Inter- and transdisciplinary approaches to population–environment research for sustainability aims: a review and appraisal

The causes and consequences of demographic changes for the environment, and the possible ways of influencing population dynamics to achieve ‘sustainability’, have been the subject of many debates in science and policy in recent decades. However, the body of knowledge concerning relationships between population dynamics and sustainability is quite fragmented, dispersed over many disciplines, and encompasses diverse theories, paradigms and methodologies. This paper reviews four selected frameworks: linear, multiplicative, mediated, and system-theoretical approaches and perspectives. We represent how population–environment relationships are conceptualized, provide examples of research questions and accepted approaches, and critically assess their utility for different sorts of research for sustainable development. We note the growing recognition of the value of embracing complexity in population–environment research, and how this is consistent with normative aims of development.     

EAP Service Use in a Managed Behavioral Health Care Organization: From the Employee Perspective

Contemporary employee assistance program (EAP) services are typically provided in broad-brush programs delivered by large external vendors in a network model. Yet research has not kept pace with EAP evolution, including in terms of how EAP clients themselves view services. We surveyed a random sample of EAP service users from a national provider (361 respondents). About one-third of respondents reported getting help for workplace issues. Most learned about the EAP through employer communications such as the company website. The large majority reported that the EAP helped them "a lot" or "some," suggesting they valued this benefit.     

Beware the angry leader: Trait anger and trait anxiety as predictors of petty tyranny

Drawing on the general aggression model and theories of victimization and temperamental goodness-of-fit, we investigated trait anger and trait anxiety as antecedents of petty tyranny: employing a multilevel design with data from 84 sea captains and 177 crew members. Leader trait anger predicted subordinate-reported petty tyranny. Subordinate trait anxiety was associated with subordinate-reported petty tyranny. The association between leader trait anger and subordinate-reported petty tyranny was strongest among low trait anger subordinates supporting the theory of temperamental goodness-of-fit—or rather misfit—in dyads. Hence, leader anger-generated petty tyranny seems to constitute itself both as an average leadership style and as behavior targeting specific subordinates, in this case low trait anger subordinates. In addition, anxious subordinates report more exposure to such abusive leadership behaviors irrespective of levels of trait anger in the captain. The practical implications are above all the needs for organizational and individual management of leader trait anger.     

Telecommunication and suicide prevention: hopes and challenges for the new century

Development of information technology has created new opportunities and challenges in suicide prevention, research, and clinical practice. This article presents an overview of the wide range of telecommunication-based suicide prevention approaches. Interventions using the Internet, telephone, and videoconferencing are discussed, including crisis intervention, referral, and support, suicide risk assessment, psychotherapy for individuals at risk, and online-based suicide prevention training and education. Research regarding effectiveness of telecommunication-based suicide prevention in various demographic and clinical populations is reviewed, as well as concerns regarding this type of intervention. Future areas of research and development in the use of telecommunication media in prevention of suicide are discussed.     

Analyzing industrial trends—A collaborative approach

Dynamic, complex environments demand sensitive, timely scanning. This paper describes a scanning process of use to interdependent organizations for collaboratively assessing issues active in their shared environment. Collaborative scanning expands the field of vision of an individual organization and produces several other benefits to participating organizations. The need for matching an organization's allocations of resources and attention to the patterns of issues revealed by the scanning process is stressed.     

Parametric Versus Nonparametric Inference on Zenga Index of Inequality: Issues and Evidence From Survey Data

Recent growing disparities suggests to move from inequality measures based on comparing the incomes of the less fortunate with the overall mean, as the Gini, to the new Zenga index, which instead contrasts the means of the less and the more wealthy subpopulations. After providing a thorough analysis of the theoretical and practical aspects of obtaining parametric and non-parametric confidence intervals for the Zenga inequality measure, we develop a cross-regional study based on the Swiss Income and Consumption Survey, wave 2005. Results show that coverage accuracy and average length of confidence intervals improve when the parametric model offers a good fit to the data.     

Why the rise in adolescent fertility rates in the Dominican Republic in the 1990s?

Despite concern over high pregnancy rates and levels of risk for sexually transmittedinfections, adolescent fertility rates in the Dominican Republic have not changed substantially since the early 1980's, and actually increased during the early to mid 1990s. The present study was undertaken to assess the factors contributing to the recent rise in fertility among Dominican adolescents. The findings suggest that although contraceptive use among adolescents and young adults has increased, this has been more than offset by ominous trends on other determinants of fertility. Among these are declines in mean age at first sex and first marriage/union without a commensurate decline in mean age at first contraceptive use, and stubbornly high discontinuation rates for oral contraceptives andcondoms. There is also some evidence that rates of induced abortion among adolescents may have increased, without which adolescent fertility rates would have been even higher. Demand for children among Dominican adolescents remains strong, suggesting that efforts to reduce the current high prevalence of risky sexual behaviors need to influence social norms in order to be successful.     

ON THE ASSIGNMENT OF INDIVIDUALS TO LATENT CLASSES

Consider an m-way cross-classification table (for m = 3, 4, … ) of m dichotomous variables that describes (1) the 2 ^m possible response patterns to a set of m questions (where the response to each question is binary), and (2) the number of individuals whose responses to the m questions can be described by a particular response pattern, for each of the 2 ^m possible response patterns. Consider the situation where the data in the cross-classification table are analyzed using a particular latent class model having T latent classes (for T = 2, 3, …), and where this model fits the data well. With this latent class model, it is possible to estimate, for an individual who has a particular response pattern, what is the conditional probability that this individual is in a particular latent class, for each of the T latent classes. In this article, the following question is considered: For an individual who has a particular response pattern, can we use the corresponding estimated conditional probabilities to assign this individual to one of the T latent classes? Two different assignment procedures are considered here, and for each of these procedures, two different criteria are introduced to help assess when the assignment procedure is satisfactory and when it is not. In addition, we describe here the particular framework and context in which the two assignment procedures, and the two criteria, are considered. For illustrative purposes, the latent class analysis of a classic set of data, a four-way cross-classification of some survey data, obtained in a two-wave panel study, is discussed; and the two different criteria introduced herein are applied in this analysis to each of the two assignment procedures .