Why do immigrants have longer periods of unemployment? Swiss evidence

Immigrant groups, especially those originating from non‐European countries, tend to experience disadvantages in the labour market and to be overrepresented among the recipients of welfare benefits in many European countries. In the public debate, this outcome is sometimes explained with reference to migration‐related factors such as weaker work values than natives (i.e., acceptability of remaining on benefits), smaller and lower quality of informal networks and lower levels of psychological well‐being. Indeed, we find that these factors significantly influence unemployment duration in the expected direction. However, they explain only a small share of the overall disadvantage that some immigrant groups experience. We conclude that at least some of the large differences we observed in unemployment durations are likely to be due to other factors including discrimination by employers.     

Independence Giving or Autonomy Taking? Childhood Predictors of Decision‐Sharing Patterns Between Young Adolescents and Parents

This article reports on a study of whether young adolescents make decisions autonomously, share decisions with their parents, or have decisions made for them by parents. Using a sample of 2,632 12‐ and 13‐year‐olds from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 Child Survey we examine how childhood behavior and competence influence decision patterns in young adolescence. Individual models are used to test whether traits predict decision patterns, and sibling fixed‐effects models allow us to estimate effects of child characteristics net of stable family contributions. In both individual and sibling fixed‐effects models, children with higher verbal ability share more decision making with parents. Children with greater mathematical aptitude and children who are impulsive are more likely to make decisions without consulting parents. The impulsivity effect is stronger in families with fewer resources. These results suggest that children directly and indirectly influence household decision‐sharing patterns.     

Evaluation of a Goal Attainment Program using the Goal Attainment Scale for Psychiatric In-patients in vocational rehabilitation

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the newly developed clinical protocol "Goal Attainment Program" to assist psychiatric in-patients in Hong Kong to formulate realistic life goals, with a view to shortening their length of stay and motivating them to join in work rehabilitation. The Goal Attainment Scale for Psychiatric In-patients was validated and used to evaluate the change in life goals after attending the four-session Goal Attainment Program. The validated 10-item version of the Goal Attainment Scale for Psychiatric In-patients (GASPI-10) was found to have good inter-rater reliability (rho_{I} ranged from 0.64 to 0.88,p < 0.01; N = 26) and internal consistency (alpha of rater 1 = 0.92, rater 2 = 0.87, N = 26). Twenty-five chronic psychiatric in-patients of Castle Peak Hospital in Hong Kong completed the Goal Attainment Program and were assessed using a pre and post-test quasi-experimental design. The T-score computation of GASPI-10 indicated that 92% of patients showed improvement in goal attainment. Some 92% of patients stated that they were willing to leave hospital, and 72% of participants planned to seek paid employment upon discharge after completion of the program. The overall results of this study verified the effectiveness of the Goal Attainment Program in instilling hope in chronic patients with schizophrenia and the use of the Goal Attainment Scale in documenting patients' progress.     

Divorce in Hong Kong SAR, 1999–2011: A Review of 1,208 Family Court Cases

Divorce has increased dramatically in Hong Kong and elsewhere in Asia since the 2000s, whereas the West has seen a decline, suggesting there are factors specific to Hong Kong relating to divorce. This study examined a random sample of 1,208 divorce cases from the Hong Kong Family Court between 1999 and 2011. These marriages lasted 11 to 12 years on average, and most divorces occurred between the 5th and 7th years of marriage. Couples with a divorce history had a higher divorce risk, regardless of whether they had children, and predivorce marriage duration was positively associated with the number of children. The grounds cited for divorce indicate a shift toward no-fault divorce. Most petitioners were women, and mothers were generally granted child custody. Cross-border marriages and remarriages accounted for about one third of divorces, reflecting the impacts of differing sociocultural backgrounds and divorce history. The study’s implications for policymaking and service provision are discussed.     

Decision-making by children

In this paper, we examine the determinants of decision-making power by children and young adolescents. Moving beyond previous economic models that treat children as goods consumed by adults, we develop a noncooperative model of parental control of child behavior and child resistance. Using child reports of decision-making and psychological and cognitive measures from the NLSY79 Child Supplement, we examine the determinants of shared and sole decision-making based on indices created from seven domains of child activity. We find that the determinants of sole decision-making by the child and shared decision-making with parents are quite distinct: sharing decisions appears to be a form of parental investment in child development rather than a simple stage in the transfer of authority. In addition, we find that indicators of child capabilities and preferences affect reports of decision-making authority in ways that suggest child demand for autonomy as well as parental discretion in determining these outcomes.

Validity of the Cognitive Style Index: Replication and Extension

Allinson and Hayes (1996) in the reporting of a new measure, the Cognitive Style Index , made a plea for replication and extension of their work. Using a sample of over one thousand subjects the present study investigated the CSI Õs construct and concurrent validity. A maximum likelihood factor analysis obtained broadly similar results to those of Allinson and Hayes. No relationship was observed between the CSI and an alternative measure of style (the Cognitive Styles Analysis ). It is argued that cognitive style is independent of gender but that style is related to job level (lower scores were associated with increased seniority). Some evidence was presented which suggests there may be differences in cognitive style between Hong Kong and UK small business owner managers     

An approach to aircraft seat comfort using interface pressure mapping

The objective of the present study is to propose a method to dynamically evaluate discomfort of a passenger seat by measuring the interface pressure between the occupant and the seat during the performance of the most common activities of a typical flight. This article reports the results of resting and reading studies performed in a simulator that represents the interior of a commercial aircraft.     

The Impact of Female Emigration on Families and the Welfare State in Countries of Origin: The Case of Romania

The heavy reliance on foreign labour in the care sector by Western countries (particularly those in southern Europe) is fuelling a growing feminization of migration in many emigration countries. This migration has a new impact on the countries of origin: it adds the problem of “care drain” to the better known “skill drain” problem ‐‐ which has already been extensively examined in the literature. In this article, we investigate how this phenomenon is taking place in Romania. In particular, the article explores the compensatory strategies put in place by Romanian families and local welfare states to limit the impact of care drain. Furthermore, it considers the persistence of a “care shortage” problem, which constrains both individuals and local institutions in Romania and requires the establishment of new social and cooperation policies. The research is based on the results of qualitative interviews conducted between the winter and spring of 2006 with 30 Romanian female care‐workers living in Turin and Rome, and with 40 family members of female care‐workers (often belonging to the same family units as the women interviewed in Italy) in Romania. With a view to gaining a more comprehensive overview of the phenomenon, more than 35 privileged observers were also interviewed in both countries in which the field work was carried out.     

Conceptualizing and Validating Marital Quality in Beijing: A Pilot Study

Since the inception of the economic reform, marital relationship in urban China has undergone dramatic transformations. Though the burgeoning body of scholarly research has demonstrated that marital quality has increasingly become an important aspect of family life among married persons in urban China, both the conceptualization and measurement of marital quality remain underdeveloped. The purpose of this pilot study is to develop and validate a comprehensive and culturally appropriate marital quality scale, namely the Chinese Marital Quality Scale (CMQS). Results from the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) conducted on a sample of 387 married persons from Beijing indicate that the CMQS can be conceptualized as a two-factorial and multidimensional construct, encompassing marital happiness, marital interaction, marital disagreement, marital problem, and marital instability. Additional statistical analyses also indicate that the CMQS has exhibited satisfactory reliability and concurrent validity. It is thus concluded that the CMQS is a reliable and valid instrument to measure marital quality in contemporary Beijing and possibly in other Chinese cities.