Child and adolescent suicide deaths in New Mexico, 1990-1994

The suicide death rate in New Mexico is consistently higher than the national rate. Among adolescents, suicide is the third leading cause of death nationally, but in New Mexico it is the second leading cause of death. This study describes the pattern of adolescent suicide deaths in New Mexico. We conducted a retrospective review of all medical examiner autopsies for adolescent suicides (ages 20 years and younger) in New Mexico from 1990-1994. Records were reviewed for demographics and possible contributing factors such as depression, previous attempts, and alcohol and drug use. We identified 184 suicide deaths among children and adolescents ages 9-20 years for an overall rate of 12.9 per 100,000. Our rates for ages 5-9 years (0.2), 10-14 years (3.8), and 15-19 years (22.3) are over twice the U. S. rates. Suicide deaths resulted primarily from firearms (67%), hanging (16%), poisoning (6%), inhalation (4%), and other methods (7%). Method varied by ethnicity (p = .01) and gender (p = .03); males and non-Hispanic Whites were overrepresented among firearm deaths. Firearm ownership was known in 60 (48%) of the firearm deaths. Of these, 53% of the firearms belonged to a family member, 25% to the decedent, and 22% to a friend. Over one-third of decedents (41%) experienced mental disorders, primarily depressed mood and clinical depression. Previous suicide attempts were noted for 15% of the decedents. Some 50% of the decedents had alcohol or drugs present at the time of death; among American Indians/Alaska Natives, 74% had drugs or alcohol present (p = .003). Targeted interventions are needed to reduce adolescent suicide in New Mexico. We suggest raising awareness about acute and chronic contributing factors to suicide; training physicians to look for behavioral manifestations of depression; and involving physicians, teachers, and youth activity leaders in efforts to limit firearm accessibility, such as advising parents to remove firearms from their households.     

African American Oxford House residents: sources of abstinent social networks

The current study found that African American residents of Oxford House (OH) used Narcotics Anonymous (NA) at high rates, and that both OH and NA strongly contributed to abstinent social networks. Having siblings and other family members in one's network predicted substance use among network members, whereas spouses, parents, and children did not have an effect on the rate of substance use. These findings suggest that OH and NA may be effective sources of abstinent social support for African Americans recovering from substance abuse. However, family members are well represented in the support networks of African Americans in OH.     

Attitudes of a community members as a function of participatory research with Oxford Houses

Citizen participation in research may include involvement in generating original ideas, planning appropriate designs, collecting data, and helping to implement interventions. Unfortunately, little is known about the attitudes of the community members who participate in such research processes. In the present exploratory study, a team of community members (4 men, 3 women; age > 30 years old) who were employed as investigator research associates to evaluate an innovative substance abuse recovery home were asked for their perspectives about their involvement in the research effort. Findings indicated that these community members felt their participation was a positive experience. Moreover, while their understanding and sense of participation in the research process increased, their identification and affiliation with their support organization was not reduced. Results imply that there is a need to better understand how citizen members of community organizations are affected by their involvement in the research process.     

Creating a home to promote recovery: the physical environments of Oxford House

The interior and exterior physical characteristics of substance abuse recovery program dwellings (11 woman, 44 men) from three geographic sections of the United States were assessed at creating a "house-as-home" for residents. Although each house was independently governed and operated by residents, results indicated vast similarities among the interior characteristics, amenities, and structural aspects. These rented dwellings also had similar well-maintained exterior characteristics, despite their geographic locations. Follow-up interviews of former residents indicated that these house characteristics and amenities helped create a sense of home not found in traditional institutional facilities. Results suggested that residents of self-governed independently operated recovery houses may create and maintain safe and sober settings that elicit a sense of home among residents.     

Who is "62 enough"? Identifying respondents eligible for Social Security early retirement benefits in the Health and Retirement Study

Workers are not instantly eligible for Social Security retirement benefits on their 62nd birthdays, nor can they receive benefits in the month they turn 62. This note discusses how well researchers can do using data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) to identify respondents old enough to receive and report early Social Security retirement benefits. It shows that only some workers aged 62 at the time of an HRS interview will be "62 enough" to have received a Social Security benefit and reported it in the survey. In general, workers become eligible for a retirement benefit the month after they turn 62, and they may receive their first payment the month after that. Until recently, payments were received very early in the month, but in mid-1997 and later, the Social Security Administration (SSA) staggered benefit payments over the course of a month. Therefore, many beneficiaries will not be able to report the receipt of their first benefit payment until the third month after their birthday in more recent HRS interviews. This note describes the best approach for approximating the pool of HRS respondents who are old enough to have reported the receipt of their first retirement benefit. It then applies the procedure to an analysis by Burkhauser, Couch, and Phillips, who used the 1994 HRS data to distinguish between those who took early retirement benefits upon turning 62 and those who postponed the receipt of benefits. Because these authors did not provide for respondents who were not "62 enough" to receive a benefit at the time of the interview, they understated the proportion of respondents who took retirement benefits at age 62.     

You're OK,I'm OK: The Self-Presentation of Affective Reactions to Deprivation

Two experiments compared public and private reports of affective reactions to deprivation. In Experiment 1, participants completed a questionnaire concerning their resentment about poor marks in a course; they had previously been led to believe that another participant was either angry or not angry about his/her marks. Participants' ratings of resentment were more affected by the other participant's alleged emotions in a public than in a private reporting condition. In Experiment 2, employed adults completed a questionnaire concerning their affective reactions to the lack of day care facilities available for working parents; they had previously been led to believe that the experimenter was either upset or not upset about the facilities. When respondents' answers were public, their ratings of resentment were affected by the experimenter's alleged emotions, whereas under conditions of private responding, there was no effect of the experimenter's alleged emotions. Taken together, these experiments provide initial evidence that self-presentation motives can influence reports of affective reactions to deprivation. In particular, our data show that self-presentation can induce a matching strategy whereby public expressions of resentment mirror the expressions of salient others. Two experiments compared public and private reports of affective reactions to deprivation. In Experiment 1, participants completed a questionnaire concerning their resentment about poor marks in a course; they had previously been led to believe that another participant was either angry or not angry about his/her marks. Participants' ratings of resentment were more affected by the other participant's alleged emotions in a public than in a private reporting condition. In Experiment 2, employed adults completed a questionnaire concerning their affective reactions to the lack of day care facilities available for working parents; they had previously been led to believe that the experimenter was either upset or not upset about the facilities. When respondents' answers were public, their ratings of resentment were affected by the experimenter's alleged emotions, whereas under conditions of private responding, there was no effect of the experimenter's alleged emotions. Taken together, these experiments provide initial evidence that self-presentation motives can influence reports of affective reactions to deprivation. In particular, our data show that self-presentation can induce a matching strategy whereby public expressions of resentment mirror the expressions of salient others.     

The challenge of operations research in the developing country

The application of operations research/management science in the developing country has met with uneven success. Social, cultural, and political factors have constrained direct application of OR technology from industrialized countries to developing countries. Review of OR experience in the United States, especially pitfalls and successes of OR application, does provide significant information which can benefit the application of operations research in the developing country. Successful application of operations research is apt to be highly beneficial if operations researchers in the developing country can effectively deal with the challenges of cultural constraints, an uncertain decision environment, human resource management, and a bounded rationality unique to each developing country.