Quasi-experiments and environmental policy

This paper suggests applying experimental and quasi-experimental approaches to the study of environmental problems. Some important issues in quasi-experimentation are outlined and strategies appropriate for research on collective goods highlighted. Studies both of the demand for various underpriced goods and of programs for changing usage of a collective good are suggested. Questions of causality are treated in some detail. The logic of a new quasi-experimental design, the event-causing design, is presented and compared with that of the interrupted time-series design. Problems of site selection are discussed in terms of the types of projects for which random assignment of sites might be possible. New combinations of experimental and analytical techniques are suggested for improving the quality of research on environmental problems.     

Achievement motivation,socialization, and hypnotic susceptibility among youths from four Israeli subcultures

Based on London's theoretical model, results of a developmental study of Israeli children from four subcultures are reported. The impact of child-rearing practices on achievement motivation, hypnotic susceptibility, and brain wave patterns of subjects from Eastern European, Kurdish, Yemenite, and Moroccan backgrounds was tested and compared according to age level. Subjects were 15 children from each subcultural group. Five in each subcultural group were between 7 and 9 years old, five between 9 and 11, and five between 11 and 13. Instruments included a combined EEG-hypnotic scale, six measures of achievement and nAch, and the Winterbottom questionnaire. Subjects of European background, presumably with the highest nAch, had the lowest mean score in hypnotic susceptibility, while children of Moroccan descent, presumably the lowest achievement group, had the highest mean susceptibility score among the four subgroups as expected. It was also found, consistent with previous developmental studies of American children, that hypnotic susceptibility increases significantly with age regardless of subcultural grouping. While the four subgroups differed significantly in their school performance as expected, they did not differ in their need achievement scores. Findings in regard to EEG data are presently not reported because of technical difficulties encountered during recording. Implications for future research pertaining to methodological and theoretical issues involved in testing the model cross-culturally are discussed.This research was supported by the research committee of the Paul Baerwald School of Social Work of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, and by National Institute of Mental Health Grant No. 53-4873-6748.Received B.A. from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, M.S.W. from New York University, and doctorate and subsequent postdoctoral training from the University of California, Berkeley. From a theoretical-historical perspective, is interested in the impact of the Protestant ethic on Western conceptions of deviance. His research focuses on various psychophysiological aspects associated with deviant conduct.Received B.A. from Yeshiva University, M.A. and Ph.D. from Columbia University Teachers College. His wide research interests can be summed up under the heading of voluntary behavior, ranging over behavior modification, psychophysiological correlates of behavior, and the ethical implications of psychological treatment.Received B.S. and M.S. from the Brigham Young University, and Ph.D. from the University of Illinois. Among his research interests are hypnosis and suggestibility, learning theory, statistics and psychometrics, and hypnotherapy.     

The Contribution of Emotion Regulation to Body Dissatisfaction and Disordered Eating in Early Adolescent Girls

To understand whether difficulties in emotional functioning distinguish between body dissatisfaction and disordered eating, a set of emotion regulation (i.e., negative emotion, emotional awareness, coping), demographic (i.e., age), and physical (i.e., BMI (Body Mass Index)) factors were assessed in 234 early adolescent girls, grades six to eight. Compared to younger girls, older girls had higher BMI and reported increased body dissatisfaction. Age, BMI, and negative affect predicted body dissatisfaction, whereas BMI, body dissatisfaction, and lack of emotional awareness predicted disordered eating. Further, girls who reported high levels of disordered eating reported experiencing increased levels of negative affect, greater difficulties with emotional awareness, and more difficulty coping constructively with negative emotion than girls who reported low levels of disordered eating. Results support the contention that body dissatisfaction, combined with difficulties in emotional awareness are related to disordered eating.Leslie Sim is an assistant professor at the Mayo Medical School, a Senior Associate at the Mayo Clinic, and Clinical Director of the Mayo Inpatient Eating Disorders Program. She received her Ph.D. from University of Maine in Developmental and Clinical Psychology. Her research interests include eating disorders, self-injurious behavior, and emotion regulation skills in children and adolescents.Janice Zeman is an associate professor at the College of William and Mary. She received her Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University in Developmental and Clinical Psychology. Her research interests include children's and adolescents' emotion regulation skills particularly as they relate to maladaptive functioning with other research interests in parental and peer socialization of emotion.     

An eight-year follow-up: Outcome from adolescent compared to adult onset anorexia nervosa

Seventy-five women were traced and reassessed on average eight years after the onset of anorexia nervosa. All patients received treatment and 88% were hospitalized at least once. Comparisons between early (11–15 years; N=35), late (16–18 years; N=24) adolescent and adult (19–27 years; N=14) onset revealed no significant differences in outcome for age at onset. For 70% of adolescent and 42% of adult onset patients the outcome was good, meaning that the weight was within ± 15% of norm with regular cyclical menstruation,17% and 21% had an intermediate, and 9% and 21%, respectively, had a poor outcome, 5.3% had died. Taken together, 59% had physically recovered and were free of any eating disorder. Severity of illness reflected in a low body mass index, excessive exercise, and poor psychosocial functioning at intake were poor prognostic indicators;length of illness and food restriction or bulimia as eating patterns were unrelated to outcome. The observation that all women with chronic anorexia nervosa, and even a third of those who had physically recovered from anorexia nervosa, qualified for one or more psychiatric diagnoses suggests that the psychosocial correlates of anorexia nervosa require further study.Supported by grant MH ROI35585-01A1.Received an M.D.-Ph.D. degree from Albert-Ludwig University in Freiburg, Germany. Research interests have been depressive disorders, eating disorders, in particular anorexia nervosa, and more recently women's health.Received M.D. degree from the University of Illinois in Chicago, Illinois. Research interest is in preventive medicine.