Knowledge and attitudes about AIDS: A comparison of public high school students,incarcerated delinquents,and emotionally disturbed adolescents

This study compared AIDS knowledge and attitudes in public high school students (N=167), incarcerated delinquents (N=166), and emotionally disturbed (SED) adolescents (N=151). The response measure was a 50-item Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) questionnaire that was previously used by Bell et al., in their 1991 study of learning disabled adolescents. Although AIDS knowledge was moderately high in all three groups, widespread misunderstandings about disease transmission and awareness of high-risk groups and practices were noted. Knowledge scores were significantly higher in the public school sample than in the SED adolescents; moreover, they tended to be slightly higher (p<0.10) than the delinquent group as well. Teenagers with the severest emotional problems were by far the least informed. Age and race were also predictive of AIDS knowledge. Other results showed that delinquents were more permissive in their attitudes about sex, more inclined to disdain safe sex practices, and more likely to feel threatened by high-risk groups as well as powerless to protect themselves against AIDS. Generally speaking, the findings extend the work of other investigators on the needs for AIDS education in adolescents. The need is especially urgent in delinquent and emotionally disturbed youth who may require a more comprehensive intervention because of their greater knowledge deficits, propensity for high-risk practices, and tendency to deny or underestimate their own vulnerability.Received Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Research interests include health behavior change and the treatment of anxiety and habit disorders. To whom correspondence should be addressed.Received M.A. degree in psychology from the University of the Pacific. Research interests include health behavior change and medical epidemiology.Received Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand. Research interests are in child and adolescent psychiatry and the delivery of mental health services.Received Ph.D. in biostatistics from the Medical College of Virginia. Research interests are in general linear models.     

Public promotion of new technology ventures: an agency perspective

Abstract: Understanding the proper role of government in the promotion of small technology-oriented firms is a priority given the potential benefits to society as a whole and the inability of traditional market mechanisms to adequately nurture such firms. Further, designing the appropriate public policies to sufficiently satisfy the involved stakeholders has typically proven to be an elusive pursuit. With these issues in mind, this paper applies the concept of agency theory to evaluate government programs seeking to promote technology start-ups. A new program associated with the Innovation Ontario Corporation, which utilizes equity joint ventures between government and small technology-oriented firms, is described and evaluated using the agency perspective. Suggestions are made for further inquiry and analysis. Sommaire: Il importe de cerner le rôle adéquat du gouvernement dans la promotion des petites entreprises technologiques, étant donné, d'une part, les avantages potentiels pour la société dans son ensemble, et d'autre part, l'incapacité des mécanismes classiques du marchéà favoriser comme il le faut l'évolution de ces entreprises. De plus, en régle générale, les efforts visant àélaborer des politiques publiques appropriées et satisfaisantes pour les intervenants en question se sont révélés aléatoires. Compte tenu de tout cela, le présent article applique la théorie des agences pour évaluer les programmes gouvemementaux qui visent à faciliter le démarrage d'entreprises technologiques. Nous décrivons et nous évaluons ici, dans la perspective des agences, un nouveau programme associéà la Société Innovation Ontario, qui fait appel aux co-entreprises avec participation au capital pour le gouvernement et les petites entreprises technologiques. Nous proposons aussi des suggestions pour des enquêtes et analyses plus poussées.     

The federal Employment Equity Act: goals vs. implementation

Abstract: Policy analysts have frequently noted the gap between the intentions of policy makers and the effects of a program of change. This paper questions the ability of the implementation process to achieve the objectives of the federal Employment Equity Act. It argues that organizations under the act have not progressed towards employment equity, not because they have failed to implement the policy according to its legal provisions, but because the act itself is fundamentally flawed. While collecting statistics from the workplace may be useful in identifying discriminatory practices and problem areas and in identifying weaknesses in the evaluative and corrective mechanisms in the act, the reliance on data collection as the sole measure of effective implementation is highly simplistic. The usefulness of the data is compromised by the extent to which they actually reflect decreased discrimination. Furthermore, it is erroneous to suppose that employers of their accord will sanction themselves when statistics reveal an unrepresentative internal workforce. Sommaire: Les analystes de politiques ont souvent noté l'éart entre les intentions de ceux qui définissent les politiques, d'une part, et les effets d'un programme porteur de changement, d'autre part. Cet article met en cause la capacité des processus de mise en oeuvre à réaliser les objectifs de la loi fédérale sur l'équité en matière d'emploi. Selon l'article, les organismes soumis à la Loi n'ont pas fait de progres vers l'eAquité en matière d'emploi, et ce, non pas parce qu'ils ont manqué d'appliquer la politique conformément à ses clauses légales, mais plutôt parce que la loi elle-même a des lacunes fondamentales. Recueillir des données statistiques sur les lieux de travail est peut-êre utile lorsqu'il s'agit d'identifier les pratiques discriminatoires et les faiblesses des mécanismes d'évaluation et de correction prévues par la loi, mais il serait par trop simpliste de se fier aux données comme indicateur unique d'une mise en oeuvre réussie. L'utilité des données est relative dans la mesure oh elles reflètent simplement une diminution de la discrimination. De plus, il est incorrect de supposer que les employeurs se sanctionneront deux-mêmes lorsque les données statistiques révèlent l'inobservation de la loi.     

The effects of cashing-out food stomps on household food use and the cost of issuing benefits

The recent report produced by Vice President Gore's committee on government efficiency highlights the importance of streamlining government operations. But often there are trade-offs between administrative streamlining and accomplishing substantive program objectives. This article examines these tradeoffs in the context of the Food Stamp Program, an important component of the United States' safety net for providing low-income assistance. We estimate impacts on both administrative costs and substantive outcomes (participant food expenditures) resulting from issuing program benefits in the form of checks rather than the usual food coupons. The findings, which are based on experimental tests of the cashout approach in parts of Alabama and California, suggest that significant cost savings can be attained through cashout but that these savings may be achieved at the cost of weakening the program's ability to achieve its substantive objective of encouraging food use.     

Black and white perceptions of party differences

Despite a comparative disadvantage vis-à-vis whites in resources like education that often are considered to lead to political sophistication, African Americans show signs of being a rather politically sophisticated group of people. Given that better educated people are much more likely than those with less education to see larger differences between Democrats and Republicans, the propensity for blacks to perceive larger differences between the parties, both in general and on specific issues, is striking. This puzzle is explained by the fact that education has a huge impact on seeing partisan differences for whites, but not for blacks. That this understanding of the structure of American politics has so completely penetrated black public opinion is quite remarkable. Strength of partisanship, and to a lesser degree, racial consciousness, appear to be largely responsible for blacks (particularly less educated blacks) perceiving such stark party differences.