Telecare for women with postpartum depression

Data were collected to pilot test the feasibility and effects of telecare as an intervention for depression in a small group of mothers with postpartum depression. Treatment involved a 10-week telecare therapy consisting of three related aspects: cognitive-behavioral therapy, relaxation techniques, and problem-solving strategies. Beck Depression Inventory II scores were significantly lower after telecare treatment. Women identified psycho-education as the greatest help to them.     

Discrimination of AR,MA and ARMA time series models

The problem of discrimination between two stationary ARMA time series models is considered, and in particular AR(p), MA(p), ARMA(1,1) models. The discriminant based on the likelihood ration leads to a quadratic form that is generally too complicated to evaluated explicitly. The discriminant can be expressed approximately as a linear combination of independent chi–squared random varianles each with one degree of freedom, the coefficients, of which are eigenvalues of cumbersome matrices. An analytical solution which gives the coefficients approximately is suggested.     

Darling–Erdős limit results for change-point detection in panel data

We wish to test the null hypothesis if the means of N panels remain the same during the observation period of length T. A quasi-likelihood argument leads to self-normalized statistics whose limit distribution under the null hypothesis is double exponential. The main results are derived assuming that the each panel is based on independent observations and then extended to linear processes. The proofs are based on an approximation of the sum of squared CUSUM processes using the Skorokhod embedding scheme. A simulation study illustrates that our results can be used in case of small and moderate N and T. We apply our results to detect change in the “corruption index”.     

Long memory stochastic volatility : A bayesian approach

We propose a simulation-based Bayesian approach to the analysis of long memory stochastic volatility models, stationary and nonstationary. The main tool used to reduce the likelihood function to a tractable form is an approximate state-space representation of the model, A data set of stock market returns is analyzed with the proposed method. The approach taken here allows a quantitative assessment of the empirical evidence in favor of the stationarity, or nonstationarity, of the instantaneous volatility of the data.     

Optimal designs for experiments with mixtures: a survey

This is a survey article on known results about analytic solutions and numerical solutions of optimal designs for various regression models for experiments with mixtures. The regression models include polynomial models, models containing homogeneous functions, models containing inverse terms and ratios, log contrast models, models with quantitative variables, and mod els containing the amount of mixture, Optimality criteria considered include D-, A-, E-,φ_p- and I_λ-Optimalities. Uniform design and uniform optimal design for mixture components, and efficiencies of the {q,2} simplex-controid design are briefly discussed.     

Examining risk and protective factors on progression of romantic relational aggression among young adults: Parental control,parental care,and peer social support

Abstract

Romantic relational aggression is related to numerous mental health consequences but risk and protective factors of perpetrating this type of aggression, historically, have been unclear. This study fills in the research gap by evaluating the impact of parental control, parental care, and peer social support on later perpetration in romantic relational aggression among 84 predominately Chinese college students. Results revealed the positive association between parental control and perpetration in romantic relational aggression, however, this association diminished in the presence of high peer social support (HSS). Despite insignificance in the main effect, parental care was negatively correlated with later perpetration in romantic relationship in the HSS group while a positive association was found in the low peer social support (LSS) group. These highlights provided evidences how parental control and parental care during childhood could be risk factors for later romantic relational aggression as well as how current social support from peer could serve as a protective factor on the negative influence from parent–child relationships.     

Changes in Employment Uncertainty and the Fertility Intention–Realization Link: An Analysis Based on the Swiss Household Panel

How do changes in employment uncertainty matter for fertility? Empirical studies on the impact of employment uncertainty on reproductive decision-making offer a variety of conclusions, ranging from gender and socio-economic differences in the effect of employment uncertainty on fertility intentions and behaviour, to the effect of employment on changes in fertility intentions. This article analyses the association between a change in subjective employment uncertainty and fertility intentions and behaviour by distinguishing male and female partners’ employment uncertainty, and examines the variation in these associations by education. Using a sample of men and women living in a couple from the Swiss Household Panel (SHP 2002–2011), we examine through multinomial analysis how changes in employment uncertainty and selected socio-demographic factors are related to individual childbearing decisions. Our results show strong gendered effects of changes in employment uncertainty on the revision of reproductive decisions among the highly educated population.     

Exact joint forecast regions for vector autoregressive models

Assume that a k-element vector time series follows a vector autoregressive (VAR) model. Obtaining simultaneous forecasts of the k elements of the vector time series is an important problem. Based on the Bonferroni inequality, Lutkepohl (1991) derived the procedures which construct the conservative joint forecast regions for the VAR model. In this paper, we propose to use an exact method which provides shorter prediction intervals than does the Bonferroni method. Three illustrative examples are given for comparison of the various VAR forecasting procedures.     

Shared and unique characteristics of school,cyber and family victimization among school-aged children in Hong Kong

Victimizations from online and offline violence, such as sibling violence, school violence and witness of family violence, both have negative associations with victims' mental health and may share similar individual and family characteristics. This study aims to explore the common and differentiated characteristics in the prediction of school, cyber and family victimization and whether there are unique associations within these victimization types. We employed a two-stage stratified sampling method to collect a representative sample of 5567 children aged 3–17 from a cross-sectional, school-based survey in Hong Kong. Results showed that all types of child victimization, including sibling, school and cyberbullying, as well as the witness of violence at home, were positively correlated with each other. Children's age was positively related to the occurrence and cooccurrence of all types of child victimization. Frequent family residential mobility and parents' higher education level were positively related to all types of children's victimization. The scores of all aspects of children's paediatric quality of life were found negatively related to children's school victimization. This study provides insight into the unique and shared elements of children's online and offline victimization. Knowledge of the distinguished familial gradients of child victimization at home and beyond could benefit the development of child victimization prevention.     

Out of Sight,Out of Mind? Patterns of Transnational Contact Among Chinese and Indian Immigrants in Toronto1

There has been considerable discussion in recent decades about the integration patterns of new immigrants. Recognizing advancements in technology and the increased economic integration of countries, some researchers have suggested that the emerging integration trend for immigrants is the transnational pattern, whereby immigrants maintain contact with the home countries. To advance the discussion, this study focuses on general transnational contact, a basic form of transnational activity. The study draws from recently collected large‐scale survey data to explore the patterns of transnational contact within two recent immigrant groups, Asian Indians and Chinese, in Toronto. Our findings show that only a small percentage of immigrants maintain intensive and extensive transnational contact. As well, our findings are less consistent with the transnational perspective than with the assimilation perspective on the effects of socioeconomic background on transnational contacts.