Contagion of Anxiety Symptoms Among Adolescent Siblings: A Twin Study

This study examined whether social contagion of anxiety symptoms is present between siblings during early adolescence and whether this process is moderated by sex, relationship quality, and zygosity. Based on 634 monozygotic and dizygotic twins (336 females) assessed in Grades 6 and 7, anxiety symptoms and sibling relationship quality were measured with self‐report questionnaires. The predictive association of the co‐twin's level of anxiety with adolescents' own increased anxiety 1 year later was only observed in same‐sex twin dyads (monozygotic and dizygotic) and was higher for those who perceived a higher level of relationship quality with their co‐twin. Raising awareness of a possible sibling contagion of anxiety may be useful for preventing the development of anxiety symptoms in youth.     

Adaptation of the short version of the Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PCQ-12) into Spanish / Adaptación al español de la versión reducida del Cuestionario de Capital Psicológico (PCQ-12)

Psychological capital (PsyCap) has been a topic of increasing interest in the last decade. However, there is a lack of validated instruments in Spanish to map PsyCap and its consequences for individuals’ well-being. Consequently, the goal of this study is to adapt the 12-item short version of the Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PCQ-12) to the Spanish context by analysing its internal consistency and reliability, factor solution and external validity. Results indicated that the PCQ-12 exhibited good Cronbach’s alpha (.87) and omega coefficient (.93) values in a sample from a vehicle inspection company (n = 798). As expected, results also revealed that a second-order factor structure provided the best fit. Moreover, PsyCap is associated with increased job engagement (β = .579; R²_adjusted = .333), decreased job burnout (β = ?.409; R²_adjusted = .166), and lower psychological distress (β = ?.349; R²_adjusted = .121) (all p < .01), which provided additional support for using the PCQ-12 in the Spanish context. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.     

Immigration and internal mobility in Canada

We analyse the impact of temporary foreign workers (TFWs) and permanent immigrants on interprovincial mobility in Canada. Empirical results are analysed through the lens of a theoretical model that incorporates a job-matching framework in a migration model à la Harris and Todaro. The effect of the inflow of TFWs in interprovincial mobility is negative, substantial and significant. This is not the case for the inflow of permanent immigrants selected through the Canadian point system. The robustness of these empirical results to issues of endogeneity is assessed through a classical instrumentation approach as well as through a diff-in-diff analysis taking advantage of a pilot project facilitating the admission of TFWs in two Western provinces over the 2007–2010 period. Our paper suggests that, in general, the impact of immigration on labour market conditions depends critically on the way immigration policy is set.     

Highlighting Methodological Limitations in the Steps of Composite Indicators Construction

The paper opens the debate on the need to find a stable methodological framework in the construction of composite indicators (CIs) in order to address the methodological challenges including those of sensitivity and uncertainties related to methods used. As CIs are well-known to be essential in public debate, their methodological construction must be known by a large public. Illustrating CIs’ construction steps by a simple indicator, the paper aims to “democratize” this disciplinary field which is still a black box for some researchers but also to show how composite scores are sensitive to methods used and then, its impacts on policies. For example, in the Sustainable Development Indicator case, the geometric aggregation system is favorable to emerging countries which lead the ranking table whereas high income countries (which are leaders in the linear and equal weight system) except Australia, are misclassified. Uncertainty and sensitivity analysis confirm these results showing that the indexes’ scores seem to be influenced by the orientation (implied theoretical framework) given by its sponsors including policy makers. Regarding the validity of the index, correlation tests with some lights and well known indicators, reveal very consistent results.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Knot yet</Emphasis>: minimum marriage age law,marriage delay,and earnings

Despite the historical highs for age at first marriage, little is known about the causal relationship between marriage delay and wages, and more importantly, the mechanisms driving such relationship. We attempt to fill the void. Building on an identification strategy proposed in Dahl (Demography 47:689–718, 2010), we first establish the causal wage effects of marriage delay. We then propose ways to distinguish among competing theories and hypotheses, as well as the channels through which marriage delay affects wages. Specifically, we take advantage of their different implications for causal relationship, across gender and sub-populations. We reach two conclusions. First, we find a positive causal impact of marriage delay on wages, with a larger effect for women. Comparison of IV and OLS estimates suggests that the observed relationship between marriage delay and wages is attributed to both selection in late marriages and true causal effects. Second, we find strong evidence that the positive, causal effects are almost exclusively through increased education for both men and women.     

Co-morbidity Between Gambling Problems and Depressive Symptoms: A Longitudinal Perspective of Risk and Protective Factors

In both adolescents and adults, gambling problems and depressive symptoms co-occur and share some common risk factors (e.g., impulsivity and socio-family risk). However, little is known about (1) the developmental course of the co-morbidity of these problems; (2) variables that may moderate the effect of these common risk factors on gambling problems and depressive symptoms. Of specific interest could be individuals’ social relationships with significant others such as parents and friends, because research shows that they moderate the effect of other risk factors on gambling problems and depressive symptoms. The goals of this study were to: (a) identify developmental pathways for gambling problems and depressive symptoms, with a focus on co-morbidity; (b) assess the moderating effect of relationship quality with parents and friends on the link between common risk factors and the trajectories of gambling problems and depressive symptoms. Study participants were 878 males. Predictors were assessed during childhood and adolescence and gambling problems and depressive symptoms were assessed in late adolescence and young adulthood. Latent class analysis revealed four distinct joint trajectories of gambling problems and depressive symptoms. Subsequent logistic regression revealed that impulsivity predicted membership in all pathogenic trajectories, and quality of the relationship with parents predicted membership in depressogenic trajectories. In addition, we found that the membership in the comorbid trajectory can be predicted by an interaction between friendship quality and socio-family risk.     

Participation and Self‐Entrapment A 12‐Year Ethnography of Wall Street Participation Practices' Diffusion and Evolving Consequences

A 12‐year ethnography illustrates how two investment banks' participative work practices entrapped bankers in indiscriminate overwork, and what the evolving consequences were for the banks and the organizations that the bankers joined subsequently. The banks' participative work practices eliminated all visible organizational controls. Invested in the task, the bankers collectively designed work practices that benefited the banks, but had the unintended consequences of intensifying work pace and habituating bankers to indiscriminate overwork that they experienced as self‐chosen. Prior organizational behavioral research predicts outcomes only for about one year. During this time, the banks benefited from the bankers' hard work. Starting in year four, the practices' extremes produced opposite effects, namely declining performance because of body breakdowns, and cultural distance, because depleted bodies made it impossible for bankers to work in culturally normative ways. The bankers carried this pattern of overwork and subsequent breakdowns into the organizations that they joined subsequently, where they introduced the banks' practices.     

The roller-coaster of experiences: becoming the parent of a deaf child

When early testing indicates a hearing loss, parents find themselves on a roller-coaster of experiences leaving little time or space for reflection. This study is based on interviews with families in the Flemish region of Belgium, one of the earliest in the world to introduce universal neonatal screening for hearing loss. Starting from a phenomenological approach, we explore parents’ accounts of their experiences in order to uncover the meanings of early parenting of a child identified with a label. Soon after birth, these parents encounter a different world in which intertwined discourses construct parenthood with a deaf child. During the process of becoming a parent, representations of deafness as impairment were omnipresent. In contrast to a medical and technological perspective that insists on the need to intervene as fast as possible, it is argued that the private and social implications of rapid intervention require explicit consideration.     

Participatory ergonomics among female cashiers from a department store

The objective of this paper was to control ergonomic risks among female cashiers working in a department store belonging to the retail market. This study was conducted between May and November 2010. Participatory ergonomics was applied through knowing and understanding how the company works, establishing the work team (Ergo group), training the team in ergonomics-related topics, and making decisions and interventions. The sample was composed of 71 participants--mostly female cashiers--, and all of them have a musculoskeletal compromise, declaring pain or discomfort mainly in the neck, lower back, right wrist and shoulders. Among others, following problems were found: postural overload, repetitive work, manual load handling, mental fatigue, environmental discomfort, variable work schedules, extended working days, and absence of breaks. In the intervention, the main implemented changes were the redesign of workstation, complete change of chairs and keyboards, and the implementation of a rotation system, as well breaks for compensatory exercises. After that, an evident improvement of found problems was observed, therefore it can be concluded that participatory ergonomics is an attractive methodology, appropriate and efficient for solving and controlling ergonomic risks and problems.     

Parent-worker relationships in child welfare social work: a Belgian case study

The involvement of parents within child and family social work has become an important research topic during the past few decades. Within this research, a lot of attention is paid to partnership, which is recognised as a dominant concept in current thinking about the parent–worker relationship in present-day practice. The debate on parent–worker relationships, however, seems to be mainly focussed on the individual relationship between the parent and the social worker. Based on a historical analysis of policy documents on a Belgian child and family welfare service, this article offers a historical and sociopolitical contextualisation of the current debate on the parent–worker relationship. The analysis reveals that sociopolitical ideas about the responsibilities of the state, the community and the private family have induced a continuous reflection on which children and parents should be seen as the most appropriate clients for a particular service, as well as an ongoing development of diagnostic instruments to legitimise inclusion and exclusion of families within child and family social work. Consequences for parent–worker relationships in child and family social work are discussed, as well as some implications for future research on child and family social work practices.