Elderly Jews and happiness with locale

This study analyzes neighborhood attachment and satisfaction within the foundations of preference theory—that is, utility analysis. This framework considers an individual's utility function, a construct that relates attachment and satisfaction to the consumption of goods and services. We demonstrate that utility functions can help to predict the individual's bond to the neighborhood. The sample population includes 268 elderly Jews residing in the Baltimore metropolitan area. Bonds to place increase with increasing age. Bonds decrease when residents perceive the neighborhood to be unsafe during the day. The percentage of Blacks is a significant predictor of bonds to place.Requests for reprints should be addressed to Allen C. Goodman, Center for Metropolitan Planning and Research, Shriver Hall, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218.This paper was presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association on August 26, 1982, in Washington, D.C. This research was supported in part by a contract from Associated Jewish Charities and Welfare Fund, Incorporated, of Baltimore, Maryland, but the results and conclusions do not represent the opinions of AJC. The authors thank Sally Shumaker for her helpful comments.     

A NEW FAMILY OF NON-NEGATIVE DISTRIBUTIONS

We introduce a new, flexible family of distributions for non‐negative data, defined by means of a quantile function. We describe some properties of this family, and discuss several methods for estimating the parameters. The distribution is applied to an example from environmental engineering.     

Foresight Study on the Risk Governance of New Technologies: The Case of Nanotechnology

Technology‐led innovation represents an important driver of European economic and industrial competitiveness and offers solutions to societal challenges. In order to facilitate responsible innovation and public acceptance, a need exists to identify and implement oversight approaches focused on the effective risk governance of emerging technologies. This article describes a foresight study on the governance of new technologies, using nanotechnology as a case example. Following a mapping of the governance landscape, four plausible foresight scenarios were developed, capturing critical uncertainties for nanotechnology governance. Key governance elements were then stress tested within these scenarios to see how well they might perform in a range of possible futures and to inform identification of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for nanotechnology governance in Europe. Based on the study outcomes, recommendations are proposed regarding the development of governance associated with the responsible development of new technologies.     

Longitudinal Patterns of Daily Affect and Global Mood During Adolescence

This study examined grade and sex patterns in real‐time measures of daily mood using Ecological Momentary Assessments via palmtop computers among 8th (N=296) and 10th graders (N=266) for 1 year using a three‐wave longitudinal design. Participants responded to five to seven random prompts/day for 7 consecutive days; when prompted, participants rated eight mood adjectives assessing positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA). Global depressed mood was also assessed via self‐report questionnaire at every wave. Mixed‐effects regression analyses indicated that PA modestly but significantly declined across Grade 8 to 11, but NA was relatively stable over time. Sex by time interactions showed that boys experienced greater declines in daily mood over time than did girls. In contrast, global depressed mood did not change over time, and girls reported higher depressed mood than boys. Findings suggest that normative mood declines in adolescence may be driven by deteriorations in PA, rather than increases in NA.