The Measurement of Targeting Design in Complex Welfare States: A Proposal and Empirical Applications

Social Indicators Research - The extent to which welfare states target resources to the poor and the effect this may have on redistribution and public support remains an important question in...     

The non-monetary quality of city life in South Africa

In contrast to most research on the non-monetary quality of life, which relies on subjective indicators, we construct objective measures of the non-monetary quality of life using regression methods, for South Africa's cities. We also analyse the extent to which the various cities have been able to turn improvements in per capita incomes (monetary quality of life) into non-monetary quality of life – as reflected for instance in a better environment, higher literacy and longer lives. When monetary quality of life measures are used for South Africa's cities, the ranking in 2004 was led by Johannesburg, Tshwane, Ekurhuleni, Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth. However when residuals from a regression of per capita income on (HDI) are used as a measure of non-monetary quality of life (i.e. the proportion of HDI not explained by variation in incomes), coastal cities tend to obtain generally higher rankings, with Cape Town ranked first, followed by Ekurhuleni, Durban, Port Elizabeth and then Johannesburg and Tshwane.     

Configurations of Adolescents' Peer Experiences: Associations With Parent–Child Relationship Quality and Parental Problem Behavior

Adolescents' peer experiences embrace behavior, relationship quality, status, and victimization, but studies that account for multiple dimensions are rare. Using latent profile modeling and measures of peer behavior, relationship quality, peer status, and victimization assessed from 1,677 adolescents, four profiles were identified: High Quality, Low Quality, Low Quality Victimized, and Deviant Peers. Multinomial logistic regressions showed that negative parent–child relationships in preadolescence reduced the likelihood of High Quality peer relations in mid‐adolescence but only partly differentiated between the other three profiles. Moderation by gender was partly found with girls showing greater sensitivity to parent–child relationship quality with respect to peer experiences. Results underline the multifaceted nature of peer experiences, and practical and theoretical implications are discussed.     

Adolescents' Peer Crowd Identification in the Netherlands: Structure and Associations with Problem Behaviors

The present paper examined the underlying structure of Dutch adolescents' peer crowd identification and its relations with delinquency, aggression, depression, and anxiety. Questionnaire data were gathered from 2,334 adolescents between ages 12 and 19. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses revealed four clearly interpretable crowd‐identification dimensions: Alternative, Urban, Conventional, and Achievement Oriented. Identification with the Alternative and Urban dimensions was found to be positively related to depression, delinquency, and aggression. With regard to the Urban dimension, also a positive association was found with anxiety. Identification with the Conventional‐ and Achievement Oriented dimensions was found to be negatively related to delinquency. A negative associations was also found between the Achievement Oriented dimension and aggression. Roughly the same pattern of associations was found for boys and girls, and younger and older adolescents. Our results generally confirm findings from studies relating adolescent crowd identification to adjustment performed in the United States and Australia.     

Xena Rules

This paper analyzes and discusses “Antony and Cleopatra,” an episode from the popular and highly intertextual action-fantasy television series, Xena: Warrior Princess, in the context of the Roman story arc in the series and more particularly as a “feminized” appropriation of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra. Although Xena's version of this tragedy copies the voluptuous atmosphere of Shakespeare's play, it radically changes its characterization. The Roman triumvirate exemplifies rigid and corrupted power play: Octavius is (as yet) a peaceful idealist, but Brutus (who replaces Lepidus) has murdered Cleopatra, and Antony, although brave and intelligent, is depicted as a ruthless and over-ambitious power politician, who is only taken in by a woman much cleverer than himself. Cleopatra is the victim of the struggle between these oppressive masculine forces, and, unlike Shakespeare's Queen of Egypt, Xena, who replaces her, does not allow her feelings for Antony to divide her from her sensibilities. She never loses sight of the desirable outcome: a mutual weakening of the combative (masculine) forces of empire and colonial expansion through war, and the survival of the traditionally feminine values of peace and justice. She eliminates both Antony and Brutus, and to a much larger extent than Shakespeare's fickle and understandably insecure lover-queen, Xena, a focused and confident female superhero, acts as an empowered and pragmatic ruler, who sacrifices her own love for the greater cause of Egypt's freedom.     

Persistence and desistance in heavy cannabis use: the role of identity,agency, and life events

Many cannabis users ‘mature out’ of their drug use, and factors of cannabis use cessation have been identified. However, very little in-depth knowledge is available about the mechanisms underlying this phenomenon. Criminological studies have gained interesting insights in desistance from crime, yet these perspectives are rarely used in drug research. This qualitative, three-year longitudinal study explored the processes involved in desistance from frequent cannabis use for young adults. Using a narrative approach, desisters (frequent users who successfully quit their cannabis use) and persisters (frequent users with a persistent desire and unsuccessful attempts to quit) were compared. In the course of the study, desisters mainly exhibited increasing agency and goal setting, established strategies to achieve these goals, and could envision another self. Desistance was generally induced by life events that became turning points. Persisters experienced largely similar events, but lacked goals and strategies and held external factors responsible for their life course and failed quit attempts. Identity change is at the core of desistance from frequent cannabis use, and the meaning-giving to life events and experiences is essential. Agency is a necessary ingredient for desistance, develops over time and through action, and leads to a new drug-free identity with desistance in turn increasing agency.     

The implementation and the cultural adjustment of functional family therapy in a Dutch psychiatric day-treatment center

Because of the increasing severity of adolescent problem behavior, evidence-based practices are becoming of interest as an alternative to traditional treatment with the behavior problems of adolescents in juvenile justice settings. Despite interest in evidence-based practices, questions exist regarding whether or not evidence-based intervention models can be successfully transported to cultures other than those in which they were developed. This article describes the transportation process of an American evidence-based family therapy (Functional Family Therapy [FFT]) into the service delivery system of a psychiatric day treatment center for juvenile delinquents in Amsterdam. The characteristics of FFT that make it cross-culturally sensitive are discussed. Results from the changes in service delivery suggest FFT can be successfully implemented in international settings with adjustments to make the model fit the culture(s) of The Netherlands without changing the model of FFT itself.     

Happiness is not normally distributed: A comment to Delhey and Kohler

Delhey and Kohler assume that the happiness distribution at the population level is essentially normal, but that this is distorted by the fact that happiness is measured in samples using scales that are discrete and two-sided bounded. This assumption is tested using the probit method and rejected.     

Early retirement differences between Denmark and The Netherlands: A cross-national comparison of push and pull factors in two small European welfare states

The goal of this study is to give a comprehensive empirical account of push and pull factors, situated at various societal levels, which may influence people's early retirement. Factors in two contrasting European countries have been analysed and compared: Denmark, where the rate of early exit/retirement is relatively low, and The Netherlands, where this rate is relatively high. Our analysis, looking into possible explanations for the difference in rates, includes factors that operate at the macro or institutional level of the labour market and the social security system, at the meso level of firms and companies, and at the micro level of individual workers. In addition, we not only look into the effects of structural, objective factors, which impacts are usually analysed from an incentive perspective, but also into the effects of cultural factors, i.e. of preferences, attitudes and values. Cultural factors related to early exit have not been the object of much international comparison thus far, although their possible significance is readily acknowledged. The differences in retirement behaviour in Denmark and The Netherlands are explained by the fact that Danish workers, at all three levels, are less experiencing structural and cultural factors pushing them out of the labour market, as well as experiencing factors pulling them into retirement, compared to workers in The Netherlands.