Combining Measures of Risk Perceptions and Risk Activities: The Development of the RAPRA and PRISC Indices

The influence of risk perceptions on risk activities of teenagers is well known, but the development of indices, which combine measures of perception as well as behavioral outcomes, has proved problematical. This article discusses the ways in which this methodological problem was tackled within a five-year, multiphase, multimethod study of factors affecting adolescent risk-taking in Tasmania, Australia, which included an intergenerational comparison of adolescents and parents. The development of the Risk Activity by Personal Risk Assessment (RAPRA) Index combines measures of perceived riskiness of 26 activities identified by young people as involving varying degrees of risk, with the degree of participation by each respondent, through a rectangular model of weights. The Personal Risk Score Category (PRISC) Index summarizes and categorizes an individual's risk-taking profile relative to the group's risk values and risk hierarchy established by the RAPRA Index. The article discusses ways in which technical problems involved in combining measures of risk perceptions and risk activities were addressed during index construction, compared with examples in the literature. Some key findings from analysis of two student and parent samples are presented as exemplars of the methods used and the results produced. Findings demonstrate the widespread nature of risk-taking among teenagers, and the similarity of levels of risk-taking between teenager and parental generations. The indices allow for detailed comparison of particular risk-taking activities and reveal differences among teenagers now compared with parents when they were teenagers, and illustrate the dynamic cultural context of risk-taking perceptions and values.     

Contents of Volume 54

Social Indicators Research -     

The New Zealand national survey of problem and pathological gambling

In New Zealand, awareness of gambling-related problems has increased in association with the legalization of new forms of gambling. This paper presents the methods and selected results from a national survey of gambling and problem gambling completed in New Zealand in 1991. While the primary aim of the study was to determine the extent of problem gambling in New Zealand, the study included a second phase intended to assess the validity and reliability of the widely-used South Oaks Gambling Screen as well as to examine other aspects of problematic involvement in gambling. The results of the two-phase study in New Zealand show that problem gamblers in different countries are remarkably similar in demographic terms as well as with regard to other risk factors associated with problematic gambling involvement. The New Zealand study of problem gambling points the way toward important research topics that will require further exploration in the future.This research was funded by the New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs and by the US National Institute of Mental Health (MH-44295).     

Let's be PALS: User‐Driven Organizational Change in Healthcare*

This paper explores user‐driven organizational change in the National Health Service (NHS). The NHS Plan ( Department of Health, 2000 ) created Patient Advice and Liaison Services (PALS) to provide information, solve problems and drive user‐led change. Evidence is drawn from a study of PALS in London acute, primary care, mental health and specialist trusts, drawing on discussion forums, interviews with PALS officers and documentation. From context and role profiles, two conclusions are evident. First, organizational instability, boundary disputes, variable management support, resource limitations, financial insecurity and multi‐site working characterize the context in which PALS operate, and the officer role is characterized by problem diversity, overlap with complaints systems, monitoring problems, relationship building and ‘serial users’. Second, these context and role attributes restrict PALS to ‘repair and maintenance’, ensuring that established systems work correctly. While PALS sit on the bottom rung of a ‘participation ladder’, their contribution is more than tokenistic. However, a processual perspective demonstrates how a fluid, networked, and diversified context isolates PALS structures from management decision‐making, constraining their power base, and inhibiting the promotion of substantive change agendas.     

Working in the risk society: Families perceptions of,and responses to,flexible labour markets and the restructuring of welfare

It is now widely accepted that the risk of unemployment has increased with the growth of flexible working practices in the UK and other European countries. Important questions, however, are raised about the extent to which these risks are understood by individuals and families in what has been termed the 'risk society' and, if perceived, how risks are managed both in terms of responses within the workplace and the family. These questions are central at a time when welfare provision is undergoing restructuring and an increasing emphasis is being placed on the market and individualised responses. This paper explores these issues, drawing on 90 qualitative interviews with members of 50 employed households in England. The study shows that individuals and families make complex assessments of labour market risk which do not necessarily accord with more objective measures and assumptions made at a policy level, and that they are not always willing or able to protect themselves. It concludes that current labour and welfare policies, together, leave many families, particularly those in lower socio-economic groups, vulnerable to the impacts of a flexible labour market, and that these realities need to be better incorporated into the risk society thesis. Aujourd'hui il est generalement admis que les risques du chomage ont augmente avec le developpement des pratiques de l'emploi flexible au Royaume Uni et dans d'autres pays europeens. Cependant d'importantes questions sont posees pour savoir comment ces risques son compris par les individus et les familles dans ce qu'on appelle 'la societe a risque', et lorsqu'ils sont compris, comment sont-ils geres dans le cadre du travail et de la famille. Ces questions sont d'un interet primordial a un moment ou on assiste a la restructuration de l'aide sociale et ou l'accent est mis sur les reponses individuelles et celles du marche. Cet article aborde ces questions a partir de 90 entretiens qualitatifs avec les membres de 50 familles salariees en Angleterre. Les resultats de cette etude montrent que les individus et les familles font des evaluations complexes des risques du marche de l'emploi qui ne correspondent pas toujours aux mesures objectives et aux previsions emises au niveau de la politique generale, et qu'ils ne sont pas toujours disposes ou en mesure d'assurer leur propre protection. En conclusion, il apparait que les politiques actuelles de l'emploi et de la protection sociale laissent de nombreuses familles, notamment celles des groupes socio-economiques defavorises, a la merci des effets du marche de l'emploi flexible et qu'il est necessaire de mieux integrer ces realites dans la these de la societe a risque.     

Selections From Sinet the Social Indicators Network News

Social Indicators Research -     

The Quality of Life Among U.S. States

Categories of Schwartz and Mukherjee are used to select twelve measures with direct or indirect influence on QoL of the 50 States and the D.C. Included are such recognized indicators as health, housing, longevity, a toxic-free environment, crime, etc. From a factor analysis of these data, four factors emerge, identified as Security, Mastery, Harmony and Autonomy. Three partially-independent measures provide verification of the QoL measures: the KIDS COUNT Index, the Southern Regional Council QoL of workers Index and a state-by-state Stress Index. I then test hypotheses relating to QoL: the economic hypothesis that the production of wealth enhances welfare (QoL), a demographic hypotheses concerning migration and urbanization, an hypothesis that religious adherents influence QoL, and psychological hypothesis that a better QoL generates less stress, and others.