The increase in marital status differences in mortality up to the oldest age in seven European countries, 1990-99

We investigate mortality differentials by marital status among older age groups using a database of mortality rates by marital status at ages 40 and over for seven European countries with 1 billion person-years of exposure. The mortality advantage of married people, both men and women, continues to increase up to at least the age group 85-89, the oldest group we are able to consider. We find the largest absolute differences in mortality levels between marital status groups are at high ages, and that absolute differentials are: (i) greater for men than for women; (ii) similar in magnitude across countries; (iii) increase steadily with age; and (iv) are greatest at older age. We also find that the advantage enjoyed by married people increased over the 1990s in almost all cases. We note that results for groups such as older divorced women need to be interpreted with caution.     

The Longitudinal Interplay of Maternal Warmth and Adolescents' Self‐Disclosure in Predicting Maternal Knowledge

This study examined the longitudinal associations among maternal warmth, adolescents' self‐disclosure, and maternal knowledge during the transition to adolescence. Three years of self‐report data were collected from 131 married mothers and their adolescents. Results from longitudinal analysis using adolescent reports indicated that greater maternal warmth in sixth grade predicted higher levels of adolescents' self‐disclosure in seventh grade, which in turn led to higher levels of maternal knowledge in eighth grade. Thus, adolescents' self‐disclosure served as an indirect link between higher maternal warmth and greater knowledge over time. An alternative model with prior self‐disclosure predicting subsequent maternal warmth and knowledge was not supported. Overall, this study demonstrated a time‐ordered process by which maternal warmth and adolescents' self‐disclosure predict maternal knowledge. Understanding such processes that affect parental knowledge may be beneficial for future prevention and intervention efforts during the transition to adolescence.     

High-dimensional changepoint detection via a geometrically inspired mapping

Statistics and Computing - High-dimensional changepoint analysis is a growing area of research and has applications in a wide range of fields. The aim is to accurately and efficiently detect...     

Serving the urban poor: a study of child welfare preventive services.

This summary, for journal publication, of a study whose full details are being published in book form, brings the welfare field up-to-date on what began as a precedent-setting agency. The Lower East Side Family Union, in New York City, has provided many years of service, and has justifiably drawn national attention from its inception, when prevention was more talked about than funded. The lessons to be drawn from its work and the example it has set grow more timely every year.     

Using strategic planning to drive strategic change

This article describes a case history of strategic planning, learning and change within a major division of Dowty plc. At Dowty CASE, a telecommunications company, the management team used strategic planning as a structured learning process to generate strategic change. There are many lessons which academics and practitioners alike can learn from this case of strategic planning and change in action.     

The increase in marital status differences in mortality up to the oldest age in seven European countries, 1990–99

We investigate mortality differentials by marital status among older age groups using a database of mortality rates by marital status at ages 40 and over for seven European countries with 1 billion person-years of exposure. The mortality advantage of married people, both men and women, continues to increase up to at least the age group 85–89, the oldest group we are able to consider. We find the largest absolute differences in mortality levels between marital status groups are at high ages, and that absolute differentials are: (i) greater for men than for women; (ii) similar in magnitude across countries; (iii) increase steadily with age; and (iv) are greatest at older age. We also find that the advantage enjoyed by married people increased over the 1990s in almost all cases. We note that results for groups such as older divorced women need to be interpreted with caution.     

Evaluation of the benchmark dose for point of departure determination for a variety of chemical classes in applied regulatory settings

Repeated-dose studies received by the New Substances Assessment and Control Bureau (NSACB) of Health Canada are used to provide hazard information toward risk calculation. These studies provide a point of departure (POD), traditionally the NOAEL or LOAEL, which is used to extrapolate the quantity of substance above which adverse effects can be expected in humans. This project explored the use of benchmark dose (BMD) modeling as an alternative to this approach for studies with few dose groups. Continuous data from oral repeated-dose studies for chemicals previously assessed by NSACB were reanalyzed using U.S. EPA benchmark dose software (BMDS) to determine the BMD and BMD 95% lower confidence limit (BMDL(05) ) for each endpoint critical to NOAEL or LOAEL determination for each chemical. Endpoint-specific benchmark dose-response levels , indicative of adversity, were consistently applied. An overall BMD and BMDL(05) were calculated for each chemical using the geometric mean. The POD obtained from benchmark analysis was then compared with the traditional toxicity thresholds originally used for risk assessment. The BMD and BMDL(05) generally were higher than the NOAEL, but lower than the LOAEL. BMDL(05) was generally constant at 57% of the BMD. Benchmark provided a clear advantage in health risk assessment when a LOAEL was the only POD identified, or when dose groups were widely distributed. Although the benchmark method cannot always be applied, in the selected studies with few dose groups it provided a more accurate estimate of the real no-adverse-effect level of a substance.     

Reciprocity in relationships: socio-economic and health influences on intergenerational exchanges between Third Age parents and their adult children in Great Britain

In this paper data from a nationally representative British longitudinal study are used to analyse exchanges of support between Third Age parents (aged 55-75) and their adult children. Results show that between two thirds and three quarters of parents in this age group were involved in some sort of exchange relationship with at least one of their children. Generally, more Third Age parents were providers than recipients of help, but there was a strong reciprocal element to intergenerational exchange with, for example, married parents who provided support to at least one child being twice as likely as those who did not to receive support from a child, after allowance for a range of relevant parental and child characteristics. Parental characteristics associated with higher probability of providing help included higher income, home ownership and being married or widowed rather than divorced. Higher income and home ownership were, however, negatively associated with odds of receiving help from a child, again after adjustment for other co-variates, suggesting socio-economic differences in the balance of support exchanges. Children seem responsive to parental needs in that receipt of help from a child was positively associated with older parental age and with parental disability. The paper shows that in Britain, as in the USA, the balance of intergenerational exchanges involving Third Age adults is downward rather than upward, in contravention of depictions of older adults as 'burdens' on younger generations. Current demographic and social changes are, it is argued, likely to increase support demands from adult children to Third Age parents in coming decades.