Mindfulness-based programme on the psychological health of pregnant women

Problem

Preparation of psychological well-being is an important component of antenatal education for childbirth, but few courses focus on this component.

The New Zealand Refugee Resettlement Strategy: implications for identity,acculturation and civic participation

The process of resettlement as a refugee often involves adapting to, and reconciling with, a new social reality. The complexities associated with acculturation across age, gender and family dynamics are navigated within greater social contexts that may encourage or hinder the processes of adjustment and settlement. This paper addresses the recent New Zealand Refugee Resettlement Strategy in light of contemporary theoretical developments with regard to the segmented assimilation thesis and the forms of social capital that, when available, may be mobilised to help refugee-background individuals, families and communities to forge new routes for participation and belonging. In particular, we examine the strategy and its five main goals of self-sufficiency, participation, health and well-being, education and housing as these relate to the possibilities and tensions at play in the wider acculturation experiences of New Zealand's diverse refugee populations.     

Marriage, divorce, and legal change: new evidence from England and Wales

In this article, we explain the evolution of divorce rates in England and Wales over the post-war period. Following the approach of the predominantly North American literature in this area, we focus on the liberalization of divorce law and socioeconomic factors as determinants of the divorce rate. In line with the development of the literature, we find that the introduction of liberalized, no-fault divorce law had a significant effect on the divorce rate in England and Wales. The finding that the law affects the divorce rate is consistent with the view that marriage is characterized by indivisibilities that inhibit Coasian bargaining.     

A theory of quality-related differences in retail margins: why there is a 'premium' on premium gasoline

This paper develops a theory of vertical and horizontal product differentiation to explain observed price-cost margin differentials for goods that differ in quality. The difference in price-cost margins between the high- and low-quality goods is shown to depend positively on consumers' average valuation for incremental increases in quality and positively on the distance to each competitor's closest rival. These predictions are largely supported using an extensive station-level data set of premium and regular unleaded gasoline prices from the Los Angeles Basin area from 1992–1995.     

Conditional Score Tests for Heteroscedasticity in the Two-Way Error Components Model

This paper extends the one-way heteroskedasticity score test of Holly and Gardiol (2000, In: Krishnakumar, J, Ronchetti, E (Eds.), Panel Data Econometrics: Future Directions, North-Holland, Amsterdam, pp. 199–211) to two conditional Lagrange Multiplier (LM) tests of heteroskedasticity under contiguous alternatives within the two-way error components model framework. In each case, the derivation of Rao's efficient score statistics for testing heteroskedasticity is first obtained. Then, based on a specific set of assumptions, the asymptotic distribution of the score under contiguous alternatives is established. Finally, the expression for the score test statistic in the presence of heteroskedasticity and related asymptotic local powers of these score test statistics are derived and discussed.     

Scheduling a multi-stage production system with startup delays

The problem treated is that of multi-stage scheduling as affected by the interdependence of successive stages. An algorithm is developed which incorporates startup delays as analytical functions of cycle times and production rates at adjacent stages. This is accomplished in part by imposing integer multiple restrictions on the relationship between the cycle times at adjacent stages. Total cost is then minimized for a given set of integer multiples.     

A NOTE ON THE ASSESSMENT OF THE RESULTS IN A DISCRIMINANT ANALYSIS *

This paper describes two statistical measures that can be applied to the analysis of the results in a discriminant analysis. These measures, similar to R² and R² in multiple regression, assess the “goodness of fit” of the model or the degree of separation established by the discriminant functions among the groups in the sample and in the population.     

The dynamic,complex and diverse living and care arrangements of young New Zealanders: implications for policy

The living arrangements of young people in New Zealand are diverse and often complex. In this article we report the range of care and living arrangements of 209 15-year-old New Zealanders, 47 of whom identified as Māori. These young people were participants in the second generation of a cohort study. Data were collected from their parents via a life history calendar and analysed for variety and consistency of care arrangements, household membership and transitions. Few participants had a consistent pattern of parental care arrangements and most had experienced multiple changes in household composition and frequent changes of address. We conclude that the whānau/family lives of many young New Zealanders are complex and dynamic. These observations contrast with the conventional notions of family life that form the basis for New Zealand’s family policies. We argue that social policies and services impacting on young people need to reflect the lived reality of young people if they are to meet young people’s needs.