A cohort-based indicator of housing progress

Measuring housing quality has continued to be an elusive task. This article proposes a new social indicator of housing quality that builds on three conceptual decisions. The first step is to define an indicator that measures quality with reference to a standard that households are striving to attain. Single-family homeownership is a standard of housing sought by nine-tenths of Americans under age 45. A second decision is to measure quality not according to absolute attainment of this standard, but rather with reference to the aggregate experience of progress toward attaining the standard. Under this experiential definition, quality is assumed to be high when the average individual moves quickly toward homeownership. The third conceptual decision is to aggregate individuals' progress toward homeownership by measuring the trajectory of cohorts into homeownership. The indicator of housing progress is thus a vector of age-specific ownership rates. Twentieth-century cohorts are compared on this indicator and the implication of differences among them are discussed.Research underlying this article was supported by a Charles Abrams Fellowship awarded by the MIT-Harvard Joint Center for Urban Studies. This article is a revision of a paper presented at the 1981 Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America, Washington D.C.     

Housing progress in the seventies: New indicators

This article introduces a conceptual model of housing quality that emphasizes consumers' experience of improvements during their lifetime. Following a review of the widely recognized inadequacies associated with the traditional indicators of housing quality, a ‘housing progress’ model is offered as an alternative method for conceptualizing the quality of persons' housing experiences. This model suggests that changes in the level of housing well-being are reflected by changes in the rate at which households move toward their personal housing preferences. To operationalize this concept, four indicators are developed that are based on the pattern of housing unit exchanges achieved by movers each year between 1973 and 1977. The indicators reveal a pronounced downtum in progress (on the order of 20 percent) with the fall in construction between 1973 and 1975. After 1975, progress increased with the rise in construction, but there is evidence of a widening gap between the housing opportunities of owners and renters.     

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health and well-being of children and young people

The COVID-19 pandemic has had an enormous impact across the world. In this discussion paper, we examine the effect that lockdown has had on the mental health and well-being of children and young people. We write from a UK perspective in the light of the international evidence. Many of the discussion points raised resonate globally. We discuss how these issues can be dealt with and set out potential solutions as we emerge from this global crisis.     

Route first—Cluster second methods for vehicle routing

In this paper we consider route first—cluster second methods for the vehicle routing problem. Extensions to the basic method both to improve its effectiveness and to enable it to cope with practical constraints are described. Computational results are given for the method applied to standard vehicle routing problems drawn from the literature.     

The evaluation of a mind/body intervention to reduce psychological distress and perceived stress in college students

The authors examined the effect of a 6-week mind/body intervention on college students' psychological distress, anxiety, and perception of stress. One hundred twenty-eight students were randomly assigned to an experimental group (n = 63) or a waitlist control group (n = 65). The experimental group received 6 90-minute group-training sessions in the relaxation response and cognitive behavioral skills. The Symptom Checklist-90-Revised, Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and the Perceived Stress Scale were used to assess the students' psychological state before and after the intervention. Ninety students (70% of the initial sample) completed the postassessment measure. Significantly greater reductions in psychological distress, state anxiety, and perceived stress were found in the experimental group. This brief mind/body training may be useful as a preventive intervention for college students, according to the authors, who called for further research to determine whether the observed treatment effect can be sustained over a longer period of time.     

Geographic morbidity differentials in the late nineteenth-century united states

We use a national cross-sectional database, the 1880 Integrated Public Use Microdata Sample, to examine aggregate patterns and individual-level estimates of chronic-disease morbidity and long-term disability in the United States in the late nineteenth century. Despite higher levels of urban mortality in 1880, morbidity prevalence rates were highest in the rural areas of the country, especially in the western and the southern regions. Equations using microdata show that the estimated risk of chronic disease and impairment was highest for males and females who were older, of lower socioeconomic status, or from rural areas. This era was marked by geographically uneven but significant levels of endemic chronic disease, likely the outcomes of prior episodes of infectious disease and exposure to conditions generated by human action, such as the Civil War and migration.     

Validity of centenarian data in the 1960 Census

This paper examines the question of how many genuine centenarians there actually are in the United States as compared with those reported in the census. It is concluded that the numbers of centenarians shown in various United States censuses are definite overstatements of the number of true centenarians. It seems likely that instead of the 10,326 centenarians reported in the 1960 census there were at most only about 3,700. Overstatement of ages seems to be particularly the case among those who claim to be aged 110 or over, and it is believed that there probably are no persons who are actually this old.The analysis has been made by projecting, through the me of population life table survival factors, the populations reported cit carious advanced age groups in one census to the next census and then comparing the results with the corresponding number reported in the latter census for the same age cohort. In general, the enumerated populations at ages below 95 are reasonably close to the projected populations, especially for white persons. On the other hand, at ages 95 and over-especially for centenarians-the enumerated populations significantly exceed the projected ones.As a subsidiary part of the analysis, the paper points out the significant differences at the older ages between the "full count" age distribution in the 1960 census and the corresponding "inflated 25 per cent sample" one. This is a subject that bears further investigation and explanation.The paper also discusses centenarians on the social security benefit rolls and concludes that the present data cannot be considered of substantial accuracy with regard to genuine centenarians, particularly the oldest ones. In a number of years, however, this program will provide excellent data, became the individuals involved will have been on the benefit rolls for many years and will have had their ages proved with reasonable accuracy.     

A science-based strategy for ecological restoration in South Florida

The Everglades and associated coastal ecosystems of South Florida are unique and highly valued ecosystems. One of the world's largest water management systems has been developed in South Florida over the past 50 years to provide flood control, urban and agricultural water supply, and drainage of land for development. However, this system has inadvertently caused extensive degradation of the South Florida environment, resulting in the loss of more than half the historical Everglades system and elimination of whole classes of ecosystems. The U.S. Man and the Biosphere Program (US MAB) instituted a project to develop ecosystem management principles and identify requirements for ecological sustainability of South Florida. A strategic process developed by the US MAB Project illustrates how ecosystem management and ecological risk assessment principles apply to South Florida, including the development of societal goals and objectives of desired sustainable ecological condition, translation of these goals/objectives into scientifically meaningful ecological endpoints, creation of a regional plan designed to meet the sustainability goals, and development of a framework for evaluating how well the plan will achieve ecological sustainability of South Florida. An extensive federal, state, and tribal interagency process is underway to develop a restoration plan for restructuring the regional management system, essentially following the elements in the US MAB project process. The Florida Governor's Commission was established as an institution to reflect societal values and define regional sustainability goals. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is developing a science-based plan for Congressional approval to restructure the water management system to achieve the societal goals. Thus, South Florida may become the prototype example of successful regional-scale ecosystem management.