Factors Associated with Having Flextime: A Focus on Married Workers

To examine flexible work scheduling of married workers a conceptual framework was developed and tested using the 1997 Current Population Survey Work Schedules Supplement. Odds of flextime use were higher for married males, non-Hispanic whites, those with relatively higher levels of education and income, those with a preschool aged child, residents of the Midwest or West (as compared with the South), managers or professionals, and employees of the federal government.     

Staying strong: gender ideologies among African-American adolescents and the implications for HIV/STI prevention

This paper explores adolescents' definitions of what it means to be a man and a woman, the psycho-social context surrounding the formation of gender ideologies and their relationship to HIV/STI prevention. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with fifty African-American adolescents living in Baltimore, Maryland. Female gender ideologies included economic independence, emotional strength and caretaking. Male gender ideologies emphasized financial responsibility, toughness and sexual prowess. Findings suggest that stronger adherence to male gender ideologies related to toughness and sexual prowess is influenced by male participants' perceived inability to fulfill their primary gender role as economic providers and the importance of gaining approval from male peers in the absence of adult male role models. Stronger adherence to female gender ideologies related to emotional strength and caretaking may be linked to a heightened desire for male intimacy and tolerance of male sexual risk behavior. Implications of the gender ideologies documented and their commonalities are discussed in terms of HIV/STI prevention.     

Financial Issues Associated with Having a Child with Autism

Data from the Family Experiences with Autism Survey are used to identify factors associated with financial problems in families that have a child with autism. Likelihood of financial problems was positively associated with use of medical interventions, having unreimbursed medical or therapy expenses, and having relatively lower income. Use of speech and language therapy was negatively associated with likelihood of financial problems. Many survey respondents forfeited future financial security and even experienced bankruptcy to provide needed therapy for a child with autism. Specific ways that financial advisors can help families that have a child with autism are outlined.

Aggregated statistical rankings are arbitrary

In many areas of mathematics, statistics, and the social sciences, the intriguing, and somewhat unsettling, paradox occurs where the “parts” may give rise to a common decision, but the aggregate of those parts, the “whole”, gives rise to a different decision. The Kruskal-Wallis nonparametric statistical test on n samples which can be used to rank-order a list of alternatives is subject to such a Simpson-like paradox of aggregation. That is, two or more data sets each may individually support a certain ordering of the samples under Kruskal-Wallis, yet their union, or aggregate, yields a different outcome. An analysis of this phenomenon yields a computable criterion which characterizes which matrices of ranked data, when aggregated, can give rise to such a paradox. Received: 6 November 2001/Accepted: 7 March 2002     

Health Divide: Economic and Demographic Factors Associated with Self-Reported Health Among Older Malaysians

Data from the 2004 Survey of Economic and Financial Aspects of Aging in Malaysia were analyzed to determine factors associated with self-reported health status among older Malaysians. Odds of self-reporting health as bad versus moderate or good were higher for respondents who were in lower income quintiles, who perceived their financial situation as bad, who were older and who were not married. Malay, Chinese, Indian, and Bumiputra ethnic groups had lower odds of perceiving their health to be bad as compared with those in other ethnic groups.