Need-service matching in substance abuse treatment: Racial/ethnic differences

This study examines the impact of ancillary health and social services matched to client needs in substance abuse treatment for African Americans, Latinos and Whites. The study uses data collected from 1992 to 1997 for the National Treatment Improvement Evaluation Study, a prospective cohort study of substance abuse treatment programs and their clients. The analytic sample consists of 3142 clients (1812 African Americans, 486 Latinos, 844 Whites) from 59 treatment facilities. Results show that racial/ethnic minorities are underserved compared to Whites in the substance abuse service system. Different racial/ethnic groups come into treatment with distinct needs and receive distinct services. Although groups respond differentially to service types, substance abuse counseling and matching services to needs is an effective strategy both for retaining clients in treatment and for reducing post-treatment substance use for African Americans and Whites. Receipt of access services was related to reduced post-treatment substance use for Latinos. Study findings are relevant to planning special services for African Americans and Latinos.     

Editors' Introduction

Population Research and Policy Review -     

Social Competence in Preschool Children: Replication of Results and Clarification of a Hierarchical Measurement Model

This study tested assumptions and conclusions reached in an earlier confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) study of the social competence (SC) construct for preschool children. Two samples (total N = 408; a new Portuguese sample and one from US samples that had participated in the original study) contributed data. Seven SC indicators were tested for mean differences across age, sex, and sample. Significant sex differences were found for peer acceptance (favoring girls) and for initiating affectively neutral interactions (boys had higher rates), and the sex by sample interaction also was significant for initiating interactions (i.e., effect significant only in the Portuguese sample). In CFAs, the hypothesized structure of SC fits the data and was invariant across sample and age within sample in both measurement and structural tests. The model was invariant at the measurement level for sex within sample tests, but not at the structural level. The results replicate and extend understandings of SC reported in the original study.     

Effects of a Solution-Focused Program on the Reduction of Aggressiveness and the Improvement of Social Readjustment for Korean Youth Probationers

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this investigation was to explore appropriate intervention methods for helping Korean youth probationers reduce their aggressiveness and increase their social adjustment. This study examined the effectiveness of solution-focused group treatment with Korean youth probationers using a pre- and post-test control group design. The researcher randomly assigned the consented 40 participants either to an experimental group that received the solution-focused session or to a control group that took individual supportive sessions on a needed basis. The pre- and post-test scores of each group were compared using the Aggressiveness and Social Readjustment Questionnaire to confirm the levels of statistical significance between the two groups. Results indicate that solution-focused group treatment was followed by positive changes with the participants' aggressiveness and social adjustment problems. This study also suggests that a solution-focused program is an appropriate short-term intervention for Korean probation youth.     

A note on nonlinear regression for the autoregressive moving average with non-hd errors

Estimation by nonlinear regression of the parameters for the stationary and invertible autoregressive moving average (ARMA) model with mixing or martingale difference errors is considered. Simple proofs of consistency and asymptotic normality for the nonlinear least squares estimator are given by exploiting results from nonlinear estimation theory and mixing and mixingale theory.     

Does rapid economic growth improve the human lot? Some empirical evidence

Politicians and decision-makers in both developed and developing countries have sought to maximize economic growth on the basis of the belief that this leads to advances in the quality of life. This paper seeks to test whether this belief is well-founded. An application of the Diffusion Index to time-series data collected from a rapidly growing, low income country demonstrates that while higher national income makes for greater welfare the rate of welfare enhancement is almost independent of the rate of national income growth. On the basis of these findings, it is argued that the Gross National Product by itself may not be used as a reliable measure of human welfare. Finally, this paper suggests that in order to provide the maximum quality of life for the members of a given society, its national policy should be based on a much broader conception of welfare than is currently implied by the idea of GNP growthmanship.     

Stationary bootstrapping for panel cointegration tests under cross-sectional dependence

Stationary bootstrapping is applied to panel cointegration tests which are based on the ordinary least-squares estimator and the seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) estimator of the residual unit root. Large sample validity of stationary bootstrapping is established. A finite sample experiment reveals that size performances of the bootstrap tests are much less sensitive to cross-sectional correlation than those of existing tests and a test based on the SUR estimator has substantially better power than existing tests.     

Colonial legacy of ethno-racial inequality in Japan

This essay challenges anti-historicist accounts that sever the link between the colonial past and present, replacing them with a more historically nuanced understanding of Japan’s immigration policies and their relation to ethno-racial inequality. Contrary to the dominant view that transnational immigration is new to Japan, this article shows that Japan already had a history of immigration in the early twentieth century, and this history generated a lasting impact on postwar immigration policies and their integration. While recognizing the impact of structural and individual factors, this essay underscores a path-dependent approach that demonstrates how colonial exclusion led to the formation of a durable structure of inequality against low skilled labor immigrants, and thus how such a colonial legacy has continued to limit the life chances and integration of subsequent immigrants in Japan since the 1980s.