bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Assessing the Economic Value of Pharmaceutical Products and Services
Authors: Xiaodong Kong Sheldon , Stubbings JoAnn
Published: March 2007

The evaluation of drug therapy in the US has undergone major transformations in the 20th century. Since 1962, the primary indicators for a drug to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration have been safety and efficacy. Due to increased public demand for value for money, the economic outcome (efficiency) has become the third objective (in addition to safety and efficacy) in the evaluation of pharmaceuticals. Pharmacoeconomic analyses identify, measure, and compare the costs and consequences of two or more programs from one or several perspectives, which provide explicit sets of criteria that may be useful in deciding among different uses for scarce resources. This article introduces the basic concepts and techniques in pharmacoeconomics including types of costs and benefits, perspective of analysis, discounting, efficacy and effectiveness, decision analysis, and sensitivity analysis. Four types of pharmacoeconomic analyses are discussed: cost-effectiveness analysis, cost-benefit analysis, cost-minimization analysis, and cost-utility analysis. Estimating costs is basically similar among the four types of analyses; the major difference is the outcome measure. In addition, cost-of-illness analysis is also discussed. Because cost-of-illness analysis examines the economic burden of an illness on society, it provides the baseline information for the other types of pharmacoeconomic analyses and marketing decision-making. Copyright © 1995 by W.B. Saunders Company
Applied Concepts of Holistic Nursing
Authors: Bollinger Evelyn
Published: March 2007

Meeting the many needs of a young adolescent on a busy Saturday can be quite a challenge. This article shows how a nurse practitioner drew on Watson’s theory of caring as the basis of her interaction with an 11-year-old boy and his mother and relied on her ability to be flexible and creative in the process. The positive outcomes of this visit were evident in the client’s and mother’s change of affect and their commitment to take positive action. The nurse practitioner experienced renewal of spirit and a sense of gratitude for the effective role she played in this interaction.
Outcomes of a Small Group Educational Intervention for Urinary Incontinence
Authors: Mcfall Stephanie L. , Yerkes Adeline M. , Cowan Linda D.
Published: March 2007

Objectives:This community-based intervention to reduce urinary incontinence (UI) in elderly women used a small group educational approach. This article reports on change in episodes of incontinence and other urinary symptoms. Methods: Participants were randomly assigned to intervention orwait control condition. This article is restricted to 49 intervention and 59 control participants with acceptable diaries. Results:There was a significant treatment effect for a number of incontinent episodes. In the intervention group, 61% had a 50% or greater reduction in episodes, with more than one third having 100% reduction; 38% of the control group had a reduction of 50% or greater. One year postprogram, 75% of treated women reported subjective improvement. Therewas a reduction in frequency of daily, but not nocturnal, micturition. Discussion:This community-based intervention is an encouraging option for behavioral treatment of UI. Public health models may be particularly appropriate with moderate levels of urinary incontinence.
The Relationship between Subjective and Objective Memory in the Oldest Old: Comparisons of Findings from a Representative and a Convenience Sample
Authors: Zelinski Elizabeth M. , Burnight Kerry P. , Lane Christianne J.
Published: March 2007

Objectives: To evaluate the hypotheses that subjective memory ratings are more accurate in the oldest old than in the young old and more accurate in a representative sample than in a convenience sample. Methods:Outcomes of hierarchical regressions of subjective ratings and participant characteristics on recall were compared between a nationally representative sample of 6,446 adults ages 70 to 103 and a convenience sample of 326 adults ages 70 to 97. Results:Education interacted with memory ratings in the prediction of performance in the representative sample, with better prediction for more highly educated participants than for participants with lower levels of education. Discussion:The general pattern of findings was consistent across both samples and neither hypothesis was supported. Possible explanations for the similarity of results across samples are considered.
The Physical Functioning Inventory
Authors: Whetstone Lauren M. , Fozard James L. , Metter E. Jeffrey , Hiscock Barbara S. , Burke Ray , Gittings Neil , Fried Linda P.
Published: March 2007

The Physical Functioning Inventory, an instrument designed to assess changes in how and how often activities are performed in persons reporting difficulty with a task as well as in those who do not, is described. The measure is designed for adults. Interrater and test-retest reliability were assessed with active participants in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA). Percentage agreement ranged from 63% to 100%. The instrument was also given to 392 inactive BLSA participants as part of a follow-up telephone interview. Fifty-eight percent of the respondents reported no difficulty in performing a task, yet reported a change in how or how often they performed that task. The results indicate that the instrument is reliable and effective in detecting early stages of disability in activities of daily living, instrumental activities of daily living, and mobility. The instrument is somewhat less reliable for moderate and strenuous physical activities.
Development of a Framework to Encourage Addressing Advance Directives When Resources Are Limited
Authors: Cohen-Mansfield Jiska
Published: March 2007

Objectives:Advance directives are used to increase autonomy in decisions regarding care when a person lacks the ability to communicate such wishes. Based on studies showing internal consistency in individuals’ preferences, this study demonstrates a new method for identifying a list of questions that may best predict patient preferences. Method:Participants were 71 residents of a large nursing home and 97 hospital patients. All were administered the Preferences for Life-Sustaining Treatment Questionnaire. Advance directives sequence models were developed using conditional probabilities concerning preferences for utilization of specific treatment options, given prior responses to different treatment options. Results:Models resulted in more than 90% accuracy of treatment preferences for both samples and eliminated two thirds to three quarters of questions asked. Conclusions:Although the specific models need validation using larger samples, they demonstrate a method that facilitates transfer of information concerning treatment preferences if future incapacitation occurs.
Caregiver Strain
Authors: Romeis James C.
Published: March 2007

This article attempts to broaden the conceptual perspective of caregiver strain by developing a generalized perspective that focuses on the demands and resources of caregiving. By extension, the perspective links caregiver strain to a typology relating caregiver strain and institutionalization. The result is intended to be a new and useful conceptualization for identifying factors that differentiate sources of caregiver strain and their consequences for both individuals and society.
Relationships between Knowledge and Belief Variables and Health Maintenance Behaviors in a Danish Population Over 45 Years of Age
Authors: Dean Kathryn
Published: March 2007

The growing body of evidence regarding the importance of self-care behavior for the maintenance of health and functional capacity has stimulated research interest in identifying the factors and processes that influence health-related behavior. This article examines relationships between health knowledge and belief variables and two types of health maintenance behavior: (a) routine habits that affect health and (b) deliberately undertaken health-protective behavior. The findings suggest that generalized health beliefs may have limited influence on behavior. Health locus of control beliefs may be related to behavioral change, but were not related to either current tobacco and alcohol consumption or to conscious health maintenance behaviors. It is concluded that more attention needs to be directed toward cultural influences on health beliefs and behavior.
Social Networks, Social Support, and Self-Ratings of Health among the Elderly
Authors: Auslander Gail K. , Litwin Howard
Published: March 2007

Social networks and the support they may provide have been shown to be important determinants of the health of the elderly. This study compares structural and support aspects of those networks in their relationship with self-latings of health among 200 elderly residents of the city of Jerusalem. Perceived social support was found to be a more important predictor of health than were measures of network structure. Further, the relation between support and health was a function of the relation between support and both psychological state and functional status.
Seasonal Migration and Health Care
Authors: McHugh Kevin E. , Mings Robert C.
Published: March 2007

This article examines health care use and issues among seasonal migrants in an urban setting in the Sunbelt. The study, based on a survey of 230 American and Canadian snowbirds in Phoenix, Arizona, complements previous research on health care use among Canadian snowbirds in Florida. Our results show that health care use among seasonal migrants in Phoenix is substantial, and it varies by citizenship (American vs. Canadian), age, number of winter visits, and length of winter stay. We argue that health care use is symptomatic of social and emotional attachments to the winter residence that develop and deepen over a period of years. Phoenix snowbirds view their lifestyles as healthy, they are adept in adjusting to health decrements, and the majority plan to continue spending time in both their summer and winter residences as long as their health permits
Consistency and Change in Functional Status among Older Adults Over lime
Authors: Wolinsky Fredric D. , Stump Timothy E. , Callahan Christopher M. , Johnson Robert J.
Published: March 2007

Consistency and change between 1984 and the last reinterview (either two, four, or six years later) on 22 individual functional status markers and the five summary scales that they form are examined among the 5,986 members of the Longitudinal Study on Aging who were reinterviewed at least once. At baseline, at least three-fifths of the respondents are without limitations on any individual marker. At the last reinterview, at least 43.4% of the respondents are without such limitations. Among those who had limitations at baseline, at least one-fifth get better. For those without limitations at baseline, one-seventeenth to two-fifths get worse. Difficulties in walking and doing heavy housework were the most common, most likely to develop, and least likely to resolve of any of the ADL or IADL items, and lower body limitations were more common, more likely to develop, and less likely to resolve than upper body limitations. Linear panel analysis of the five summary scales indicates that the top predictors of increased functional limitation are baseline levels of functional limitation, older age, decedent status, and poorer perceived health (in that order). Other less consistent and less robust predictors include the length of the exposure window, being female, having a history of arthritis, lower educational attainment, having fewer nonkin social supports, higher prior physician visit levels, and not living alone.
Do Racial Differences in Hypertension Persist in Successful Agers?
Authors: Gold Deborah T. , Pieper Carl F. , Westlund Ronald E. , Blazer Dan G.
Published: March 2007

The objective of this study was to determine whether racial differences in hypertension in a random sample of community-dwelling older adults also remained significant in a sample of successful agers. Data for the random sample of community-dwelling older adults came from the Duke University Established Populations for Epidemiologic Studies of the Elderly (4,162 community-dwelling adults age 65 and older) and showed strong racial differences in hypertension. Data for successful agers came from the Duke MacArthur (428 of EPESE respondents in the top 30% in terms of physical, cognitive, and psychosocial performance). The mean of two sitting blood pressure measurements was the dependent variable for both sets of analyses. Independent variables included demographics and health factors. Using logistic regression, odds ratios in the Duke EPESE and Duke MacArthur samples for race were similar (Duke EPESE odds ratio = 1.30; Duke MacArthur odds ratio = 1.29). Sample size differences affected statistical significance. However, race differences in hypertension in older adults appear to be unexplained by socioeconomic status or other usual explanatory variables. Even among successful agers, racial differences in hypertension persist.
Weight Change
Authors: Fredman Lisa , Daly Mel P.
Published: March 2007

This study evaluated weight change and caregiver stress in 200 informal caregivers to elderly patients discharged from a rehabilitation hospital. Previous laboratory and epidemiologic studies have shown that stress predisposes to weight change. Nineteen percent of the caregivers had gained or lost at least 10 pounds since becoming caregivers. Weight change was significantly associated with higher scores on standardized measures of burden and stress (e.g., Burden Interview, Perceived Stress Scale, Geriatric Depression Scale) and with lower education, poorer self-rated health, more psychotropic medication use, and caring for patients with more ADL limitations who had been hospitalized for stroke or a frail elderly condition. Caregivers to patients with a stroke or frail elderly condition reported 2.8 times more weight change than caregivers to patients with a rehabilitation problem. These results suggest that weight change is a valid indicator of stress in caregivers, and they have public health, clinical, and research applications.
Race, Finding Meaning, and Caregiver Distress
Authors: Farran Carol J. , Miller Baila H. , Kaufman Julie E. , Davis Lucille
Published: March 2007

This study investigated the relationship between race, finding meaning (as a positive psychological resource variable), and the outcomes of caregiver depression and global role strain among 77 African American and 138 White spouse caregivers of persons with dementia. Finding provisional meaning had a direct negative relationship with depression and global role strain. Although African American caregivers were less likely to report depression and role strain, there was no interaction by race in the process influencing caregiver distress.
Agency Theory in the Not-for-Profit Sector: Its Role at Independent Colleges
Authors: Olson David E.
Published: March 2007

Agency theory has long been studied in the corporate setting and used to explain performance in management and in boards of directors. However, little has been done to extend this research into the area of not-for-profits. Using data collected from member institutions of the Council of Independent Colleges, relationships between boards of trustees and presidential demography and institutional performance were examined. Data were analyzed using panel regression with a separate panel for each year’s data and for each of the responding schools. Using revenue and gift income as dependent variables, it was found that increases in the size, average tenure, and level of business executive background on a board led to subsequent increases in performance for the institution. Diversity of the board had mixed results, whereas presidential tenure improved performance. These findings partially support the hypotheses and extend the explanatory reach of agency theory into the not-for-profit sector.
How We Beg: The Analysisof Direct Mail Appeals
Authors: Handy Femida
Published: March 2007

One of the reasons that nonprofit organizations have a comparative advantage over other organizational forms is that the nondistribution constraint renders them trustworthy in many transactions that require trust. However, the nondistribution constraint in and of itself may not be sufficient, and nonprofits must actively gain public trust. In particular, charities that are involved in fund-raising from the general public must make an effort to elicit and maintain donor confidence. The author proposes that they do so by a judicious use of signals and discusses the types of signals charities use to establish their trustworthiness to raise funds. Direct mail appeals, used by charities to raise funds from the general public, are examined to verify the signals discussed.
Who is Being Served? The Impact of Student Volunteering on Local Community Organizations
Authors: Edwards Bob , Mooney Linda , Heald Carl
Published: March 2007

This research investigated how local community-based and nonprofit organizations benefit from cooperation with community-based learning (CBL) initiatives such as service learning, internships, and volunteering. By examining data from local organizations that cooperate with a campus-based student volunteer program, the authors empirically assessed the extent to which local organizations benefit from cooperation with CBL initiatives. The data enabled comparisons of the relative contributions of university student volunteers and off-campus volunteers recruited from the larger community. The authors found that student volunteers constitute a substantial pool of volunteer labor for local organizations, yet they play different roles than community volunteers, roles that vary by organizational form. Student volunteers are generally the least likely to provide or help plan and coordinate services compared with community volunteers. These differences can be offset by a modest amount of training for student volunteers. The findings do not support the notion that students are used exclusively for routine tasks.
Community Variations in the Size and Scope of the Nonprofit Sector: Theory and Preliminary Findings
Authors: Grønbjerg Kirsten A. , Paarlberg Laurie
Published: March 2007

Nonprofits reflect and shape community conditions. Understanding the nature of this relationship is important if we are to fully comprehend the role nonprofits play in contemporary society and if policy makers are to make effective use of the sector to implement local responses to community needs. Using data on Internal Revenue Service–registered nonprofits for Indian acounties, the authors examine how theories of demand, supply, and social structure predict the overall density of nonprofits in local communities. The authors find substantial county-level variations in the densities of nonprofits overall and of charitable, advocacy, and mutual-benefit nonprofits. Using multiple regression techniques, they are able to explain 20% to 46% of overall variation (depending on legal category involved) in nonprofit densities. Their findings support the supply and social structure, but not demand, explanations and reveal somewhat divergent patterns for the various types of nonprofits.The authors note several important caveats to the findings.
Philanthropic Dimensions of Mutual Benefit Organizations
Authors: O'Neill Michael
Published: March 2007

This article argues that mutual benefit organizations deserve more attention than they have received from nonprofit sector scholars, because these organizations constitute a large and important part of the American non-profit sector and contain a great deal of charitable, altruistic, or philanthropic behavior The article focuses on mutual benefit organizations' philanthropic activities, both within the organizations and as an influence on the development of philanthropy in public benefit, 501 (c) (3)-type nonprofits.
The Behavior of Foundations in an Organizational Frame: A Case Study
Authors: Diaz William A.
Published: March 2007

Until relatively recently, there has been little serious historical scholarship or organizational analysis concerning foundations. This article examines the experience of the Ford Foundation in creating and implementing a large new grant-making initiative applying three models of organizational behavior: the rational actor model, a bureaucratic politics model, and an organizational process model. The article provides a preliminary analysis of the strength of these models for illuminating the way foundations operate and shape their grant-making programs. Large foundations are complex institutions whose decisions may not always be optimal on some public interest or cost-benefit calculus. At a time when public affairs professionals find themselves turning to private foundations for solutions, an understanding of internal dynamics may help in building public-private partnerships on a realistic footing.
Grassroots Associations are Important: Some Theory and a Review of the Impact Literature
Authors: Smith David Horton
Published: March 2007

Grassroots associations (GAs) are defined as locally based and wholly volunteer nonprofits-essentially local voluntary associations, in sociological terms. Such associations are discussed in theoretical terms, examining pros and cons regarding their potential importance. On the basis of an extensive literature review, the internal impact of GAs involves the fostering of social support and mutual helping, stimulation and self-expression, happiness and health, sociopolitical activation, and economic and other outcomes among members. On the downside, some GA activity (eg., in delinquent gangs) can increase individual deviance among members. Externally, GAs often create positive change, enable continuing citizen participation in a democracy and a viable "civil society," provide varied services to nonmembers, help maintain societal cohesion, and can help in disasters. GAs also help support the economic system and stimulate program volunteering, philanthropic giving, and other GA activity. Cumutatively, grassroots associations have a very substantial effect on society and on the lives of its citizens, especially in modern nations like America.
Shifting the Prism: Case Explications of Institutional Analysis in Nonprofit Organizations
Authors: Feeney Suzanne
Published: March 2007

Teachers of nonprofit organization studies, nonprofit practitioners, and consultants are increasingly dissatisfied with the standard management model approach to solving organizational problems in nonprofits. The standard model provides rational "fixes" to complex organizational issues that miss the contextual, dynamic, and varied environments in which nonprofits operate. This article proposes that an institutional analysis approach represents an important alternative to the standard model because it views nonprofit organizations as embedded in and subcomponents of larger communal and organizational systems. The article explores five elements that distinguish the institutional analysis approach from the standard model: (1) the organization should be considered to exist in social systems, (2) cultural influences that shape organizational behavior must be sought out and analyzed, (3) a variety of constituencies are likely to be important and powerful, (4) coercive influences often shape nonprofits, and (5) organizations operate simultaneously within horizontal and vertical interorganizational networks. Five case studies explicate each of these elements, providing new strategies for resolving the complex organizational issues facing nonprofit organizations.
Doing it their Way: Organizational Challenges for Voluntary Associations
Authors: Harris Margaret
Published: March 2007

Nonprofit scholars have generally paid little attention to the organizational features of voluntary associations. This article starts to fill this gap in nonprofit scholarship. It proposes five key challenges of associational organization: meeting long-term goals and individual member's needs, balancing member-benefit and public-benefit goals, setting priorities in the face of competing interests, controlling member volunteers, and integrating paid staff. The article suggests that voluntary associations are conceptually and organizationally distinguish able from the bureaucratic service-delivering agencies of the broader nonprofit sector and merit specific research attention to build descriptive data and specialist theory.
Interagency Partnerships in Aid-Recipient Countries: Lessons from an Aquaculture Project in Bangladesh
Authors: Lewis David J.
Published: March 2007

In aid-recipient countries, partnerships between government, donors, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are now a central feature of many development projects and programs, but partnership arrangements in practice are rarely subjected to detailed scrutiny. A distinct discourse of partnership has been "produced" by the present configuration of foreign donors, NGOs, and government in the aquaculture sector in Bangladesh, which sometimes adds value by improving effectiveness and sometimes does not, merely reinforcing various agency interests. Drawing on data emerging from a process documentation of this project, a new model of active as opposed to dependent partnership is emerging. This model emphasizes the processes, experiences, and perceptions of partnership as well as the planned project outputs. It envisages a role for NGOs that goes beyond service delivery and informs and challenges existing public sector policy and practice.
Nonprofit Decision Making and Resource Allocation: The Importance of Membership Preferences, Community Needs, and Interorganizational Ties
Authors: Markham William T. , Johnson Margaret A. , Bonjean Charles M.
Published: March 2007

Data on 12 local chapters of a high status women’s community service organization and their communities are used to assess the relative impact of community needs, members’ perceptions and preferences, and interorganizational ties on decisions about how to allocate volunteers and funds among 17 community problem areas. Quantitative analysis indicates that the distribution of volunteer time and funds was unrelated to community needs as measured by objective indicators. Instead, members’ and leaders’ perceptions of the severity of community problems and their willingness to work in some problem areas more than others were the most important determinants of resource allocation. Qualitative evidence also suggests that members’ ties to other organizations played a role in the chapters’ decisions about project selection.
Preschool Children and Behaviour Problems
Authors: NAJMAN JAKE M. , BOR WILLIAM , ANDERSEN MARGARET J. , O'CALLAGHAN MICHAEL , WILLIAMS GAIL M.
Published: March 2007

Toddler/child behaviour problems have received relatively little previous attention. Prior studies have implicated a wide variety of factors in the aetiology of child behaviour problems but many of these factors are correlated and little is known about their independent contributions. Four broad categories of factors have been associated with child behaviour problems: (1) maternal social and economic characteristics; (2) maternal lifestyle; (3) maternal mental state/child-rearing practices; and (4) maternal and child physical health. The study took a sample of 5296 families from the Mater-University of Queensland Study of Pregnancy (MUSP) for whom 5-year prospective data are available. The major predictors of toddler behaviour problems were the mother's and child's health, and the mother's mental state. The mother's sociostructural characteristics and lifestyle made little or no additional contribution to the prediction models. It is, however, salutary to note that the majority of children who are classified as having high levels of troublesome behaviour do not fall into any of the risk categories. A variety of explanations and interpretations of the data is considered.
Child Sexual Abuse and the Multidisciplinary Team Approach
Authors: JACOBSON MAXINE
Published: March 2007

This article uses the multidisciplinary team approach to child sexual abuse as a generative site for research and explores the ways in which shifting meanings of childhood and constructions of sexually abused children and the structuring of team practice poses problems for multidisciplinary team members. It argues that understanding child sexual abuse and developing community-based practice approaches must be informed by broader perspectives. Linkages are drawn between the multidisciplinary team approach and the `businessing' of human services. A model of critical practice is suggested as a framework for considering new translations of practice with sexually abused children.
Representing Children in Child Protection Assessments
Authors: HOLLAND SALLY
Published: March 2007

The article reports on findings from qualitative research into the conduct of in-depth assessments of families by social workers in child protection cases in Britain. It concentrates on two aspects of the portrayal of children in the assessments: the representation of children's views and the reporting of children's developmental progress. It is seen that children are often minor characters in the assessment reports. The weight and value given to children's opinions by social workers is variable. The description of younger children is mainly structured by developmental norms and assumptions. The article concludes that children are only partially represented in the assessments and that much of what we learn about them is mediated by adult perspectives and actions.
Exclusion, Civic Invisibility and Impunity as Explanations for Youth Murders in Brazil
Authors: HUGGINS MARTHA K. , DE CASTRO MYRIAM MESQUITA P.
Published: March 2007

As a sociological analysis, this study of youth murders in Brazil focuses on victim-generating sociostructural situations and the social creation of victims. Rather than concentrating on individuals' predispositions or overt motives for murdering Brazilian youth, or on the victims' specific alleged misbehaviors and threats, or some generalized `culture of violence', we identify the particular conditions that transform particular kinds of Brazilian youth into `social problems' and `symbolic assailants', thus increasing their vulnerability to murder. It is this study's thesis that modern Brazilian social structures powerfully shape poor Brazilian youths' vulnerability to murder by strangers. These victims come from the segments most marginalized socially, economically and politically from Brazilian society — as poor, darkskinned, male teenagers. This marginalization renders such youth virtually powerless — political and social outcasts within the legitimate system, or, in civic and political terms, non-persons. When their presence on the streets as workers is combined with civic invisibility and social visibility as symbolic assailants, such youth are especially likely to be murdered by a stranger.
Children, War and Nation
Authors: POVRZANOVIĆ MAJA
Published: March 2007

This article explores the importance of historical sociocultural changes in the children's ethnic and national socialization processes, using the example of Croatian (and some Bosnian) children in the 1990s whose development has been deranged by a war in which ethnic belonging has played a major role. In their life history essays, denotation of `the Enemy' ranges from the imposition of taboos and the compensational personification of war as `hostile history' to the direct naming of the actual human enemy by using the shared ethnic markers that point to the politicized collective identities.
Methodological Issues and Recommendations on Research With At-Risk Youth Across Cultures
Authors: CHUNG RITA CHI-YING , BEMAK FRED
Published: March 2007

This article examines methodological issues in conducting research with at-risk youth across cultures. A case study is used to illustrate key methodological issues and explores where conventional methodology may not be applicable to cross-cultural research with at-risk youth. Recommendations are made to address some of the methodological challenges.
Non-violent Males in Violent Settings
Authors: BARKER GARY
Published: March 2007

This study analyzes the factors associated with being non-violent and constructing a non-violent, prosocial masculine identity among adolescent males in two low-income Chicago (USA) neighborhoods where boys are generally socialized to be violent. Subjects were 25 African-American and Hispanic males ages 15-20; six of the males were adolescent fathers. Results confirmed that the males' life trajectories were characterized by family stresses, exposure to violence and gang involvement. Several factors were associated with being non-violent, including the ability to draw lessons from past traumatic experiences, having a recognized skill or meaningful connection to a mainstream institution, belonging to an alternative peer group that promoted non-violence and finding a purpose of life in being a father. Implications for youth-serving agencies are offered, including the suggestion of offering activities in which young men reflect about their life histories.
Considering Child Labour
Authors: MYERS WILLIAM E.
Published: March 2007

Expanding international attention to child labour issues has in recent years brought new values, actors and ideas to the fore, thereby enhancing the diversity of thinking and action in regards to child work. There has been a notable broadening of the terms of debate, including new appreciation of the variety of child work situations and contexts and their differentiated effects on the children involved. Increased interest by economists and social scientists and new empirical insights yielded by their research approaches are illuminating the nature and social ecology of child work. A rights orientation deriving from nearly universal adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is placing more focus on what happens to children, and children's own ideas about their work are becoming more available and influential. Traditional modes of action against child labour have been discredited as ineffective, but successfully tested alternatives are not yet available to replace them. In the interim, a focus on ending the worst forms of child labour is likely to be the most logical strategy.
Experiences of Decision-Making in Middle Childhood
Authors: THOMAS NIGEL , O'KANE CLAIRE
Published: March 2007

This article is based on a study of children's participation in decisions when they are looked after by local authorities in England and Wales, which included individual and group interviews with 47 children. In the course of the research, children and their carers talked about their very varied experiences of involvement in decision-making, not just in the care system but in everyday life. The article recounts some of these experiences using children's own words, and explores some ways in which such rich and diverse material can be understood using provisional typologies.
Silent Epidemic, Environmental Injustice, or Exaggerated Concern?
Authors: Shibley Mark A. , Prosterman Annette
Published: March 2007

This article examines media characterizations of childhood lead poisoning as a window to the framing of an environmental health problem. The authors sampled newspaper coverage of childhood lead poisoning between 1991 and 1995 and used the data to describe how childhood lead poisoning is framed as a public health issue in news media, to explain how the framing has changed over time, and to discuss what is at stake in the contest to define childhood lead poisoning as a widespread public health problem. The analysis pays particular attention to the role of the environmental justice movement in this process. The authors show why an environmental injustice frame (some children are more at risk for lead poisoning than others), which is increasingly available in the culture, is unlikely to displace the dominant "silent epidemic" frame (all children are at risk) used in media coverage of childhood lead poisoning in the United States.
James Rorty's Social Ecology
Authors: Boles John Michael
Published: March 2007

The environmental consequences of modern industrial society necessitates an investigation into the organizational basis of an ecologically sustainable society. From the 1930s through the 1950s, the pioneering social ecologist James Rorty examined these issues in ways that are still relevant today. Rorty's broad-ranging analysis explored the relationships among economics, society, culture, and ecology. Although not an uncritical proponent of technology, Rorty believed that science and technology could help create a society in balance with the natural environment. At its strongest, Rorty's analysis situated technology within a capitalist social and cultural system and examined the ways in which the profit-motive impeded the application of science and technology to social problems. At its worst, however, Rorty's work belied an overly optimistic faith in technological solutions to environmental degradation. The work of James Rorty demonstrates that there is a complex history of environmentalism and ecological thought that needs to be recovered and assessed.
Institutional Choice in New Democracies
Authors: Benoit Kenneth , Schiemann John W.
Published: March 2007

Institutions shape political outcomes, yet institutions themselves are endogenously shaped outcomes of political choices. Such choices are especially significant during transitions to democracy, when initial institutional designs fundamentally structure the path of democratic development. Most theories of institutional emergence, however, focus on stable contexts rather than on the conditions of acute uncertainty identified in the standard transitions literature. Our article attempts to bridge the two subfields by outlining and applying a model of institutional choice as the outcome of a struggle between fledgling opposition parties and the authoritarian regime wherein each side struggles to gain the greatest distributive payoff. We examine the creation of the Hungarian electoral system of 1989, linking the positions of the participants to the institutional alternatives which they expected to maximize their expected seat shares in the election to take place under those rules. The evidence shows that the individual parties generally preferred alternatives that maximized their expected seats, subject to the constraint of not derailing the negotiations as a whole. When a party had the possibility to reduce its uncertainty, it also tended to shift to a position reflecting its updated evaluation of an institutional alternative's effect on its expected seats. Far from being paralyzed by uncertainty and lack of information, actors in the choice of Hungary's 1989 electoral law were, with minor exceptions, able to effectively link institutional outcomes to electoral self-interest and to pursue these distributive gains through bargaining.
Strategic Voting under Plurality and Runoff Rules
Authors: Niou Emerson M. S.
Published: March 2007

Choosing a method of electing a president is often a contentious constitutional issue for newly emerging democracies. The debate focuses largely on two alternative electoral procedures: plurality rule and plurality rule with a runoff. Duverger (1954) argues that plurality rule has a consolidating influence on parties that a runoff rule lacks. This paper focuses on the `psychological effect' identified by Duverger as the principal basis of consolidation, and studies the conditions under which strategic voting can change the sincere voting outcome and identifies the types of voters who should vote strategically under plurality and runoff rules. Three interesting findings can be drawn from the theoretical results. First, strategic voting is needed more often under plurality rule than under runoff rule to render the Condorcet winner the voting outcome. Second, under the plurality rule, strategic voting cannot ensure that a Condorcet winner will win and cannot even preclude a Condorcet loser from winning. Under the runoff rule, however, strategic voting ensures that the Condorcet winner will win, if one exists. Third, it is easier for a third candidate to enter the election and win the race under the plurality rule than under the runoff rule even if the third candidate is not a Condorcet winner.
The Effect of Institutions on the Choices of Consumers and Providers of Health Care
Authors: De Alessi Louis
Published: March 2007

Recent advances in the application of economic theory suggest that differences in the institutional and contractual arrangements used to organize and control economic activity provide individuals with different opportunities for gain and thus affect their choices systematically. The evidence supports the usefulness of the analysis. This approach is summarized within the context of health care. The effect of alternative health-care institutions is then examined by deriving some implications and noting some of the evidence, almost entirely from the USA, regarding the behavior of patients, physicians and hospital administrators. Recent empirical work, fueled by natural as well as by controlled experiments designed to test the effects of particular institutions (e.g. coinsurance), is providing a stronger theoretical and empirical base for understanding the consequences of alternative institutions not only on individuals' choices regarding health care, but on all choices. It is also permitting more informed design and choice of institutions.
Theorizing about Workplace Democracy Robert Dahl and the Cooperatives of Mondragón
Authors: Zirakzabeh Cyrus Ernesto
Published: March 2007

Robert Dahl is a well-known defender of workplace democracy. This article examines the assumptions and logic that inform his argument. Attention is given to his notion and criticisms of corporate capitalism, his laudatory depiction of the Mondragón cooperatives, and his strategy of social reform through the dissemination of scientifically established truth. Through the explication of Dahl's position on workplace democracy, several broader features of his social and political theorizing are illuminated, including his idealist approach to political change, his continual suspicion about centralized authority, and his ambivalence towards popular culture.
Theoretical and Logical Issues in the Study of International Diffusion
Authors: Most Benjamin A. , Starr Harvey
Published: March 2007

This discussion attempts to explore the concepts of diffusion and contagion as well as the nature of diffusion/contagion effects, and to suggest how they might operate. Using a series of logical analyses to continue the exercise of unpacking the concept of diffusion, which was initially presented in Most and Starr (1980), we are led to the conclusion that such processes are both less mystical and troublesome than they have often appeared in the literature. We argue that spatial diffusion processes may be disaggregated. Rather than being unique, diffusion/contagion processes may be seen as one subfield of `linkage' politics; with direct diffusion relationships as specialized extra-societal (general linkage) phenomena.
Structure, Indeterminacy and Chaos
Authors: Huckfeldt Robert
Published: March 2007

This paper re-examines the relationship between structural explanations and indeterminacy within the context of chaos and chaotic processes. The analysis demonstrates that the logic of a wholly determinate structure is not incompatible with a complex, apparently indeterminate outcome. This fact has important consequences for explanation in the social sciences, and for the evaluation of indeterminacy in social and political processes. In particular, it suggests that indeterminacy is not necessarily a repudiation of structural explanations for social and political life because a determinate structure is fully capable of generating complex and even seemingly stochastic behavior. Thus, the central task of the social sciences is correctly seen as an identification of the structure and logic underlying social processes, including the logic and structure of indeterminacy.
Party Competition in an American One-Party-Dominant System a Formal Analysis
Authors: Darcy R. , Choike James
Published: March 2007

In many American legislative election systems incumbents have a good chance of returning and seats tend to be retained by a party even when the incumbent fails to return. Because of this, even should a minor party reach competitive parity with the dominant party, a significant increase in elected representation will not result in the short term (five elections). Further, small amounts of bias either for or against the minor party will not appreciably influence short-term elected representation. Thus, what has long been considered one party dominated American states might better be thought of as incumbent dominated. These points are demonstrated in a formal model which is applied to Republican candidates in Oklahoma state legislative elections.
The Eu Parliament: Seats, States and Political Parties
Authors: Lane Jan-Erik , Maeland Reinert , Berg Sven
Published: March 2007

Voting power in the EU Parliament may be analysed from two perspectives: that of the states, and that of the political parties. The differences in state power reflect the population differences better than in the EU Council. The strength of the left is apparent in the voting power scores for the Parliament.
Deterrence Theory and the Spiral Model Revisited
Authors: Zagare Frank C. , Kolgour D. Marc
Published: March 2007

The theoretical literature of interstate conflict is dominated by two conceptual models, classical deterrence theory and the spiral model. The fundamental tenet of classical deterrence theory is that credible and capable threats can prevent the initiation, and contain the escalation, of conflict. By contrast, proponents of the spiral model claim that the prescriptions associated with deterrence theory frequently lead to vicious cycles of reciprocated conflict.

According to Jervis `both sets of theorists fail to discuss the conditions under which their theories will not apply'. In this article we do just that, identifying and comparing the conditions associated with conflict spirals and with crisis stability, in the context of a game-theoretic escalation model with incomplete information. For the special case in which a challenger is likely willing to endure an all-out conflict, our analysis indicates that the conditions associated with successful deterrence, limited conflict, and escalated conflict are mutually exclusive.
Between 'Conservative Revolution', aesthetic fundamentalism and new nationalism: Thomas Mann's early political writings
Authors: Breuer Stefan
Published: March 2007

The author of 'Betrachtungen eines Unpolitischen' (1918) is usually regarded as one of the founding fathers of the so-called 'Conservative Revolution'. But Thomas Mann's understanding of this concept does not at all coincide with the definition established by Armin Mohler, mainly in that it is not Nietzschean. Nor do the ties with the George circle furnish grounds for assigning Mann to the 'Conservative Revol ution', any more than to the 'aesthetic fundamentalism' which was cul tivated there. Moreover, it can be shown that Mann's political views differ significantly from the 'new nationalism' propagated in the circle around Arthur Moeller van den Bruck, and that they have more affini ties to old liberalism than to a 'Conservative Revolution'.
Housing as a human right
Authors: Leckie Scott
Published: March 2007

Housing as a human right describes how the concept of people having a 'right to adequate housing' has developed in national and international law and its current status. It also discusses why housing activists rarely use the concept of 'housing rights' and outlines some of the benefits of emphasizing people's 'housing rights' rather than concentrating only on people's 'housing needs'.