The use of client surrogates in determining the reliability of a standardized assessment instrument in multiple, diverse settings

Since its introduction in 1980, the widely-used Addiction Severity Index has been subjected to extensive validity and reliability studies. Reliability procedures have commonly entailed test–retest and multiple judge video reviews, all within controlled environments. The following study uses a method that differs substantially from conventional reliability assessment by employing trained, professional actors as client surrogates to examine the reliability of the instrument when administered in the field, in naturalistic, diverse agency settings. This article details this method, addressing the question, to what extent did this method produce consistent stimuli to enable the measurement of reliability?     

Teen Childbearing and Educational Attainment: A Comparison of Methods

This research examines the impact of teenage childbearing on secondary school completion, while focusing on the problem of causal ambiguity in the relationships among self-determined behaviours. Techniques for dealing with the teenage childbearing problem are discussed, and results from these methods are compared. Data from the High School and Beyond Study on young women (n = 5257) who were enrolled as sophomores in sample schools in February 1980 and who had not given birth before November 1980 are used. Results indicate that teen childbearing reduces the probability of completing high school by 8% to 10%. Some evidence suggests that programs that target reduction of teen childbearing in improving young women's education and subsequent economic and labor force outcomes.     

尼泊尔林布族的社会变迁——喜马拉雅山地文化的女性视角

林布族居住在尼泊尔东部,是喜马拉雅山地民族中人口数量相对较多的一个族群。由于历史上印度高种姓阶层不断迁徙到林布族人居住的地方,林布族人被迫抵押肥沃的土地,甚至离开原住地外出谋生。挣到钱的林布族人回到家乡,不仅赎回质押的土地,还开始从事其他贸易,取代往日的头人成了地方精英。林布族人对种姓制度的认识表明了他们具有民族主义情结,但社会结构的急剧变迁又让林布族文化逐渐与印度文化趋同。林布族妇女的权力在社会结构变迁中发生了很大变化,这是经济活动和文化接触等多种因素综合作用的结果。     

Trajectories of Sexual Risk From Middle Adolescence to Early Adulthood

Developmental trajectories of risky sexual behavior were identified in a multiethnic sample of 1,121 youth drawn from the Children of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth data set (NLSY79). Group-based trajectory modeling of a composite index of sexual risk taking revealed four sexual risk groups from ages 16 to 22: low risk, decreasing risk, increasing risk, and high risk. The Low Risk group exhibited low levels of risk across the study period. The Decreasing Risk group had high levels of sexual risk in adolescence that declined in early adulthood. The Increasing Risk and High Risk groups showed distinct risk patterns during adolescence but converged in early adulthood. When compared with adolescents in the low-risk group, individuals in the other groups were more likely to be male, had mothers who had an early birth, were less likely to live with both biological parents in early adolescence, had higher risk proneness, and reported more negative peer pressure.     

Stability of Men’s Interracial First Unions: A Test of Educational Differentials and Cohabitation History

Using the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth, this study examines how cohabitation and education affect marital dissolution for White, Black and Latino heterosexual males (N = 1,395) in their first same-race or interracial union. This research suggests that a history of cohabitation, plans of marriage and education may help explain the divergent divorce patterns of interracial and same-race unions. Life table analyses and hazard modeling reveal that cohabitation and education have independent effects on marital dissolution, but neither explains the difference between interracial and same-race unions. Measures traditionally associated with divorce attenuate this difference. Subsequent analyses by racial union pairing suggest that Black men with White women and Latino men with Black women have significantly high risks of divorce.     

Statistical approaches for conducting network meta-analysis in drug development

We introduce health technology assessment and evidence synthesis briefly, and then concentrate on the statistical approaches used for conducting network meta-analysis (NMA) in the development and approval of new health technologies. NMA is an extension of standard meta-analysis where indirect as well as direct information is combined and can be seen as similar to the analysis of incomplete-block designs. We illustrate it with an example involving three treatments, using fixed-effects and random-effects models, and using frequentist and Bayesian approaches. As most statisticians in the pharmaceutical industry are familiar with SAS? software for analyzing clinical trials, we provide example code for each of the methods we illustrate. One issue that has been overlooked in the literature is the choice of constraints applied to random effects, and we show how this affects the estimates and standard errors and propose a symmetric set of constraints that is equivalent to most current practice. Finally, we discuss the role of statisticians in planning and carrying out NMAs and the strategy for dealing with important issues such as heterogeneity.     

Environmental activation of citizens in the context of policy agenda formation and the influence of social capital

Citizens activation for environmental issues is a significant parameter for the resolution of environmental problems. The present article analyzes the influence of social factors, connected with social capital literature, on environmental activation. In particular, social capital is defined as a multi-dimensional concept consisting of several structural and cognitive elements. Through a theoretical analysis, the main links between social capital components and environmental activation are underlined. Furthermore, the results of an empirical survey are presented highlighting that several elements of social capital are positively connected with environmental activation along with issues of linking social capital.