Family environment and length of recovery for married male members of Gamblers Anonymous and female members of GamAnon

Family environments of married male members of Gamblers Anonymous (GA) and married female members of GamAnon were measured with the Family Environment Scale (FES), a measure of 10 characteristics of family life. The total sample of 86 included 50 male GA and 36 female GamAnon members. GA and GamAnon groups did not differ from each other. However, the short-term GA group reported greater dissatisfaction than controls on five personal growth dimensions. The long-term GA group reported less Conflict than controls. Both short-term and long-term GamAnon groups reported less satisfaction than normal controls on personal growth dimensions. A composite measure of social support demonstrated improvement with duration of abstinence for gamblers but not for spouses. Results suggest improvement in family environment for male pathological gamblers with length of gambling abstinence but less improvement for wives.The authors wish to thank Mr. Les Franklin for assistance with data coding.     

Preliminary observations on globalisation and the migration of sport labour

Focusing on sport labour migration, several broader issues regarding labour migration and globalisation are highlighted. The observations made, and the connections drawn, will be somewhat preliminary in nature. Several dimensions and issues of sport labour migration and globalisation are examined. A range of sports in different societies and across continents are also considered. This migration must be viewed as part of other global cultural flows. Discussion of these flows precedes the case study that focuses on the role of, and the resistance to, American sport labour migrants in the commodification of English basketball over the past two decades, the paper concludes by drawing together the strands of sport migration and global sport development.     

Narratives,self-cohesion,and the patient's search for meaning

Serious clinical problems have emerged as a result of inconsistencies in current psychoanalytic paradigms. The inconsistencies lie in the assumptions behind developmental and clinical theories. This paper discusses the problem and proposes an alternative conceptualization based on a theory of the development of meaning and of the organization of the meanings of experience into self narratives.     

The Impact of Imports and Exports on a Country’s Quality of Life

This paper is a sequel to Sirgy et al. (Social Ind. Res. 68(3) (2004) 251), “The Impact of Globalization on a Country’s Quality of Life: Toward an Integrated Model” published in Social Indicators Research. That paper conceptualized globalization in terms of the free flow of four major components: (1) goods and services, (2) people, (3) capital, and (4) information. The current paper focuses on the free flow of goods and services, one of the four major components of globalization. Specifically, we (1) articulate the trade globalization construct, (2) show the complex mediating effects between trade globalization and QOL, and (3) describe under what conditions these positive vs. negative QOL effects are likely to occur. We develop a set of theoretical propositions to capture these mediating and moderating effects. Based on the theoretical model, we suggest the following public policy recommendations: (1) Encourage exporting firms not to outsource jobs. (2) Encourage firms to export more products in ways that can enhance their production efficiency. (3) Discourage firms from exporting culturally sensitive (and possibly offensive) products to culturally distant countries. (4) Encourage firms to export more products with potential for technology transfer. (5) Encourage firms in industries with a significant comparative advantage to increase exports. (6) Encourage imports of products that do not compete with high employment domestic industries where workers cannot easily transition to more productive employment. (7) Impose trade barriers as short-term solution to help␣threatened industries while helping those industries retool to become more competitive. (8)␣Assist displaced workers by re-training them to shift to industries with comparative advantage.     

Surviving and thriving: Bringing back sociology at the University of San Francisco

This article provides a case study of successful departmental revitalization at the University of San Francisco. We examine the current crisis in the field of sociology and others’ recommendations for addressing it. Reforms are outlined that transformed USF Sociology from a nearly extinct program to a model department on campus. Jennifer Turpin’s research focuses on violence, militarism, gender, and war; Mike Webber’s research examines the relationship between business and politics; Anne Roschelle’s research concentrates on racial, ethnic, and underclass family networks; William Edwards studies urban development, globalization, and social inequality; and Joseph Angilella’s interests include religion and society and complex organizations.     

The genetic connections of Alzheimer's disease: An emerging source of caregiver stress

The purpose of this study was to expand and refine current theoretical conceptualization of dementia caregiving by identifying and analyzing new potential sources of stress. A qualitative analysis of unsolicited letters (N=51) written by family caregivers of persons diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease (AD) was conducted. Content analysis of the data confirmed that providing care for persons diagnosed with AD could impart emotional, physiological, and financial stress on caregivers. The data also revealed an emerging source of stress for family caregivers—fears and uncertainties regarding possible genetic connections between family caregivers and relatives suffering from AD. These results strongly suggest that concerns with genetic connections should be included in theoretical models of stress and dementia caregiving. Implications include the need for increased dissemination of information regarding genetic connections and AD, as well as increased support for family members if and when genetic connections are discovered.     

A hierarchical modelling approach to analysing longitudinal data with drop-out and non-compliance, with application to an equivalence trial in paediatric acquired immune deficiency syndrome

Longitudinal clinical trials with long follow-up periods almost invariably suffer from a loss to follow-up and non-compliance with the assigned therapy. An example is protocol 128 of the AIDS Clinical Trials Group, a 5-year equivalency trial comparing reduced dose zidovudine with the standard dose for treatment of paediatric acquired immune deficiency syndrome patients. This study compared responses to treatment by using both clinical and cognitive outcomes. The cognitive outcomes are of particular interest because the effects of human immunodeficiency virus infection of the central nervous system can be more acute in children than in adults. We formulate and apply a Bayesian hierarchical model to estimate both the intent-to-treat effect and the average causal effect of reducing the prescribed dose of zidovudine by 50%. The intent-to-treat effect quantifies the causal effect of assigning the lower dose, whereas the average causal effect represents the causal effect of actually taking the lower dose. We adopt a potential outcomes framework where, for each individual, we assume the existence of a different potential outcomes process at each level of time spent on treatment. The joint distribution of the potential outcomes and the time spent on assigned treatment is formulated using a hierarchical model: the potential outcomes distribution is given at the first level, and dependence between the outcomes and time on treatment is specified at the second level by linking the time on treatment to subject-specific effects that characterize the potential outcomes processes. Several distributional and structural assumptions are used to identify the model from observed data, and these are described in detail. A detailed analysis of AIDS Clinical Trials Group protocol 128 is given; inference about both the intent-to-treat effect and average causal effect indicate a high probability of dose equivalence with respect to cognitive functioning.     

Lottery play and problem gambling

This study sought to determine if lottery play along with other possible causes engenders problem gambling. Problem gambling was defined as a progression and measured by three scales: Gambling behavior, loss of control over gambling and gambling consequences. Possible causes of problem gambling included lottery play, personality traits, exposure to gambling, leisure pursuits, marital status, residence, and other background characteristics of respondents. Respondents are a stratified random sample of adult residents of Iowa contacted by telephone in May–June, 1989. It was found that lottery play is a predictor of gambling behavior, as well as loss of control and gambling consequences when previous stages of problem gambling were deleted from the analysis as predictor variables. Other predictors of the latter stages of problem gambling include its earlier stages, as well as personality traits and various background characteristics of respondents. The relevance of the findings for theory and future research on gambling are discussed.This research was partially supported by the Iowa Department of Human Services. We also wish to acknowledge the helpful comments of reviewers from this journal.     

Confidentiality: Issues in working with self-harming adolescents

Although clinical work with adolescents has long been recognized as technically difficult, ethical considerations may present an even greater challenge to the clinician. This is particularly true for social workers who work with adolescents who manifest self-harming behavior. This paper examines the ethical dilemmas inherent in clinical work with self-harming adolescents and illustrates the need to include a model for ethical decision making as an essential element in competent social work practice. Moreover, the analysis of the clinical situation underscores the importance of under-standing the contemporary debate on children's rights.