Stress, social support, and psychological and physical wellbeing in secondary school teachers

In order to evaluate the relationship between stress and social support, on the one hand, and indices of psychological and physical health, on the other, questionnaires were administered to 120 secondary school teachers. Full data were retrieved from 88 teachers, a response rate of 73%. Bivariate correlational analysis revealed associations between life stress and job stress and a variety of General Health Questionnaire measures of psychological wellbeing. Job stress was also correlated with self-reported short-term sickness absences from work. Social support measures were not. in the main, predictive of psychological health outcome measures. In contrast, neither stress nor social support measures were related to self-reported physical health problems or long-term sickness absences. It would appear that self-reported stress is largely associated with psychological wellbeing, and is not substantially related to indices of physical wellbeing. The former relationship does not appear to be substantially mediated by social support, and may be reflective of a general plaintive set.     

Minimizing attrition in longitudinal studies of special populations: An integrated management approach

Whilst statistical techniques are available to estimate effects for missing subjects in longitudinal designs, minimizing subject attrition is a major goal in longitudinal research. This may be particularly difficult when attempting to follow individuals who have special characteristics or disabilities. The Colorado Treatment Outcome Study, a longitudinal study of individuals with serious and persistent mental illness (SPMI), developed an integrated management approach that resulted in average re-contact rates of 95% in each follow-up year. This integrated management approach emphasized the partnership of all key parties to the research, including the community, the respondents, the field interviewers, and management. Guided by a set of values that emphasized respect for the respondent, confidentiality and community relationships, procedures were developed that included an information system, office protocols, staff selection, supervision, staff training, and subject location and engagement techniques. While each element is explicated with attention to special populations, it is their coordination and integration that is critical for success.     

Efficient computation of location depth contours by methods of computational geometry

The concept of location depth was introduced as a way to extend the univariate notion of ranking to a bivariate configuration of data points. It has been used successfully for robust estimation, hypothesis testing, and graphical display. The depth contours form a collection of nested polygons, and the center of the deepest contour is called the Tukey median. The only available implemented algorithms for the depth contours and the Tukey median are slow, which limits their usefulness. In this paper we describe an optimal algorithm which computes all bivariate depth contours in O(n ²) time and space, using topological sweep of the dual arrangement of lines. Once these contours are known, the location depth of any point can be computed in O(log² n) time with no additional preprocessing or in O(log n) time after O(n ²) preprocessing. We provide fast implementations of these algorithms to allow their use in everyday statistical practice.     

The expression of mourning in an eight-year-old girl

This is a case of a just-turned eight-year-old girl whose mother was murdered on September 18, 1983. Since the child was already in treatment, the mourning process started immediately and continued until the end of June 1984. The case is distinctive because of the relative ease with which this child was engaged in the process and educated to it. Unconscious feelings readily emerged because they had been so recently repressed. The mourning was accomplished mainly through the process of interpretation of her play and behavior, although at times she would bring things up directly. The focus of therapy remained on the mourning during the entire nine months of treatment.     

Carry‐over in cross‐over trials in bioequivalence: theoretical concerns and empirical evidence

There is now general agreement that pre‐testing for carry‐over in the AB/BA design is harmful and that efficient analysis of this design must proceed on the assumption that carry‐over has not affected the results to any appreciable degree. A general consensus has not been achieved in the case of higher‐order designs. Since particular forms of carry‐over can be estimated on a within‐patient basis and unbiased within‐patient treatment estimators are possible, some statisticians favour pre‐testing and some favour automatic adjustment for carry‐over. We present theoretical arguments that show that, just as in the AB/BA case, the strategy of pre‐testing is biased as a whole and also that the loss in terms of efficiency in adjusting is not negligible. We also present data from two large series of bioequivalence studies to provide empirical evidence that in this context carry‐over is either absent or rare. We conclude that adjusting or testing for carry‐over in bioequivalence studies is at worst harmful and at best pointless, and that this may also apply to other kinds of study. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Disability, gender, and unemployment relationships in the United States from the behavioral risk factor surveillance system

Women with disabilities face simultaneous oppression in employment due to discrimination with regard to disability and gender. This article investigates the potential disparity in participation in employment for women, particularly women with disabilities. We analysed weighted data from disability surveillance programs and the Behavioural Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) on over 47,000 respondents. The disability BRFSS was a telephone survey in 11 states and Washington DC. Logistic regression analyses produced adjusted models of the association between gender and employment. Compared with people without disabilities, there were disparities found for people with disabilities, and women with and without disabilities, with the larger discrepancy for women without disabilities. Additional detail about level of employment is needed to make conclusive statements; however, it is clear that disparities in employment continue to exist for women, regardless of their disability status.     

Exiting TANF: Individual and Local Factors and Their Differential Influence Across Racial Groups*

Objective. We ask whether individual and local factors known to influence reliance on welfare continue to be important under the TANF program, and if such factors differentially affect exit from TANF for African Americans and whites. Methods. We use monthly administrative data on TANF recipients from October 1996 to July 2004 from the Mississippi Department of Human Services. These data are linked to local economic, social, and spatial characteristics to estimate discrete time hazard models of TANF exit. Results. Personal barriers to work (e.g., low education and children) and limited economic and social opportunities in communities reduce the likelihood of leaving TANF. The results show that African‐American exits from TANF are more influenced by human capital and local economic, social, and spatial conditions than are whites' TANF exits. Conclusion. The work‐first initiative under TANF is most viable where individual barriers to work are limited and economic opportunities and community support to become self‐sufficient exist for all people.     

The Routinization of Social Movement Organizations: China as a Deviant Case*

This paper has two purposes: (1) to show how previous work in complex organizations, social movements and political development converges to predict routinization of successful social movement organizations, and (2) to explore the Chinese experiment in organization as a deviant case for the “law” of routinization. First, theories from three substantive areas are shown to predict routinization of social movement organizations. Next, an alternative model of organization, the Maoist model, is presented. Then, recent social history of China is examined to see if the model has been implemented. Lastly, several generalizations about the routinization process are drawn from the Chinese case.