Time demands on families: Is there a bottom line?

As families continue to adapt to interpersonal and marketplace pressures, time available for household production is becoming scarce. The purpose of the study reported here is to explore the utility of regional economic analyses in determining minimal levels of household production as measured in terms of time. The results provide a minimum family time required in the long term of approximately 35 hours per week and a short term requirement of 2 hours per week. Theoretical frameworks used in family science are integrated in the discussion to explain these findings.Pamela N. Olson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Counseling and Family Studies, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131. Her current research interests are family member time-use and families in debt. She completed her Ph.D. at Oregon State University.James J. Ponzetti, Jr. received his Ph.D. from Oregon State University. He is currently an Assistant Professor in Family Studies in the Department of Home Economics, Central Washington University, Ellensburg, WA 98926. His current research interests include divorce, loneliness, and family planning.Geraldine I. Olson is Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director, Family Resource Management, College of Home Economics, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97131. She completed her Ph.D. at The Ohio State University and current research interests include family member time-use, assessing managerial activities, and factors which influence the substitution of marketplace goods with household production.     

Divorced Parents’ Qualitative and Quantitative Reports of Children's Living Arrangements

We use data from a sample of divorced parents in Wisconsin (N = 1,392) to examine how parents describe their children's living arrangements. When the children spend substantial time in both parents’ homes, both parents are less likely to use the phrase live with to describe living arrangements. When children spend most nights with their mother, mothers are more likely than fathers to state that the children live with their mother. Together, these findings suggest that family researchers no longer can rely on simple questions to capture complex living arrangements. We need clearer and more careful question wording and, in some instances, follow‐up questions to accurately describe where children live.     

Second order asymptotic and non-asymptotic optimality properties of combined tests

Let p independent test statistics be available to test a null hypothesis concerned with the same parameter. The p are assumed to be similar tests. Asymptotic and non-asymptotic optimality properties of combined tests are studied. The asymptotic study centers around two notions. The first is Bahadur efficiency. The second is based on a notion of second order comparisons. The non-asymptotic study is concerned with admissibility questions. Most of the popular combining methods are considered along with a method not studied in the past. Among the results are the following: Assume each of the p statistics has the same Bahadur slope. Then the combined test based on the sum of normal transforms, is asymptotically best among all tests studied, by virtue of second order considerations. Most of the popular combined tests are inadmissible for testing the noncentrality parameter of chi-square, t, and F distributions. For chi-square a combined test is offered which is admissible, asymptotically optimal (first order), asymptotically optimal (second order) among all tests studied, and for which critical values are obtainable in special cases. Extensions of the basic model are given.     

Ego strength and achievement motivation in pathological gamblers

This paper argues that there area priori reasons to extract measures of ego strength and achievement motivation from the psychometric data base routinely collected from inpatient pathological gambers in order to clarify the meaning of these constructs and to evaluate their roles in personality organization. A sample of 57 subjects engaged in an inpatient treatment program for pathological gamblers was studied using Barron's Ego Strength Scale (ES) from the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory and two measures of achievement motivation from the California Personality Inventory, Achievement via Conformance (Ac) and Achievement via Independence (Ai). Compared to the standardization group norms on these instruments, pathological gamblers are significantly deficient in both ego strength and one type of achievement motivation, Ac. Clinical impressions of gamblers in treatment suggest that narcissistic characteristics are a major problem in treatment and that future research should attempt further detailed studies of ego structure in order to refine treatment objectives.     

Behavioral quality assurance: a transforming experience

The captains of the health care industry are leading a transformation in health care. Increasing numbers of physician executives are acquiring the knowledge, skills, and attitudes essential to both the science and the art of management. If they wish to practice the art of management at a high professional level, however, physician executives must be willing to experiment with their behavior in interactions. Change and growth in this aspect of human nature will also bring them face-to-face with their self-images. More important, attention throughout an organization to behavior toward one another will have a significant bearing on the quality of the organization's services to clients.     

Targeting lifesaving: Demographic linkages between population structure and life expectancy

Life expectancy in a heterogeneous population can be increased by lowering mortality rates or by averting deaths at different ages, from different causes, or for different groups, as well as by changing the proportions of individuals in various risk groups, perhaps by altering the transition rates between groups. Understanding how such changes in population structure affect life expectancy is useful in evaluating alternative lifesaving policies.     

GOODNESS-OF-FIT AND DISCORDANCY TESTS FOR SAMPLES FROM THE WATSON DISTRIBUTION ON THE SPHERE

The only parametric model in current use for axial data from a rotationally symmetric bipolar or girdle distribution on the sphere is the Watson distribution. This paper develops methods for evaluating the model as a fit to data using graphical and formal goodness-of-fit tests, and tests of discordancy.     

The effects of children's presence on woman abuse

The association between the presence of children and woman abuse was investigated. Data were collected from 419 women who had called the police because of an abusive incident involving their male partner. Minor children were present in the home in 3/4 of the cases and were frequent witnesses to the abusive incident. In more than 1/2 of the cases, children had witnessed the assault according to the victims; 2/3 of the victims reported that children had seen the police when they arrived. There was almost no association between the presence of children in the home and assault on women: the presence of children was not associated with cumulative incidence of abuse, severity of abuse, degree of injury, or the victim's decision-making process in calling the police. However, police were more likely to provide information and referrals to shelters when children were present.