How Neighborhood Features Affect Quality of Life

In this paper we report on the development ofthree conceptual models that explain howsatisfaction with neighborhood features affectresidents' quality of life (life satisfaction). The first model posits that satisfaction withsocial, economic, and physical features of theneighborhood affects life satisfaction throughthe mediation effect of one's overall feelingstoward the neighborhood. That is, satisfactionwith the social, economic, and physicalfeatures tend to contribute to one's overallsatisfaction with the neighborhood(neighborhood satisfaction), which in turnplays a positive role in overall feelingstoward life (life satisfaction). Survey datafrom a variety of communities located insouthwest Virginia were collected, and the datafailed to provide support to this model. The second model posits that satisfaction withthe neighborhood features (social, economic,and physical) does affect life satisfactionthrough a hierarchy-of-satisfaction effects –satisfaction with the neighborhood featuresimpacts neighborhood satisfaction, which inturn affects community satisfaction and housingsatisfaction. Housing satisfaction, in turn,affects home satisfaction. Both homesatisfaction and community satisfaction, inturn, affect life satisfaction. The surveydata failed to support this model too. The third model posits that satisfaction withdifferent features of the neighborhood (social,economic, and physical) affect different domainsatisfactions, which in turn affect lifesatisfaction. Specifically, the model arguesthat satisfaction with the physical featuresaffects both neighborhood satisfaction andhousing satisfaction. Neighborhoodsatisfaction plays a role in communitysatisfaction, whereas housing satisfactionplays a role in home satisfaction. Bothcommunity satisfaction and home satisfaction,in turn, play a role in life satisfaction. Satisfaction with the social features of theneighborhood plays a role in the satisfactionwith the neighborhood and the community – thelatter feeds into life satisfaction. Satisfaction with the economic features of theneighborhood plays a role in the satisfactionwith the house and home – the latter feeds intolife satisfaction. The data were mostly supportive of this model.     

Variations in nutritional risk among black and white women who receive home-delivered meals

The maintenance of good nutritional status is a cornerstone of health, function, and quality of life. To assess indicators and correlates of high levels of nutritional risk, sociodemographic, functional status, and nutritional data were collected from a diverse sample of 729 older women. Results from ordered logit analysis indicated that being Black, having an income < or = 125% of the federal poverty level, living alone, and being in the younger-old age group (ages 60 to 74 years) were associated with moderately high and very high levels of nutritional risk. An examination of individual and multiple nutritional risk indicators suggested a heightened vulnerability of Black women to inadequate dietary intake, even net of income and other influential variables. With demographic projections of an increasingly numerous and diverse older population who may face health and nutritional challenges, researchers must strengthen efforts to assist policymakers and service providers to properly target nutrition services.     

Behavior genetic modeling of human fertility: findings from a contemporary danish twin study

Behavior genetic designs and analysis can be used to address issues of central importance to demography. We use this methodology to document genetic influence on human fertility. Our data come from Danish twin pairs born from 1953 to 1959, measured on age at first attempt to get pregnant (FirstTry) and number of children (NumCh). Behavior genetic models were fitted using structural equation modeling and DF analysis. A consistent medium-level additive genetic influence was found for NumCh, equal across genders; a stronger genetic influence was identified for FirstTry, greater for females than for males. A bivariate analysis indicated significant shared genetic variance between NumCh and FirstTry.     

Economics,ecology and entropy: The second law of thermodynamics and the limits to growth

The second law of thermodynamics has played an important role in ecological economics as providing a justification for the view that economies have limits to growth. Yet beyond basic textbooks statements of this law, we seldom find informed philosophical examinations of the meaning and metaphysical justification for the second law. In this paper we shall examine some challenges which have been made to the limits to growth (Limitationist) position by those criticizing the scope and application of the second law of thermodynamics and we shall in turn defend Limitationism against these criticisms.     

Developing a Measure of Internet Well-Being: Nomological (Predictive) Validation

This paper reports on an effort to develop an Internet well-being measure for possible use by government agencies and industry associations that are directly involved with the promulgation of the Internet. Such measures can help officials gauge the social health of those Internet-related industries and institutional sectors, which in turn can guide the development of policies to enhance the quality-of-life impact of the Internet. The Internet well-being measure is based on the theoretical notion that the perception of the overall impact of the Internet on users of the Internet is determined by their perceptions of the impact of the Internet in their life domains such as consumer life, work life, leisure life, social life, community life, sensual life, among others. In turn, the perception of impact of the Internet in a given life domain (e.g., consumer life, work life) is determined by perceptions of benefits and costs of the Internet within that domain. We conducted a focus group to identify all the perceived benefits and costs within salient life domains of college students. We also conducted a thorough literature search to identify studies that examined the quality-of-life impact of the Internet in a variety of life domains. We then tested the nomological validity of the measure through two surveys at two major universities (one in the USA and the other in Korea). The statistical analysis allowed us to identify those measurement items that are most predictive, and therefore considered as nomologically valid. Policy implications of the study are discussed along with future research avenues.     

Politics and Female Sterilization in Northeast Brazil

Brazilian fertility has fallen rapidly in the last three decades, even in the Northeast, the country's poorest region. Female sterilization has become the most common contraceptive method in this region, where 44 percent of married women aged 15–49 years were sterilized as of 1996. While in other regions sterilizations were generally paid for by the patient, politicians and physicians arranged and paid for the large majority of these surgical procedures in the Northeast. The authors present evidence that this phenomenon is the result of the use of sterilization as an electoral good by politicians and physicians in local contexts where politicians regularly provide goods and services to the poor in exchange for votes. This systemic behavior seems to have been little affected by 1997 legislation that regulated family planning, made sterilization legal, and was intended to increase the use of other methods of contraception.     

The Donation Paradox for Peremptory Challenges

A donation paradox occurs when a player gives an apparently valuable prerogative to another player, but does better, according to some criterion. Peremptory challenges, used in choosing a American jury, permit each side to veto a certain number of potential jurors. With even a very simple model of jury selection, it is shown that for one side to give a peremptory challenge to the other side may lead to a more favorable jury, an instance of the donation paradox. Both a theorem and examples are given concerning the existence of the donation paradox in the optimal use of peremptory challenges.     

The calibration and cross-modal validation of ratio scales of political opinion in survey research

The aims of this paper are twofold: first, to set the ratio scaling of opinion in perspective by reviewing a series of laboratory and field experiments designed to build and validate ratio scales of political opinion; and second, to report in detail on the development of calibration procedures designed to obtain proportional judgments from respondents in a national survey.Paralleling explicitly a psychophysical paradigm established for the scaling of physical continua, these studies demonstrate that (1) the paradigm can be adapted to the scaling of sociopolitical opinions; (2) two measures suitable for use in surveys-magnitude estimation and line production-satisfy established psychophysical criteria for valid measures of response; (3) survey respondents can and do make reliable ratio estimates of strength of opinion; (4) scales measuring strength of political support, which are derived from the magnitude and line estimates of survey respondents, match closely the support scales derived in laboratory and field tests using such physical response modalities as handgrip and sound pressure; and (5) these calibration procedures can be incorporated in national opinion surveys.These results, especially the successful move from the laboratory to a conventional survey setting, provide social and behavioral scientists with a technique for generating response data that meet stringent measurement requirements. The calibration procedures described constitute a social metric that will enable researchers to test functional hypotheses in a more rigorous manner than is possible employing alternative scaling procedures.     

Radical Islamic Militancy and Acts of Terrorism: A Quality-of-Life Analysis

Horrific acts of terrorism have emerged as defining features of Islamic–Western relations throughout much of this still young century. Arising from decades, indeed centuries, of mutual distrust contemporary patterns of radicalized Islamic terrorism toward the West are rooted in their shared histories, traditions, values, norms and, for some, deeply held religious convictions. They also are the product of centuries-long colonization of large regions of the “Islamic world” by Western powers or their proxies. This paper presents an innovative approach for advancing the quality of life of Islamic and Western societies through a fuller understanding of the origins and dynamics of Islamic-inspired terrorist acts against the West. The paper examines the relationship that exists between acts of terrorism associated with a select group of 27 member states of the Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and: (1) their years of independence since colonization; (2) their current types of polity; (3) the extent of their civil liberties and political freedoms; (4) country levels of perceived public corruption; and (5) the overall level of each country’s broad-based social development (or quality of life). The paper concludes with an “evolving agenda for action” that seeks to advance the quality of life of all people living in Islamic and Western nations.     

The role of risk preferences in bargaining when acceptance of a proposal requires less than unanimous approval

The role of risk preferences in determining the outcome to bargaining is examined for the case in which acceptance of a proposal requires less than unanimous approval. Using an n-agent extension of the Ståhl-Rubinstein alternating offer model, we find that risk preferences play a fundamentally different role when bargaining is settled using a nonunanimity voting rule. Risk preferences determine not only an agent's reservation price but also the likelihood that he is made part of the winning coalition. An implication of this analysis is that when the preferences of the agents are not too diverse, it is advantageous for an agent to be relatively risk-averse.The helpful comments and suggestions of Rich McLean and an anonymous referee are gratefully acknowledged. This article was presented as a paper at the 1988 Winter Econometric Society Meetings.