Healthcare-Related Financial Burden Among Families in the U.S.: The Role of Childhood Activity Limitations and Income

This study examined the impact of childhood activity limitations on family financial burden in the U.S. We used ten complete panels (1996–2006) of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) to evaluate the burden of out-of-pocket healthcare expenditures for 17,857 families with children aged 0–17 years. Multivariate generalized linear models were used to examine the relationship between childhood activity limitation status and both absolute and relative financial burden. Families of children with limitations had higher absolute out-of-pocket healthcare expenditures than families of children without limitations ($594.36 higher; p < 0.05), and were 54% more likely to experience relative burden (p < 0.05). Substantial socioeconomic disparities in financial burden were observed. Policies are needed to enable these families to access appropriate and affordable healthcare services.     

Toddlers’ Duration of Attention Toward Putative Threat

Although individual differences in reactions to novelty in the toddler years have been consistently linked to risk of developing anxious behavior, toddlers’ attention toward a novel, putatively threatening stimulus while in the presence of other enjoyable activities has rarely been examined as a precursor to such risk. The current study examined how attention toward an angry‐looking gorilla mask in a room with alternative opportunities for play in 24‐month‐old toddlers predicted social inhibition when children entered kindergarten. Analyses examined attention to threat above and beyond and in interaction with both proximity to the mask and fear of novelty observed in other situations. Attention to threat interacted with proximity to the mask to predict social inhibition, such that attention to threat most strongly predicted social inhibition when toddlers stayed furthest from the mask. This relation occurred above and beyond the predictive relation between fear of novelty and social inhibition. Results are discussed within the broader literature of anxiety development and attentional processes in young children.     

Should I stay or should I go?

In 2002, the German system of higher education went through a set of reforms that were—amongothers—intended to make the university career more attractive for young academics, in order not to lose them to alternative careers. Until today, however, there is no theoretical or empirical analysis on the determinants of young academics’ career decisions. In our paper, we analyse the decisions of young academics to leave the university career system on the basis of a self-selection model. Using an original data set on junior scientists in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, we render first empirical evidence on the determinants of young academics’ careers decisions, and find that these are influenced by monetary as well as non-monetary factors.     

Family, Neighborhood, and Peer Characteristics as Predictors of Child Adjustment: A Longitudinal Analysis of Additive and Mediation Models

The purpose of this study was to test direct, additive, and mediation models involving family, neighborhood, and peer factors in relation to emerging antisocial behavior and social skills. Neighborhood danger, maternal depressive symptoms, and supportive parenting were assessed in early childhood. Peer group acceptance was measured in middle childhood, and data on antisocial behavior and social skills were collected when boys were 11 and 12 years old. Results were consistent with an additive effects model of child antisocial behavior. In contrast, peer relationships were stronger predictors of social skills than were family factors. Support for mediation was found in models involving neighborhood danger and supportive parenting. However, only peer group acceptance predicted change in antisocial and prosocial behavior. Implications for family and peer relations as socialization contexts are discussed.     

Patterns of Alcohol and Marijuana Use at School

The problem of adolescent substance use has been examined extensively. Beyond simple prevalence estimates, however, little research has been conducted on substance use in the school context. The present investigation was an in‐depth study of students' attitudes and behaviors regarding alcohol and marijuana use during the school day. Based on a representative sample of 1123 high school students, this study assessed the frequency of alcohol and marijuana use at school among demographic subgroups, the accessibility of drugs in school, and students' perceived consequences of being caught using drugs in school. The results showed that male and Hispanic students had higher levels of drug use at school than female and white students, respectively; that school drug use increased with age, and that alcohol and marijuana were easily obtained and used on school grounds. A large percentage of students were not aware of the specific actions taken in their schools to punish drug use. The need for additional research on school‐related drug use is emphasized.     

Marriage in a British Evangelical Congregation: Practising Postfeminist Partnership?

This article explores understandings and practices of marriage in a congregation from the growing British evangelical Christian movement New Frontiers International (NFI). It investigates how those who subscribe to evangelical religion interact with the gendered ideas and behaviour of the more ‘secular’ society they inhabit. The data for this research are drawn from participant observation and interviews with members of the congregation. These are situated in the context of the official discourse of NFI and of contemporary debates about the move to individualized partnership. It is argued that though these evangelicals claim to shape their marriages according to ‘biblical’ patterns, they in fact reflect the partnership practices of their less religious peers. Building on work by Stacey and McRobbie, patterns of marriage and heterosexual partnership in contemporary Britain are conceptualized as ‘postfeminist’; the article locates within this framework NFI's declared – and undeclared – marriage practices. It finds that while they are somewhat more conservative than their ‘secular’ peers, NFI evangelicals are indeed practising postfeminist partnership. Observations are also offered on the impact of religion on people's ability to live out individualized partnerships.     

Social capital and children's wellbeing: a critical synthesis of the international social capital literature

Drawing on social capital literature from the international realm, this article presents a critical synthesis of this social resource in relation to children's and youth's wellbeing. Although considerable evidence indicates that social capital can have a positive impact on future outcomes for children and youth, no prior comprehensive review exists of the literature on social capital and children's wellbeing. Adopting the systematic review method (SR), the author explores how social capital has been conceptualised and operationalised as an explanatory variable in research on individual and collective wellbeing with children and youth. Oft-cited indicators of family social capital and community social capital are identified, together with common control variables, such as human and financial capital. The author concludes by examining several social capital trends in relation to children's wellbeing and offering recommendations for future research using a social capital theoretical framework to explore additional outcomes related to children's and youth's wellbeing.     

Choosing Childlessness: Weber's Typology of Action and Motives of the Voluntarily Childless*

There has been little in‐depth theoretical study in sociology of the motives of women and men who are childless by choice. This article begins to remedy this deficiency by analyzing the motives articulated by twenty‐three childless women and men using Weber's typology of social action and distinction between primary and end motives. In‐depth interview and focus group data reveal that, compared to men, women more often were affected by the parenting models of significant others, saw parenting as conflicting with career and leisured identities, and claimed the lack of a “maternal instinct” or disinterest in children as dominant influences. Men more explicitly than women rejected parenthood because of its perceived sacrifices, including financial expense. Both women and men were motivated by personality traits that they deemed incongruent with good parenting. Declared motives especially demonstrated instrumentally rational action in Weber's schema, although affectual and value‐rational actions also were present. Respondent motives are compared to those that they, and empirical studies, have attributed to parents.     

Exposure-Response Functions for Health Effects of Air Pollutants Based on Epidemiological Findings

Quantitative knowledge about health damage due to air pollution is an important element in analyses of cost-effective abatement strategies, and is also essential for setting Air Quality Standards. Epidemiological studies, in spite of the numerous problems connected to them, provide a reasonable basis for exposure-response functions in this context. On the basis of a literature review, exposure-response functions that relate ambient air pollutant concentrations to the frequency of various health effects are recommended in this paper. The following end-points were examined: Acute and chronic respiratory symptoms in children and adults, crude mortality, and lung cancer incidence. The effects are attributed to one indicator component, which in most cases is particles. A calculation procedure is suggested which makes it possible to estimate excess annual symptom-days for short-term effects using the annual average concentration.