Moral Panics and Urban Growth Machines: Official Reactions to Graffiti in New York City, 1990–2005

This paper analyzes the official response to graffiti writing in New York City throughout the 1990s and into the 21st century. Drawing from a variety of documents, such as newspaper articles, political press releases, internal memos and government reports, I show that the city’s reaction to graffiti constitutes a moral panic and that the significance of this response can be discerned when interpreted in the context of theoretical insights developed by urban sociologists. On this basis, I argue that moral panics, or at least a sub-set of panics, may be central to negotiating the social conflict that accompanies the ways in which (urban) space will be put to use.     

A Survival Analysis of Timing of Entry into Prostitution: The Differential Impact of Race, Educational Level, and Childhood/Adolescent Risk Factors

Using survey data obtained from 309 women working in street-level prostitution in Phoenix, Arizona, this investigation examines the influence of minority status, educational level, and the experience of risk factors in an individual's childhood or adolescence on the hazard rate for age of entry into prostitution. Findings of this study show that women engaging in prostitution have limited educational backgrounds and often do not complete high school. Results indicate that both white and minority women engaging in prostitution experienced high rates of physical and sexual abuse in childhood, as well as parental substance abuse. When compared to minority women, white women are more likely to have experienced any one of these three risk factors thought to influence entry into prostitution, yet event-history analysis indicates that minority women consistently experience significantly higher hazard rates for entry into prostitution. Findings suggest the need for future research to better assess the impact of race—in the form of socioeconomic and social disadvantages associated with minority status—as it relates to entry into the sex trade.     

Aus der Praxis: Erfolgsfaktoren der Post-Merger Integration

The article describes the internationalization process of a Facility Management company. Five key factors for success have been identified: new perspectives for employees, maintenance of independency + homogenization of structures, transparency, internationalization of management and formation of a common identity. The role of organization development in this process and future challenges for post-merger integration are depicted.     

Wirkprinzipien handlungsorientierter Beratungs- und Trainingsmethoden

The article suggests effect principles of action-oriented methods for organizational counselling and training. It is shown that action-oriented methods use “surplus reality” (a concept developed by J. L. Moreno) as a constitutive medium in which they duplicate organizational reality by means of scenic embodiment. The authors show how action-oriented methods derive their specific potential for the depiction and reflection of work-related problems in organizational counselling, training, supervision and coaching from this surplus reality.     

Quality of life after radiation therapy: A study of 309 cancer survivors

(1) Comparison of patients with a national sample reveals no difference in income (adjusted for inflation), marital status and education level but patients, who are typically older, are more often retired or disabled. (2) Overall, perceived quality of life is nearly the same for patients and national sample; apparent differences can be readily explained by factors other than cancer or its treatment. (3) While some minor differences among patients were found as a function of their site of cancer, treatment modality, or health status, no evidence was found of significant detrimental effects due to radiation therapy or perceived quality of life. (4) Contrary to expectations of deteriorated quality of life, compared to the national baselines the patients are actually more satisfied with their lives as a whole.     

Children's Economic Roles in the Maya Family Life Cycle: Cain,Caldwell, and Chayanov Revisited

This article examines the relationship between household demographic pressure and interage transfers for a group of Maya subsistence agriculturists in Yucatán, Mexico. The authors use data from a field study conducted in 1992–93 on individual time allocation, relative productivity by age and sex, and caloric costs of activities to estimate age schedules of average consumption and production. Using these, they investigate the net costs of children to their parents and find that children have a negative net asset value up to the time they leave home. The direction of net wealth flows in this group is downward, from older to younger, and in economic terms the internal rate of return to children is highly negative up to the time they leave home. Nonetheless, children play a critically important role in the family's economic life cycle. On average, girls offset 76 percent of their consumption costs before leaving home at age 19, and boys offset 82 percent before leaving home at 22. Without the contributions from children as a group, parents would have to double or triple their work effort during part of the family life cycle if they were to raise the same number of children. By the thirteenth year of the family life cycle, children as a group produce more than half of what they consume in every year, and after the twentieth year children produce more than 80 percent of what they as a group consume. The authors also find that the elderly in the sample, ages 50 to 65, produce more than they consume. Thus while children have a negative net asset value to parents, the timing of their children's economic contribution across the family life cycle plays a key role in underwriting the cost of large families.     

Comparison of Poverty and Income Disparity of Single Mothers and Fathers Across Three Decades: 1990–2010

As the potential for more children being raised by single parents increases, so does the societal need to examine this phenomena of single parent earnings and the impact it will have on the ability to support a family above the poverty line. Research suggests a substantial pay gap between men and women, but most research is limited to individuals in traditional families. This study explores income disparity and poverty between single mothers and single fathers across three decades (1990–2010), using a US nationally representative sample. Based on human capital theory, our analysis reveals that single mothers were more likely to be in poverty at far greater rates than single fathers, after controlling for a host of demographic, human capital, and work related variables. We also found that a contributing factor to this disparity is that single mothers were penalized for having more children while single fathers were not. We find that gendered poverty and the gender pay gap narrowed between 1990 and 2000, but have stayed stable since. Overall, human capital decreases the gender income and poverty gap, but a substantial gap still remains. Implications for policy-makers are discussed.     

Patients' race, ethnicity, language, and trust in a physician

We examine whether racial/ethnic/language-based variation in measured levels of patients' trust in a physician depends on the survey items used to measure that trust. Survey items include: (1) a direct measure of patients' trust that the doctor will put the patient's medical needs above all other considerations, and (2) three indirect measures of trust asking about expectations for specific physician behaviors, including referring to a specialist, being influenced by insurance rules, and performing unnecessary tests. Using a national survey, we find lower scores on indirect measures of trust in a physician among minority users of health care services than among non-Hispanic white users. In contrast, the direct measure of trust does not differ among non-Hispanic whites and nonwhites once we control for potential confounding factors. The results indicate that racial/ethnic/language-based differences exist primarily in those aspects of patients' trust in a physician that reflect specific physician behaviors.     

Complicated grief symptoms in caregivers of persons with lung cancer: the role of family conflict, intrapsychic strains, and hospice utilization

Guided by a stress process conceptual model, this study examines social and psychological determinants of complicated grief symptoms focusing on family conflict, intrapsychic strains, and the potential moderating effect of care quality and hospice utilization. Relying on data from 152 spouse and adult child lung cancer caregiver survey respondents, drawn from an ancillary study of the Assessment of Cancer CarE and SatiSfaction (ACCESS) in Wisconsin, hierarchical multiple regression analysis was used to examine determinants of complicated grief. After controlling for contextual factors and time since death, complicated grief symptoms were higher among caregivers with less education, among families with lower prior conflict but higher conflict at the end-of-life, who had family members who had difficulty accepting the illness, and who were caring for patients with greater fear of death. Additionally, hospice utilization moderated the effect of fear of death on complicated grief. Findings suggest that family conflict, intrapsychic strains, and hospice utilization may help to explain the variability found in complicated grief symptoms among bereaved caregivers. Implications for enhancing complicated grief assessment tools and preventative interventions across the continuum of cancer care are highlighted.