The selective adaptation of the alcoholics anonymous program by Gamblers Anonymous

This paper is largely based on a year long observation study of Gamblers Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous meetings in northern California. The paper argues, contrary to popular assumption, that Gamblers Anonymous is significantly different from Alcoholics Anonymous. Differences, in members' consciousness for example, are discussed. The paper contends that although there is some12 step consciousness in G.A., the dominant consciousness ispage 17 consciousness. The significant differences are attributed to the selective adaptation of the Alcoholics Anonymous program. Several consequences of these differences, such as the central role of a language of the self in A.A. and not in G.A., are highlighted.This research was supported by NIAAA post-doctoral grant, 2 T32 AA07240-11, at the Alcohol Research Group, Berkeley, California. I would like to thank everyone at ARG for the wonderfully supportive and intellectually stimulating atmosphere at ARG. I would like to thank especially Mary Phillips, Ron Roizen, Kim Bloomfield, Robin Room, Mike Hilton, Laura Schmidt, John Rumbarger and David Newmark for listening patiently to the unfolding story. I would also like to thank Rachel Volberg and Richard Rosenthal, M.D. for comments on an earlier draft. Comments from the anonymous reviewers and the editor ofJournal of Gambling Studies were also quite useful. Most of all, though, I would like to thank the anonymous members of A.A. and G.A. I, however, take responsibility for the arguments advanced in the paper. This paper is a revision of one presented at theEighth International Conference on Risk and Gambling in London, England, August, 1990.     

An analysis of the type I error in the one sample Student t-test

In the one-sample Student t-test, the occurrence of a type-I error is dependent on the estimates of the mean and standard deviation for a fixed sample size, n. The statistic can achieve significance either by the sample mean being too different from the hypothesized mean or by the sample standard deviation being too small. The critical region is partitioned to determine the characteristics of samples in the critical region, assuming the null hypothesis is true. As might be conjectured from the use of the t-statistic, mis-estimation of the mean is shown to be the predominant characteristic of samples in the critical region for sample sizes larger than 20 and significance level greater than 0.01. Underestimation of the variance, unless accompanied by a misestimation of the mean, is a far less frequent characteristic of critical region samples.     

Making the hidden seen: A narrative analysis of the experiences of Assumption of Care at birth

Background

Being involved in any child protection system is complex and multifaceted and none more so than in non-voluntary Assumption of Care which occurs in New South Wales when, for child protection concerns, the Department of Family and Community Services removes a newborn baby from her/his mother.