The Future of Farming: Regional Variation in Opinions From Louisiana and the Nation

Findings from a 1987 telephone survey of Louisiana residents are reported. Opinions of 701 persons were gathered using a weighted probability sample across the state. Socioeconomic and demographic characteristics were used to identify regional clusters of parishes to determine differences among regions of the state. The results point to a paradox. While the clusters exhibited extreme variation in socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, there was surprising similarity in the responses regarding opinions on agricultural issues. Support for agriculture was uniformly strong across all regions, with over 80 percent of respondents agreeing that both the state and federal governments should do a lot more to help farmers. Public concern for the future of farming was evident. Of the survey respondents, 40 percent felt that the financial future of farming will get worse, while only 30 percent felt it would improve. While opinions on specific resource-allocation measures to help agriculture were less definite, the findings show that residential location has little effect on respondents\u27 opinions regarding agricultural issues

Coefficients of Association Analogous to Pearson's r for nonparametric Statistics

The rz and rp coefficients of association are discussed. Both coefficients, like Pearson's r, are based on a z/z max framework. They yield coefficients directly comparable for all levels of measurement being based on an obtained/maximum departure from independence in z units interpretation. The r z coefficient can be applied to any nonparametric test statistic in which a normal approximation equation is appropriate. The rp coefficient is applicable to any nonparametric test statistic in which exact probabilities are known.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline

Direct and mediated effects of a social-emotional and character development program on adolescent substance use

Mitigating and preventing substance use among adolescents requires approaches that address the multitude of factors that influence this behavior. Such approaches must be tested, not only for evidence of empirical effectiveness, but also to determine the mechanisms by which they are successful. The aims of the present study were twofold: 1) To determine the effectiveness of a school-based social-emotional and character development (SECD) program, Positive Action (PA), in reducing substance use (SU) among a sample of U.S. youth living in a low-income, urban environment, and 2) to test one mechanism by which the program achieves its success. We used longitudinal mediation analysis to test the hypotheses that: 1) students attending PA intervention schools engage in significantly less SU than students attending control schools, 2) students attending PA intervention schools show significantly better change in SECD than students attending control schools, and 3) the effect of the PA intervention on SU is mediated by the change in SECD. Analyses revealed program effects on both SECD and SU, a relationship between SECD and SU, and the effects of PA on SU were completely mediated by changes in SECD. Future research directions and implications for schoolbased social-emotional and character development efforts and substance use prevention are addressed.peer-reviewe

Effects of a School-Based Social-Emotional and Character Development Program on Peer, Family, School, and Neighborhood Contexts: A Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial

Aims: To evaluate the impact of a school-based social-emotional and character development program on the various socializing contexts of youth. Methods: A matched-pair, cluster-randomized controlled trial included 1,170 students from 14, low-income, urban, Chicago Public Schools. Outcomes were assessed longitudinally for a cohort of youth followed from grades 3 to 8. Multilevel growth-curve modeling and endpoint analyses were conducted on indicators of peer, family, school, and neighborhood contexts. Results: Students in PA schools had slower rates of decline and higher end-point scores than students in non-PA schools across all of the contexts examined. For example, impacts were observed for positive school orientation, peer victimization, parent attachment, and neighborhood context. Conclusion: Results illustrate that school-based social-emotional and character development programs have the capacity to affect youth experiences in a range of environmental contexts that are key for youth development and functioning

The substantive and practical significance of citation impact differences between institutions: Guidelines for the analysis of percentiles using effect sizes and confidence intervals

In our chapter we address the statistical analysis of percentiles: How should the citation impact of institutions be compared? In educational and psychological testing, percentiles are already used widely as a standard to evaluate an individual's test scores - intelligence tests for example - by comparing them with the percentiles of a calibrated sample. Percentiles, or percentile rank classes, are also a very suitable method for bibliometrics to normalize citations of publications in terms of the subject category and the publication year and, unlike the mean-based indicators (the relative citation rates), percentiles are scarcely affected by skewed distributions of citations. The percentile of a certain publication provides information about the citation impact this publication has achieved in comparison to other similar publications in the same subject category and publication year. Analyses of percentiles, however, have not always been presented in the most effective and meaningful way. New APA guidelines (American Psychological Association, 2010) suggest a lesser emphasis on significance tests and a greater emphasis on the substantive and practical significance of findings. Drawing on work by Cumming (2012) we show how examinations of effect sizes (e.g. Cohen's d statistic) and confidence intervals can lead to a clear understanding of citation impact differences

Alienation and Age: A Coniexi.Specific Approach*

ABSTRACT A context-specific conceptualization of alienation is used to describe age-group differences. Traditionally, alienation has been treated in terms of specific, modes (e.g., powerlessness, meaninglessness, normlessness, social isolation, self-estrangement). This research adds to each of these modes social structural contexts (e.g., polity, economy, education, religion, family) to produce a matrix of context-specific alienation. Age-group differentials on specific components of alienation are examined in a three-generation sample. The postulate that alienation is related to position in the social structure leads to the hypothesis that there is a curvilinear relation between alienation and age, the youth most alienated, the middle-aged least, and the elderly in between. The hypothesis is generally supported

Weathering the crisis: Evidence of diffuse support for the EU from a six-wave Dutch panel

Political regimes draw legitimacy from diffuse political support. How diffuse is support for the European Union? By focusing on cross-sectional data, the extant literature fails to demonstrate that support for the European Union displays the key defining characteristic of diffuse support: individual-level stability over a time of crisis. I use a six-wave panel data set from the Netherlands to study stability in support for the European Parliament during the 2008 economic crisis. I argue that public support for the European Parliament is highly diffuse. Using three analytical techniques, I find that individual-level support for the European Parliament remained highly stable from 2007 to 2012. These results suggest that in times of crisis, the European Union can draw on mass public support as a source of resilience