Psychological distress among black and white Americans: differential effects of social support, negative interaction and personal control

This study examines the relationships among social support, negative interaction, financial strain, traumatic events, personal control, personality, and psychological distress among African American and white adults. These analyses: (1) test the overall adequacy of various models (i.e., main, mediator, and artifactual effects) of these effects, (2) examine the role of social support and negative interaction within the context of financial strain and traumatic events, and (3) verify possible indirect effects of social interaction on distress by assessing their impact on personal control. Data from The National Comorbidity Survey were used to examine these relationships using structural equation modeling techniques. Findings indicated different models of these relationships for African Americans and whites. Overall, personal control mediated the relationship between negative interaction and psychological distress. For whites, negative interaction was an overall stronger predictor of distress and contributed to the impact of financial strain and traumatic events on psychological distress. Among African Americans, social support was a stronger predictor of distress. The findings suggest that the underlying models of these relationships are different for African Americans and whites.     

Status, role, and resource explanations for age patterns in psychological distress

Using data from the 1996 and 1998 General Social Surveys, we explore the relationships among age, age-linked personal and social qualities, and two measures of psychological distress: depression (1996) and generalized distress (1998). Our study has three aims: (1) to replicate the u-shaped age-distress relationship in two recent U.S. data sets, (2) to confirm and elaborate on the mediators of the parabolic association, and (3) to explore the possible suppressor effects. In 1996, depression decreases from young adulthood into midlife and increases among the oldest-old. Less education, lower control, and widowhood contribute to old-age upturn; however, fewer time demands and greater financial satisfaction suppress the upward curve. Conversely, greater control, less shame, and greater religious attendance contribute to the decline through midlife; however, poorer health in midlife suppress that decline. Age patterns in distress are similar in the 1998 sample. Greater satisfaction with finances and fewer religious doubts contribute to the downward slope; however, declining levels of health suppress that downturn. Less education and retired status contribute to the old-age upturn. In sum, personal and social conditions have opposing influences on the parabolic relationship between age and distress.     

Strategic planning—Which style do you need?

Strategic planning is now a large and diverse activity practised in many different kinds of organizations. This article provides an overview of the field with a summary of the five main schools of thought each with its own business philosophy and a range of practical approaches and techniques. These basic styles are concerned with planning as a central control system, a framework for innovation, an organizational change process, a political activity, and a way of exploring the future. Most planning systems have a dominant style or focus and this emphasis needs to be adjusted in response to changes which are occurring continually in the organization and in the external environment. The article is designed to help the senior manager or corporate planner to assess the state of planning in his organization and to see where there are important gaps in the enterprise's capability for planning which might be filled by the launching of new initiatives. The article also offers an agenda of approaches for consideration by the executive who wishes to move his enterprise from a conventional 5-year planning and budgeting system towards a more comprehensive process of managing organizational change and development.     

Comparative trials in classification of image data

In this paper, we describe some results of an ESPRIT project known as StatLog whose purpose is the comparison of classification algorithms. We give a brief summary of some of the algorithms in the project: discriminant analysis; nearest neighbours; decision trees; neural net methods; SMART; kernel methods and other Bayesian approaches.We focus on data sets derived from images, ranging from raw pixel data to features and summaries extracted from such data.     

Proruralism values and migration behavior

Population and Environment - The article looks more closely at migration to small cities and towns by studying the relative influence of proruralism value orientations on migration behaviorvis...