‘Someone of Your Own to Love’: Experiences of Being Looked After as Influences on Teenage Pregnancy

Previous research has shown that children and young people who are looked after are vulnerable to poor life outcomes, including early pregnancy. This paper examines how experiences of being looked after may contribute to teenage pregnancy. Using in‐depth interviews, data were collected from 63 young people recently looked after who are aged 15–24 and 78 professionals, across four research sites. The young people reported feelings of loneliness, rejection, stigma and not being able to trust others, emotions which seriously influenced their decisions about becoming parents. The findings suggest that such young people may benefit from a greater degree of emotional and practical support throughout their lives in care. Copyright © 2006 Institute of Education, University of London.     

HIGH SCHOOL CHOICES AND THE GENDER GAP IN STEM

Women are less likely than men to graduate with a degree in science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM). We use detailed administrative data for a recent cohort of Ontario high school students, combined with data from the province's university admission system, to analyze the sources of this gap. We show that entry to STEM programs is mediated through an index of STEM readiness that depends on end‐of‐high school courses in math and science. Most of the gender gap in STEM entry can be traced to differences in the share of college entrants who are STEM‐ready; only a small share is attributable to differences in the choice of major conditional on readiness. We then use high school course data to decompose the gender gap in STEM readiness into two channels: one reflecting the gap in the fraction of high school students with the necessary prerequisites to enter STEM, the other arising from differences in the overall fractions of females and males who enter university. The gender gap in the fraction of males and females with STEM prerequisites is small. The primary driver of the gap in STEM readiness is the low rate of university entry by nonscience‐oriented males. (JEL I21, 28, I20)     

RISK SHARING,COMMITMENT, AND INFORMATION: AN EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS

This paper describes and analyzes the results of a unique field experiment especially designed to test the effects of the level of commitment and information available to individuals when sharing risk. We find that limiting exogenously provided commitmentis associated with less risk sharing, whereas limiting information on defections can be associated with more risk sharing. These results can be understood by distinguishing between intrinsic and extrinsic incentives, and by recognizing that social sanctions are costly to inflict or that individuals suffer from time‐inconsistent preferences. Comparing the groups formed within our experiment with the real life risk‐sharing networks in a few villages allows us to test the external validity of our experiment and suggests that the results are salient to our understanding of risk‐sharing arrangements observed in developing countries. (JEL: C93, D71, D81, O12)     

Dual-earner parents’ work-family time: the effects of atypical work patterns and non-parental childcare

Finding time to both earn money and raise children is demanding. Within the constraints and opportunities of their employment and social policies affecting work and family, parents seeking to manage their time may use a number of strategies. For example, they can outsource childcare or adopt atypical work patterns: non-standard work schedules, self employment, working from home. In this paper we compare the effects of these measures on the household time use and gender division of labour of dual-earner couples with children, using data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics Time Use Survey, 2006 (n?=?772 couples). We find that these strategies do help households manage their work and family time. However, this is almost exclusively a result of women changing their time use. Such measures generally enable mothers, not fathers, to adjust paid work around family commitments, and offer little amelioration of gendered divisions of labour. This reinforces normative gender-role expectations and is probably a result of institutional constraints, including sparse social policy and workplace support for mothers?? full-time employment and for fathers?? involvement in childcare.     

Human papillomavirus vaccine and Pap tests on college campuses: How do historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) measure up?

ABSTRACT

Objective: The availability of cervical cancer prevention services at college health centers was compared between historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and non-HBCUs.

Methods: Four-year, non–primarily distant learning colleges, matching HBCUs with randomly selected non-HBCUs within the same states (N = 136) were examined. Data were collected (2014–2015 academic year) on the availability of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine and Pap tests at college health centers. HBCUs were compared with non-HBCUs using conditional logistic regression, and correlates of offering these services were identified. Results: Many institutions did not offer HPV vaccine or Pap tests. Fewer HBCUs offered HPV vaccine (18% vs 53%) and Pap tests (50% vs 76%) compared with non-HBCUs. In multivariable analyses, HBCUs remained less likely than non-HBCUs to offer HPV vaccine (odds ratio [OR] = 0.07, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.02–0.26) and Pap tests (OR = 0.19, 95% CI: 0.06–0.61). Conclusions: Greater effort is needed to make cervical cancer prevention services available at colleges, especially at HBCUs.     

Non-parental childcare,time pressure and the gendered division of paid work,domestic work and parental childcare

What impact does out-sourcing childcare have on the time parents spend on paid work, domestic work and childcare, and how they share these tasks between themselves? Using data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Time Use Survey (TUS) 2006 we investigate the effects of formal and informal non-parental childcare on the time use of couples with children aged 0–4 years (N=348). We examine associations between non-parental care and (1) couples' combined time in paid work, domestic work and childcare, (2) parents' time separately by gender in paid work, domestic work and childcare (subdivided by activity type) and (3) parents' self-reported time pressure. Total workloads (the sum of paid work, domestic work and childcare) are neither higher nor lower when non-parental care is used, either for households combined or for each gender separately. The way time is spent, and how activities are divided by gender does differ, however. For mothers the use of any non-parental care and more hours in formal care is associated with more paid work hours, less childcare time and higher self-reported time pressure. Fathers' time is more constant, but they report higher subjective time pressure with increasing hours of formal non-parental care.     

Parenting practices as potential mechanisms for child adjustment following mass trauma

Trauma research has identified a link between parental adjustment and children's functioning and the sometimes ensuing intergenerational impact of traumatic events. The effects of traumatic events on children have been demonstrated to be mediated through their impact on children's parents. However, until now, little consideration has been given to the separate and more proximal mechanism of parenting practices as potential mediators between children's adjustment and traumatic events. To shed some light in this arena, we review literature on trauma, adversity, and resilience, and discuss how parenting practices may mediate trauma and adverse environmental contexts. Using a social interaction learning perspective (Forgatch & Knutson, 2002; Patterson, 2005), we propose a prevention research framework to examine the role that parenting practices may play in influencing children's adjustment in the wake of trauma exposure. The article concludes by providing a specific model and role for evidence-based parenting interventions for children exposed to mass trauma.     

Sharpest Tool in the Shed - Accounting Concepts for Managing the Collections Budget

Abstract

This segment of Sharpest Tool in the Shed provides an overview of acquisitions accounting principles and how these concepts can help acquisitions staff and budget managers monitor, track, and project the collections budget to prevent overspending or underspending. Focusing primarily on encumbrances, this article will review the basic accounting equation for library funds, identify common encumbrance problems and pitfalls, and briefly discuss the impact of library system migrations on encumbrances and fund data.