Evaluation of changes to family income supplement

The work described in this paper was commissioned by the DHSS policy branch responsible for family benefits. The problem is rather more specific than those addressed by the studies described in the paper by Holdaway and Partridge. It does however parallel at least one of the observations made there. The study started out with a relatively broad brief but was constrained by events to concentrate on one particular problem, namely forecasting the cost and caseload of Family Income Supplement.     

The time it takes to identify facial expressions: Effects of age,gender of subject,sex of sender,and type of expression

Subjects were presented with 35 mm slides of faces and required to indicate the type of expression (pleasant or unpleasant) by a switch movement. Latency and accuracy were recorded. The variables of the study were age (early or late adolescence), gender of subject, sex of sender, and type of expression. The most important results were as follows: There was no age effect when the latencies were adjusted by a covariate to take account of age-related differences in general perceptual-motor skills. There was a strong interaction in which the female pleasant slides produced substantially lower latencies than the other three combinations of sex of sender and type of expression. A weaker interaction indicated faster identification for the female sender, female subject condition than the other three combinations of sex of sender and gender of subject. Overall, the facial identification process was found to be very rapid (about a quarter of a second slower than identification of a simple geometric form) and accurate (.078 error rate).     

Stories About Child Sexual Abuse: Textual Analysis of Instruction Manuals in Israel

This paper overviews the socio-historical background underlying the construction of child abuse as a public issue in Israel, and analyzes one cultural product of this process—textbooks and manuals on child sexual abuse prevention. Analysis of the Israeli narratives reveals that they mimic American counterparts and address an ideal Jewish middle-class, ignoring other societal sectors. The narratives individualize and medicalize both victim and abuser. Focusing on stereotyped techniques for the individual’s survival and recovery, they avoid discussion of broader social and political power relations.     

Child welfare involvement among children in homeless families

An analysis of 8251 homeless children in New York City found that 18% of them received child welfare services over the five-year period following their first shelter admission, and an additional 6% had a history of having received such services before their first shelter admission. Recurrent use of public shelters, exposure to domestic violence, older age at first episode of homelessness, and larger number of children in a household were associated with an increased risk of child welfare involvement. The high rate of crossover between homelessness and the child welfare system suggests the need for service coordination for children in homeless families.     

Optimal design of a post office

A mathematical model which describes the postal operations is discussed in this paper. This paper is confined to the problems which arise within a post office in mail sorting and classifying operations.     

Locating service offices: a multicriteria approach

The problem considered is the location of regional service offices in the expanded operating territories of a large property and liability insurer. These offices serve as first line administrative centers for sales support and claims processing. The location of the regional service offices is determined through a zero-one linear multiple objective programming model. The criteria and constraints of the model reflect investment and operating costs, budget considerations, and a measure of the service level provided.     

An Introduction to the Social Psychology of Insults in Organizations

The author argues that insults are an importantsocial and organizational phenomenon, which causespowerful emotions and enters people's personalhistories. It is suggested that insults involve aperpetrator, a target and, often, an audience. The intentionto insult is not necessary, as some insults are theresult of misunderstanding or accident. However, theexperience of being gratuitously offended and the corresponding feelings of shame, guilt, andanger are fundamental to insults. Several types ofinsults are observed, such as exclusion, stereotyping,obliteration of significant identity details,ingratitude, scapegoating, rudeness, broken promises, beingignored or kept waiting. Even more potent insults resultfrom the defamation or despoiling of idealized objects,persons, or ideas. Different insult dynamics are noted; these include an apology, acommensurate retaliation, a disproportionate retaliationand possible escalation, a retaliation against asurrogate and weaker target than the perpetrator of theinitial insult, an affected indifference with apossible delayed retaliation, or more commonly aresigned tolerance which may fuel subsequent insults.Insults as well as retaliation and resistance to themare part of an organization's political process whichestablishes, first, lines of domination/subordination,second, finer gradations of status and power, i.e., apecking order, and third, opportunities for building coalitions and alliances. It is argued thatinsults allow for a certain mobility within a peckingorder, by offering 'matches' for contestants to pitchtheir wit, venom, and courage against each other. They also enable audiences to take sides, thusinfluencing and testing the operation of coalitions andalliances.     

Missouri Casino Self-Excluders: Distributions Across Time and Space

According to public health research, exposure to casinos is a risk factor for disordered gambling. Consequently, casino self-exclusion programs, which provide gamblers with the opportunity to voluntarily seek limits on their access to gambling venues, can serve as a barometer of the concentration of disordered gambling in an area. This study reports on the distribution, both temporally and geographically, of 6,599 people who applied to exclude themselves from Missouri casinos between November, 1996 and February, 2004. Analyses used Microsoft MapPoint to plot the location of casinos and self-excluders (SEs) across Missouri and its constituent counties. These regional exposure analyses showed that the Western region around Kansas City is an epicenter of disordered gambling as, to a lesser extent, is the Eastern region around St. Louis. The annual number of SE enrollments increased during the first few years of the Missouri self-exclusion program and then leveled off during the later years. These findings have important implications for public health and the development of public health interventions for disordered gamblers.     

Ethnic Identity, Immigration, and Well-Being: An Interactional Perspective

On the basis of existing theory and research regarding ethnic identity and immigration and our own empirical work in four immigrant-receiving countries, we suggest an interactional model for understanding psychological outcomes for immigration. Specifically, the interrelationship of ethnic and national identity and their role in the psychological well-being of immigrants can best be understood as an interaction between the attitudes and characteristics of immigrants and the responses of the receiving society. This interaction is moderated by the particular circumstances of the immigrant group. The strengths of ethnic and national identity vary depending on the support for ethnic maintenance and the pressure for assimilation. Most studies show that the combination of a strong ethnic identity and a strong national identity promotes the best adaptation.