Job Strain, Workplace Discrimination, and Hypertension Among Older Workers: The Health and Retirement Study

Job strain has been associated with hypertension among younger workers; however, whether this relationship persists among older workers, particularly older racial/ethnic minorities, is unresolved. This study evaluated whether job strain and workplace discrimination are associated with hypertension and poor blood pressure control among older workers and whether these relationships vary by gender and race/ethnicity. Data were drawn from the Health and Retirement Study, and analysis was restricted to employed participants with complete information on job strain and blood pressure (N = 3,794). In adjusted models, high job strain was associated with lower likelihood of hypertension (odds ratio (OR): 0.75, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.63, 0.89) relative to low job strain. Stratified analyses indicated this association was only significant among white (OR: 0.71, 95% CI: 0.58, 0.86) and male (OR: 0.61, 95% CI: 0.47, 0.79) workers. High job strain was not significantly associated with hypertension among African American (OR: 1.14, 95% CI: 0.63, 2.07) or Hispanic (OR: 0.56, 95% CI: 0.29, 1.09) workers. Workplace discrimination was not associated with hypertension among any group. Neither job strain nor discrimination was associated with poor blood pressure control. These findings suggest that persistence in work characterized by high job strain in later life may signal resilience to the influence of work-related stressors on health. Future research efforts should examine the factors that contribute to gender and racial differences in these relationships.     

Simultaneous prediction intervals for multiple comparisons with a standard

k normal populations having common variance are used to construct two-sided and one-sided simultaneous prediction intervals for the differences between the future means of independent random sample from each of these populations compared to a standard. These prediction intervals are particularly useful if one has sampled the performance of several products and wishes to simultaneously predict the differences between future sample mean performance of these products and a standard with a predetermined joint probability. Methods on sample size determination are also given. The procedures are illustrated with a numerical example. Received: February 25, 2000; revised version: February 6, 2001     

Stress demands on school administrators in Singapore

This study investigated the use of the Occupational Stress Indicator (OSI) on school administrators in Singapore. The sample of 223 school administrators consisted of the top management group of principals and vice-principals and the middle management group of heads of department. The school administrators reported pressure at work, and consequently, higher levels of mental and physical ill health. They had high locus of control scores, indicating low internal control over their environment. However, they also reported greater use of coping strategies and higher job satisfaction. Psychometrically, the sub-scales of sources of pressure, job satisfaction, and mental and physical ill health were found to be reliable. The items of the scales of type A, locus of control and coping skills had to be re-factor analysed for the Singaporean sample. The new factors were found to have higher reliability. When the stress and job satisfaction levels of the principals/vice-principals and heads of department were compared, the heads of department reported significantly less job satisfaction and higher levels of mental and physical ill health. They perceived less internal control in their work situation.     

On intra-class correlation coefficient estimation

Consider the problem of estimating the intra-class correlation coefficient of a symmetric normal distribution. In a recent article (Pal and Lim (1999)) it has been shown that the three popular estimators, namely—the maximum likelihood estimator (MLE), the method of moments estimator (MME) and the unique minimum variance unbiased estimator (UMVUE), are second order admissible under the squared error loss function. In this paper we study the performance of the above mentioned estimators in terms of Pitman Nearness Criterion (PNC) as well as Stochastic Domination Criterion (SDC). We then apply the aforementioned estimators to two real life data sets with moderate to large sample sizes, and bootstrap bias as well as mean squared errors are computed to compare the estimators. In terms of overall performance the MME seems most appealing among the three estimators considered here and this is the main contribution of our paper. Formerly University of Southewestern Louisisna     

Design and analysis of computer experiments when the output is highly correlated over the input space

To build a predictor, the output of a deterministic computer model or “code” is often treated as a realization of a stochastic process indexed by the code's input variables. The authors consider an asymptotic form of the Gaussian correlation function for the stochastic process where the correlation tends to unity. They show that the limiting best linear unbiased predictor involves Lagrange interpolating polynomials; linear model terms are implicitly included. The authors then develop optimal designs based on minimizing the limiting integrated mean squared error of prediction. They show through several examples that these designs lead to good prediction accuracy.     

Chronic and Transient Poverty and Vulnerability to Poverty in the Philippines: Evidence Using a Simple Spells Approach

This paper uses panel data and two welfare indicators, namely per capita expenditure and per capita food expenditure, to determine the frequency that the households enter poverty and food poverty in the Philippines. Unlike other studies, this paper attributes similar factors to explain transient and chronic poverty but finds that these factors are more pronounced for the chronic case. Significant factors that contribute to both chronic and transient poverty and food poverty are the household heads’ low educational level, affiliation in economically unstable and risky occupations such as those in the agriculture, fishery and resource sectors and those who are unskilled laborers, the lack of health insurance and high dependency burden. The paper also finds that that vulnerability to poverty and food poverty in the Philippines is high especially in the rural districts and areas with armed conflict. Households that experience higher earnings, new job, abundant harvest, better health or receipt of remittance/inheritance are less likely to be chronically poor. Shocks related to labor market affect both transient and chronic food poverty while natural calamities or health deterioration of any household member increase the probability of the household falling into chronic food poverty. Policy suggestions to address both types of poverty are provided.     

Use of Slow Renditions to Facilitate Piano Proficiency in Young Musicians

For six weeks, four Suzuki piano students listened for a half hour daily to special recordings of repertoire being learned. Their piano teacher, blind to which pieces had been rendered at normal or at half speed, provided pre- and post-assessments of the performance on a battery of scales. Half-speed renditions resulted in modest facilitation which was discussed in terms of imagery, coding, and covert rehearsal.     

Advance Selling in the Presence of Speculators and Forward‐Looking Consumers

This article examines the pricing policy of a monopolist seller who may sell in advance of consumption in a market that comprises of myopic consumers, forward‐looking consumers, and speculators. The latter group has no consumption value for the goods and is in the market with the sole objective of making a profit by reselling the purchased goods shortly after. Consumers, although homogeneous in terms of their valuations, are different with respect to their perspectives. We show that in an “upward” market where the expected valuation increases over time, the optimal pricing policy is an ex ante “static” one where the seller “prices into the future” and prices the myopic consumers out of the advance market. However, in a “downward” market where the expected valuation decreases over time, the seller adopts a dynamic pricing strategy except for the case when higher initial sales can trigger more demand subsequently and when the downward trend is not too high. In this case, the seller prefers an ex ante “static” pricing strategy and deliberately prices lower initially to sell to speculators. We identify the conditions under which the seller benefits from the existence of speculators in the market. Moreover, although the presence of entry costs is ineffective as an entry deterrence, we determine the conditions under which exit costs can rein in speculative purchase.