The Psychiatric 'Caseness' of Clients Referred to an Urban Social Services Department

Correspondence should be sent to Dr. Peter Huxley, Mental Health Social Work Research Unit, Department of Psychiatry, Manchester University, Stopford Building, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PT. Summary Of 158 clients referred to two area offices and six generalpractice attached social workers, 141 weré interviewedusing standardized social and psychiatric research interviews.The General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) was completed by 138clients. Their social worker completed the Case Review Form.Scores of 5 or more on the PSE Index of Definition (for theclient) were used to indicate psychiatric caseness. Using IDscores of 5 or more, 53% of the sample were identified as ‘cases’.The GHQ (cut-off 4/5) identified 73% of the clients as cases;and the GHQ (cut-off 10/11) identified 51% cases. Morbidity was significantly greater in the general practicesetting. Social workers' judgement (about the presence or absenceof mental illness/emotional disorder) was not significantlybetter than chance in the identification of specific disorders,but was significant in relation to the whole sample. The results are discussed and further studies are being conductedusing more sophisticated judgements of ’caseness’,and extending the enquiry beyond an inner city population.     

THE OPTIMAL MONETARY RESPONSE TO TECHNOLOGY SHOCKS

This paper develops a model in which both technology and monetary shocks are important sources of variation in aggregate output and employment. The model rationalizes a policy under which money responds actively to technology shocks. The welfare cost of adopting the constant money growth rule advocated by Milton Friedman rather than the optimal activist policy is small, however. (JEL E52, E32)     

ELECTORAL POLITICS, INTEREST GROUPS, AND THE SIZE OF GOVERNMENT

This paper considers how government size responds to a change in the influence of interest groups. First, an election model is developed that has an equilibrium and in which interest groups have unequal influence. The authors then show that an increase in a group's influence per se does not cause government size to increase but does cause its size to increase when the government (1) cannot change tax shares or (2) provides a good benefiting one (untaxed) group, whose sole interest is in maximizing its consumption of the good. The paper concludes with a discussion of some of the normative implications.     

MONETARY FACTORS IN SOUTH AFRICA'S POST-WAR DEVELOPMENT

During the period 1949–60 the Government encouraged development of the money market. This, coupled with increased gold production, encouraged a “liquidity boom.” The only serious monetary crisis during the period was political, and the fact that this coincided with a strong upward movement in gold production largely explains how the crisis was handled without a major monetary adjustment, such as devaluation. The marked increase in gold production prevented any serious balance of payments deficits during years of sharply increased business activity. There was also sufficient gold to support marked credit expansion by the growing banking system. Indeed, except for the political crisis period 1960-61, the chief concern of the Government since the early 1960's has been excess liquidity in the monetary system. Prior to 1960, the Government's attitude was that cyclical fluctuations (and their varying effects on liquidity) could be effectively handled by the usual monetary, fiscal and trade controls available up to that date. The Severe crisis of 1960-61 led to an investigation of the monetary system and the passage of new laws aiming at greater equity as between banking institutions, more effective allocation of resources, protection of bank customers, and more effective control of excess liquidity and inflation. In 1964, inflation accelerated. The banking amendments came into effect almost immediately thereafter. During the past 3 years, the Government has made strenuous efforts to curb inflation. These efforts stressed monetary, fiscal, and import controls. Consumer credit controls have been used more effectively since 1965, but evasion of these controls has continued to be somewhat of a problem [25]. Apparently there has been some reluctance to use an “incomes policy” [3, p. 91. A device not widely used until recently was the so-called “credit directive” which was in the form of a ceiling on private credit. Initially, it was not entirely effective, but towards the end of 1967 there was evidence that the authorities' efforts to curb infiation were having some success, as the rate of price increase in the first half of 1968 has been less than in 1967, which in turn was less than the increase in 1966. The real growth rate in 1967 was nearly 7 percent, which was higher than the average of the preceding several years, but was attributable in considerable part to increased agricultural production which benefited greatly from u n d y good weather conditions [15, March 1968, p. 61.] several of the years immediately preceding 1967 were poor ones from the point of view of agriculture [6, p. 131).     

Exploring multivariate data using directions of high density

The most common techniques for graphically presenting a multivariate dataset involve projection onto a one or two-dimensional subspace. Interpretation of such plots is not always straightforward because projections are smoothing operations in that structure can be obscured by projection but never enhanced. In this paper an alternative procedure for finding interesting features is proposed that is based on locating the modes of an induced hyperspherical density function, and a simple algorithm for this purpose is developed. Emphasis is placed on identifying the non-linear effects, such as clustering, so to this end the data are firstly sphered to remove all of the location, scale and correlational structure. A set of simulated bivariate data and artistic qualities of painters data are used as examples.     

Establishments and the work-welfare mix*

Dans cet article, nous étudions le problème de l'emploi chez les assistés sociaux. Nous montrons qu'il existe, parmi les cas sociaux, un mouvement assez considérable lié A l'emploi. Les données indiquent également que la plupart des bénéficiaires renoncent éventuellement à leurs droits d'assistés sociaux pour prendre un emploi à court terme, généralement mal payé, dans un des établissements oh prédominent les emplois présentant ces caractéristiques, et où les salariés n'ont ni l'occasion ni le pouvoir de modifier les conditions d'emploi. D'après nous, ces salariés se trouvent alors enfermés dans le syndrome du ‘mauvais emploi’ et il ne leur est plus guère possible d'échapper de façon permanente à leur condition d'indigents. In this paper we examine the work experiences of welfare recipients. We show that there is a rather considerable movement within welfare caseloads which is associated with job-holding. The data also indicate that most recipients leave welfare caseloads for low-wage, short-term employment which is most likely to occur in establishments where jobs with these characteristics predominate, and where workers have few opportunities or little power to change the conditions of their employment. We see these workers as being locked in a ‘bad job’ syndrome where they have little possibility of moving away from ultimate dependence on welfare.     

The Influence of Socio-Economic Variables on Family Size in Wentworth County, Ontario, 1871: A Statistical Analysis of Historical Micro-Data

Les techniques de l'analyse régressive transversale sont appliquées aux microdonnées du recensement historique du Canada. On a soutiré systématiquement des documents microfilmés un échantillon de 1100 families "normales" résidant dans le comté de Wentworth, de la province d'Ontario, en 1871. On a tenté de determiner l'influence de l'âge, du lieu de naissance, de la religion, de l'origine ethnique, de l'occupation, de la résidence dans un milieu rural ou urbain, et de toutes les autres variables disponibles sur la grandeur de la famille. On utilisa dans l'analyse regressive sur une vaste échelle des variables d'emprunt ("dummy variables"). Les variables démographiques et celles associées au milieu de résidence s'avérèrent très significatives. On découvrit, cependant, que les influences socio-économiques, en autant qu'elles sont reflétées par la profession, la religion, le lieu de naissance, et l'origine ethnique, exercent une faible influence sur la composition de la famille.
Techniques of cross-section regression analysis are applied to historical census of Canada micro-data. A sample of 1100 "normal" families in Wentworth County, Ontario, was drawn systematically from microfilm records of the 1871 census. An attempt was made to determine the influence on family size of age, birthplace, religion, ethnic origin, occupation, urban and rural residence, and other variables for which the census provided information. Extensive use was made of dummy variables in the regression analysis. "Demographic" and urban-rural factors were found to be highly significant. However, socio-economic influences, as represented by occupation, religion, birthplace, and ethnic origin, were found generally to be weak.     

The hostility triad: The contribution of negative emotions to organizational (un‐)wellness

The discourse of organisational wellness with its emphasis on the positive is seen here as too one‐sided. With discussion of three negative emotions—summarised as the hostility triad in the literature—and on the basis of a little incident that occurred during a major change in a large corporation, it will be shown how contempt, anger and disgust take place in everyday actions in organisations. A thesis deriving from research in cross‐cultural psychology will be presented indicating that negative emotions, compared to reasoning, play a more important role in moral judgement than often acknowledged. Disagreeable as the hostility triad may be, it deserves attention so we are able to take its effects on the relationship of different groups in organisations into consideration.