Using auxiliary data for parameter estimation with non-ignorably missing outcomes

We propose a method for estimating parameters in generalized linear models when the outcome variable is missing for some subjects and the missing data mechanism is non-ignorable. We assume throughout that the covariates are fully observed. One possible method for estimating the parameters is maximum likelihood with a non-ignorable missing data model. However, caution must be used when fitting non-ignorable missing data models because certain parameters may be inestimable for some models. Instead of fitting a non-ignorable model, we propose the use of auxiliary information in a likelihood approach to reduce the bias, without having to specify a non-ignorable model. The method is applied to a mental health study.     

Rent Control: An Economic Abomination

Rent control is a public policy which fails on both normative and positive economic grounds. In the former case, it violates all canons of equity, of both right (private property rights are sacrosanct) and left (it does not promote egalitarianism, rather, often, it enriches rich tenants and impoverishes poor landlords). In the latter, it leads to inefficiency, deterioration of rental housing, reduces incentives for upkeep and maintenance, reduces labor mobility, exacerbates landlord tenant relations, promotes housing abandonment and homelessness, and misallocates resources away from residential rental units. This sovietization of housing has effects similar to the sovietization of anything else: farming, factories, industry, forestry, whatever. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Reshaping boundaries: Family politics and GLBTQ resistance in urban Vietnam

Although Vietnamese society is currently undergoing significant changes with regards to the rights and perceptions of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer (GLBTQ) people, dominant socio-cultural norms related to gender, sexuality, and the importance of the patrilineal family regime continue to cast a shadow over the lives of GLBTQ in contemporary Vietnam. Based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in the urban centers of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, as well as legal documents and secondary sources, this article illustrates how dominant heteronormative socio-cultural norms have contributed to the political, legal, and social exclusion of same-sex sexualities through a process of outlawing, whereby GLBTQ have been systematically excluded from the rights of law. Drawing on qualitative interviews with gay men and lesbian women between the ages of 20 and 50, the article also highlights how this relation of domination has allowed for instances of GLBTQ resistance, through subversive opposition, strategies of avoidance, and the seeking out of new opportunities in urban spaces outside the dominant sociality. The article thus provides a qualitatively nuanced account of family politics and GLBTQ resistance in urban Vietnam at a significant socio-political historical juncture.     

MS,exercise, and the potential for older adults

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disorder of the central nervous system. The average onset of the disease is 30 years of age, and it afflicts women more often than men (ratio of approximately 2:1). The symptoms of the disease include fatigue, motor weakness, heat sensitivity, reduced mobility, abnormal gait mechanics, and poor balance. These symptoms decrease cognitive and physical functional capacity of an individual and tend to result in sedentary lifestyle behaviors. A sedentary lifestyle among individuals with MS increases the risk of secondary diseases such as coronary heart disease and obesity, particularly as one ages. The effect of exercise in treating symptoms of MS has been under explored, perhaps due to the fact that exercise was thought to magnify MS-related fatigue and other symptoms. Recent research has challenged this notion, advocating exercise as an effective therapy for the management of MS, as well as maintaining overall fitness and improving quality-of-life measures. While the research shows clear benefits, the barriers to exercise participation among MS patients are significant. Recommendations for various forms of exercise are provided, along with strategies for overcoming barriers to participation.     

Charismatic leadership: Eliciting and channeling follower emotions

Research on charismatic leadership has been criticized for the ambiguity of its central construct. Attempts to define and measure charisma have frequently treated it as a complex construct consisting of multiple components. However, little work has been done to develop a theoretical model that offers a parsimonious rationale explaining why certain leadership attributes are considered “charismatic” while others are not, or how these attributes combine to produce charismatic effects. Addressing these issues, we present a model that situates emotion as the primary variable in the charismatic process. We use recent research on the moral emotions to frame a theory of followership-relevant emotions (FREs) that describes how leaders use emotions such as compassion, admiration, and anger to compel their followers to act. We then discuss the Elicit-Channel (EC) model of charismatic leadership, positing that the charismatic relationship is a five-step, cyclical process. In the EC model, leaders elicit highly motivating emotions from their followers and then channel those emotions to produce action that, if successful, results in outcomes such as positive affect and trust. These outcomes then enable the leader to continue the cycle, eliciting emotion once more. We conclude by offering a research agenda, addressing potential methodological concerns, and discussing future directions.     

Race and Wealth: A Demographic Analysis of Black Homeownership*

Historically, the rate of black homeownership has been low compared to nonblacks. The purpose of this study is to assess the extent to which levels of black homeownership are determined by selected social factors and racial discrimination. The findings reveal that blacks are less likely to be homeowners in nearly every sociodemographic category. The one exception is the finding that elderly blacks are more likely than blacks and nonblacks in all other age categories to be homeowners.     

Factors characterizing the most effective nonprofits managed by volunteers

This article reports on an empirical study of thirty-nine volunteer-managed nonprofit organizations (voluntary associations, not paid staff nonprofits) in a small suburb of Boston. Reputation for effectiveness in achieving goals has been found to be significantly associated with nonprofit nature, governance, and formalization. Many hypotheses suggested by others for nonprofit organizations with paid staff do not seem to transfer to volunteer nonprofit groups. Practitioners can utilize the present findings to improve volunteer nonprofits.     

Factors influencing dietary fat intake among black emerging adults

Objective: To determine what factors influenced dietary fat intake (DFI) among black emerging adults. Participants: Sample included 251 black emerging adults, ages 18–25 years, living in the US. Methods: This was a nonexperimental cross-sectional study based on self-report data. Results: The sample had high DFI. Factors related to DFI were gender (r_pb = ?.22, p < .001), perceived barriers for healthy eating (r = .32, p < .001), and perceived self-efficacy (r = ?.33, p < .001). These variables were also significant predictors for DFI. Gender was significantly related to DFI (b = ?5.894, p = .000). Religious commitment moderated the effect of stress on DFI. Conclusions: Gender, perceived barriers for healthy eating, and perceived self-efficacy were significant predictors for DFI. Religious commitment influenced the relationship of perceived stress and DFI. These findings may lead to interventions designed to reduce DFI and cardiovascular risks among black emerging adults.     

On place utility and the normative allocation of intra-urban migrants

This paper arises out of the fact that place utility, a basic factor in behavioral conceptualizations of migration processes, has not been specified in operational terms. This is done here through a model that assigns intraurban migrants to destination areal units within the city, using a normative linear programming framework based on behavioral considerations. Measures of place utilities for each areal unit and of comparative place utilities for each pair-wise permutation of areal units are provided by the shadow prices of the dual of the linear programming model. The primal of the model allocates migrants so as to maximize the household’s gain from migration. This is measured by the increase in its realized aspirations with respect to a residence site, tempered by the search effort involved in acquiring the site. Implementation of the model utilizes both questionnaire and published data from Cedar Rapids, Iowa for the year 1966 to 1967. Conformity between predictions of the model and real-world characteristics is such that it is concluded that the basic form of the model is sound. It is also concluded that the posited relationships between place utility and behavior in searching for and selecting a new residential site are reasonable and can lead to valuable insights into place utility and its functioning in the intra-urban system. Due to some misallocation of migrant flows, however, we further conclude that the model should be revised into a recursive format for future use.     

Postman Pat and me: Everyday encounters with an icon of idyllic rurality

It is, by now, well accepted that those of us who live with/in contemporary Anglocentric popular culture are presented, from birth, with manifold icons and imaginings of the English countryside as idyllic. Indeed, the idea that, through such popular representations, we encounter and ‘consume’ this sense of ‘rural idyll’ – and a particular, underlying, ideologically laden set of idea(l)s – has been well rehearsed. However, this paper reflects upon a question which has hitherto been often overlooked: what is the (practical, tangible) nature of this ‘consumption’? Approaching this question, the paper re-presents a succession of encounters with one icon of idyllic rurality: Postman Pat. In so doing, the paper develops an understanding of some complex – and frequently banal, odd, happenstance, taken-for-granted – happenings and practices which are fundamentally part of the ‘consumption’ of ‘rural idyll’.