Freud's “Anna O.”: Social work's Bertha Pappenheim

The story of Anna O. has loomed large in psychoanalytic history, but few social workers know that the young woman, who was so influential in the development of Freud's thinking, became a pioneer social worker in Germany. The story of the transformation of the troubled young woman, who was actually Joseph Breuer's patient, is the focus of this paper. In addition, some of the facts of the case are discussed as social constructions. Anna O./ Bertha Pappenheim participated in the creation of the talking cure and eventually went on to be a leading feminist, developer of social programs for women, and social reformer.     

Drawing statistical inferences from historical census data, 1850–1950

Virtually all quantitative microdata used by social scientists derive from samples that incorporate clustering, strati cation, and weighting adjustments (Kish 1965, 1992). Such data can yield standard error estimates that differ dramatically from those derived from a simple random sample of the same size. Researchers using historical U.S. census microdata, however, usually apply methods designed for simple random samples. The resulting p values and confidence intervals could be inaccurate and could lead to erroneous research conclusions. Because U.S. census microdata samples are among the most widely used sources for social science and policy research, the need for reliable standard error estimation is critical. We evaluate the historical microdata samples of the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) project from 1850 to 1950 in order to determine (1) the impact of sample design on standard error estimates, and (2) how to apply modern standard error estimation software to historical census samples. We exploit a unique new data source from the 1880 census to validate our methods for standard error estimation, and then we apply this approach to the 1850–1870 and 1900–1950 decennial censuses. We conclude that Taylor series estimation can be used effectively with the historical decennial census microdata samples and should be applied in research analyses that have the potential for substantial clustering effects.     

THE TRANSFORMATION AND SURVIVAL OF FORTUNE 500 INDUSTRIAL CORPORATIONS THROUGH MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS, 1981–1995

The 1980s leveraged buyouts followed by the 1990s stock swap mergers represent the most dynamic period in U.S. business history. Using Cox regression with time-varying covariates, we examine the relationships among changes in corporate mergers and acquisitions, changes in corporate diversification strategies, and the transition from the multidivisional form (MDF) to the multisubsidiary form (MSF) of the largest Fortune 500 U.S. parent corporations. Consistent with the political economy contingency theory of accumulation (PECTA), our findings show that acquisition risk is reduced as a function of size, product and industry diversification, and percentages of shares held by institutional investors. Acquisition risk is increased by holding units in a multidivisional rather than a multisubsidiary form, higher returns to shareholders, higher divestitures, higher production to administrative imensity, and surviving previous takeover attempts. The political-legal institutions of the state have increasingly engaged in activities that are supportive and profitable for industrial and financial corporations. The actions of the state are increasingly aligned with the interests of capital.     

Motivation for and use of social networking sites: Comparisons among college students with and without histories of non-suicidal self-injury

Objective: This research examines potential differences in social network use and motivation for social network use by non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) status. Participants: 367 (73% women; M_age = 20.60) college students were recruited in November–December 2011. Methods: A random sample of 2,500 students was accessed through a university registrar to recruit students interested in an online survey assessing NSSI and various health-related behaviors. Results: Social network use and motivations for social networks did not differ by NSSI status. Conclusions: Results suggest that it is not patterns of use or motivation to use social networks that could lead to concern about online behavior (i.e., behavior increasing risk of future NSSI) among those with NSSI history. Rather, future preventive and intervention efforts should address the NSSI-related content that is available online, since this is unregulated, often explicit, and commonly includes “pro-NSSI” content that may be problematic and increase risk among vulnerable individuals.     

Firm outsourcing decisions: evidence from U.S. foreign trade zones

This article examines the operations of firms located in U.S. foreign trade subzones to study the responsiveness of outsourcing to international cost changes. I find that firms reduce their reliance on foreign inputs when dollar depreciation increases the relative price of imported inputs. The effect is pervasive across industries and is economically significant. In addition, firms that rely more heavily on imported intermediate inputs reduce their overall shipments when dollar depreciation elevates their imported, input costs. However, the magnitude of the shipments effect is economically small, suggesting that firms respond to exchange rate movements by adjusting their operations on other dimensions.     

A literature review of overnight work travel within individual,family and social contexts

ABSTRACT

This paper presents results of a comprehensive literature review of empirical studies investigating travel for work and how it relates to individual lives. The paper presents information on how work travel has been operationalized in the literature. The paper describes findings concerning how feelings about travel, individual well-being, the work/family interface, family relationships and social connections have been found to be affected by work travel. The empirical articles on workers who travel have been conducted in multiple countries and via diverse methodologies, which provides richness to the findings. The lack of uniformity in how work travel has been operationalized presents challenges for drawing conclusions about the effects of work travel. Recommendations concerning how to move the field forward are presented, including uniting the employment-related literature with the family literature to provide more holistic and useful implications for the study of work travel.     

Multisystemic Therapy for Child Abuse and Neglect: Do Parents Show Improvement in Parental Mental Health Problems and Parental Stress?

Multisystemic Therapy for Child Abuse and Neglect (MST-CAN) is an evidence-based program for families with children who experience maltreatment. This clinical trial is the first evaluation of MST-CAN in a German-speaking area. Parental psychological problems and parental stress have been shown to be risk factors for child abuse and neglect. By the end of treatment, parents reported significantly less psychological distress than before the start of MST-CAN. Six months after treatment, this reduction was still evident. However, parents did not report any significant reduction of parental stress at any of the three time points. MST-CAN is an effective intervention for child maltreatment that not only combats child abuse and neglect but also has the potential to alleviate parental psychological distress.     

《福乐智慧》中所反映的早期苏非

对于一个正在谋求发展的政权,苏非的避世苦修、清心寡欲、淡泊名利、不问世事并不值得提倡,正如11世纪新疆喀喇汗王朝的著名文学作品《福乐智慧》所提到的日出国王统治的国度,伊斯兰教正统派信仰盛行并以积极的态度参与国家治理。当时苏非已经出现,处于发展的初期阶段,属于个人行为,未形成大的苏非教团,但显然在社会和统治阶层中得到了一定程度的认同。究其原因,苏非神秘主义以其虔诚的独特的思想体系和修行方式为穆斯林的宗教生活增加了直觉体验和宗教情感,是对穆斯林宗教生活的合理补充。     

THE TRANSFORMATION OFTHE DOMINANT CORPORATE FORM FROM MULTIDIVISIONAL TO MULTISUBSIDIARY:

In 1986 the dominant form of the Fortune 500 industrial corporation changed from the multidivisional form (MDF) to the multisubsidiary form (MSF) (Zey and Camp 1996). We examine two major organizational perspectives (historical managerialism and agency theory) and an alternative perspective, the political economy contingency theory of capital accumulation (PECTA), to explain the transformation of Fortune 500 corporate form from MDF to MSF. Using event history analysis, we analyze data from 1981–1995 to define the covariates of this change, thereby predicting the risk of change to the now dominant MSF. The historical managerialism model considers assets as an indicator of size, operating profit margin as an indicator of efficiency, and return on sales as an indicator of profitability. The two major variables of the agency theory model are cash flow and debt-to-equity ratio. The alternative PECTA model considers tax savings resulting from changes brought about by the Tax Reform Act of 1986, percentage of shares held by institutional investors, shareholder return on equity, production-to-administrative intensity, dollar amount of acquisitions, and dollar amount of divestitures. Controlling for the natural log of gross assets, which has the strongest relationship to risk of transformation in dominant form from MDF to MSF, we found that the percentage of shares held by institutional investors, the sum of tax-free transactions (spin-offs, split-offs, and stock swaps), the total merger and acquisition activity, and the two-year lagged difference in the rate of first-level subsidiarization all had significant effects on the transformation of corporate form from the MDF to the now dominant MSF.