City differences in racial occupational differentiation: A note on the use of odds ratios

This note considers whether city differences in racial occupational distribution are best investigated using measures of nominal differentiation or measures of inequality, and argues that measures of inequality are better suited for testing the prevailing theories of race differences in occupation distribution. It also defends the Index of Net Difference and the Index of Dissimilarity (and other measures of inequality used in previous research) from the criticism that they are flawed because they are sensitive to city differences in occupational structure. Additionally, it explores a new approach for investigating city differences in occupational inequality within the log-linear framework. The logical and empirical arguments offered support the conclusions that racial occupation differences reflect racial stratification, and that variation in racial occupation differences across cities is best understood as the product of city differences in the severity of racial stratification. Thus, future research in this area should continue to focus on measures of inequality rather than measures of nominal differentiation until there are sound theoretical and empirical reasons for conceptualizing race differences in occupational distribution in terms of nominal differentiation.     

Engaging with families in child protection: lessons from practitioner research in Scotland

This paper reports findings from practitioner-led research on engagement with families in the child protection system in Scotland. Engagement is here defined in a participative sense, to mean the involvement of family members in shaping social work processes. Key findings include the importance of workers building trusting relationships; the value of honest and clear communication, information, and explanation; and the potential for formal structures such as reports and meetings to hinder family engagement. These findings contribute to a growing critique of managerialism in social work.     

Enforcing alcohol policies on college campuses: reports from college enforcement officials

We assessed alcohol enforcement practices at 343 U.S. colleges via surveys of directors of campus law enforcement. We measured types and frequency of enforcement and barriers to enforcement. We found that 61% of colleges indicated nearly always proactively enforcing alcohol policies, with most frequent enforcement at intercollegiate sporting events and least frequent enforcement at fraternity/sorority events. Approximately half of the enforcement departments work closely with their local law enforcement agency but respondents indicated a greater need for cooperation with local law enforcement. Half of the respondents reported no barriers to alcohol enforcement on campus. Large colleges and public colleges tended to report greater enforcement levels. While many campuses report proactive alcohol enforcement, several areas of improvement in alcohol enforcement at colleges are indicated.     

Team factors that predict to sustainability indicators for community-based prevention teams

Because they often set out with a guarantee of only short-term funding, many community partnerships will face a threat to their sustainability almost as soon as the first money runs out. Research into the factors that enable some coalitions and partnerships to meet the challenge when others fail is limited. This study begins to fill this gap in our understanding by examining influences on the process of sustainability planning in the context of a collaborative partnership focused on youth development. We report on a longitudinal examination of the quality of planning and attitudes underpinning the sustainability of PROSPER community prevention teams whose members implement evidence-based programs designed to support positive youth development and reduce early substance use and other problem behaviors. The current research concentrates on a particular dimension of partnership effectiveness to establish whether perceptions about team functioning in play at 6 and 18 months predict the quality of sustainability planning at 36 and 48 months. How well teams functioned in the early stages was found to be strongly related to the quality of their later preparations for sustainability. Recruitment and integration of new team members, and the encouragement they subsequently received were also found to be key factors. The results strengthen the argument for providing technical assistance to meet the needs of those who promote prevention partnerships, and they provide longitudinal empirical data to support the hypotheses of other researchers who have similarly found a correlation between effective sustainability and early planning and support.     

Evaluation of free to grow: head start partnerships to promote substance-free communities

Free to Grow: Head Start Partnerships to Promote Substance-free Communities (FTG) was a national initiative in which local Head Start (HS) agencies, in partnership with other community organizations, implemented a mix of evidence-based family-strengthening and community-strengthening strategies. The evaluation of FTG used a quasi-experimental design to compare 14 communities that participated in the FTG intervention with 14 matched comparison communities. Telephone surveys were conducted with two cohorts of the primary caregivers of children in HS at baseline and then annually for 2 years. The survey was also administered to repeated cross-sectional samples of primary caregivers of young children who were not enrolled in HS. No consistent evidence was found in changes in family functioning or neighborhood conditions when the 14 FTG sites were compared to 14 matched sites. However, caregivers of young children who were not in HS in three high-implementing FTG sites showed evidence of improvements in neighborhood organization, neighborhood norms against substance abuse, and child disciplinary practices. Results provide highly limited support for the concept that family and neighborhood conditions that are likely to affect child development and well-being can be changed through organized efforts implemented by local HS programs.     

走向一种幸福经济学

对当前经济发展人们的幸福指数却在降低的现实及其原因进行了分析,提出了经济的发展最高目标是幸福的观点,认为应该以对生活最重视的东西为标准来界定和衡量进步,而不是以GDP这样的狭义货币增长措施为标准,并对中国致力于和谐发展给予了充分的肯定。     

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN WORK SATISFACTION

This paper explores differences between men and women in levels of work satisfaction, employing data from the Australian component of the International Project on Class Structure and Class Consciousness. While women tend to be concentrated in low-status, low-paid positions, that is the secondary labour market, the data suggest that, in general, they are more satisfied with paid employment than men. Employment constraints are found to be a key factor in the observed differences in levels of work satisfaction. For both groups, however, it is clear that work satisfaction derives primarily from work-related factors.     

Economic concentration and corporate political behavior: A cross-industry comparison

Several political sociologists have argued that the trend toward economic concentration in major industries in advanced capitalist societies has led to a growth in corporate political power. Most of these arguments are based on the notion that economic concentration facilitates the mobilization of industries as cohesive politica actors. This paper presents an empirical examination of this argument. The similarity of campaign contributions in the 1980 Congressional elections by the four largest members of 25 industries is employed as the dependent variable. Concentration ratios within the industries, sizes and geographical proximities of the firms, and measures of within-industry economic and social integration are employed as independent and intervening variables. Employing a spatial autocorrelation model to correct for nonindependence among observations, we find that although concentration and similarity of political behavior are positively associated in a bivariate correlation, the relation disappears when controls are introduced. Common stock ownership by the same institutions and indirect director interlocks through financial institutions are significant predictors of behavioral similarity.     

On maximum likelihood estimation of the semi-parametric Cox model with time-varying covariates

Including time-varying covariates is a popular extension to the Cox model and a suitable approach for dealing with non-proportional hazards. However, partial likelihood (PL) estimation of this model has three shortcomings: (i) estimated regression coefficients can be less accurate in small samples with heavy censoring; (ii) the baseline hazard is not directly estimated and (iii) a covariance matrix for both the regression coefficients and the baseline hazard is not easily produced.We address these by developing a maximum likelihood (ML) approach to jointly estimate regression coefficients and baseline hazard using a constrained optimisation ensuring the latter''s non-negativity. We demonstrate asymptotic properties of these estimates and show via simulation their increased accuracy compared to PL estimates in small samples and show our method produces smoother baseline hazard estimates than the Breslow estimator.Finally, we apply our method to two examples, including an important real-world financial example to estimate time to default for retail home loans. We demonstrate using our ML estimate for the baseline hazard can give much clearer corroboratory evidence of the ‘humped hazard’, whereby the risk of loan default rises to a peak and then later falls.