The Effect of Early Cognitive Ability on Earnings Over the Life‐Cycle

This paper utilizes information on cognitive ability at age 10 and earnings information from age 20 to 65 to estimate the return to ability over the life‐cycle. Cognitive ability measured at an early age is not influenced by the individual's choices of schooling. We find that most of the unconditional return to early cognitive ability goes through educational choice. The conditional return is increasing for low levels of experience and non‐increasing for experience above about 15–25 years. The return is similar for men and women, and highest for individuals with academic education. Only a small part of the return can be explained by higher probability of having a supervisory position.     

The Impact of Pregnancy and Childbirth on Sexual Behaviors: A Systematic Review

The purpose of this review was to examine and synthesize the available quality evidence to provide researchers, educators, and clinicians an overview of what is known about sexual behaviors during pregnancy and the year after childbirth. Search engines were used to identify peer-reviewed, English-language articles that met the inclusion criteria. A total of 56 prospective, retrospective, and qualitative studies published after 1996 were reviewed. A gradual decline in vaginal intercourse from prepregnancy to first trimester to third trimester was found. Most couples resume vaginal intercourse by eight weeks after childbirth, but this behavior does not occur at prepregnancy frequencies until closer to 12 months postchildbirth. Future studies should consider assessing sexual behaviors beyond vaginal intercourse and increase efforts in recruitment of diverse samples including non-White, nonheterosexual pregnant individuals, and partners of pregnant individuals.     

Adult Attachment Orientation and Implicit Behavioral Mimicry

We investigated whether adult attachment orientation predicted the extent to which individuals engaged in implicit behavioral mimicry of a confederate presented by video. Results demonstrated that following an attachment threat prime: (1) those low in attachment anxiety and high in attachment avoidance showed less mimicry of face-rubbing gestures than individuals low in both attachment avoidance and attachment anxiety; (2) those high in attachment anxiety and low in attachment avoidance showed less mimicry of face-rubbing gestures than individuals low in both attachment avoidance and attachment anxiety. Importantly, attachment orientation did not predict baseline levels of face-rubbing gesturing, demonstrating that attachment orientation had an effect on mimicry rather than overall behavior expression. Attachment anxiety was positively related to attraction to the confederate such that those higher in attachment anxiety rated the confederate as more attractive. The findings are discussed with reference to both the mimicry and attachment literatures.     

Assessing Adjustment to Aging: A Validation Study for the Adjustment to Aging Scale (AtAS)

Adjustment to aging (AtA) is a multifactor adjustment process with implications on aging well among older adults. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a scale to assess the factors that older adults recognized as indicators of their AtA, with a cross-national comparative perspective towards aging well. Convenience sampling was used to gather questionnaire data, including demographics and the proposed scale. Complete data was available for 1,291 older community-dwelling adults, aged between 75 and 102 years (M = 83.9; SD = 6.68), who represented four different nationalities. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were performed for dimension reduction and exploration of the factorial structure. Data gathered with the 22-items AtA five-factor scale showed overall good psychometric properties (in terms of distributional properties, statistical significant factor weights, factorial, convergent, discriminant criterion and external-related validities, as well as reliability). Five factors were selected for the Adjustment to Aging Scale: (a) sense of purpose and ambitions (b) zest and spirituality; (c) body and health; (d) aging in place and stability; and (e) social support. We present a 22-item scale with five factors for AtA estimation in a cross-national elderly population which produced valid and reliable data for elder persons from four different nationalities. Results showed that this scale is an adequate cross-cultural instrument for research, clinical practice and program development in the health care context. These may benefit from clearly understanding AtA as an important component for reducing health disparities and for aging well, across nationalities.     

Are stalkers recidivists? Repeated offending by convicted stalkers

Stalking is an obsessive behavior. Legal definitions generally characterize stalking as repetitive conduct. It may therefore be expected that recidivism by stalkers is high. We investigated court statistics of stalking cases to establish which proportion relapses in stalking behavior after a conviction and what other types of new crimes they commit. Case files of stalking cases have been investigated to find out whether and which neutralization techniques are used by stalkers to justify harassing behaviors. Stalkers who do recidivate do so quickly after a conviction. They appear to make use of various neutralization techniques. There is a small group of highly obsessive stalkers that seems not to be stopped by any of the measures, sanctions, or interventions that are imposed.     

Searching for the right track – managing care trajectories in child welfare

This paper examines caseworkers' efforts to plan and find appropriate interventions for troublesome young people. Strauss's concept of trajectory is applied to analyse how Swedish caseworkers shape and manage the evolving care trajectories using assessments for young people in secure accommodation, i.e. institutional youth assessments. The empirical material consists of surveys to 82 caseworkers concerning 85 institutional youth assessments and interviews with 16 of these caseworkers. The findings reveal ongoing care trajectories that are out of control where the assessments are seen as an opportunity of change for the youths. Diagnoses, confirmations and plans for action are provided through the assessments and used by the caseworkers in negotiations for resources. Three orientations of contributions to the caseworkers' management of care trajectories were found, all reflecting the many uncertainties of child welfare work: child centred, professional and discharge of liability. In conclusion, the caseworkers searched for the right measures to manage change and achieve youth compliance, but it was also a matter of managing professional and organizational contingencies and passing on responsibility.     

Hegemonic irrationalities and psychoanalytic cultural critique

‘Whiteness’ is no longer an invisible or marginal racial category. Within the last decade, ‘whiteness’ has become increasingly understood as an ideological, racial and political marker in both the rhetoric of right-wing conservatives and in the ‘new’ critical scholarship on ‘whiteness’. This article analyses both of these discourses while focusing on the strengths and limitations of the ‘new’ critical scholarship on ‘whiteness’. Finally, it raises the pedagogical and political issue of what it means to rearticulate ‘whiteness’ in oppositional terms in order to enable white students to have a stake in anti-racist and democratic struggles being waged by other groups.     

The relation between board size and firm performance in firms with a history of poor operating performance

Focusing on a sample of smaller firms with a history of poor operating performance, this paper posits that increases in board size will be associated with better share price performance. Notably, board sizes studied here are, on average, much smaller than those typically studied by prior research. Mostly consistent with predictions, board size is found to be positively correlated with firm value in between-firms tests, and changes in board size are found to be positively associated with annual stock returns. Last, event study results suggest that the market responds favorably to board size increases and unfavorably to large board size decreases. Together, these results identify a setting in which larger board sizes appear to be positively related to shareholder value.     

Work-to-Family Enrichment and Employees’ Well-Being: High Performance Work System and Job Characteristics

Research has demonstrated the importance of job characteristics to explain work-to-family enrichment (WFE) and the value of this enrichment to explain employees’ wellbeing. However, there is no comprehensive framework to explain the relationship between these variables. This study uses the Job Demands-Control-Support model as a guiding framework, and examines the relationship between these job characteristics and WFE and, more interestingly, the WFE as a mechanism for explaining the relationship between job characteristics and employees’ well-being. Furthermore, we analyzed the relationship of employees’ perceptions of High Performance Work System (HPWS) with job characteristics. With a sample of 1,390 employees from a Portuguese bank, job demands were found to be negatively related to WFE while autonomy and supervisor support displayed a positive relation. We also observed that WFE is an important mechanism to explain the relationship between these job characteristics and employees’ well being. As expected, HPWS was a relevant organizational characteristic to explain job characteristics, however, we observed that it was also directly related to WFE.