Measuring social indicators in opinion surveys: A method to improve accuracy on sensitive questions

Asking sensitive questions, without risking a terminated interview or response bias, is a major problem in deriving accurate social indicators based on public opinion surveys. This problem has become particularly acute as the topics that interest researchers have become more personal in nature. Mail and telephone surveys, and methods such as the randomized response technique, have all been used to try and overcome this problem, with varying degrees of success. In this paper, we describe an alternative approach using a sealed booklet. We report results from a question-format experiment that asked respondents the same sensitive questions in a sealed booklet, completed in the presence of the interviewer, and in a standard face-to-face interview. The survey used for the experiment was a personal interview survey of drug use based on a national population sample. The sealed booklet format was found to produce more accurate estimates of drug use compared to direct questions. In addition to assuring the respondent greater anonymity, the sealed booklet permits a wide range of questions to be asked and does not limit the analyses that can be conducted on the data.     

Well–Being Among Older Adults on Different Continents

Old age represents a new frontier. The number of older people is increasing throughout the world. This changing demography affects individuals, but also families, communities and societies. The focus of this issue is the well–being of older adults on different continents. Scientists from around the world address this issue using a wide array of research designs and methodologies to provide a broad perspective on aging. Five topics are considered: Well–Being Among Older Adults; Social Support; Functional Status, Well–Being and Successful Aging; Cross–Cultural Approaches to the Study of Aging; and Research Perspectives in Aging. This issue clearly demonstrates that scientists have much to contribute to the goal of optimizing the experience of aging and creating a society for all ages.     

Generational Structure and Social Resources in Mid-Life: Influences on Health and Well-Being

The influence of generational structure on well-being in mid-life is examined in a regional representative sample of 807 adults aged 30–64. Results indicate that those who lack the personal and social resources of education and marriage, and have parents but no children, report higher levels of well-being than those with only child(ren) or both parent(s) and child(ren). Findings suggest that elders may serve as a key resource to adult children who lack personal and social resources in mid-life. Adults increasingly follow less traditional paths in life (e.g., those without children and/or never married), and hence, these findings have implications for current and future policies directed toward aging and family well-being.     

Families Under the Microscope: Repeated Sampling of Perceptions,Experiences, Biology,and Behavior

Families are not frozen dioramas; they are alive, active, and changing. Models of real‐life marital and family processes require many moving pieces. An intensive repeated measures approach reaches beyond static representations of the family toward more dynamic models that depict “life as it is lived.” The appearance of studies that use diaries and biological sampling in everyday life has burgeoned in the family research literature. These methods are part of a larger class of naturalistic methods that assess families in action and that includes direct video and audio recordings of families in their everyday environments. This article summarizes research that uses diaries, observations, and biological data collected over time in natural settings to study families. It provides an overview of the major research questions, designs, methods of data collection, and statistical models used in those literatures. Theoretical contributions and next steps in naturalistic research on families are discussed.