Closed doors everywhere? A meta-analysis of field experiments on ethnic discrimination in rental housing markets

Discrimination is long seen as a meaningful factor for ethnic inequalities on rental housing markets. Yet empirically, the extent of discrimination is still debatable. For the first time, this article provides a quantitative meta-analysis of field experiments (in person audits and correspondence tests) that were run over the last four decades in the United States, Canada and Europe (N?=?71). Special focus is given to a possible inflation of effect sizes by publication bias; to time trends; and to evidence for statistical discrimination. Taken together, nearly all experiments document the occurrence of ethnic discrimination. Effect sizes are inflated by publication bias, but there is still substantial evidence left once the bias is removed. The analysis reveals a consistent decline in the extent of discrimination over time, from moderate levels of discrimination in the 1970s and 1980s, up to only small but still statistically significant levels in the 1990s and 2000s. A significant part of the discriminatory behaviour can be attributed to missing information about the social status of applicants, which supports theories on statistical discrimination. It is discussed how future research could move our knowledge on the underlying mechanisms forward.     

Social media,political expression,and participation in Confucian Asia

This study reviews and analyzes the published empirical research on the role of social media in promoting political expression and participation in Confucian Asia, including China, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan. In addition to providing a narrative review of the literature, our analyses show clear numerical estimates of the relationships among different types of social media use (i.e., informational, expressive, relational, and recreational), political expression, and participation in Confucian states. The findings reiterate the importance of the expressive use of social media, showing its moderately strong relationship with participation. The findings also show weak positive relationships with informational and relational uses. We also examine the role of political systems in these relationships and conclude that the strongest relationships are in democratic states, followed by hybrid and authoritarian systems.     

Associations of Parenting Dimensions and Styles with Internalizing Symptoms in Children and Adolescents: A Meta-Analysis

The present meta-analysis integrates research from 1,015 studies on associations of parenting dimensions and styles with internalizing symptoms in children and adolescents. Parental warmth, behavioral control, autonomy granting, and authoritative parenting showed very small to small negative concurrent and longitudinal associations with internalizing symptoms. In contrast, harsh control, psychological control, authoritarian, and, in part, neglectful parenting were associated with higher levels of internalizing symptoms. Parental warmth, behavioral control, harsh control, psychological control, autonomy granting, and authoritative parenting predicted change in internalizing symptoms over time, with associations of internalizing symptoms with parental warmth, psychological control, and authoritative parenting being bidirectional. Moderating effects of study characteristics are identified. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.     

Marketization process predicts trust decline in China

Although previous literature has revealed the predictive effect of trust on economic development, whether the level of China’s market economy development predicts changes in trust across birth cohorts remains unknown. Study 1, a cross-temporal meta-analysis of 82 studies (N = 34,151), indicated that Chinese college students’ scores on the Interpersonal Trust Scale (ITS) decreased significantly from 1998 to 2011, and that the decline in interpersonal trust across birth cohorts was negatively associated with and predicated by the marketization index. Study 2 found that the levels of marketization of different provinces in China were negatively associated with the levels of trust in these provinces. The present research first proposed that the marketization process in China may predict or correlate with a trend of declining trust, and then demonstrated the validity of the proposal based on both longitudinal and cross-sectional evidence.     

The identifiable victim effect: a meta-analytic review

The identifiable victim effect (IVE) refers to individuals’ tendency to offer greater help to specific, identifiable victims than to anonymous, statistical victims. A random-effects meta-analysis was conducted to determine the overall weighted effect of IVE. Overall, 41 studies were included. Results indicated an overall significant yet modest IVE (r = .05). In addition, findings showed that IVE appears reliable mainly when there is a single identified or a single unidentified victim, and/or when study characteristics include elements of the following: a photographed child suffering from poverty, bearing little responsibility for the need, and/or associated with monetary requests. The implications of the findings and directions for future research are discussed.     

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Anxious Symptoms in Persons of African Descent: A Meta-Analysis

Despite the social origin or race, there are a number of historical and experiential differences between persons of African descent and members of other cultures which could potentially moderate outcomes in psychotherapeutic research. The goal of the meta-analysis was to determine the effect of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) used to treat anxiety in persons of African descent. A systematic review was conducted. A standardized mean difference meta-analysis used a random effects model for meta-analytic results. Moderator analyses were used to examine heterogeneity. Bonferroni corrections were used to adjust for type I errors. Of the 12 included studies, two meta-analytic models and a sensitivity analysis had large statistically, significant summary effects favoring CBT in the treatment of anxious symptoms in persons of African descent. Clinical implications regarding active ingredients of CBT vs. common factors are discussed. Areas for future research including fidelity, culturally adaption, and research design are described as well.     

21世纪初我国研究生心理健康的状况及变化

通过文献搜索，收集自2000年以来关于研究生心理健康状况调查的研究报告159篇，采用元分析方法对其进行了综合评价。结果表明：研究生心理健康水平略低于中国成人常模，优于大学生常模，介于二者之间；其心理健康水平男女性别总体差异甚微；近13年来研究生心理健康水平变化趋势是稳中略有提高；学校类型、研究报告发表年代等因素对研究生SCL-90得分有重要影响。     

Fitting Roc Curves Using Non-linear Binomial Regression

The performance of a diagnostic test is summarized by its receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Empirical data on a test's performance often come in the form of observed true positive and false positive relative frequencies, under varying conditions. This paper describes a family of models for analysing such data. The underlying ROC curves are specified by a shift parameter, a shape parameter and a link function. Both the position along the ROC curve and the shift parameter are modelled linearly. The shape parameter enters the model non-linearly but in a very simple manner. One simple application is to the meta-analysis of independent studies of the same diagnostic test, illustrated on some data of Moses, Shapiro & Littenberg (1993). A second application to so-called vigilance data is given, where ROC curves differ across subjects, and modelling of the position along the ROC curve is of primary interest.     

Meta-Analysis of Food Safety Information Based on a Combination of a Relational Database and a Predictive Modeling Tool

The management of microbial risk in food products requires the ability to predict growth kinetics of pathogenic microorganisms in the event of contamination and growth initiation. Useful data for assessing these issues may be found in the literature or from experimental results. However, the large number and variety of data make further development difficult. Statistical techniques, such as meta-analysis, are then useful to realize synthesis of a set of distinct but similar experiences. Moreover, predictive modeling tools can be employed to complete the analysis and help the food safety manager to interpret the data. In this article, a protocol to perform a meta-analysis of the outcome of a relational database, associated with quantitative microbiology models, is presented. The methodology is illustrated with the effect of temperature on pathogenic Escherichia coli and Listeria monocytogenes, growing in culture medium, beef meat, and milk products. Using a database and predictive models, simulations of growth in a given product subjected to various temperature scenarios can be produced. It is then possible to compare food products for a given microorganism, according to its growth ability in these products, and to compare the behavior of bacteria in a given foodstuff. These results can assist decisions for a variety of questions on food safety.     

“计量模型多样性悖论”研究

在排除模型误用以后,将经济学研究中针对同一问题的研究,不同计量模型的结果各不相同,甚至结论截然相反问题称为"计量模型多样性悖论"。分析此问题产生的原因,主要是关键变量的多样性、方程形式设定的多样性和计量模型的多样性,提出采用元分析来解决这个问题,指出在元分析应用过程中应力求单个模型的精确,尽可能多地采用合适的模型,注意同类性质的结果才能进行元分析。同时,讨论元分析带来的新问题,比如对研究团队的计量经济学水平要求较高,增加了成本,延长了研究的时间,也加大了论文的篇幅等,但这是计量经济学发展过程中的正常现象,并不涉及采用元分析解决"计量模型多样性悖论"问题的科学性。