The education of children in care and children in need: Who falls behind and when?

We seek to explain the development of the educational gap between children in “out‐of‐home care” (CLA), children deemed in social need (CIN), and other pupils. A cohort of 642,805 pupils aged 16 in 2013 was used to chart the educational progress of the full cohort, the CLA (n = 6,236), the CIN in 2012 or 2013 but not CLA (n = 20,384), and a sample individually matched with the CLA (n = 11,084). At age 7, attainment of the CLA and CIN was approximately 1 standard deviation lower than the cohort average and predicted attainment at 16. At this point, the persistent “CIN” (those with earlier and persistent needs) had the lowest attainment relative to others, and this declined further during secondary school. Those entering care before or during primary school had very low attainment at age 7, but their relative attainment did not decline. Attainment of CLA and CIN at age 16 likely reflects early environment, special educational needs, and poor relationships with secondary school. Policy, research, and intervention should focus on CIN as well as CLA, do so before entry to care, and take account of the onset of, and probable reasons for, educational difficulties.     

An efficient two-stage randomized response model under stratified random sampling

A two-stage randomized response model is extended to stratified random sampling in order to find out more efficient estimators of proportions built from sensitive questions, which respondents may not answer truthfully, in a population divided into homogeneous subgroups. In each subgroup, the respondents who have not answered the sensitive question in the first stage are requested in the second stage to either answer the sensitive question (second attempt then) or to draw a card indicating “yes” or “no”. In the latter case, they are required to report the outcome. Such extension provides a more efficient estimator of the proportion of the population having a given sensitive attribute than its counterpart in simple random sampling. The extended two-stage randomized response model is more efficient than the stratified randomized response model, where respondents must answer the sensitive question either in the first or in the second stage. Moreover, it increases the respondents’ cooperation. When strata weights are unknown, they are estimated by the double sampling method.     

Burnout and Wellbeing: Testing the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory in New Zealand Teachers

The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI) is a public domain questionnaire measuring the degree of physical and psychological fatigue experienced in three sub-dimensions of burnout: personal, work-related, and client-related burnout. This study first examines the reliability and validity of the CBI in measuring burnout in New Zealand secondary school teachers, and then the relationship between burnout and wellbeing among this population. The CBI had acceptable reliability (internal consistency and homogeneity) as well as factorial and criterion-related validity. As expected, burnout was negatively related to wellbeing measures (wellbeing index, school connection, and perceived general health). The findings indicate that this burnout questionnaire is a valid instrument to use with New Zealand secondary teachers, and also highlight the potential impact of burnout on the health and wellbeing of teachers.

Investment in health when health is stochastic

This paper applies stochastic control theory to the Grossman model of investment in health to characterize the case of a serious illness, i.e., one that permanently reduces the individual’s stock of health capital. Health itself is modelled as a stochastic variable, whose variation over time is determined partly by a deterministic factor and partly by a random factor with a Poisson distribution. After setting out the equations for the deterministic and stochastic approaches, phase diagrams illustrate how the introduction of uncertainty alters the model. The framework is also used to consider the effect of the introduction of a vaccine.

Attaining Status at the Expense of Likeability: Pilfering Power Through Conversational Interruption

Do status expectations affect how we interpret interruption in conversation? Two experiments examined how interrupters and their targets are perceived in same- and mixed-gender dyads. In Experiment 1, participants listened to a brief audiotaped conversation in which one person interrupted the other five times. In Experiment 2, four confederates (two men and two women) systematically interrupted naïve participants while discussing an article. In general, interrupters gained in status and targets of interruption lost status. In addition, participants who were interrupted rated themselves as less influential than those who were not interrupted. As expected, interrupters, especially female interrupters, were liked less than those who did not interrupt. Theoretical implications are discussed.     

Reactions to research participation in vulnerable subgroups

This paper describes the extent to which vulnerable individuals (defined by economic, social, psychological, physical health, and child maltreatment status) react to research participation. As part of an ongoing longitudinal study, participants (N=896) completed a lengthy and intrusive in-person interview and provided a small amount of blood through finger pricks. At the end of the interview, participants were asked eight questions about their reactions to the research experience. Vulnerable individuals in general agreed more strongly about having an emotional reaction, but were not less willing to continue to participate. In addition, psychologically vulnerable individuals more strongly agreed they would continue to participate, were treated with respect and dignity, and found their participation meaningful. Compared to whites, nonwhites reported stronger agreement about the meaningfulness of the research and the belief that their responses would be kept private. Like others, individuals vulnerable by virtue of their prisoner status or homelessness (past or current) agreed more strongly about having an emotional reaction to the interview, but otherwise did not differ in their reactions. These results suggest that researchers and institutional review boards should not be deterred from conducting research on sensitive topics with potentially vulnerable populations.