bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Impact of Goal Change on Prominent Perceptions and Beha viors of Emplo yees
Authors: Abelson Michael A.
Published: March 2007

A model exploring the hypothesized impact of goal change on employee perceptions and behaviors was examined. Aspects of goal change were found to be significantly related to satisfaction, organ izational commitment, and absenteeism. Organizational com mitment was found to be related to turnover, but neither satisfaction nor organizational commitment was found to have a significant relationship with absenteeism. The implications of these findings are discussed.
A Family of Spatial Interaction Models Incorporating Information Flows and Choice Set Constraints Applied to U.S. Interstate Labor Flows
Authors: Smith Terence R. , Slater Paul B.
Published: March 2007

A new family of migration models belonging to the elimination by aspects family is examined, with the spatial interaction model shown to be a special case. The models have simple forms; they incorporate information flow processes and choice set constraints; they are free of problems raised by the Luce Choice Axiom; and are capable of generating intransitive flows. Preliminary calibrations using the Continuous Work History Sample times series data indicate that the model fits the migration data well, while providing estimates of interstate job message flows. The preliminary calculations also indicate that care is needed in assuming that destination attractives are independent of origins.
Value and Exploitation in a Capitalist Space Economy
Authors: Sheppard Eric
Published: March 2007

A Marxian model of production relations applicable to a space economy, partitioned into regions, is described. The aspatial, "Fundamental Maxian Theorem" is then extended to the regional system. It is shown that the maximum regional exploitation rate exceeds the profit rate in the aggregate economy. Class conflicts and alliances are then considered in light of variable exploitation rates across regions.
The North American Trade of U.S. States: A Comparative Analysis of Industrial Shipments, 1983-91
Authors: Hayward David J. , Erickson Rodney A.
Published: March 2007

The potential impacts of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is a topic of considerable interest in the United States, particularly with respect to trade with Mexico. Unfortunately, there has been a paucity of information concerning the historical patterns of states' trade with Canada and Mexico. Such knowledge can serve as a baseline from which to assess change as well as provide a useful input to subsequent analyses of economic impacts. Using industrial production and export trade data from U.S. states to Canada and Mexico along with imports data, measures of trade and production exposure reveal significant geographical and sectoral differences. An extended version of shift-share analysis that specifically incorporates states' exports to and imports from Canada and Mexico isolates the contributions of these trade flows to components of state industrial change over the 1983-91 period. The impact of NAFTA-area trade is found to vary significantly across states, although the trade flows are often smaller than commonly assumed, suggesting that the trade impacts of NAFTA may often be overestimated.
Dimensions of Decline: Industrial Regions in the United States and Europe, 1970-1990
Authors: Heim Carol E.
Published: March 2007

This paper assesses the severity of the problem of declining industrial regions in the U.S. and Europe during 1970-1990. Conceptual issues in defining such regions are discussed, as are difficulties in comparing U.S. and European data. The proportion of the population living in declining industrial regions in selected years ranged from 11 to 25 percent for the U.S., and from 17 to 28 percent for Europe as a whole, with a wider range for individual European countries. In the U.S., declining industrial regions showed relatively low persistence over time; only 2 states and 15 metropolitan areas are identified as such regions in all four years for which U.S. data are presented.
Arresting Technology: Government, Scientists, and Weather Modification
Authors: Lambright W. Henry , Changnon Stanley A.
Published: March 2007

The process of arrest in federally funded technology is illuminated through the case of weather modification. A technology passes through three stages: birth, opportunity, and decline. Critical to arrest is failure by the advocacy coalition to make maximum use of the opportunity stage to show progress and build support. To do so may require unusual cohesion and consensus among diverse advocates: scientists, administrators, politicians, industry, and affected publics. Without such consensus, opportunity is missed or misused, and a technology moves into decline. This happens because the advocacy coalition shrinks and government support, essential to advance, diminishes and may even terminate.
The Critique of Science Becomes Academic
Authors: Martin Brian
Published: March 2007

The author uses personal experiences to introduce the view that the critique of science, on entering the academy in the form of the sociology of scientific knowledge, has become increasingly remote from crucial social issues and social movements confronting it. By linking their analyses more with such issues and movements, science studies scholars can serve a more useful social purpose and also reinvigorate their theory.
Trajectories of Collaboration and Competition in a Medical Discovery
Authors: Atkinson Paul , Batchelor Claire , Parsons Evelyn
Published: March 2007

In 1991, the myotonic dystrophy gene was cloned by researchers from Cardiff, London, and elsewhere overseas. This article examines the relationships between the different research groups. It shows that the scientific collaboration on the myotonic dystrophy research was not a constant, stable feature of scientific progress but a process whereby the relationships among the scientists altered over time according to the stage of the research. This process was mediated by vested interests, by personalities, by the power differentials of the groups, by the resources of the groups, by subcollaborations, and by interactions with those outside the main research network. The collaboration can be seen as a continuum, ranging from full cooperation with all parties to selected revelations to specific parties to intense competition. These cooperative and competitive relationships are seen primarily from the perspective of one research group, with whom intensive field research was conducted.
Persons, Animals, and Machines
Authors: Elton Matthew
Published: March 2007

What is the relationship between persons, animals, and machines? The author first presents a form of argument against any attempt to reduce biology to mechanism. He then runs a parallel argument for psychology and biology. But although he tries to resist reduction, he insists that to bring into being a person or an animal requires no more than the construction of a certain sort of machine, or causal engine, such that certain normative standards can be applied to its behavior If to call an entity a machine is to forego such commitments, then, trivially, no animal or person could be a machine. If the term "machine" implies no more than the presence of a causal engine, natural or artificial, then machines can be, and some are, animals or people.
The Way in Which Intervention Studies Have “Personality” and why it is Important to Meta-Analysis
Authors: Lipsey Mark W. , Wilson David B.
Published: March 2007

Intervention studies represent webs of interrelated substantive and methodological characteristics that take on different patterns in different studies and different intervention areas. All too often, meta-analysts do not give close attention to the possibility that these interrelated differences among studies are related in complex ways to study effect sizes and, consequently, run considerable risk of reporting results that are misleading or flatly wrong. To remedy this situation, improvements are needed in both the method and practice of meta-analysis so that greater attention can be given to effect size variation, the generalizability of study results, and the systematic multivariate relationships between study characteristics and the effect sizes reported in those studies.
Scoring Patient Management Problems
Authors: Mazzuca Steven A. , Cohen Stuart J.
Published: March 2007

This study, determined the extent to which medicalf(culth agreed when rating options in two written patient management problems in diabetes mellitus. Another purpose vvas to determine whether option weights (used fir scoring) based on the consensus ratings offacult v actual/v predict the choices of well-qualified phy sicians. Experts showed better-than-chance agreement hut with considerable variation from one part of aproblem to another (3 /%C to 73%). Nevertheless, consensus ratings were very accurate predictors of the decisions of endocrinology fi/lows ('correlations from .60 to .97). When scoring weights are assigned to options in patient managetnent problems, consensus (average) ratings of ex'perts are like/v to demonstrate high concurrent validlitYv for vwell-qualified clinicians.
Organizational Context of Program Evaluation in Community Mental Health Centers
Authors: Majchrzak Ann
Published: March 2007

In an attempt to understand the role that program evaluation plays in a community mental health center (CMHC), a conceptual framework of the organizational context in which CMHC self-evaluation efforts occur is presented. The conceptual framework consists of three major propositions. (I) Five dimensions of a CMHC are proposed to have significant effects on the center's evaluation process: research capabilitY, administrative support for evaluation, organizational structure, readiness for innovation, and the environmental context of the center. (2) The evaluation process is perceived to consist of three tYpes of evaluation activities corresponding to the input, process, and output elements of the center. (3) The five organizational parameters are proposed to differentially affect the individual components of the evaluation process.

Stemming from the proposed conceptual framework, a theoretical model of the effects of organizational parameters on the evaluation process was tested on a purposive sample of CMHCs. The results were generally supportive of the model, indicating that the role of evaluation in CMHCs is not a simple or singular phenomenon. Specific conclusions and implications for policy and research arenas are discussed.
Determining Validity of Measuring the Quality of Breast Self-Examination
Authors: Mamon Joyce , Zapka Jane G.
Published: March 2007

A study was undertaken among college women to validate written self-report of breast self-examination (BSE) technique by comparing it to demonstrations given to a trained observer. Nineteen steps within the three BSE positions were used as the norm for a competent BSE performance. The written self-report survey of BSE skill performance was then validated by comparing ratings obtained through such a self-report mechanism to ratings by trained observers. Findings indicated that the written report of BSE competency.underestimated the quality of the actual demonstration. Results of this study have demonstrated that self-report is highly correlated with observed performance (r = .62) and that the form of this relationship is consistent across the various levels of demonstrated performance skills. These findings strongly suggest that the self-report can be used as a good surrogate measurefor actual performance, as long as comparisons are made to the range of the self-reported and not to the ideal score.
An Evaluation of a Computer Simulation in the Assessment of Physician Competence
Authors: Norcini John J. , Meskauskas John A. , Langdon Lynn O. , Webster George D.
Published: March 2007

This study compares physician performance on the Computer-Aided Simulation of the Clinical Encounter (CASE) with peer ratings and performance on multiple choice questions (MCQs) and patient management problems (PMPs). CASEis a simulation of the clinical encounter where the computer plays the role of the patient and the physician elicits information by entering "natural language" questions into a computer terminal. Results indicate that all formats are equally valid, although MCQs are the most reliable methods of assessment per unit of testing time, followed by PMPs and CASE, in that order. All methods measure the same or very highly correlated aspects of competence.
Use of External Examinations to Involve Faculty in Curriculum Content Evaluation
Authors: Young Larry D. , Camp Martha G. , Bradley Laurence A.
Published: March 2007

A methodfor curriculum evaluation that utilizes content and student performance analyses of both an external certifying exam (National Board, Part 1, Behavioral Sciences) and curricular components (courses in behavioral sciences) is reported. Illustrative findings demonstrate that a multidisciplinary grouping of courses can satisfactorily cover content deemed important by external judges and by internal course directors and instructors. In addition, areas of redundancy as well as omissions can be identifiedfor discussion by curriculum and course planners. Advantages of using this external certifying examfor review and evaluation of curriculum components include readily accessible review copies, student performance comparison data, a national panel of content experts, localfaculty interest in the certifying examination, and provision of a common framework for curriculum review for any department.
The Potential for Formulating A Healthy Lifestyle
Authors: Lipnickey Susan Cross
Published: March 2007

Approximately 12 million persons are enrolled in this nation's colleges and universities. The majority of these students fall within the 18-to 22-year cohort and are often in a position, for the first time in their lives, to make frequent and unsupervised health-related decisions. Since these young adults will continue to make these decisions for the duration of their college careers, the probability that their lifestyles are at least formulated, if not established, during this time is great. The potential impact, then, of health instruction at such an opportune time for the development and maintenance of sound health behaviors is perhaps unprecedented. This article describes the need for research on the health status of members of this cohort, reviews selected research that focuses on health instruction and university students, and provides suggestions for the design offuture research.
Development of a Quality-of-Life Rating Scale for Use in Health-Care Evaluation
Authors: Chubon Robert A.
Published: March 2007

Many concepts derivedfrom quality-of-life measurement research have been deemed appropriatefor use in health-care research. However, available life-quality measurement instruments developed for use with chronically ill and disabled populations have limited research utility because of their relatively narrow foci. Development of a more widely applicable measure was undertaken, and the resultant instrument is described. Potential uses are also dicussed.
An Alternative to Mandatory Test Disclosure
Authors: Gross Leon J.
Published: March 2007

Challenges to tests and test items have led to demands and legislation for mandatory disclosure. Disclosure is tantamount to a loss of item security, a consequence that hampers subsequent test development and equating efforts. Examining boards therefore oppose disclosure. This article describes a new test critique procedure developed by the National Board of Examiners in Optometry that may be used by other credentialing boards. This procedure encourages candidates to identify potentially flawed items during rather than after the test. Candidates therefore retain the opportunity to challenge the test, while a board is able to retain item security. Other benefits of this procedure are discussed.
Evaluation Issues in the Development of Expert Systems in Medicine
Authors: Berner Eta S. , Brooks C. Michael , Miller Randolph A. , Masarie Fred E. , Jackson James R.
Published: March 2007

Evaluation of medical decision support software (MDSS) -computer programs to assist health professionals with diagnostic and/or therapeutic decisions -has not kept pace with the development of such programs. This article describes the following formative evaluation issues that must be addressed by developers of MDSS to evaluate these programs properly: (1) How can systematic feedback be obtained about an evolving program? (2) How can enough data to evaluate the program be obtained? (3) How much instruction is necessary? (4) What are the most important aspects for users to evaluate? and (5) How can the appropriate use of a developing MDSS be assured? Data from an ongoing evaluation of an existing MDSS, Quick Medical Reference, are used to illustrate the issues and to suggest recommendations for addressing them.
Case Specificity of Standardized-Patient Examinations
Authors: Colliver Jerry A. , Markwell Stephen J. , Vu Nu Viet , Barrows Howard S.
Published: March 2007

The psychometric properties of nine separate components of clinical competence (e.g., data collection, diagnosis, and management) assessed with standardizedpatient cases were studied by Colliver et al. (1989). The findings of that study suggested the hypothesis that performance on a given component of clinical competence (e.g., data collection) would show less consistency when measured on different cases than would performance on different components (e.g., data collection, diagnosis, and management) measured within the same case. Thus, the purpose of the present study was to test this hypothesis. In general, the results supported the hypothesis. Specifically, generalizability coefficients were generally smaller for a given component across cases than for a given case across components. The recommendations implied by these results are: (a) More objective scoring methods are needed, and (b) The evaluation procedures for the components of clinical competence should be constructed as each case evaluation procedure is being constructed according to a clear conceptualization of the components which is developed in advance for all cases.
Models for the Supply of Pharmacists
Authors: Knapp Katherine K. , Paavola Fred G. , Manasse Henri R.
Published: March 2007

The BHPr (formerly Bureau of Health Professions) Supply Model for pharmacists is presented and analyzed. Recommendations are made for improvement of the supply model. Included are considerations of additional variables and improvement of tables of separation rates to more accurately reflect working patterns of male and female pharmacists. The supply model shares many features of supply models for other health professions such as nursing and medicine. The variables suggested for improvement of supply determinations parallel supply measures of other health professions also. The adoption of suggestions for improvement of the pharmacy supply model to other health professions'supply models is suggested.
The Interpretation of Averages in Health Professions Research
Authors: Ottenbacher Kenneth J.
Published: March 2007

A potential misinterpretation regarding measures of central tendency was identified in several health sciences textbooks presenting basic statistical procedures. The misinter-pretation involves measures of central tendency derivedfrom skewed unimodal sample distributions. The reviewed textbooks state or imply that in asymmetrical distributions the median is always located between the mode and mean. An example is presented illustrating the fallacy of this assumption. The mean and median will always be to the right of the mode in a positively skewed unimodal distribution and to the left of the mode in a negatively skewed distribution, but the order of the mean and median is impossible to predict or generalize. The assumption that the median always falls between the mode and mean in the calculation of coefficients of skewness has implicationsfor the interpretation of health sciences research.
No-Fault Medical Liability in Virginia and Florida
Authors: Patel Kant
Published: March 2007

State governments are experimenting with a variety of innovative approaches to the current tort system for medical malpractice liability. One such approach is to apply the concept of no-fault liability to medical practice. States such as Virginia and Florida have already adopted a limited version of such a concept. This article examines the problems of the current tort system, different types of no-fault medical insurance alternatives and their advantages, and the experiences of the states of Virginia and Florida with their limited no-fault malpractice insurance systems. The author concludes that the concept of no-fault compensation for medical malpractice is a promising remedy. However, it is a medicine that will require more testing before it can be pronounced a cureforthe disease that plagues the current system.
Quality Improvement in Health Care
Authors: Weinmann Cynthia
Published: March 2007

The Medicare Peer Review Organization (PRO) program began in the mid 1980s in response to concerns with medical necessity and qualityof care of services delivered to the elderly and disabled, and paidfor by the federal Medicare program. As part of their legislated oversight, PROs reviewed a random sample of hospital medical records. Using locally developed and maintained clinical criteria, PRO nurse and physician reviewers made determinations about the medical necessity of the inpatient stay and services, and identified issues with the quality of care delivered. Within 10 years of its initiation, however, criticisms of the PRO program, based in the reliability and validity of review findings, combined with national interest in quality improvement, led HCFA to refocus the program. PROs currently emphasize clinical and process quality improvement, through collaborative working relationships with providers and consumers.
What can you Teach about Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) in 30 Seconds?
Authors: Meischke Hendrika , Finnegan John , Eisenberg Mickey
Published: March 2007

This study evaluated an 8-month media campaign, implemented in western Washington, to educate people on the basic steps of cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) for cardiac arrest. A telephone survey was conducted with a total of 384 adults randomly selected from two towns, one that had been exposed to the campaign (intervention town) and one that had not been exposed to the campaign (comparison town). Results showed that respondents in the intervention town were more likely than respondents in the comparison town to report (a) having heard messages on CPR in the past month, (b) having seen the CPR media campaign, and (c) knowing the three basic steps of CPR. Respondents who had seen the campaign evaluated it very favorably. There were no differences between respondent groups in self-reported CPR training or intentions to perform CPR, suggesting that the campaign had a greater impact on knowledge and awareness than on intentions and behavior.
Flexible films?
Authors: Blair Helen , Rainnie Al
Published: March 2007

The flexible specialization approach to the structure and dynamics of the film industry has arguably become the dominant framework of analysis. In identifying a succession of waves of small production company formation and demise throughout the history of the British film industry, this article challenges that mode of analysis. This article proposes an alternative method of analysing the relationship between large and small firms in the industry.
The `Face at the Window' study: a fresh approach to media influence and to investigating the influence of television and videos on children's imagination
Authors: Belton Teresa
Published: March 2007

This article suggests a non-prescriptive notion of the concept of `influence', and points out the shortcomings of simply questioning viewers in attempting to elicit subtle forms of influence by the media. It describes the methodology of a study which took an indirect and multi-pronged approach to investigating how television and videos might exert an influence on the storymaking of 10-12-year-old children. The combination of stories, interviews and other data made it possible to contextualize, rather than isolate, the role of television- and video-viewing in the storymaking and lives of these children. Bringing a variety of qualitative data to bear on the question made it possible also to begin to see, in what has been hypothesized as the `psycho-cultural ecology', how the individual's relationship with and response to the screen is indeed individual, while closely tied in with broader family dynamics, all of which are expressed in storymaking.
Digital media, nation-states and local cultures: the case of multimedia `content' production
Authors: Preston Paschal , Kerr Aphra
Published: March 2007

This article explores how, in an era of increased globalization with respect to investment, trade and `flows' of certain goods and services, nation-states and cultural factors still play an important, if somewhat changing, role in relation to the development of content for new multimedia platforms. This article critically engages with the `global march of technology' thesis as it applies to the field of multimedia `content' applications. We define this multimedia applications field as both an emerging new media industry and a new cultural form which (like the mature media) offers a potential public space for the negotiation of cultural values and forms of identity. We are mainly concerned with the application of multimedia technologies for the production of cultural products aimed at final users in the home and the implications of current globalization trends for diversity of content and local cultures. The article also addresses aspects of national and EU public policies related to the support of the digital `content' industry. To explore these concerns, this article draws upon a detailed case study conducted over a period of two years in the Irish branch of a multinational software company. One team in this branch was involved in the localization of different forms of on-line information developed for the American market but reedited for different European markets.
Telecommunication networks as social space: implications for research and policy and an exemplar
Authors: Samarajiva Rohan , Shields Peter
Published: March 2007

We can only understand the scope, nature and underlying driving forces of the major changes now occuring in telecommunications networks if we grasp the linkages between the technical design of the relevant technologies, the corporate and government policy decisions shaping telecommunications products and services and the changing perceptions and behaviours of network users. In this article we attempt to grasp these linkages by developing a socio-spatial understanding of telecommunications networks. We extend and adapt the theorizing of Giddens, Goffman and others on the dynamics of social interaction in physical settings to electronic settings. This is done by delineating a series of socio-spatial concepts — `space', `environment', `proximate space', `virtual space', `public space', `private space'. We suggest these concepts, when integrated with `institutional' and `strategic conduct' analysis, provide a framework for guiding research on these linkages. The introduction of `call management services', particularly Calling Line Identification, in the United States is discussed as an exemplar of the utility of the framework. We conclude by discussing some of the policy implications of the proposed concepts.
Labour flexibility in the UK commercial television sector
Authors: Ursell Gillian
Published: March 2007

This article is based on primary research into a UK commercial television company from the late 1980s to early 1996 and focuses on various human resources management practices intended to influence the performance of the internal labour force. The article demonstrates how changes over time in the conditions of internal and external labour markets are subjected, at the firm's determination, to a full range of labour flexibility measures. These changes reveal the costs and disadvantages which may develop for a company and, by extension, for the whole television sector as a consequence of such altered practices — notably, labour shortages and rising pay rates in the external labour market. The study also reveals how the practices were moderated by the company analysed to protect, on the one hand, existing working relations and, on the other, a particular definition of product quality.
Crystal sets and scarf-pin radios: gender, technology and the construction of American radio listening in the 1920s
Authors: Butsch Richard
Published: March 2007

The transformation of radio in the 1920s from amateur wireless into broadcasting reopened questions of the gender of radio, just as the suffrage movement had succeeded with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment. Wireless had been an overwhelmingly male hobby. But radio manufacturers and broadcasters made explicit efforts to feminize radio, moving it from a masculine technical sphere to a domestic sphere. The domestication of radio has been documented in the USA and elsewhere. Before they were successful, however, there was a period in the mid-1920s when various discourses explored radio's gender. This article focuses on this previously unexamined moment of exploration. The discourses can be read in the several radio magazines which sprouted in the early 1920s with the birth of broadcasting. They included not only feminists, but also male mainstream writers, advertisers and cartoonists who `played' with gender categories in this period. Among these diverse voices are representations of gender sameness and of difference. Assertions of sameness challenged male hegemony of technology. Representations of difference were more diverse. Some reduce men's use from mastering technology to playing with toys. Others linked women's use to their domestic roles. The confusing mix of discourses on gender was characteristic of the unsettled terms of living in 1920s America. This case illustrates one aspect of the process through which feminism was reabsorbed into American culture in the 1920s while not threatening the fundamental gender categories.
A reassessment of the alternative press
Authors: Atton Chris
Published: March 2007

This article revisits the Comedia group's assessment of the alternative press as one of commercial failure. It examines the British alternative press of the 1990s and finds that, while financial exigency and anti-commercialism are still prevalent, new methods of reproduction and distribution have evolved that enable it to overcome the economic problems caused by such conditions. These methods are highly decentralized, relying on the sharing of resources and responsibility by editors, writers and readers. The findings suggest that Comedia's view is based on an inappropriate model of `market penetration' on the mainstream's terms, not on those of the alternative press. If instead the alternative press is considered as a co-operative enterprise based on alternative economic strategies firmly within the alternative public sphere, then there is reason for it to be considered a success.
Social Support Networks, Patient Status, and Institutionalization
Authors: Wan Thomas T.H. , Weissert William G.
Published: March 2007

The purpose of this research is to identify the relationship of social support to patients' functional status and institutionalization. Social support networks are considered as buffers between declines in physical functioning and risks of being institutionalized. Various dimensions of social support networks are investigated to determine if there are differential effects on the use of skilled nursing facilities. Multivariate analyses of data obtained from an experimental study of geriatric day care and homemaker services were performed. Findings show that social support plays an important role in mitigating the effects of deteriorative health status, and thus reduces the risk of being institutionalized. Furthermore, those who were most likely to improve in physical and mental functioning had stronger social support networks.
Lifestyle and Morale in the Southern Rural Aged
Authors: Horan Patrick M. , Belcher John C.
Published: March 2007

Recent theory and research in social gerontology have placed major emphasis on the relationship between activity and morale. Many dimensions and measures of activity have been employed in this research literature. The present research focuses on the lifestyle dimension, following the Maddox (1975) definition of lifestyle as systematic patterns of activity, and attempts to operationalize this concept in a systematic fashion. First, smallest space analysis is applied to data on the activities of a sample of Southern rural aged, identifying two distinct lifestyles. Next, measures of participation in these lifestyles are included as intervening variables in a multivariate causal analysis of the social determinants of individual morale. The results of this analysis suggest that the impact of activity for morale depends on the social organization of activity in the local setting. If so, this organization of activity, or lifestyle dimension, is critical to analyses of the relationship between activity and morale.
Subjective Age, Health, and Survivorship in Old Age
Authors: Markides Kyriakos S. , Pappas Charisse
Published: March 2007

The power of subjective health and subjective age in predicting survivorship among older people is evaluated relative to the predictive power of objective health and life expectancy, respectively, using data from a four-year longitudinal study of older people in San Antonio, Texas. While deceased persons and survivors differ significantly on all four measures at Time 1, discriminant function analysis shows that subjective health is not a significant predictor of survivorship when the other three variables are controlled. Subjective age, however, is at least equally predictive of survivorship as life expectancy.
Aging and the Perception of Illness
Authors: Leventhal Elaine A.
Published: March 2007

The purpose of these studies is to learn more about how aging and illness are perceived by assessing cognitive and emotional representations of illness, coping behaviors and perceived efficacy of coping behavior. Age-related differences were found in emotional representations of illnesses, and in expectations of coping ability. Older participants also tended to dichotomize rather than dimensionalize their responses. An open-ended interview on self-aging indicated universal and individual symptoms of aging.
Aging and Mental Health
Authors: Feinson Marjorie Chary
Published: March 2007

Older adults are generally perceived as more psychologically distressed and/or depressed than younger adults. The validity of this perception is examined by (1) reviewing epidemiological studies and (2) presenting data from a recent mental health survey of elders. The findings from both sources provide a strong challenge to this widespread perception about aging and distress.
Life Satisfaction for Older Female Homemakers, Retirees, and Workers
Authors: Riddick Carol Cutler
Published: March 2007

An examination of a nationally representative sample of 403 homemakers, 698 retirees, and 119 workers revealed that employment status had a significant effect on older women's life satisfaction. Older women who were currently employed had greater life satisfaction than members of their cohort who were homemakers or retirees. Furthermore, based on path analyses leisure activity emerged as an important predictor of life satisfaction for homemakers and retirees. Income and health problems also had meaningful effects on the life satisfaction of all three groups. Implications of the findings for theory development and future research are discussed.
Ethnic Attitudes of Asian American Elderly
Authors: Kurzeja Paul L. , Koh Soon D. , Koh Tong-He , Liu William T.
Published: March 2007

The ethnic attitudes of 74 Korean elderly immigrants, 41 second-generation Japanese elderly, and 42 U.S.-born White elderly toward their own ethnic group and the others were assessed by the Thurstone Attitude Scale. The Koreans' attitudes toward Koreans and White Americans were favorable. However, the Japanese favored Japanese conspicuously more than White Americans, and the Caucasians favored White Americans. Analysis of data showed few direct relationships between the ethnic attitudes and the elderly's social and economic resources and health. Finally, there is a discussion of problems related to identity in Asian Americans.
Migration of the Elderly from the Perspective of the Master Beneficiary Record
Authors: Kestenbaum Bert
Published: March 2007

The potential of the Social Security Administration's Master Beneficiary Record file for supporting the study of migration among the elderly is explored. The file's characteristics are described, and attention is called to its unique perspective on migration. Some findings, from a sample study, are presented on the extent and correlates of elderly migration for the one-year period ending June 1985.
Factors Related to Impaired Mental Health in Urban Elderly
Authors: Gerson Lowell W. , Jarjoura David , McCord Gary
Published: March 2007

Associations between self-rated, scale, and interviewer-rated measures of mental health status and a set of demographic and functional abilities variables were studied. Data on these variables were obtained from an administration of the OARS to 1139 elderly in an urban community. Findings common to at least two of the three mental health measures were that physical health showed a strong association with mental health, inability to engage in activities of daily living was associated with poorer mental health even after controlling for physical health, married men showed better mental health than those not married, social resources were strongly associated with mental health for women but less so for men, and economic resources showed a consistent association with mental health. Different models for the three measures of mental health help to explain the inconsistent associations found in previous studies.
Antecedents and Consequences of Remarriage in Later Life
Authors: Bulcroft Kris , Bulcroft Richard , Hatch Laurie , Borgatta Edgar F.
Published: March 2007

Using the Retirement History Study (RHS), respondents were identified who entered the study widowed or divorced, and then remarried. Respondents were also identified who entered the study as married, became widowed or divorced, and then remarried. In the latter case, because of limitations of the RHS, only males were observed. With some matching relevant to the types of analyses carried out, comparison groups were selected, providing an opportunity to examine both antecedents and consequences of remarriage.
Informal Care for the Disabled Elderly
Authors: Abel Emily K.
Published: March 2007

Most studies of informal care for the disabled elderly are based on structured interviews, which are analyzed statistically, and they focus on two issues that lend themselves to quantification - the tasks caregivers perform and the stress they experience. The focus on chores restricts researchers' understanding of the experience of caregivers. Task-oriented research may be particularly inappropriate for an activity dominated by women. Because stress has critical implications for public health, researchers have attempted to identify caregivers most at risk of stress and to evaluate interventions. Although these studies have provided useful information for practitioners, the preoccupation with stress compels researchers to miss essential aspects of the caregiving experience and restricts the range of policy recommendations. Researchers should employ qualitative, as well as quantitative, methodologies and should incorporate the theoretical insights of a wide range of disciplines. Because scholars in the field of women's studies have directed considerable attention to personal relationships and caregiving issues, their writings may be especially useful for charting an agenda for research.
The Experience of Micro- and Macroevents
Authors: Martin Peter , Smyer Michael A.
Published: March 2007

This study investigated how individuals retrospectively construe their lives in terms of major life events. Ninety-nine participants sorted a set of personal and historical events in terms of perceived importance for their lives. Analyses of variance with repeated measures and rank comparisons were computed. Overall findings revealed no cohort differences with regard to the perception of life events. However, within cohort differences were found, indicating that more life events were recalled from the young adult years. Those experiences were also perceived as having been more important in the participants' lives than events from other age segments. With regard to historical events, war-related experiences were among the highest ranked. Analyses of variance revealed intracohort differences but not intercohort differences, indicating higher scores for the time between 1930 and 1948 relative to other historical periods.
Effects of Work and Family on Women's
Authors: Hatch Laurie Russell
Published: March 2007

This article reviews the current state of knowledge on how women's work and family experiences throughout the life course influence their economic and social resources. The article draws together literature on topics that usually have been treated as separate and distinct from one another. Although researchers increasingly are examining linkages between the "world of work" and the "world of family," most studies focus on one or the other. A broader picture is required to understand the separate and combined influences of work and family experiences on later-life resources.
Health Promotion Over the Life Course
Authors: Borgatta Edgar F. , Bulcroft Kris , Montgomery Rhonda J.V. , Bulcroft Richard
Published: March 2007

For health promotion policy to be effective, it must take into account the historical and social context. The increase in life expectancy and health improvements in this century are impressive, and most persons can now anticipate relatively long lives and good health. Health promotion generally is advanced within a context of competing values, and the consequences of health promotion activities are generally stated in higher probabilities of avoidance of health problems in the future. This probability, rather than direct future consequences, may not be persuasive enough to the population to affect change in activities that provide more immediate and direct gratification, and, thus, attempts at health promotion may not be effective. The dissemination of information on health issues has increased dramatically, and societal values concerning health are changing. Fostering health promotion is associated with costs, both monetary and social, and since these costs rise, the investments in health promotion may be expected to increase. At least two approaches to health promotion exist: one through general information and the shifting of values and a second through intervention programs. For the latter to be effective, they will need to be placed in a systematic program. The basis for a model for such a program is developed here. An outline of the model will be presented in Part II of this article, to be published in a subsequent issue of Research on Aging.
Financial and Household Exchanges between Generations
Authors: Hoyert Donna L.
Published: March 2007

Both foundations of the modified extended family model, residential location and marital status, determine exchange patterns. Another dimension of family exchange is the history of relationships; adult children were once members of the nuclear household and relationships and patterns of exchange began in that setting. Families build on past relationships as well as being responsive to differences in the needs of its family members. Furthermore, the number of parent-child dyads within a family affect interaction patterns.
Health Diaries and Interviews
Authors: Rosner Tena Tarler , Namazi Kevan H. , Wykle May L.
Published: March 2007

The daily health diary has been used as a research instrument to collect information on health, illness, and associated behaviors. There is conflict in the literature, however, on whether the diary is useful in studying gerontological health. The purpose of this study is to examine whether two different formats, the interview and the diary, are similar or different in eliciting health data from older people. Interviews were conducted with 728 randomly selected adults ranging in age from 45 to 94; a random subsample of 83 was selected subsequently to keep a diary. The study focused exclusively on chronic health problems. The results suggest that the reporting format and age may influence what is reported about chronic health problems.
Public Opinion Toward Costs and Benefits of Social Security and Medicare
Authors: Day Christine L.
Published: March 2007

Although most surveys show overwhelming support for old-age benefits among people of all ages, few surveys cover cost-benefit trade-offs in aging policy. Questions piloted by the American National Election Studies in 1991 surveyed attitudes not only about Social Security and Medicare expansion but also about taxes on Social Security benefits and the trade-off between increasing taxes and reducing elderly medical benefits. Path analysis is used to examine the influences on these benefit, tax, and cost-benefit trade-off items for elderly and nonelderly respondents. Attitudes toward taxes on Social Security benefits are shaped more by self-interest, and less by partisanship and ideology, than by attitudes toward benefits and cost-benefit trade-offs. Although there is some evidence of generational conflict, there is more conflict within generations than between them.
Kinship and Family Support in Taiwan
Authors: Tu Edward Jow-Ching , Freedman Vicki A. , Wolf Douglas A.
Published: March 2007

By 1983, Taiwan had reached the final stage of its population transition, with both mortality and fertility at low rates. Such demographic change will increasingly affect the capacity of families to maintain their caregiving role. Due to reduced fertility, by the 21st century, many elderly persons may have few or no children available to care for them in old age. This article focuses on the family network as a potential source of support for Taiwanese elderly, using microsimulation techniques. The results indicate that the proportion of aged parents without working-age children can be expected to rise substantially. The decline in fertility that has already occurred will reduce the extent of children available to share parental support obligations and increase the support burden on individual offspring. As a result, continued dependence on children as the major form of support will leave a substantial proportion of elderly without resources and a large proportion of the younger generation with difficult financial burdens.
Protected or Neglected
Authors: Reynolds Sandra L.
Published: March 2007

This study examines the assumptions held in the gerontological literature that older adults suffer negative ageism under conservatorship in comparison with younger adults. For the purposes of this study, negative ageism is defined in four ways-with demographic and health factors controlled: Older adults would be more likely (1) to be served under powers to place the conservatee in locked facilities, (2) to be served under powers that authorize treatment with psychotropic medication, (3) to be placed in locked facilities, and (4) to receive psychotropic medications. Findings in this study do not reveal any evidence of negative ageism; however, findings do support evidence of compassionate ageism, as older adults are less likely than are younger adults to be served under powers to place in locked facilities, less likely to be served under powers to treat with psychotropic medications, less likely to be placed in locked facilities, and less likely to receive treatment with psychotropic medications.