Socioeconomic status, neighborhood disadvantage, and poverty-related stress: Prospective effects on psychological syndromes among diverse low-income families

Living with persistent poverty is toxic for one’s psychological health. This study examined SES, income, neighborhood disadvantage, and poverty-related stress as predictors of a wide range of psychological problems including anxiety, depression, aggression, relationship problems, physical problems, and trouble with the law. Longitudinal analyses were conducted with a low-income multiethnic sample of 98 families recruited from the greater Denver, CO metropolitan area (300 family members: 136 adults, 82 preadolescents, 82 adolescents) using hierarchical linear modeling to predict all eight ASEBA narrow band syndromes. Analyses showed that poverty-related stress was directly related to anxious/depressed symptoms and social problems and interacted with prior symptoms, contributing to worsening symptoms for delinquency, attention problems, somatic complaints, and anxious/depressed symptoms. Hollingshead SES also had direct predictive effects for certain syndromes, though these effects were in the opposite direction predicted. In contrast, lower income-to-needs predicted more problems as expected. Neighborhood disadvantage also predicted psychological syndromes. Developmental differences are discussed. Our data show that parents are not the only family members who are affected by stress from living in poverty. SES, neighborhood disadvantage and poverty-related stress take a toll on children, adolescents, and adults.     

我国房地产投资增长率波动的实证研究——基于景气指数和脉冲方法的分析

利用景气指数和景气指标选取方法,筛选出了15个能够反映房地产投资波动状况的先行、一致、滞后景气指标,计算了1998年住房市场全面货币化以来我国的房地产投资增长率的合成指数并对其特征进行了分析,研究表明:1998-2008年我国的房地产投资经历了两个完整的周期.采用脉冲方法对影响我国房地产投资增长率周期波动的主要因素进行了实证分析,研究表明:房地产投资增长率与建筑成本增长率和M2正相关,与利率、房地产价格负相关.     

The Role of Gesture in Children's Comprehension of Spoken Language:Now They Need It, Now They Don't

Two experiments investigated gesture as a form of external support for spoken language comprehension. In both experiments, children selected blocks according to a set of videotaped instructions. Across trials, the instructions were given using no gesture, gestures that reinforced speech, and gestures that conflicted with speech. Experiment 1 used spoken messages that were complex for preschool children but not for kindergarten children. Reinforcing gestures facilitated speech comprehension for preschool children but not for kindergarten children, and conflicting gestures hindered comprehension for kindergarten children but not for preschool children. Experiment 2 tested preschool children with simpler spoken messages. Unlike Experiment 1, preschool children's comprehension was not facilitated by reinforcing gestures. However, children's comprehension also was not hindered by conflicting gestures. Thus, the effects of gesture on speech comprehension depend both on the relation of gesture to speech, and on the complexity of the spoken message.     

Breaking the mould: new trajectories in the domiciliary care of older people in Ireland

This article reviews the development of domiciliary care services for older people in Ireland over the last decade. It reveals three central developments, namely (i) the first steps, in the Irish context, towards a quasi-market; (ii) the introduction of cash-for-care and the subsequent notable segmentation of care tasks among three provider groups; and (iii) a rapidly increasing reliance on for-profit private home care providers. The authors conclude that while the Irish social care regime is still anchored in important ways in the primacy of informal (family) care and the subsidiarity principle, it has broken path-dependency by evolving towards an increasingly complex mix of public, not-for-profit and for-profit provision and financing. The most policy-relevant aspect of this new constellation is the lack of a regulatory framework that would enable the State to monitor the multiple and diverse providers with the view to ensuring the quality of home care services.     

Infant Electroencephalogram Coherence and Toddler Inhibition are Associated with Social Responsiveness at Age 4

Previous work has suggested that individual differences in infant functional neuroconnectivity are a potential biomarker for later cognitive and social outcomes, but the mechanisms are unclear. This study investigated a longitudinal model of infant frontotemporal electroencephalogram (EEG) coherence predicting toddler inhibition, which then predicted childhood social responsiveness. A structural equation model showed good fit, with increased right hemisphere frontotemporal EEG coherence predicting less inhibition at age 2, which in turn predicted less social responsiveness at age 4. These findings support the hypothesis that infant frontotemporal connectivity is indirectly associated with later social behavior, with toddler inhibition as a potential mechanism.     

Compassion Satisfaction Among Social Work Practitioners: The Role of Work–Life Balance

Abstract

Previous research has established that social work practitioners are especially vulnerable to work-related psychological distress and burnout due to the high-stress nature of the profession, yet less research has focused on examining factors are associated with social worker retention. Emerging research on compassion satisfaction suggests that this factor could mitigate professional burnout, yet there is a gap in research focusing explicitly on examining compassion satisfaction among social workers. To address this gap in knowledge, this quantitative study collected survey data on practicing social workers who were alumni from a large southeastern university (n?=?120) to examine individual and organizational factors associated with compassion satisfaction. Multiple regression analyses revealed that higher levels of emotional intelligence, perceived work autonomy, and perceived work–life balance were associated with an increase in compassion satisfaction among experienced, licensed social work practitioners. Findings have implications for how social work employers can promote compassion satisfaction through cultivating emotional intelligence among practitioners, allowing social workers autonomy in decision making, and providing supportive work environments. Recommended directions for future research include longitudinal studies with large sample sizes that expound research on compassion satisfaction by examining the role of additional factors, such as client population, job role characteristics, and supervisor support.     

The effects of maternal depression on children

The importance of identifying children at risk because of parental pathology such as schizophrenia has been well established. It is recommended that a systematic investigation of children of depressed mothers be made. An object relations developmental model is presented as a conceptual framework for understanding the consequences to children of being cared for by depressed mothers.     

次级债市场发展与中国商业银行资本金结构调整

对于商业银行而言,发行次级债是一种快速、高效、便捷的资本补充方式,也是一种主动、长期的负债来源。我国商业银行资本充足率的现状和发展趋势预示着次级债的发行将呈上升趋势。但是和国外商业银行相比,中国各商业银行目前的次级债发行处于起步阶段,国外商业银行的一些成熟的经验和做法值得我们借鉴。要促进我国商业银行次级债市场的健康发展,需要从完善商业银行信息披露和债券信用评级制度、培育次级债的流动市场、加强监管、培育和壮大商业银行外的机构投资者等方面加强建设。     

Children's gender-role stereotypes: A sociological investigation of psychological models

This study investigates sociologically the predictions of the cognitive developmental, the social learning, and the interactive models of gender-role development. We examine the effect of a variety of variables on gender-role stereotyping among a sample of 1264 four-, five-, and six-year-old children enrolled in preschool programs in a major metropolitan area. Age, sex, and race are found to be significantly related to children's gender stereotypes. With age, children increasingly associate stereotypical behavior patterns with the male and female gender roles. Children are also found to demonstrate a higher degree of gender-role stereotyping with regard to members of their own sex. An age/sex interaction effect indicates that the tendency of children to demonstrate a higher degree of same-sex stereotyping is most pronounced among four-year-olds. Finally, black children are found to be less gender-typed in their images of males and females than are white children. These data suggest that the interactive model, including both social and cognitive factors, is the best explanation of these data and should be further investigated.