The State of Female Autonomy in India: A Stochastic Dominance Approach

The promotion of female autonomy is both intrinsically and instrumentally desirable. We document differences in the distribution of female autonomy in India (using the National Family Health Survey 2005–2006) addressing two methodological challenges: the multidimensional nature of the concept and its frequent measurement with ordinal variables (which are not amenable to direct comparisons of social averages). We tackle these challenges with three methods based on stochastic dominance techniques suited for ordinal and dichotomous variables. Whenever these dominance conditions hold for a pairwise comparison, we can conclude that the multidimensional autonomy distribution in one state is more desirable than in another one across a broad range of criteria for the individual and social welfare evaluation of autonomy. Consistently across the three methods, we find that most of the states with better autonomy distributions (in pairwise comparisons) come from the north east and the south, whereas most of the states with worse autonomy distributions come from the north.     

Family Relationships and Adolescent Well-Being: Are Families Equally Protective for Same-Sex Attracted Youth?

Existing research suggests that sexual minority youth experience lower levels of well-being, in part because they perceive less social support than heterosexual youth. Sexual minority youth with strong family relationships may demonstrate resilience and increased well-being; however, it is also possible that the experience of sexual stigma may make these relationships less protective for sexual minority youth. Using two waves of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, we explore the links between same-sex attraction, family relationships, and adolescent well-being in a sample of over 13,000 7th–12th grade adolescents (51 % female, 52 % non-Latino/a white, 17 % Latino, 21 % African American, and 7 % Asian). Specifically, we examine whether lower levels of parental closeness, parental involvement, and family support among same-sex attracted youth explain in part why these youth experience increased depressive symptoms and risk behaviors, including binge drinking, illegal drug use, and running away from home, relative to other-sex attracted youth. Second, we ask whether family relationships are equally protective against depressive symptoms and risk behaviors for same-sex attracted and other-sex attracted youth. We find that same-sex attracted youth, particularly girls, report higher levels of depressive symptoms, binge drinking, and drug use in part because they perceive less closeness with parents and less support from their families. Results also suggest that parental closeness and parental involvement may be less protective against risk behaviors for same-sex attracted boys than for their other-sex attracted peers. Findings thus suggest that interventions targeting the families of sexual minority youth should educate parents about the potentially negative effects of heteronormative assumptions and attitudes on positive adolescent development.     

Organizing research in an information society

His publications include Guidelines to the Decentralization of Government Furnctions; Utilization of RANN Research Results: A Survey of the Research Applied to National Needs Program of the National Science Foundation;and A Strategy for Improving Education in Science and Mathematics.     

Informing the patient: What social science research can tell the adolescent mental patient

The pioneer research and theoretical formulations of the psychiatric sociologists during the last decade have demonstrated the critical influence social processes have in the drift toward mental patient careers. In this article, I propose that several of the important concepts and perspectives achieved by these research developments be incorporated into present institutional treatment programs by way of a social science education program which reflectively examines the interpretations of hospitalization fashioned by psychiatric sociologists.Has an interdisciplinary Ph.D. (1973) from Northwestern University with a focus in sociology and psychiatry. Current interests are in the development of practice and treatment models which enhance the subjectivity and self-competency of clients. Also has an interest in the sociology of knowledge construction in the social work field.