Prevalence Estimates of Gambling Participation and Problem Gambling among 16–18-year-old Students in Iceland: A Comparison of the SOGS-RA and DSM-IV-MR-J

The aim of this study was to estimate gambling participation and problem gambling among Icelandic adolescents. Participants were 750 16–18-year-old students, 371 girls and 379 boys. The rate of problem gambling was estimated with the SOGS-RA and DSM-IV-MR-J. Results indicated that 96% of adolescents had gambled in their lifetime, 79% at least once in the preceding year and about 10% gamble at least once a week. A psychometric evaluation of the two screening scales revealed satisfactory reliabilities and factor structures for both scales. The DSM-IV-MR-J identified 2% of the participants as problem gamblers while SOGS-RA identified 2.7%, and problem gambling was more common among boys than girls. It was concluded that problem gambling among adolescents is an area of concern for the Icelandic community that needs to be further investigated.     

Estimating DEA confidence intervals with statistical panel data analysis

This paper describes a statistical method for estimating data envelopment analysis (DEA) score confidence intervals for individual organizations or other entities. This method applies statistical panel data analysis, which provides proven and powerful methodologies for diagnostic testing and for estimation of confidence intervals. DEA scores are tested for violations of the standard statistical assumptions including contemporaneous correlation, serial correlation, heteroskedasticity and the absence of a normal distribution. Generalized least squares statistical models are used to adjust for violations that are present and to estimate valid confidence intervals within which the true efficiency of each individual decision-making unit occurs. This method is illustrated with two sets of panel data, one from large US urban transit systems and the other from a group of US hospital pharmacies.     

Exploring relationships between sexual orientation and satisfaction with faculty and staff interactions

Lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) students are a unique population within colleges and universities, yet, few studies have sought to uncover the distinctive environmental influences and background characteristics that foster their satisfaction. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between sexual orientation and a sense of satisfaction with faculty and staff interactions among undergraduate students. Analysis of variance results indicated that LGB students, on average, reported significantly higher satisfaction with faculty and staff interactions than heterosexual students. Using Astin's (1993 ) input-environments-outcome model as a conceptual framework, the hierarchical regression analysis yielded numerous significant variables as predictors for student satisfaction with faculty and staff interactions.     

Friendship support patterns of older American women

Research during the past decade has firmly established the informal support of family, friends, and neighbors as critical in older people's health and well-being. The decade has also seen increasing attention to informal supports in social policy and services addressing the needs of older people. The support of friends in particular is agreed to be important but the details of its nature and consequence require more research. This article draws on field research of friendship among a population of older American women to ask: (1) How do older women themselves perceive their friendship involvement and its significance as a source of support?; (2) How do the friendship support patterns of later life compare and connect with those of earlier stages?; (3) How do friends relate to other sources of informal support in terms of support exchanged?; and (4) What are the implications for human service professionals concerned with effective use of informal support in later life?     

A Comparative Analysis of Durkheim's Theory of Egoistic Suicide*

This paper reports a comparative cross-national test of Durkheim's theory of egoistic suicide, involving indicators of religious, family, and political integration. Linear and nonlinear multiple regression analysis showed that the relationships between religious integration and suicide and between political integration and suicide are inverse exponential functions of the form Y = ae^bX, while the relationship between family integration and suicide is linear. The relationships between the independent and dependent variables are strong and highly significant. Together, our indicators of religious, family, and political integration explain about 76 percent of the variation in international rates of suicide.     

A management strategy for information processing. 3—Management information requirements

In this, the third and final article in this series, the author examines the need for management to have access to ‘computing facilities’. He considers a middle road between the exercise of control and the flexible use of personal computers, and attempts to structure the basic needs of managers and professional staff for information Technology in its wider sense.     

Work stressors and cardiovascular disease

Over the past 20 years, an extensive body of research evidence has documented that psychosocial work stressors are risk factors for hypertension and cardiovascular disease. These stressors, which appear to be increasing in prevalence, include job strain (the combination of psychological job demands and low job control), imbalance between job efforts and rewards, threat-avoidant vigilant work, and long work hours. This article reviews the evidence linking these stressors with hypertension and CVD, and the physiological and social psychological mechanisms underlying the associations. Also described are methods for measuring work stressors and new, more accurate techniques for measuring blood pressure. Finally, strategies for reducing work stressors and preventing hypertension and CVD are reviewed. These include clinical assessment, worksite health promotion, work organization interventions, legal approaches and work site surveillance.     

The unexpected influence of physician attributes on clinical decisions: results of an experiment

This experiment was designed to determine: (1) whether patient attributes (specifically a patient's age, gender, race, and socioeconomic status) independently influence clinical decision-making; and (2) whether physician characteristics alone (such as their gender, age, race, and medical specialty), or in combination with patient attributes, influence medical decision-making. METHODS: An experiment was conducted in which 16 (= 2(4)) videotapes portraying patient-physician encounters for two medical conditions (polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) and depression) were randomly assigned to physicians for viewing. Each video presented a combination of four patient attributes (65 years or 80 years of age; male or female; black or white; blue or white collar occupation). Steps were taken to enhance external validity. One hundred twenty-eight eligible physicians were sampled from the northeastern United States, with numbers balanced across 16 (= 2(4)) strata generated from the following characteristics (male or female; < 15 or > or = 15 years since graduation; black or white; internists or family practitioners). The outcomes studied were: 1) the most likely diagnosis; 2) level of certainty adhering to that diagnosis; and 3) the number of tests that would be ordered. RESULTS: Patient attributes (namely age, race, gender, and socioeconomic status) had no influence on the three outcomes studied (the most likely diagnosis, the level of certainty, and test ordering behavior). This was consistent across the two medical conditions portrayed (PMR and depression). In contrast, characteristics of physicians (namely their medical specialty, race, and age) interactively influenced medical decision-making. CONCLUSION: Epidemiologically important patient attributes (which Bayesian decision theorists hold should be influential) had no effect on medical decision-making for the two conditions, while clinically extraneous physician characteristics (which should not be influential) had a statistically significant effect. The validity of idealized theoretical approaches to medical decision making and the usefulness of further observational approaches are discussed.