Parental survival data: Some results of the application of Ledermann's model life tables

Summary Ledermann's one- and two-parameter model life tables are used in order to summarize and compare adult mortality estimates derived from parental survival data, and also to link parental survival with child survival data. The Ledermann models provide an alternative to the logit model used by Brass and Hill. Examination of life tables derived from actual child and adult mortality estimates reveals that although the two types of models yield similar overall levels of mortality, they show marked differences in the estimated patterns by sex and age. It has not been possible to disentangle completely how much of this divergence is due to the models themselves and how much to inadequacies in the data available. Finally, we question whether it is always wise to establish a full life table from child and adult mortality estimates when these are based on data which refer to different periods of exposure to the risk of dying, without allowance for possible distortions resulting from mortality change.     

Reducing Refusal Rates for Telephone Interviews

In two experiments, refusal rates to telephone interviews werenot affected by substantial changes in the introductory remarksof the interviewer. A prior letter significantly lowered refusalrates in a third experiment. In all three, interviewer sex hadno effect.     

Multiproblem families: A social-psychological perspective

Summary It is generally conceded that our allied mental health professions have fallen short in our attempts to provide adequate services to those people whose need is most desperate, those individuals and families ambiguously and condescendingly designated multiproblem. It could be said that we, the caregivers, have been unwilling or unable to be good enough mothers to these, our motherless children. In fact, the early, formative experience of the people with whom we are concerned has invariably been marked by gross discontinuities in mothering; the consequent defects in controlling, regulatory psychic structure (ego defects) are most prominently manifested in the chaotic life-style which characterizes these individuals and families. Our task as caregivers, when viewed from this perspective, is clear: we must somehow bring order out of disorder. But, with tragic regularity, disorder prevails; the provider of service succumbs to the same painful feelings of disorganization, bewilderment, frustration, and helplessness with which his client struggles, and, eventually, both give up in despair. What is more, this sense of fragmentation and futility pervades the institutions responsible for provision of services. Client, caregiver, and institution, all are trapped in the same tortuous maze. How, then, are we to extricate ourselves? Certainly not by drafting yet another master plan which promises everything and delivers nothing. Both realistic and humanistic considerations dictate more modest goals: We might not be able to rescue everyone who needs assistance, but we can help a few. And, whatever approach we may adopt, the service we offer can only be effective if it is based upon a sustained and sustaining (in essence, maternal) relationship.Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child     

Understanding changes in Māori incomes and income inequality 1997–2003

This paper examines recent changes in weekly income levels and dispersion for Māori, New Zealand’s indigenous ethnic group. Changes in the Māori income distribution between 1997 and 2003 reflect rapid increases in economic growth and employment rate. A reduced proportion of people had zero or benefit-level incomes and a higher proportion had high incomes. Income inequality declined for working-aged Māori and was stable for employed Māori. The average income gap between Māori and Europeans declined. The increased Māori employment rate during this period was the single most important driver of changes in the Māori income distribution.

Changes in HIV/AIDS knowledge and testing behavior in Africa: how much and for whom?

Demographic and Health Survey data from nine African countries make it clear that HIV/AIDS prevention knowledge has been increasing. Still, in many cases, fewer than half of adult respondents can identify specific prevention behaviors. Knowledge is lowest in rural areas and among women. HIV testing generally remains rare but is highly variable across countries, likely reflecting differences in the supply of testing services. In most cases, schooling and wealth impacts on prevention knowledge have either been stable or have increased; hence, in the majority of contexts, initial disparities in knowledge by education and wealth levels have persisted or widened.