Moral Development in Adolescence

Themes in the papers in this special issue of the JRA on moral development are identified. We discuss the intersection of moral development research with policy concerns, the distinctive qualities of moral life in adolescence that warrant investigation, the multiple connotations of “moral,” the methods typical of moral development research, and the influences that shape adolescent moral development. Suggestions are made for new methods and new directions in the study of moral development.     

How Do People Take into Account Weight,Strength and Quality of Segregated vs. Aggregated Data? Experimental Evidence

In this experimental study we investigated how people aggregate two sets of signals about the state of the world to reach a single probability judgment. The signal sets may differ in the way signals are presented, in their number as well as their quality. By varying the presentation mode of the signals we investigated how people deal with segregated and aggregated evidence. We investigated whether subjects sufficiently take into account weight (number of signals), strength (composition) and quality of the information provided. The results indicate that consideration of the weight and strength of signals strongly depends on the type of their presentation. Particular patterns can be identified which determine if weight and/or strength are either under- or overweighted.     

Typologies of student experiences and constructed meanings of learning in international placements

This article discusses findings from a three-year British Council-funded project into social work student placements in Malaysia. Processes of student learning in unfamiliar cultural contexts were examined in relation to three cohorts of students. Here typologies of experience influencing learning, elicited from student-recorded data, are discussed. Analysis suggests that students undergo a process of liminality, adjustment or resistance to the contexts of community, culture and placements encountered in international settings. Emergent themes are identified as naive acceptance, critical revelation, critical observation, epiphany, critical reactionary, professional rejection and antagonistic response. Implications for international placements are discussed based on the data.     

Evaluating the Dynamic Effects of Active Labour Policies in Italy

Abstract. This paper analyses whether active labour market policies (ALMPs) have differing effects on unemployment and employment dynamics according to the particular region in which they are implemented. To this end, it analyses alternative theoretical and econometric models thought to capture the possible effects of active labour market policies on labour force dynamics. The econometric methodologies implemented are the generalized method of moment (GMM) and the panel vector autoregression (P‐VAR). The evidence yielded by the GMM models suggests that the effects of different ALMPs on unemployment are dissimilar across the Italian regions. It follows that some active programmes are likely to have a greater effect in the South than in the North. The results of the P‐VAR models estimated are synthesized by impulse response analysis and forecast error variance decomposition. The impulse response analysis suggests that an increase in total ALMP gives rise to: (i) a decrease in the unemployment rate; and (ii) a significant increase in labour force participation. More interestingly, the results obtained from the error variance decomposition analysis show that unemployment movements are not driven by shocks in the ALMPs and that, especially in the northern regions, atypical contracts shocks account for a substantial portion of unemployment dynamics.     

Dynamic generalized linear models with application to environmental epidemiology

Summary. We propose modelling short-term pollutant exposure effects on health by using dynamic generalized linear models. The time series of count data are modelled by a Poisson distribution having mean driven by a latent Markov process; estimation is performed by the extended Kalman filter and smoother. This modelling strategy allows us to take into account possible overdispersion and time-varying effects of the covariates. These ideas are illustrated by reanalysing data on the relationship between daily non-accidental deaths and air pollution in the city of Birmingham, Alabama.     

The Interplay of Science, Values, and Experiences Among Scientists Asked to Evaluate the Hazards of Dioxin, Radon, and Environmental Tobacco Smoke

To investigate the extent to which personal values and experiences among scientists might affect their assessment of risks from dioxin, radon, and environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), we conducted an experiment through a telephone survey of 1461 epidemiologists, toxicologists, physicians, and general scientists. Each participant was read a vignette designed to reflect the mainstream scientific thinking on one of the three substances. For half of the participants (group A) the substance was named. For the other half (group B), the substance was not named but was identified only as Substance X, Y, or Z. Knowing the name of the substance had little effect on the scientists' evaluation of dioxin, although those who knew the substance to be dioxin were more likely to rate the substance as a serious environmental health hazard (51% vs. 42%, p = 0.062). For radon, those who knew the substance by name were significantly more likely to consider it an environmental health hazard than were those who knew it as substance Z (91% vs. 78%, p less than 0.001). Participants who knew they were being asked about ETS rather than substance X were significantly more likely to consider the substance an environmental health hazard (88% vs. 66%, p less than 0.001), to consider the substance a serious environmental health hazard (70% vs. 33%, p less than 0.001), to believe that background exposure required public health intervention (85% vs. 41%, p less than 0.001), and to believe that above-background exposure required public health intervention (90% vs. 74%, p less than 0.001). These findings suggest that values and experiences may be influencing health risk assessments for these substances, and indicate the need for more study of this phenomenon.     

Cognitive reappraisal and need to belong predict prosociality in Mexican-origin adolescents

This 2-year longitudinal study examined Mexican-origin adolescents’ need to belong and cognitive reappraisal as predictors of multiple forms of prosocial behavior (i.e., general, emotional, and public prosocial behaviors). Prosocial behaviors, which are actions intended to benefit others, are hallmarks of social proficiency in adolescence and are influenced by intrapersonal abilities and motivations that typically develop during adolescence. Yet, few studies of Mexican-origin or other U.S. Latinx youths have examined whether such individual difference characteristics, specifically social motivation and emotion regulation skills, support prosocial behavior. In a sample of 229 Mexican-origin youth (M_age = 17.18 years, SD = .42, 110 girls), need to belong, cognitive reappraisal, and general prosocial behaviors were assessed at ages 17 and 19. Emotional and public forms of prosociality also were assessed at age 19. Cognitive reappraisal was positively associated with concurrent general prosociality at age 17, whereas need to belong was positively associated with concurrent public prosociality at age 19. Moderation analyses revealed that general and emotional types of prosocial behaviors at age 19 were lowest for youth with both lower need to belong and less use of cognitive reappraisal at 19 years. Greater cognitive reappraisal skills and need to belong may reflect distinct motivations for engaging in varying forms of prosocial behavior in late adolescence.     

Boundaries of the business model within business groups

Scholars have sought various ways to find out how financial performance of the firm can be affected by its business model (BM). However, to date academic literature has focused attention on the “firm” as a unit of analysis without clearly defining the boundaries of the reporting entity to which the BMs refer. The aim of this paper is to investigate what are the boundaries of the BM of the affiliated-group companies and how the degree of independence of BMs is measured within the business group. The contribution of the paper is in using the BM concept to expound and criticise the assumptions in economic analysis and accounting standards that groups of companies are economic units that optimise economic income of the group as a whole and that the financial statements of individual subsidiaries, sub-groups and the group as a whole report the value generated by the group.     

A Latent Process Model for Temporal Extremes

This paper presents a hierarchical approach to modelling extremes of a stationary time series. The procedure comprises two stages. In the first stage, exceedances over a high threshold are modelled through a generalized Pareto distribution, which is represented as a mixture of an exponential variable with a Gamma distributed rate parameter. In the second stage, a latent Gamma process is embedded inside the exponential distribution in order to induce temporal dependence among exceedances. Unlike other hierarchical extreme‐value models, this version has marginal distributions that belong to the generalized Pareto family, so that the classical extreme‐value paradigm is respected. In addition, analytical developments show that different choices of the underlying Gamma process can lead to different degrees of temporal dependence of extremes, including asymptotic independence. The model is tested through a simulation study in a Markov chain setting and used for the analysis of two datasets, one environmental and one financial. In both cases, a good flexibility in capturing different types of tail behaviour is obtained.