REVIEWS

Brody, L. (1999). Gender, emotion, and the family .
Fowers, B. J. (2000). Beyond the myth of marital happiness: How embracing the virtues of loyalty, generosity, justice, and courage can strengthen your relatoinship .
Jones, E., & Asen, E. (2000). Systemic couple therapy and depression .
Joyce, P. (2001). Couples: Real people, real issues .
Woody, R. H. (2000). Child custody: Practice standards, ethical issues, & legal safeguards for mental health professionals .     

THE DOGIT ORDERED GENERALIZED EXTREME VALUE MODEL

This paper introduces the Dogit ordered generalized extreme value (DOGEV) model, for handling discrete variables that are ordered and heterogeneous. In particular, the DOGEV model can be applied to questionnaire responses on questions allowing a discrete set of ordered possible responses, where there is a preference for particular responses and possibly multiple modes in the data. The DOGEV model combines a model for choice set generation with the ordered generalized extreme value model. The paper illustrates the model using two empirical examples: a model of inflationary expectations and a model for students' evaluations of teaching.     

Rural Housing Adequacy and Civic Structure

One persistent problem that many small rural towns face is housing adequacy, which encompasses interior and exterior structural conditions; assessments of heating, cooling, and sanitation systems; and residence size relative to space needs. The creation and reproduction of vibrant rural communities is grounded in the capacity of citizens to solve local housing problems. We posit that towns with strong norms of mutuality, high information flows, and inclusive behaviors have a civic structure that produces the capacity to frame and resolve housing concerns. We find that perceptions of civic structure are a significant factor in explaining the variation in rural housing adequacy, net of income, age, and tenure. This implies that the social and political environment is an important influence on the quality of housing stock found in rural places.     

X–children and the militarisation of everyday life: comparative comments on the politics of youth, victimage and violence in transitional societies

Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Northern Ireland and South Africa, this paper contends that the so–called ‘children of violence’ are perceived in terms of the serious cultural contradictions of the adult world and rarely in their own terms. Does the concept and norm of childhood give us permission to give violence a defining site of origination? Does childhood have a discursive function similar to penal incarceration as a limit–category of social abuse or caretaking by which society as a whole can be measured? If so, it is not surprising that children and youth are not merely conceptualised as victims of the pathological, but they become pathogenic as well. They are not only a vulnerable target of violence and aggression, but are reciprocally positioned: as authors of violence bearing the unmediated social horrors of the past; as suspect actors in the present; and as potential aggressors in the future. If childhood is good to think about these days, what does it really allow us to think about?     

Bayesian methods for analysing ringing data

A major recent development in statistics has been the use of fast computational methods of Markov chain Monte Carlo. These procedures allow Bayesian methods to be used in quite complex modelling situations. In this paper, we shall use a range of real data examples involving lapwings, shags, teal, dippers, and herring gulls, to illustrate the power and range of Bayesian techniques. The topics include: prior sensitivity; the use of reversible-jump MCMC for constructing model probabilities and comparing models, with particular reference to models with random effects; model-averaging; and the construction of Bayesian measures of goodness-of-fit. Throughout, there will be discussion of the practical aspects of the work - for instance explaining when and when not to use the BUGS package.     

Working parents with young children: cross-national comparisons of policies and programmes in three countries

Multiple global trends are putting pressure on governments to develop policies and programmes that meet the needs of families with children aged 0–3. This cross-national analysis focuses on policies and programmes of parental leave and childcare in the United States, Sweden and Japan. Cross-national studies of early childhood education and care are reviewed. National profiles are provided of demographic, economic, political and socio-cultural characteristics and of parental leave and childcare policies and programmes. Policies and programmes are compared in relation to equity of coverage and support of basic parental childrearing and child-protection responsibilities. Issues raised highlight the need for unified programmes and policies, and continuing global dialogue regarding the needs of this population.     

The Developmental Course of Habituation in Infancy and Preschool Outcome

A longitudinal sample of 226 infants were tested monthly on habituation and novelty preference tasks, augmented with simultaneous heart rate recording from 3 to 9 months of age. Infants were then administered the Bayley Scales of Infant Development II (BSID) and MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory (MCDI) at 12, 18, and 24 months. Prior findings regarding the decline in look duration with age were replicated. Age‐based factors were extracted from the monthly assessments, an early attention factor from 3 to 6 months and a late attention factor from 7 to 9 months. A novelty preference factor, which grouped recognition performance at 4 and 6 months of age, was also derived. The late attention factor correlated negatively with a factor score derived from the BSID mental index, and the novelty preference aggregate was correlated positively with a factor score derived from the MCDI production scores. Two clusters of infants were derived based on the developmental course of change from the early attention to late attention look duration aggregates: One cluster (n= 150) decreased strongly, and another (n= 50) increased. Infants belonging to these clusters subsequently differed on both the BSID and MCDI outcomes, with the former cluster showing distinct advantages that increased as the outcome assessments progressed from 12 to 24 months of age. This finding was bolstered by subsequent analyses of data from infants who completed all tests run from 3 to 9 months. The results of this study suggest that the developmental course of attention during infancy is an important clue to cognitive and language outcomes in early childhood.     

Family therapist comfort with and willingness to discuss client sexuality

Limited empirical information exists on whether or not marriage and family therapists are having sexuality-related discussions with their clients. When helping professionals ignore client sexuality, the potential for unintended negative outcomes increases. The researchers surveyed 175 clinical members of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy to assess how their clinical training and education, their perceived sexual knowledge, and their comfort with sexual material influenced their willingness to engage in sexuality-related discussions with their clients. The results indicate that sexuality education and supervision experiences are the cornerstone for a therapist's base level of comfort. It is through sexuality education and supervision that sex knowledge is acquired and comfort levels are increased. Once comfort with sexual discussions increases, then therapists are more likely to engage in sexuality discussions with their clients.