Public shelter admission rates in Philadelphia and New York City: The implications of turnover for sheltered population counts

Abstract

Previous estimates of the size and composition of the U.S. homeless population have been based on cross‐sectional survey methodologies. National enumeration efforts have yielded point‐prevalence estimates ranging from 0.11 to 0.25 percent of the population. This study reports data from shelter databases in Philadelphia and New York City that record identifiers for all persons admitted and so make possible unduplicated counts of users.

Unduplicated counts of shelter users yield annual rates for 1992 of about 1 percent for both cities and rates near 3 percent over three years in Philadelphia (1990–92) and over five years (1988–92) in New York City. The annual rates are three times greater than rates documented by point‐prevalence studies. Shelter bed turnover rates are reported, as are average monthly first admission and readmission counts over a two‐year period. Implications for future research and public policy are discussed.     

Overland and By Sea: Eight Centuries of the Jewish Presence in China

The several Jewish communities discussed are those in Kaifengand in Shanghai. The presence of the earlier and the later settlersraises several questions. How did the Kaifeng Jews retain theiridentity as Jews for several centuries while becoming part ofChinese society? Whereas the initial group of arrivals in Shanghaiconsisted of traders, the twentieth-century groups were refugees.Why were large numbers of Central European Jews able to landin Shanghai when most countries closed their doors to them?     

Social perceptions on genomics in four Latin American countries. Ethical-legal implications]

The authors analyze under an ethical and legal perspective the consequences and anxieties generated by the human genome project in the population of four Latin American countries: Argentine, Chile, México and Perú, through bibliographical analysis and interviews done to biomedical researches, lawyers and legislators, students and lay civilians.     

The Great Unraveling: Federal Budgeting, 1998–2006

Since 1998, budgeting reforms at the federal level have unraveled extensively. The budget process has become ad hoc, fragmented, and opaque, balance has been elusive, and the failure to prioritize has become endemic. One cause was the mismatch between the budget process in 1998, which was designed to eliminate deficits, and the emerging budgetary surpluses of that time. A second contributing factor was the desire to reduce taxes while expenditures were increasing as a result of wars and natural disasters. The consequences of this great unraveling include the failure to fund Medicare and Social Security adequately when the opportunity was presented, as well as threats to constitutional and democratic governance. Renewed reform may require greater transparency and a willingness to embarrass elected officials with iconic stories.     

Relationship Between Dissociative and Medically Unexplained Symptoms in Men and Women Reporting Childhood Sexual Abuse

The relationship between the dissociative and somatic symptoms in a clinical sample of 216 women and 35 men survivors of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) was examined. Symptom patterns were measured by the Dissociative Experiences Scale, the Somatization Scale of the Symptom Checklist 90-Revised (SCL-90-R), and the Hypochondriasis, Hysteria, Health Concerns, and Harris–Lingoes Somatic Complaints Scales of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2. Somatization and dissociation were related, but not at a great enough magnitude to suggest that somatic symptoms as a generic category are an integral component of dissociation. With the exception of one of the measures of somatization, the SCL-90-R somatization scale, no significant differences were found between men and women CSA survivors in symptom levels. However, the relationship between somatization and dissociation was stronger in women than in men. The findings of this study should be considered preliminary and interpreted with considerable caution, since the scales used probably are of limited validity.