The price of risk with incomplete knowledge on the utility function*

When a risk is exchanged, the exact value for the minimum price (positive or negative) that the purchaser (investor, or insurer) is willing to pay is given by the certainty equivalent wealth level, which in turn depends on his specific utility function. When this utility function is unknown, then only a sufficient condition on the price can ever be found. This paper provides methods for calculating such a sufficient condition, when only limited information on the utility function is known.     

Social Status as a Predictor of Race and Gender Stereotypes in Late Childhood and Early Adolescence

We examined race and gender stereotypes in fourth‐, sixth‐ and eighth‐grade White and Black children. The participants reported their perceptions of the competence of Black, White, female and male children in academic domains, sports and music. In general, low‐status groups (girls and Black children) did not endorse stereotypes that reflected negatively on their own group but were likely to report stereotypes that favored their social group. High‐status groups (boys and Whites) endorsed most traditional stereotypes, whether negative or positive, for their social group. Where age differences appeared, older children were more likely than younger children to report traditional stereotypes and status effects were more pronounced. The results are discussed in terms of group enhancement and relationships between social stereotypes and self‐views.     

Psychosocial Interventions for Maltreated and Violence-Exposed Children

Child sexual, physical, and emotional abuse as well as child neglect and domestic violence, community violence, and Childhood Traumatic Grief may result in significant and long-lasting emotional and behavioral difficulties. This article reviews randomized controlled studies that have assessed child mental health outcomes for maltreated and violence-exposed children. Key points of this review include the following: (1) maltreated and violence-exposed children typically experience more than one of these types of traumas; (2) effective psychosocial treatments are available to address Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, and behavioral problems in these children; (3) it is likely that treatments which effectively reduce mental health symptoms in children exposed to one type of child maltreatment or violence exposure will also be effective for other or multiple types; and (4) mental health outcomes are not the only important outcomes to address in future treatment or intervention efforts. These future directions for treatment intervention research are addressed.     

Delineating state groups through cluster analysis

This discussion is extracted from a larger research project in which an attempt is made to remedy the conceptual difficulties surrounding the “middle state” in international relations by defining the middle state vis-à-vis other types of states and without reference to any single dominant ontological framework. In this section of that project, the statistical technique of cluster analysis is used to demonstrate that the international state system contains three delineable state groups (labeled great, middle and small states). This article also demonstrates the use and usefulness of the cluster technique in international relations research.     

Validation of the WeDQoL-Goals-Thailand Measure: Culture-Specific Individualised Quality of Life

The aim of this study was to validate an individualised measure of quality of life (WeDQoL-Goals-Thailand). Three hundred and sixty-nine Thai people completed the WeDQoL by interview. Respondents rated (0–2) the perceived necessity for wellbeing of 51 goals (goal necessity), then rated (0–3) their satisfaction with the same goals (goal satisfaction). Weighted goal attainment (possible range 0–6) was computed (necessity x satisfaction). Psychometric validation used frequency distributions, Principal Components Analysis (PCA), and Cronbach’s alpha. Analysis of variance, t-tests, Kruskal–Wallis, Mann–Whitney U, Spearman’s correlation and multiple regression explored socio-demographic, geographic and economic differences. Respondents were aged 15–89 (mean 45.7, SD 18.0); 169 men, 200 women. For weighted goal attainment scores, PCA found a 44-item scale (α = 0.91) and three subscales (community/social/health, α = 0.90; house and home, α = 0.80; nuclear family, α = 0.81). Thai Individualised Goal Attainment (TIGA) scale and the three subscales were computed as the mean of contributing weighted goal attainment scores, after excluding goals considered ‘not necessary’ to each individual. Unweighted and individualised scores differed significantly with socio-demographic, geographic and economic indicators. In multiple regression, both Thai Unweighted Goal Satisfaction (TUGS) and TIGA scale scores were predicted by being married, living in the South and in a non-urban location. TIGA scores were also predicted by being over 25 years old. WeDQoL-Goals-Thailand has excellent psychometric properties. Individualised scores reflect each person’s perspective on wellbeing and are sensitive to subgroup differences. However, unweighted satisfaction scores give a broadly similar picture and involve less complex computation.     

Regulation by disclosure: the case of internal control

In this paper we explore the use of disclosure as a regulatory tool, using as an illustration the current UK requirements regarding the disclosure of information about internal control. After discussing the broad concept of regulation by disclosure, we trace the evolution of concepts of internal control and its reporting, describing the background to the Turnbull guidance for directors on internal control reporting, the basis of current UK requirements. We then examine recent examples of internal control disclosures, identifying the range of ways in which they address the disclosure requirements and considering the possible impact of the disclosure requirements on corporate behaviour and on the audiences for disclosure. We conclude with some reflections on the disclosure life cycle. The paper contributes to the literature on disclosure by specifically considering the role of disclosure as a regulatory tool and by examining the nature of specific disclosures in an area of continuing interest, that of internal control.     

Constructing meaning: Strengthening the policy-practice link

This paper provides an examination of the theoretical orientation of constructivism and its application to social work practice as well as the application of social constructionism to understanding and influencing social welfare policy. Explored are the ways in which these postmodern concepts when applied in social work practice and policy courses and reinforced in fieldwork training, provide a means to more readily link the content of these courses. Finally, it is argued that the concepts of constructivism and social constructionism offer a means to open the doors of inquiry and to the development of a range of new opportunities, theories, and interventions conducive to social work practice in its broadest sense.     

Parenting as A “package deal”: Relationships,fertility, and nonresident father involvement among unmarried parents

Fatherhood has traditionally been viewed as part of a “package deal” in which a father’s relationship with his child is contingent on his relationship with the mother. We evaluate the accuracy of this hypothesis in light of the high rates of multiple-partner fertility among unmarried parents using the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a recent longitudinal survey ofnonmarital births in large cities. We examine whether unmarried mothers’ and fathers’ subsequent relationship and parenting transitions are associated with declines in fathers ’ contact with their nonresident biological children. We find that father involvement drops sharply after relationships between unmarried parents end. Mothers’ transitions into new romantic partnerships and new parenting roles are associated with larger declines in involvement than fathers’ transitions. Declines in fathers’ involvement following a mother’s relationship or parenting transition are largest when children are young. We discuss the implications of our results for the well-being ofnonmarital children and the quality of nonmarital relationships faced with high levels of relationship instability and multiple-partner fertiliy.