Bootstrap adjustments for empirical bayes interval estimates of small-area proportions

Empirical Bayes approaches have often been applied to the problem of estimating small-area parameters. As a compromise between synthetic and direct survey estimators, an estimator based on an empirical Bayes procedure is not subject to the large bias that is sometimes associated with a synthetic estimator, nor is it as variable as a direct survey estimator. Although the point estimates perform very well, naïve empirical Bayes confidence intervals tend to be too short to attain the desired coverage probability, since they fail to incorporate the uncertainty which results from having to estimate the prior distribution. Several alternative methodologies for interval estimation which correct for the deficiencies associated with the naïve approach have been suggested. Laird and Louis (1987) proposed three types of bootstrap for correcting naïve empirical Bayes confidence intervals. Calling the methodology of Laird and Louis (1987) an unconditional bias-corrected naïve approach, Carlin and Gelfand (1991) suggested a modification to the Type III parametric bootstrap which corrects for bias in the naïve intervals by conditioning on the data. Here we empirically evaluate the Type II and Type III bootstrap proposed by Laird and Louis, as well as the modification suggested by Carlin and Gelfand (1991), with the objective of examining coverage properties of empirical Bayes confidence intervals for small-area proportions.     

A Latent Growth Curve Analysis of the Structure of Aggression,Drug Use,and Delinquent Behaviors and Their Interrelations Over Time in Urban and Rural Adolescents

Latent growth curve analysis was used to examine the structure and interrelations among aggression, drug use, and delinquent behavior during early adolescence. Five waves of data were collected from 667 students at three urban middle schools serving a predominantly African American population, and from a more ethnically diverse sample of 950 students at four rural middle schools. One set of models focused on changes in individual behaviors; the other on changes in a global problem behavior factor. Models with separate growth trajectories for aggression, drug use, and delinquent behavior provided the best fit for both samples and revealed relations between initial levels of aggression and subsequent changes in the other behaviors. Boys and girls differed in their initial levels of these behaviors, but not their patterns of change. Differences in growth curve trajectories were found across samples. These findings have important implications for assessment and prevention of problem behaviors in adolescents.     

Trauma adapted family connections: reducing developmental and complex trauma symptomatology to prevent child abuse and neglect

Families living in urban poverty, enduring chronic and complex traumatic stress, and having difficulty meeting their children's basic needs have significant child maltreatment risk factors. There is a paucity of family focused, trauma-informed evidence-based interventions aimed to alleviate trauma symptomatology, strengthen family functioning, and prevent child abuse and neglect. Trauma Adapted Family Connections (TA-FC) is a manualized trauma-focused practice rooted in the principles of Family Connections (FC), an evidence supported preventive intervention developed to address the glaring gap in services for this specific, growing, and underserved population. This paper describes the science based development of TA-FC, its phases and essential components, which are based on theories of attachment, neglect, trauma, and family interaction within a comprehensive community-based family focused intervention framework.     

Evaluation of the "Lose Your Excuse" public service advertising campaign for tweens to save energy

This study evaluates the 2008-2009 "Lose your Excuse" public service advertising (PSA) campaign on energy efficiency targeting 8- to 12-year-olds, intended to increase knowledge, foster proactive attitudes, and change energy usage behaviors. Baseline and two follow-up surveys were conducted with online samples representative of the national population of households with kids with online access. Almost half (47%) of the tweens recognized at least one ad from the campaign. Ad recognition was positively associated with knowledge, proactive attitudes, and energy-saving behavior. Propensity score analysis confirmed a small but measurable and statistically significant effect on energy-saving behavior. The discussion section compares these results to public health campaigns in terms of ghost awareness, reach, and effect size.     

Understanding the Psychodynamics of Chronic Homelessness from a Self Psychological Perspective

Self psychology can help explain multiple meanings and experiences of being chronically homeless. While it is clear that homelessness is primarily caused by structural deficits and not individual characteristics, for people who are chronically homeless, this way of existence may have developed to serve a variety of coping, cohesive, and self-preserving functions as they have learned to survive and adapt to hostile environments. Through the use of self psychologically informed clinical practice, this paper explores the subject’s multiple meanings and experiences as well as the nuanced processes that led her to successfully attain permanent housing. The paper begins by discussing macro etiologies of homelessness, constructs in self psychology and strives to link the two in theory and practice by exploring one person’s life of chronic homelessness. The paper also explores ethical challenges as coercive elements factor into the case.     

Trauma of children of the Sudan: a constructivist exploration

This article examines the trauma of Sudanese refugee children living in a Midwestern city from a social constructivist view. From a qualitative perspective, the study explored how the Sudanese children, their U.S. foster parents, and social workers from an American child welfare agency described their understanding of the migration experience. Results point to the importance of placing the children's trauma in the context of their own cultures, as child welfare workers assist in the children's adjustment to the United States.     

Picking up the challenge: developing a methodology to enumerate and assess the needs of the street homeless population

This study represents the first enumeration of the street homeless population in Canada. Past enumeration attempts have been challenged on their significant methodological shortcomings. This enumeration directly addressed the lessons learned from previous attempts, and improvements to the methodology are presented and discussed. In addition, lessons learned and recommendations are discussed for application to future enumerations.     

Testing the efficacy of the theory of planned behavior to explain strength training in older adults

The purpose of this study was to use the constructs of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to gain a better understanding of the factors influencing older adults' participation in strength training. Two hundred men and women age 55 years and older were purposely sampled from seniors' centers in Ontario Canada. Participants completed a TPB questionnaire and reported their current physical activity participation. It was hypothesized that perceived behavioral control followed by attitude would be the strongest determinants of strength-training intentions and that intention would be the strongest determinant of strength-training behavior. Regression analyses revealed that subjective norm and perceived behavioral control explained 42% of the variance in intention and intention explained 40% of the variance in behavior. Gender and current strength-training participation did not significantly moderate the relationship between the TPB variables. The results suggest that interventions targeting subjective norm and perceived control might be helpful in promoting strength-training behavior among older adults.     

Generic difference of expected vote share and probability of victory maximization in simple plurality elections with probabilistic voters

In this paper I examine single member, simple plurality elections with n ≥ 3 probabilistic voters and show that the maximization of expected vote share and maximization of probability of victory are “generically different” in a specific sense. More specifically, I first describe finite shyness (Anderson and Zame in Adv Theor Econ 1:1–62, 2000), a notion of genericity for infinite dimensional spaces. Using this notion, I show that, for any policy in the interior of the policy space and any candidate j, the set of n-dimensional profiles of twice continuously differentiable probabilistic voting functions for which simultaneously satisfies the first and second order conditions for maximization of j’s probability of victory and j’s expected vote share at is finitely shy with respect to the set of n-dimensional profiles of twice continuously differentiable probabilistic voting functions for which satisfies the first and second order conditions for maximization of j’s expected vote share.