Residential Relocation in Later Life: A Comparison of Proactive and Reactive Moves

Proactive coping involves anticipating future events or stressors and preparing for them in advance. Housing is an important consideration in preparing for later life. This study examines residential relocation among older adults, comparing those who moved proactively with those who moved reactively. Data from the Longitudinal Study of Aging included a final sample of individuals who had relocated at Wave 2 (n = 736) and Wave 3 (n = 713). The proactive group of movers was younger, more educated, and had higher incomes. Results provide support for proactive coping theory and its application to residential relocation in later life.     

An Exploration of Cohesion and Recovery Outcomes in Addiction Treatment Groups

This article explores the relationship between group cohesion and recovery outcome variables in inpatient addiction treatment groups. We surveyed 104 people in group therapy using measures of cohesion, self-efficacy, social support, and coping. Length of stay in treatment has a relationship with cohesion. Significant higher order interactions were found with group cohesion (length of stay by type of addiction and length of stay by type of referral). The interaction of gender by addiction on measures of social support and self-efficacy were also significant. The latent construct of collective efficacy was confirmed using factor analysis, and we discuss collective efficacy and implications for group work with addictions.     

Assessing and Increasing Staff Preference for Job Tasks Using Concurrent-Chains Schedules and Probabilistic Outcomes

The assessment and improvement of staff members' subjective valuation of nonpreferred work tasks may be one way to increase the quality of staff members' work life. The Task Enjoyment Motivation Protocol (Green, Reid, Passante, &; Canipe, 2008 Green, C. W., Reid, D. H., Passante, S. and Canipe, V. 2008. Changing less-preferred duties to more-preferred: A potential strategy for improving supervisor work enjoyment. Journal of Organizational Behavior Management, 28: 90–109. [Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) provides a process for supervisors to identify the aversive qualities of nonpreferred job tasks. Through participative management, the process reduces these aversive qualities while increasing the appetitive properties via the pairing of these tasks with enjoyable consequences. The present study provides an extension of Green et al.'s work through utilization of a concurrent-chains schedule arrangement via the pairing of reinforcing consequences with a target job task using probabilistic outcomes to directly assess job task preferences for eight direct support staff in a human service organization.     

Utilization survey of a rural creek fishery in central Alabama

A one-year angler intercept survey was conducted on Choccolocco Creek, a rural, limited access tributary to the Coosa River in northeastern Alabama. The purpose of the survey was to collect data and information about the behaviors and fish consumption habits of the recreational anglers who fish there. Nine survey locations were included in the stratified sampling plan, and sampling occurred throughout daylight hours, on weekdays and weekends/holidays, during all four seasons of the year. Surveys were completed on a total of 101 survey days between June 28, 2008 and June 27, 2009.(6) Seventy-two anglers were observed fishing during the survey period, and 52 (72%) of those individuals agreed to participate in the survey. Based on the information collected by the survey clerks, the angler population fishes the Creek between 1 and 54 times per year, with an average frequency of seven trips per year. The average number of months fished was three months per year, with a range of one to nine months. Only 15% of the anglers who participated in the survey (eight individuals) had succeeded in catching fish by the end of their trips, and only four of those individuals (8%) had retained any of the fish they had caught for consumption. Reasons provided for not retaining fish were that they either only fished for sport, did not catch enough fish to eat, or the fish they caught were too small to keep. Because so few anglers used and harvested fish from the resource, fish consumption rates could not be determined with a high degree of confidence. However, from these limited data it was estimated that the three anglers for whom consumption rates could be estimated had annualized average daily fish consumption rates of 0.14, 0.44, and 7.9 grams per day (g/day). The majority of anglers traveled less than 10 miles to fish the Creek. It was estimated that a total population of 173 anglers use the Creek each year. The results of this survey indicated that Choccolocco Creek is a local fishery that is not heavily used by area residents.     

Buchbesprechungen

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

An Empirical Approach for Deriving Information on Total Duration of Exposure from Information on Historical Exposure

Exposure duration is an important component in determining long-term dose rates associated with exposure to environmental contaminants. Surveys of exposed populations collect information on individuals' past behaviors, including the durations of a behavior up to the time of the survey. This paper presents an empirical approach for determining the distribution of total durations that is consistent with the distribution past durations obtained from surveys. This approach is appropriate where the rates of beginning and ending a behavior are relatively constant over time. The approach allows the incorporation of information on the distribution of age in a population into the determination of the distribution of durations. The paper also explores the impact of "longevity" bias on survey data. A case study of the application of this approach to two angler populations is also provided. The results of the case study have characteristics similar to the results reported by Israeli and Nelson ( Risk Anal. 12, 65-72 (1992)) from their analytical model of residential duration. Specifically, the average period of time for the total duration in the entire population is shorter than the average period of time reported for historical duration in the surveyed individuals.     

BOOTSTRAP TESTS FOR THE ERROR DISTRIBUTION IN LINEAR AND NONPARAMETRIC REGRESSION MODELS

In this paper we investigate several tests for the hypothesis of a parametric form of the error distribution in the common linear and non‐parametric regression model, which are based on empirical processes of residuals. It is well known that tests in this context are not asymptotically distribution‐free and the parametric bootstrap is applied to deal with this problem. The performance of the resulting bootstrap test is investigated from an asymptotic point of view and by means of a simulation study. The results demonstrate that even for moderate sample sizes the parametric bootstrap provides a reliable and easy accessible solution to the problem of goodness‐of‐fit testing of assumptions regarding the error distribution in linear and non‐parametric regression models.     

Scale of Operations and Locus of Control in Market‐ Versus Mission‐Oriented Charter Schools*

Objective. The objective of this article is to investigate two distinct strands in the charter school movement: one that emphasizes school‐based management and another that emphasizes market efficiency. We were interested in whether charter schools that were founded or co‐founded by for‐profit education management organizations (EMOs) tend to pursue economies of scale and are less likely than others to implement school‐level decision making in key areas. Methods. The analysis uses data drawn from a survey we conducted of the population of charter schools in Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Washington, DC. Results. We find that charter schools that were founded or co‐founded by EMOs tend to be larger and are less likely to exhibit decision‐making control at the school level. Conclusions. Our analysis underscores the importance of disaggregating the charter school phenomenon into its distinct constituent parts in order to draw meaningful lessons from this evolving and significant experiment in alternative education delivery mode.