Party identification and party closeness in comparative perspective

The present analysis uses data from 1974 and 1981 U. S. cross sections, which incorporate a panel, to compare the standard NES measure of party identification (ID) with a measure of partisanship derived from a party closeness question widely employed in cross-national research. Important features of the two scales are examined by transforming the closeness measure into a scale of very close, fairly close, not very close, and no preference corresponding to the seven-point ID scale. The scales are highly correlated and are similar in their reliability. More than 75% of the independents in the ID scale choose a party in the closeness version, and over half of these select the fairly close category. Respondents do not volunteer that they are independents when that alternative is not stated in the question.     

Factors affecting nursing home placement of community-served individuals

Despite the popularity of community-based programs, many clients are not able to be sustained in that environment. This study examines what began as the same population, specifically receivers of formally provided home based services, some of whom were later institutionalized and then compared to their former colleagues. Variables are related to the demographic, physical and social characteristics of each population, compared to each other as well as studied over a three year period to determine what elements changed to increase risk of institutionalization. Race, reduced degree of mobility and cognitive impairment are shown to be the primary predictors.     

Book review: Criminal justice history and co‐corrections

Lawrence M. Friedman and Robert V. Percival, The Roots of Justice: Crime and Punishment in Alameda County, California, 1870–1910 Chapel Hill, N.C.: The University of North Carolina Press, 1981, 335 pp.

Charles Campbell, Serving Time Together: Men and Women in Prison Fort Worth, Texas Christian University Press, 1980, 237 pp.