Latent groups and latent traits of participation in bullying via factor mixture analysis: An exploratory study

In this study, we drew on a person-centred approach to explore forms of involvement and roles in bullying. More specifically, we applied Factor Mixture Analysis (FMA) to an in-depth measure of bullying roles, with a view to identifying latent dimensions of participation in bullying and latent groups characterised by differential behavioural patterns. Participants were 899 high school students (51% females) attending the 9th (49%) and 11th grades (51%). The data analysis revealed six latent behavioural dispositions. Four of these overlapped with behavioural patterns typical of previously identified forms of participation in bullying, while two factors shed new light on bullying behaviours. We also identified four latent groups, whose profiles were only partially aligned with the roles previously theorised in the literature.     

Mixed qualitative calculus as a tool in policy modeling: A dynamic simulation model of urban decline

Qualitative calculus of policy models is an appropriate method for policy impact analysis in the case of imprecise information concerning the structural model parameters. The conditions of the so-called sign-solvability analysis of a linear equation system—with information represented by a positive, negative, or zero impact—are strict, however. In this paper, the relevance of qualitative calculus for urban policy modelling is discussed. An extension of the sign-solvability approach (with purely qualitative information) will be dealt with in the case of a mixture of qualitative and quantitative information. We introduce the use of matrix decomposition methods, of theoretically plausible parameter restrictions, and of a top-down/bottom-up approach for sign-solvability. The sign-solvability approach is applied to a dynamic policy simulation model of urban decline in The Netherlands, developed for the city of The Hague. Given the insufficiently reliable database for estimating the model in a conventional econometric way, qualitative calculus was used in order to infer conclusions regarding the direction of impacts of policy variables.     

Dimensions of Structural Disadvantage: A Latent Class Analysis of a Neighborhood Measure in Child Welfare Data

ABSTRACT

Contextual constructs, such as neighborhood structure, may contribute to child welfare involvement. Secondary data analysis is used with the nationally representative, longitudinal National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being-II (N = 5,872). This study employs latent class analysis (LCA) to identify the number of classes needed to explain the distribution of caregiver responses on the Community Environment Scale. LCA is ideal for this study to identify meaningful groups of caregivers involved with child welfare using neighborhood risk factors. Three latent classes are identified: high social order/medium social capital; high social order/low social capital; low social order/low social capital. Multinomial logistic regression tests whether there are significant differences across the classes, partially validating the LCA that poor, minority caregivers live in neighborhoods with lower social order and capital. Understanding neighborhoods as “high” versus “low” risk may not fully illuminate contextual risk factors in order to develop neighborhood-based interventions. This study reveals that there is a third group of caregivers who reside in places with higher social order but lower social capital. Social capital might be an important factor in preventing child maltreatment. Future work is needed to understand additional individual and neighborhood characteristics that predict membership in each class.     

Social Representations Theory and young Africans' creative narratives about human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome, 1997–2014

Research on social representations (SRs) has often focused more on categorical than narrative‐based representations. However, narratives are considered to play a key role in the organization of SRs. This article describes an empirical study of some 2000 creative narratives about human immunodeficiency virus written by young Africans from five countries between 1997 and 2014 and examines the theoretical, methodological and applied relevance of Social Representations Theory (SRT) for this study and the implications of the study for the intersection between narrative and SRT. The study is unusual within the SR paradigm: it is temporal and cross‐national; addresses a subject whose science has evolved over time; and uses creative narratives as its data source. A narrative perspective foregrounds holistic understandings of SRs as systems of thought. Creative narratives fit well within an SR framework. Our triangulating methodologies foreground categorical or narrative dimensions depending on the objectives of specific sub‐studies. Central Core Theory provides a framework to articulate stability and change within narrative representations. In creative narrative, objectification also happens at the level of plot and characters, such that dominant cultural narratives can be viewed as a form of hegemonic SR. We link with health communication and embrace more critical streams within SR research.     

Emotion Socialization as a Framework for Understanding the Development of Disorganized Attachment

Recent years have seen the emergence of accounts of the origins of the Disorganized attachment relationship in early mother–infant interaction, each building on the pioneering work of Main and Hesse—dysfunctional emotional processes figure prominently in all these accounts. This paper applies a framework based on two complementary theories of emotion socialization, Gianino and Tronick's (1992 ) Mutual Regulation Model and Gergely and Watson's (1996 ) Social Biofeedback Theory, to suggest an emotion‐based mechanism consistent with recently proposed models of the development of Disorganized attachment. The framework is used to generate hypothetical accounts of the role of dysfunctional emotional processes and maladaptive emotion socialization in early mother–infant interaction in the development of Disorganized attachment along two distinct pathways, one associated with actual abuse of the infant and the other associated with maternal unresolved trauma.     

Cash-Flow and Savings Practices of Low-Income Households: Evidence From a Follow-Up Study of IDA Participants

ABSTRACT

Understanding how low-income households manage their finances is critical to designing effective antipoverty interventions. This study used data from a 2008 follow-up survey of 326 low-income households in Hawaii who participated in an Individual Development Account (IDA) intervention from 1999 to 2005. Self-reported cash flow (five items) and savings (four items) practices were explored using latent class analysis. Three latent classes were produced: Class 3 managed cash flows and saved (n = 166; 51%); Class 2 managed cash flows but did not save (n = 73; 22%); and Class 1 struggled to manage cash flows and save (n = 89; 27%). Using ordinal regression, psychological sense of mastery was positively and significantly (p < .01) related to being in a higher class membership (b = .14; OR = 1.15). IDA participation had no association with latent classification. The key finding is the heterogeneity among low-income financial management practices and the importance of providing individualized services. Future longitudinal research is needed to understand how IDA participation affects financial practices in the short term and long term.     

城市住房的阶层分化：基于CGSS2006调查数据的分析

住房是透视社会贫富差距和阶层分化的重要视角。本文依据2006年CGSS全国调查数据,运用潜类分析方法,从住房条件、住房产权、住房区位三个维度描述并分析了当下中国城市住房资源在阶层间的分化状况。研究表明,在制度变迁背景下,住房资源分配虽然复杂多样,但住房资源的占有及住房区位的分布仍被打上阶层分化的烙印。住房条件、住房产权、住房区位的分化不仅表现在阶层之间,同时也表现在代际之间。     

Fearless Trembling: A Leap of Faith into the Devil's Frying Pan

ABSTRACT

Phenomenologically and reflexively influenced, this paper investigates an experiential conception of the imagination through an exploration of an extreme bodily act. Foremost, it sets the scene for a conceptual consideration of dangerous practices such as cliff jumping. This potentially pushes the level in which we can reflect upon such a thing as an existential or embodied imagination. Here modernity's leveling of the docile body is challenged. Hence, in focusing on those sub-cultural practices that involve the extreme use of landscape, I propose an alternative scenario in which to consider the creativity of the body. Such a framework situates hazardous activities beyond the level of much contemporary thinking within the anthropology of sport or the sociology of risk, to a more far-reaching—perhaps “extremist” position—where they come across as existentially poignant, performative acts of the social imagination.     

Structured Partisan Competition: A Vote Shares Model of Party Alignments and Realignments*

Objective. This study develops and tests an aggregate “vote shares” model of party alignments and realignments, building a theoretical framework around “structured political composition” (Rabinowitz, Gurian, and Macdonald, 1984, p. 6). The vote shares model conceptualizes party alignments as latent class constructs, or factors, and changes in these latent class constructs as party realignments. Methods. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) model with bias corrected bootstrap estimates and standard errors is used where the cases are counties and the variables are aggregate election outcomes. The data come from Kansas from 1900 to 2010. Results. Comparing the findings of the vote‐shares approach to those of Nardulli (2005) and Sundquist (1983) suggests that the vote shares model provides a greater depth of understanding and a more accurate portrait of the timing of realignments and the partisan bias of new alignments in Kansas. The vote shares model also overcomes the major problem of false positives associated with landslide elections, a problem that plagued most previous aggregate voting models. Conclusion. The vote‐shares model of party alignments and realignments provides a viable alternative for analyzing historic and current election returns where the votes are aggregated by a geographically defined government jurisdiction (parish, county, city, or district).     

Biased Mentalizing in Children Aged Seven to 11: Latent Class Confirmation of Response Styles to Social Scenarios and Associations with Psychopathology

A new approach to the measurement of mentalizing is introduced. Instead of measuring the presence or absence of mentalizing capacity, the current study aimed at developing a mentalizing task that focuses on investigating biases in mentalizing through the use of ambiguous peer‐related social scenarios. The response consistency of 659 children was investigated in a community sample of children aged seven to 11. Confirmatory latent class analysis allocated children to three groups on the basis of their responses: an overly positive style (OP), a rational/neutral style (R) or an overly negative style (ON). Children classed as OP showed a greater likelihood of being above cut‐off on a population screen for externalizing disorder. Over a two‐year follow‐up period, the children who were classified as R were most likely to remain so whereas the OP and ON children were found to change group. The results are discussed in the context of social‐cognitive research in this age group. Further studies should examine the external validity of the mentalizing task because the results reported here concern only internal construct validity.     

变迁与延续：中国家庭代际关系的类型学研究

本文结合中国家庭代际关系研究注重居住安排与功能性交换的传统，从机会结构和功能实现两个维度构建了分析框架，并提出了四种代际关系的潜在类型：紧密型、工具型、独立型和扶持型。对一项全国性抽样调查数据的潜在类别分析表明，该分析框架有助力于我们理解代际关系的不同形态，并对其发展趋势有更好的认识。鉴于工具型成为主要类型以及独立型和扶持型关系的出现，代际关系呈现变迁的趋势。尽管传统的紧密型关系不占主导，但通过工具性交换或父母的扶持维持着代际的有效联结，赡养和反馈关系得以保留，体现了代际关系的延续。代际关系类型受到子代和亲代社会经济地位的显著影响，体现了社会不平等的再生产。     

The social inclusion policy agenda in Australia: a case of old wine,new bottles?

The election of an Australian Labor Government in Australia in 2007 saw ‘social inclusion’ emerge as the official and overarching social policy agenda. Being ‘included’ was subsequently defined by the ALP Government as being able to ‘have the resources, opportunities and capabilities needed to learn, work, engage and have a voice‘. Various researchers in Australia demonstrated an interest in social inclusion, as it enabled them to construct a multi‐dimensional framework for measuring disadvantage. This research program resulted in various forms of statistical modelling based on some agreement about what it means to be included in society. The multi‐dimensional approach taken by academic researchers, however, did not necessarily translate to a new model of social policy development or implementation. We argue that, similar to the experience of the UK, Australia's social inclusion policy agenda was for the most part narrowly and individually defined by politicians and policy makers, particularly in terms of equating being employed with being included. We conclude with discussion about the need to strengthen the social inclusion framework by adopting an understanding of social inequality and social justice that is more relational and less categorical.     

Cooperation between politicians and econometricians and the search for optimal economic policy

The problem of formalizing the cooperation between politicians and econometricians as an iterative—or trial and error—process, such that the weights in a preference function can be obtained in a finite number of steps, is considered. The approach is based on the pioneering suggestions made by Tinbergen and Frisch within the framework of a formal theory of economic policy. Using the implicit information given by a possible and implementable dialogue between a policy maker and a model builder it is shown that it is possible to take into account explicitly the interdependence between targets, instruments, and weights.     

Predictors of Longitudinal Growth in Inhibitory Control in Early Childhood

In the current study, we examined latent growth in 731 young children's inhibitory control from the ages of two to four years, and whether demographic characteristics or parenting behaviors were related to initial levels and growth in inhibitory control. As part of an ongoing longitudinal evaluation of the family check‐up, children's inhibitory control was assessed yearly at the ages of two to four years. Inhibitory control was initially low and increased linearly to the age of four years. High levels of harsh parenting and male gender were associated with low initial status in inhibitory control. High levels of parental positive behavior support were associated with faster growth. Extreme family poverty and African‐American ethnicity were also associated with slower growth. The results highlight parenting as a target for early interventions in contexts of high socioeconomic risk.     

Free trade and cheap theatre: sources of politics for the nineteenth-century London poor

The very poor and unskilled workers of mid-nineteenth-century London – often termed the ‘casual poor’ due to their irregularity of employment – have been generally portrayed as entirely apolitical, and to have exhibited purely mob responses to the issues of the day. This article suggests that we have not properly understood or ‘read’ the evidence we have of the attitudes towards politics of these people, and that we have assessed their actions purely within the framework of our own understandings. In particular, their views about Chartism, the major working-class political movement of the period, have been a key to how they have been perceived. But our understanding of these views has been distorted by what appeared to be their lack of knowledge of the ‘real’ aims of the movement. Instead, if we look at other types of evidence, such as from the theatre, we can find clues as to how their understandings of such conflicts may simply have been different, and so be able to explain in much more rational terms the actions and beliefs of this historically inarticulate group.     

Effects of Placement Changes on Health Insurance Stability Among a National Sample of Children in the Child Welfare System

ABSTRACT

Children in the child welfare system have entitlements to health insurance coverage—critical because of their considerable physical and mental health needs—based largely on their placement status. This study conducted path and transitions analyses on data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (3,801 children followed-up for 3 years) to examine the interplay between placement changes and insurance stability. Children maintained in-home at Wave 1 had significantly lower odds of being insured (OR = 0.7); children transitioning from out-of-home placement to in-home care had significantly lower odds of maintaining insurance coverage (OR = 0.6). Child welfare workers working with children maintained in-home and those being reunified should safeguard the children's insurance status. Policy makers should consider extension of categorical eligibility to all children presenting to child welfare agencies in order to assure access to needed services for these vulnerable children.     

道德传统与现代性——中国现代语境中的道德文化问题(英文)

基于当代中国社会的道德文化语境,本文重新反省了近代百余年来中国现代化进程中道德文化传统的蝉脱与嬗变,以及隐含在这一脱变过程中的中国现代性与中国道德文化传统之间的复杂关系,推导并论证了这样一个基本学术判断:即近世中国企图脱出传统道德文化的自由与保守之两分,表明了"传统之后"的中国道德文化陷入了摆脱传统与持守传统的两难纠结,而最终的结果看似已然超乎"传统之外",实则仍然在"传统之中",只不过社会主义新道德以革命性变革的方式,在近代百年的"诸神论战"中脱颖而出,成为现代中国的主流道德文化。然而,她并非超脱于"传统之外"的纯粹异物,而是且只能是中国道德文化传统和中国现代性的新的延展,仍然是漫长、深厚、连贯的中国道德文化传统的"变体链"。     

Boholano Olfaction

ABSTRACT

This article explores the domain of odors and olfaction on the island of Bohol, The Philippines. It recounts how my research interests were drawn to this domain by local preoccupations with smell as an aspect of everyday sociality, expressed in speech, modes of interaction and evaluation, and the discursive construction of ethnicities and other social kinds. Bohol's long and complex history and its place in the contemporary world entail a complex, differentiated sociocultural present, which is also reflected in the domain of odors and Boholanos' experiences thereof. Accordingly, the article makes a case for an approach to this domain that flexibly deploys basic ethnographic procedures and more formal techniques, specifically, domain and cultural consensus analysis. This dual methodology, it is argued, is sensitive to the differences between differentially positioned agents, but also demonstrates the degree of sharedness—of experience, categorical schemes, and historicity—that jointly characterize this domain. I use a partial set of results, pertaining to human body odors, to exemplify the approach and to depict a key dimension of Boholano social experience; one that speaks to the place of individuals in the local setting and to the position of the population generally in the commodified world of cosmetics.     

The trajectory of life satisfaction and its associated factors among adolescents in South Korea

Korean adolescents are reportedly unhappy, dissatisfied with their lives, yet little is known about why. This study is set out to examine their life satisfaction and its change over time and the factors associated with its change. The analyses were conducted using the data from the Korean Youth Panel Survey (2004–2008) on a total of 3449 adolescents. The latent growth curve modelling result shows that Korean adolescents’ life satisfaction had a linear trajectory over a five-year period, and that while peer and teacher relationships were identified as important protective factors, academic stress and their internalised problems such as depression had long-lasting effect over time. Based on such findings, implications for social work practice with adolescents are discussed.     

How child inclusive were Australia's responses to COVID-19?

From March 2020, Australia introduced a range of policies to respond to COVID-19, most of which impacted significantly on the lives of children. This article applies a child-centred framework, developed from rights-based participatory research with children, to analyse how children have been represented in policy narratives around COVID-19 and the extent to which policy responses have been child-inclusive or child-centred. We argue that, overall, COVID-19 policy responses have failed to be child-inclusive or child-centred. This has important implications not only for understanding the impact of COVID-19 on children but also in understanding—and potentially rethinking—the place of children in policies as Australia emerges from COVID-19 restrictions.