Latent classes and group membership

A technique for analyzing group membership data, such as interlocking directorates, based on the assumption of latent classes of individuals, is described and illustrated with two data sets. The technique partitions individuals and/or groups into homogeneous sets and can be used to create measures of structural centrality for groups and for individuals.     

Jackknifing in Categorical Data Analysis

Estimation of nonlinear functions of a multinomial parameter vector is necessary in many categorical data problems. The first and second order jackknife are explored for the purpose of reduction of bias. The second order jackknife of a function g(.) of a multinomial parameter is shown to be asymptotically normal if all second order partials ?²g( p )?dp_i?p_j obey a Hölder condition with exponent α>1/2. Numerical results for the estimation of the log odds ratio in a 2times2 table demonstrate the efficiency of the jackknife method for reduction of mean-square-error and the construction of approximate confidence intervals.     

The last mile of the way: understanding caregiving in African American families at the end-of-life

This research is based on in-depth ethnographic interviews and focus groups with 88 African American family caregivers from various regions of the United States during a stressful time in their family development--caregiving at the end-of-life--and the grieving during the aftermath. The study employed a stratified purposeful sampling strategy. Subjects were African Americans from the Northern, Southern, and Midwestern United States. Formal care is complicated by the distrust that many African Americans hold toward the health care system, which has resulted from years of exclusion, racism and discrimination. The findings highlight the importance of hearing from African American families to gain an understanding of what services, including family therapy and other psychotherapy, they will need during this process.     

Effects of information on college students' perceptions of antidepressant medication

The authors examined the impact of pharmaceutical companies' advertisements on college students' perceptions of depression and concomitant treatment with antidepressants among 13 male and 31 female undergraduates from a midwestern university. The students were randomly assigned to groups that read either pharmaceutical company advertisements or scientific information about depression and its treatment. The analysis revealed that 40% of the women in the advertisement condition as opposed to 1 woman (6%) in the scientific condition rated themselves as having mild, moderate, or severe depression on the Beck Depression Inventory, second edition. Women in the advertisement condition were significantly more likely to believe that depression required treatment with antidepressant medication and were more willing than women in the scientific condition to suggest antidepressant treatment to others.     

Parent-child connections: the essential component for positive youth development and mental health, safe communities, and academic achievement

A continuing parent-youth bond throughout adolescence and young adulthood is the foundation for genuine emotional health, academic achievement, and healthy developmental trajectories and the antidote to youth violence.     

Unions and private wage supplements

Private wage supplements are an important part of total compensation. A model of workers’ supplement expenditures is developed which shows that, although the expenditure determinants sometimes differ between broad industry/occupation subsamples, earnings, price effects of preferential tax treatment and economies of group purchase, unionization, the product market power of the firm, and worker age are usually significant determinants of supplement expenditures. The firm’s goal of reducing turnover costs as well as demographic, locational, and industry variables also systematically affect supplement expenditures. Supplements usually increase progressively with wages, indicating that often made proportionality assumptions are invalid. This work is based on a portion of my doctoral dissertation “An Economic Analysis of the Determinants of Private Wage Supplements.” An anonymous referee made many useful suggestions and criticisms. The Center for the Study of American Business at Washington University provided some of the computer funding. The remaining errors are my responsibility.     

Health lifestyles in Russia and the socialist heritage

This study examines the relationship between socialist ideology and the current negative health lifestyles of the Russian population. We explore the possibility that Soviet-style socialism with its negation of individuality and individual initiative in health matters promoted the development of a passive orientation toward healthy living. Using a national sample, we compare the health practices of those Russians who wish to return to socialism as it was before Gorbachev to those of Russians who favor staying with the present political and economic course or adopting other reforms. If a socialist ideology has indeed fostered a lack of responsibility for individual health promotion in Russia today, those persons wishing to return to socialism would be less likely to adopt a positive health lifestyle. Our data show that this is indeed the case, as pro-socialist respondents demonstrate less activity toward achieving health than antisocialists--although neither group collectively practices a healthy way of life.     

Characteristics of female perpetrators and victims of dating violence

Although many researchers have explored the topic of dating violence, limited attention has been paid to female perpetrators. Very little research has examined variables that facilitate aggression for females in dating relationships. In an effort to investigate distinct types of violent behavior, the present study separated females who experience dating violence into three categories (bi-directional aggression, perpetrator-only, and victim-only) and compared them with a control group not previously exposed to interpersonal violence. The purpose of this study was to examine variables that discriminate violent females from non-violent females. Variables that were hypothesized to be associated with aggressive behavior and investigated in the current study were interparental aggression, self-esteem, love attitudes, and alcohol use. Three hundred female college students responded to multiple self-report questionnaires examining psychological correlates of dating violence. Females in the bi-directional aggression group were more likely to have witnessed their father abuse their mother and scored significantly lower on a measure of self-esteem than non-violent controls. Females in the control group demonstrated higher scores on a measure of mature and selfless love style than did the victim or perpetrator-only participants. There were no significant group differences regarding general alcohol consumption. Implications for prevention and intervention are presented and discussed.     

Meta-analysis of MFT interventions

This article briefly reviews 20 meta-analyses of marital and family interventions. These meta-analyses support the efficacy of both MFT for distressed couples, and martial and family enrichment. Those effects are slightly reduced at follow-up, but still significant. Differences among kinds of marital and family interventions tend to be small. MFT produce clinically significant results in 40-50% of those treated, but the effects of MFT in clinically representative settings have not been much studied. The article also introduces the concept of meta-analytically supported treatments (MASTs), which are treatments that meet certain criteria for efficacy in meta-analysis, and which remedy certain problems in the empirically supported treatment (EST) literature. The article concludes with recommendations for doing better meta-analyses.