Effects of Category Order on Answers in Mail and Telephone Surveys1

Abstract Past research suggests that mail surveys encourage a primacy effect, which is a tendency to choose the first answers from a list, whereas telephone surveys encourage a recency effect, a tendency to choose the last answers from a list. This paper summarizes results from 82 new experiments conducted in 12 separate surveys in seven states. Only four of 33 mail survey comparisons exhibited significant primacy effects, while five of 26 experiments in telephone surveys exhibited recency effects. In addition, only three of 23 cross-method comparisons produced a significant primacy/recency effect in the expected manner. The conclusion is that the prevalence of primacy and recency effects has been over-estimated by past research and a new theoretical approach that takes into account multiple causation is needed for examining these effects.     

Trust and health in Eastern Europe: Conceptions of a new society

Little attention has been paid to why trends and levels of mortality and morbidity differ in Eastern Europe and few studies have addressed people's own perceptions of their new political system – perceptions which per se may be important for social development. The aim of the present study was to analyse the extent to which trust and economic circumstances affect self‐rated health in Poland, Estonia and Russia and how much health differences between the countries can be explained by these factors. A better economy and higher trust were related to better individual health, while economic factors seemed most important for inter‐country differences. It is probable that both institutional factors and individual perceptions contribute to people's well‐being, but in terms of social policy, an improved welfare system may be the most effective way forward.     

Childbearing Across Partnerships in Australia,the United States,Norway, and Sweden

This article compares mothers’ experience of having children with more than one partner in two liberal welfare regimes (the United States and Australia) and two social democratic regimes (Sweden and Norway). We use survey-based union and birth histories in Australia and the United States and data from national population registers in Norway and Sweden to estimate the likelihood of experiencing childbearing across partnerships at any point in the childbearing career. We find that births with new partners constitute a substantial proportion of all births in each country we study. Despite quite different arrangements for social welfare, the determinants of childbearing across partnerships are very similar. Women who had their first birth at a very young age or who are less well-educated are most likely to have children with different partners. The educational gradient in childbearing across partnerships is also consistently negative across countries, particularly in contrast to educational gradients in childbearing with the same partner. The risk of childbearing across partnerships increased dramatically in all countries from the 1980s to the 2000s, and educational differences also increased, again, in both liberal and social democratic welfare regimes.     

Putting people into dynamic places: the importance of specific contexts in understanding demographic responses to changes in the natural environment

Population and Environment -     

Comparison of dichotomized and distributional approaches in rare event clinical trial design: a fixed Bayesian design

This research was motivated by our goal to design an efficient clinical trial to compare two doses of docosahexaenoic acid supplementation for reducing the rate of earliest preterm births (ePTB) and/or preterm births (PTB). Dichotomizing continuous gestational age (GA) data using a classic binomial distribution will result in a loss of information and reduced power. A distributional approach is an improved strategy to retain statistical power from the continuous distribution. However, appropriate distributions that fit the data properly, particularly in the tails, must be chosen, especially when the data are skewed. A recent study proposed a skew-normal method. We propose a three-component normal mixture model and introduce separate treatment effects at different components of GA. We evaluate operating characteristics of mixture model, beta-binomial model, and skew-normal model through simulation. We also apply these three methods to data from two completed clinical trials from the USA and Australia. Finite mixture models are shown to have favorable properties in PTB analysis but minimal benefit for ePTB analysis. Normal models on log-transformed data have the largest bias. Therefore we recommend finite mixture model for PTB study. Either finite mixture model or beta-binomial model is acceptable for ePTB study.     

Fathers' Investments of Money and Time Across Residential Contexts

Fathers' roles in family life have changed dramatically over the past 50 years. In addition to ongoing breadwinning responsibilities, many fathers are now involved in direct caregiving and engagement with children. Yet there is considerable variation in what fathers do, especially depending on whether they live with or away from their child. In this article, the authors use data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 3,869) to describe how fathers' economic capacities (money) and direct involvement with children (time) are associated over child ages 1 to 9 for resident versus nonresident fathers, net of confounding factors. They found suggestive evidence that money and time investments operate differently across residential contexts: Resident fathers experience a trade‐off between market work and time involved with children. In contrast, nonresident fathers' higher economic capacities are associated with more time involvement, underscoring the greater challenge for such fathers to remain actively involved.     

Characteristics of Couples Who Attend Family Services Counselor Visits in Relationship Education

Case management services for low-income couples receiving relationship education have been required by federal funding agencies. Studies examining relationship education outcomes for low-income couples have yet to address participant characteristics of those who attend case management services (e.g., distressed vs. nondistressed). Thus, this study examined the influence of baseline relationship satisfaction and demographics on attendance at case management visits for 2,628 low-income, partnered participants who attended relationship education. Findings indicated that participants who reported higher baseline relationship distress attended more family services counselor (FSC) visits. However, when we added demographics to the model, relationship distress no longer predicted FSC visits, whereas income served as a predictor for men and women, with those reporting greater monthly income attending more FSC visits.     

Social Justice and the Capabilities Approach: Seeking a Global Blueprint for the EPAS

The concept of social justice shapes several of the competencies and practice behaviors of the Council of Social Work Education’s Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS). Furthermore, a global perspective guides the social work profession and influences its educational programs. A number of social work scholars have adopted the capabilities approach, as defined by economist Amartya Sen and political scientist Martha Nussbaum, as a globally relevant social justice framework. This article builds on this scholarship, suggesting that the capabilities approach provides a blueprint to rethink and conceptualize the EPAS social justice pedagogy in the global context. Teaching illustrations integrating the capabilities approach in an EPAS curriculum are offered.     

Research-in-Progress Sessions Create a More Inclusive and Engaging Regional Conference

The Pacific Sociological Association annual meeting recently added a new session type called the Research-in-Progress (RIP) session. The purpose of adding these sessions was to provide an opportunity for attendees to present research still in formative stages of completion in order to get useful feedback. Presentations ranged from doctoral dissertation proposals to nearly completed research. Early experience from RIP session organizers and discussants is that these sessions were lively and engaging, sparking a great deal of audience participation. Feedback from presenters indicated that they received useful feedback. Based on our initial experience with the RIP sessions, we believe they are a beneficial addition to the meetings.     

To Refer or Not to Refer: Exploring Family Therapists' Beliefs and Practices Related to the Referral of Lesbian,Gay, and Bisexual Clients

This study explored how negative beliefs toward lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals and LGB clinical competence influenced family therapists' beliefs and practices regarding referring based on the sexual orientation of the client. The sample consisted of 741 experienced clinicians. The results of this study indicated that the majority of the participants believe it is ethical to refer LGB clients; however, most had never made such a referral. Furthermore, participants who had referred based solely on the client's sexual orientation reported higher levels of negative beliefs toward LGB individuals and lower levels of LGB clinical competence. Finally, negative beliefs toward LGB persons not only predicted the practice of referring, but also the belief that it is ethical to refer an LGB client.