The College Health Advisor and the College Age Adoptee

Abstract

Eating disorders are among the most common psychopathologies on college campuses. Research on ethnic differences in eating disorder symptoms and prevalence has resulted in conflicting conclusions. Some studies find that particular ethnic groups have a higher prevalence of a symptom; others find that members of that ethnic group have a lower prevalence of the same symptom. The authors explored the role of body mass index (BMI), one potential confound. They used a reliable measure of eating disorder symptoms to assess differences between Hispanic, Asian, and non-Hispanic White college women from two separate samples. After controlling for BMI, ethnic differences in eating disorder symptoms of concern about weight and shape disappeared, but differences in restrained eating remained. Inconsistent findings in the ethnic-difference literature on eating disorders may result from systematic group differences in BMI. Implications for college health programs, counseling, and case finding are discussed.     

College Students' Attitudes toward Shared Responsibility in Decisions about Abortion: Implications for Counseling

Abstract

College students' (112 males and 152 females) perceptions of the extent to which males should share in abortion decision making in seven situations of unplanned pregnancy were surveyed by questionnaire. Associations between gender, religious preference, level of religious activity, and students' attitudes toward extent of shared responsibility for abortion decision making were compared. Results indicate that many male students are more willing to assume decision-making responsibility than females, in some situations, are willing to allow.     

Review of the Day Reconstruction Method (DRM)

The Day Reconstruction Method (DRM) for assessing daily experience and subjective well-being is reviewed. The DRM is a promising method as it assesses feelings within situations and activities, and therefore goes beyond asking who is happy to asking when they are happy. The technique might be less burdensome on respondents than experience-sampling, and might reduce memory biases that are inherent in global recall of feelings. However, evidence for the validity and reliability of the DRM is limited and is not entirely supportive. Research is needed on the psychometrics of the DRM, for example by comparing it to mobile phone assessments and other forms of experience-sampling, as well as to global reports of feelings in situations. Conceptual issues with computing overall subjective well-being by weighting a respondent’s activity scores by the time spent in them are discussed. Despite the promises of the DRM, the many unresolved issues with it and the alternative of using on-line electronic experience-sampling techniques suggest that more research is needed before the value of the DRM is established.     

Return to work still possible after several years as a disability pensioner due to musculoskeletal disorders: a population-based study after new legislation in Sweden permitting "resting disability pension"

Different strategies have been used to stimulate a return to work (RTW) among individuals suffering from long-term ailments. In Sweden a new law on "resting disability pension" permits disability pensioners to go back to work without jeopardising their benefits. In this study different variables related to RTW during 2000 by means of this legislation were identified among disability pensioners with musculoskeletal disorders. Individuals in the study group, when compared to a control group, had more often been disability pensioners for several years, had additional education, estimated their previous job to have been physically strenuous to a lesser degree, were more satisfied with the treatment at the social insurance office and had a more positive self-image. This study shows that it may be meaningful to continue/resume rehabilitation efforts and to try to motivate an individual suffering from musculoskeletal disorders to return to work even after several years as a disability pensioner.     

JOB MARKET SIGNALING OF RELATIVE POSITION,OR BECKER MARRIED TO SPENCE

This paper considers a matching model of the labor market where workers, who have private information on their quality, signal to firms that also differ in quality. Signals allow assortative matching in which the highest‐quality workers send the highest signals and are hired by the best firms. Matching is considered both when wages are rigid (nontransferable utility) and when they are fully flexible (transferable utility). In both cases, equilibrium strategies and payoffs depend on the distributions of worker and firm types. This is in contrast to separating equilibria of the standard model, which do not respond to changes in supply or demand. With sticky wages, despite incomplete information, equilibrium investment in education by low‐ability workers can be inefficiently low, and this distortion can become worse in a more competitive environment. In contrast, with flexible wages, greater competition improves efficiency.     

Two Competing Models of How People Learn in Games

Reinforcement learning and stochastic fictitious play are apparent rivals as models of human learning. They embody quite different assumptions about the processing of information and optimization. This paper compares their properties and finds that they are far more similar than were thought. In particular, the expected motion of stochastic fictitious play and reinforcement learning with experimentation can both be written as a perturbed form of the evolutionary replicator dynamics. Therefore they will in many cases have the same asymptotic behavior. In particular, local stability of mixed equilibria under stochastic fictitious play implies local stability under perturbed reinforcement learning. The main identifiable difference between the two models is speed: stochastic fictitious play gives rise to faster learning.