RAND Corporation

About: RAND Corporation is a nonprofit organization based out in Santa Monica, California, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Health care & Population. The organization has 9602 authors who have published 18570 publications receiving 744658 citations.

Repeat migration, information costs, and location-specific capital

Abstract: It is well-known from previous research that recent migrants often migrate again This paper seeks to illuminate several possible mechanisms that might give rise to this association The effect of previous migration on subsequent migration appears to be largely due to the fact that the consequences of one move often become the cause of the next and that people tend to return to places they recently left The concepts of location-specific capital (assets that are more valuable in their current location than they would be elsewhere) and information costs provide powerful explanations for the patterns of multiple movement disclosed in the longitudinal data used in this study

Anxiety Sensitivity and PTSD Symptom Severity Are Reciprocally Related: Evidence From a Longitudinal Study of Physical Trauma Survivors

Abstract: Cross-lagged panel analysis of interview data collected from survivors of traumatic physical injury (N = 677) was used to examine the temporal relationship between anxiety sensitivity and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom severity. The 2 constructs were assessed at 3 time points: within days of physical injury, at 6-month follow-up, and at 12-month follow-up. Results indicated that anxiety sensitivity and PTSD symptom severity were reciprocally related such that anxiety sensitivity predicted subsequent PTSD symptom severity, and symptom severity predicted later anxiety sensitivity. Findings have both theoretical and clinical implications.

Transforming Mental Health Care at the Interface With General Medicine: Report for the Presidents Commission

Abstract: This paper is based on a report commissioned by the Subcommittee on Mental Health Interface With General Medicine of the Presidents New Freedom Commission on Mental Health. Although mental and medical conditions are highly interconnected, medical and mental health care systems are separated in many ways that inhibit effective care. Treatable mental or medical illnesses are often not detected or diagnosed properly, and effective services are often not provided. Improved mental health care at the interface of general medicine and mental health requires educated consumers and providers; effective detection, diagnosis, and monitoring of common mental disorders; valid performance criteria for care at the interface of general medicine and mental health; care management protocols that match treatment intensity to clinical outcomes; effective specialty mental health support for general medical providers; and financing mechanisms for evidence-based models of care. Successful models exist for improving the collaboration between medical and mental health providers. Recommendations are presented for achieving high-quality care for common mental disorders at the interface of general medicine and mental health and for overcoming barriers and facilitating use of evidence-based quality improvement models.

Diffusion in Homicide: Exploring a General Method for Detecting Spatial Diffusion Processes

Abstract: This article proposes a new method for examining dynamic changes in thespatial distribution of a phenomenon. Recently introduced exploratoryspatial data analysis (ESDA) techniques provide social scientists with anew set of tools for distinguishing between random and nonrandom spatialpatterns of events (Anselin, 1998). Existing ESDA measures, however, arestatic and do not permit comparisons of distributions of events in the samespace but across different time periods. One ESDA method—the Moranscatterplot—has special heuristic value because it visually displayslocal spatial relationships between each spatial unit and its neighbors. Weextend this static cross-sectional view of the spatial distribution ofevents to consider dynamic features of changes over time in spatialdependencies. The method distinguishes between contagious diffusion betweenadjoining units and hierarchical diffusion that spreads broadly throughcommonly shared influences. We apply the method to homicide data, lookingfor evidence of spatial diffusion of youth-gang homicides acrossneighborhoods in a city. Contagious diffusion between neighboring censustracts is evident only during the year of peak growth in total homicides,when high local rates of youth-gang homicides are followed by significantincreases in neighboring youth- nongang rates. This pattern is consistentwith a spread of homicides from gang youth to nongang youth. Otherwise, theincreases in both youth-gang and youth- nongang homicides generally occursimultaneously in nonneighboring tracts.

Subjective Probabilities in Household Surveys

Abstract: Subjective probabilities are now collected on a number of large household surveys with the objective of providing data to better understand intertemporal decision making. Comparison of subjective probabilities with actual outcomes shows that the probabilities have considerable predictive power in situations where individuals have considerable private information, such as survival and retirement. In contrast, the subjective probability of a stock market gain varies greatly across individuals even though no one has private information and the outcome is the same for everyone. An explanation is that there is considerable variation in accessing and processing information. Further, the subjective probability of a stock market gain is considerably lower than historical averages, providing an explanation for the relatively low frequency of stock holding. An important research objective will be to understand how individuals form their subjective probabilities.