The epistemology of “addictive disease”: Gambling as predicament

This research examines the relative perception of gambling as a disease in the context of drug use/abuse, and other excessive behavior patterns, for example, workaholism. A sample of 144 adults provided subjective perceptions of disease status of 80 representative items drawn from the literature. A subset of these items represented the class of addictive diseases. These items were subjected to principal components analysis to reveal the presence of clusters or constellations of perceptually similar entities. Gambling was perceived to beless of a predicament (i.e., a potentially dangerous situation; Shaffer, 1987) than substance abuse or substance dependence, particularly if the substance was illicit, such as cocaine or heroin. Gambling was not perceived to be characterized by the underlying construct of dependence, a dimension associated with the abuse of illicit substances. Another analysis revealed that when gambling and substance abuse and dependence were perceived against ause of substances background, licit and illicit, gambling was more likely perceived as a permissible activity than a predicament which might lead to abuse and/or dependence. This same result characterizes the perceptions of alcohol use, cocaine use, chemical use, and heroin use. While individuals may recognize the potential danger of drug abuse, illicit drug use per se is not perceived to lead to drug abuse, dependence, or addiction as often portrayed by the government and media. Against a background of excessive behaviors, for example, workaholism, gambling emerged as more similar to these behaviors than abuse or use. The implications of these findings are discussed. The clinical implications of an epistemology of addictive disease were also discussed.Preparation of this article was supported, in part, by a contract (#2322905893) from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.Special thanks are extended to Thomas Cummings, Sharon Stein and Norman Zinberg for their helpful comments on earlier drafts of this article.     

Erratum

Our research note on "Racial Attitudes, Educational Level, anda Personality Measure" (POQ, 40:108-114) inadvertently omitteda reference to Campbell, et al., The American Voter (I960).This study also reports higher relationships between an authoritarianismscale and hostility toward minorities among better educatedrespondents, with different measures and without detailed figures.Our recent article can be viewed in part as a replication andextension of those earlier findings.     

Uncertainty about Probability: A Decision Analysis Perspective

The issue of how to think about "uncertainty about probability" is framed and analyzed from the viewpoint of a decision analyst. The failure of nuclear power plants is used as an example. The key idea is to think of probability as describing a state of information on an uncertain event, and to pose the issue of uncertainty in this quantity as uncertainty about a number that would be definitive: it has the property that you would assign it as the probability if you knew it. Logical consistency requires that the probability to assign to a single occurrence in the absence of further information be the mean of the distribution of this definitive number, not the median as is sometimes suggested. Any decision that must be made without the benefit of further information must also be made using the mean of the definitive number's distribution. With this formulation, we find further that the probability of r occurrences in n exchangeable trials will depend on the first n moments of the definitive number's distribution. In making decisions, the expected value of clairvoyance on the occurrence of the event must be at least as great as that on the definitive number. If one of the events in question occurs, then the increase in probability of another such event is readily computed. This means, in terms of coin tossing, that unless one is absolutely sure of the fairness of a coin, seeing a head must increase the probability of heads, in distinction to usual thought. A numerical example for nuclear power shows that the failure of one plant of a group with a low probability of failure can significantly increase the probability that must be assigned to failure of a second plant in the group.     

Late‐Life Migration,Work Status,and Survival: The Case of Older Immigrants from the Former Soviet Union in Israel

This analysis examined mortality among late‐life Soviet Jewish immigrants in Israel, and the contribution of post‐migration work status to their survival. The study linked 1997 survey data to mortality records, seven years hence. The results revealed that mortality was associated with older age, male gender, morbidity, and having less resourceful social networks. More importantly, after controlling for these background variables work status remained a significant correlate. Late‐life immigrants who had never worked in the host country had a significantly greater risk of death than their immigrant counterparts who had ever worked (or were still working).     

2007 North Central Sociological Association Presidential Address: Teaching and Learning and the Culture of the Regional Association in American Sociology

Abstract

In this essay, I examine the role of teaching and learning in the culture of the regional association in American sociology. I analyze the programs of (1) the 2007 joint meeting of the North Central Sociological Association (NCSA) and the Midwest Sociological Society (MSS); (2) the 2007 annual meeting preliminary programs of the Eastern Sociological Society (ESS), the Pacific Sociological Association (PSA), and the Southern Sociological Society (SSS) along with the 2006 annual meeting programs of the MSS and NCSA, as well as the American Sociological Association (ASA); and (3) the 1991 NCSA and 1992 ASA annual meeting programs. I identify program trends with regard to teaching, professional development, undergraduate students, graduate students, and research on higher education. I conclude by identifying regional association annual meeting best practices regarding each of these areas.     

Evaluating the Applicability of the Miles and Snow Typology in a Regulated Public Utility Environment

This paper examines and evaluates the applicability of the Miles and Snow organizational strategy, structure and process model to the electricity distribution and supply industry of England and Wales (ESI), and specifically the regional electricity companies (RECs). In the past such generic strategy models have principally been applied to industries that conform to the traditional free-market paradigm, and doubt has been cast upon their applicability in non-traditional environments. This paper argues in contrast that generic strategies are of considerable value in the regulated industries, especially those developing new strategies to address major change, such as the approach of full competition. As a feature of this process, the paper also examines some of the differences and similarities between the ESI and the traditional free-market paradigm. However, having argued for the use of such strategies, it is necessary to make various amendments to enhance the applicability of the model. These amendments and the characteristics of new generic strategies are described.     

Notes on Personal Feedback in Sensitivity Training

Over the last 25 years the sensitivity training movement has steadily expanded. Growing out of the behavioral sciences, selected interrelated concepts underlie its development and distinguish it sharply from group therapy. The central role of feedback is carefully defined and described and its impact upon individual members as well as upon the evolving group culture are explicated in detail.     

Infant-Mother Attachment at One Year Predicts Children's Understanding of Mixed Emotions at Six Years

Data from the six-year follow up of a longitudinal study investigating intergenerational patterns of attachment and the effects of early relationships upon subsequent social, emotional and cognitive development are presented. Around the time of their sixth birthday, 63 children participated in an affect understanding task, involving cartoon diagrams depicting social and emotional dilemmas. As predicted, performance on this task, assessed in terms of mixed-emotion understanding, was predicted by security of the infant-mother attachment relationship (as assessed in the Strange Situation at one-year) and security or autonomy in the mother's representations of, and reflections upon, her attachment history (as assessed with the Adult Attachment Interview of AAI–during pregnancy) prior to the child's birth. Regression analyses suggested that the infant-mother attachment data significantly enhanced the prediction of an advanced understanding of mixed emotions at six-years, even after controlling for variations in the children's age at time of testing, as well as child and parent verbal skills. The inclusion of earlier assessments of the child-father Strange Situation assessment (at 18-months) did not enhance the model; nor did the attachment status of the mothers or fathers as observed in their prenatal AAIs. Discussion concerns the contributions of early attachment processes, including family conflict, to the ability to verbally express an understanding of mixed emotions in a task depicting hypothetical social and emotional dilemmas.