Heterogeneity in the rise and decline of city-level homicide rates, 1976-2005: A latent trajectory analysis

This study applies latent trajectory methods to the analysis of temporal changes in homicide rates among large US cities across recent decades. Specifically, annual homicide rates for 157 large US cities are analyzed for the 30 years from 1976 to 2005. We address the fundamental questions: Did all of cities experience similar levels and patterns of rise and decline in homicide rates over these three decades? Or is there hidden or unobserved heterogeneity with respect to these temporal patterns, thus leading to the identification of more homogeneous groupings of the cities? And if latent homogeneous groupings surface, is membership due to specific structural characteristics found within those cities? Evidence is found for the existence of four latent homicide rate trajectories. After identifying and classifying the cities into these four groups, multivariate statistical techniques are used to determine which social and economic characteristics are significant predictors of these distinct homicide trends. Criminal justice measures are also included as controls. It is found that larger cities located in the South with higher levels of resource deprivation/concentrated poverty, higher income inequality, higher percentages of the adult male population that are divorced, higher unemployment rates, higher percentages of youth, higher percentages of the population who are Hispanic and higher numbers of police per capita are more likely to be in a higher than a lower homicide trajectory group. Higher percentages of the population enrolled in colleges and universities and locations in states with higher incarceration rates are characteristics of cities associated with membership in a lower homicide trajectory group.     

Revitalizing the MBA for the New Millennium: A Collaborative Action Research Approach

Business schools are facing increased competition due to information technology innovations and customer dissatisfaction. In response, business schools are turning to a variety of solutions, such as team teaching, integrated curricula, and distance learning. This article presents the results of a collaborative action research project initiated by one business school faced with the need to revitalize its MBA program. The faculty engaged in this project learned much about the challenges of teaching an integrative course and the constancy of change. We share our conclusions and recommendations about an integrated curriculum, distance learning, adult learning, team teaching, revisions in program duration and structure, as well as advice on the necessary administrative support and compensation for business schools contemplating such changes. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Identifying Therapeutic Action in an Attachment-Centered Intervention with High Risk Families

This paper describes an attachment-based intervention for mothers known to Child Welfare Services where past and current trauma complicates family preservation and promotion of child well being. The first part of the paper describes the innovative Attachment-Centered Parent–Child Therapy service that has been delivered to high-risk families with children from 0 to 3 years of age. The intervention uses a group format that has the added benefits of enhancing social support and being highly cost effective. The intervention also integrates video filming both in terms of capturing essential features of the group intervention for review and supervision of clinical staff, and is fundamental in the observation-based empirical assessments. Quantitative data from an initial pilot study supporting the efficacy of the intervention is presented. As well, qualitative data is presented including a case study that highlights therapeutic action shown to positively impact the quality of the mother–child relationship.     

Individual progress toward self-selected goals among older adults enrolled in a physical activity counseling intervention

The purpose of this study was to examine what happens to goals over the course of a physical activity counseling trial in older veterans. At baseline, participants (N = 313) identified 1 health-related goal and 1 walking goal for their participation in the study and rated where they perceived themselves to be relative to that goal at the current time. They rated their current status on these same goals again at 6 and 12 mo. Growth-curve analyses were used to examine longitudinal change in perceived goal status. Although both the intervention and control groups demonstrated improvement in their perceived proximity to their health-related and walking goals (L = 1.19, p < .001), the rates of change were significantly greater in the intervention group (β = -.30, p < .05). Our results demonstrate that this physical activity counseling intervention had a positive impact on self-selected goals over the course of the intervention.     

Family labor supply,taxation and saving in an imperfect capital market

This paper combines income and expenditure with time use data to provide a unique picture of the labor supply, household production, saving and consumption decisions of two-adult households over a life cycle defined in terms of the presence and ages of children. The study also draws on data for household borrowing and lending, direct and indirect benefits and taxes to calibrate a “family” life cycle model at the core of which is the hypothesis that households face a borrowing interest rate that rises with the amount of non-collateral based borrowing. The household members jointly choose time paths of time use, consumption and saving over their life cycle in the face of this capital market imperfection. Importantly, households are shown to differ significantly in their saving behavior in a way that depends on secondary earner labor supply, with a strong positive association between saving and the income of the second earner. The results differ sharply from those of the existing literature.     

Understanding sadomasochism: an empirical examination of four perspectives

Three studies assessed current understandings of sadomasochism (SM). In Study 1 questionnaires testing four academic views of SM were administered to individuals who self-defined as involved in SM. The psychoanalytic, psychopathology/medical model, radical feminist and escape-from-self perspectives were not supported. Study 2 examined "virtual" sadomasochism as a source of information about sadomasochists in the real life world. Cluster analyses indicated that real-life and virtual sadomasochists share unique sexual proclivities. Study 3 examined an alternative view that identifies power as the commodity of importance in SM play. Content analysis of online SM encounters indicated that both "top" and "bottom" role-players used several specific techniques to create a power differential. These studies suggest that, contrary to many academic theories, power, and not the giving and receiving of pain, is at the core of SM.     

The feminization of bereavement among community-dwelling older adults

We examined gender differences in frequency and sociodemographic predictors of spousal, non-spousal family, and friendship bereavement events among community-dwelling older adults using data from the UAB Study of Aging. Analysis involved a 30-month observation period of 893 subjects. There were significant differences between women and men for all types of loss. Significant differences were also found in the sociodemographic predictors of loss between and within gender categories. This study revealed the extent to which older women disproportionately bear the burden of loss and points to the need for greater attention to bereavement as a women's issue.     

Gender differences in body esteem among older adults

Ninety-five adults aged 60-91 completed measures of Body-as-Object Esteem (BOE) (i.e., appearance) and Body-as-Process Esteem (BPE) (i.e., function) to explore gender differences in body esteem among older adults. As hypothesized, a significant age by gender interaction revealed that men become more disparaging of the appearance and function of their bodies in their last decades of life, while women do not. Level of physical disability was negatively correlated with BOE, particularly for disabled women. Furthermore, as is seen across the lifespan, self-esteem is a significant predictor of BOE. Disabled participants who were older than 74 years had disproportionately low BPE scores and similarly poor global self-esteem. Whether working with older adults or studying body esteem in this population, it is vital that both dimensions of body esteem are assessed along with the impact of disability status, gender, self-esteem, and age.