Is Sexual Abuse a Unique Predictor of Sexual Risk Behaviors,Pregnancy, and Motherhood in Adolescence?

This study tested sexual abuse as a unique predictor of subsequent adolescent sexual behaviors, pregnancy, and motherhood when in company with other types of maltreatment (physical abuse, neglect) and alternative behavioral, family, and contextual risk factors in a prospective, longitudinal study of maltreated (n = 275) and comparison (n = 239) nulliparous females aged 14–19 years old assessed annually through 19 years old. Hierarchical regression was used to disentangle risk factors that account for the associations of maltreatment type on risky sexual behaviors at 19 years old, adolescent pregnancy, and adolescent motherhood. Findings indicate that sexual and physical abuse remain significant predictors of risky sexual behaviors, and that sexual abuse remains a significant predictor of adolescent motherhood when alternative explanatory variables are controlled.     

Sources of socialization for interpersonal trust: an exploration of low-income Black adolescents’ experiences

Much of the literature on interpersonal trust is quantitative in nature, using scales developed primarily with White middle-class and upper-class adults. To understand how another racial group of a different socioeconomic background and age views interpersonal trust, we considered the experiences of 22 low-income Black adolescents. The adolescents participated in a relationship education program and were interviewed about their interpersonal trust experiences. Results of a qualitative data analysis revealed that most adolescents defined interpersonal trust based on honesty and fidelity, with a particular emphasis on monogamy in romantic relationships. Adolescents identified direct messages from family members and personal relationship experiences as sources of socialization for interpersonal trust. Although some adolescents reported that the relationship education program enhanced their understanding of and willingness to trust, others maintained that trust can only be learned through personal experiences. Though the adolescents generally trusted family members, they experienced challenges trusting friends and romantic partners. Despite this, adolescents considered interpersonal trust a vital and a necessary part of romantic relationships. We discuss implications of the findings for relationship stability and satisfaction.     

Socializing Children About Family Structure: Perspectives of Lesbian and Gay Adoptive Parents

Despite increasing numbers of lesbian- and gay- (LG-) parent families, little research on LG-adoptive-parent families has examined parental beliefs and perceptions related to discussing their sexual minority status with their children. This study assessed 266 LG adoptive parents (160 lesbian mothers, 106 gay fathers) from the Modern Adoptive Families (MAF) study, a nationwide survey (2012–2013) of adoptive parents' pre- and post-placement experiences. A cultural socialization lens provided the framework for examining LG parenting beliefs and practices. Two measurement scales were developed to examine parents' perceptions and self-efficacy related to socializing their child about being in a sexual-minority-parent family. Results indicate that LG parents endorse the importance of unique socialization practices and generally feel confident engaging in these practices. Parent education, transracial adoption, endorsement of racial socialization, and socialization self-efficacy were positively associated with endorsement of socialization practices. Excellent reliability suggests the 2 scales have the potential of being psychometrically sound instruments with which to measure parental endorsement and related self-efficacy of socialization practices for families headed by sexual minority parents. Findings contribute to a deeper understanding of socialization and communication patterns in LG-headed families, especially those formed through adoption. Research, policy, and practice implications are discussed.     

Comfort with discussions about death,religiosity, and attitudes about end‐of‐life care

In end‐of‐life (EOL) care research, death anxiety and religiosity are often overlooked. Terror management theory (TMT) may provide a useful conceptual model with which to examine how comfort discussing death and religiosity influence attitudes related to EOL care. A telephone‐based survey was conducted among community‐dwelling adults in the Unites States. Via random sampling, with over‐sampling of Hispanics/African Americans, 123 completed survey interviews (response rate = 46%) were analyzed. Respondents were more likely to have better attitudes toward EOL care if they were older or white, religiously active, and comfortable with the subject of death. Religiosity and comfort discussing death were correlated with each other and remained significant predictors of attitudes about EOL care even without demographic covariates. Findings suggest that promoting an open dialogue about mortality may improve attitudes about EOL care and utilization of palliative care services. The study also provides evidence about the utility and applicability of TMT for EOL care.     

Life Balance and Work Addiction Among NCAA Administrators and Coaches

Intercollegiate athletics represent an industry prone to challenges of work addiction and life balance. Work addiction and life balance domains in male and female intercollegiate athletic coaches and administrators (N = 245) were examined using multiple regression analysis. Higher levels of stress/anxiety, sleep disturbance, and career satisfaction and lower levels of quality of relationships and friendships were the strongest predictors of work addiction. Counseling focused on reducing the negative aspects of work addiction, while maintaining job performance, may benefit this population.     

Design of ISD-1: an instrument for social diagnosis in care homes for older persons*

This article describes the design process and main features of an instrument developed for use in the specialist area of intervention in care homes for older persons. The essential aim of ISD-1 (instrument for social diagnosis) is to permit the correct formulation of social diagnoses and to standardise and define the professional language used by social workers. Its content has been organised into 4 dimensions of social diagnosis, divided into 15 sub-dimensions containing 83 diagnostic categories. This work was performed in Spain, in the 24 care homes of the Madrid Social Care Agency of the Community of Madrid, involving the participation of the 40 social workers practising in these centres. ISD-1 is an easily understood and used tool, of potential use for social workers practising in care homes for older persons and capable of being adapted for use in other institutional environments, as well as being capable of adaptation and translation for its application in other countries.     

A TIME-SERIES APPROACH FOR CONSTRUCTING EXPECTATIONS MODELS*

This article presents an efficient way of dealing with adaptive expectations models—a way that makes use of all the information available in the data. The procedure is based on multiple-input transfer functions (MITFs): by calculating lead and lag cross correlations between innovations associated with the variables in the model, it is possible to determine which periods have the greatest effects on the dependent variable. If information about k periods ahead is required, fitted values for the expectation variables are used to generate k-period-ahead forecasts. These in turn can be used in the estimation of the transfer function equation, which not only contains the usual lagged variables but also allows for incorporation of lead-fitted values for the expectation variables. The MITF identification and estimation procedures used are based on the corner method. The method is contrasted with the Almon distributed-lag approach using a model relating stock market prices to interest rates and expected corporate profits.     

AN ANALYSIS OF CAPACITY PLANNING PROCEDURES FOR A MATERIAL REQUIREMENTS PLANNING SYSTEM*

This paper is concerned with planning work-center capacity levels in manufacturing firms that employ a material requirements planning (MRP) system. It presents four procedures for developing work-center capacity plans designed to insure the production of components and assemblies as specified by the MRP plan and the master production schedule (MPS). These procedures (capacity planning using overall factors, capacity bills, resource profiles, and capacity requirements planning) are compared using simulation analysis. The results indicate that the performance of a procedure when measured against the MPS depends on the operating conditions of the manufacturing system. The results also indicate that the choice of a particular procedure often represents a compromise among the benefits of improved MPS performance, the costs of preparing and processing data, and the premium expenses required for more frequent adjustments in work-center capacity levels.     

Exploring Partial Order of European Countries

Partial Order Theory has been recently more and more employed in applied science to overcome the intrinsic disadvantage hidden in aggregation, if a multiple attribute system is available. Despite its numerous positive features, there are many practical cases where the interpretation of the partial order can be rather troublesome. In these cases the analysis of underlying dimensions could be useful to uncover particular data structures. The paper shows a way of addressing the problem with the help of an actual case study, which deals with European opinions on services of general interest. In particular, a partial order of countries is firstly provided and then a method to detect dimensions is discussed and applied. The analysis stems directly from the Partially Order Set (poset) and Lattice theory with particular references to dimension theory and Formal Concept Analysis. The study is eventually able to pinpoint role and relevance of different attributes characterizing EU countries which are used to define the partial order.