When children work: implications for youth, society and organizations

We review the literature on youth employment. In particular, we highlight data suggesting youth is not a homogenous group, and that employment is not a homogenous experience for young workers. Demographic and motivational differences within the group categorized as 'youth', as well as differences in the context and quality of youth employment experiences, are shown to have substantial implications for research, policy and organizations.     

The Rise in Union Wage Premiums in South Africa

The earnings premium received by African, urban, male union members in South Africa, as compared to other regular, urban male employees, is explored using two national sample surveys conducted in 1985 and 1993. The historical setting of this change is of particular interest, in the light of the transformation from the apartheid regime. Union membership grew very rapidly during this interval, as earlier prohibitions on African unions were lifted. Subsequently, the high rates of unemployment and segmentation of the labor force have been issues of central concern to the new government, elected in 1994. In this context, the paper extends prior methodology, by systematically comparing possible approaches to estimation, in addition to contributing fresh empirical results. Four approaches to estimation are adopted, allowing for: a single earnings regime with union dummy variable; the possibility of different earnings regimes among union members as compared to non‐members; endogenous switching between such regimes; sample selection arising from lack of employment and from division between regular and informal work. A series of tests on nested specifications indicate the importance of recognizing endogenous switching between differing pay structures in the covered and uncovered sectors. However (as with previous research on the South African labor market), no sample selection is detected with respect to employment status. The results suggest that collective bargaining resulted in wage compression among the expanding union membership while significantly widening the gap between members and non‐members. The latter widening gap cannot be attributed to the changing composition of union membership as reflected in observed characteristics of employees.     

Shape change along geodesics with application to cleft lip surgery

Continuous shape change is represented as curves in the shape space. A method for checking the closeness of these curves to a geodesic is presented. Three large databases of short human motions are considered and shown to be well approximated by geodesics. The motions are thus approximated by two shapes on the geodesic and the rate of progress along the path. An analysis of facial motion data taken from a study of subjects with cleft lip or cleft palate is presented that allows the motion to be considered independently from the static shape. Inferential methods for assessing the change in motion are presented. The construction of predicted animated motions is discussed.     

Rising food security concerns among New Zealand adolescents and association with health and wellbeing

The current paper explores recent changes in food insecurity among adolescents and determine if food security concerns are associated with poorer wellbeing. Data were collected as part of two nationally representative surveys of the health and wellbeing of high-school students in New Zealand in 2007 and 2012. In 2012, 11% of young people reported food security concerns often or always, with 33% reporting food security concerns occasionally/sometimes. The prevalence of food security concerns at both frequencies increased significantly from 2007 (8% and 28%, respectively). Young people with food security concerns were more likely to report poor indicators of health and wellbeing, including truancy, poor general health, mental health concerns and obesity. Our findings highlight the growing concerns of food insecurity reported by adolescents in New Zealand. Interventions that address food security for families may provide a tangible means of promoting the healthy development of children and young people.     

Toward a Political Economic Theory of Education: Use and Exchange Values of Enhanced Labor Power

I explore theoretical conceptions of the use and exchange values of mathematics education within cultural-historical activity theory perspectives. The case of education in England is compared with that of health care (due to Engestrom). Then I draw on Lave and McDermott's study of estranged learning from the early Marx, and from Marx's later analyses in Capital. They deduced the source of learners' alienation from learning in the enforced conditions of education, run by the educational establishment. However, I find their analogy limiting and hence erroneous. I turn to Capital to find the Marxian analysis of the “peculiar” commodity: Enhanced labor power. I conclude that the use-value of mathematics education derives from (a) learners' immediate consumption, and (b) their enhanced (mental) labor power. Although this explains the root, economic contradictions, cultural systems of exchange explain how these are symbolised in cultural forms of use and exchange value.     

Dual effects of ‘losses disguised as wins’ and near-misses in a slot machine game

Individually, both near-misses and losses disguised as wins (LDWs) have been seen to exert pro-motivational effects on gambling. However, it is not clear whether both structural characteristics are effective within the same game. Participants (n = 40) played a slot machine simulation. The simulation delivered near-misses, wins and ‘full-misses’. Half the participants also received LDWs that occurred independently of the outcomes on the payline. Valence and motivation ratings were collected after each round. Results showed that the LDW group reported increased valence ratings compared to the no-LDW group. Within the LDW group, trials with LDWs also resulted in increased enjoyment compared to trials without LDWs. We distinguished near-misses falling either side of the payline. Near-misses before the payline (NMB) were rated as more motivational than near-misses after the payline (NMA), whereas NMAs were rated as more aversive than NMBs. These differences between the two near-miss types were exacerbated by LDWs. Results demonstrate LDWs increase the trial-by-trial enjoyment of non-win outcomes. The motivational and hedonic effects of near-misses differed for events either side of the payline, and these differences were exaggerated by the presence of LDWs. Thus, near-misses can retain their effectiveness in complex forms of gambling that also deliver LDWs.     

Book reviews

’Rearing Wolves to Our Own Destruction’: Slavery in Richmond, Virginia, 1782–1865. Midori Takagi. Charlottesville, Virginia: University Press of Virginia. 1999. xi, 187 pp. $37.50 (cloth). ISBN 0–8139–1834–0.

Hidden Lives: The Archaeology of Slave Life at Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest. Barbara J. Heath. Charlottesville and London: University of Virginia Press. 1999. x, 81 pp. $12.50 (paper). ISBN 0–8139–1867–7.

Disowning Slavery: Gradual Emancipation and ‘Race’ in New England, 1780–1860. Joannk Pope Melish. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. 1998. xvii, 296 pp. £26.50 (cloth). ISBN 0–8014–3413–0.

American Slaves in Victorian England: Abolitionist Politics in Popular Literature and Culture. Audrey A. Fisch. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2000. x, 139pp. £35.00/$59.95. (cloth). ISBN 0–521–66026–2.

Slaves and Slaveholders in Bermuda, 1618–1782. Virginia Bernhard. Columbia. Missouri: University of Missouri Press. 1999. xviii, 316pp. £29.95. ISBN 0–8262–1227–1.

Centering Woman: Gender Discourses in Caribbean Slave Society. Hilary McD. Becklks. Kingston, Jamaica: Ian Randle Publishers; Princeton: Marcus Weiner Publishers; Oxford: James Currey Publishers. 1999. xxv, 211 pp. £15.95 (paper). ISBN: 976–8123–78–8.

Empire and Antislavery: Spain, Cuba, and Puerto Rico, 1833–1874. Christopher Schmidt‐Nowara. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press. 1999. xiii, 239 pp. $50.00(cloth). ISBN 0–8229–4089–2; $22.95 (paper), ISBN 0–8229–5690 X.

Shaping the Discourse on Space: Charity and Its Wards in Nineteenth‐Century San Juan, Puerto Rico. Teresita MartíNez‐Vergne. Austin: University of Texas Press. 1999. xv, 235 pp. $32.50 (cloth). ISBN 0–292–75220–2; $17.95 (paper). ISBN 0–292–75221–0.

The Colonial Caribbean in Transition: Essays on Postemancipation Social and Cultural History. Edited by Bridget Brereton and Kevin Yelvington. Kingston and Gainesville: The Press, University of the West Indies and the University Press of Florida. 1999. xxiii, 319 pp. $49.95 (cloth) ISBN 0–8130–1696–7; $30.00 (paper) ISBN 976–640–030‐X.     

COLLEGE STUDENTS AND BINGE DRINKING: AN EVALUATION OF SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY

ABSTRACT

Although binge drinking is a prevalent and often problematic behavior among college students, there has been relatively little sociological research on this phenomenon. This study evaluates the applicability of social learning theory (Akers 1985 Akers , Ronald L. 1985 . Deviant Behavior: A Social Learning Approach . 3rd ed. Belmont , CA : Wadsworth . [Google Scholar] 2000 — . 2000 . Criminological Theories: Introduction, Evaluation, and Application , 3rd ed. Los Angeles : Roxbury . [Google Scholar]) to the binge drinking of a sample of approximately 1,500 students enrolled at four institutions of higher education. The social learning model explains approximately 45% of the variance in the binge drinking of these students. The results indicate that differential peer associations are by far the best predictor of this behavior. Other significant predictors include the definitions that students hold about binge drinking as well as their perceptions of the direct effects of alcohol consumption. These social learning variables also mediate the effects of demographic variables (i.e., gender, race, fraternity/sorority membership) on binge drinking. The results are discussed with respect to programs designed to prevent binge drinking. Possible directions for future research in this area are also suggested.