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This article uses data from the 1989 National Long-Term Care Survey and its companion Informal Caregivers Survey to investigate how the employment of female primary caregivers (FPCGs) affects hours of care received by disabled elderly care recipients (CRs). Multivariage analyses controlling for key FPCG and CR characteristics indicate that when FPCGs are employed they provide significantly fewer hours of care personally; however, their CRs also receive significantly more hours of help from other sources. When FPCGs work more than 17 hours per week, their CRs receive significantly fewer total weekly hours of care than would otherwise be the case.

We examined the expression of metamorphic and paedomorphic phenotypes of the salamander Ambystoma talpoideum in relation to a fish predator. We measured the effects of fish density and time of introduction on larval activity, growth, survival, and body size, and the percentage of larvae metamorphosing or becoming paedomorphic, i.e., maturing as larvae. In addition, a laboratory experiment measured refuge use by larvae according to varying amounts of chemical cues from fish. There was no effect of fish density or time of introduction on survival and growth rate of larvae, nor on final density of zooplankton. Percentage of individuals becoming paedomorphic or metamorphosing was positively related to mean body size in ponds. An analysis of covariance, after removing the effect of body size, revealed a significant effect of fish density on the expression of the paedomorphic phenotype, but not on that of metamorphosis. The proportional decline of paedomorphs was related to the increase of larvae. The laboratory experiment indicated that refuge use by larvae was proportional to the amount of fish stimuli. Activity of larvae in the ponds, however, was not affected by fish density, but rather showed that larvae became habituated to fish. Our experiment demonstrated that expression of the paedomorphic phenotype is reduced in the presence of fish, not by increasing the number of metamorphs as expected, but by increasing the number of individual that remained as larvae. These results indicate that models of amphibian metamorphosis based on growth and mortality are not adequate to explain paedomorphosis. We propose that trade—offs with reproductive traits such as size and age at first reproduction must be incorporated into models predicting metamorphosis as an alternative life history pathway to paedomorphosis.

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Estimates of the prevalence of disruptive behavior in the nursing home are presented based upon a representative sample of nursing home residents from intermediate care and skilled nursing facilities (ICF and SNF) in Rhode Island. Results indicate that 26.4% of residents had engaged in some form of disruptive behavior within two weeks prior to assessment. Abusiveness (physical and verbal) and noisiness were identified as the most prevalent behavior types (11.6% and 10.2%, respectively). Given the similarity of Rhode Island nursing home residents to nursing home residents nationally, these estimates may be considered as estimates for the national nursing home population. Older residents and those with greater physical and cognitive impairments were more likely to exhibit behavior problems. Although disruptive behavior seems to be associated with the dementing process, cognitively intact residents also demonstrated these behaviors. These findings suggest that an etiology of disruptive behavior should include both physiological as well as social and psychological factors.