ASYMPTOTIC TESTS FOR THE CONTINUOUS TIME MARKOV BRANCHING PROCESS WITH IMMIGRATION

This paper presents limit distributions for the modified score and the likelihood-ratio (LR) statistic for testing a composite hypothesis involving the split intensity and mean of the offspring distribution of the supercritical continuous time Markov branching process allowing immigration (CBPI). The immigration intensity and mean are treated as nuisance parameters.     

The North American Naturalization Gap: An Institutional Approach to Citizenship Acquisition in the United States and Canada1

Using 1990 U.S. Census 5% PUMS and 1991 Canadian Census 3% public and 20% restricted microfiles, this article demonstrates the existence of a North American naturalization gap: immigrants living in Canada are on average much more likely to be citizens than their counterparts in the United States, and they acquire citizenship much faster than those living south of the border. Current theories explaining naturalization differences – focusing on citizenship laws, group traits or the characteristics of individual migrants – fail to explain the naturalization gap. Instead, I propose an institutional approach to citizenship acquisition. States' normative stances regarding immigrant integration (interventionist or autonomous) generate integrated or disconnected institutional configurations between government, ethnic organizations and individuals. Evidence from a case study of Portuguese immigrants living in Massachusetts and Ontario suggests that in Toronto government bureaucrats and federal policy encourage citizenship through symbolic support and instrumental aid to ethnic organizations and community leaders. In contrast, Boston area grassroots groups are expected to mobilize and aid their constituents without direct state support, resulting in lower citizenship levels.     

The relationships between work characteristics and mental health: examining normal, reversed and reciprocal relationships in a 4-wave study

This longitudinal study examined the causal relationships between job demands, job control and supervisor support on the one hand and mental health on the other. Whereas we assumed that work characteristics affect mental health, we also examined reversed causal relationships (mental health influences work characteristics). Further, the topic of the appropriate time lag for testing causal relationships was addressed. Our hypotheses were tested in a 4-wave study among a heterogeneous sample of 668 Dutch employees using structural equation modelling. The results provide evidence for reciprocal causal relationships between the work characteristics and mental health, although the effects of work characteristics on well-being were causally predominant. The best model fit was found for a 1-year time lag. Compared to earlier—predominantly cross-sectional—results, the present study presents a stronger case for the effects of work characteristics on the development of strain. The results also emphasize the need for a dynamic view of the relationship between work and health; the one-directional viewpoint in many work stress models does not seem to fully capture the relations between work characteristics and well-being.     

A study of environmental and behavioral factors affecting pregnancy outcome in an Italian community

This study sought to identify environmental factors (socioeconomic conditions, work conditions, service availability, and so on) and behavioral factors (preventive health behaviors, pre- and postnatal care, and so on) which might be related to pregnancy outcome (childbirth, still birth, infant death, abortion). For this purpose high risk families (all families where an infant death or still birth had occurred in the last five years, a total of 253 cases) were compared with a random sample of the families where a normal child was born and survived during the same period (a sample of 239 cases). The results contain data on: (a) socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of study and control cases (residence, housing conditions, marital status or parents, work activity, and educational level): (b) the health status of the mother, prior and during pregnancy; (c) preventive health behavior such as prenatal care, nutrition, and use of drugs, tobacco, and alcohol; (d) working condition of the mother during pregnancy, type of work, work-related environmental risks, leave from work, and transportation; and (e) postnatal care and breast feeding patterns. The findings are discussed in terms of the present and future educational and service needs of the population.This study was made possible by the financial assistance of the World Health Organization, Division of Family Health. Dr. Figa-Talamanca is affiliated with the Institute of General Physiology, University of Rome, 00100 Rome, Italy.     

SOCIAL ISOLATION OF THE URBAN POOR:

We focus on the effects of race, class, and neighborhood on social isolation. Using data from households in Atlanta, Georgia, we compare poor and nonpoor African Americans to nonpoor whites on two types of social ties and the social resources inherent in those ties. We find that poverty has an important influence on the social resources available to African Americans in and outside of their household. Poor blacks are less likely than other blacks and nonpoor whites to live with another adult, to have even one person outside the household with whom they discuss important matters (a discussion partner), or to have a college-educated person in their discussion network. Higher neighborhood poverty reduces the size of the discussion network for whites and blacks and affects the probabilities of having any kind of social contacts. Important for the social isolation thesis is our finding that among African Americans, living in a very poor neighborhood increases social isolation and reduces access to social resources via one's network of close ties.     

The Institutional Repository Rediscovered: What Can a University Do for Open Access Publishing?

Universities have always been one of the key players in open access publishing and have encountered the particular obstacle that faces this Green model of open access, namely, disappointing author uptake. Today, the university has a unique opportunity to reinvent and to reinvigorate the model of the institutional repository. This article explores what is not working about the way we talk about repositories to authors today and how can we better meet faculty needs. More than an archive, a repository can be a showcase that allows scholars to build attractive scholarly profiles, and a platform to publish original content in emerging open-access journals.     

Population Ageing and the Labour Market: Evidence from Italy

Individual data from eight waves of the European Community Household Panel are used to investigate the impact of cohort size on age‐earnings and employment profiles of Italian male workers. Evidence that over the life cycle cohort size depresses employment opportunities of men with low education and earnings and employment rates of men with intermediate and high qualifications born into large cohorts is found. These results are used to carry out a simple simulation where the average future wages of Italian male workers are projected for the next 4.5 decades. According to this simulation, the wages of Italian male workers will follow a hump‐shaped pattern in the next three decades, before slightly increasing again.     

Rethinking needs assessment in planning services for older adults

Needs assessments are widely used in the field of aging, and are considered valuable tools for planning service responses to unmet and undermet needs of older adults. This article describes a comprehensive needs assessment of Bermuda's older population and presents some of its findings to illustrate concerns about needs assessments that emerged from this experience. We suggest that even when needs assessments are carefully planned and adhere to generally recognized best practice principles, they may not be able to fully provide desired information. A revision of key assumptions about needs assessment is offered for researchers, planners, and community workers.     

From Conflict To Embedment: The Individual–Society Relationship, 1920–1991

Sociological Forum - Why does the perception of Americans as conformists disappear after 1970 while the idea of a need for community persists? The literatures of social criticism, self-help, and...