Chronic Effects of Air Pollution are Probably Overestimated

Inappropriate measures of exposure, including inadequate consideration of latency in the analysis of chronic effects of air pollution, may lead to overestimation of the impact of air pollution on health effects. A relatively simple way to check the plausibility of results on chronic effects of air pollution would be to report in parallel the smoking‐associated risks.     

Discursive Research and Clinical Realities,or the Eye of the Beholder

The comparison of four discursive and conversational analysis studies performed on the same couple consultation session, held by Tom Andersen, show a diversity of results. It can be argued the results are so varied that they constitute different realities, often incompatible with each other. This, far from being a shortcoming of these studies, can be seen as the true richness they can offer to the practicing therapist, who can use research to investigate the different perspectives we can adopt in viewing our clinical activity. The comparison of the four studies raises questions about the role of the therapist in such process. Clinical implications of this are also discussed.     

Europeanisation and the Youth Guarantee: The case of France

In 2013, the European Council approved the Youth Guarantee (YG) to counteract youth unemployment. Because of its specific features, the YG is useful for understanding whether the EU has triggered policy change in national youth unemployment policies. Contrary to most of the literature on similar topics, we focused in this study on the effect of this specific European measure rather than on broader EU strategies or policies. The study contributes to the literature by qualifying the degree of fit/misfit and suggesting a counterfactual analysis, using the case of France. We first situate the article within the broader Europeanisation debate and present our research design. The second section introduces the policy structure of the YG and investigates youth unemployment policy in France, prior to and after the European initiative. The third section discusses whether the French youth unemployment policy would have been developed in the same way without the YG. A final section concludes.     

Profiling Online Poker Players: Are Executive Functions Correlated with Poker Ability and Problem Gambling?

Poker playing and responsible gambling both entail the use of the executive functions (EF), which are higher-level cognitive abilities. This study investigated if online poker players of different ability showed different performances in their EF and if so, which functions were the most discriminating for their playing ability. Furthermore, it assessed if the EF performance was correlated to the quality of gambling, according to self-reported questionnaires (PGSI, SOGS, GRCS). Three poker experts evaluated anonymized poker hand history files and, then, a trained professional administered an extensive neuropsychological test battery. Data analysis determined which variables of the tests correlated with poker ability and gambling quality scores. The highest correlations between EF test results and poker ability and between EF test results and gambling quality assessment showed that mostly different clusters of executive functions characterize the profile of the strong(er) poker player and those ones of the problem gamblers (PGSI and SOGS) and the one of the cognitions related to gambling (GRCS). Taking into consideration only the variables overlapping between PGSI and SOGS, we found some key predictive factors for a more risky and harmful online poker playing: a lower performance in the emotional intelligence competences (Emotional Quotient inventory Short) and, in particular, those grouped in the Intrapersonal scale (emotional self-awareness, assertiveness, self-regard, independence and self-actualization).     

Social Identification and Corporate Irresponsibility: A Model of Stakeholder Punitive Intentions

Scholars hypothesize that retaliations against corporate social irresponsibility (CSI) are more likely when observers share the social identity of the victims. We present a model that explains in‐group bias against irresponsibility and identify collective narcissism as a moderator of this effect. Experiment 1 demonstrates that the effect of identity on retaliations is mediated by the perceived similarity of the victims which reinforces feelings of sympathy towards the victims and anger towards the corporation. These emotions drive stakeholders’ attitudes and retaliations. Our study shows that appraisals of the victims of CSI are an important antecedent of stakeholders’ emotions and behavioural intentions. Our evidence also demonstrates that sympathy, an emotion neglected by past research in this area, has a unique effect on individuals’ reactions. Experiment 2 demonstrates that social identity biases in individual punitive intentions are moderated by individuals’ level of collective narcissism. Collective narcissists see out‐group victims as very dissimilar from the self, whereas individuals with low levels of collective narcissism do not differentiate between victims of CSI on the basis of their identity. We extend knowledge on stakeholders’ reactions to CSI and offer insights to organizations promoting campaigns against irresponsible behaviour or managing the fallout from cases of corporate irresponsibility.     

Present and prospective health status of older adults in the Philippines: The role of education

Utilizing current information to project prospective ill health prevalence can help prepare the country to ensure the well-being of older people. The prevalence of ill health in terms of physical, psychological, and cognitive health dimensions was estimated by age, sex, and education attainment level using the 2018 Longitudinal Study on Aging and Health in the Philippines. Subsequently, the said rates were integrated into population projection estimates from 2020 to 2080. It was observed that the depression prevalence rate among older people was highest at above 40%, while physical and cognitive limitations were at around 18% and 22% respectively. It was also found that prevalence rates of ill health increased with age and that ill health was more prevalent among women than men, particularly at more advanced ages. The use of population projections has shown that education differentials in the analyses estimate lower prevalence rates of ill health for both sexes. The findings provide estimates for the prospective care needs of the older population in the Philippines. It was also suggested that education may possibly have preventive effects on ill health. Utilizing present information in order to prepare for issues can be beneficial for securing the well-being of older adults.     

Integration and the struggle to turn space into “our” place: Homemaking as a way beyond the stalemate of assimilationism vs transnationalism

This article investigates homemaking as a set of practices and a perspective on migrants’ ways of local incorporation, with its own material, emotional and relational underpinnings. Homemaking has the potential to emerge as an original category of analysis in immigrant integration, moving beyond the contraposition between assimilationism and transnationalism. Based also on our ongoing research, both in the United States and in Europe, we argue for the significance of migrants’ interactions with specific local structures of opportunities, including people and institutions as much as the built and natural environment. The latter is a critical site where the meanings, opportunities and contents of integration are negotiated between immigrant newcomers and their local and transnational counterparts. Migrants’ stratified rights, opportunities and aspirations to make themselves at home open a promising research perspective on group relations, as embedded in everyday materialities. While integration is a multi-dimensional and multi-scalar effort, it still rests on place-bound fields of inequalities and interaction within and between groups, and on underlying differences in views, emotions and practices of home. These are both a mirror of larger asymmetries of power and of the opportunities available to challenge them.     

An Economic Model of Friendship: Homophily,Minorities, and Segregation

We develop a model of friendship formation that sheds light on segregation patterns observed in social and economic networks. Individuals have types and see type‐dependent benefits from friendships. We examine the properties of a steady‐state equilibrium of a matching process of friendship formation. We use the model to understand three empirical patterns of friendship formation: (i) larger groups tend to form more same‐type ties and fewer other‐type ties than small groups, (ii) larger groups form more ties per capita, and (iii) all groups are biased towards same‐type relative to demographics, with the most extreme bias coming from middle‐sized groups. We show how these empirical observations can be generated by biases in preferences and biases in meetings. We also illustrate some welfare implications of the model.