Social hassles and psychological health in the context of chronic crowding.

Data are presented on the interactive effects of an enduring environmental stressor with acute, daily social stressors on psychological distress. A cross-sectional study of males in urban India and a longitudinal study of male and female American college students examined the interplay of these two types of stressors. In India, social hassles in the home predicted psychological symptoms only among residents of crowded homes, after statistically adjusting for income. In America, the interaction between social hassles and crowding was replicated in analyses adjusting for prior psychological symptoms, prior social acquaintanceship with housemates, and income. A six-month follow-up study with the American sample replicated the interaction. In all three analyses of the social hassle-crowding interaction, there was a main effect of crowding but no main effect of social hassles on psychological symptoms. These findings suggest that some chronic environmental stressors may increase the impact of acute social stressors, and highlight the importance of examining contextual factors in the stress and health process.     

Mixtures,embedding, and ancillarity

Ancillary statistics, proposed by Fisher (1925), can be constructed by forming a mixture model (Birnbaum 1962) or can be extracted or derived from a transformation-parameter model (Peisakoff 1951, Fraser 1961) or from the corresponding error-based structural model (Fraser 1968, 1979); these latter models involve an implicit mixture structure. Compound models with ancillaries can also be formed by a cross embedding, discussed from a technical viewpoint in this paper. Of the 25 examples in Buehler (1982), 22 are mixtures or implicit mixtures and 3 correspond to cross embedding. The cross embedding examples exemplify the nonuniqueness difficulties with ancillaries. This paper discusses a simple and two generalized versions of cross embedding but makes no general valuations of these for statistical inference; their role within inference is discussed in Evans, Fraser, and Monette (1984, 1985).     

Housing and Mental Health: A Review of the Evidence and a Methodological and Conceptual Critique

Despite the fact that people invest more financial, temporal, and psychological resources in their homes than in any other material entity, research on housing and mental health is remarkably underdeveloped. We critically review existing research on housing and mental health, considering housing type (e.g., single-family detached versus multiple dwelling), floor level, and housing quality (e.g., structural damage). We then discuss methodological and conceptual shortcomings of this literature and provide a theoretical framework for future research on housing quality and mental health .     

Community Care: Relationships and Control

Analysis of the relationships available to people with learning difficulties has received much attention in recent literature and has also become the focus of work undertaken by service personnel. This paper presents an analysis of networks of people with a learning difficulty in Wales and illustrates the paucity of close relationships in people's lives. It is argued that community care involves the removal of custodial forms of social control and their replacement by mechanisms which place greater emphasis on relationships as a form of imposing sanctions on individuals. In an attempt to assist the move to improve networks the authors argue the need to develop a theoretical understanding of the social processes by which individuals are excluded and as a result inform the means by which individuals may be included.     

The expression of mourning in an eight-year-old girl

This is a case of a just-turned eight-year-old girl whose mother was murdered on September 18, 1983. Since the child was already in treatment, the mourning process started immediately and continued until the end of June 1984. The case is distinctive because of the relative ease with which this child was engaged in the process and educated to it. Unconscious feelings readily emerged because they had been so recently repressed. The mourning was accomplished mainly through the process of interpretation of her play and behavior, although at times she would bring things up directly. The focus of therapy remained on the mourning during the entire nine months of treatment.     

Polarization in Abortion Attitudes in U.S. Religious Traditions, 1972–1998

Studies have shown that attitudes toward abortion are polarizing. Yet, these studies have not focused upon what is often assumed to be the cause of polarization—religion. In this paper I find that polarization has increased between mainline and evangelical Protestants, as well as between black Protestants and both Catholics and white evangelicals. Moreover, I find that mainline Protestants and Catholics are internally polarizing. Finally, while I cannot determine the cause of the internal polarization of Catholics, the polarization within mainline Protestantism is caused by demographic changes. For white evangelicals, demographic changes have restrained polarization that would otherwise have occurred.     

High Conflict Family Court Cases: Working for the Child's Best Interests

High levels of parental conflict in separated families can have a devastating impact on children and their development. This paper describes the challenges inherent in the notion of ‘the best interests of the child’ in high conflict cases. It proposes an ethical framework which can guide family therapy work through the labyrinth of adult interest towards solutions which promote the interests of these children. A case example illustrates how this framework is put into clinical practice.