Weakly decomposable regularization penalties and structured sparsity

It has been shown in literature that the Lasso estimator, or ?₁‐penalized least squares estimator, enjoys good oracle properties. This paper examines which special properties of the ?₁‐penalty allow for sharp oracle results, and then extends the situation to general norm‐based penalties that satisfy a weak decomposability condition.     

The role of age in the relationship between work social characteristics and job attitudes

Despite the amount of research on the link between work social characteristics and job attitudes, there is a lack of work on moderators of this relationship. In the present study, we examine the role of age as a moderating effect of this relationship using life-span development theory. The aim of this paper is to study the moderator effect of age in the relationship between two work social characteristics (interaction outside the organization and interdependence) and job attitudes (i.e., general job satisfaction and work engagement). Participants were 258 workers from private organizations. Data were collected at two time points (2 to 4 weeks between T₁ and T₂). Results showed that the relationship between interdependence and work engagement was stronger for older workers than for younger workers. In addition, the relationship between interaction outside the organization and general job satisfaction was stronger for younger than for older workers. Because increased engagement and satisfaction in an age-diverse workforce is important, organizations may benefit by challenging older workers with interdependent tasks, and younger workers with interaction with stakeholders outside the organization.     

Subjective Indicators Construction by Distance Indices: An Application to Life Satisfaction Data

The construction of subjective indicators for measuring phenomena expressed in an ordinal scale is a central issue in social sciences, particularly in sociology and psychology. In this paper, we propose the use of a subjective indicator by groups of units (for example, by geographical area) based on the ‘distance’ between the empirical cumulative distribution and a hypothetical cumulative distribution of reference. This approach allows to avoid the awkward question of the ‘quantification’ of an ordinal variable, i.e., the conversion of an ordinal variable into an interval variable. As an example of application, we consider life satisfaction data coming from the annual multipurpose survey on “Aspects of Daily Life”, carried out by the Italian National Institute of Statistics, and we present a comparison with some classical methods.     

The invisible gap between public policy and company practices in supporting fatherhood: the Italian case

Work and family reconciliation is a key issue for many countries; in Italy, it is also an important and crucial challenge. Though initially considered a predominantly female issue impacting the maternal employment rate, the importance of fathers in the family domain is now widely acknowledged in policy discourses (such as leave policies). However, an emphasis on ‘fathers’ rights’ has not yet produced the expected improvements in term of men’s sharing care responsibilities and fathers’ involvement in children’s lives. This paper first describes the legislative context along with data on the use of leaves by employed parents. Then three company case studies in the North of Italy are presented and analysed, where both managers and fathers were interviewed to understand the facilitators and barriers for fathers’ leave-taking within companies.     

Engendering migrant networks: The case of Mexican migration

This article compares the impact of family migrant and destination-specific networks on international and internal migration. We find that migrant networks are more important for international moves than for internal moves and that female networks are more important than male networks for moves within Mexico. For moves to the United States, male migrant networks are more important for prospective male migrants than for female migrants, and female migrant networks lower the odds of male migration, but significantly increase female migration. We suggest that distinguishing the gender composition and destination content of migrant networks deepens our understanding of how cumulative causation affects patterns of Mexican migration.     

Discriminating positive and negative aspects of pet interaction: Sex differences in the older population

Although pet interacters from a sample of 250 persons over 50 years of age generally report receiving more intense uplifts than hassles from their pets (Chi Square = 26.7, p<0.001), there are also differences seen within this group. More specifically, differences are seen in regard to relationships between reported hassles and uplifts from pets, and socializing, life situation, and gender. For example, pet interacters who report a great deal of uplift from pets also report doing things with friends more frequently than do interacters who report only slight uplift from pets (t=2.38, p<0.05). Importantly, pets also appear to serve different roles for female and for male pet interacters, and for pet interacters in different circumstances. Uplifts from pets are associated with leisure and lack of psychological pressure for females, but are related to hassles with social interactions, time, and money for males. Contrastingly, females who report hassles from pets report hassles in the areas of free time, money, and health, but uplifts from social interactions. Human interactions with pets frequently contribute to quality of life and these interactions merit further study.     

Community and contraceptive choice in rural Thailand: A case study of Nang Rong

This paper blends quantitative with qualitative data in an investigation of community and contraceptive choice in Nang Rong, Thailand. Specifically, it develops an explanation of 1) method dominance within villages, coupled with 2) marked differences between villages in the popularity of particular methods. The quantitative analysis demonstrates the importance of village location and placement of family planning services for patterns of contraceptive choice. The qualitative data provide a complementary perspective, emphasizing the importance of social as well as physical space and giving particular attention to the structure of conversational networks.     

The roles of child support enforcement and welfare in non-marital childbearing

This paper examines the effects of stronger child support enforcement and declines in welfare benefits on changes in non-marital childbearing between 1980 and 1996. Economic theory suggests that stricter child support enforcement will increase the costs of children for unwed fathers, making them less likely to have a child outside marriage. Reductions in welfare benefits also are expected to increase the costs of non-marital childbearing for both mothers and fathers. We examine these hypotheses, using aggregate state-level data and fixed effects regression models to identify the effects of policies on non-marital birth rates. We find that both stricter child support enforcement and declines in welfare benefits deter non-marital births. However, the estimated effects of child support enforcement are more robust and larger than those of welfare. The estimates imply that in the 1980–1996 period, increases in child support enforcement led to a decline in non-marital birth rates in the range of 6% to 9%, whereas decreases in welfare benefits led to a decline in the range of 2% to 4%. Received: 28 June 2000/Accepted: 17 September 2001     

Hymenal characteristics in girls with and without a history of sexual abuse

This article reviews the recent literature on physical findings related to the hymen in pubertal and prepubertal girls with and without a history of sexual abuse. Characteristics of normal hymenal anatomy, acute traumatic findings, and characteristics of healed trauma are discussed, particularly with regard to changes in the interpretation of these findings that have occurred over time.