Dimensions of ethnic identity as protective factors for substance use and sexual risk behaviors in African American college students

Objective: To examine ethnic identity and ethnic socialization as potential protective factors for risk behaviors among US college students. Participants: Participants were 398 African American and Afro-Caribbean students recruited from 30 colleges and universities during September 2008–October 2009. Methods: Data on hazardous alcohol use, substance use, sexual behaviors, ethnic identity, and ethnic/racial socialization were collected. Hierarchical linear and negative binomial regression analyses were conducted to determine the degree to which ethnic identity and ethnic/racial socialization predicted the risk behaviors. Results: Ethnic Identity affirmation, belonging, and commitment (EI-ABC) significantly predicted lower substance use and hazardous alcohol use. Ethnic/racial socialization was not a significant predictor of substance use or sexual risk behaviors. Conclusions: Components of ethnic identity are potentially protective against alcohol and substance use behaviors. Additional research is recommended to determine effective intervention strategies.     

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN JOB SATISFACTION

This article analyzes gender differences in job satisfaction among full-time workers. Why do women report equal or greater job satisfaction than men in spite of objectively inferior jobs? Analysis reveals few differences between men and women in the determinants of job satisfaction when considering job characteristics, family responsibilities, and personal expectations. Little support is found for theories that men and women: (1) focus on different aspects of work in arriving at a given level of job satisfaction; (2) differentially condition their job satisfaction according to the extent of their family responsibilities; and (3) employ different personal expectations in evaluating their jobs. Two alternative explanations for women's relatively positive job attitudes are considered. First, women may arrive at a higher level of job satisfaction than men by using different comparison groups. Second, men may be more willing to verbalize dissatisfaction with work because of different socialization. The most likely explanation is that these processes operate in conjunction to produce greater reported job satisfaction among women.     

The Effects of Marital and Nonmarital Union Transition on Health

This study examines the effects of marital and nonmarital union transition on health. Utilizing Canadian longitudinal data, we find that exiting both marriage and cohabitation seems to have similar effects: Dissolving either union tends to be associated with a decrease in physical health, mental health, or both. With possible selection effects eliminated and protection effects held constant, we find that remaining in either type of union generally is associated with poorer health. We speculate that decreased union quality may account for this inverse relationship, and that protection effects may explain much of the reported health gains associated with union life.     

The Mental Health of the Childless Elderly

The substantial number of childless elderly in Canada and the United States raises important concerns about the nature of their family support, as well as their psychological well-being. Although the (mixed) effects of childlessness on the mental health of the elderly are well documented in the literature, little is known about the social distribution of psychological distress and depression within this population: how well the childless elderly live, the status of their mental health, and what factors affect their psychological well-being are all crucial questions that remain unanswered. This paper utilizes Pearlin et al.'s (1981) stress process model to examine psychological distress and depression among the childless elderly. Our empirical analysis uses a nationally representative sample of childless individuals aged 55 and over ( N = 2,311) from the 1996-1997 National Population Health Survey (NPHS), and generalized linear model (GLM) techniques. Generally, our results support the stress process model. We find that individual-level stressors exert a strong and consistently negative impact on psychological distress and depression. We also find significant buffering effects of (perceived) social support.     

Defrocking dualism: A new approach to defining industrial sectors

In this paper we argue that a division of the economy into core and periphery sectors does not do justice to the complexity of the structure of the U.S. economy. The dualistic approach is inadequate both theoretically and empirically. While the dual economy literature has utilized multiple concepts it has conceived of them as forming a single dimension. We develop additional concepts from the complex organizations literature and utilize this enlarged set of concepts in a truly multidimensional framework. We also present a new technique of categorization based on a combination of factor and cluster analyses. The resulting categorization is highly interpretable, and it is superior to previous operationalizations in that it fully reflects the multidimensionality of economic segmentation.     

Parametric branch and bound

The paper describes a procedure for mixed integer programming that allows branches to be imposed ‘by degrees’, which can subsequently be revised or weeded out according to their relative influence. It is an adaptive approach in which the branch and bound tree can be manipulated and restructured. The approach also yields measures of the costs of imposing the branches that lead to integer solutions, thus providing a built-in form of sensitivity analysis for evaluating the effect of integer restrictions.     

A Half Century of Mate Preferences: The Cultural Evolution of Values

The qualities people believe are important in selecting a marriage partner afford one domain for assessing human values. We examined the cultural evolution of these values over more than half a century. Building on existing data on mate preferences collected in 1939 (N= 628 ), 1956 (N= 120 ), 1967 (N= 566 ), and 1977 (N= 316 ), we collected data using the same instrument in 1984/1985 (N= 1,496 ) and in 1996 (N= 607 ) at geographically diverse locations. Several changes in values were documented across the 57‐year span. Both sexes increased the importance they attach to physical attractiveness in a mate. Both sexes, but especially men, increased the importance they attach to mates with good financial prospects. Domestic skills in a partner plummeted in importance for men. Mutual attraction and love climbed in importance for both sexes. The sexes converged in the ordering of the importance of different mate qualities, showing maximum similarity in 1996. Discussion speculates about causes of the cultural evolution of values.