Racial Differences in Perceptions of Affluence

Abstract

This study examines perceptions held by inner-city blacks and whites of the extent of affluence in America. Blacks generally tend to believe that affluence is more widespread than do whites, although substantial variation in racial differences occurs across sex and age categories. Controls for socio-economic characteristics have little effect on racial differences in perceptions of affluence. The analysis suggests that race has an effect on perceptions of affluence that is independent of the effects of social class.     

Race,Mortgage Lending and Loan Rejections in a U.S. City

Abstract

The negative effect of neighborhood racial composition on mortgage lending has been documented in recent years in several cities, even after controlling for income, condition of housing and related neighborhood and housing characteristics. Lending industry officials maintain that the racial distribution of mortgage lending is the unintended consequence of profit-based lending activities. In contrast, community activists and civil rights groups claim that racial discrimination is the motivating force underlying mortgage lending practices. Data from the 1991 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) for the Kansas City metropolitan area are used to measure trends in mortgage lending and loan rejection ratios by local lenders. This study finds that Kansas City lenders reject minority applicants at higher rates than whites and reject high-income minorities as often as low-income whites. More importantly, results show that high-income African Americans are rejected at a higher rate than low-income whites, indicating that race of loan applicants plays a crucial role in the decision to approve a mortgage loan, even after controlling for income and other factors. Findings from Kansas City and other cities indicate that the low percentage of minority loan applications from some lenders suggests not only meager marketing, but possible pre-screening of minority applicants where they are discouraged from completing an application form.     

Transitions in Caregiving: Evaluating a Person-Centered Approach to Supporting Family Caregivers in the Community

Caregivers of older adults provide a wide range of informal supports and services that enable older adults to continue living in the community. This study describes the use of a multicomponent intervention combined with a person-centered approach to assist caregivers of older adults in the community. Four hundred and eighteen caregiver and care recipient dyads participated in this study and their outcomes related to burden, depression, well-being, and care recipient functional status were evaluated. The findings suggest that adult child and spousal caregivers experience burden differently. Programs designed to support caregivers must tailor services to the unique needs of adult child and spousal caregivers.     

Some comments on a class of simultaneous inference procedures in ancova

Methods for constructing simultaneous confidence intervals for contrasts of treatment effects in analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) models are discussed and compared. A simple procedure is given by which, under a normality assumption made on the covariates, any method appropriate in an analysis of variance (ANOVA) may be applied to a corresponding ANCOVA by means of a simple adjustment of the required critical values. Some properties of this procedure are noted.     

Using Audio Computer-Assisted Self-Interviewing and Interactive Voice Response to Measure Elder Mistreatment in Older Adults: Feasibility and Effects on Prevalence Estimates

Demographic trends indicate an aging population, highlighting the importance of collecting valid survey data from older adults. One potential issue when surveying older adults is use of technology to collect data on sensitive topics. Survey technologies like A-CASI and IVR have not been used with older adults to measure elder mistreatment. We surveyed 903 adults age 60 and older in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania (U.S.) with random assignment to one of four survey modes: (1) CAPI, (2) A-CASI, (3) CATI; and (4) IVR. We assessed financial, psychological, and physical mistreatment, and examined feasibility of A-CASI and IVR, and effects on prevalence estimates relative to CAPI and CATI. Approximately 83% of elders randomized to A-CASI/IVR used each technology, although 28% of respondents in the A-CASI condition refused to use headphones and read the questions instead. A-CASI produced higher six month prevalence rates of financial and psychological mistreatment than CAPI. IVR produced higher six month prevalence rates of psychological mistreatment than CATI. We conclude that, while IVR may be useful, A-CASI offers a more promising approach to the measurement of elder mistreatment.     

What Do We Mean by Performativity in Organizational and Management Theory? The Uses and Abuses of Performativity

John Austin introduced the formulation ‘performative utterance’ in his 1962 book How to Do Things with Words. This term and the related concept of performativity have subsequently been interpreted in numerous ways by social scientists and philosophers such as Lyotard, Butler, Callon and Barad, leading to the coexistence of several foundational perspectives on performativity. This paper reviews and evaluates critically how organization and management theory (OMT) scholars have used these perspectives, and how the power of performativity has, or has not, stimulated new theory‐building. In performing a historical and critical review of performativity in OMT, the authors’ analysis reveals the uses, abuses and under‐uses of the concept by OMT scholars. It also reveals the lack of both organizational conceptualizations of performativity and analysis of how performativity is organized. Ultimately, the authors’ aim is to provoke a ‘performative turn’ in OMT by unleashing the power of the performativity concept to generate new and stronger organizational theories.     

The sting of death in American society

A collective interest in death and dying has progressively developed in American society since the 1960s. Among the factors associated with it are demographic shifts; medical, scientific, and technological advances; changes in the statuses, roles, and outlook of medical professionals, patients, and women; and the affirmation and broadening of individual rights. Life-and-death issues have moved increasingly from private to public spheres of the society and are appearing more frequently in the courts, the media, and the arts. They are also principal foci of several social movements. This pervasive preoccupation with death seems related to deep cultural changes occurring in our society and in its world view.     

A cautionary case study of approaches to the treatment of missing data

This article presents findings from a case study of different approaches to the treatment of missing data. Simulations based on data from the Los Angeles Mammography Promotion in Churches Program (LAMP) led the authors to the following cautionary conclusions about the treatment of missing data: (1) Automated selection of the imputation model in the use of full Bayesian multiple imputation can lead to unexpected bias in coefficients of substantive models. (2) Under conditions that occur in actual data, casewise deletion can perform less well than we were led to expect by the existing literature. (3) Relatively unsophisticated imputations, such as mean imputation and conditional mean imputation, performed better than the technical literature led us to expect. (4) To underscore points (1), (2), and (3), the article concludes that imputation models are substantive models, and require the same caution with respect to specificity and calculability. The research reported here was partially supported by National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, R01 CA65879 (SAF). We thank Nicholas Wolfinger, Naihua Duan, John Adams, John Fox, and the anonymous referees for their thoughtful comments on earlier drafts. The responsibility for any remaining errors is ours alone. Benjamin Stein was exceptionally helpful in orchestrating the simulations at the labs of UCLA Social Science Computing. Michael Mitchell of the UCLA Academic Technology Services Statistical Consulting Group artfully created Fig. 1 using the Stata graphics language; we are most grateful.