Subjective Well-Being and Life Satisfaction in the Kingdom of Tonga

This paper describes an initial attempt to assess the subjective well being of a sample of 227 Tongans via self-report. Using items adapted from the Subjective Well Being Inventory (SUBI; Nagpal and Sell, 1985; Sell and Nagpal, 1992), participants rated their level of overall life satisfaction along with their perceptions of well-beingin a number of other more specific life domains. Results indicated that mean ratings of global life satisfaction were generally positive. A factor analysis of the remaining domain-specific well-being items indicated that items loaded on to one of two factors dealing with overall positive or negative evaluations of these life areas. Importantly, these scale items stressed the importance of social and kin relations in contributing to overall well-being. In terms of demographic variables, mature respondents reported greater levels of overall life satisfaction and well-being as compared to youthful respondents. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

Child fatality review teams: a content analysis of social policy

Child fatality review teams (CFRTs) have existed since the 1970s; yet, a comprehensive understanding of their procedures, practices, and outcomes is lacking. This article addresses that gap in this study of CFRT state statutes. Findings indicate CFRT laws address nine areas of practice, from team composition, to purpose, to outcomes. Results also indicate that laws address prevention three times as often as investigation, but that both areas are related to state crime rates.     

Individualized Marriage and the Integration of Resources

In individualized marriages, spouses maintain independence in their relationship. In individualized marriages, do married couples manage their money in pooled accounts or do they keep separate accounts? We answer this question with the 2002 International Social Survey Programme (N = 18,587;31 country contexts) and examine how variation in the individualization of marriage is related to variation in resource integration within marriage. We make two contributions. First, we found that individualization matters. When couples understood and practiced individualized marriage, they were more likely to keep their money separate. The presence of individualized approaches to marriage and individualized alternatives to marriage within a country were also related to a higher likelihood of couples keeping money separate. Second, we found that integrating resources remained a constitutive part of marriage. Despite trends toward individualization and growing alternatives to marriage, most married couples continued to pool their money.     

Perceived Stigma and Depression among Black Adolescents in Outpatient Treatment

Despite the high prevalence of depression among children and adolescents, most that need mental health treatment do not seek care. This is especially true for ethnic minority adolescents. Prior research has shown that perceived stigma may act as a barrier to the initiation of and adherence to depression treatment, yet few studies have examined the relationship between stigma and depression among Black adolescents. This exploratory study examined the relationship between Black adolescents' depression severity and their current level of perceived stigma in an outpatient sample. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with a clinical sample of adolescents referred for mental health services at a community-based outpatient clinic (n =108), participating in a prospective pilot study on adolescents' patterns of mental health service use. The analyses revealed that greater depression severity was significantly associated with higher perceived stigma (p < .05), particularly among females. The results also suggest that Black adolescents appear to exhibit an appropriate level of self-assessment regarding their need for mental health services. These results are interpreted in relation to previous literature, and limitations and directions for future research are discussed.     

The Failure of Practical Intuition: How Forward‐Coverage Inventory Targets Cause the Landslide Effect

Seasonal demand for products is common at many companies including Kraft Foods, Case New Holland, and Elmer's Products. This study documents how these, and many other companies, experience bloated inventories as they transition from a low season to a high season and a severe drop in service levels as they transition from a high season to a low season. Kraft has termed this latter phenomenon the “landslide effect.” In this study, we present real examples of the landslide effect and attribute its root cause to a common industry practice employing forward days of coverage when setting inventory targets. While inventory textbooks and academic articles prescribe correct ways to set inventory targets, forward coverage is the dominant method employed in practice. We investigate the magnitude and drivers of the landslide effect through both an analytical model and a case study. We find that the effect increases with seasonality, lead time, and demand uncertainty and can lower service by an average of ten points at a representative company. While the logic is initially counterintuitive to many practitioners, companies can avoid the landslide effect by using demand forecasts over the preceding lead time to calculate safety stock targets.     

Incentive Contracts for Managing a Project with Uncertain Completion Time

We examine two time‐related incentive project management contracts (C1 and C2 contracts) when the manager conducts a reverse auction. Under the C1 contract, the contractor with the lowest bid price wins; however, the manager imposes a linear and symmetric incentive/disincentive for early/late completion according to a pre‐specified due date. Under the C2 contract, the winning contractor has the lowest composite score that is based on the quoted price and the quoted due date; however, in addition to the linear and symmetric penalty/incentive, the contractor is subject to an additional penalty for late completion. While the C2 contract is more sophisticated than the C1 contract (in terms of the number of decisions that each party has to make), our analysis reveals that, unless the project is truly urgent, the more complicated C2 contract adds no value to the manager— the simple C1 contract will suffice.     

Interethnic Romantic Relationships: Enacting Affiliative Ethnic Identities

Through in‐depth interviews with respondents who were in interethnic relationships (N = 28), the authors extended and refined a new approach to mate selection based on affiliative ethnic identities (T. Jimenez, 2010). Rather than assimilation and a breakdown of ethnic group boundaries, they found that people pursued interethnic relationships because of the ethnic differences they include. These relationships gave them access to an affiliate ethnic or multicultural identity. This perspective does not challenge but rather complements existing theories of mate selection, including the role of opportunity structures, exchange of benefits, and growing acceptance of or freedom to pursue interethnic relationships. Ethnic differences can remain central as people meet, fall in love, and marry across these differences.     

Varieties of Entrepreneurial Capitalism: The Culture of Entrepreneurship and Structural Inequalities of Work and Business Creation

As the labor market has changed over recent decades, a distinctive culture has evolved in tandem, epitomized by the innovation and dynamism of Silicon Valley. This culture of entrepreneurship celebrates autonomy and risk‐taking, legitimizes a shift toward flexible, contingent, and precarious work, and compels workers to continuously network, self‐improve, and self‐promote. This culture has helped to disseminate entrepreneurial practices to sectors of the economy traditionally characterized by stability and job security. We shed light on these changes by putting forward a new typology distinguishing between four ideal types of entrepreneurial activity: Silicon Valley entrepreneurship, Main Street entrepreneurship, corporate entrepreneurship, and entrepreneurial self‐employment. Each adopts the language and normative behaviors of the culture of entrepreneurship, but the ‘entrepreneurs’ working within these domains enjoy starkly different levels of creative and financial autonomy. Integrating scholarship on economic sociology, work and labor, cultural sociology, and critical theory, we explore the underlying dynamics of entrepreneurship that cut across institutional contexts in unexpected and sometimes contradictory ways. The conceptual understanding of entrepreneurship we put forward recognizes both entrepreneurship's relationship to past forms of business creation and its contemporary cultural influence, while also underscoring the various constraints and inequalities intrinsic to these forms of market activity.