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Survival analysis is a class of statistical methods for studying the occurrence and timing of events. With clearly written summaries and plentiful examples, this pocket guide will put this important statistical tool in the hands of many more social work researchers than have been able to use it before.

"In the last twenty years, dynamic prediction models have been extensively used to monitor patient prognosis in survival analysis. Written by one of the pioneers in the area, this book synthesizes these developments in a unified framework. It covers a range of models, including prognostic and dynamic prediction of survival using genomic data and time-dependent information. The text includes numerous examples using real data that is taken from the authors collaborative research. R programs are provided for implementing the methods"--Provided by publisher

Purpose: Attrition is a common problem in psychotherapy and can be defined as clients ending treatment before achieving an optimal response. Method: This longitudinal, archival study utilized data for 3,728 clients, using the Outcome Questionnaire 45.2. A Cox regression proportional hazards (hazard ratios) model was used in order to better understand who is likely to attrit when considering (1) demographics, (2) diagnostic categories, and (3) process variables (e.g., recent symptom change). Results: A pattern emerged, with younger clients and those reporting less education and lower incomes being more likely to end. Clients who demonstrated a recent status change were more likely to remain in treatment. Discussion: Consistent with the large-scale STAR*D study, clients with more social and economic challenges demonstrated more risk. Adults diagnosed with a substance or obsessive compulsive disorder–related disorder showed the most elevated risk. Engagement strategies are discussed, with the goal of better supporting recovery.

International audience ; Practitioners as well as scholars of European integration have for decades debated why it takes so long for the European Union (EU) to adopt legislation and how to improve decision-making efficiency. Four studies have investigated decision-making speed using survival analysis, a particularly appropriate quantitative technique. In this paper I show that all four studies suffer from serious methodological problems that render their conclusions unreliable. I then outline where work in this area should focus, and take an initial step in this direction by fitting a methodologically more appropriate survival model to my 2002 EU decision-making data set (Golub, 2002). Substantively, the results indicate that throughout the EU's history, for the most important types of legislation, qualified majority voting (QMV) and EU enlargement have increased decision-making speed, whereas empowerment of the European Parliament and extreme preference heterogeneity amongst decision-makers have decreased it. Theoretically, formal approaches — spatial models and especially coalition theory — do a better job of explaining these results than do perspectives that privilege informal norms.

Instances of acute and sustained inflation pose a challenge in transition and developing economies, in particular as they tend to render economic development strategies vulnerable. Thus, a thorough understanding of inflationary episodes is critical. Using parametric hazard models, this examines the question of duration dependence of international inflationary episodes (IE) and also the influence of key covariates on the likelihood of their survival. From a sample of eleven historical high inflation episodes, fifteen recent hyperinflation cases, and forty-five international IE, the statistical evidence overall illustrates a case of positive duration dependence, indicating that IE are more likely to terminate as they grow older, and vice versa. The study's findings also suggest that variations in covariates including cumulative inflation geometric (annual) rate of inflation, and maximum (annual) inflation tend to have varying and statistically significant influence on the behavior of international IE durations. While not supporting the theoretical notion of an ever-increasing inflation rate or inflation bubble, the finding of positive duration dependence in IE is not a justification for a "laissez-faire" policy by central banks. In fact, significant redistribution of wealth and increased inefficiency will result from IE, and thus credible monetary and fiscal reforms are fundamental for achieving economic stabilization and sustainable growth.

Practitioners as well as scholars of European integration have for decades debated why it takes so long for the European Union (EU) to adopt legislation and how to improve decision-making efficiency. Four studies have investigated decision-making speed using survival analysis, a particularly appropriate quantitative technique. In this paper I show that all four studies suffer from serious methodological problems that render their conclusions unreliable. I then outline where work in this area should focus, and take an initial step in this direction by fitting a methodologically more appropriate survival model to my 2002 EU decision-making data set (Golub, 2002). Substantively, the results indicate that throughout the EU's history, for the most important types of legislation, qualified majority voting (QMV) and EU enlargement have increased decision-making speed, whereas empowerment of the European Parliament and extreme preference heterogeneity amongst decision-makers have decreased it. Theoretically, formal approaches — spatial models and especially coalition theory — do a better job of explaining these results than do perspectives that privilege informal norms.

Longitudinal data from two cohorts of women born in 1946 and 1958 are used to describe the break in employment experienced by women after childbearing. This is reducing in length. The decline in the employment gap, observed for women born in 1958 has largely been confined to those women who delayed their childbearing until their late twenties and early thirties and women who were more highly educated. What seems to be occurring is a polarisation between mothers in the more and the less privileged social groups, in terms of their ability to enter and stay in paid employment once they have responsibility for children. Although mothers at both ends of the social scale have to balance the dual demands of paid and domestic work, older and better educated mothers are more likely to be in higher status occupations, to earn adequate income to pay for childcare and to be better placed to take advantage of any changes in employer provisions for working mothers.