Non‐parametric Estimation of Extreme Risk Measures from Conditional Heavy‐tailed Distributions

In this paper, we introduce a new risk measure, the so‐called conditional tail moment. It is defined as the moment of order a ≥ 0 of the loss distribution above the upper α‐quantile where α ∈ (0,1). Estimating the conditional tail moment permits us to estimate all risk measures based on conditional moments such as conditional tail expectation, conditional value at risk or conditional tail variance. Here, we focus on the estimation of these risk measures in case of extreme losses (where α ↓0 is no longer fixed). It is moreover assumed that the loss distribution is heavy tailed and depends on a covariate. The estimation method thus combines non‐parametric kernel methods with extreme‐value statistics. The asymptotic distribution of the estimators is established, and their finite‐sample behaviour is illustrated both on simulated data and on a real data set of daily rainfalls.     

Bayesian penalized smoothing approaches in models specified using differential equations with unknown error distributions

A full Bayesian approach based on ordinary differential equation (ODE)-penalized B-splines and penalized Gaussian mixture is proposed to jointly estimate ODE-parameters, state function and error distribution from the observation of some state functions involved in systems of affine differential equations. Simulations inspired by pharmacokinetic (PK) studies show that the proposed method provides comparable results to the method based on the standard ODE-penalized B-spline approach (i.e. with the Gaussian error distribution assumption) and outperforms the standard ODE-penalized B-splines when the distribution is not Gaussian. This methodology is illustrated on a PK data set.     

Identity Agents: Parents as Active and Reflective Participants in Their Children's Identity Formation

The paper introduces the concept of identity agents. This concept refers to those individuals who actively interact with children and youth with the intention of participating in their identity formation, and who reflectively mediate larger social influences on identity formation. This contrasts with the focus of mainstream research in the identity field that tends to portray adolescents as the sole reflective agents involved in mature identity development. The paper presents a theoretical analysis presenting the importance of the concept for the formulation of a comprehensive contextual theory of identity formation. The particulars of this concept are illustrated through the presentation of a qualitative report of religious parents actively encouraging their children's processes of identification, co‐participating in their children's identity's formation, and reflectively deliberating their parental roles and goals in regards to this process.     

Refugee Children in Wales: Coping and Adaptation in the Face of Adversity

This article aims to makes a contribution to redressing a methodological and theoretical imbalance in existing research on refugee and asylum‐seeking children. It draws on two qualitative studies from Wales with children and young people. The samples include unaccompanied minors and children living with families as well as both children who are supported in the asylum system and those who have been granted refugee status. The focus on ecological post‐migratory stressors and coping processes that young people identify as being integral to their well‐being and, once granted status, to how they adapt to settlement includes a selective study of some of the sources of resilience referred to in the children's talk. Recognising the interplay between individual and environment leads to a discussion of both personal attributes and collective cultural identities.     

Self,Emotions, and Extreme Violence: Extending Symbolic Interactionist Theorizing

Extreme violence revolves around actions of individuals who are emotionally aroused and willing to kill themselves, if need be, to inflict harm on enemies. Terrorism, gangbanging, and genocide are conspicuous examples of extreme violence. This violence is ultimately driven by repressed negative emotions about self that are transmuted into variants of anger and combinations of anger with satisfaction‐happiness to produce emotions such as hatred, righteous anger, and vengeance. This theory combines symbolic interactionism's emphasis on identity and self with key ideas from gestalt theories, psychoanalytic theories, and interaction ritual theory as well as data from primatology, evolutionary biology, and neurology. I explain extreme violence as the outcome of several converging forces: the neurological capacity for humans as evolved apes to experience and express a large palate of high‐intensity emotions, the experience of shame in key institutional spheres, the repression of shame (and, at times, guilt and alienation as well as other highly charged negative emotions), the intensification and transmutation of these repressed emotions into variants and elaborations of anger, the making of external attributions blaming external targets for negative experiences, the portrayal of these targets in highly negative terms, and the charging up of positive emotions in interaction rituals directed at inflicting harm on external enemies.     

Social Control and Emotions

This is the first article in Symbolic Interaction's symposium in tribute to Tamotsu (Tom) Shibutani (1920–2004). The author, a student in Shibutani's graduate course on social control, discusses his teacher's ideas and their evolution into his own. The article provides ample basis for the author's observation: a scholar's contribution can be measured not only by the cumulative corpus of his or her published work, but also by the influence that this individual has had on the work of others.