Patients' race, ethnicity, language, and trust in a physician

We examine whether racial/ethnic/language-based variation in measured levels of patients' trust in a physician depends on the survey items used to measure that trust. Survey items include: (1) a direct measure of patients' trust that the doctor will put the patient's medical needs above all other considerations, and (2) three indirect measures of trust asking about expectations for specific physician behaviors, including referring to a specialist, being influenced by insurance rules, and performing unnecessary tests. Using a national survey, we find lower scores on indirect measures of trust in a physician among minority users of health care services than among non-Hispanic white users. In contrast, the direct measure of trust does not differ among non-Hispanic whites and nonwhites once we control for potential confounding factors. The results indicate that racial/ethnic/language-based differences exist primarily in those aspects of patients' trust in a physician that reflect specific physician behaviors.     

Designing a household survey to address seasonality in child care arrangements

In household telephone surveys, a long field period may be required to maximize the response rate and achieve adequate sample sizes. However, long field periods can be problematic when measures of seasonally affected behavior are sought. Surveys of child care use are one example because child care arrangements vary by season. Options include varying the questions posed about school-year and summer arrangements or posing retrospective questions about child care use for the school year only. This article evaluates the bias associated with the use of retrospective questions about school-year child care arrangements in the 1999 National Survey of America's Families. The authors find little evidence of bias and hence recommend that future surveys use the retrospective approach.     

Ungleichheiten auf dem ?sterreichischen Arbeitsmarkt

Immigrants tend to be less successful on the Austrian labour market compared to their native-born counterparts. Prior research on the reasons for ethnic inequalities focuses mainly on individual characteristics as well as on their context dependence. Using microcensus data, this article explores the signalling value of foreign and native educational capital on the Austrian labour market. The results show that immigrants born in the new EU-countries, Serbia, or Turkey are exposed to statistical discrimination on the Austrian labour market: immigrants with higher qualifications experience disadvantages while those with lower qualifications are advantaged. The returns for second generation immigrants are close to those for Austrians without immigrant background.     

Level and change of group-focused enmity in Germany: unconditional and conditional latent growth curve models with four panel waves

In this study, we investigate and explain the level and change of six elements of group-focused enmity (GFE; see Zick et al. in J. Soc. Issues 64(2):363–383, 2008) in Germany between 2002 and 2006: racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, homophobia, exclusion of homeless people and support for rights of the established. For the data analysis, a representative 4-year panel study of the adult non-immigrant German population collected during the years 2002–2006 is used, and the development of each GFE component is tested by using an unconditional second-order latent growth curve model (LGM) (with full information maximum likelihood, FIML). We find that the level of 5 of the 6 components (racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, homophobia, exclusion of homeless people) displays an increase at the beginning of the observed period followed by a decrease. However, the sixth aspect, rights of the established, displays a continuous linear increase over time. The different developmental pattern stands in contrast to Allport’s (The nature of prejudice. Perseus Books, Cambridge, 1954) hypothesis for the strong link between the components and their development over time. We try to explain this different developmental pattern by several sociodemographic characteristics. This is performed by using a conditional second-order latent growth curve model.     

Family Well-Being During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Risks of Financial Insecurity and Coping

During the COVID-19 pandemic, families have experienced unprecedented financial and social disruptions. We studied the impact of preexisting psychosocial factors and pandemic-related financial and social disruptions in relation to family well-being among N = 4091 adolescents and parents during early summer 2020, participating in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development^SM Study. Poorer family well-being was linked to prepandemic psychosocial and financial adversity and was associated with pandemic-related material hardship and social disruptions to routines. Parental alcohol use increased risk for worsening of family relationships, while a greater endorsement of coping strategies was mainly associated with overall better family well-being. Financial and mental health support may be critical for family well-being during and after a widespread crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.     

Contextualizing mistreatment in cognitive impairment in Latin America

Mistreatment is an important social outcome of the growing cognitive impairment epidemic, particularly in developing countries. This study aimed to bring to light what is known about mistreatment in cognitively impaired individuals in Latin American Countries. We identified a gap in the literature on this topic that opens the door for future research.     

Relational Interactions Between Immigrant and Native-Born Volunteers: Trust-Building and Integration or Suspicion and Conflict?

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations - We investigate the bridging interactions between migrant-background and native-born volunteers. Bridging interactions are...     

Levelling across the life‐span?: Tracing the face vowel in panel data from the North East of England

Apparent time analysis has revealed that the Tyneside face vowel is the site of two intersecting trends: levelling towards the supra‐northern monophthong as well as the gradual incursion of the southern standard closing diphthong. This article investigates the participation of individual speakers across their life‐span in these ongoing changes in the face vowel. We report on a small‐scale panel sample of six speakers who were recorded in 1971 and again, 42 years later, in 2013. The analysis probes the stability of individual speakers’ grammars, relying on longitudinal ethnographic analysis in the community as well as insights gleaned from sociolinguistic interviews about the speakers’ socio‐demographic trajectory and their presentations of self. The article contributes to the growing body of panel research that aims to determine the scope and the limits of linguistic malleability across speakers’ life histories.     

The role of language skills in the settling-in process – experiences of highly skilled migrants’ accompanying partners in Germany and the UK

ABSTRACT

The role of the family in the international migration of highly skilled migrants has often been disregarded. Highly skilled labour migrants follow a concrete job offer abroad and are structurally integrated into the new environment through the work place. On the contrary, the migration of family members is subject to different conditions since most accompanying partners initially do not work. However, accompanying partners are described as managers of the settling-in process of the whole family [Yeoh, Brenda, and Katie Willis. 2004. “Constructing Masculinities in Transnational Space: Singapore Men on the ‘Regional Beat’.” In Transnational Spaces, edited by Peter Jackson, Philip Crang, and Claire Dwyer, 147–163. London: Routledge] and their experiences can be crucial for the duration of their stay. Our paper explores the experiences of mobility of highly skilled migrants’ accompanying partners in Germany and in the UK with regard to their strategies and practices during the settling-in process. The main focus is on the role of language, the establishment of new social networks and labour market participation. The paper draws on the concept of capital accumulation and conversion [Bourdieu, Pierre. 1986. “The Forms of Capital.” In Education: Culture, Economy, and Society, edited by Albert Henry Halsey, 46–58. New York: Oxford University Press] and asks how partners make use of their cultural capital language after migration. Our paper is based on empirical studies in Germany and in the UK, which focus on the migration and settling-in processes of highly skilled professionals and their families.