An Approach to Measuring the Affordability of State Debt

Affordability is one important and widely accepted element of state and local debt policy. However, there is no well-established measure of affordability and no clear standard for making normative judgments about what amount of debt is affordable for a specific jurisdiction. This article suggests a six-step method for measuring affordability of state debt that provides a useful guideline for determining when a state may be entering a "danger zone" by having debt that exceeds norms of affordability.     

Dispositional, Environmental, and Context-Specific Predictors of Children's Threat Perceptions in Everyday Stressful Situations

Threat appraisals are a key component of the coping process, yet little is known about the factors that influence children's perceptions of threat during stressful situations. The present study examined predictors of threat perceptions in response to everyday stressors among 215 fourth and fifth graders, and their parents and teachers. Children's internal resources, the family environment, and qualities of the stressful encounter were studied for their contributions to perceptions of threat. Children's ratings of maternal and paternal acceptance and maternal ratings of family expressiveness were associated with lower perceptions of threat; children's ratings of other-culpability were associated with higher perceptions of threat. Although threat perceptions were associated with coping behavior, threat perceptions did not mediate associations between family, contextual, or dispositional influences and coping. Results are discussed in terms of current stress and coping theory.     

Political culture,postmaterial values,and the new environmental paradigm: A comparative analysis of Canada and the United States

This study investigates the relationship between postmaterial values and the New Environmental Paradigm in Canada (Ontario) and the United States (Michigan). Based on survey data collected among both citizens and environmental activists, it is evident that among both Canadian and American respondents of both citizen and activist type the two value dimensions are similarly multidimensional and separate. Rather than reflecting a single larger dimension of value orientation, as claimed by some, it is clear that the Inglehart postmaterialist value measure and the Dunlap and Van Liere NEP index are separate constructs in the thinking of the Canadians and Americans surveyed. While these findings were parallel in the Canadian and American settings, a number of cross-national differences in how these values influence attitudes and behaviors are reported. In general, these findings underscore the need to continue to focus on variations in the cultural context of citizen responses to postindustrial change.     

The relation of ego development to sex-stereotyping in caretakers' expectations for adolescents

The investigators tested the hypothesis that the direction of the relationship between the level of ego development of adult caretakers and the degree of sex-stereotyping in their expectations for adolescents would vary as a function of the adolescents' level of ego maturity. Two groups of caretakers (counselors of an immature group of disturbed adolescents and parents of a mature group of undergraduates) participated in the study. In comparison to their conformist counterparts, the postconformist counselors were expected to make more sex-stereotyped goals for the disturbed adolescents; postconformist parents were expected to make less sex-stereotyped goals for the undergraduates. Hypotheses were confirmed for the counselors, but not for the parents. Both groups of caretakers seemed to consider developmental or life task factors in formulating goals for adolescents.Received Ph.D. from Yale University in 1977. Research interests are juvenile delinquency, adolescent coping abilities, organizational aspects of youth agencies, and young adulthood.Interests are adolescence and community psychology.Interest is residential care for adolescents.Interests are battered women and women in prisons.     

C. Reviews and notes of recent bibliographies

i. Social Research on Arabs in Israel 1948–1977: Trends and an Annotated Bibliography. Compiled by Sammy Smooha and Ora Cibulski. Ramat Gan, Israel, Turtledove Publishing, 1978. pp.148. $11.00.

ii. University of Utah: Aziz S.Atiya Library for Middle East Studies, Supplement Two to Volume One (University of Utah Middle East Library Catalogue Series). Salt Lake City, University of Utah Libraries, 1979. pp.892.

iii. Bibliografiya stran Afriki i Arabskogo vostoka: ukazatel’ literatury na russkom yazyke, opublikovannoi v SSSR v 1917–67 gg. Vol.I: Afrika. Vol.II: Arabskie stranny. Moskva, Nauka, 1979. 2 vols. 15r.

iv. Arab‐World Newspapers in the Library of Congress: A List (Near East Series). Prepared by George Dimitri Selim. Washington D.C., Library of Congress, 1980. pp.v, 85.

v. Libyan Studies Bulletins: Current Awareness Service (Publications of the Libyan Studies Centre: Bibliographic Series, 3). Tripoli, The Library of the Libyan Studies Centre, 1980‐. 1 – . pp.vii, 75 (European‐language titles), 125 (Arabic‐language titles).