This analysis of Zipf's law uses an index for the sequence of observed values of the variables in a Zipf-type relationship. Three important properties relating rank, count, and frequency are identified, shapes of Zipf-type curves are described, and parameters of the Mandelbrot-Zipf law are discussed. (Author/LRW)

Examined the power of seven demographic variables (sex, age, employment status, length of work experience, education, type of institution, and occupational level) to predict nursing-home staff empathy in interactions with residents. Results indicated only the variables in combination and work experience alone were significant. (Author/BL)

Maintains that simple squaring of the correlation coefficient between two variables to obtain "the degree to which the variance of one is explained by the other" is often misleading, represents "vulgarized knowledge," and obscures more meaningful relationships between variables. Illustrates this point with scatter-plot diagrams…

Examined individuals differing in sex, age, profession, eminence and fame, and historical period for presence of the birthday-deathday phenomenon. Found a decrease in probability of death with approaching birthday followed by an increase in most males. Females showed an initial rise in probability of death with approaching birthday, followed by a…

Tested two hypotheses relative to duration of marriage in 11,559 divorcing families in northern California. Confirmed that the presence of children is associated with longer marriage duration but not that the presence of children younger than age two was associated with longer marital duration. (NRB)

Forty studies of mailed surveys are reviewed in terms of 11 variables which affect response rates: sponsorship, respondents, salience, follow-up contacts, incentives, length, anonymity, personalization, deadline, types of appeals, and postage. (BW)

Argues that percent variance explanation is a misleading index of the influence of systematic factors in cases where there are processes by which individually tiny influences cumulate to produce meaningful outcomes. An example is the computation of percentage of variance in batting performance among major league baseball players. (Author/CB)

Applied multiple regression analysis to a Cincinnati, Ohio data set (N=421) to identify the determinants of interest in senior citizen housing. Mixed support was found for the notion that demand for this type of housing comes chiefly from the least needy segments of the elderly population. (JAC)

Identified themes differentiating high-quality and low-quality marriages in 34 professional dual-career couples. Themes related to socioeconomic adequacy, wife's job satisfaction, husband's approval of wife's employment, optimal household composition, community embeddedness, positive regard for spouse, emotional gratification, effectiveness of…

Studied 30 outpatient psychotherapy clients and assessed their relative change of status at termination and six months posttreatment. The vast majority of clients indicated improvement. Socioeconomic status, age, total psychotherapy sessions, initial neuroticism, and initial extraversion were identified as predictors of positive change in status.…

Investigated the relationship between cohabitation and subsequent marital quality in 309 recently married couples. Results showed that having cohabited premaritally was associated with significantly lower perceived quality of communication for wives and significantly lower marital satisfaction for both spouses. (LLL)

Compared scores on the Career Maturity Inventory (CMI) and the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) for disadvantaged youngsters (N=120). Results suggested that professionals using the CMI should use caution when working with disadvantaged youngsters since there is such a strong relationship to intelligence, as measured by the WAIS. (JAC)

Background: An extensive body of researches has favored the use of regression over other parametric analyses that are based on OVA. In case of noteworthy regression results, researchers tend to explore magnitude of beta weights for the respective predictors. Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine both beta weights and structure…

Alcohol use is legal for persons age 21 and older, and the majority of people who drink do so without incident. However, there is a continuum of potential problems associated with alcohol consumption. This brief addresses the definition of an "alcohol problem" and problems associated with "risky drinking." It also addresses the…

This study examined strategies that could assist public school administrators and school boards with the passage of bond issues. It specifically looked at such issues as the time of year that an issue was presented to voters, the nexus between community relations and successful passage, and leadership structure of bond campaigns. A survey…