Health care reform: Can a communitarian perspective be salvaged?

The United States is culturally oriented more toward individual rights and values than to communitarian values. That proclivity has made it hard to develop a common good, or solidarity-based, perspective on health care. Too many people believe they have no obligation to support the health care of others and resist a strong role for government, higher taxation, or reduced health benefits. I argue that we need to build a communitarian perspective on the concept of solidarity, which has been the concept underlying European health care systems, by focusing not on individual needs, but rather, on those of different age groups—that is, what people need at different stages of life.     

Assessing bilingual and monolingual Latino students with translations of the MMPI-2: initial data

This article presents the results of 2 studies conducted with Spanish versions of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) with Latino students. Study 1 compared the results of 2 administrations of the MMPI-2, one in English and the other in Spanish. Study 2 compared the results of administrations of 2 Spanish versions of the MMPI-2, the official Mexican adaptation and the Version Hispana. In both cases, scale score differences were not found. Comparability, as operationally defined by test-retest reliability, was found to be higher for the group that was administered the English and Spanish versions than the group administered the 2 Spanish versions. Overall, the results were found to suggest correspondence. Yet, the authors warn against concluding "perfect" correspondence because other key groups need to be studied, including psychiatric patients and persons from the Latino community. Also, the determination of linguistic equivalence needs further refinement.     

Self-estimates of intelligence: a study in two African countries

Black and White South Africans (n = 181) and Nigerians (n = 135) completed a questionnaire concerning the estimations of their own and their relatives' (father, mother, sister, brother) multiple intelligences as well as beliefs about the IQ concept. In contrast to previous results (A. Furnham, 2001), there were few gender differences in self-estimates. In a comparison of Black and White South Africans, it was clear the Whites gave higher estimates for self, parents, and brothers. However, overall IQ estimates for self and all relatives hovered around the mean of 100. When Black South Africans and Nigerians were compared, there were both gender and nationality differences on the self-estimates with men giving higher self-estimates than women and Nigerians higher self-estimates than South Africans. There were also gender and nationality differences in the answers to questions about IQ. The authors discuss possible reasons for the relatively few gender differences in this study compared with other studies as well as possible reasons for the cross-cultural difference.     

Feminism and reproductive technologies

...Rowland is a social scientist and a radical feminist, and she has undertaken the task of making readers think twice about reproductive technologies. If a reader isn't thinking twice, it will not do to blame it on Rowland and the shortcomings of her book. She has a good deal to say that is extremely important and that needs to be considered by anyone who is interested in the moral issues, in general, and the issues for women and children, in particular, that are raised by the new and emerging reproductive technologies. Her book should be widely read. And it should generate the worries it is written to generate.     

Parents d’un enfant en situation de handicap : quelles difficultés,quels besoins ?

Parents of children with disabilities are faced with daily difficulties leading to organizational complications and time constraints. They are at risk of developing distress that requires support. The objective was to understand the difficulties encountered in daily life and in the moments initially devoted to rest. Information on the organization and daily difficulties and during rest periods, as well as the desired assistance, is collected from parents of children, adolescents or adults with disabilities through a dual quantitative and qualitative approach. Five classes identified daily difficulties and six classes defined difficulties associated with rest time. Requests for assistance (via the Internet, structures, allowances or relatives) have been developed. In addition, a thematic analysis identified three main themes: reasons for lack of support, barriers to access to support and wishes for support. The chronicity of the above-mentioned difficulties and the time-consuming tasks do have consequences on the parents’ personal life, even when the child grows up. They expressed their wish to benefit from home help, which seems to be the most appropriate in relation to the daily workload.     

Correlates of satisfaction with body function and body appearance in middle- and older aged adults: The activity counseling trial (ACT)

Abstract

This study examined the dimensional structure and correlates of body satisfaction among middle-aged and older adult men (n = 471) and women (n = 383) who were participants in the Activity Counseling Trial. Correlates were grouped as (1) fitness parameters, (2) demographic characteristics, and (3) components of subjective well-being. Factor analyses demonstrated that body function and body appearance were independent components of satisfaction in this population. Body composition and cardiorespiratory fitness were directly related to satisfaction with body appearance; however, satisfaction with body function was most strongly related in expected directions to measures of subjective well-being. Age was positively related to both measures of body satisfaction, whereas data on race revealed that blacks were more satisfied with their body appearance and function than whites. The observed relationships for body satisfaction suggest that older adults may value body function more than body appearance. Furthermore, the associations of race and age with body satisfaction have important implications for intervention research.     

An examination of individual differences in the relation of subjective goal difficulty to performance in a goal‐setting model

A laboratory study investigated individual differences in the role of subjective goal difficulty as a mediating variable in a goal‐setting framework. A moderate or difficult anagram goal was assigned to participants based on individual task ability level. For individuals receiving a difficult goal 3 mediating relations and 1 moderator were found. For individuals receiving only moderately difficult goals, only 1 mediating relation was supported. Results are discussed with respect to goal‐setting theory.     

READING ABILITY AND PRIOR KNOWLEDGE AS PREDICTORS OF ELEVEN AND TWELVE YEAR OLDS' TEXT COMPREHENSION

The effect of prior knowledge on the comprehension of written prose paragraphs in intact, topic sentence deleted and topic and concluding sentence deleted conditions was studied. A methodology for determining prior knowledge is advanced. Subjects were average and high ability upper elementary age children. A 3 X 3 passage by treatment design was utilized. Strongest correlations were for ability and prior knowledge, and criterion measures of inferencing and summarizing. ANOVA yielded significant main effects for ability and all criterion measures except inference. Step‐wise regression analysis suggests prior knowledge as a better response predictor than ability on three of four criterion measures. The utility of an uncomplicated method for analyzing students' levels of prior knowledge valuable to researchers and classroom teachers is discussed.