Getting support in polarized societies: Income,social networks,and socioeconomic context

This paper explores how unequal resources and social and economic polarization affects the size of social networks and their use to access resources. We argue that individual resource position generates divergent expectations with regard to the impact of polarization on the size of networks on one hand, and their usefulness for accessing resources on the other. Social and economic polarization encourages reliance on informal networks, but those at the bottom of the social structure are forced to rely on more extensive networks than the wealthy to compensate for their isolated and underprivileged position. At the same time, social and economic polarization limits the resources the poor can access through their networks. We provide evidence consistent with these propositions, based on data derived from the International Social Survey Programme 2001 “Social Networks” dataset combined with contextual information on the levels of economic inequality in particular countries along with whether they experienced postcommunism.     

The psychological impact of intragenerational social class mobility

This study revisits and extends a classic question in sociology and tests three competing hypotheses about the effects of intragenerational social class mobility on distress and psychological well-being at midlife. Prior research on this topic investigated the effects of intergenerational mobility, but did not look at how mobility during adulthood (intragenerational mobility) affects psychological distress and well-being. Previous literature is also limited by methodological problems that make it difficult to estimate the separate effects of prior social class, current social class, and social mobility. This study overcomes this methodological problem using a novel approach that breaks the linear dependence between prior class, current class, and intragenerational mobility. After accounting for prior and current class, I find that social mobility is not associated with psychological distress and self-acceptance. Instead, mobile individuals come to resemble their nonmobile counterparts in their current class on the outcomes of study.     

Explaining the subjective well-being of urban and rural Chinese: Income,personal concerns,and societal evaluations

This study makes an integrated investigation of how subjective well-being is associated with income, personal concerns, and societal evaluations and how these social and psychological correlates of subjective well-being are contextualized within a country. Data used for the empirical analysis come from a nationally representative sample survey conducted in China in 2009. It is found that subjective well-being is independently linked to income, personal concerns, and societal evaluations. Comparisons of urban and rural Chinese further reveal that income, structural attributions of inequality, and evaluations of governance are related to subjective well-being among both groups. Nevertheless, different sets of other evaluative correlates of subjective well-being between urban and rural people stand out, which is conjectured to be related to the long-time institutional, economic, and social segmentation of the two groups. This study has contributed to both the subjective well-being theories and the understanding of the consequences of social inequality.     

Ethnic social capital: Individual and group level sources and their economic consequences

Ethnic social capital shapes economic action by immigrants by providing information, training, and credit that is otherwise unavailable. However, prior research on the effects of ethnic social capital on economic attainment by salaried workers primarily relied on case studies of specific destinations or ethnic groups. Furthermore, prior research focused on group level effects of ethnic social capital while largely ignoring the effects of individual-level utilization of ethnic ties. This study addresses these limitations by combining data from the New Immigrant Survey and the 5% file of the 2000 US Census. This allows controlling for group differences in actual utilization of familial ties and for differences between groups in their demographic makeup, legal status, and human capital when estimating the effect of ethnic social capital. It also allows addressing the potentially divergent implications of ethnic social capital for individual and group economic attainment. Results suggest that, on both the individual and group levels, reliance on ethnic social capital is associated with lower earnings for recent legal immigrants to the US.     

Material consumption and social well-being within the periphery of the world economy: An ecological analysis of maternal mortality

The degree to which social well-being is predicated upon levels of material consumption remains under-examined from a large-N, quantitative perspective. The present study analyzes the factors influencing levels of maternal mortality in 2005 among 92 peripheral countries. We incorporate into regression analysis the ecological footprint, a comprehensive measure of natural resource consumption, and alternative explanatory variables drawn from previous research. Results illustrate ecological footprint consumption has a moderately strong direct influence shaping lower levels of maternal mortality. Path analysis reveals export commodity concentration has a negative effect on level of ecological footprint demand net the strong positive influence of income per capita. This illustrates cross-national trade dependency relations directly influence natural resource consumption opportunities and thereby indirectly contribute to higher maternal mortality levels within the periphery of the world economy. The results confirm material consumption is an important dimension of improvement in maternal mortality.     

The scarring effect of unemployment on psychological well-being across Europe

Past unemployment may have a pervasive psychological impact that occurs across nations. We investigate the association between unemployment events across working life and subsequent psychological well-being across 14 European countries. Additionally, we consider the influence of between-country differences in labour market institutions and conditions on the cross-country well-being effects of unemployment. Data detailing life-long employment trajectories and contemporary life conditions are drawn from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe. The well-being impact of unemployment is modeled using linear, multi-level specifications. Each six-month spell of past unemployment is found to predict reduced quality of life and life satisfaction after the age of 50, having adjusted for a broad range of individual and country-specific covariates. In contrast, the impact of past unemployment on depression is explained by individual demographic factors. We identify the first comparative long-term evidence that unemployment welfare scarring may be a broad, international phenomenon.     

Leaving my religion: Understanding the relationship between religious disaffiliation,health, and well-being

Religious disaffiliation—leaving the religious tradition in which one was raised for no religious affiliation in adulthood—has become more common in recent years, though few studies have examined its consequences for the health and well-being of individuals. We use an innovative approach, comparing the health and subjective well-being of religious disaffiliates to those who remain affiliated using pooled General Social Survey samples from 1973 through 2012. We find that religious disaffiliates experience poorer health and lower well-being than those consistently affiliated and those who are consistently unaffiliated. We also demonstrate that the disadvantage for those who leave religious traditions is completely mediated by the frequency of church attendance, as disaffiliates attend church less often. Our results point to the importance of the social processes surrounding religious disaffiliation and emphasize the role of dynamics in the relationship between religious affiliation and health.     

Education, gender, and migration in the context of social change

Although sociologists have identified education as likely determinant of migration, the ways in which education affects migration are unclear and empirical results are disparate. This paper addresses the relationship between educational attainment, enrolment, and migration, focusing on the role of gender and how it changes with evolving social contexts. Using empirical analyses based in Nepal, results indicate that educational attainment has positive effects and enrolment has negative effects on out-migration and including enrolment in the model increases the effect of attainment. In the case of women, with the changing role of gender, increased education and labor force participation, the affect of educational attainment changes drastically over time, from almost no effect, to a strong positive effect. Consideration of enrolment, and the role of gender in education, employment, and marriage may help to explain the disparate results in past research on education and migration.     

Age at migration,family instability,and timing of sexual onset

This study builds on and extends previous research on nativity variations in adolescent health and risk behavior by addressing three questions: (1) whether and how generational status and age at migration are associated with timing of sexual onset among U.S. adolescents; (2) whether and how family instability mediates associations between nativity and sexual debut; and (3) whether and how these associations vary by gender. We find that first- and second-generation immigrant youth initiate sexual activity later than native youth. Foreign-born youth who migrate after the start of adolescence exhibit the latest sexual onset; boys’ sexual behavior is particularly sensitive to age at migration. Parental union stability is protective for first- and second-generation youth, especially boys; however, instability in co-residence with parents accelerates sexual debut for foreign-born girls, and dilutes protections from parental marital stability. Use of a non-English language at home delays sexual onset for immigrant girls, but not boys.     

收入差距和社会公正:拉美国家社会保障体系的发展及其经验

在对拉美社会保障体系的研究中,人们的关注大多集中在其九十年代的以私有化为导向的改革中,而对于其改革成效和晚近发展讨论较少,对这些体系特点以及社会基础的解释也很不充分。拉美国家社会政策发展的教训警示我们:城市化和市场化的发展未必增进社会全体人民的生活状况,而会导致社会两极化或强化社会区隔。拉美国家私有化、民营化的经验在增强福利供给的多样性、给人们更多的选择方面起到很大作用,但其在增进社会保障程度、减少贫困率方面的效应却很弱。这些国际经验对于我们回答中国的社会实践问题可以提供相应的参照系。     

Changes in immigrants’ social integration during the stay in the host country: The case of non-western immigrants in the Netherlands

Previous studies on social integration of immigrants were predominantly of static nature. This article provides a dynamic account by distinguishing differences in social integration that develop shortly after immigrants’ arrival in the host country from changes with length of stay. We examine contacts in leisure time between natives and non-western immigrants in the Netherlands. Theories from research on ethnic intermarriage are applied to these more common forms of contact. We use pooled cross-sectional survey data from 1988–2002. The results show that on average social integration increases with length of stay. Ethnicity, migration motive and home country education account for differences in integration that develop shortly after arrival and are maintained or even increased with length of stay, while the size of the immigrant group matters mainly at entry and then loses its influence over time. Age at migration exclusively explains differences in social integration that develop with length of stay.     

The environmental efficiency of well-being: A cross-national analysis

Recent research has conceptualized sustainability as the environmental efficiency of well-being (EWEB). This concept takes into account the benefits societies are able to produce from their demands on the environment. Research along these lines indicates that countries vary widely in the efficiency with which they transform the Earth’s resources into well-being. Here, we take up this finding as a puzzle to be explained. We construct a new measure of EWEB using the ecological footprint per capita (a measure of environmental consumption) and average life satisfaction (a measure of subjective well-being). We draw hypotheses from political economy, modernization, and sustainable consumption theories in the environmental social sciences. Using full information maximum likelihood estimation, we test the effects of climate, political, economic, and social factors on EWEB with a sample of 105 countries. Key findings include a negative quadratic effect of economic development on EWEB, a negative effect of income inequality, and a positive effect of social capital.     

青少年成就目标与主观幸福感：自我效能感的中介效应

文章研究分析并探讨青少年成就目标、自我效能感、主观幸福感三者之间的关系,使用成就目标定向量表、一般自我效能感量表和总体幸福感量表,对邯郸市两所中学293名中学生进行了调查,结果显示：(1)初中男生的掌握回避目标显著低于女生。(2)初一年级和初三年级的自我效能感都显著高于初二年级的学生。(3)初一年级学生对情感和行为的控制以及心情愉快的程度显著高于初二、初三年级学生,初二年级学生对健康的担心程度显著低于初一、初三年级学生。(4)青少年自我效能感在掌握趋近目标、掌握回避目标与主观幸福感的关系中起中介作用。     

The social context of assimilation: testing implications of segmented assimilation theory

Segmented assimilation theory has been a popular explanation for the diverse experiences of assimilation among new waves of immigrants and their children. While the theory has been interpreted in many different ways, we emphasize its implications for the important role of social context: both processes and consequences of assimilation should depend on the local social context in which immigrants are embedded. We derive empirically falsifiable hypotheses about the interaction effects between social context and assimilation on immigrant children’s well-being. We then test the hypotheses using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Our empirical analyses yield two main findings. First, for immigrant adolescents living in non-poverty neighborhoods, we find assimilation to be positively associated with educational achievement and psychological well-being but also positively associated with at-risk behavior. Second, there is little empirical evidence supporting our hypotheses derived from segmented assimilation theory. We interpret these results to mean that future research would be more fruitful focusing on differential processes of assimilation rather than differential consequences of assimilation.     

Non-standard work schedules, work-family conflict and parental well-being: A comparison of married and cohabiting unions

Although a growing number of American parents work non-standard schedules, evidence on the consequences of such working patterns is inconsistent and limited to married samples. This study highlights the importance of considering potential differences between cohabiting and married parents in terms of the relationship between non-standard work schedules and parental well-being. Based on pooled data from the 1997 and 2002 National Study of the Changing Workforce (n = 2346), we find that in contrast to married parents who experience some positive associations of non-standard schedules and parental well-being, cohabiting parents are more likely to experience a negative relationship between non-standard work schedules and parental well-being. Additionally, for cohabiting parents (but not married), non-standard work schedules are related to increased work-family conflict, which is in turn associated with lower levels of parental well-being.     

Wealth accumulation among U.S. immigrants: A study of assimilation and differentials

Data from the New Immigrant Survey are used to study wealth differentials among U.S. legal permanent residents. This study is unique in its ability to account for wealth held in the U.S. and that held abroad and yields several key findings. First, relative to immigrants from Western Europe, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand (who have median wealth similar to native born non-Hispanic whites), other immigrant groups have lower levels of total wealth even after accounting for permanent income and life course characteristics. Second, time in the U.S. is positively associated with the wealth of married immigrants, yet this relationship is not statistically significant for single immigrants. Third, differences in the means of measured characteristics between Western European immigrants and those from most other origin regions account for more than 75 percent of observed wealth disparities. However, for immigrants from Asia and from the Indian subcontinent, much of the wealth differential remains unexplained by these factors.     

An assessment of the construct validity of Ryff’s Scales of Psychological Well-Being: Method, mode, and measurement effects

This study assesses the measurement properties of Ryff’s Scales of Psychological Well-Being (RPWB)—a widely used instrument designed to measure six dimensions of psychological well-being. Analyses of self-administered RPWB data from three major surveys—Midlife in the United States (MIDUS), National Survey of Families and Households II, and the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS)—yielded very high overlap among the dimensions. These large correlations persisted even after eliminating several methodological sources of confounding, including question wording, question order, and negative item-wording. However, in MIDUS pretest and WLS telephone administrations, correlations among the dimensions were much lower. Past research demonstrates that self-administered instruments provide more valid psychological measurements than telephone surveys, and we therefore place more weight on the consistent results from the self-administered items. In sum, there is strong evidence that RPWB does not have as many as six distinct dimensions, and researchers should be cautious in interpreting its subscales.     

The economic benefits of volunteering and social class

A theory that the economic benefits of volunteering are contingent on social class (as defined by similarities in labour market situation) is tested using seven waves of longitudinal data from the British Household Panel Study gathered between 1996 and 2008 and fixed-effects models. Volunteering has a positive effect on earnings, but it is confined to people in professional and managerial occupations. Employees in white and blue collar jobs do not benefit. The study suggests that inconsistent results from previous studies might be due to failure to consider occupational heterogeneity among volunteers.     

社会转型期心理困扰的社会成因与调适

社会转型期的中国 ,面临着国民心理困扰不断加剧的严峻局面。本文试图以社会转型为背景 ,从社会学和心理学的视角 ,分析这一现象产生的社会原因 ,并在此基础上探讨了如何进行有效的社会调适     

社会支持网在贫困大学生就业中的效用分析

社会支持是指一定社会网络运用一定的经济和精神手段对社会弱者和社会脆弱群体进行无偿帮助的一种选择性社会行为。社会支持网络在规范个人的态度和行为方面发挥着重要的作用,它是个人的一种重要社会资源。本文针对高校贫困大学生的社会支持网络进行研究,主要研究贫困大学生社会支持的渠道来源,社会支持的性质,揭示社会支持网络在贫困大学生就业中的效用机制。