Effects of social contact with homosexuals on heterosexual Turkish university students' attitudes towards homosexuality

The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of social interaction with homosexuals on attitudes toward homosexuality in a sample of heterosexual Turkish university students. Hudson and Ricketts' 25-item scale was translated from English into Turkish and used to measure students' attitudes toward homosexuality. Findings, in general, suggested that exposure to and contact with homosexuals resulted in more positive attitudes toward homosexuality. Performed factor analysis demonstrated that there were three factors for the scale. The factors were labelled as "Social interaction with homosexuals," "Probable family ties with homosexuals," and "Tendency to be a homosexual." Subjects' negative attitudes toward homosexuality increased on the last two factors, which were about having a homosexual child or sibling, and being comfortable with being attracted to a homosexual. Results were discussed in terms of prejudice and intergroup contact.     

巴林体育与竞技运动

巴林是阿拉伯世界唯一的岛屿国家,总面积600平方公里。人口约260.000万,其中80％是阿拉伯人。讲阿拉伯语和英语。一、教育在伊斯兰世界,最初的学校是把成群的孩子集中到家庭或教院里朗诵古兰经的有关内容,家里只是付一点学费。     

Checking a Semiparametric Additive Risk Model

McKeague and Sasieni [A partly parametric additive risk model. Biometrika 81 (1994) 501] propose a restriction of Aalen’s additive risk model by the additional hypothesis that some of the covariates have time-independent influence on the intensity of the observed counting process. We introduce goodness-of-fit tests for this semiparametric Aalen model. The asymptotic distribution properties of the test statistics are derived by means of martingale techniques. The tests can be adjusted to detect particular alternatives. As one of the most important alternatives we consider Cox’s proportional hazards model. We present simulation studies and an application to a real data set.     

A Smooth Test in Proportional Hazard Survival Models Using Local Partial Likelihood Fitting

Proportional hazard models for survival data, even though popular and numerically handy, suffer from the restrictive assumption that covariate effects are constant over survival time. A number of tests have been proposed to check this assumption. This paper contributes to this area by employing local estimates allowing to fit hazard models in which covariate effects are smoothly varying with time. A formal test is derived to check for proportional hazards against smooth hazards as alternative. The test proves to possess omnibus power in that it is powerful against arbitrary but smooth alternatives. Comparative simulations and two data examples accompany the presentation. Extensions are provided to multiple covariate settings, where the focus of interest is to decide which of the covariate effects vary with time.     

New migration policies in Europe: the return of labor migrants,remigration promotion and reintegration policies

On the basis of the working papers presented at t conference, new information on the subject of return migration in Europe and conclusions on the effectiveness of policies to promote remigration were discussed aiming to stimulate further research on this subject. Mainly 3 findings resulted from the discussions. 1) On the subject of promoting remigration, the effects of the law to encourage voluntary return to home countries from the Federal Republic of Germany have remained far below expectations. 2) Concerning effects of the migration policies on the foreign residents in the host countries, it was stated that these prevent a clear definition of their status by the foreigners themselves, because they obscure the decision whether to stay or leave the host country. Especially regarding the increasingly critical attitude of the population of the host country towards the guest workers, a growing insecurity of the foreigners must be noted, which has led recently to overhasty emigration decisions with alarming economic and social results for those affected. 3) Concerning possibilities for international cooperation on return migration, it was stated that the indirect instruments of promoting return have shown little success. On the other hand, direct promotion by means of financial incentives is to be rejected because of its mainly negative side effects on the expectations of the labor migrants and also on those of the indigenous population. New and promising approaches to remigration policy must consider the economic and social interests of the countries of origin and improve their economic, political, and administrative capacities.     

Health care futures. What lies ahead? Where are we going? Panel discussion

Who would have guessed that managed care would dominate the health care industry in the final two decades of the millennium? That physicians would be joining labor unions? Or that they would be going back to school to become Fellows of the American College of Physician Executives? To find out what may be in store for health care in America five to 10 years hence, The Physician Executive asked nine health care experts to participate in a two-part panel discussion. Here's what they see ahead in managed care, information technology, and biotechnology. Part 2 will appear in the July/August Issue of The Physician Executive.     

Nonviolent resistance: a treatment for parents of children with acute behavior problems

Nonviolent resistance (NVR) is a new training model aimed at helping parents deal effectively with their helplessness, isolation, and escalatory interactions with their children. The purpose of this study is to evaluate training in NVR with the parents of children with acute behavior problems. Seventy-three parents (41 families) were randomly assigned to a treatment group and wait-list control group. Measures were taken at pretreatment, posttreatment, and a 1-month follow-up. In comparison with the wait-list group, parents who received training in NVR showed a decrease in parental helplessness and escalatory behaviors, and an increase in perceived social support. The children's negative behaviors as assessed by the parents also decreased significantly.     

Internal locus of control and vocational rehabilitation

In previous studies, internal locus of control (ILC) has been pointed out as a key factor for return to work after vocational rehabilitation. The aim of the current study was to gain a deeper understanding of the concept of ILC in a Swedish vocational rehabilitation context. The study was based on data from 347 long-term sick-listed clients collected at the onset of vocational rehabilitation. A first bi-variate analysis showed that ILC was positively associated with physical functioning and general health, and negatively associated with bodily pain. The analysis also showed that women, more than men, reported high internal locus of control. After a second multivariate analysis, only bodily pain remained associated. It is concluded that there exist a strong and negative association between bodily pain and internal locus of control. Clients with severe pain often also suffer from low internal locus of control. This should be kept in mind when providing vocational rehabilitation.