Parenting satisfaction of mothers during midlife

The present investigation explores the relations among midlife identity concerns, marital satisfaction, mental health, and parenting satisfaction among mothers of preadolescents and early adolescents. Data were obtained from 129 intact families with a firstborn child between the ages of 10 and 15. The results suggest that intense midlife concerns are associated with diminished satisfaction with parenting, although this relation is moderated by the mother's reported marital satisfaction and her overall psychological wellbeing. Specifically, mothers with intense midlife crisis symptoms report higher parenting satisfaction when their marital satisfaction is high, but lower parental satisfaction when their midlife concerns are accompanied by psychological distress. The relations among midlife concerns, marital satisfaction, psychological symptoms, and mothers' satisfaction with parenting are not moderated by the sex of the adolescent.The research reported here is part of a larger investigation supported by grants to the second author by the William T. Grant Foundation and the Graduate School Research Committee of the University of Wisconsin —Madison. This paper is based on a senior thesis completed by the first author in the Department of Child and Family Studies at the University of Wisconsin—Madison.Interests are in adolescent development and sex differences.Interests are in adolescent development and family relations.     

Sexual attitudes and behavior of bulimic women: A preliminary investigation

One-hundred and seventeen college-aged women at varying risk for developing bulimia answered a number of questions addressing their attitudes toward and comfort with sexuality as well as their sexual and contraceptive history. Risk for developing bulimia was unrelated to sexual attitudes and weakly related to greater comfort with sexuality. High-risk women reported first engaging in intercourse at earlier ages and were also more likely to engage in risky contraceptive behavior than their lower risk counterparts. Despite their tendency to report a greater number of previous sexual partners, high-risk women currently engaged and expected to continue to engage in sex less frequently than lower risk women. Taken together with previous findings, results suggest that the relationship between risk for bulimia and certain patterns of sexual behavior reflects a general cycle of impulsive and controlling behavior exhibited by high-risk women. Limitations and implications of the present study are discussed.Half-time Editorial Assistant, Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology. Quarter-time research assistant, University of Kansas. Obtained M.A. and currently working on Ph.D. in clinical psychology at the University of Kansas. Research interests include hope as it relates to personal health beliefs, eating disorders, and sexual attitudes.Obtained Ph.D. in human development from the University of Kansas. Presently studying adolescent pregnancy and parenting.Obtained Ph.D. in behavioral sciences from the University of Chicago. Presently researching item response theory.     

Does Australia Still Need State Governments?— An Exchange

These two perspectives on the need for state governments were presented to the RIPAA National Conference on 30 November 1995, Brisbane.     

A Successful Transition? ACT Public Finances Under Self-government

Generous Commonwealth funding before self-government in 1989 meant that the ACT enjoyed high government expenditures and low taxation compared with the states. Self-government meant a transition to normal state funding, ultimately involving substantial reductions in Commonwealth grants. Successive governments aligned taxes with other jurisdictions, but failed to reduce expenditures, which remained well above Commonwealth Grants Commission (CGC) assessments of levels necessary to provide a standard level of services. The fiscal position — however measured — has worsened. The transition to normal funding has been unsuccessful and, without the necessary adjustments, a heavy burden will be placed on future Canberrans.     

Elite Interviewing: Approaches and Pitfalls

Interviews are one of the major tools in qualitative research, although there is a limited literature on the subject of interviewing generally and elite interviewing particularly. The aim of this article is to introduce some of the issues involved in elite interviewing to researchers new to the use of the technique. Emphasis is also placed on the need for the interviewer to know his/her subject thoroughly, and to be prepared to be flexible in an interview situation. The information is based on the author's own recent experience of interviewing a number of top civil servants, both serving and retired.     

Proposed fiscal year 1997 budgets for social and behavioral science research

COSSA is the advocate in Washington for the social and behavioral sciences. He also chairs the Coalition for National Science Funding. He has testified before Congress many times and has written and spoken extensively on legislative-executive relations, the federal budget process and science policy, particularly as it affects the social and behavioral sciences. This report was prepared by the author with the assistance of the COSSA staff.     

(Non)equivalence in a federalism: Dual tax shares, flypaper effects and Leviathan

Among the best-known theorems of fiscal federalism is the presumed allocative and distributive equivalence between a lump-sum grant to a collectivity and a set of lump sum grants to the members of a collectivity. Interestingly, the simple elegance of the theorem is at odds with observed behavior. Grants to governments produce greater public spending than does tax reduction. Explanations of this "flypaper effect" range from misspecified econometric modeling to presumed behavior based on fiscal illusion. In this paper we show that theoretical equivalence exists in a model that recognizes only one tax share, the citizen voter's local tax share. When the model is expanded to include voters' federal tax shares as well as local taxes, non-equivalence and the flypaper effect become the rule, not the exception.     

Insurgency, counterinsurgency, and the rational peasant

Many rational choice treatments of guerrilla insurgency have focused on the strategic calculus by which government and insurgent elites use the tactical weapons of coercion and benefits to win the support of nonelites. This paper uses Frohlich and Oppenheimer's model of the rational tax payer/tax evader to develop a model of the decision calculus by which nonelites respond to the tactical behavior of elites and thereby choose between supporting the incumbent regime, its insurgent opposition or neither. This model is then used to assess the likely impact of various insurgent and counterinsurgent tactics on nonelite support and loyalty.