Impulsivity and household indebtedness: Evidence from real life

Using a probit model, we estimated the role of emotional factors in determining household participation in the debt market, after controlling for such traditional economic predictors as age, level of education, income, wealth, and work status. A sample of 445 Caucasian subjects selected among fulltime employees at international asset management companies underwent the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) while skin conductance was recorded, and a series of questions related to their demographic-socio-economic profile. Aside from confirming the role played by traditional explanatory variables commonly used as determinants of household indebtedness, results revealed the significant influence of individuals’ impulsivity in making debt decisions. Impulsivity predicted unsecured debt (i.e. consumer credit), but it was not significantly associated with secured debt (i.e. mortgages). Neither presence of a somatic marker to guide decisions nor performance at the IGT predicted real-life indebtedness decisions in this non-clinical sample. The notion that “non-rational” factors influence debt demand has been largely ignored and raises concerns about the risk of over-indebtedness for impulsive individuals.     

“Me Against the World”: Parental Uncertainty Management at Home Following Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Discharge

This study explored the uncertainty management processes experienced by parents at home following their child’s discharge from the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). In-depth, semistructured interviews were conducted with 18 mothers and fathers whose children were cared for and “graduated” from NICU units in seven different hospitals from 6 to 183 days (M = 63.58 days). Interviews revealed three types of parental uncertainties: parental role shift, caring through equipment, and adherence to provider advice. Parents relied on three strategies to manage these uncertainties: reorientation, calibrating appropriate responses, and limiting exposure. Findings highlight how parental experiences, communication interactions, and expectations in the NICU complicate parental uncertainties postdischarge and negatively affect parental perceptions of self-efficacy, readiness, and competency. Our findings suggest that family-centered care can be enhanced by redefining discharge as an ongoing process that necessitates distinct uncertainty management practices to negotiate tensions between protecting preterm children and supporting parents.     

A Second Best Theory of Institutional Quality

This paper illustrates a theory of the second best where the constraints to the achievement of the optimum are of institutional nature. We consider the effects of corruption and bad governance on the public decision to privatize the provision of a service when contracts are incomplete and there is asymmetric information. We show that both corruption and bad governance are detrimental to welfare, but that removing only one of the two is not necessarily beneficial if the other is still present. The theory supplies a possible explanation to the controversial empirical evidence on the economic effects of corruption.     

Evaluation of Attitudes Toward Same-Sex Parenting in the Italian Context: Adaptation of a French Questionnaire

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the psychometric properties of the Italian version of a French scale to detect attitudes toward same-sex parenting. The Italian sample was split into two subsamples. On one, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted to detect the factor structure of the Italian scale, and on the other, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was run to find the data’s best fit model. The scales’ internal consistency was evaluated using Cronbach’s alpha. The questionnaire’s convergent validity was also evaluated. EFA extracted a four-factor solution, in accordance with the original French scale’s validation study. CFA showed that the translated scale had good consistency, similar to that of the original version, showing satisfactory internal consistency for three of four subscales. There will be benefits to further validation studies of the translated scale on the Italian population and it may possibly be innovative and useful in both research and social fields.     

Clustering to reduce regional heterogeneity: A spanish case-study

Statistical methods of dimension reduction and classification are used to obtain homogeneous local-area clustering with regard to the most relevant demographic parameters. The dimension reduction is conducted in two stages using Principal Component Analysis and a modified k-mean procedure is proposed to determine the final clusters. This clustering will be useful in future demographic studies at a local level, in particular to obtain forecasts of demographic rates and population projections. The region of Castile and León in Spain is used to illustrate the method. A Poisson model is used to explore the advantages of the new clustering over the more conventional classification based on provinces.     

A quantile regression perspective on external preference mapping

AStA Advances in Statistical Analysis - External preference mapping is widely used in marketing and R&D divisions to understand the consumer behaviour. The most common preference map is...     

The Role of Declarative Pointing in Developing a Theory of Mind

It has been suggested that the child's capacity to represent and influence another person's attentional state about an object or event in triadic interactions (declarative communication) is an early manifestation of social understanding in the second year of life. This study tested the following predictions: First, in typically developing children declarative pointing emerges later than imperative pointing. Second, the capacity to use declarative pointing is linked to the understanding of other's intentions (i.e., to the capacity to reproduce other's intended acts after seeing failed attempts to perform these acts). The study was conducted in 2 phases. In the first phase, the parents of 133 typically developing infants completed the Questionnaire on Pointing Gesture, which allowed the identification of babies able to use pointing in familiar contexts. Of these children, 40 participated in the experiment and were tested on 2 tasks: a new task designed to elicit production and comprehension of imperative and declarative pointing, and a modified version of Meltzoff's (1995) task designed to assess understanding of others' intentions. Tasks were administered to each participant in 2 sessions carried out at 3‐month intervals. Children were 12 months old on average at the 1st session and 15 months old on average at the 2nd session. Results showed that children produced and understood declarative pointing later than imperative pointing. Furthermore, production of declarative pointing was clearly linked to understanding of others' intentions. No relation was found between production and comprehension of imperative pointing and intention understanding. Implications from the association between declarative pointing and inferring other's intentions are discussed.     

Moving communities: A process of negotiation with a Gypsy minority for empowerment

This paper describes the process by which the relationship between university workers and members of a Gypsy community evolved. Transformation in the relationships between the two, in terms of knowledge, trust, and affect, in turn transformed the nature of the work undertaken. What started as research on the community changed into research within and of the community. The process is discussed in terms of empowerment, community psychological practice and participatory action research. Este artículo describe el proceso de cambio de la relación establecida entre miembros de una universidad y miembros de una comunidad gitana. Las transformaciones que dicha relación experimentó, en términos de conocimiento, confianza y afecto, acabaron alterando la naturaleza del propio proyecto. Lo que empezó siendo una investigación sobre una comunidad, fue transformándose en una investigación en la comunidad, con la colaboración de la comunidad. El artículo discute este proceso se discute en términos de 'empowerment', psicología comunitaria, e investigación-acción.