Women Rule: Gendered Leadership and State Supreme Court Chief Justice Selection

ABSTRACT

While women are underrepresented in many political institutions and leadership positions, nearly half of state supreme court chief justices are women. Is there something about the role of state supreme court justice that facilitates the recruitment of women to this important political position? We examine whether the selection of a woman chief is driven by the court’s institutional need for women’s leadership style or simply the supply of qualified justices. We find that ideological diversity drives demand for a woman chief. A supply of experienced women justices also has a significant impact on likelihood of selection.     

Influence of socioeconomic status on changes in body size and physical activity in ageing black South African women

Background

The increasing prevalence of obesity in sub-Saharan African women is not well understood, and black South African women in the region are particularly vulnerable. This study aimed to examine whether the relationship of socioeconomic status (SES) with changes in body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) is mediated by physical activity in ageing African women.

Methods

In a longitudinal analysis of the 518 caregivers associated with the Birth to Twenty Plus study, the role of SES associated with 10-year changes in BMI and WC was tested using structural equation modelling (SEM). The degree of mediation of moderate-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and sitting time in this association was also assessed.

Results

The prevalence of obesity increased significantly from baseline to follow-up (p?<?0.0001). In the SEM models, baseline SES had a direct positive effect on changes in BMI (β, 95% CI, 0.02 (0.005 to 0.04), and a direct negative effect on changes in MVPA (β, 95% CI, ??3.81 (??6.92 to ??0.70). Baseline MVPA had a direct negative effect (β, 95% CI, ??0.002 (??0.003 to ??0.0003) and indirect positive effect via change in MVPA (β, 95% CI, 0.01 (0.0001 to 0.001) on change in WC.

Conclusions

Our study demonstrates the role and interaction of sociodemographic and behavioural predictors of obesity, and suggests a multifaceted approach to management of the crisis in communities of ageing urban African women.

     

Fathers’ Financial Support of Children in a Low Income Community in South Africa

We used data from the Birth to Twenty Cohort study to understand children’s receipt of financial support from their fathers in a low income, Black community in urban South Africa. Specifically, we (1) described fathers’ financial support over the life course of children; (2) estimated survival probabilities of receiving support for all children and not receiving support for children who experienced a parental union dissolution; and (3) identified factors that explained variation in the receipt of support after a union dissolution. Results suggest that most children received full or partial support throughout the life course. Furthermore, a high proportion of children received support after a union dissolution with much of the variation driven by pre-dissolution support, father’s education and the presence of extended kin.     

Racial/ethnic and socio‐economic biases in child maltreatment severity assessment in Spanish child protection services caseworkers

Evidence from several countries has shown the over‐representation of racial/ethnic minority groups in child protection services (CPS). The objective of the present study was to explore whether racial/ethnic and socio‐economic biases influence Spanish CPS caseworkers' judgements of the severity of child maltreatment. Moreover, the study attempted to explore the influence on these judgements of the use of structured instruments and professional experience. Two case vignettes of child maltreatment were presented to 405 CPS caseworkers and 169 students of social work and psychology. Family ethnic origin and income were manipulated in the vignettes. The findings showed no statistical evidence of biases related to family ethnic origin or socio‐economic status (SES) in Spanish CPS caseworkers' judgements of maltreatment severity. Biases related to family SES were found for students for the vignettes of physical abuse. CPS caseworkers and students who did not use a structured instrument to assess maltreatment severity tended to underestimate the severity for the vignettes of parental incapacity to control child/adolescent behaviour and to overestimate it for the vignettes of physical abuse. CPS caseworkers who used a structured instrument showed higher percentages of accuracy and inter‐rater agreement, supporting the relevance of structured tools in reducing potential caseworkers' biases.     

Depressive Symptoms,Acute Alcohol Intoxication,and Risk Rationale Effects on Men’s Condom Use Resistance

This study examined the role of depressive symptoms, acute intoxication, and risk rationale in men’s use of condom use resistance (CUR) tactics in an experimental study. Participants included 313 heterosexual male, nonproblem drinkers, ages 21 to 30. Participants were randomized to one of four beverage conditions: no alcohol, placebo, low (.04%) alcohol dose, or high (.08%) alcohol dose. They read an eroticized scenario depicting a consensual sexual encounter with a female partner who requested a condom to prevent either pregnancy or sexually transmitted infections (STIs) (risk rationale) and then indicated their intentions to use 10 different CUR tactics. Hypotheses related to the pharmacological, dosage, and expectancy effects of alcohol were tested in a generalized linear model. In intoxicated (.04% and .08%) men who were given a pregnancy risk rationale, depressive symptoms were associated with stronger intentions to use CUR tactics than in sober (control and placebo) men. Men who received a high alcohol dose (.08%) and who were given a pregnancy risk rationale reported higher intentions to use CUR tactics than those who received a lower alcohol dose (.04%). Findings suggest that the pharmacological effects of alcohol on men’s likelihood to resist condoms vary by the saliency of the risk rationale and mood-related variables.     

In-migration and Living Conditions of Young Adolescents in Greater Johannesburg, South Africa

While migration in South Africa has been studied on a broad canvas, there have been few accounts of children's migration and the effects on living conditions and wellbeing. This article compares the access to services, housing and household amenities, and family characteristics of children born in the Greater Johannesburg metropolis with those of in-migrant children. The article also examines other indicators of child wellbeing related to parental care and schooling. In-migrant children, particularly children who have lived previously in rural areas and/or have recently migrated into the city, are significantly disadvantaged in comparison to long-term resident children in terms of parental education and occupation, housing type and ownership, access to electricity, refuse removal, water and sanitation. In-migrant children also live in households that are less likely to have amenities such as a refrigerator, television, washing machine, telephone and motor vehicle. In terms of child indicators, in-migrant children enjoy less frequent parental contact and are twice as likely to start school later than resident children. Whilst urbanisation to South Africa's metropolitan centres is generally associated with several widely recognised benefits, for children, these benefits may be tempered by the disadvantages of in-migrant families known to be associated with child wellbeing.     

Some large trial properties of minimum likelihood allocation

The method of minimum likelihood allocation (MLA) for allocating subjects to treatments in a clinical trial amounts to checking at each stage which allocation would lead an outside observer to find the least evidence of a relationship between treatment and factors of prognostic significance, assuming that the observer would use a linear exponential model. One advantage of MLA is that results from game theory and likelihood theory can be used to prove it has desirable long run properties. Two of these demonstrated here are (1) ‘consistency’, in the sense that the average likelihood ratio which measures design imbalance tends to zero, and (2) ‘efficiency’ in the sense that the variance estimates of treatment effects will tend to be minimized in the long run.