House-sharing

Eighty-five older homeowners living in Los Angeles County were interviewed to assess their interest in a house-sharing arrangement as a means of acquiring companionship. Social exchange theory is used to conceptualize house-sharing as a social context which is conducive to intimacy. The results are interpreted with reference to the social isolation and friendship network literature in social gerontology.     

A Unified Approach for Calculating Core Melt Frequency Caused by Internal and External Initiating Events

A unified approach for calculating the core melt frequency of a specific reactor caused by both internal and external accident initiators is demonstrated. Two classes of internal initiators are examined: transients, of which turbine trip is the chosen example, and loss-of-coolant events of various sizes. The concepts of hazard and fragility analysis first proposed for seismic risk analysis are linked to the frequencies of internal initiating events, and to the plant response as a function of the event intensity. Uncertainties are propagated using discrete probability distribution (DPD) arithmetic. Advantages of this approach include mathematical and conceptual consistency, and an improved uncertainty analysis, which are important considerations if risk studies are to be utilized in decision-making based on quantitative safety goals.     

Rural versus urban residence as an influence on grandparent caregivers’ needs for service

The present study explored the impact of rural (n = 26) versus urban (n = 49) environments on perceived needs for services among grandparent caregivers, wherein persons participated in focus groups targeting their needs and concerns and/or completed a mailed survey. While findings suggested substantial similarity across rural and urban persons in unmet needs, areas of difficulty, and service barriers, rural grandparents who reported their health to be fair or poor reported the greatest unmet needs and experienced the widest array of problem areas, while the opposite was true for urban grandparent caregivers. With few exceptions, sociodemographic factors failed to predict unmet needs, array of problem areas, and barriers. The practice and policy implications of these findings are discussed.     

Intellectual ability and reactions to pornography

Two studies examined the relation between intelligence and men's sexual attitudes and interpersonal behavior with a woman after viewing pornography. Undergraduate men were assessed for IQ, viewed one of several films, then were assessed on various dependent measures, including interpersonal behavior with a female confederate. Lower IQ men were more sexually suggestive to the woman after viewing a sexually violent film than after viewing an nonviolent erotic film; higher IQ men did not differ in suggestiveness as a function of sexual film condition. In Study 2, lower IQ men were also physically closer to the woman after viewing a violent sexual film than after viewing a nonviolent erotic film; higher IQ men were less variable in proximity as a function of film condition. Results are discussed in relation to research suggesting that intelligence moderates influenceability, and to sex education programs that help individuals critically evaluate antisocial content in the sexual media.     

Reports of past conferences

Since the advent of the People's Republic, the school has served as a metonym for the city in China, both in the public imagination and in state policy. This article explores how two different ideologies (socialist and post‐socialist) were manifested in two different visual images of the city and school, which in turn shaped the urban institutions and landscapes. In the socialist era, party‐state propaganda offered an image of a model society which was predominantly rural, and where formal education had been marginalized by alternative forms of learning. Cities and schools were understood to be dangerous repositories of bourgeois capitalism which must be scoured of their elitist and decadent characteristics through the importation of rural practices and values. In the post‐socialist era, the city is now envisioned as the centre of modernity and progress, and schools are seen as the path to development and ‘quality’ (suzhi). The rural is pathologized as backward. This new ideology has reshaped the Chinese urban educational landscape from one of enforced egalitarianism to one characterized by inequality and exclusion.     

Development of a Level 1 Geriatric Outpatient Social Work Screen in a Veterans Primary Care Clinic

Patient Aligned Care Teams (PACT) provide primary care to veterans. We describe our experience in a PACT (average age 66, 98% men, 8 medications, 16% yearly hospitalization rate) using a nurse-administered screen to identify patients in need of intervention by a Masters-level Social Worker. Our screening results—98% Positive predictive value (included social work concerns) and 73% negative predictive value (excluded social work concerns)—suggest that the nurse accurately identified patients. Another 15% of patients were identified by the social worker. Similar screens used in interprofessional clinics could help target patients in need of further social work care.