Alcohol use among college students: responses to raising the purchase age

On December 1, 1985, New York State raised its alcohol purchase age from 19 to 21. We used a quasi-experimental research design to explore the changes in alcohol use behaviors and attitudes of undergraduates at a large central New York university before and after this legislation was enacted. The overwhelming majority of this undergraduate population is under 21 years old and is thus affected by the new legislation. A comparison of data from the two survey times revealed that 90% of the undergraduates sampled continued to drink at least occasionally. Our analysis of drinking quantity showed a slight moderation in alcohol consumption overall, with the greatest changes occurring for the heaviest drinkers--men and members of Greek organizations. Even with apparent moderation in student drinking, reported negative consequences such as physical injuries were more common. A change in drinking location to less-controlled environments, such as private rooms and unmonitored parties, is offered as one possible explanation.     

Managing Change in Nonprofit Organizations: Insights from the UK Charity Retail Sector

Moves toward increased professionalism are now an almost taken-for-granted aspect of change across the nonprofit sector both in the United States and in the United Kingdom. This paper uses the case of UK charity retail to explore the impacts of this move to professionalism, on managers at the local level. In doing so it seeks to develop appropriate techniques for managing change both in charity retail and more broadly, in nonprofit organizations per se. The professionalization of charities' trading activities has resulted in a series of changes at the local level; these include the introduction of new forms of staff, changes to policies regarding the sourcing, pricing, and presentation of stock, and an increased emphasis on sales targets, league tables, and incentive schemes designed to motivate managers to increase sales. These policies set at head office level have had significant impact on the day-to-day working experiences of branch managers. This paper explores managers' reactions to these changes and examines the extent to which such policies could be said to be successful. To conclude, recommendations are made as to the most appropriate approaches to professionalizing charity retail operations. These conclusions are broadened to offer insights into appropriate techniques for managing change in nonprofit organizations.     

Alternate Definitions of the Uncovered Set and Their Implications

Different definitions of the uncovered set are commonly, and often interchangeably, used in the literature. If we assume individual preferences are strict over all alternatives, these definitions are equivalent. However, if one or more voters are indifferent between alternatives these definitions may not yield the same uncovered set. This note examines how these definitions differ in a distributive setting, where each voter can be indifferent between any number of alternatives. I show that, defined one way, the uncovered set is equal to the set of Pareto allocations that give over half the voters a strictly positive payoff, while alternate definitions yield an uncovered set that is equal to the entire Pareto set. These results highlight a small error in Epstein (Soc Choice Welf 15, 81–93, 1998) in which the author characterizes the uncovered set for a different definition of covering than claimed.     

Using an alternative evaluation measure for assessing juvenile diversion programs

This paper describes the effectiveness of six juvenile diversion programs in the metropolitan area of Denver, Colorado. Program success was measured by recidivism reduction. However, by using a one-for-one statistical client-baseline matching method and a variable definition of recidivism, we managed to overcome drawbacks that often occur when using recidivism as an outcome indicator. Together, program participants showed a 26% reduction in recidivism rate over that of a matched baseline sample. Although four of the six programs studied accounted for the overall success rate, we explain why two of the programs showed no significant reductions in recidivism rates.     

The Impact of Occupational Sex Segregation on Family Businesses: The Case of American Harness Racing

Previous research on occupational sex segregation agrees that the workplace is not an isolated world but instead influences, and is influenced by, other spheres of social life. Identifying specific social factors both internal and external to the workplace, and how these may interact, can provide deeper insights into how occupational sex segregation is created and maintained. This study focuses on individual family businesses in American harness horse racing, a previously unexamined and highly sex‐segregated industry, and provides insights in how vertical and horizontal sex segregation may develop in family businesses. The findings show how the belief that married couples cannot debate and resolve work‐related conflicts without undue strain on their personal relationship leads some of these couples to organize their work into gendered tasks and workspaces, contributing to the maintenance of vertical segregation in the trainer position. The implications for segregation of other solutions, such as operating separate businesses, or working for another business, are less clear.