A useful tool for evaluating potential mediators

Conclusion Overall, the guidelines published by NIDR are a useful set of standards that should become a valuable reference tool for those responsible for evaluating and selecting mediators. Each institution that is involved in this process will find the guidelines useful as they develop their own criteria. George H. Friedman is vice president for case administration of the American Arbitration Association, 140 West 51st St., New York, N.Y. 10020.Allan D. Silberman is vice president for education and training with the AAA.The authors are grateful for the input on this brief commentary received from their AAA colleagues Thomas R. Colosi, vice president for national affairs, and Robert E. Meade, vice president for program development.     

Public policy economics: A survey of current pedagogical practice

This article reports on a survey of economics courses in our graduate program, identifies some of their weaknesses, and presents a number of suggestions for their improvement. The major theme that underlies my suggestions is to increase the active problem-solving roles for students in these courses, not leave the task exclusively to other courses. This can be facilitated by readings that emphasize the different processes of resource allocation, by limited use of case materials, and by development of interactive computer simulation models.     

Health habits and depression in adolescence

In a study of the relationship between health habits and depression, 80 high school students, selected on an availability basis, were administered a Health Behaviors Questionnaire (HBQ) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). The HBQ and the BDI significantly correlated (r=0.43p<0.01). Those who smoked were more frequently depressed than those who did not (X ²=10.5p<0.05), and those who used drugs other than marijuana were depressed more frequently than those who did not (X ²=9.2p<0.01). Mildly overweight boys (overweight by more than 5% of their ideal weight) and mildly under-weight boys (underweight by more than 5% of their ideal weight) were moreThis research was supported in part by a grant from the American Diabetes Association and by National institute of Health Grant MH 15529.Received his M.D. at George Washington School of Medicine. Major interest is interface of child psychiatry and pediatrics.Received his M.D. at Downstate Medical Center, State University of New York. Major interest is metabolic changes in adolescence.Received her M.A. from Queens College, New York. Major interest is measurement of human behavior.Received his M.D. from the University of Wisconsin. Major interest is adolescent sexuality.Received her Ph.D. in psychology from Hofstra University. Major interest is evaluation of clinical programs. depressed than boys of normal weight (p<0.02). The more pounds underweight the girls were, the more depressed they were (r=0.482, p<0.05). The closer the weight of a girl who perceived herself as overweight was to her ideal weight, the more depressed she was (r=–0.428,p<0.05).