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This study evaluated competing factor models underlying the Private Self-Consciousness scale (Fenigstein, Scheier, & Buss, 1975) with a large sample of Hong Kong Chinese adolescents. Reliability analysis and exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis did not lend empirical support
to the three split-factor models proposed in previous research (Anderson, Bohon, & Berrigan, 1996; Burnkrant & Page, 1984; Martin & Debus, 1999). It was recommended that the original unitary model proposed by Fenigstein et al. should be retained in interpreting scores made on this
scale, at least for Hong Kong Chinese adolescents. Possible influences of age and culture on the factor structure of the scale were also discussed.

Funding for local services such as education has for long been allocated on formulae claiming to reflect local variations in needs, although in practice these have often tended to reflect the patterns of past expenditure. The idea that such formulae might reflect explicit outcome criteria is not new, but only with the recent development of integrated multilevel databases has it become possible to develop this approach in a serious way. We identify the essential requirements of an outcome approach and discuss variant criteria in such a system. Data for the whole compulsory-age-range state school system in Wales are analysed to generate models predicting key attainment levels for individual pupils at 11 and 16. These are complemented by models for school costs and the incidence of special educational needs. Using these models it is possible to estimate the cost of achieving various target degrees of improvement or equalisation of outcomes, or compensation for relevant social disadvantages, balanced against constraints on the maximum degree of redistribution (via minimum school budgets). The results indicate that it is certainly possible to envisage such a system in operation, albeit subject to gradualist implementation, although the redistribution could have implications for particular localities which were controversial.

A comparison was made of the self-esteem of 45 moderately-severe hearing impaired and 300 normal-hearing secondary school students in Hong Kong. Analysis indicated that the hearing impaired group, particularly the males, tended to report higher self-esteem in a number of dimensions of the self. The results provide no evidence that integration into the normal classroom has damaged the self-esteem of the hearing-impaired.

The responses of 268 Hong Kong and 399 Nigerian first- or second-year social science undergraduate university students to the Personal and Academic Self-Concept Inventory (PASCI; Fleming & Whalen, 1990) were compared to previously reported findings with similar groups of American
and Nepalese students. Country × Gender analyses indicated clear, statistically significant mnain and interaction effects which varied according to the area of self-esteem under investigation. Support was found for the tendency found in research with secondary school students for subjects
from non-Western cultures to report higher academic but lower nonacademic self-esteem than their Western peers. However, the gender differences did not generalize across cultures.

[8] p. ; "The reasons and propositions by Mr. Shute to the House"--p. 5. ; Reproduction of original in Thomason Collection, British Library.

There is a longstanding concern about middle-class capture of the benefits of public service provision, although relatively little evidence exists on the exact nature of any advantage or on the processes by which this comes about. Using a framework developed from Gal (J. Gal, 1998. Formulating the Matthew Principle: on the role of the middle-classes in the welfare state. Scandinavian Journal of Social Welfare, 7, 42-55), and via two case studies of street cleansing services in the UK, the article explores the ways in which middle-class service users assert influence in relation to service design, resource allocation and practice on the ground. It explores how urban managers respond to middle-class influence, revealing the ways in which influence is accommodated and the benefits of this to middle-class service users. It also evidences how urban managers attempt to resist aspects of middle-class advantage, and the challenges such resistance presents. The article concludes that the need to 'manage' middle-class influence permeates the routine institutional policies and practices of this key public service. Adapted from the source document.

This study addresses issues of social or environmental justice in local urban environmental services, through the particular lens of street cleaning services. While UK policy gives some legitimacy to the idea that services should be enhanced in disadavantaged areas, it is unclear how much service and resource discrimination are necessary or appropriate. In practice, this equity perspective may not have much impact at local level. An empirical analysis is presented by drawing on a number of large-scale secondary data sources for England, combining individual and area-based data and subjective and objective inspection-based data. These enable us to draw fairly clear conclusions about the pattern of risk and need based on outcomes and their associations with key socioeconomic, demographic, locational, and urban form characteristics of places. It appears that injustice persists in the quality of local environments across urban England. Some evidence on the impact of local spending levels on environmental outcomes is adduced, but the available data limit this within national studies. While popular debate on street cleanliness highlights the roles of behaviour and values, only limited and indirect inferences may be drawn from large-scale surveys.

This paper develops a tiered geography of local housing market areas (HMAs) that provides a national framework for spatial planning. It is derived from a theoretical understanding of the economic basis of HMAs. The analysis explores the relationships between the tiers of the HMA geography and local labour market areas. Drawing on this understanding, the empirical research generates sets of different potential geographies of HMAs for England based on an algorithm that applies criteria linked to the degree of closure of migration and/or commuting patterns. A range of theoretically appropriate criteria then enable the different geographies to be assessed. The choice of geography is guided by Chow tests of statistical differences in standardised house prices in neighbouring HMAs derived from hedonic regressions. Finally, conclusions are drawn on the validity of the approach developed. The empirical work is on England and datasets drawn from the Census and Land Registry.

Planning and urban policies emphasise 'sustainability', but claims that 'compact cities' are more socially sustainable and acceptable have been controversial and subject to limited empirical testing. After a brief review of the concepts and debate, we set out new empirical evidence based on household surveys linked to neighbourhood physical, map-based, and sociodemographic data for five British cities. Statistical models are developed to account for systematic variations in the main social sustainability outcomes. The results are considered both in terms of the role of particular urban form and locational measures, but also in terms of the broader patterns of effects of packages of measures. Outcomes relating to residential satisfaction, stability, neighbourhood environment, and safety are all shown to be lower in higher density/central places, but it is also shown that a good deal of this apparent effect is due to social and demographic factors. Interaction with neighbours and participation in groups is better at medium densities, controlling for other factors, while use of local services is, as expected, greater in denser, more central locations. These findings indicate that compact cities are not 'win-win' on all dimensions of sustainability but, rather, that reductions in transport emissions will have to be weighed against social criteria. In addition, urban form has different aspects, which have differing social effects, and this knowledge could inform the future design of 'smarter' urban environments.