A decomposition of the Bradley–Blackwood paired-samples omnibus test

We show that the Bradley–Blackwood simultaneous test for equal means and equal variances in paired-samples additively decomposes into separate tests of these hypotheses. The test of equal variances in the decomposition is the standard Pitman–Morgan procedure. The test of equal means in the decomposition is based on a t-ratio with (n ? 2) degrees of freedom and has the additional restriction that the variances are equal.     

An ecological systems approach to understanding social support in foster family resilience

Families who care for children in the foster care system often experience challenges related to the system, accessing services and supports, and managing relationships. Despite these challenges, many families thrive because of unique attributes and strengths that contribute to experiences of resilience. Using an ecological framework, this study examined social support among resilient foster families to better understand how foster caregivers experienced positive reciprocal transactions across systems. As part of a larger study, in‐depth narrative interviews were conducted to examine the process of resilience for families who foster. Findings revealed that families accessed and benefited from social support on micro‐level, meso‐level and macro‐level. Understanding how families cultivated social support across multiple levels offers implications for practice and policy when considering how best to retain and support families who care for vulnerable children.     

Experiences of Informal Caregivers of Older Adults Transitioned From Nursing Homes to the Community Through the Money Follows the Person Demonstration

This study examined experiences of 156 informal caregivers of older adults who transitioned to the community through the Connecticut Money Follows the Person (MFP) Rebalancing Demonstration after prolonged nursing home stays. Caregiver burden, positive aspects of caregiving, depressive symptoms, anxiety, and comparative subjective stress were examined in relation to caregiver demographics and care receiver characteristics with a cross-sectional survey. Caregivers reported low burden, depressive symptoms, and anxiety, and fairly high levels of positive aspects of caregiving and satisfaction with community services. Most caregivers were less stressed compared to the time the care recipient was in, or before they entered, a nursing home. Live-in caregivers experienced more positive aspects of caregiving, but adult children reported higher burden than other caregivers. Unmet service needs also increased caregiver burden. Programs like MFP are a viable option with broadly positive outcomes from a caregiver’s perspective. Enthusiasm for increasing access to community care is growing for older adults who otherwise would reside in nursing homes for extended periods. Identifying unmet service needs and needs for targeted functional support could further enhance caregiver experiences and contribute to the successful transition of older adults to the community.     

Shopping Model of the Time-Sensitive Consumer

The shopping behavior of time-sensitive consumers has been modeled as an economic model of choice. Consumers are said to balance the costs of time spent commuting to the store and in the store with storage costs and other nontime costs of shopping. In so doing, these consumers tend to minimize their overall costs. Propositions are developed and tested using this economic model of shopping. The model is extended beyond time sensitivity to include deal proneness; further propositions are developed and tested using the extended model. The empirical results support the derived models.     

Implications of Recent Research on Eastern European Adoptees for Social Work Practice

Social workers engaged in preparing and supporting families that adopt non-infants and sibling groups from Russia and other Eastern European countries need to be well-versed in: (1) the issues that affect this population of adoptees and adopters; and (2) the recent research on both. They also need to expand the model of adoptive families that drives their work. The authors identify three areas of risk to successful older-child adoptee and adoptive family functioning, explore the consequences of detrimental adoption policies and practices on the micro and macro-levels, and make recommendations for needed changes. The changes the authors identify are framed through an investigation of recent research on international adoptees and their adoptive families. The authors use adoptive parents’ own words to make the issues they discuss more concrete. Implications for social worker training and practice, and expanded roles for social workers, are identified.     

Management Policies to Improve the Effectiveness of Multi-Station Service Organizations*

A SLAM based simulation model of a multi-station, tandem queuing structure characteristic of a variety of service systems is employed to test various design options for the system. The model is based on an extensive study of the State of Florida driver licensing offices. The multiple objectives of low time in the system for customers and the efficient use of personnel resources are employed to measure the benefits of policy options. The use of simulation analysis permits the incorporation of complex system characteristics, therefore providing a realistic representation of the effects of possible management actions. Effective methods to control labor in such systems are suggested.     

Adolescents’ perceptions of social risk and prosocial tendencies: Developmental change and individual differences

Many prosocial behaviors involve social risks such as speaking out against a popular opinion, bias, group norm, or authority. However, little is known about whether adolescents’ prosocial tendencies develop over time with their perceptions of social risks. This accelerated longitudinal study used within-subject growth-curve analyses to test the link between adolescents' prosocial tendencies and social risk perceptions. Adolescents completed self-reports annually for 3 years (N = 893; M_age = 12.30 years, 10–14 years at Wave 1, and 10–17 years across the full study period; 50% girls, 33% White non-Latinx, 27% Latinx, 20% African American, 20% mixed/other race). The association between social risk tolerance and prosocial tendencies changed significantly across adolescence. Specifically, for younger adolescents, more prosocial tendencies were associated significantly with less social risk tolerance, whereas for relatively older adolescents, more prosocial tendencies were associated marginally with more social risk tolerance. Additional individual differences by empathy (but not sensation seeking) emerged. These findings suggest that prosocial tendencies across adolescence may be associated with an underlying ability to tolerate social risks.     

Chinese immigrant child and maternal reactions to disappointment: Cultural fit impacts the bidirectional associations

Culture provides a context in which emotion socialization is embedded, and the bidirectional effects between parents’ emotion socialization and children's emotional behaviors may work differently across cultures. To understand how emotion socialization may be shaped by the cultural context, we examined the moderating role of Asian cultural values in bidirectional associations between maternal emotion socialization practices and child anger and sadness. Seventy-four U.S. Chinese immigrant mothers (M_age = 40.71 years, SD = 3.61) completed measures assessing their Asian cultural values and parenting style. Children experienced a disappointment task in the lab (Cole, 1986), and mothers and their children (M_age = 6.73 years, SD = .95; 55% female) were observed at two different time intervals. Mothers’ socialization practices (emotion dismissing, emotion coaching, and moral and behavioral socialization) and children's anger and sadness responses at both intervals were coded. Mothers’ greater Asian cultural values buffered the negative effects of their emotion dismissing practices on children's anger and sadness. However, Asian cultural values did not impact the effects of children's anger and sadness on mothers’ emotion dismissing practices. When mothers endorsed fewer Asian values, their emotion coaching practices reduced children's anger and sadness. Children's anger and sadness evoked more emotion coaching practices when mothers endorsed lower levels of Asian cultural values. In addition, children's anger and sadness evoked greater moral and behavioral responses from their mothers when mothers endorsed more Asian values. Overall, findings underscored the importance of cultural values in the interplay between mothers’ emotion socialization practices and children's emotions.     

A Note on Determining Optimal Selling Price and Lot Size Under All-Unit Quantity Discounts

A recent study conducted by Abad [1] described a method of determining the optimal price and lot size when the supplier offers all-unit quantity discounts. The author developed a procedure using centralized and decentralized approaches. According to the author's suggestion, further study is necessary to determine if the decentralized approach always provides an optimal solution. In the present study, an attempt is made to investigate the uniformity between the centralized and decentralized approaches and to verify whether the decentralized approach always yields optimal solutions.