Exploring the Traits of Happy People

This paper explores self-reported happiness across afourfold personality framework that synthesizespsychoanalytic and psychometric approaches topersonality structure. Using survey data from arepresentative sample of the U.S. adult population, weidentified four personality types rooted in two basicdimensions – Extraversion/Introversion andTendermindedness/Toughmindedness. On a general level,we found that Extraverts were happier than Introverts,and Tendermindeds were happier than Toughmindeds. More specifically, we identified patterns ofsimilarities and differences across personality typesin the meaning of happiness with respect to goodeating habits, financial insecurity, anxiety andtension, financial optimism, and health concerns.     

Self-care among school-aged children of immigrants

The present study uses data from the National Household Education Surveys Program to examine the unsupervised time (“self-care”) experienced by children in immigrant families. We argue that traditional models of self-care are insufficient for understanding self-care among immigrant families and should be expanded to capture the unique characteristics of this population. Considering the high rates of poverty, limited English proficiency, and unique cultural norms of immigrant parents, children of immigrants may be especially at-risk for self-care. Interestingly, results demonstrate that immigrant parents are not more likely to leave their children unsupervised than native-born parents, however the context surrounding self-care appears to differ, as immigrant children are more likely to be caring for a sibling during self-care. Additionally, we find that within immigrant families, boys and children of parents who speak a non-English language at home are more likely to be in self-care. These findings underscore the importance of examining parental nativity status in research on child care arrangements, as patterns and contextual factors associated with self-care may depend on the immigrant status of the parent.     

Dosage-response analysis for a semi-quantal response derived from an aqueous biological assay

This paper is concerned with the interpretation of semi-quantal or graded responses in biological assay. On the basis of a model by which the various response categories represent contiguous intervals on an underlying quantitative scale reflecting time to death, a method of analysis for semi-quantal data is put forward. The results are illustrated by an aqueous assay designed to assess the toxicity of an effluent. It is confirmed that the proposed method of analysis leads to more precise estimates of the dosage-response relation than the alternative quantal response analysis of each response threshold.     

Mistreatment of Older People in the United Kingdom: Findings from the First National Prevalence Study

There have been few national studies of the prevalence of elder mistreatment (abuse and neglect) in private households. This article provides an overview of the UK National Prevalence Study of Elder Mistreatment that took place in 2006. It addressed 2,111 respondents in four countries who answered a face-to-face survey questionnaire. The achieved sample was weighted to be representative of the UK older population. Of respondents, 2.6% reported mistreatment by family members, close friends, or care workers. The predominant type of reported mistreatment was neglect (1.1%) followed by financial abuse (0.6%), with 0.4% of respondents reporting psychological abuse, 0.4% physical abuse, and 0.2% sexual abuse. Women were significantly more likely to have experienced mistreatment than men, but there were gender differences according to type of abuse and perpetrator characteristics. Divergent patterns were found for neglect, financial, and interpersonal abuse. Further analysis of the data indicated that the likelihood of mistreatment varied with socioeconomic position and health status.     

A Social Comparison Perspective of Treatment Seeking by the Homeless

The homeless will readily list ailments they claim to have, yet they will also claim that such ailments are not a problem and do not warrant treatmente In an attempt to understand this apparent paradox, data from a sampLe of homeless individuals were re-analyzed from a social comparison perspective. It was hypothesized that increased entrenchment in homelessness (increased isolation from “nonhomeless” environments and further involvement in the homeless environment) — operationalized by longer time spent on the street and a greater number of street friends — would lead homeless individuals to alter their perceptions of what constitutes a problem worthy of treatment. Results supported this hypothesis, in direction, and in almost all tests conducted. The involvement of adaptation level theory in such a social comparison process and the implications for intelVention and treatment are discussed.     

Causal effects of foster care: An instrumental-variables approach

This paper describes the use of instrumental-variables (IV) to estimate causal effects of foster care on long- and short-term outcomes. This estimation strategy provides a tool to evaluate what are known as “natural experiments”: settings that mimic randomization usually associated with a controlled trial. The proposed natural experiment involves the effective randomization of investigators to child-protection cases. The results suggest that foster care placement increases like likelihood of delinquency and emergency healthcare episodes. Care must be taken when interpreting IV estimates. The results apply to cases that are part of the natural experiment—“marginal cases” where the investigators may disagree about the placement recommendation.