, first marriage, and first birth. We measure the extent to which trends in the timing of these events are driven either by the changing educational composition of populations or by changes in behaviour within education groups. Mean ages have risen over time in all regions for all three events, except age at first sex in Latin America and the Caribbean. Results from a decomposition exercise indicate that increases in educational attainment, rather than trends within education groups, are primarily responsible for the overall trends. Possible explanations for these findings are discussed.     

Ideas of statistical experts on the choice of an analysis method

The process of data analysis can be divided into stages. The opinions of 20 statisticians on the considerations that are relevant to this decision have been studied. Nineteen concepts were identified which can be classijied into five groups:the analysis question; characteristics of the data collection; characteristics of the data; conditions for and influences on data analysis; conditions for and influences on statistical consultation. Economists mention considerations different to those mentioned by social scientists. Together the considerations form an exhaustive list of concepts that are relevant to the design of computerized support in statistics.     

On the historical origins of Chinese underdevelopment

Conclusion The Imperial regime bequeathed to its successors a double heritage and a double handicap: on the one hand, an exceptionally strong population pressure on the area of cultivated land; and on the other, a radical break between interior China (rural bureaucratic, traditional) and coastal China (cosmopolitan, enterprising, open to innovation). The history of the twentieth century only accentuated these contradictions and worsened these handicaps. Rooted in its urban bases, the Guomindang regime of 1927–1949 did virually nothing to transfer technology to the countryside, so that the gap between the two Chinas - coastal and interior - widened, and the regime was condemned to be swept away by peasant revolution. As for the People's Republic, by postponing the adoption of a real birth-control program until 1973, it wiped out a large part of the benefits that a policy of modernization extended for the first time ever to the whole country would have brought, and made economic take-off even more difficult in 1981 than it was in 1949.