Themes from older men's lay definitions of successful aging as indicators of primary and secondary control beliefs over time: The Manitoba Follow-up Study

Constructs of control have theoretically been equated to successful aging in the psychology literature. Hence, we used themes from lay definitions of successful aging to quantify the prevalence of primary and secondary control beliefs over time. In doing so we hoped to shed new light upon the virtually uncharted area of older men's primary and secondary control beliefs over time. Using successful aging narratives spanning a 10-year timeframe from the Manitoba Follow-up Study cohort, we mapped themes from older men's lay definitions of successful aging onto Rothbaum, Weisz, and Snyder's (1982) constructs of primary and secondary control. We then examined the prevalence of the constructs of control over 10 years and found that some men emphasized primary control, some emphasized secondary control, and others emphasized both, prospectively. Counter to what had previously been theorized, many older men continued to emphasize primary control as important well into late life. As expected, secondary control became more important with age. Furthermore, among those men who endorsed both primary and secondary control, significantly more men switched emphasis from primary to secondary control beliefs as they aged. This finding supported Rothbaum et al.'s (1982) surmise that individuals could switch from one type of control to another, presumably as life circumstances dictated. Knowing which types of control beliefs older men emphasize as they age has theoretical and practical implications. Theoretically, it sheds new light on the under-researched area of control beliefs in older men. Practically, it is informative for anyone interested in enhancing older men's perceptions of control in very late life, particularly in the face of otherwise uncontrollable age-related decline and imminent demise.     

Macroeconomic determinants of migration: the case of Germany, 1964-1988

Macroeconomic determinants of immigration are analysed with pooled cross-country and time series data on net immigration to Germany from European countries during 1964-1988.
Results demonstrate clearly that both high and low frequency determinants have been important. Long run trends are determined by the degree and speed of per capita income convergence between the sending and receiving countries, while year-to-year changes in net immigration flows are dominated by cyclical economic conditions.     

Health care trends, Part 2. The new health care team. Panel discussion

In Part 2 of this third annual panel discussion, six experts talk about the growing diversity of health care providers and what it means for consumers and physicians. Americans are getting their wellness and health care services from a wider variety of non-physician practitioners than ever before. The number of allied health and alternative providers with direct patient access is likely to continue growing. This trend is being driven by consumer demand, by the lobbying efforts of non-physician providers, and by federal, state, and private payers who see the potential for reduced health care spending, greater consumer satisfaction, and better outcomes. In practice, this means physicians and non-physician providers, some of whom may not be sanctioned by the medical establishment, are obligated to collaborate as a team. Members of this new provider team will have to communicate effectively (with each other, with consumers, and with payers) and make evidence-based clinical decisions. Physicians may have to share decision-making with other members of this new health care team.     

A Simple Variance Estimator for Unequal Probability Sampling without Replacement

Survey sampling textbooks often refer to the Sen–Yates–Grundy variance estimator for use with without-replacement unequal probability designs. This estimator is rarely implemented because of the complexity of determining joint inclusion probabilities. In practice, the variance is usually estimated by simpler variance estimators such as the Hansen–Hurwitz with replacement variance estimator; which often leads to overestimation of the variance for large sampling fractions that are common in business surveys. We will consider an alternative estimator: the Hájek (1964 Hájek J 1981 Sampling from a Finite Population New York: Marcel Dekker  [Google Scholar]) variance estimator that depends on the first-order inclusion probabilities only and is usually more accurate than the Hansen–Hurwitz estimator. We review this estimator and show its practical value. We propose a simple alternative expression; which is as simple as the Hansen–Hurwitz estimator. We also show how the Hájek estimator can be easily implemented with standard statistical packages.     

Consumer Evaluations of Food Risk Management Quality in Europe

In developing and implementing appropriate food risk management strategies, it is important to understand how consumers evaluate the quality of food risk management practices. The aim of this study is to model the underlying psychological factors influencing consumer evaluations of food risk management quality using structural equation modeling techniques (SEM), and to examine the extent to which the influence of these factors is country-specific (comparing respondents from Denmark, Germany, Greece, Slovenia, and the United Kingdom). A survey was developed to model the factors that drive consumer evaluations of food risk management practices and their relative importance (n= 2,533 total respondents). The measurement scales included in the structural model were configurally and metrically invariant across countries. Results show that some factors appear to drive perceptions of effective food risk management in all the countries studied, such as proactive consumer protection, which was positively related to consumers' evaluation of food risk management quality, while opaque and reactive risk management was negatively related to perceived food risk management quality. Other factors appeared to apply only in certain countries. For example, skepticism in risk assessment and communication practices was negatively related to food risk management quality, particularly so in the UK. Expertise of food risk managers appeared to be a key factor in consumers' evaluation of food risk management quality in some countries. However, trust in the honesty of food risk managers did not have a significant effect on food risk management quality. From the results, policy implications for food risk management are discussed and important directions for future research are identified.     

Effect of Level of Disaggregation on Conjoint Cross Validations: Some Comparative Findings*

Early formulations of conjoint models focused on part-worth estimation at the individual level. As the methodology's popularity grew so did industry demands for increasingly larger numbers of attributes and levels. In response to these demands, new approaches, based on partial or full data aggregation (such as clusterwise/latent class conjoint and choice-based conjoint), have appeared. This paper suggests that pooled-data models will often be successful in predicting market shares when researchers employ monotonic attributes. In these cases more of a good attribute (or less of a bad attribute) is always more preferred. In the more realistic case, in which some of the attributes may be nonmonotonic, we find that data aggregation does not predict holdout sample preferences as well as individual part-worth models.     

Complementing SBIRT for Alcohol Misuse with SBIRT for Trauma: A Feasibility Study

Reducing alcohol misuse is a priority for U.S. health officials considering that misuse of alcohol is a leading preventable cause of morbidity and mortality. Consequently, health centers are integrating Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) for alcohol misuse within usual care. Although SBIRT is well validated among general patient samples, results have not generalized to drinkers with probable alcohol use disorder; moreover, little is known about the efficacy of SBIRT with patients who are of low-income or ethnic or racial minority status. Members of these groups are of particular concern because they are at risk to experience trauma, potentially in concert with alcohol misuse. Therefore, translational approaches to delivering SBIRT particularly with these groups of interest might be needed to meet the Grand Challenge of reducing alcohol misuse. Accordingly, this study combined SBIRT with a model designed to address psychological trauma: T-SBIRT. With a sample of 112 adults, most of whom were African American or Latino/a, authors analyzed multiple indicators of feasibility. Results indicated that T-SBIRT is suitable for and acceptable to patients accessing community-based health services, and T-SBIRT can promote high referral acceptance rates to specialty treatment, particularly among patients with probable alcohol use disorder.