Infants’ Biological Sensitivity to the Effects of Maternal Social Support: Evidence Among Mexican American Families

The identification of infants who are most susceptible to both negative and positive social environments is critical for understanding early behavioral development. This study longitudinally assessed the interactive effects of infant vagal tone (respiratory sinus arrhythmia; RSA) and maternal social support on behavioral problems and competence among 322 low‐income Mexican American mother–infant dyads (infants: 54.1% female) and explored sex differences. Infant RSA was calculated from resting HR data at 6 weeks of age. Mothers reported on general social support, partner support, and family support at 6 months, and infant behavioral problems and competence at 1 year. Two‐way interactions (RSA × support source) were evaluated to predict behavioral problems and competence, adjusting for covariates. Results indicated higher competence among infants with lower RSA whose mothers reported higher general support or higher partner support. Interactive effects on behavior problems of RSA with maternal partner or family support were only found for female infants: Girls with higher RSA showed more behavior problems when mothers reported low support, but fewer problem levels in the context of high support. Our results suggest that infant RSA is an important moderator of the effects of the early social environment on early development.     

The NPMLE for Doubly Censored Current Status Data

In biostatistical applications interest often focuses on the estimation of the distribution of time T between two consecutive events. If the initial event time is observed and the subsequent event time is only known to be larger or smaller than an observed point in time, then the data is described by the well understood singly censored current status model, also known as interval censored data, case I. Jewell et al. (1994) extended this current status model by allowing the initial time to be unobserved, but with its distribution over an observed interval ' A, B ' known to be uniformly distributed; the data is referred to as doubly censored current status data. These authors used this model to handle application in AIDS partner studies focusing on the NPMLE of the distribution G of T . The model is a submodel of the current status model, but the distribution G is essentially the derivative of the distribution of interest F in the current status model. In this paper we establish that the NPMLE of G is uniformly consistent and that the resulting estimators for the n ^1/2-estimable parameters are efficient. We propose an iterative weighted pool-adjacent-violator-algorithm to compute the estimator. It is also shown that, without smoothness assumptions, the NPMLE of F converges at rate n ^−2/5 in L ²-norm while the NPMLE of F in the non-parametric current status data model converges at rate n ^−1/3 in L ²-norm, which shows that there is a substantial gain in using the submodel information.     

Book reviews

Krafft‐ebing: a reconsideration

Step Children of Nature: Krafft‐Ebing, Psychiatry, and the Making of Sexual Identity. By Harry Oosterhuis. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000, 321 pages. Cloth, $30.00.

Love american style

Love and Eroticism. Edited by Mike Featherstone. London: 1999, 425 pages. Paper, $24.95.

Doing the right thing: Three new books on the importance of sex

Male, Female: The Evolution of Human Sex Differences. By David C. Geary. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 1998, 410 pages. Cloth, $49.95. Why Sex Matters. By Bobbi Low. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1999, 328 pages. Cloth, $29.95. Sex Differences: Developmental and Evolutionary Strategies. By Linda Mealey. San Diego, CA: Academic Press, 2000, 492 pages. Cloth, $79.95.

Courageous, compassionate, and scholarly: An evolutionary analysis of rape and male sexual coercion

A Natural History of Rape: Biological Bases of Sexual Coercion. By Randy Thornhill and Craig T. Palmer. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2000, 251 pages. Cloth, $28.95.

Deconstructing the discourse of sexual dimorphism: rethinking, bending, and crossing sexual boundaries

Sexing the Body: Gender Politics and the Construction of Sexuality. By Anne Fausto‐Sterling. New York: Basic Books, 2000, 473 pages. Cloth, $35.00.     

Testing the Determinants of Income Distribution in Major League Baseball

Using data from U.S. Major League Baseball, this article compares parametric and nonparametric Gini coefficients for each team and year. We employ a panel-data model to investigate the time-series and cross-sectional factors affecting the Gini coefficients and the parameters of the preselected distribution. We find that much of within-team income distribution is determined by time-related variables, with the 1994 MLB strike having an especially strong effect. A team's market potential does not seem to affect its salary distribution, but the average age of the players on a team's roster does. Furthermore, inequality first increases with team payroll, then decreases before increasing again.     

Generalizations of current status data with applications

In estimation of a survival function, current status data arises when the only information available on individuals is their survival status at a single monitoring time. Here, we briefly review extensions of this form of data structure in two directions: (i) doubly censored current status data, where there is incomplete information on the origin of the failure time random variable, and (ii) current status information on more complicated stochastic processes. Simple examples of these data forms are presented for motivation.     

Marker processes in survival analysis

In the development of many diseases there are often associated variables which continuously measure the progress of an individual towards the final expression of the disease (failure). Such variables are stochastic processes, here called marker processes, and, at a given point in time, they may provide information about the current hazard and subsequently on the remaining time to failure. Here we consider a simple additive model for the relationship between the hazard function at time t and the history of the marker process up until time t. We develop some basic calculations based on this model. Interest is focused on statistical applications for markers related to estimation of the survival distribution of time to failure, including (i) the use of markers as surrogate responses for failure with censored data, and (ii) the use of markers as predictors of the time elapsed since onset of a survival process in prevalent individuals. Particular attention is directed to potential gains in efficiency incurred by using marker process information.     

Public Participation and Claimsmaking: Evidence Utilization and Divergent Policy Frames in California's Ergonomics Rulemaking

Notice and comment provisions in agency rulemaking provide animportant mechanism for the public to contribute to policy.Yet there is limited research on how interest groups participatein this process. California's passage of an ergonomics standardin 1997, the only current state statute in the country, providesa useful, high salience policy case for examining public commentary.Between an initially proposed comprehensive standard and theenactment of a much weaker regulation occurred the largest publicresponse in California's state Occupational Safety and HealthAdministration history. Through a detailed content analysisof the notice and comment submissions we identify features ofparticipation and claimsmaking that differ between businessand nonbusiness submissions. Business groups were the largemajority of participants and also presented a disproportionateamount of evidence, using an "abstract-technical" policy frameto assert the illegitimacy of the ergonomics standard. Labor,public health organizations and private citizens representedless than one-third of the participants and relied primarilyon experiential information and a "concretized-moral" characterizationof policy issues in support of the standard. The existence ofthese distinct "interpretive communities" that mobilize differentresources raises questions about whether public commentary canfulfill its purported "democratic accountability" purpose aswell as underline the limitations of appealing to scientificexpertise for solving complex policy problems.     

SUSHI to Go

Abstract

The Internet, Google, e-journals, packages, e-books and patron driven acquisitions have all been perceived as “a threat to libraries as we know them.” Yet, in spite of these developments and under the weight of chronic budget pressures, the typical academic library now offers more users better access to more content and services than ever before. In this session we will look at how librarians and the vendors that serve them have responded to these “threats” to their future to create new and improved services.