Social determinants of life expectancy]

"Life expectancy and mortality increasingly are analyzed in the context of social factors. This study analyzes the impact of social position, marital status, and religious confession on cohort life expectancy. The analysis is based on [German data from the] Socio-Economic Panel Survey, wherein proxy-interviewee's parents have been used to estimate cohort mortality. Results confirm a lower mortality risk of the upper classes and of married persons. However, as opposed to other studies, Catholics do not have a lower, but even a higher mortality risk." (SUMMARY IN ENG)     

Semiparametric estimation of plane similarities: application to fast computation of aeronautic loads

In the big data era, it is often needed to resolve the problem of parsimonious data representation. In this paper, the data under study are curves and the sparse representation is based on a semiparametric model. Indeed, we propose an original registration model for noisy curves. The model is built transforming an unknown function by plane similarities. We develop a statistical method that allows to estimate the parameters characterizing the plane similarities. The properties of the statistical procedure are studied. We show the convergence and the asymptotic normality of the estimators. Numerical simulations and a real-life aeronautic example illustrate and demonstrate the strength of our methodology.     

Tukey-Type Distributions in the Context of Financial Data

Abstract

In one-parameter (θ) families, we were not aware of explicit hypothesis testing scenarios where maximal invariant statistics failed to distinguish the models. We start with a concrete example (Sec. 2.2) to highlight such a hypothesis testing problem involving markedly different models. In this problem, because of the absence of a nontrivial uniformly most powerful invariant (UMPI) test, we briefly suggest two approaches to test the hypothesis. The first resolution (Sec. 3.1) is frequentist in nature. It utilizes a weight function on the parameter space and compares “average” distributions obtained under the null and alternative models in the sense of Wald (1947 Wald , A. ( 1947 ). Sequential Analysis . New York : Wiley . [Google Scholar] 1950 Wald , A. ( 1950 ). Statistical Decision Functions . New York : Wiley . [Google Scholar]). In contrast, a fully Bayesian resolution (Sec. 3.2) is also included. The note ends with a series of other interesting examples involving one-parameter families where maximal invariant statistics fail to distinguish the hypothesized models. The examples include easy-to-construct families of probability models involving only a single location or scale parameter θ.     

Association of sexual abstinence in adolescence with mental health in adulthood

We examined whether adolescent sexual abstinence predicts better adult mental health. 1,917 adolescents, recruited from middle schools at age 13, were surveyed at ages 13, 18, 23, and 29. In bivariate analyses, adolescent sexual abstinence was associated with better mental health at age 29 for females, but not males; three adolescent factors, educational prospects, family bonding, and unconventionality were investigated as explanatory variables of this relationship. The abstinence-mental health relationship was nonsignificant when educational prospects was included in multivariate models, and marginally significant when family bonding and unconventionality were included; all three explanatory factors accounted for significant proportions of the variance in adult mental health. Girls who are uninvolved in school, have weak family backgrounds, and exhibit unconventionality may have poor adult mental health, whether or not they abstain from sex in adolescence. Interventions that strengthen adolescents' connections to families and schools may reduce risk for long-term mental health problems.     

Unplanned sexual activity as a consequence of alcohol use: a prospective study of risk perceptions and alcohol use among college freshmen

OBJECTIVE: The authors' goal was to show how risk perceptions regarding unplanned sexual activity following alcohol use are prospectively related to subsequent alcohol consumption. PARTICIPANTS: Undergraduate students (N = 380) completed questionnaires at 2 time points during their freshman year. METHODS: In the middle of the academic year (T1), students estimated their risk of engaging in unplanned sex and reported their alcohol use during the previous term. Four months later (T2), they again reported alcohol use and indicated whether they had engaged in unplanned sex since T1. RESULTS: Students who consumed more alcohol at T1 rated their risk of unplanned sex more highly, suggesting relative accuracy. Those with higher risk perceptions consumed more alcohol at T2 (controlling for T1 use), suggesting that they maintained the high-risk behavior. Last, those who were unrealistically optimistic (ie, estimated low risk at T1 yet had unplanned sex by T2) reported greater alcohol use at T2. CONCLUSIONS: These findings highlight the role that risk perceptions regarding sexual activity may play in college students' alcohol use.     

The Collegiate Learning Assessment: facts and fantasies

The Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA) is a computer administered, open-ended (as opposed to multiple-choice) test of analytic reasoning, critical thinking, problem solving, and written communication skills. Because the CLA has been endorsed by several national higher education commissions, it has come under intense scrutiny by faculty members, college administrators, testing experts, legislators, and others. This article describes the CLA's measures and what they do and do not assess, how dependably they measure what they claim to measure, and how CLA scores differ from those on other direct and indirect measures of college student learning. For instance, analyses are conducted at the school rather than the student level and results are adjusted for input to assess whether the progress students are making at their school is better or worse than what would be expected given the progress of "similarly situated" students (in terms of incoming ability) at other colleges.     

Sexuality and school shootings: what role does teasing play in school massacres?

Conventional explanations - lax gun control laws, media violence, single and working parents - do not adequately explain the recent spate of school shootings, and neither does bullying by itself, an explanation recently gaining more traction. A certain type of bullying, however, is revealed as particularly culpable. Many of the recent shootings share a disturbing component: The perpetrators were repeatedly, even relentlessly, accused by "preps and jocks" of being gay. Gay harassment is proposed as a point of departure for understanding the causes of school shootings. When boys who believe on some level that they warrant privilege, are instead harassed, they may feel driven to avenge the "wrong," and re-assert a more dominant, powerful, and victorious masculinity. These circumstances call for a cultural transformation such that "boys will be boys" is no longer used as an alibi for violence. The author presents implications for school-based social work practice, teacher and administrator interventions, as well as other prevention strategies.     

On Sampling Error in Market Share Estimates*

The relative error in the usual estimator of a brand's market share is reformulated in terms of marketing parameters. Such error is shown to be influenced in an important way by market penetration, as well as by variation in brand and product category volume. Of particular interest is the result that the relative error does not depend on the actual share level. Using data from a marketing research firm that supplies share estimates to the health products industry, we find that the relative error may be substantial even when a large sample is available. An upper bound on this relative error is obtained using marketing parameters that can frequently be measured using industry data and a company's internal records, thus reducing the level of judgmental input required in the planning of sample surveys.