Adult well-being of foster care alumni: Comparisons to other child welfare recipients and a non-child welfare sample in a high-risk,urban setting

Research has shown that children placed in foster care fall below population norms on many indicators of well-being. Yet few studies have been designed to distill the effects of foster care from conditions that precede foster care. Based on the available evidence, it is also uncertain whether the purported effects of foster care are lasting. This study used data gathered prospectively from an economically disadvantaged, urban cohort to examine whether foster care is associated with decreased educational and economic attainments as well as increased criminality in adulthood. Individuals who were placed in foster care after an indicated allegation of maltreatment were compared to three naturally occurring groups: (a) maltreatment victims who did not reside in foster care, (b) individuals without an indicated maltreatment allegation who were raised in a household with a Child Protective Services (CPS) record, and (c) individuals without an individual or household record of CPS involvement. Using multiple estimation procedures, we found that all participants with a CPS record fared worse in adulthood than their peers without a CPS record. Despite their poor outcomes, foster children functioned as well as other CPS recipients who did not reside in foster care. Our findings indicate that caution is warranted when attributing dysfunction observed in foster children to the effects of foster care. Implications for prevention and intervention within the context of child welfare are discussed.     

Discrepancies between chronological age and personal age as a reflection of unrelieved worker stress

Abstract

The general proposition that stress-related variables will be associated with discrepancies between chronological age and perceived personal age of working adults was examined. Responses from a field survey of day, afternoon, and night fixed-shift workers in a large manufacturing organization (n = 1674) were used to explore the relationships between a variety of reported stress-related variables and personal age constructs. Discrepancies between perceived personal age and chronological age were reported by a large proportion of the workers surveyed. Three categories of stress-related variables each accounted for a significant proportion of the variance in discrepancies. As hypothesized, the reported presence of stressors and the frequency/extent of strains (stress-related outcomes) were positively correlated with feeling older than one's chronological age. In addition, the reported presence of support mechanisms for coping with stressors was negatively correlated with feeling older than one's chronological age. The manner in which work and non-work stress may impinge upon personal age perceptions is discussed, and appropriate avenues for future research in this domain are considered.     

现代服务业可迁移性和交互性的新特征及其全球化潜力——兼论对中国发展现代服务业的管理启示

在综述前人有关服务特征研究的基础上,从深入分析现代服务业在可迁移性和交互性方面不同于传统服务业特征的角度出发,以近年来现代服务业在全球主要国家、地区的GDP中超过60%的统计数据及三个现代服务业典型个案为佐证,指出了传统服务理论在指导现代服务业营销中存在的局限.据此,在现代服务可迁移性和交互性分离两大基本特征概念下,对传统服务的7个特征属性进行了理论扩展,构建了诠释两者之间关系的概念模型.由于模型所揭示的规律和管理趋势属于一种探索性的创新研究,花了比较多的篇幅阐释和探讨了模型的逻辑和理论步骤、模型三部分主体内容的理论内涵及理论逻辑关系.最后,根据研究结论,从宏观产业布局,优化服务产业内部结构角度推动中国现代服务产业的发展;中国企业如何应对"后WTO时代"的服务全球化竞争;如何实现传统服务向现代服务转型,制定和实施现代服务产品战略和策略等方面,给出了管理建议.     

Sexual Offenses Against Elderly People: Forensic Evaluation and Judicial Outcome

Forensic evaluation reports and judicial outcomes regarding older victims of suspected sexual offenses were retrospectively reviewed. During this period, a total of 14 cases were registered, corresponding to 0.3% of nonfatal crimes against elderly and 0.6% of the total of sexual crimes reported. All the victims were female. The majority lived alone and did not have limitations in communication, orientation, ambulation, or autonomy. The offenders were all male (17 to 81 years old); most were known to the victims and had history of previous disruptive behaviors. The majority of the sexual offenses occurred in the victims’ homes, and the offenders tended to use physical violence. Forensic evaluation was crucial for the identification of physical and biological evidence, and forensic conclusions were positively correlated with the judicial outcome of each case. High prosecution and conviction rates were also observed.     

交易成本、贸易空间和收购价格的决定分析——以湖北省柑橘市场为例

结合湖北省柑橘市场发展状况,利用新空间经济学理论,在势函数模型中加入交易成本自变量,考察农特产品的市场贸易空间、交易成本和收购价格之间的关系.结果表明：20年来湖北省柑橘产量不断增加,收购价格变化不大;交易成本与市场贸易空间呈负相关,交易成本上涨使得湖北省柑橘市场贸易空间呈收缩趋势;交易成本上涨压制了柑橘源头价格上涨空间.由此,提出建议：改革农特产品流通组织,扶持重点;积极发展农户合作社自组织,降低交易成本;拓展市场贸易空间和加强流通渠道建设.     

The Impact of Paternity and Marital Status on Low Birth Weight and Preterm Births

In the United States the number of births to unmarried mothers is at a record high. Although being unmarried is a significant risk factor for low birth weight and preterm births, paternal presence may have a protective effect. In addition to marital status, paternity may be a proxy measure for paternal support. Virginia birth registry data were analyzed to investigate the effect of marital and paternity status on low birth weight and preterm births. Findings from this study show that women who reported being unmarried and with no paternity status were 1.6 (odds ratio = 1.57, 95% confidence interval = 1.41–1.75) and 1.4 (odds ratio = 1.39, 95% confidence interval = 1.21–1.61) times more likely to have preterm low birth weight and term low birth weight babies, respectively. Being unmarried and lack of established paternity appear to be significantly correlated with and may be important risk factors for preterm and low birth weight deliveries. Health care professionals should be aware of the potential role of paternal presence and marital status may play with respect to preterm births and low birth weight.     

Family Types,Direct Money Transfers from Parents,and School Enrollment among Youth

Intrafamily resource transfers have not been studied extensively as a process that may help reduce the well-being disadvantage of stepchildren in parental remarriages relative to biological children in parental first marriages. The process is examined here by analyzing the link between direct parental money transfers and academic outcomes, as measured by enrollment. I develop and test two alternative hypotheses pertaining to a part of this link, which distinctly applies to children of remarried stepfamilies—the component not shared with children in intact families. An adaptive strategy hypothesis posits a well-being enhancing distinct component, operationalized as a positive interaction effect between measures of parental transfers × stepchildren in parental remarriages. A compromised use hypothesis posits a well-being compromising one, implying a negative interaction effect. Two sets of results from analyzing data on 18- to 21-year-olds over multiple years (Nyouth-age = 5,736, Nperson = 3,615) in the first five waves of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 support the adaptive strategy hypothesis: (1) the interaction effect (income received from parents × being a stepchild in a parental remarriage) has a positive sign, and (2) this interaction effect is consistently positive, whether the youth is at risk of attending high school or college, even when the direction of the shared component of the link, as measured by the main effect of income from parents, varies by the level of schooling. The results suggest the presence of a robust well-being enhancing money transfer mechanism supporting children in some remarried stepparent families.     

基于农林剩余物的河南省生物质能源资源潜力研究

河南省作为一个农业大省和人口大省,发展生物质能源产业,对其农民增收、新农村建设和农业发展意义重大。资源潜力估算是产业发展的基础。运用曲线估计研究了河南省的现实资源潜力和长期资源潜力。结果表明,河南省的生物质能源资源现实潜力较大,目前资源储量可达8 269.8万t。从长期来看,河南省的生物质能源储量水平将呈现不断增长的趋势。     

中国家禽出口贸易影响因素与发展潜力——基于引力模型的分析

基于1992-2010年中国与24个家禽进口国的面板数据,建立引力模型对中国家禽出口贸易影响因素及发展潜力进行分析。研究结果表明:中国畜牧业总产值、进口国经济规模、贸易双方人均收入差距、有共同边界和同为APEC成员国对中国家禽出口具有显著的正向影响;空间距离和WTO制度安排则是阻碍家禽出口的主要因素。中国家禽对澳门、新加坡、韩国、荷兰、法国、匈牙利、澳大利亚、俄罗斯、阿联酋和沙特阿拉伯等国家还存在巨大出口潜力。     

川西上三叠统生物礁群分布特征及控制因素

川西上三叠统马鞍塘组的硅质海绵生物礁沿龙门山带出露, 前人已对其岩性、 化石、 分布及控制因素作了一定研究。将出露礁体的分布及岩性特征与欧洲硅质海绵礁对比, 进一步结合全球海绵—珊瑚礁的演化特征和川西地震剖面中似礁的丘形隆起现象, 认为川西地区在晚三叠世早期发育硅质海绵—珊瑚礁系列, 其中硅质海绵礁发育在较深水环境, 现今部分被后期龙门山冲断带推覆至地表; 含珊瑚的礁体发育在相对浅水、 高能环境, 现今位于川西凹陷中; 硅质海绵礁的展布范围受北面秦岭古陆的碎屑物注入影响, 沿龙门山方向向北逐渐变小; 高能礁体发育在川西拗陷至川中古隆起的过渡带上, 远离北面物源。对于揭示川西地区海相碳酸盐岩到碎屑岩的转变过程及马鞍塘组的油气勘探具有重要意义。