Time together,time apart: An analysis of wives' solitary time and shared time with spouses

The time spouses spend together in household work activities, leisure activities, and in eating are analyzed and compared with the time spent alone by wives in these same activities. The purpose of the analysis is to distinguish between two hypotheses: (a) that the time spent by spouses together in the same activity is charged with extra meaning when compared with the time spent by the wife alone in the same activity; and (b) that the time spent by spouses together in the same activity is a perfect substitute for time spent alone in the same activity by the wife. Multivariate probit, OLS and Tobit analyses are conducted with data taken from the 1977–78 NE-113 Time-Use Data for Louisiana, New York, Utah, and Wisconsin. Statistical tests confirm the hypothesis that shared times in the three activities studied are charged with extra meaning when compared with wives' solitary time in the same activities. Solitary times spent by the wife in the three activities are negatively related with family income. Solitary time spent by wives in household work activities and in leisure activities are positively related to husband's price of time. Spouses' shared times in these activities rise and wives' solitary times fall on weekends.Thanks are due to Bob Avery, Barbara Brown, Robin Douthitt, Jenny Gerner, Jutta Joesch, Sally Lloyd, Cathy Zick, Peter Zorn, members of S-206 Time-Use Regional Committee, the graduate research workshop of the Department of Family and Consumer Studies, University of Utah, the seminar participants at Utah State University, and the seminar participants of the Department of Family Economics and Management, University of Missouri for stimulating, cautionary, and corrective discussions pertaining to this paper. Any remaining errors and obscurities are the responsibility of the authors.W. Keith Bryant is Professor, Consumer Economics and Housing, 117D Martha Van Rensselaer Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853. Dr. Bryant received his Ph.D. from Michigan State University. Yan Wang is MacNamara Post-Doctorate Fellow, The World Bank, Washington, DC. She received her Ph.D. from Cornell University.     

Attitudes of street kids toward foster care

Forty-seven kids who frequented drop-in centers in three Western cities were interviewed to determine their attitudes toward statements related to foster care. While the teams indicated that they believed foster parents care about children and want to help them, many did not want to risk foster care. The major reason for remaining on the street is their perceptions that conflict within their family cannot be resolved. These teens have chosen to develop their own family from other street people rather than risk further rejection. The need for early family intervention is stressed.     

Hypermaps: a representation of perceptions in conflicts

An approach to the modelling of conflicts, which is based upon personal construct psychology, is described. Use is made of the idea of cognitive mapping as a way of representing individual perceptions of a situation, and the relationships between the maps held by individuals who are in conflict are expressed by introducing the concept of ‘hypermaps’. The resulting implications for applications of the hypergame approach in practical studies are discussed     

Computing a population budget from sequentially sacrificed, replicated cultures

Summary When a population budget must be obtained from censuses based on replicated, sacrificed cultures, it is difficult to obtain estimates of transition probabilities and of the errors of such estimates, because there is no logical basis for pairing successive census counts. In a study of this nature estimating a population budget of immature stages of the housefly, the problem was solved by a randomization treatment of the original census results obtained at two densities. One hundred randomly generated census matrices over all census times for each density were smoothed to remove the effects of sampling error and a population budget constructed according to defined rules. Transition probabilities computed from the population budget were plotted on triangular coordinate paper and mean probabilities, 95% confidence regions for these means, and 95% equal frequency ellipses computed. All computations and the graphing of the results were carried out on a digital computer. The computer program, available from the authors, is written in FORTRAN IV and could be easily modified for similar studies. Contribution No. 1364 from the Department of Entomology, The University of Kansas. This study has been supported by the Medical Research and Development Command of the Office of the Surgeon General of the Army under contract No. DA-49-007-MD-738, U.S.A. and by a Public Health research career program award (No. 3-K3-GM-22, 021-01S1) from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, U.S.A. to RobertR. Sokal. It was carried out during the tenure of a National Science Foundation predoctoral fellowship by EdwinH. Bryant. The authors appreciate the help of Dr.F.J. Rohlf with computational aspects.     

Abortion: a psychiatric patient's right to choose

1. Competent mentally ill patients should be allowed to terminate pregnancy. 2. It is the responsibility of the staff to provide the patient with a safe, supportive, and respectful environment. 3. Early and frequent staff processing opportunities should be offered to clarify any underlying issues.     

Vocational aspects of life care planning for people with spinal cord injury

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a catastrophic event with profound, long-term consequences in all aspects of an individual's life, including employment. The life care plan (LCP) is a methodology that is used to document the continuum of care needs that an individual with SCI will have across his or her life span. The LCP also highlights the critical stages of development necessary to maximize the person's functional potential and productivity. This article provides a brief overview, with a case study example, of how the LCP can be used in addressing an individual's post-injury employability needs.     

Assessing local capacity for health intervention

Because of their location within the practice realm, participatory, community-based public health coalitions offer many lessons about implementing and sustaining local interventions. This paper presents a case study of capacity assessment at the local level. Capacity evaluation methods are presented, with emphasis on the theoretical framework used to guide the evaluation. The capacity evaluation framework presented herein was theoretically based and designed to generate practical information to facilitate the adoption of a locally tailored youth obesity prevention program, VERB Summer Scorecard (VSS). Using multiple methods, four aspects of community capacity were assessed, including community, knowledge and skills, resources, and power. Within each category, factors that facilitated or impeded program implementation were distinguished. The evaluation protocol was designed to generate information increasing community capacity to sustain a community-based obesity prevention program. Capacity tables were used as a program-planning tool and as a system for sharing implementation and sustainability requirements with potential adopters. This case study also explores how to use capacity assessment results to empower coalitions to serve as catalysts for development of local programs in other communities.     

Anabolic androgenic steroids: use and perceived use in nonathlete college students

OBJECTIVE: The authors investigated the use and perceived use of anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) among nonathlete college students. PARTICIPANTS: The authors surveyed a sample of 485 nonathlete college students at a major metropolitan university. METHODS: They administered a survey on use and perceived use of AAS to the students. RESULTS: Forty-two participants (9%) reported using AAS (37 men, 5 women). Seniors were the most likely to use AAS (36%), and freshman the least likely (7%). Thirty-four percent of nonusers and 41% of users indicated they knew between 1 and 5 AAS users. Of the total sample, 36% perceived that 5% to 10% of nonathlete college students used AAS. Reasons for AAS use were because friends were using (7%), a desire to enhance physical appearance (45%), and a desire to increase physical performance (48%). CONCLUSIONS: These findings may have significant implications in planning strategic preventive educational programs, and health educators should target incoming college freshmen with the intent of dissuading AAS use.