bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Cognitive Distance of Stairways: A Multi‐stairway Investigation
Authors: Hanyu Kazunori , Itsukushima Yukio
Published: March 2003

The present study had two major purposes. First it sought to determine to what extent in an earlier study of distance estimation in stairways (Hanyu & Itsukushima, 1995) would generalize to other types of stairway. Second, it sought to examine which hypothesis, information storage or effort, better explain the earlier results, in which people overestimated distance and traversed time estimates. We obtained four distance and time measures: distance estimate, traversal time estimate, mental walking time and actual traversal time. To measure information, we had participants rate each stairway for complexity (simple‐complex) and effort (effortless‐effortful) before and after the distance and time measurement tasks. The results revealed that the earlier findings (Hanyu & Itsukushima, 1995) did not fully generalize. The results also did not support either the information storage or the effort hypothesis.
A Gender Perspective on Person‐Manager Fit and Managerial Advancement
Authors: Marongiu Sophia , Ekehammar Bo
Published: March 2003

This article presents two studies examining (1) the relationship between Person‐Manager (P‐M) fit and managerial advancement of women and men with, and without managerial aspirations and (2) the P‐M fit as related to managerial and non‐managerial women. The P‐M fit was assessed by computing the congruence between participants’ self‐rated personality profile and the perceived personality profile of a manager. Sex (men show a higher P‐M fit than women), gender (the higher the individual’s masculine gender‐role, the higher the P‐M fit) and group (managers and managerial aspirants show a higher P‐M fit than non‐managerial aspirants and non‐managers) hypotheses were tested. There was no support for the sex difference hypothesis. However, the group and gender hypotheses were confirmed showing that managers and managerial aspirants had a higher P‐M fit than non‐managers and non‐aspirants. Further, analyses revealed that the higher the participants’ masculinity scores, the higher the P‐M fit. Implications of these findings are discussed in relation to the gendered image of the managerial role and adaptation theory.
The Maudsley Obsessional‐Compulsive Inventory and OCD in a Norwegian nonclinical sample
Authors: StØylen Inge Jarl , Larsen Svein , Kvale Gerd
Published: March 2003

The 30 item Maudsley Obsessional‐Compulsive Inventory (MOCI) was given to 294 under graduate students. The inventory achieved an acceptable internal consistence, but somewhat low reliability. There were no sex difference in total MOCI score, or in any of the subscales. 31% of the variance seemed to be explained by item 18: “attending too much to details”, and more than 65% of the variance is explained by the checking subscale. The data give some interesting indications of the prevalence of OCD in the population.
Dieting behavior in Norwegian adolescents
Authors: Lau Bjørn , Alsaker Françoise D.
Published: March 2003

In a sample of Norwegian adolescents (n= 117) 27, 4% of the girls and 9% of the boys reported that they were dieting. Using multiple regression analyses, we were able to predict 50% of girls dieting behavior and 24% of boys dieting behavior. Psychological concerns relating to weight and eating (WEC) as well as perceptions of feeling fatter than others were the only significant predictors of dieting in girls, whilst dieting in boys could also be predicted by their Body Mass Index. Dieting girls who scored high on the Weight and Eating Concerns Inventory were found to suffer constipation and binge eating attacks more often than other dieting girls. This was taken as an indication that these girls were at risk of developing an eating disorder.
On the relation between conceptual priming, neural priming, and novelty assessment
Authors: Habib Reza
Published: March 2003

A consistently reported finding in functional neuroimaging studies which compare processing of new information to processing of old information is a reduction in blood flow, and hence neural activity, associated with the old condition. This deactivation has been labeled neural priming. Some investigators have hypothesized that neural priming is the physiological mechanism underlying conceptual priming—a facilitation in the semantic processing of repeated information. Others, however, have hypothesized that neural priming reflects novelty assessment—a mechanism which minimizes the probability that redundant information will be stored in long‐term memory. In this paper, the conceptual priming and novelty assessment hypotheses are compared and contrasted in order to ask, and tentatively answer, the question: Are conceptual priming and novelty assessment cognitively and neurophysiologically distinct? Based on a review of the literature, it is suggested that whereas novelty assessment and conceptual priming are distinct cognitive entities, they cannot be presently separated neurophysiologically. That is, some novelty assessment deactivations may in fact reflect priming, and some priming deactivations may in fact reflect novelty assessment.
Psychosocial aspects of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in a pre‐haart sample
Authors: Skydsbjerg Marianne , Lunn Susanne , Hutchings Barry
Published: March 2003

The psychosocial consequences of HIV‐infection were studied using a semi‐structured interview and the psychiatric questionnaire SCL‐90‐R, in 3 matched groups of homosexual men: 20 patients with Aids, 20 asymptomatic HIV‐infected and 20 non‐infected controls. The data was collected before the HAART (Highly Active Anti‐retroviral Therapy) era. The results showed that the infected subjects more often concealed their homosexuality, engaged in more risky sexual behavior and were less inclined to regard AIDS as a serious problem. The infected subjects also revealed more psychopathology on 5 of the 9 indexes on the SCL‐90. Across all 3 groups, contact ability was correlated to being open about homosexuality and to psychological well‐being. These results indicate that HIV has considerable impact on psychological well‐being among the infected and point to the need for health‐care workers to be especially attentive to those HIV‐infected who have difficulty in talking to others about their situation.
Spouses’ attributions for helping: The effects of styles of help–seeking, self–serving bias, and sex
Authors: Olsson Ingrid I.
Published: March 2003

This paper examines the effects of (a) how clearly the desire for help is presented, (b) self–serving bias, and (c) sex differences on the source of the cause of helping happening (or not) that spouses attribute to a potential helper. In two studies, a total of 138 couples imagined situationsin which a person wanted his or her spouse to do a chore. How clearly the desire for help was expressed, whether help was given, and whether it was the participant or the spouse who was expected to help were manipulated. The participants reported their attributions for the cause of helping (or not) to themselves and the spouse on visual analog scales. There was strong support for a proposed interaction between how clearly the desire for help was expressed and whether help was given in predicting spouses’ attributions. No support was obtained for a predicted self–serving bias or for a suggestion that men make more self–enhancing attributions than women; the findings were instead congruent with a relationship–enhancing bias. The findings are discussed in terms of the context of housework.
Confirmatory factor analysis of ITPA models with language–impaired children
Authors: Ottem Ernst
Published: March 2003

The major objective of the current investigation was to provide an evaluation of the validity of the ITPA for language–impaired children using confirmatory factor analysis. In addition to an examination of the validity of the traditional ITPA models, a new model is tested. The new model is based on considerations of the structural complexity of the ITPA subtests, and allows one to interpret ITPA results in processing terms. The results suggest that four–factor models provided the best representation of the ITPA scores in language–impaired children. Compared with the traditional ITPA models, the new model showed either an improved or equal goodness of fit. Language–impaired children tested with the ITPA (n = 100) exhibited a profile pattern suggesting that subtests with low processing demands are “easier” than tests with high processing demands. Thus, the present study supports the contention that language–impaired children suffer from constraints on information processing.
The effect of situation–evoked anxiety and gender on pain report using the cold pressor test
Authors: Jones Allan , Spindler Helle , Jørgensen Michael Martini , Zachariae Robert
Published: March 2003

The aims of the present study were to investigate the influence of anxiety on pain perception and to test whether gender differences in pain perception are anxiety dependent. Sixty male and female university students exposed to situation–evoked anxiety or a control procedure were measured for their pain threshold, tolerance, and perceived intensity during a cold pressor test. Both subjective and autonomic responses indicated that anxiety was successfully induced in participants exposed to the anxiety condition. Increased situational anxiety had no significant effect on pain threshold or pain tolerance. Significant increases in pain intensity were found for the anxiety group. Levels of anxiety, however, did not correlate with this increased intensity, raising doubt as to the role of anxiety in producing this effect. No gender differences were found for pain tolerance or pain intensity. Gender differences were found for pain threshold in the anxiety group with, contrary to past findings, females showing significantly higher pain thresholds than males. The results are discussed in the light of related studies.
Value conflict and post–decision consolidation
Authors: Shamoun Sanny , Svenson Ola
Published: March 2003

The primary goal of the present study was to investigate how the mental representations of value conflicts are restructured after a decision. A value conflict exists if a chosen alternative is less attractive than a non–chosen alternative on one important attribute when a decision is made. In order to follow up earlier field studies with no experimental control over value conflicts, the present study induced value conflicts in the laboratory. This was done through associating the more attractive of two alternatives with a smaller probability of success. The first hypothesis was that consolidation of value conflict attributes should follow the same pattern when the conflict is controlled experimentally as in earlier studies of real–life decisions. The second hypothesis was that consolidation should be weaker in a non–consequential laboratory study than in the earlier real–life studies. The third hypothesis was that stronger value conflicts (that is, value conflict on more important attributes) lead to greater consolidation effects than weaker value conflicts. The results showed that participants consolidated the value conflicts in the same way as in real–life decisions, with the difference that also less important attributes were consolidated in the present study. However, the consolidation effects were not so strong that they caused advantage reversals on a conflict attribute, as in the earlier field studies with real outcomes and consequences. There was no relationship between strength of conflict and consolidation. The fact that no advantage reversals were registered leads to questions about the ecological validity of laboratory studies of non–consequential decision making.
Therapeutic popularity and personality: Association between peer therapist nominations and the “Big Five” personality factors
Authors: Engvik Harald
Published: March 2003

The “Big Five” personality factors of three groups of psychology students differing in popularity as therapist among their peers were compared (n=33). In agreement with earlier research, popular therapists are “agreeable”, “conscientious” and “stable”. However, popular therapists are not “surgent/extravert” and especially not “dominant” and “talkative”. No support was found for the hypothesis that similarity in “agreeableness” or dissimilarity in “surgency” (the complementarily hypothesis derived from interpersonal theory) predicts therapist popularity. However, similarity between client and therapist in “stability” was predictive of nominations for therapist. On the assumption that therapist popularity predisposes good therapeutic alliances, the results indicate that therapists agreeableness, conscientiousness and emotional stability are relative to success in therapeutic interventions.
Estimating Mixing Densities in Exponential Family Models for Discrete Variables
Authors: Loh Wei‐Liem , Zhang Cun‐Hui
Published: March 2003

This paper is concerned with estimating a mixing density gusing a random sample from the mixture distribution f(x)=∫f x | θ)g(θ)dθ where f(· | θ)is a known discrete exponen tial family of density functions. Recently two techniques for estimatingghave been proposed. The first uses Fourier analysis and the method of kernels and the second uses orthogonal polynomials. It is known that the first technique is capable of yielding estimators that achieve (or almost achieve) the minimax convergence rate. We show that this is true for the technique based on orthogonal polynomials as well. The practical implementation of these estimators is also addressed. Computer experiments indicate that the kernel estimators give somewhat disappoint ing finite sample results. However, the orthogonal polynomial estimators appear to do much better. To improve on the finite sample performance of the orthogonal polynomial estimators, a way of estimating the optimal truncation parameter is proposed. The resultant estimators retain the convergence rates of the previous estimators and a Monte Carlo finite sample study reveals that they perform well relative to the ones based on the optimal truncation parameter.
On the Empirical Likelihood Ratio for Smooth Functions of M‐functionals
Authors: Adimari Gianfranco
Published: March 2003

It is known that the empirical likelihood ratio can be used to construct confidence regions for smooth functions of the mean, Fréchet differentiable statistical functionals and for a class of M‐functionals. In this paper, we argue that this use can be extended to the class of functionals which are smooth functions of M‐functionals. In particular, we find the conditions under which the empirical log‐likelihood ratio for this kind of functionals admits a χ2 approxima tion. Furthermore, we investigate, by simulation methods, the related approximation error in some contexts of practical interest.
Random Bernstein Polynomials
Authors: Petrone Sonia
Published: March 2003

Random Bernstein polynomials which are also probability distribution functions on the closed unit interval are studied. The probability law of a Bernstein polynomial so defined provides a novel prior on the space of distribution functions on [0, 1] which has full support and can easily select absolutely continuous distribution functions with a continuous and smooth derivative. In particular, the Bernstein polynomial which approximates a Dirichlet process is studied. This may be of interest in Bayesian non‐parametric inference. In the second part of the paper, we study the posterior from a “Bernstein–Dirichlet” prior and suggest a hybrid Monte Carlo approximation of it. The proposed algorithm has some aspects of novelty since the problem under examination has a “changing dimension” parameter space.
Optimal Bootstrap Sample Size in Construction of Percentile Confidence Bounds
Authors: Chung Kam‐Hin , Lee Stephen M. S.
Published: March 2003

In traditional bootstrap applications the size of a bootstrap sample equals the parent sample size, n say. Recent studies have shown that using a bootstrap sample size different from n may sometimes provide a more satisfactory solution. In this paper we apply the latter approach to correct for coverage error in construction of bootstrap confidence bounds. We show that the coverage error of a bootstrap percentile method confidence bound, which is of order O(n−2/2) typically, can be reduced to O(n−1) by use of an optimal bootstrap sample size. A simulation study is conducted to illustrate our findings, which also suggest that the new method yields intervals of shorter length and greater stability compared to competitors of similar coverage accuracy.
Non‐parametric Estimation of the Residual Distribution
Authors: Akritas Michael G. , Van Keilegom Ingrid
Published: March 2003

Consider a heteroscedastic regression model Y=m(X) +σ(X)ε, where the functions m and σ are “smooth”, and ε is independent of X. An estimator of the distribution of ε based on non‐parametric regression residuals is proposed and its weak convergence is obtained. Applications to prediction intervals and goodness‐of‐fit tests are discussed.
On Quasi Likelihood Equations with Non‐parametric Weights
Authors: Li Bing
Published: March 2003

To apply the quasi likelihood method one needs both the mean and the variance functions to determine its optimal weights. If the variance function is unknown, then the weights should be acquired from the data. One way to do so is by adaptive estimation, which involves non‐parametric estimation of the variance function. Adaptation, however, also brings in noise that hampers its improvement for moderate samples. In this paper we introduce an alternative method based not on the estimation of the variance function, but on the penalized minimization of the asymptotic variance of the estimator. By doing so we are able to retain a restricted optimality under the smoothness condition, however strong that condition may be. This is important because for moderate sample sizes we need to impose a strong smoothness constraint to damp the noise—often stronger than would be adequate for the adaptive method. We will give a rigorous development of the related asymptotic theory, and provide the simulation evidence for the advantage of this method.
Truncated Sequential Change‐point Detection based on Renewal Counting Processes
Authors: GUT ALLAN , STEINEBACH JOSEF
Published: March 2003

The typical approach in change‐point theory is to perform the statistical analysis based on a sample of fixed size. Alternatively, one observes some random phenomenon sequentially and takes action as soon as one observes some statistically significant deviation from the “normal” behaviour. Based on the, perhaps, more realistic situation that the process can only be partially observed, we consider the counting process related to the original process observed at equidistant time points, after which action is taken or not depending on the number of observations between those time points. In order for the procedure to stop also when everything is in order, we introduce a fixed time horizon n at which we stop declaring “no change” if the observed data did not suggest any action until then. We propose some stopping rules and consider their asymptotics under the null hypothesis as well as under alternatives. The main basis for the proofs are strong invariance principles for renewal processes and extreme value asymptotics for Gaussian processes.
Higher Education as an Arena for Political Socialisation: Myth or Reality?
Authors: Jacobsen Dag Ingvar
Published: March 2003

Political values and voting behaviour differ significantly between employees in the public and the private sectors, to the extent that some have called this one of the most important political cleavages in modern societies. But what causes these differences? The article outlines two hypotheses, one being the possibility that political values are shaped during higher education. To try and shed some light on this hypothesis, the political values of two groups of students at Agder University College in southern Norway were studied over a period of time. One group of students studied disciplines – nursing, social work, and teaching – that would almost without exception give them jobs in the public sector. The other group studied economics, a subject that for most of them would lead to a job in the private sector. Their political values were then measured at two points in time: when beginning study and after three years of studying. The main conclusion is that political values differ when the students begin to study, and that most political values change only marginally during the three‐year period. The few changes that occur during the period hint at a minor tendency for students to become more politically alike, indicating that higher education has a slight homogenising effect on political values. For one type of political values, however, rather dramatic changes take place. Both student groups acquire significantly more non‐authoritarian values during studies, indicating that higher education may be an important cause of such values.
The Swedish Constitution and Social Democratic Power: Measuring the Mechanical Effect of a Political Institution
Authors: Immergut Ellen M
Published: March 2003

Recent discussions of Swedish political change have focused on the decline of Social Democratic ‘hegemony’ and on the end of the ‘Swedish model’. In contrast to preference– or interest–driven explanations for these developments, this paper investigates the impact of constitutional changes made in 1969 in Sweden, which included the elimination of the Upper House or First Chamber of the Swedish parliament and the introduction of a more directly proportional electoral system. Using a simulation model, the actual electoral results from 1969 through 1994 were plugged into the formulas set forth by the old constitutional rules, in order to generate the number of parliamentary seats each party would have received under the old system. This simulation shows that the Social Democratic Party would have received a significantly larger share of parliamentary seats under the old constitutional rules than under the current constitution. Thus one can conclude that the new constitution decreased Social Democratic power in Sweden.
The Level of Wage Bargaining as a Firm–Union Choice
Authors: Roberts Mark A.
Published: March 2003

There is a trade‐off between central bargaining which allows local externalities to be internalized and local bargaining which gives firms and unions the scope to determine both wages and employment simultaneously and efficiently in the sense of McDonald and Solow (1981). A model of strong unions is presented where workers are also concerned with relative wages. The trade‐off is resolved by the individual firm and union on the basis of choice, using the Pareto‐criterion. In the presence of a small extra contract cost under local bargaining, the main findings are: (i) central bargaining is Pareto‐optimal only for extreme values of the reservation income level—a change in unemployment remuneration may cause centralization to breakdown; and (ii) centralization may also be sustained as a suboptimal Nash‐equilibrium through workers’ concern with relative wages—the familiar Keynesian coordination failure.
Measuring the Human Capital Intensity of Government Spending and its Impact on Economic Growth in a Cross Section of Countries
Authors: Cronovich Ron
Published: March 2003

This paper contradicts previous findings of a lack of relationship between government spending and long run economic growth. The paper argues that government spending has several opposing effects on growth. I focus on one of these, ‘relative wage effects,’ involving the human capital intensity of government spending. The paper constructs two rough measures of this variable for a diverse cross‐section of countries, and uses them to disentangle relative wage effects from other effects of government spending. The paper finds that, after netting out relative wage effects, government spending is positively correlated with growth across countries. Furthermore, as the theory predicts, relative wage effects appear to be empirically important in countries where (a) government spending comprises a sufficiently large share of aggregate spending, and (b) government spending is particularly human capital‐intensive.
Transfers in a North‐South Growth Model
Authors: Mainwaring Lynn
Published: March 2003

The possibility of immiserizing growth is explored in a non‐Neoclassical North‐South model having formal similarities to Goodwin's growth‐cycle model. Because of the the ‘engine‐of‐growth’ property of the Northern economy, a redistribution in favour of the South is beneficial to that region only in the short run but will harm both regions in the long run.
Wage–Setting Institutions, Unemployment, and Voters’ Demand for Redistribution Policy
Authors: Dur Robert A. J.
Published: March 2003

This paper examines unemployment, wages, and voters’ demand for redistribution policy under three different labour market structures: laissez–faire, wage–setting by company or industrial unions, and wage–setting by a central union. Decisions on the level of taxes and benefits are made by majority rule. Taxes, wages, and unemployment are lowest under competitive wage–setting and highest with decentralised unions. A higher degree of centralisation of union wage–setting implies lower unemployment and taxes because a fiscal externality is internalised. Under some conditions about the composition of the population, the political–economic equilibrium can further be improved upon by cooperation between the government and the central union. This seems to have happened in the Netherlands where the unions and the government agreed to cut taxes and restrain wages, which has led to the ‘Dutch Miracle’.
Worker Productivity, Working Time Reduction, And The Short–Run And Long–Run Employment Effects
Authors: Huang Chun–chieh , Chang Juin–jen , Lai Ching–chong , Lin Chung–cheng
Published: March 2003

This paper illustrates a shirking–type efficiency wage model to explain why shorter working hours cause an ambiguous effect on employment as the empirical result. We find that shorter working hours have an uncertain impact on the work effort, and the relationship between work effort and shorter working time is a decisive factor in the employment effect of working time reduction. Moreover, it is also found that, given the zero profit constraint, the long–run employment effect of reducing working hours will intensify the short–run employment effect.
Supervisor Heterogeneity: An Analysis Of Uk Microdata
Authors: Brown Sarah , Sessions John G.
Published: March 2003

We investigate the attributes of supervisors and the key correlates of the extent of their supervisory responsibilities. We find a strong correlation between wages, education, experience, firm size and the extent of supervision. One implication of this is that firms may be indifferent between employing a few, ‘high responsibility’ or many ‘low responsibility’ supervisors. Our findings, suggestive as they are of supervisory heterogeneity, should be taken into account in studies that proxy the intensity of monitoring primarily by the number of supervisors employed.
Does Ease of Communication Increase Trade? Commonality of Language and Bilateral Trade
Authors: Hutchinson William K.
Published: March 2003

Gravity model explanations of trade volumes frequently include dummy variables to account for the commonality of language among trading partners. In this paper we use a data set for the number of people in a country who speak English as a first language or English as a second language (Crystal, 1997) as an indicator of the ease with which trade with the United States occurs. Controlling for commodity fixed effects we use SITC three digit industry data centred on 1995 United States bilateral trade with 33 countries to determine the effect of the degree of language commonality on bilateral trade. Both English as a first language and English as a second language are found to be less important for exports than for imports. This is true for all three digit industries as well as when the specific industry groups identified in Rauch (1999) are considered.
Some Polluting Effects of Small‐Scale Industrial Production in theCentral Region of Ghana
Authors: Kendie S.B. , De‐Graft Johnson J.W.K.
Published: March 2003

Environmental impact assessments in developing countries are generally required for new large and medium‐scale enterprises. However, a larger proportion of production takes place in the very small and micro‐scale sector. This sector is characterised by low incomes and high levels of illiteracyamong the operators, both of which limit awareness of the polluting effects of their activities. The paper examines the environmental impacts of small‐scale alcohol distilleries in the rural areas of the Central region of Ghana. The distillers covered in the study lacked information about the pollutionthey caused and continued to discharge large volumes of stillage (hot wastewater) into adjoining streams which are important sources of drinking water supply in rural Ghana. The discharge of waste products from the distilleries polluted the streams with negative implications for aquatic life as well as human health.
Globalisation, State Regulation and Industrial Upgrading of the Oil Seed Industries in Malaysia and Brazil
Authors: Fold Niels
Published: March 2003

Palm oil from Malaysia and soybean meal from Brazil are of major importance in the world market. State regulation in both countries has played a crucial role in agro‐industrial upgrading, i.e. the establishment, consolidation and diversification of manufacturing capacity in the oil seed chains. In particular, sufficient volumes of raw materials for local processing have been secured through systems of differential export taxes. This core set of regulatory mechanisms has been used in both countries, despite structural differences between the two chains related to the properties of the crops (oil palms and soybeans), the previous organisation of agricultural production, and the size and nature of the local markets. Globalisation in its present neoliberal form, institutionalised within the World Trade Organisation, gradually erodes the opportunity for other developing country states to upgrade agro‐industries by adapting similar forms of regulatory mechanisms.
Rural Local Economic Development and Land Restitution in South Africa: The Case of Schmidtsdrift, Northern Cape
Authors: Philander D.E. , Rogerson C.M.
Published: March 2003

Local Economic Development is (LED) an activity of increasing importance in the developing world as globalisation produces new roles for local governments. As compared to a growing number of urban initiatives for LED, rural LED initiatives are relatively undeveloped. In this paper, the focus is upon South Africa, where the post‐apartheid government has sought to encourage both urban and rural LED initiatives. Programmes of land reform and restitution in South Africa result in the resettlement or return to the land of communities formerly dispossessed under apartheid. A critical element of planning for successful resettlement is the implementation of LED programmes. Schmidtsdrift in Northern Cape is examined as an example of participatory LED in a developing rural context. Rural LED in South Africa is distinguished by its focus upon poverty alleviation in the context of addressing the legacies of apartheid.
World Cities in the Pacific Rim: A New Global Test of Regional Coherence
Authors: Taylor P.J. , Doel M.A. , Hoyler M. , Walker D.R.F. , Beaverstock J.V.
Published: March 2003

A new evaluation of the Pacific Rim concept is presented. The originality of this test for regional coherence is to be found in the basic units being analysed: cities instead of states. Based on a theoretical framework that identifies world city and world city network formation in terms of the office networks of advanced producer service firms, we use a principal components analysis to analyse a data set of 28 Pacific Rim cities and 46 global service firms. This identifies five main groupings of cities in terms of similar mixes of corporate service firms: a western Rim group; a group of ‘old Commonwealth’ cities; a market communist group of cities; Tokyo as a global city; and US cities as a specific separate group. These results confirm numerous earlier studies that were sceptical of the existence of a coherent Pacific Rim region. However, the particular approach adopted here allows us to identify the Pacific Rim generically as a particularly pernicious construct. We conclude that the Pacific Rim is a geographical chaotic conception.
Operationalizing the Construct of Friendship among Children: A Psychometric Comparison of Sociometric‐Based Definitional Methodologies
Authors: Erdley Cynthia A. , Nangle Douglas W. , Gold Joel A.
Published: March 2003

Peer relations researchers generally agree that friendship involves a close, mutual, dyadic relationship. However, the lack of consensus on how to operationalize this construct has limited our understanding of the role of friendship in social adjustment. The present study directly compared the psychometric properties (i.e., number of friendships identified, concordances, and stability) of the five major different definitions of friendship used in the literature. Fourth‐ and fifth‐grade students (N = 90) completed a battery of sociometric measures at two different times separated by eight weeks. Friendship dyads were then identified using the following definitional criteria: (1) mutual positive nominations; (2) mutal high ratings (i.e., 4 or 5 on a five‐point Likert‐type scale); (3) one positive nomination reciprocated by a rating of 5; (4) one positive nomination and mutual high ratings; and (5) one positive nomination and mutual ratings averaging at least 4. Frequency and concordance analyses indicated differences across the five definitions. In addition, the friendships identified by each of the five definitions were similarly moderate in their stability. Explanations for, and the possible implications of, these differences are discussed.
Acculturation and Korean‐American Children’s Social and Play Behavior
Authors: Farver Jo Ann M. , Lee‐Shin Yoolim
Published: March 2003

This study examined how acculturation styles are related to Korean immigrant mothers’ parenting and play attitudes and their young children’s social and play behavior. 108 Korean‐American and 52 European‐American mothers completed the Parents as Teacher Inventory and a play questionnaire. Observers recorded children’s social and play behavior during free play activities in their preschool, and teachers rated their social behavior. Korean‐American mothers completed an acculturation measure. Results showed Korean‐American mothers who had an ‘assimilated’ acculturation style, were more accepting and encouraging of children’s creativity and play, and reported more parent‐child play in the home than mothers with an integrated, marginal, or separated acculturation styles. Children of assimilated and integrated mothers engaged in more frequent pretend play and were rated by their teachers as being more difficult. The results suggest there are distinct cultures of family life and childhood that manifest themselves as Korean immigrant families individually adapt to life in the U.S. The findings support the importance of examining cultural differences that exist between people whose ancestry can be traced to the same nationality.
Italian Children’s Understanding of War: A Domain‐Specific Approach
Authors: Berti Anna Emilia , Vanni Edi
Published: March 2003

Studies of children’s conceptions of war, which have been carried out up to now mainly by asking for a definition of war and associating it with other notions, have found few age‐related changes after the age of 6. Considering the complexity of the concept, and its embeddedness in the political conceptual domain, which emerges at around 11 years, we expect that greater differences should emerge if children’s ideas on the causes and consequences of war, and the actors involved, are carefully assessed. Semi‐structured interviews carried out with a total of 80 Italian children from 2nd to 8th grades confirmed this hypothesis. Many 2nd graders described war as a clash between collectives without structure, attributing all decisions about starting, the development of, and ending a war to the individual fighters and explaining these decisions (when they did) as due to emotions such as hatred, envy, revenge, or being tired or unwilling to fight any longer. Most 6th and 8th graders depicted war as a clash between nation‐states, attributing decisions about its starting and ending to political authorities on the basis of political and economic reasons, and the actual fighting of battles to an organized army collaborating with, or subordinate to, political authorities. Many 2nd and 4th graders also showed a mixed pattern of answers, involving both political authorities and individual fighters, thus showing that the transition from the rudimentary backward conception to the more advanced one occurs through the piecemeal addition and deletion of concepts and beliefs.
Book Review: On the Social Development of Antisocial Behaviour
Authors: Sampson Robert J.
Published: March 2003

Books reviewed in this article:

Michael Rutter, Henri Giller and Ann Hagell, Antisocial Behaviourby Young People
Circumstances Change Cases: Local Government and the NHS
Authors: Hudson Bob
Published: March 2003

The role of local government in health care matters in Britain has never been trouble‐free. From the dissolution of the Boards of Guardians in 1929, through to the creation of the NHS in the 1940s and the introduction of the internal market in the 1990s, there have been political and professional arguments surrounding the issue and, for the most part, the case for democratic local governance of health care has failed to carry the day. This paper looks back to earlier debates, examines the current policy context, and looks ahead to possible future scenarios. It argues that the changing circumstances of both the NHS and local government makes this an apposite time to rethink established structures.
Equity and the Ethnic Patterning of GP Services in Britain
Authors: Smaje Chris
Published: March 2003

A characteristic ethnic patterning to health care utilization has often been noted, with minority ethnic groups generally displaying a high or equivalent use of GP services relative to the white population but a lower use of outpatient services. This paper uses data from the General Household Survey to investigate the nature of the GP consultation as the possible occasion of inequity in health care between ethnic groups and the source of differential ethnic "filtering" into secondary care. The results are equivocal, but suggest that there are systematic ethnic differences in the GP consultation indicated by its location and its outcome in terms of pharmaceutical prescription. These results are related to discussions of equity in health care, and it is suggested that the actual occasion of health care utilization has not been appropriately incorporated into most extant conceptions of equity.
Querulous Citizens: Welfare Knowledge and the Limits to Welfare Reform
Authors: Taylor‐Gooby Peter , Hastie Charlotte , Bromley Catherine
Published: March 2003

Governments face pressures to improve services and (at the same time) to contain taxes and to ensure that their decisions are accountable to increasingly well‐informed and challenging citizens. The dilemma of “squaring the welfare circle” confronts New Labour in a particularly acute form, since the party has set ambitious targets for improvements in the NHS, education and elsewhere, and is also committed to economic prudence and transparency. This article uses new data from a major national survey to investigate knowledge and beliefs in the main policy areas. It shows that most people are generally strikingly well‐informed in some areas and ill‐informed in others. A government which wishes to pursue a progressive direction in redistribution, increasing taxation of the better‐off, or expanding provision for those on low incomes, faces real difficulties because many people hold inaccurate beliefs about policy impact and the policy context in these areas. However, NHS costs are more accurately perceived across the population, and the proposed expansion is likely to create less controversy. Current high‐profile policies appear to follow the contours of public knowledge reasonably accurately, but further policy development will require positive efforts to lead debates and improve public knowledge.
Education in the Context of Conflict and Instability: The Palestinian Case
Authors: Alzaroo Salah , Hunt Gillian Lewando
Published: March 2003

This paper draws on the results of a study carried out in the West Bank, in 1999, to explore the role of education as a coping strategy among the children of Palestinian refugees, and to examine how the state of being refugees affects perceptions of the value and importance of education. The paper first reviews the background to the development of a formal education system in Palestine and considers the different approaches to education in different political contexts, with ensuing particular reference to the West Bank. The findings of the regional study are then reported, with special reference to the various functions of education as a coping strategy—remedial, incentive‐mobilizing and identity‐building. Education, for those who have lost their property and whose identity is under threat, emerges as a key channel for maintaining consciousness of collective rights.
Values about Nature in Organic Farming Practice and Knowledge
Authors: Kaltoft Pernille
Published: March 2003

The paper presents and discusses the empirical results of an investigation into views of nature, practices and knowledge in Danish organic farming. The study is primarily conducted as a case study of six Danish organic farms examining the explicit as well as the implicit views of nature, ethical stands, learning processes, knowledge sources and identity of the farmers expressed. These findings are related to actual manuring strategies, crops and product diversity and ways of treating cattle. The empirical study provides evidence for the thesis that views of nature influence practice, and that organic farming comprises a variety of practices and views of nature. Four paradigms of knowledge related to organic farming have furthermore been identified and analysed with regard to concepts of nature and philosophy of science. The paradigms are shared by farmers, agronomists in extension and advisory services and agro‐scientific researchers. The findings are related to the broader discussion about the ongoing institutionalization of the organic farming. Institutionalization prioritizes certain practices and views of nature. Organic farming as a source for the development of different kinds of sustainable agriculture is thereby reduced.
Combining Social and Ecological Sustainability in the Nordic Forest Periphery
Authors: Rannikko Pertti
Published: March 2003

The growth of environmental consciousness has set challenges to the development of remote rural areas dependent on the exploitation of forest and other natural resources. The ecological modernization perspective seems to be leading to a simple disregard for the problems of societal development in these areas. The northern forests are considered to be the ‘lungs of Europe’ and a storehouse of biodiversity. The perspective of sustainable development attaches greater attention to the incomes of the local residents and functionality of communities. The article stresses that social sustainability must be taken seriously in contemplating the use of natural resources in remote rural areas and in resolving environmental problems. The empirical subject of the article is the North Karelian Biosphere Reserve. There is an appraisal of ways of using natural resources on the reserve, which are both conducive to maintaining employment and ecologically friendly. Utilization of natural resources as well as the strengthening of conservation interests have been significant supra‐local actors. Thus, is it important that biosphere reserve operations attract actors from various regional levels.
Status Characteristics and Performance Expectations: A Reformulation
Authors: Simpson Brent , Walker Henry A.
Published: March 2003

Status characteristics theory predicts the emergence and structure of power and prestige orders in task groups from members' status attributes. This paper argues that application of the burden of proof assumption, central to the theory, is inconsistent with a key concept, generalized expectation state. A reformulation is proposed that eliminates the inconsistency and gives competing predictions for a wide range of situations. The reformulation predicts that, when not directly relevant to task performance, specific characteristics (e.g., athletic or analytical ability) have less impact than diffuse characteristics (race, gender, or education) on performance expectations. The original formulation predicts equal effects. Critical tests are proposed and the paper concludes with additional comparisons of the two formulations on the grounds of parsimony and implications for intervention in settings characterized by status-based inequalities.
Quality of life with asthma: the existential and the aesthetic
Authors: Drummond Neil
Published: March 2003

‘Quality of life’ has become an important feature of research into patient outcomes, but an agreed definition of the term remains elusive. In order to empirically assess the meaning of quality of life for lay people, an ethnographic study was conducted using a sample of 22 patients suffering chronic, moderately severe asthma. The findings indicated that asthma was in general not considered to be important in the process of assessing or experiencing quality. The principal source of value for respondents was described as the experience of happiness in the context of emotionally‐significant social relationships. Sources of value appeared to be subject to variation between individuals and through time, implying that quality of life should be considered to be an existential concept. The process of attributing value to a subjective condition is best conceived of as an aesthetic one, involving an emotional engagement with (rather than rational evaluation of) everyday experience.
Identifying delusional discourse: issues of rationality, reality and power
Authors: Palmer Derrol
Published: March 2003

This paper addresses a foundational issue at the interface of psychiatry and medical sociology; namely, how the judgement of pathology is made. In particular, it examines a debate over how the symptom of delusion is identified. The psychiatric approach is realist in orientation with delusions being commonly defined in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual as ‘incorrect inferences about external reality’. However, from a social constructionist perspective, delusions are reconceptualised as the product of a power relationship in which the views of a less powerful patient are pathologised. Reviewing this argument reveals a number of ways in which constructionist sociology is critical of the psychiatric approach. However, the ‘debate’ has a paradoxical quality in that, although the constructionist critique addresses psychiatry’s foundations, it has been largely ignored. An ethnomethodological analysis of delusion is offered which attempts to account for, and move beyond, this paradox. This involves developing criticisms which are responsive to the sorts of phenomena that clinicians deal with. In other words, the argument points towards the development of a sub‐discipline that deals with clinical phenomena and hence might be called ‘clinical sociology’.