Prediction of body fat in older adults by time spent in sedentary behavior

The purpose of the study was to determine the relationship between sedentary behavior (SB), physical activity (PA), and body fat (total, abdominal) or body size (body-mass index [BMI], waist circumference [WC]) in community-dwelling adults 50 yr old and over. This study included 232 ambulatory adults (50-87 yr, 37.4% ± 9.6% body fat [BF]). Average daily time spent in SB (<100 counts/min) and light (100-759 counts/min), lifestyle-moderate (760-1,951 counts/min), walking-moderate (1,952-5,724 cts/min), and vigorous-intensity (≥ 5,725 counts/min) PA were determined by accelerometer and corrected for wear time. BF was measured with dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. SB was positively related to measures of BF. Measures of SB, PA, and gender accounted for 55.6% of the variance in total BF, 32.4% of the variance in abdominal fat, and 28.0% of the variance in WC. SB, PA, and age accounted for 27.1% of the variance in BMI. Time spent in SB should be considered when designing obesity interventions for adults 50 yr old and over.     

Centering the voices of international students in family studies and family therapy graduate programs

In this article, we report the results of a survey that accessed the perceptions of family studies and family therapy international master's and doctoral students across the United States. Our goals included giving collective voice to the experience of international students and gathering their suggestions for improving programs. Themes that emerged from responses to open- and closed-ended questions included feeling (mis)understood and (de)valued; forming personal connections and experiencing marginalization; the importance of including international perspectives in curricula; considering the relevance/transferability of knowledge; and attending to barriers to learning. Based on the results, we share suggestions for improving family studies and family therapy graduate programs relative to program planning, curricula revision, teaching strategies, and faculty development.     

Analyse visuelle e représentation de la réalité

The author's objective is to establish a relationship between the theoretical structure at the basis of a qualitative sociological analysis and the forms of visual representation of social reality, such as photography and social documentaries. Visual material becomes an object of analysis when it refers to a society that talks about itself and when it reproduces a reality which it records and makes nameable. The theme of observation is characterized by a complex activity in which perception, imagination, and representation are different functions from the sociological point of view, yet strongly connected because they make it possible for the researcher to interact visually with social reality. Observation procedures ask sociologists to have an eye capable of recognizing and perceiving in a representative way the experiences they have lived and the social facts they have observed and described. These must be portrayed not only as suggestive visual metaphors, but also as a consequence of ‘sensitive hearing’ which is essential in all research phases, from anthropology to ethnography and sociology.     

Family members' strategies when their elderly relatives consider relocation to a residential home - Adapting, representing and avoiding

The aim of this article is to reveal how family members act, react and reason when their elderly relative considers relocation to a residential home. Since family members are usually involved in the logistics of their elderly relative's relocation, yet simultaneously expected not to influence the decision, the focus is on how family members experience participation in the relocation process in a Swedish context. 17 family members are included in 27 open, semi-structured interviews and follow-up contacts. Prominent features in the findings are firstly the family members' ambition to tone down their personal opinions, even though in their minds their personal preferences are clear, and secondly, the family members' ambivalence about continuity and change in their everyday lives. Family members are found to apply the adapting, the representing, or the avoiding strategy, indirectly also influencing their interaction with the care manager. Siblings applied the adapting strategy, spouses the representing strategy, while family members in the younger generation at times switched between the strategies.     

Physical victimization of rural methamphetamine and cocaine users

Substance use and physical violence often coincide, but little has been published on the correlates associated with receipt of partner versus nonpartner physical violence for rural users of methamphetamine and/or cocaine. In this study, participants' substance use, depression and past-year physical victimization were assessed. In separate logistic regression models, received partner violence in females was associated with age; alcohol, cocaine, and methamphetamine abuse/dependence; and number of drugs used in the past 6 months. In males, received nonpartner violence was associated with age, cocaine abuse/dependence, and being Caucasian. Findings suggest a relationship between stimulant use and received violence among rural substance users and a need for victimization screenings in settings where such individuals seek health care.     

Who is watching? The market for prostitution services

This paper presents an economic model of prostitution that differs from the existing literature in that it makes no restrictive assumptions regarding the gender, pay, and nature of forgone earning opportunities of prostitutes and clients, and applies the same behavioural hypotheses to both. Our model gives a central role of stigma and reputation effects to both clients and prostitutes. We discuss demand, supply, and equilibrium results, indicating the possible effects of different policies on the industry and its different markets.     

Reward Preferences of Pathological Gamblers Under Conditions of Uncertainty: An Experimental Study

Among many personality traits, impulsivity represents one of the most important traits associated with pathological gambling. Empirical research has highlighted the multidimensional nature of impulsivity, which includes different heterogeneous traits and behavioral tendencies. The present study experimentally examined reward preferences of pathological gamblers under conditions of uncertainty using the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART). Furthermore it also examined the relationship between impulsivity, time perspective, inability to tolerate delay in gratification, and risk-taking. The present study is the first to simultaneously examine all these variables simultaneously in a sample of pathological gamblers (n = 54) and healthy controls (n = 54) from Italy. All participants participated in the BART and were also administered Italian versions of the South Oaks Gambling Screen, the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, the Consideration of Future Consequences, and the Monetary Choice Questionnaire. Analyses revealed that compared to HCs, PGs were more risk prone on the BART, and reported elevated levels of impulsivity, steeper discounting rates and a shorter time perspective. All the measures correlated with the gambling severity and strong correlations between the BIS, CFC-14 and BART were observed. Logistic regression analysis demonstrated that impulsivity and risk-taking were strong predictors of pathological gambling.     

State of international public relations research: Narrowing the knowledge gap about the practice across borders

This study examined the state of international public relations research to identify prominent trends, themes, and theoretical paradigms in the field. A content analysis of 200 articles from 12 peer reviewed journals shows that international public relations scholarship has increased steadily in the last four years. Likewise, the areas being studied by academics in the field have also diversified. The findings point to areas and regions that remain understudied and should be explored to continue building knowledge in the field in general, and more specifically, in theory development.     

MORE MORTGAGES,LOWER GROWTH?

In newly collected data on 46 economies over 1990–2011, we show that financial development since 1990 was mostly due to growth in credit to real estate and other asset markets, which has a negative growth coefficient. We also distinguish between growth effects of stocks and flows of credit. We find positive growth effects for credit flows to nonfinancial business but not for mortgage and other asset market credit flows. By accounting for the composition of credit stocks and for the effect of credit flows, we explain the insignificant or negative growth effects of financial development in recent times. What was true in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s when the field of empirical credit‐growth studies blossomed, is no longer true in the 1990s and 2000s. New bank lending is not primarily to nonfinancial business and financial development may no longer be good for growth. These trends predate the 2008 crisis. They prompt a rethink of the role of banks in the process of economic growth. (JEL E44, O16, O40, C33)