BJ Spitler: geriatric care management pioneer

The late BJ Curry Spitler pioneered a new geriatric care management business model that combined care management with home health services and emphasized high levels of training and professionalism for all members of the caregiving team. After working with BJ to write a marketing plan emphasizing quality, I learned to appreciate what she did when my mother needed "assisted living at home" services from the firm. Thanks to BJ Curry Spitler and her vision of helping seniors age in place, more elders are able to remain independent in their own homes with dignity and safety, and peace of mind for their families.     

Power motivation, illness, coping strategies and psychological stress in police trainees

Research suggests that there are substantial differences in the ways in which people cope with strcss, and that certain coping strategies buffer the degree of psychological and physical illness resulting from stress. Furthermore, personality, the situational context and subjective appraisal of the situation are believed to mediate coping behaviour and its effectiveness. The present investigation reports the results of two studies of the relationship between coping behaviour and the personality disposition need for power, taking into account the environment and the subject's appraisal of the situation. Highly power-motivated individuals were hypothesized to utilize emotion-focused coping strategies more than problem-focused coping strategies, to find the training environment stressful and anxietyprovoking, and to report more illness, than low power-motivated individuals. A 19-wcck policc academy training programme was used to measure these relationships in 34 police trainees. Thc results did not support all hypotheses. Findings are discussed with reference to sample characteristics, training intensity, and the empirical work in this area.     

Dirty Birds,Filthy Immigrants,and the English Sparrow War: Metaphorical Linkage in Constructing Social Problems

The role of metaphor in the construction of social problems has often been neglected. Yet we believe that the use of metaphorical linkage can help explain how social problems become defined. To explore the role of metaphorical linkage, we examine a controversy that shook the American ornithological world of the late 19th century: The Great English Sparrow War. English sparrows were originally imported to the major American cities of the East, in the early 1850s, to control the infestation of trees by dropworms. These birds adapted successfully, and by the mid-1870s they began to be perceived as a menace to the American ecosystem. As a consequence, a vigorous debate began as to their usefulness or harmfulness, which often exceeded the bounds of scientific discourse. We argue that this controversy over the English sparrow was linked to the controversy over “the new immigration.” A post-bellum America faced the task of rebuilding its moral boundaries after the disruption of the Civil War and in the face of millions of immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe and the Orient. The opponents of the English sparrow drew their imagery from the nativism (anti-foreignism) of the day. They defined the bird as: (1) a foreigner, (2) that competes unfairly with native birds, (3) that has an immoral character, and (4) that needs to be eliminated from the American community of birds. Examining the metaphorical linkages among public concerns of the same period, we suggest, is a fruitful way of examining social problems.     

Perceived risk associated with apparel purchasing in discount stores

Consumer discount store patronage preferences for apparel are investigated using the concept of perceived risk. Apparel items are assigned a type and level of risk: low social, low economic; high social, low economic; and high social, high economic. Females (N=222) responding to a mail survey rate their willingness to purchase each item in a discount store on a scale ofprefer to buy, may buy, ornever buy. Results suggest that consumer preference for purchasing in discount stores declines more sharply when economic risk increases than when social risk increases.Teresa A. Summers is Associate Professor of the School of Human Ecology, Textiles, Apparel Design and Merchandising at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803. She received her Ph.D. from Texas Woman's University. Her research interest includes rural/urban consumer responses to changes in the marketplace.Frances C. Lawrence is Professor of the School of Human Ecology, Family, Child, and Consumer Sciences at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803. She received her Ph.D. from Florida State University. Her research interests include family financial decision-making and family time use.Janice L. Haynes is Assistant Professor of the School of Human Ecology, Textiles, Apparel Design and Merchandising at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803. She received her Ph.D. from Texas Woman's University. Her research interest includes retail patronage of specialized consumer market segments.Patricia J. Wozniak is Associate Professor of the Department of Experimental Statistics at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Her research interests include survey methodology and rural families.     

Teachers' Training Needs in the Area of Child Abuse and Protection

SUMMARY: In issue 5(2), Robert Webster outlined the issues in school-based child sexual abuse prevention. He argued that teachers were not being given the training they needed and wanted. This paper reports on a survey in one county of England, and shows the lack of training in child sexual abuse matters to be consistent with Robert Webster's experience. The authors go on to outline the types of training demanded by the vast majority of teachers.     

Family structure,family organization,and quality of family life

This study examines how family organization is associated with the quality of family life for parents in first marriages, remarriages with biological children, and several types of stepfamilies. Data are drawn from the 1987–1988 National Survey of Families and Households; only married couples in which both spouses participated in the survey and who had children under age 19 in the household are considered (N=3,120). Results indicate that respondents in different family structures differ in the perceived quality of parent-child relationships, that differences in family structure are not related to differences in family organization, and that some aspects of family organization are related to marital quality and the quality of parent-chil relationships. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicate that family structure and family organization are independently related to the quality of family life. This research was supported by National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Grant R15 HD28198-01. The National Survey of Families and Households was funded by a grant (HD21009) from the Center for Population Research of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The survey was designed and carried out at the Center for Demography and Ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison under the direction of Larry Bumpass and James Sweet. The fieldwork was done by the Institute for Survey Research at Temple University. A previous version of this article was presented at the annual meeting of the National Council on Family Relations, Orlando, November 1992. Her research interests include the work/family interface and family policy. She received her Ph.D. from Wayne State University. His research interests include the effects of divorce and remarriage on parents and children. He received his Ph.D. from Ohio State University. Her research interests include adolescents and adoption. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Delaware.     

INTERPRETING THE SOCIOLOGICAL CLASSICS: CAN THERE BE A “TRUE” MEANING OF MEAD?

Many sociologists have tried in vain to find the “true” meaning of the classic works in the discipline. An interactionist perspective suggests that this search is not a valid one for sociologists, especially symbolic interactionists. Although there can be no “true” meaning, some authors use conventions of writing that make their work more or less clear. Using Mead's Mind, Self and Society as an example, we discuss the dimensions of clarity. We then argue that the sociological classics should be read to (I) simulate new theories and research (pragmatic analysis), (2) determine how sociologists have used that classic to support or refute particular theories or perspectives (rhetorical analysis), and (3) provide information about the sociological concerns of the author and his/her contemporaries (historical analysis).