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This study examines how seventeen writing intensive instructors at a Midwestern, public university used writing as a mode of learning about complex, sensitive, and challenging issues across the disciplines. For their students, the pen effectively became a bridge to the development of critical thinking skills, greater self-awareness, and a deeper understanding of people perceived to be different from oneself. Instructors used inclusive teaching strategies such as learner-centered assignments relevant to student lives, experiential learning, and revision to grapple with nuanced arguments to prepare students to be critical thinkers and skilled writers in an increasingly diverse and polarized society.

In an effort to avert the high old-age dependency ratio in Malaysia, the study reconceptualized and developed retirement readiness scales based on the Capacity Willingness Opportunity Model (CWOM). The developed scales emphasized the importance of capacity and opportunity as catalytic traits in a retirement preparatory process. The study adopted three phases of designing a scale meticulously- item development, scale development, and scale evaluation. This process involved qualitative and quantitative research approaches. In the pilot study, out of the 61 items loaded into the exploratory factor analysis (EFA), 27 items were retained based on items with reasonable inter-item correlation, and they yielded four components. This study applied a multistage sampling technique to collect data from an adult family member of students from a local university in Klang-Valley, Malaysia. Based on the four factors yielded by the EFA in the pilot study, the researchers conducted another EFA using Varimax rotation with the remaining items and discovered a similar result to the pilot outcome. Subsequently, a pooled confirmatory factor analysis on 27 items confirmed the psychometric properties of 17 newly developed indicators. Notably, the study contributes to the literature on the robustness of CWOM as a catalyst for retirement readiness and establishes the statistical compatibility of the constructs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analysis of survey data collected from 6,520 students at a large Midwestern University affirmed that financial knowledge is a significant factor in the credit card decisions of college students but not entirely in expected ways. Results of a double hurdle analysis indicated that students with relatively higher levels of financial knowledge were not significantly different from students with relatively lower levels in terms of the probability of having a credit card balance. Contrary to expectations, those with higher levels of financial knowledge had significantly higher credit card balances. Overall, the present findings highlight the complex nature of the relationship between personal financial knowledge and credit card behavior. (Contains 3 tables.)

Current Population Survey data on flextime use of married full-time workers (7,837 women, 10,846 men)and a survey of 146 married employees using various alternative arrangements indicate that personal, family, and work characteristics significantly influence flextime use. Women were more likely to use it to reduce work-family conflicts, men to enhance personal productivity. (Contains 47 references.) (SK)

Presents a decomposition technique for a Tobit regression model that shows the effect of the independent variables on (1) the amount of financial-aid awards to those receiving aid; and (2) the probability of receiving aid for those who did not receive aid. Contributes to a clearer understanding of the effects of selected factors on awards. (20 references) (MLF)

Data from the 1994-96 Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals and the Diet and Health Knowledge Survey were used to assess the relative importance of factors associated with the quality of the diet of single women age 65 and older. Findings indicated that higher levels of nutritional adequacy were associated with Midwest residence, daily intake of a multivitamin/multimineral, higher levels of income, and the presence of circulatory disease. Lower levels of nutritional adequacy were associated with employment, receipt of food stamps, and rural residence. Results confirm the importance of providing healthful meal options to single elderly females who may be faced with fewer financial resources, reduced mobility, or higher costs associated with obtaining food., Nutritional adequacy among the elderly interests an aging U.S. population. In 1996, 12 percent of Americans were over age 65. By 2050, this elderly population is projected to more than [...]

The factors that lead to South Koreans leaving self-employment are examined. They include reluctance to work long hours, financial instability and having children under age 6. Those who were more likely to stay self-employed were male, satisfied with their line of business and enjoyed hard work.

Household production is typically measured by estimating the time that the homemaker spends in the various household activities. The focus in this paper was on valuating the household production time of Canadian full-time homemakers. Four variants of the opportunity cost approach, namely, imputed wage, potential wage, Heckman's two-stage reservation wage, and Kidd's reservation wage were used to estimate and compare homemaker's time. The results indicate that the four different variants yielded different estimates of the value of household production time. One of the main conclusions is that Heckman's two-stage reservation wage approach, albeit having the advantage of correcting selection bias, it produced a wide range for the estimated reservation wage, which led us to doubt its reliability as a practical measure of the value of household production time. Keywords: Household production time, opportunity cost approach, reservation wage

A wage decomposition method is used to examine components of average wage differentials in the youth labor market, letting both race and gender vary. Issues of selection bias and computation of the nondiscriminatory wage are addressed. Findings indicate that bias in the youth labor market focuses more on gender than race. However, until researchers devise consistent methods of estimating the source, amount, and direction of discrimination, policy makers face difficulty devising procedures to correct discriminatory wage differences.

We used three increasingly restrictive measures to differentiate the poor from the nonpoor. Findings show that little difference exists among those classified as poor by any of the three poverty measures used. However, compared with the nonpoor, the poor---by all three measures--were younger, had more children under age 18, and had fewer vehicles and wage earners. The poor were more likely than the nonpoor to be Black, be single, have a high school education; and to rent or reside in government housing. By using the most restrictive measure of poverty, we found significant spending differences between the poor and nonpoor for food at home, housing, health, transportation, and other expenses., The current poverty measure in the United States consists of a set of thresholds that are compared with household before-tax annual income and adjusted for household composition. Originally developed in [...]

How do renters approaching retirement respond to their absence of housing equity? Traditional life cycle accumulation theory suggests compensation by increased investment in other asset classes. Behavioral "mental accounting" suggests that there may be no affect on investment in other asset classes. Finally, a model of self-selection based on underlying savings preference predicts lower investment in other asset classes. Double(hurdle and Tobit analyses of data from the 1995(2005 Consumer Expenditure Surveys indicated that, compared with otherwise similar homeowners, renters nearing retirement were (a) less likely to contribute to retirement savings, (b) invested less when they did contribute, and (c) favored investment in short(term convenience accounts over retirement savings. Results imply that housing tenure may result from underlying time preference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study used survey data from 554 planners and 128 clients of those planners to examine the relationship between specific communication tasks, communication skills, communication topics, and client trust in and commitment to their financial planner and to the financial planning process. Communication skills significantly correlated with client trust and commitment were identified, providing an empirical basis for best practices in the financial planning process. Results provide empirical support for CFP® Practice Standards relative to planner-client communication tasks and for planners taking a life planning approach to the content of planner-client discussions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]