Dimensions of Gender Occupational Differentiation in Segregation and Inequality: A Cross-National Analysis

The present research: (a) distinguishes between measures of gender occupational segregation and measures of gender occupational inequality, and (b) examines whether occupational segregation and occupational inequality are differentially related to structural characteristics of national labor markets. Analysis of data from 56 nations shows that measures of nominal segregation are not equivalent to measures of hierarchical inequality. Nominal segregation seems to increase with industrialization and in the presence of service industries but decreases as female labor force participation increases. By contrast, occupational inequality seems to decrease with industrialization and in the presence of service industries but to increase as both female labor force participation and level of educational inequality rise. The data further demonstrate that nominal segregation and ordinal status inequality are interrelated. Where nominal segregation is high, women's relative representation in high status occupations tends to rise. We argue that occupational segregation should not be equated with occupational inequality, and that theoretical propositions regarding gender-occupational segregation may not be applicable to issues concerning occupational inequality. We obtain a better understanding of, and insight into the nature of gender-occupational differentiation by simultaneously considering these two dimensions of gender-occupational differentiation.     

Dividedness,Institutions and Economic Performance: A Cross-National Analysis of Democratic Stability

Why divided societies face particular obstacles in maintaining democracy is one of the most challenging questions posed in the literature. Several studies posit that ethnically, religiously, and linguistically divided societies are incapable of establishing and holding a democratic system because of their social divisions and institutional weaknesses. We challenge this argument and examine whether political institutional arrangements (constraints over the executive, geographic distribution of political power, and form of government) in addition to economic performance are the crucial factors of success to establish and sustain a democratic regime and social unity in divided states. We use the Quality of Governance time-series standard dataset to test this hypothesis. By analyzing data on 163 states (1960–2012) we find that institutional constraints imposed over the executive and economic performance are the two primary influential factors in sustaining democratic regimes in multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic, and multi-religious societies.     

A Time-Lag Analysis of the Relationships Among PISA Scores,Scientific Research Publication,and Economic Performance

Due to the poor performance of US students in international math and science tests, many authors worry that the US lead in science is in jeopardy. A recent study by Chen and Luoh (Soc Indic Res 96: 133–143, 2010) challenged this pessimistic view by delinking test performance and labor force quality. It was found that measures such as researchers per capita or scientific journal articles per capita can better account for economic performance. Because it takes time for education and R&;D to yield returns, this project replicated the preceding study using a time-lag structure. Although the results partly concur with previous findings, it is important to point out that GDP might depend on multiple variables acting together. Instead of solely focusing on reforming STEM education as partly measured by international test scores, improving the R&;D infrastructure and openness in trade could also be crucial to the future of the economy.     

Analysis of Cultural Indicators: A Comparison of Their Conceptual Basis and Dimensions

Multiple organizations and institutions have been resorting to indicators on diverse aspects of culture (e.g., creativity, social cohesion, cultural vitality, economic participation), according to their particular purposes and views of what is to be measured. This paper presents results from a research report of a qualitative study that analyzed 35 papers on cultural indicators found via Internet, based on four categories: purpose, assumptions about culture, concept of culture they sustain, and dimensions of indicators considered. Results show that even when the importance of culture is widely recognized in the papers, most of them propose indicators without having solid theoretical foundations, and with an emphasis on the relation between culture and economy. Also, most of the documents do not have a definition of culture or present an instrumental conceptualization of it, where culture is valued not as an end in itself but as a resource than can serve to development.     

Do Cross-National Differences in the Costs of Children Generate Cross-National Differences in Fertility Rates?

Parity-specific probabilities of having a next birth are estimated from national fertility data and are compared with nation-specific costs of having children as measured by time-budget data, by attitude data from the International Social Survey Program, and by panel data on labor earnings and standard of living changes following a birth. We focus on five countries (the United States, the former West Germany, Denmark, Italy, and the United Kingdom), whose fertility rates span the observed fertility range in the contemporary industrialized world and whose social welfare and family policies span the conceptual space of standard welfare-state typologies. Definitive conclusions are difficult because of the multiple dimensions on which child costs can be measured, the possibility that child costs affect both the quantum and the tempo of fertility, the relatively small fertility differences across industrialized nations, and the inherent small-N problem resulting from nation-level comparisons. Empirical analysis, however, supports the assertion that institutionally driven child costs affect the fertility patterns of industrialized nations.     

Longevity Among Hunter‐ Gatherers: A Cross‐Cultural Examination

Post‐reproductive longevity is a robust feature of human life and not only a recent phenomenon caused by improvements in sanitation, public health, and medical advances. We argue for an adaptive life span of 68‐78 years for modern Homo sapiens based on our analysis of mortality profiles obtained from small‐scale hunter‐gatherer and horticultural populations from around the world. We compare patterns of survivorship across the life span, rates of senescence, modal ages at adult death, and causes of death. We attempt to reconcile our results with those derived from paleodemographic studies that characterize prehistoric human lives as “nasty, brutish, and short,” and with observations of recent acculturation among contemporary subsistence populations. We integrate information on age‐specific dependency and resource production to help explain the adaptive utility of longevity in humans from an evolutionary perspective.     

Ethnic Classification in Global Perspective: A Cross-National Survey of the 2000 Census Round

Academic interest in official systems of racial and ethnic classification has grown in recent years, but most research on such census categories has been limited to small case studies or regional surveys. In contrast, this article analyzes a uniquely global data set compiled by the United Nations Statistical Division to survey the approaches to ethnic enumeration taken in 141 countries. The motives for this analysis combine theoretical, applied, and policy objectives. I find that 63% of the national censuses studied incorporate some form of ethnic enumeration, but their question and answer formats vary along several dimensions that betray diverse conceptualizations of ethnicity (for example, as “race” or “nationality”). Moreover, these formats follow notably regional patterns. Nonetheless, the variety of approaches can be grouped into a basic taxonomy of ethnic classification approaches, suggesting greater commonality in worldwide manifestations of the ethnicity concept than some have recognized.

The Multidimensionality of Welfare State Attitudes: A European Cross-National Study

When evaluating the various aspects of the welfare state, people assess some aspects more positively than others. Following a multidimensional approach, this study systematically argues for a framework composed of seven dimensions of the welfare state, which are subject to the opinions of the public. Using confirmatory factor analyses, this conceptual framework of multidimensional welfare attitudes was tested on cross-national data from 22 countries participating in the 2008 European Social Survey. According to our empirical analysis, attitudes towards the welfare state are multidimensional; in general, people are very positive about the welfare state’s goals and range, while simultaneously being critical of its efficiency, effectiveness and policy outcomes. We found that these dimensions relate to each other differently in different countries. Eastern/Southern Europeans combine a positive attitude towards the goals and role of government with a more critical attitude towards the welfare state’s efficiency and policy outcomes. In contrast, Western/Northern Europeans’ attitudes towards the various welfare state dimensions are based partly on a fundamentally positive or negative stance towards the welfare state.     

Income Inequality and Subjective Well-being: A Cross-National Study on the Conditional Effects of Individual and National Characteristics

In this study we raise the question how a nation’s income inequality affects subjective well-being. Using information on 195,091 individuals from 85 different countries from the World Value Surveys and the European Value Surveys, we established that in general, people living in more unequal countries report higher well-being than people from more equal countries. This association however does not apply to all people similarly. First, the positive effect of a nation’s income inequality is weaker when individuals express more social and institutional trust, and underscore egalitarian norms to a larger extent. Second, the positive association between national income inequality and subjective well-being is less strong for people from countries with high levels of social and institutional trust. So, our research predominantly indicates that there are far-reaching effects of an individual’s and a nation’s trust on people’s well-being.     

Macro-Structural Determinants of Political Freedom in Developing Countries: A Cross-National Analysis

This study attempts to evaluate the impacts of macro-structural factors on political freedom in developing countries (DCs). Political freedom is conceptualized as civil liberty and political rights the general population of a society can enjoy in influencing public policy. The Freedom House indexes are used as measures of freedom. In explaining the individual countries’ differences in political freedom, this study considers the following factors: regime types, level of development, social structure, fractionalization, the state and military influence and external economic dependence. Empirical modeling of 118 DCs with regression techniques and ordered logit methods demonstrates that besides the regime effects, economic development generates favorable influence, while a large poor population and military spending produce negative impact on freedom. In the concluding section, we discuss the theoretical implications in comparative perspective.     

Cross-National Measurement Invariance of the Teacher and Classmate Support Scale

The cross-national measurement invariance of the teacher and classmate support scale was assessed in a study of 23202 Grade 8 and 10 students from Austria, Canada, England, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, and Slovenia, participating in the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) 2001/2002 study. A multi-group means and covariance analysis supported configural and metric invariance across countries, but not full scalar equivalence. The composite reliability was adequate and highly consistent across countries. In all seven countries, teacher support showed stronger associations with school satisfaction than did classmate support, with the results being highly consistent across countries. The results indicate that the teacher and classmate support scale may be used in cross-cultural studies that focus on relationships between teacher and classmate support and other constructs. However, the lack of scalar equivalence indicates that direct comparison of the levels support across countries might not be warranted.     

Cross-National Variation in the Size of Passenger Car Fleets: A Study in Environmentally Significant Consumption

To help build theory on the factors contributing to environmentally significant consumption, I analyze cross-national variation in the size of passenger car fleets. I take into consideration multiple factors—demographic, economic, and socio-political—that potentially influence motorization. The results indicate that all types of factors have a significant influence on national motorization, although economic factors are the most influential. I conclude that in order to properly understand consumption practices we need to consider multiple perspectives and recognize that there are global structural conditions that form the context in which causal processes unfold.     

Living Alone over the Life Course: Cross-National Variations on an Emerging Issue

The increasing proportion of persons living alone has come to be emblematic in many ways of modern Western societies because it represents the importance conceded to the individual and to individual goals at the expense, basically, of the family. Solo living has been interpreted within the context of changing values and preferences, changing personal and conjugal realities, and the changing work contexts so often associated with the Second Demographic Transition. We know little about patterns and trends in living alone over the life course in much of the world because most research to date has concentrated on regional and national portrayals or on living arrangements in later life. This study provides a systematic look at the differences in living alone by age and sex in 113 countries. Our aim is to understand the extent to which behavior differs around the world and the implications this has for society. We also examine the relationship between trends in living alone and levels of human development. Results are taken from three massive datasets: census and survey microdata from IPUMS-international, Demographic Health Surveys, and EU-Labor Force Surveys.     

The determinants of Infant Mortality in the Less Developed Countries: A Cross-National Test of Five Theories

The infant mortality rate varies widely across theless developed countries. Five macro-social changetheories exist that can explain the variation of theinfant mortality rate across the less developedcountries: modernization theory,dependency/world-systems theory, gender stratificationtheory, economic disarticulation theory, anddevelopmental state theory. Although research supportsthe claims of each theoretical narrative, no singlestudy examines all five narratives simultaneously oris based on recent data. The purpose of the researchreported here was to fill this gap in the literatureby examining the simultaneous effects ofindustrialization, four alternative measures ofeconomic dependence, female educational attainment,economic disarticulation, state strength, and acontrol variable, Sub-Saharan African status, on theinfant mortality rate for 59 less developed countriesin 1991. Results of eight tests of the fivetheoretical narratives indicate thatindustrialization, state strength, and three of thefour measures of economic dependence have little neteffect on infant mortality, whereas economicdisarticulation, female education, debt dependence,and Sub-Saharan African status have the expectedeffects on infant mortality. Theoretical and policyimplications of the results are briefly discussed.     

Active Participation and Well-Being Among the Elderly in Belgium and the USA: A Cross-National Time-Use Perspective

Active participation of the elderly is a recognized response to address the societal and individual challenges of rising life expectancy such as releasing the pressure of age-related public spending, reducing social isolation and improving well-being. How much time older people devote to active participation and whether their time allocation is associated with well-being remains under-investigated. Using time-use data from Belgium (n?=?1384) and the USA (n?=?2133), we investigate the time older people (65–80 years) spent on active participation and examine how this relates to their life satisfaction as an indicator of well-being. The countries vary in the amount of time spent on paid employment and volunteering, but not on informal help. Belgian older people spend much less time on paid employment than their American counterparts. This implies more are available to volunteer and provide informal help. Yet participation rates in these activities are higher in the USA. Multivariate analyses show that associations between active participation and life satisfaction vary between both countries and within both countries by gender and age. Overall, positive associations between paid work and volunteering and life satisfaction suggest that governments would do well to mobilize elderly into active participation, especially in Belgium. Negative associations between informal help and life satisfaction suggest governments should provide greater support for informal carers.

     

Political Democracy and the Physical Quality of Life: The Cross-National Evidence

Why do some countries have a high quality of life? One important explanation is that political democracy fosters life quality. Proponents of this perspective argue that political democracy acts to center the public agenda on state actions that enhance life quality. The cross-national effects of democracy (and several alternative variables) on the physical quality of life were examined for 87 countries at three points in time: 1970, 1980, and 1990. Results indicate the existence of a strong positive relationship between democracy and life quality for all three time periods.

     

A Critical Examination of the Environmental Mastery Scale

The Psychological well being Inventory (PWBI) is a multidimensional instrument that has enjoyed widespread use in a variety of research initiatives, from small-scale studies to national surveys. Recent empirical investigation of the measure has raised questions about its validity. This study examines the factorial validity of the Environmental Mastery Scale of the PWBI, a construct that receives much attention in mental health research. The results of a confirmatory factor analysis did not support the unidimensional factor structure of the measure. Correlated uniqueness models were also examined, which did not reveal evidence of a method effect. There are problems with the measure at the item level, which also raises significant questions about the underlying theory of its parent measure. This research uses data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS) of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Since 1991, the WLS has been supported principally by the National Institute on Aging (AG-9775 and AG-21079), with additional support from the Vilas Estate Trust, the National Science Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, and the Graduate School of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. A public use file of data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study is available from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1180 Observatory Drive, Madison, Wisconsin 53706 and at http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/wls/data/. The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors.     

Multinational Corporations,Democracy and Child Mortality: A Quantitative,Cross-National Analysis of Developing Countries

This study presents quantitative, sociological models designed to account for cross-national variation in child mortality. We consider variables linked to five different theoretical perspectives that include the economic modernization, social modernization, political modernization, ecological-evolutionary, and dependency perspectives. The study is based on a cross-lagged effects regression analysis of a sample of 59 developing countries. Our preliminary analysis based on additive models replicates prior studies to the extent that we find that indicators linked to economic and social modernization have beneficial effects on child mortality. We also find support for hypotheses derived from the dependency perspective suggesting that multinational corporate penetration fosters higher levels of child mortality. Subsequent analysis incorporating interaction effects suggest that the level of political democracy conditions the effects of dependency relationships based upon multinational corporations. Transnational economic linkages associated with multinational corporations adversely affect child mortality more strongly at lower levels of democracy than at higher levels of democracy–that is intranational, political factors interact with the international, economic forces to affect child mortality. We conclude with some brief policy recommendations and suggestions for the direction of future research.     

A Cross-cultural Comparison of the Dimensions of Child and Adolescent Life Satisfaction Reports

The factorial invariance of theMultidimensional Students' Life SatisfactionScale (MSLSS: Huebner, 1994) across twodivergent cultures (collectivistic vs.individualistic) was investigated with 835Korean and 822 US students in elementary,middle, and high schools. Psychometricproperties of the Korean version of the MSLSSwere acceptable. A series ofmultisample-confirmatory factor analyses (MCFA)demonstrated the cross-cultural similarity ofthe five-factor model for students' lifesatisfaction. The similar structure of MSLSSacross cultural groups provides the basis formeaningful international comparisons of lifesatisfaction among children and adolescents. Further cross-cultural research includingvarious culturally sensitive life satisfactiondomains may enhance understanding of culturaldifferences in the structure, correlates, andconsequences related to students' lifesatisfaction.