Life Experiences and Vulnerabilities of Homeless Women: A Comparison of Women Unaccompanied Versus Accompanied by Minor Children, and Correlates with Children's Emotional Distress

The histories and service needs of 2 groups of homeless women, those unaccompanied by minor children (n = 46) and those accompanied by minor children (n = 22), were compared, on the basis of their responses to a biennial survey of homeless people in a midsize city in the southeast United States. Mothers of children aged 2–10 also completed a measure of stress symptoms for their children (n = 20). Irrespective of family status group, problems such as substance abuse, history of mental illness, health problems, chronicity of homelessness, and crime victimization tended to cluster together. The findings also suggest that declining and/or inadequate levels of public benefits, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, and Medicaid-funded health care in particular, have adversely affected the 2 groups, particularly families with children. The young children in this sample experienced elevated levels of stress, and significant associations were found between children's stress levels and certain risk factors of their mothers. Implications for service delivery are discussed.     

Parental survival data: Some results of the application of Ledermann's model life tables

Summary Ledermann's one- and two-parameter model life tables are used in order to summarize and compare adult mortality estimates derived from parental survival data, and also to link parental survival with child survival data. The Ledermann models provide an alternative to the logit model used by Brass and Hill. Examination of life tables derived from actual child and adult mortality estimates reveals that although the two types of models yield similar overall levels of mortality, they show marked differences in the estimated patterns by sex and age. It has not been possible to disentangle completely how much of this divergence is due to the models themselves and how much to inadequacies in the data available. Finally, we question whether it is always wise to establish a full life table from child and adult mortality estimates when these are based on data which refer to different periods of exposure to the risk of dying, without allowance for possible distortions resulting from mortality change.     

A NOTE ON THE USE OF SELECTED NONFINANCIAL RATIO VARIABLES TO PREDICT SMALL-BUSINESS LOAN PERFORMANCE*

Small business loan applications have not been evaluated successfully by traditional methods. This paper explores the possibility of using three types of nonfinancial ratio variables (owner, firm, and loan characteristics) to predict whether a small business will pay off or default its loan. The owner and loan variables were better predictors of loan success than the firm variables.     

All Data are Wrong,but Some are Useful? Advocating the Need for Data Auditing

In a recent article from the Annals of Applied Statistics, Cox discussed the main phases of applied statistical research ranging from clarifying study objectives to final data analysis and interpreting results. As an incidental remark to these main phases, we advocate that beyond cleaning and preprocessing the data, it is a good practice to audit the data to determine if they can be trusted at all. A case study based on Ghanaian Official Fishery Statistics is used to illustrate this need, with Benford's law being the tool used to carrying out the data audit. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.     

Too sexy too soon,or just another moral panic? Sexualization,children, and “technopanics” in the Australian media 2004–2015

In this paper, I analyze the discourse of what I argue are two moral panics that played out in the Australian media during the period 2004–2015: the sexualization of children debate, and the sexting panic, which appeared some years later. I argue that while the issue of the alleged sexualization of children is nothing new, the way that the issue has been constructed in the media has shifted during the last decade, with greater focus on children’s use of technology. By comparing these two panics, we can diagnose a shift in the nature of mass-media-based panics, from concerns about external sources of sexualization to concerns about children’s own practices of self-representation via contemporary technologies. Both panics mobilized a range of broader social anxieties about the commodification and sexualization of culture and the increasing agency of children, and panics in relation to contemporary mobile technologies are a collective response to shifts in the power relations between children, their parents, and other figures of authority.     

IS MATESHIP A VIRTUE?

This essay seeks to examine the concept of mateship from the perspectives of consequentialist and virtue ethics. It is suggested that mateship is a prominent concept in the way Australians think of themselves. However it is also suggested that mateship is linked to solidarity and commitment in time of war. It is suggested that what we should recognize mateship is one of the factors that facilitates and perpetuates war. It is suggested that mateship is also questionable as a character virtue, given what mateship entails. It is suggested that ultimately we need to examine more closely the consequences of the solidarity that we define as mateship, and we need to query more closely what we regard as virtues.