bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Verbal Communication Skills and Patient Satisfaction
Authors: Rowland-Morin Pamela A. , Carroll J. Gregory
Published: March 2007

This research attempted to quantify specific behaviors in the physician's initial interviewing style and relate them to patients' perception of satisfaction. Five physicians were tape recorded during their initial interviews with 52 adult patients. The patients were asked to complete the Medical Interview Satisfaction Scale, a 29-item instrument with a 7-point response scale. These interviews were transcribed, timed, coded, and analyzed with the use of the Computerized Language Analysis System. Selected variables of the language dimensions were entered as the predictor variables in a multiple regression, along with satisfaction scores as the dependent variables. Twenty-seven percent of the variance (p <.01) in the satisfaction scores of initial interviews were explained by three aspects of a physician's language style: (a) use of silence or reaction time latency between speakers in an interview, (b) whether there was language reciprocity as determined through the reciprocal use of wordlists, and (c) the reflective use of interruptions within an interview. Considering the complexity of human communication, the fact that three variables were identified, which accounted for 27% of the variance in patients 'satisfaction, is considered a substantial finding.
A Survey of Corporate Smoking Policies
Authors: Jason Leonard A. , Lonak Cheryl A.
Published: March 2007

Six hundred and eight corporations were surveyed to assess the nuumber that had developed no-smoking policies and the content of each program. The results indicated that 25% had a written policy and 35% were interested in developing one. Small and medium-size companies with no-smoking areas employed fewer smokers. This relationship was in the reverse direction for larger companies. Company size had a strong effect on most of the outcome measures. The implications of these findings are discussed.
Planning an Evaluation and Estimating Its Cost
Authors: Card Josefina J. , Greeno Catherine , Peterson James L.
Published: March 2007

Scientific evaluations can provide funders and program administrators with useful input concerning where to allocate scarce service dollars. But evaluation itself is legitimately the subject of cost concerns. What will it cost to get the various potential benefits of a scientific evaluation? What are the evaluation options of a given program, given its budget and the size and expertise of its staff? Where can a program administratorgofor consulting help? This article provides a helpful framework for answering these important questions. First, it describes two types of evaluations which vary in both the questions they can answer and in their consequent cost. Second, it delineates and briefly describes the technical elements or steps required by each evaluation type. Third, it describes the nature and potential variability of costs associated with each technical step. Finally, it steers the reader to available sources of expert information and help.
Setting Standards for Multiple-Choice Items in Clinical Reasoning
Authors: Maguire Thomas , Skakun Ernest , Harley Charles
Published: March 2007

Standard setting is a critical component in licensing decisions. In this article, it is argued that Gross's modification of the Nedelsky procedure is a valid approach to setting standards when clinical reasoning is measured using multiple-choice questions. By defining minimum competence in terms of how candidates think about problems, the Nedelsky approach more closely reflects the construct than do competing procedures. An example application taken from the Medical Council of Canada's Qualifying Examination is used to show that the procedure leads to credible standards, that the assumptions on which the process is based are reasonable, and that the standards are consistent over time.
Curriculum Type and Sophomore Students' Preparation Time for the Usmle Step 1 Examination
Authors: Richards Boyd F. , Cariaga-Lo Liza
Published: March 2007

Students in either a problem-based learning (PBL) or traditional lecture-based learning (LBL) curriculum at the same medical school reported the average total time they had spent during their sophomore year studying for the 1992 USMLE Step 1 exam. They also estimated (a) the time taken away from regular curricular studies to preparefor Step 1 and (b) how they had divided their study between learning concepts and memorizing facts. On average, sophomore PBL students (n = 17) spent nearly twice as much time preparingfor Step I as did the LBL students (n = 52). Compared to LBL students, PBL students reported taking more time away from regular curricular studies and focusing more of their studying on learning concepts when classes were in session and on memorizing facts once classes had ended. These findings exemplify how PBL students use different learning approaches in their curricular studies than in their Step I exam preparation.
Helping Faculty Visualize Outcomes of Afive-Year Curriculum Evaluation
Authors: Stumpf Steven H.
Published: March 2007

A 5-year curriculum evaluation project treated students'course ratings, exam reliability coefficients, and item discrimination data as a battery of data points for determining annual revision efforts. The data permitted the curriculum coordinator to make decisions about precise tasks regarding specific courses that substantially improved the coordinator's chances of effecting improvements. A great number of common problems were eliminated. Histograms were constructed that presented 5 years of successful effort like a series of snapshots. These were immediately understood by the curriculum coordinator and program faculty as valid demonstrations of their successful efforts.
Interrater Reliability Reconsidered
Authors: Gross Leon J.
Published: March 2007

The purpose of this study was to determine if adequate levels of interrater reliability could be attained on a national standardizedperformance test, using one examiner per observation. Traditionally, performance assessments have relied on two examiners because of the subjectivity involved in grading. However, for nationally administered health-professions performance tests involving process evaluation, cost and logistical issues render two examiners unrealistic. Datafor this study were obtained during a national clinical skills examination for optometry. Surplus examiners were available to serve as secondary examiners in four evaluation stations, yielding 101 paired candidate observations. The results indicated high levels of interrater reliability. At each station, the agreement between examiners in their dichotomous yes-no observations was 90% or greater The agreement among examiner-determined scores based on the differentially weighted items was greater These results indicate that adequate, psychometrically sound examiner judgments and scores can be attained with one examiner per observation.
Using a Multimethod Approach to Measure Success in Perinatal Drug Treatment
Authors: Berkowitz Gale , Brindis Claire , Clayson Zoe
Published: March 2007

In the evaluation study of Options for Recovery (OFR), a comprehensive statewide initiative to promote perinatal drug and alcohol recovery, a critical step in the design and implementation of the research was to define and operationalize indicators of success. Rather than rely on any single evaluation method, a number of different data-gathering strategies were used to illuminate andprovide a context for data that pertained to a given indicator. Qualitative information, derived from the interviews with staff and clients, yielded a set of treatment success indicators that was used to guide the selection of quantitative variables, as well as provide a contextual understanding of the quantitative findings. The quantitative findings helped to objectify the qualitative information. This article discusses the practical application of this multimethod approach and its effectiveness in measuring client success and illuminating the complexities of perinatal substance use treatment and recovery.
The Effect of Organizational Type and Hierarchical Level on Nurses' Perceptions of Hospital Issues
Authors: Clare Donald A. , Sanford Donald G.
Published: March 2007

Managers in four acute care hospitals in southeast Florida described the resource, management, outcome, and external issues confronting their organizations. Eight major issues and four contributing and resulting subissues associated with each were identified from the 746 separate issue statements the managers made. Nurses in the same four hospitals were asked to evaluate the impact of the eight issues on their organization and their work, as well as the extent to which the subissues had either contributed to or resulted from the main ones. Overall perceptual patterns are discussed, as well as the differential effects of both hospital type and level of employment on perceptions. It is suggested that differential perceptions among such a key component of the care delivery system as nurses will need to be better understood as hospitals seek to survive in a turbulent environment.
The MOS 36-Item Short form Health Survey
Authors: Larson James S.
Published: March 2007

The SF-36 is a practical and widely-tested instrument for measuring health status and medical outcomes. This article is not a critique of the SF-36, rather, it underscores its viability as an instrument for measuring physical and mental health and well-being. The article is a conceptual analysis of the SF-36, from the viewpoint of four models of health: medical, World Health Organization, wellness, and environmental All four models suggest that the SF-36 be expanded to include other dimensions of health, especially mental and social. Specific dimensions to be included are: incidents of morbidity, satisfaction with quality of life, absence of mental disorders, social adjustment, social support, higher states offunctioning, and adjustment to the environment. The end result of the suggested additions would be an instrument with greater conceptual meaning, for use in medical outcomes studies or surveys of the general population.
Physicians and Smoking Cessation
Authors: Zapka Jane G. , Fletcher Kenneth E. , Ma Yunsheng , Pbert Lori
Published: March 2007

Data from a mailed survey to primary care physicians (N = 122) were used to construct and evaluate psychosocial scales related to performance of smoking cessation counseling. Scales measuring counseling barriers, selfefficacy, and motivation demonstrated considerable promise with excellent or reasonable internal consistency. The correlation for each scale with performance of cessation counseling and with stage of change was statistically significant. Physicians who report they are currently assisting patients had higher performance and self-efficacy rating. Physicians who had participated in formal smoking cessation training had higher self-efficacy; however, their scores on the Barriers, Motivation, and Performance Scales did not differ Further study with a representative group is encouraged.
`Lifting the veil': the arts, broadcasting and Irish society
Authors: O'Neill Brian
Published: March 2007

This article examines the role played by broadcasting in Irish artistic and cultural life from independence in 1922 to 1960 with the onset of formal modernization. It examines the cultural context for the arts in early independent Ireland in which a mood of ambivalence and sometimes outright hostility to high culture prevailed. Rather than a profound disjunction between pre- and post-modernizing phases of Irish history, however, this article argues that there were important lines of continuity in cultural experience, in particular middle-class experience of the arts, which continue to inform Irish cultural life up to the present. Such cultural experience may be characterized by its pervasive middlebrow sensibility which, starved of the traditional institutional supports for culture, made up in amateur enthusiasm what was missing in cultural capital. Broadcasting, in fact, was the key institution in the middlebrow process of cultural development in pre-1960s Ireland which along with the developing arts policy of the time can be seen to give a different complexion to a period in Irish history better known for its cultural impoverishment and repressive nature.
Television production: issues of exploitation, commodification and subjectivity in UK television labour markets
Authors: Ursell Gillian
Published: March 2007

This article analyses the features and conditions presently characterizing work and employment for freelance workers in UK television production. It does so at two levels: one is middle range in its theorization and evidentially grounded; the other, at a higher level of abstraction, ponders the most appropriate way to approach and comprehend these findings in a broader socio-historical context. At the middle and grounded level, the article argues that: 1. these freelances largely organize their own labour market in terms of recruitment, referencing, discipline and hierarchical relations; 2. the concept of an employment relation properly describes the situation for some of these workers, but not for others; 3. the features of a dual labour market are present but do not follow the pattern (of core-periphery) suggested by flexible firm theorists; 4. success as a television worker involves a process of commodification, extending beyond the transformation of simple labour power into the commodification of aspects of the individual's personality and/or aesthetic creativities; 5. the motivation to work in television reveals not only (sometimes, not even) the pursuit of earnings but also existential goals of self-affirmation and actualization; 6. television workers are active in their own commodification processes.

At a more abstract level of theorization, the article reflects on the constitutive role played by television workers in the exploitative and commodifying processes of television production. The latter is viewed as largely a profit-seeking and competitive industry, and the constitutive role of workers in its operations problematizes any structurally determinist approach to analysis. The article considers that problematic in the context of labour process approaches since Braverman, the critique of same mounted by Knights and Willmott on Foucauldian arguments regarding the theorization of the subject, and the redress of Foucault conveyed in Giddens' concept of structuration and Willmott's appeal for a `dialectic of praxis'.
Advertising citizenship: an essay on the performative power of consumer culture
Authors: Meijer Irene Costera
Published: March 2007

This article explores the possibilities of advertising as a means of creating positive notions of contemporary citizenship. Whereas this may seem an unexpected turn in critical approaches to consumer or promotional culture, there are enough examples to warrant an analysis of advertising's construction of so-called civic capital. The author makes her case from a performative perspective on promotional culture and uses various sources and some preliminary results from her own research on outdoor advertising.
Traditionality, Modernity, and Household Composition
Authors: Aykan Hakan , Wolf Douglas A.
Published: March 2007

This article investigates the patterns and correlates of currently married adult children’s coresidence with their parents in Turkey using data from the 1993 Turkish Demographic and Health Survey. The authors are particularly interested in traditional patterns of coresidence (i.e., coresidence with one or both of the husband’s parents) and the effect of variables measuring traditionality at the individual and contextual levels on coresidence with any parent and with the husband’s parents. The results indicate that coresidence among currently married children is not the norm. However, the odds of coresidence with the husband’s parents, given that a couple coresides with any parent, are very high. In addition, the authors find substantial effects of traditionality measures on coresidence, especially with the husband’s parents. Continued economic development, and the social changes that accompany it, can be expected to reduce the prevalence of parent-child coresidence in Turkey.
Do State Medicaid Policies Affect the Risk of Nursing Home Entry among the Elderly?
Authors: Aykan Hakan
Published: March 2007

This study investigates the effects of five state Medicaid policies on the risk of nursing home entry among a recent cohort of older persons. Longitudinal data from the first (1993) and second (1995) waves of the Asset and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest Old Survey and continuous-time hazard models are used for the analyses. Separate models are developed for women and men, each controlling for a variety of demographic, socioeconomic, and health-related characteristics of sample persons. Findings suggest that the state Medicaid policies included in the analyses do not significantly affect the risk of nursing home use among women or men and that the strongest predictors of the risk are health-related characteristics. Circumstantial evidence is presented to argue that the lack of policy effects might be due to changes in recent decades in health care policies driven by cost containment efforts.
Prejudice and Proximity
Authors: Dowd James J.
Published: March 2007

Using data from a national sample, the hypothesis that frequency of contact with blacks is associated with less antipathy toward blacks was tested. With multiple regression techniques, it was found that residential proximity has a negative effect on prejudice, thus supporting Allport's "contact hypothesis." The major finding of the study, however, was that contact did not uniformly affect prejudice for respondents of all ages but interacted with age to produce variable changes depending on region and education level. The author concludes that, while prejudice is higher among older cohorts, this is due in large part to differing patterns of socialization and to the lesser contact with blacks among older whites.
Changing Patterns of Retirement Migration
Authors: Heaton Tim B. , Clifford William B. , Fuguitt Glenn V.
Published: March 2007

Rates of migration between metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas are compared for males over 45 years of age who are in or out of the labor force. Three time periods are considered: 1955-1960, 1965-1970, and 1970-1975. Results indicate that males are more likely to move between areas if they are retired, especially for those who move from metropolitan areas. Over time, the rising probability of retirement has had a modest positive effect on migration. Together these results suggest that noneconomic motivations for migration are becoming more salient. Finally, comparisons between those aged 45-64 and 65 and over imply that changes in retirement status are having their greatest effect on migration in the younger age group.
Institutionalization and Personal Control
Authors: Arling Greg , Harkins Elizabeth B. , Capitman John A.
Published: March 2007

The relationship between perceived personal control over the events of daily life and institutionalization is examined through a panel study of 151 impaired older individuals who were interviewed at two points in time six months apart. Institutionalization between the initial and follow-up interviews reduced perceived control even when taking into account functional status and sociodemographic variables. Furthermore, the decline in perceived control was greater among the less educated and more functionally impaired and those with more negative life events.
Early Withdrawal from the Labor Force
Authors: Boaz Rachel Floersheim
Published: March 2007

Not-yet-old men whose health is not failing are retiring from the labor market at a time when they do not receive any pension income and the level of their nonwage income is very low. This study examines why such men stop working as early as they do, instead of continuing to work at least until they are old enough to claim social security benefits (to which they are entitled at age 62). It finds that labor market conditions that result in diminished employment opportunities cannot be ruled out as conducive to withdrawal from the labor market before age 62.
Informal Networks of Community-Based Elderly
Authors: Stoller Eleanor Palo , Pugliesi Karen L.
Published: March 2007

This article examines the impact over time of changes in older people's health and functional capacity on the composition of their support networks. The analysis identified a pattern of network expansion, in which declines in health status were accompanied by reports of assistance from sources increasingly distant from the older person.
Current and Future Family Help with Long-Term Care Needs of the Elderly
Authors: Montgomery Rhonda J.V. , Hirshorn Barbara A.
Published: March 2007

An accurate perspective of the variation in current mixes of familial/public sector support for older individuals with health-related needs requires a careful assessment of the huge diversity -in the sociodemographic composition of the older population as well as in the availability and type of family caregiving resources. This analysis of a sample of individuals 60 years of age and older from the National Survey of Families and Households attempts to provide an in-depth assessment of the sociodemographic composition of the older population and variation in primary kin support for this population by determining (a) the proportions of various age/race/gender population segments of the elderly that have one or more potential primary kin caregivers; (b) the number and proportions of these population segments who are in need of family support due to health status; and (c) who within these population segments receives familial assistance and who does not, given a consideration of both the potential family support network and health status. The analysis also includes an illustrative exercise exploring the potential future impact on the level of unmet need from changes in female labor force participation rates and norms regarding both work and parent care.
Helping as a Component of Parent-Adult Child Relations
Authors: Spitze Glenna , Logan John R.
Published: March 2007

Much research on intergenerational helping has focused on help from adult children to parents, but few studies have examined help in both directions. This article focuses on the frequency of several types of help between parents and adult children and the manner in which helping relationships evolve throughout the life course of adult children and their middle-aged and elderly parents. It focuses on the role of age, gender, and needs and availability of parents and children, using data from a local probability sample survey. The results show that most kinds of household help are given more frequently by parents to children than by children to parents. Parents above age 75 receive more help than they give, but even at that age, help occurs only in the minority of cases. There is no consistent gender pattern for parent-to-child help. Older mothers, however, receive substantially more help than do fathers. Infrequent but regular help with tasks of everyday living characterizes many of these relationships, and such help is not necessarily predicated on frailty or inability to do the task oneself. Implications of the results for future data collection are discussed.
A Binomial Probit Analysis of the Home Equity Decisions of Elderly Homeowners
Authors: Vanderhart Peter G.
Published: March 2007

This article seeks to determine what factors are most important in the home equity decisions of older homeowners. A binomial probit multivariate regression technique is applied to pooled cross-sectional data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. The results indicate that demographic factors, such as retirement, marital, and health status, are much more important determinants than financial factors, such as income, financial assets, and housing costs. The results also indicate that factors correlated with attachment to the home play a relatively large role. The results suggest that governmental strategies that make home ownership more affordable for the elderly may have little effect on their propensity to remain in their home and that programs that treat nonfinancial aspects of elderly home ownership may be more effective.
The Impact of the Frequency of Care Activities on the Division of Labor between Primary Caregivers and Other Care Providers
Authors: Stommel Manfred , Given Barbara A. , Given Charles W. , Collins Clare
Published: March 2007

This study examines the division of labor between primary caregivers and other (formal and informal) care providers of elderly and dementia care recipients. Its main focus is on showing how the allocation of care activities among care providers is affected by the sheer quantity of care provided (measured in terms of frequency of care activities across 25 care tasks). Results support the hypothesis that patterns of cooperation and specialization between the primary caregiver and other helpers are more strongly influenced by the frequency of care involvement than by any other social factors, including caregiver gender, employment, and living arrangements. Even when faced with high care demands, caregivers appear to be reluctant to give up control. Instead of specialization, the preferred pattern of cooperation is supplementation, with other helpers assisting in the same care tasks as the primary caregiver.
Understanding Stress in Informal Caregiving
Authors: Braithwaite Valerie
Published: March 2007

The poor psychological health of caregivers of the frail aged is examined using the stress paradigm and the crises of decline model of caregiving burden. Whereas stress paradigms generally focus on environmental stressors and individual resources, the crises of decline model conceptualizes stress within the social dynamics of the caregiving dyad. Data from a cross-sectional study of 144 caregivers supported both models. Burden was more likely when the primary caregiver experienced degeneration, conflict, enmeshment, unpreparedness, and unwillingness. Minor psychiatric symptoms were explained in part by burden but also by more traditional stressors (supervisory workload) and resources (physical health, self- esteem, mastery, coping strategies, social network availability). Individualistic interventions to relieve burden and symptoms are justifiable on the basis of this study, but with limits to their likely success-limits imposed by family institutions of care in which primary carers lack experience and feel discomfort with degenerative conditions.
Reported Exercise Patterns and their Relationship to Lipid Levels among Healthy Older Adults
Authors: Fitzgerald James T. , Singleton Steven P. , Engels Hermann-Josef , Cardinal Bradley J. , Prasad Ananda S. , Hess Joseph W.
Published: March 2007

There have been few studies concerning the relationship between exercise habits and lipid levels of older adults. This study examines this relationship using data from 117 healthy older adults who volunteered to participate in a health promotion project. Responses to a seven-day activity recall questionnaire, percentage of body fat as measured by bioelectric impedance, age, and gender were used to predict total cholesterol, HDL, LDL, and triglyceride levels. Only the model predicting HDL was significant (R2=. 15, p = .002). Subsequent regression analyses predicting HDL levels were limited to persons who participated in one or more exercise sessions in the previous week. For these active women, the model's ability to predict HDL improved (R2 = .37,p = .005), with exercise level having the greatest effect. For the active men, the model's predictive ability was not significant. The findings suggest that for active women, level of physical activity does modestly influence HDL levels.
Managing Feelings
Authors: Rae Hazel Mac
Published: March 2007

Using data obtained from interviews with the familial caregivers of persons with Alzheimer's disease, as well as the research findings of others, this article examines one dimension of caregiving as work—caregiving as emotion work. It shows that caregivers are heavily engaged in an extensive amount of intense emotion work, are aware of "feeling rules," and experience stress when they have failed to conform to them. Drawing upon symbolic interactionism, the analysis shows how failure in emotion management negatively affects the caregiver's sense of self. The study findings suggest that emotion work, in particular failure to manage feelings, may well be a very important but as yet not well identified component of caregiver stress and burden.
The Survival Experience of Older and Younger Adults with AIDS
Authors: Justice Amy C. , Weissman Sharon
Published: March 2007

Older people with HIV infection die faster than younger counterparts, but it is notknown whether age-associated survival is changing over time. The authors used theCenters for Disease Control data set of adult cases of AIDS reported from January 1,1981, to December 31, 1994, to study age-associated differences in survival by yearof diagnosis. A total of 433,354 adults with AIDS were reported during this interval.Of these, 10.3% were younger than age 50. In 1983-1984, median survival for olderand younger people was 153 versus 274 days, respectively. By 1991-1992, mediansurvival had improved for both groups-396 and 731 days, respectively. However,the relative and absolute gap in survival grew. While a substantially larger proportionof older adults died within 90 days of diagnosis, the overall trend of an increasingage-associated gap in survival remained when these were excluded from the analysis.Older and younger people with AIDS have achieved prolonged survival, but theage-associated gap in survival has grown.
Our Millennium: Political Science Confronts the Global Corporate Economy
Authors: Lowi Theodore J.
Published: March 2007

Of all the freedoms for which the cold war was fought, free enterprise was deemed sufficient for acquisition of all the other freedoms. The task of political science should now be to expose the loose and insecure moorings of economic ideology and to develop an approach more appropriate to the realities of our time. Our new millennium is a corporate millennium that has been interpreted in the hegemonic model to mean private and free (that is, unregulated) markets. However, any theory capable of incorporating the corporation has to be one of political economy. The first section of this article identifies six state-provided assumptions homo economicus has to be able to make prior to making or entering a market, without which homo economicus stays home. The second section puts the issue in a global context by identifying three developmental tracks—macro, meso, and micro. Their existence denies the possibility of a pure economic theory of globalization. The third section describes the distinctive politics of each of the three tracks, demonstrating still more conclusively that political economy is the only approach competent to deal with the new corporate millennium. In conclusion, the author argues that political economy is and should be the new political science that this new era requires.
Democracy and Time: An Invitation
Authors: Schedler Andreas , Santiso Javier
Published: March 2007

Time with its many roles and faces is a major player in the field of politics. But up to now, neither political science in general nor studies of democracy in particular have taken explicit and systematic notice of it. The present explorative article outlines some core questions that could (and should) be addressed by future research on political time: the construction of democratic time horizons (future and past), the nature of democracies' current present, the weight of time constraints, the force of institutional time rules, the choice of time strategies, and last but not least, the logic of time discourses in democratic polities.
Women's Emotion Work in the Family
Authors: SEERY BRENDA L. , CROWLEY M. SUE
Published: March 2007

This qualitative study uses family observations and semi-structured interviews with 23 women to explore the relationship management work of building and maintaining father-child relationships. Five women indicated they did not engage in any efforts to enhance father-child relationships; 18 women reported doing some type of father-child relationship management work, although the extent of such efforts appeared to vary among these women. Several strategies to facilitate positive father-child involvement were identified: offering suggestions for joint father-child activities, relaying information about positive feelings, praising fathers for their involvement with children, organizing the family schedule/environment, and creating or maintaining positive images of fathers. When fathers and children were perceived to be unhappy with one another, various peace-keeping strategies designed to mediate angry/hurtful feelings were noted: anticipating and preventing unhappy feelings, separating fathers and children during disputes, and gathering and relaying information to encourage reconciliation.
Positive Portrayal of Grandparents in Current Children's Literature
Authors: BELAND ROBERT M. , MILLS TERRY L.
Published: March 2007

Children's books have the potential to affect cultural norms and attitudes about older adults in many ways. The purpose of this study was to investigate the portrayal of grandparents in children's literature. Sixty-four children's books published since 1985 were randomly selected and content analyzed. In general, there was an overwhelming positive portrayal of grandparents in these books. Positive grandparent characteristics such as independence and happiness were depicted in a majority of the books the authors examined. Other characteristics such as wisdom and understanding were portrayed in slightly less than a majority of the stories. Although some of the stories depicted grandparents with various disabilities, physical impairment did not detract from the positive depiction of the grandparent. Future research might investigate the variance in the portrayal of grandparents along racial/ethnic and gender lines. For example, how are grandparents from various demographic groups portrayed in terms of status, wisdom, functional abilities, or equity?
The Marriages of Equally Dependent Spouses
Authors: NOCK STEVEN L.
Published: March 2007

Marriages of equally dependent spouses (MEDS) are those in which each partner generates between 40% and 59% of the total family earnings. The author argues that such marriages will become increasingly common. Currently, about a fifth (22%) of all marriages are MEDS. This article shows that when marriages become MEDS, wives become less committed to the union although husbands do not. When marriages become MEDS, the odds of divorce also increase. Such divorces are more often at the wife's initiative than are divorces among other couples. These findings are interpreted to suggest that wives are more sensitive to the quality of their marriages than husbands are. This is because men benefit from the status of being married (i.e., being a husband) regardless of the emotional quality of their relationship. The benefits that wives derive from marriage, however, appear to depend on the quality of their unions.
Challenges Family Scholars May Face in Studying Family Diversity
Authors: WEAVER SHANNON E. , UMAÑA-TAYLOR ADRIANA J. , HANS JASON D. , MALIA SARAH E. C.
Published: March 2007

American families have changed rapidly in the past few decades. For instance, U.S. families are more ethnically and racially diverse than ever before, family structures vary widely as a result of marital transitions and changes in cultural mores, and technological and social changes have altered the experience of parenthood. Family scholars often have found it difficult to adequately stay abreast of such transformations. There are many indications that changes will continue to occur in the next few decades, perhaps even more rapidly than before. In this article, the authors, as young family professionals, discuss what they see as current and future issues professionals face in studying and working with families. Latino families, stepfamilies, and reproductive technology are presented as examples in which diversity presents challenges.
Paternal Participation in Child Care and Its Effects on Children's Self-Esteem and Attitudes Toward Gendered Roles
Authors: DEUTSCH FRANCINE M. , SERVIS LAURA J. , PAYNE JESSICA D.
Published: March 2007

Interviews with forty 10- and 11-year-old children (24 boys and 16 girls) investigated the effects of parents' division of child care responsibilities on children's self-esteem, their relationships with parents, and their gendered ideas and preferences. Children whose fathers participated relatively more in the emotional side of parenting (e.g., comforting) showed greater preferences for “feminine” activities and had higher self-esteem than children whose fathers were less involved. Children whose fathers performed a higher proportion of the “work” of parenting (e.g., transporting, planning activities, and arranging child care) endorsed a more gender-free model of family life. The absolute amount of time fathers spent with children had no independent significant effects. Egalitarian parenting clearly benefits children when fathers share “maternal” tasks, but even when fathers do not fully participate in those “maternal” aspects of parenting, dividing the time 50-50 may benefit mothers without hurting children.
Parental Sharing of Childcare Tasks in Sweden
Authors: HAAS LINDA
Published: March 2007

Increased participation of fathers in the upbringing and physical care of children is an important component of the official Swedish program for equality between the sexes. This article reports findings from a random mail survey conducted in Sweden in 1977 that examined the actual sharing of childcare by Swedish parents. Both the extent and determinants of fathers' participation in childcare are examined. Finally, speculations on the prospects for widespread sharing of the childcare role in Sweden are made, based on the findings.
Family Impact Statements in South Australia
Authors: STUART ARCHIBALD
Published: March 2007

The Australian state of South Australia has adopted a policy of requiring state agencies to accompany all requests for policy changes with a family impact statement and established a Family Research Unit to develop guidelines. The article reports on this experience using case examples. Of interest is the attempt to diminish conflict over various family forms and styles by focusing on the family function of care of dependents. The requirement for impact statements has generally been accepted by state agencies, but as the statements are not made public their principal value has been to heighten the awareness of administrators and members of Parliament regarding family impact. Some concerns raised by the South Australian experience are how to balance impact on individual family members with impact on the family as a unit. Also there is a need to improve quality control by establishing standards for statements and for staff expertise.
The Utility of Cross-Cultural Data
Authors: LEE GARY R.
Published: March 2007

This article addresses issues involved in the usefulness of cross-cultural research in family sociology. Cross-cultural research is defined as comparative research in which the data base consists of quantified ethnographic reports. The article argues that the method has been underutilized by family researchers, and that studies that have employed the method have not been taken seriously by family scholars. Possible reasons for this situation are explored. The basic conclusion is that although there are indeed many limitations on the cross-cultural method, its potentials have not yet been fully realized or exploited by students of the family.
Depressive Affect and Subsequent Divorce
Authors: MENAGHAN ELIZABETH G.
Published: March 2007

Evidence for the relationship between marital status and psychological well-being has been largely cross-sectional and subject to multiple interpretations. Estimates of well-being prior to marital termination permit a fuller examination of the impact of psychological well-being on changes in marital status. The present study utilizes data from a large metropolitan Chicago sample to assess the initial life conditions and depressive affect of married respondents, and contrasts those who divorced during the following four years with those who remained married. Among women, significantly more of those who would subsequently divorce were employed at Time 1. Those who would subsequently divorce also differed from those who would remain married in being somewhat younger and more distressed by their marriages, but they were not significantly more depressed. These findings suggest that previously observed marital status differences in psychological well-being reflect the negative life conditions that follow divorce, and the decreased well-being associated with those new conditions, more than they reflect preexisting psychological problems.
Marital Change During the Transition to Parenthood and Security of Infant-Parent Attachment
Authors: ISABELLA RUSSELL A. , BELSKY JAY
Published: March 2007

To extend research on the characteristics and determinants of marital change during the transition to parenthood to include the consequences of such change, the security of infant-parent attachment was examined. Drawing on data from a longitudinal study of infant and family development, groups were formed on the basis of attachment security at one year and compared in terms of patterns of marital change displayed by mothers and fathers. Mothers of insecure infants experienced significantly greater declines in positive marital activities and sentiments and greater increases in negative marital activities and sentiments than did mothers of secure one-year-olds, and this difference emerged between three and nine months postpartum. Even before babies were born, mothers of secure and insecure infants differed in their marital appraisal. Specifically, mothers of secure infants tended to base their prenatal marital satisfaction appraisals more on positive than negative aspects of the marriage whereas the reverse was true of mothers of insecure infants. No relationship between marital change and attachment was discerned for husbands.
Children and Marital Happiness
Authors: WHITE LYNN K. , BOOTH ALAN , EDWARDS JOHN N.
Published: March 2007

This study examines the causal processes that lead to the widely observed negative association between presence of children and marital happiness. Using a nationwide panel of 1535 married individuals, we find support for two primary causal mechanisms. First, the presence of children is associated with differences in marital structure (lower interaction, more dissatisfaction with finances and the division of labor, and more traditionalism of the division of labor) that are, in turn, associated with lower marital happiness. We also find, however, that the relationship between marital happiness and children is partially spurious. The presence of preschoolers and especially the birth of a first child serve to reduce the likelihood that unhappily married people will divorce within a three-year period. As a result, a larger proportion of unhappily married people is retained temporarily in the parent population and thus contributes to the observed negative relation between presence of children and marital happiness.
Alternative Strategies for Measuring Household Division of Labor
Authors: WARNER REBECCA L.
Published: March 2007

This article explores some substantive and methodological implications of using different data gathering techniques for measuring a couple's division of household labor. Four measurement strategies, each requiring reports from both spouses, compared: the relative distribution approach, a weighted distribution, a time reconstruction method, and the activity log approach. Differences in average total estimates produced by the techniques are small, and regardless of the method used, the wife's contribution to housework is higher. Responsibility for domestic labor is suggested as one explanation for the finding that cross-method comparisons are closer for wives than husbands.
Women and Men in the Class Structure
Authors: COLLINS RANDALL
Published: March 2007

The stratification position of women is generally more complex than that of men. By the crucial class distinction of organizational power position, most women are either white-collar working class or blue-collar working class (order takers, not order givers). However, many women are involved in “Goffmanian labor” of presenting the frontstage image of an organization, with the result that they have a somewhat more “official” attitude than typical male working class, who are usually in a backstage position and hence are cynical of frontstage images. In the home, housewives do considerable surplus domestic labor, devoted to the production of symbolic status rather than material reproduction. Women's paid employment is often concentrated in the formal organizations producing and distributing cultural goods and status-laden objects; the leisure activities of wives of the higher social classes also concentrate in realms of symbolic status, including the arts and charity. The class cultures of women can be explained by their structural locations. Modern capitalism itself may depend heavily on the dynamic of producing and consuming status-laden material objects and hence upon female activities.
Neighborhood Impoverishment and Child Maltreatment
Authors: YOUNG GAY , GATELY TAMRA
Published: March 2007

This study examines the neighborhood context of child maltreatment. The neighborhood level of analysis reveals something of the resources upon which caregivers can draw in carrying out their roles. After a discussion of the connection between structural inequality (in terms of both class and gender) and child abuse, we employ a model of neighborhood “impoverishment,” devised from the ecological perspective, to predict rates of maltreatment in neighborhoods in a West Texas city. Our findings underscore the importance of social support in mediating child maltreatment. Neighborhoods that include residents who are “free from drain” compose socially rich environments in which people can engage in neighborly exchanges and thereby reduce the risk of maltreatment.
Employment, Parental Responsibility, and Psychological Distress
Authors: WETHINGTON ELAINE , KESSLER RONALD C.
Published: March 2007

This article uses panel data from 745 married women in the Detroit Metropolitan Area to examine the mental health effects of employment and parenting status changes. Contrary to popular belief, the transition to parenting is not directly related to increases in psychological distress. Changes in employment status, however, are. Women who significantly increase their labor force participation report lower levels of psychological distress over the study period, while women who significantly decrease their labor force participation report higher psychological distress. The effects of labor force changes on mental health are not all modified by parenting status or changes in parenting status. The transition to parenting and increased parenting responsibilities, however, are indirectly related to increased psychological distress insofar as they result in decreased labor force participation. The implications of these results are used to evaluate four competing perspectives on the relationship between roles, stress, and psychological functioning.
Divorce Over the Life Course
Authors: WHITE LYNN K. , BOOTH ALAN
Published: March 2007

Using a national panel of married individuals interviewed in 1980 and 1988, this study explores the apparent anomaly that marital happiness and divorce are both lower in longer marriages. We find that marital happiness has a stronger effect on divorce at longer durations than at shorter durations. Exploration of the interactions between barriers and alternatives to marriage dissolution and marital happiness suggests that this interaction arises because longer marriages are more often characterized by high barriers and few alternatives, a situation that strengthens the relationship between divorce and happiness.