The Sandwich Generation: Dependency, Proximity, and Task Assistance Needs of Parents

This study was designed to determine the extent of sandwiched families and the impact of dependency and proximity to task assistance provided to parent(s). Data were collected in Idaho, Oregon, Utah, and Michigan from a random sample of 40–65-year-old respondents. Fifteen percent are sandwiched between needs of aging parents and financially dependent children. Respondents are much more likely to be providing assistance to mothers than fathers. Parents are most likely to live near, but not necessarily with, the respondent. Spouses and partners' parents, however, are likely to live farther away. Task assistance provided most often to aging parent(s) includes help with transportation and shopping; financial assistance was reported least often. Income of respondent and dependency and proximity of parents are significantly related to providing assistance to parents. This study offers a unique glimpse at the relationships between personal characteristics, dependency, proximity, and task assistance issues as they pertain to the sandwich generation.     

Comparing measures of poverty and relative deprivation: an example for Belgium

This paper presents three different poverty standards. A first approach takes the disposable income as an indicator of poverty. A second approach uses the Leyden approach. Finally an aggregate index of deprivation, based on the observation of consumption events, is constructed through a particular econometric procedure proposed by Desai and Shah (1988). These alternative measures are then compared on a sample composed of 6380 Belgian households. Such an analysis can be expected to provide some further insight into the problem of measuring poverty, which has been the subject of a recent controversial debate.We thank the participants of the Second Annual Meeting of the European Society for Population Economics, June 23–25, 1988, Mannheim (FRG), L. Gevers, J. Lindsey, P. Pestieau, B. Sak, K. Van den Bosch and two anonymous referees for their comments and suggestions.     

The social implications of population displacement and resettlement: an overview with a focus on the Arab Middle East

"Recent decades have witnessed a global increase in the collective displacement of populations as a result of natural disasters, wars and development projects. The social implications of displacement, and its corollary process of resettlement, are explored in this article, with a focus on the Arab world....[The author suggests that] an approach which emphasizes the relation between the causes and consequences of displacement, examines cases in their historical contexts, and selects the appropriate unit of analysis is essential in developing an adequate framework of analysis."     

Residential segregation in Australian cities: a literature review

"In this review of literature dealing with the postwar immigrant experience in urban Australia, some of the key interpretations of residential segregation are assessed. The article focuses on studies which have examined ethnic clusters formed by southern Europeans in Sydney and Melbourne and more recently by Indochinese refugees. Much of the analysis to date has been based on measuring static residential patterns rather than social interaction, and the need to question the significance of ethnic concentrations which sometimes characterize the early stages of immigrant adaptation is suggested."     

The design of organizations and the right to act

Recent innovations in the structure of formal organizations suggest possible directions for the design of schools to bring about high achievement. The structure of output-driven in contrast to administratively-driven schools is described, and designs are described which address both the goal of high achievement and the goal of reduced inequality.An earlier version of this paper was presented as the author's Sorokin Lecture at the annual meeting of the Eastern Sociological Society, Boston, March 1993.     

Clinical supervision: Its role in “Containing” countertransference responses to a filicidal patient

This paper illustrates the role of supervision in processing countertransference responses with might have disrupted the therapist's empathy with a patient who had killed her child. The clinical material demonstrates how the therapist's responses of initial denial and subsequent disgust and fear were dealt with in supervision. As a result, the treatment process led to genuine, albeit limited, therapeutic change in a patient with severe character pathology.This paper is developed from a presentation of the case of Mrs. Jay at Department of Psychiatry Grand Rounds, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, on May 2, 1989.     

The health care Titanic: women and children first?

The plight of people who lack access to health care has captured national attention and led to a number of proposals to remedy the problem. The authors look at three types of proposals being advanced--"pro-competition" plans, "pay-or-play" plans, and a national health care system--and find that they fail to address adequately the pressing needs of two groups of the poor: women of childbearing age and elderly women.     

Reformulating the development theory of welfare

Industrialization, technological change and overall economic development are often cited as important factors in the development of welfare states. This article examines the importance of cycles in economic activity and cycles in technological innovation to enhancing our understanding of welfare. The history of technological change in health-care services is used to illustrate the argument.     

Physician perceptions of medical malpractice and defensive medicine

Using judgments obtained in interviews with 33 Massachusetts physicians, the annual statewide volume of expenditures incurred for defensive medical reasons in 1982 was estimated to be $1.0 billion, 12% of all medical care expenditures. Estimates for the nation were $37 billion, 14% of expenditures. Nationally, 180,000 cesarean deliveries were thought to be performed for defensive motives. In their own institutions, respondents judged 43% of all skull x-rays following injury to be medically justified, 30% to be defensive medicine, 16% to be placebos, and 11% to be physician misjudgments. In considering the economic and noneconomic costs of medical malpractice procedures, the dollar costs of insurance were considered most serious, followed closely by defensive medicine, unfairness, and poorer relations with patients. Thirty-two percent of the responsibility for the negative aspects of malpractice processes was assigned to lawyers, 21% to physicians, 18% to legislatures and courts, 16% to patients, and 13% to insurance companies.     

Geographic distribution of undocumented immigrants: estimates of undocumented aliens counted in the 1980 census by state

"This article presents estimates of the number of undocumented aliens counted in the 1980 [U.S.] census for each state and the District of Columbia. The estimates, which indicate that 2.06 million undocumented aliens were counted in the 1980 census, are not based on individual records, but are aggregate estimates derived by a residual technique. The census count of aliens (modified somewhat to account for deficiencies in the data) is compared with estimates of the legally resident alien population based on data collected by the Immigration and Naturalization Service in January 1980." Estimates are provided "for each of the states for selected countries of birth and for age, sex, and period of entry categories.... The origins of the undocumented alien population [are described], as well as some of their demographic characteristics. Some of the implications of the numbers and distribution of undocumented aliens are also discussed." This paper was originally presented at the 1984 Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America (see Population Index, Vol. 50, No. 3, Fall 1984, p. 435).