Assessing the Concept of the ‘Insecure‐Other’ Category in the Cassidy–Marvin Scheme: Changes Between 4 and 6 Years in the English and Romanian Adoptee Study

We set out to explore the meaning of the attachment categories in the Cassidy/Marvin strange situation procedure, as employed in the home, using data from a longitudinal study of children adopted into UK families up to the age of 42 months from Romanian institutions, and of adopted children without the experience of institutional care––both groups being assessed at 4 and 6 years of age. Inter‐rater reliability was found to be good. Security (meaning the use of the parent as a secure base and no negative behavior on reunion) was the modal categorical rating in both the institution‐reared and comparison groups, but the category of anomalous non‐normative behavior (meaning a lack of any ordered attachment behavior as covered by the standard ratings), previously labeled ‘insecure‐other’, was more common in the institution‐reared children. Because this was unassociated with the usual manifestations of insecurity (such as avoidance or resistance) and because it was largely evident in interactions with the stranger, it is concluded that the adjective ‘insecure’ was not appropriate. Although this ‘insecure‐other’ category was associated with disinhibited attachment as reported by parents (meaning a lack of differentiation among adults, a willingness to go off with strangers and a lack of checking back with parents in anxiety‐provoking situations), it did not prove to be a good index of disinhibited attachment because changes over time in the ‘insecure‐other’ category were not associated with changes in the rate of disinhibited attachment. Also, whereas the rate of ‘insecure‐other’ fell markedly in the institution‐reared group between 4 and 6 years of age, it rose in the comparison group, raising queries over its meaning.     

Self-perception of Gambling Problems among Adolescents Identified as At-risk or Problem Gamblers

The relative influence of perceived familial addictive behaviors and personal gambling behaviors on adolescents' self-perceptions of gambling problems was examined. Students from five high schools in Connecticut (N = 3,886) were surveyed. Of those between the ages of 14 and 17 who scored two or more on the South Oaks Gambling Screen--Revised for Adolescents (n = 532; 72% male; 43% Caucasian), 14.3% reported having a current or past problem with gambling. Wagering larger amounts in a single day, gambling on a daily basis, and perceived presence of a family member with a gambling problem were associated with increased odds of self-perception of a gambling problem. Thus, adolescents who may be less likely to be identified for prevention efforts (due to lack of engagement in high stakes gambling or the real/perceived absence of a problematic gambler in the home) appear less likely to perceive a gambling problem. To advance prevention and treatment strategies, the apparent discrepancy between adolescents' self-perceptions and objective reports of problem gambling behaviors warrants further investigation.     

Age,education and occupation differentials in interregional migration: Some evidence for Canada

This paper attempts to bring together the demographic literature on differential migration with economic analysis of regional labor mobility. This is done by estimating a rather simple form of economic model of migration by means of linear regression analysis for specific age, education and occupation groups of male interprovincial migrants in Canada. The data on migration are from the population sample of the 1961 Census of Canada. The pattern of migration differentials displayed by these data is broadly similar to that observed in the United States and elsewhere. The regression results suggest that differential migration by education and occupation groups may be accounted for by the varying responsiveness of the various groups to economic gains obtained through migration. While this seems to be generally true of age differentials as well, the relationship of those to regional income differentials is weaker and points up an important role of motivations other than economic gain.     

The Science and Profession of Involved Sociology

Abstract

In this essay, I examine the contextual and historical relationship between the national and regional associations in American sociology. Four findings emerge from the analysis of this relationship. First, the regional associations underutilize the populations they represent. Second, the constituencies of the national and regional associations are diverging. Third, the regional associations appear no longer to serve as a viable pathway for involvement in the leadership of the national association. Fourth, the disciplinary visibility of the regional associations journals has declined, on average, since 1990. These four outcomes reflect a disciplinary drift toward internal differentiation, which can only be understood as a manifestation of the culture of American sociology. Specifically, the discipline is becoming increasingly incoherent as a result of the inaccurate perception it holds of itself as a science. This misperception, historically embedded within the disciplinary culture of American sociology, appears to guide the discipline toward an overemphasis on the production of research and the establishment of a governance structure that draws heavily on faculty from doctoral-granting departments. Accordingly, following from my analysis of the discipline's culture. I concude that sociology is better positioned as a profession than a science.     

Urn Sampling and the Proportional Hazard Model

This paper investigates the urn sampling analogue for the score statistic relating survival to covariates assuming a proportional hazard model. The exact permutation distribution can be calculated as well as the exact low order moments for arbitrary censoring patterns. The asymptotic distribution of the score statistic is an easy consequence. The method is naturally extended to deal with the multivariate case, time varying covariates and interval censoring. Finally the relationship between the censoring process, the survival times and covariates are studied considering different reference sets for the distribution of the score statistic. Some assumptions about the censoring process are investigated and as a consequence the effect of censoring is clarified.