Measuring the hedonic and utilitarian sources of consumer attitudes

It has been suggested theoretically that consumer attitudes have distinct hedonic and utilitarian components, and that product categories differ in the extent to which their overall attitudes are derived from these two components. This paper reports three studies that validate measurement scales for these constructs and, using them, show that these two attitude dimensions do seem to exist; are based on different types of product attributes; and are differentially salient across different consumer products and behaviors, in theoretically-consistent ways.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/47067/1/11002_2004_Article_BF00436035.pd

The impact of breastfeeding patterns on regional differences in infant mortality in Germany, 1910

This paper examines the impact of breastfeeding practices on the large regional differences in infant mortality in Germany around 1910. Breastfeeding is strongly negatively associated with infant mortality and remains so after controlling for public health measures and for demographic, economic, and social factors that also affect infant mortality. But it contributes much less to regional differences in infant mortality than do access to medical care, percentage illegitimate and marital fertility. Breastfeeding is less important than these other factors because it affects fewer causes of death and has a smaller impact on cause-specific infant mortality rates. L'auteur étudie l'impact des pratiques d'allaitement sur les grandes différences régionales de mortalité infantile observées en Allemagne aux alentours de 1910. Il existe une association fortement négative entre l'allaitement et la mortalité infantile, même quand on contrôle les facteurs démographiques, économiques, sociaux et de politique sanitaire, qui, eux aussi, affectent la mortalité infantile. Mais les différences régionales de mortalité infantile s'expliquent nettement moins par l'allaitement que par l'accessibilité des soins médicaux, le taux d'illégitimité des naissances et la fécondité légitime. L'allaitement est un facteur de moindre importance que ceux-ci parce qu'il n'a d'impact que sur un petit nombre de causes de décès, et un faible impact sur les taux de mortalité infantile par cause.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/42730/1/10680_2005_Article_BF01796777.pd

Measuring Religiosity in Later Life

The purpose of this study is to devise and test a multidimensional measurement model of late life religiosity that is composed of three major components: organizational religiosity, subjective religiosity, and religious beliefs. The religious belief dimension, which has been overlooked frequently in prior research, is assessed in part with items that ask about belief in the Ten Commandments. Alternative ways of specifying the relationships among these dimensions are explored, including first- and second-order factor models. The findings that are derived from estimating these confirmatory factor models are supplemented with additional analyses that examine the differential impact of the religiosity factors on an external criterion measure (i.e., life satisfaction). Throughout, the goal is to provide investigators with a practical approach to evaluating the utility of complex multidimensional factor models of religiosity.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68505/2/10.1177_0164027593152003.pd