Childhood Predictors of Labor Force Participation in Adult Life

This study used longitudinal data from the National Child Development Study in the United Kingdom to investigate childhood predictors of labor force participation outcome (unemployed versus employed or self-employed) at age 33. In women, only general ability at age 11 was related to labor force participation at age 33, whereas in men labor force participation was negatively related to sibship size and domestic tension in childhood and psychological distress in adult life, and was positively related to presence of a partner in adult life, academic motivation in adolescence and educational attainment.     

Management Research and Literary Criticism

This paper is concerned with analysing the role of rhetoric and literary criticism in research and scholarship. It is argued that critical debate and dialogue are the hub of the process of research and scholarship and that social science and literature have more in common than is normally recognized. Most of these debates are carried out in writing and involve elaborate writing and reading of texts – or literature as we prefer to call it. We argue the case that management researchers may have something to learn from literary criticism. A model of literary criticism comprising four different modes of criticism – mimetic, expressive, pragmatic and objective – is described and the implications for management research are suggested. The paper concludes with a number of reflections on what can be gained from this type of analysis and on the role of reflexivity in the research process.     

Employers' Perceptions and Practice in the Employability of Disabled People: a survey of companies in south east UK

This article reports a foundation survey of the extent of employment of disabled people in three sectors of industry--transportation, IT and financial services--in two UK counties, identifies which specific disabilities and limitations on personal skills are seen by employers as the greatest impediments to employment, proposes a new model for analysis by using a modification of established recording models and provides a springboard for further work. The survey reported here was based on structured interviews with personnel officers conducted by telephone. No separate question was devoted to invitation of free comment, but the interview delivery of the questionnaire normally led to a general discussion of the issues raised, and some typical quotes and comments from respondents are included in the Results.     

Pathways from Acculturation Stress to Negative Friend Associations Among Latino Adolescents

The purpose of this study was to examine factors that contribute to the development of friendships for Latino adolescents. Of particular interest are the roles played by acculturation stress, family relationships, and adolescent mental health problems. Path analysis was completed using longitudinal data from 286 Latino adolescents living in North Carolina and Arizona. Results of the analysis suggest that indicators of acculturation stress influence family relationships, which in turn affects adolescent mental health problems and negative friend associations. Parent–adolescent conflict and externalizing problems were the most significant mediators of this relationship. Implications for practice and research are discussed.     

Including the Socially Excluded: The Impact of Government Policy on Vulnerable Families and Children in Need

This paper is based on a literature review undertaken for theOffice of the Deputy Prime Minister in 2004 (Buchanan et al., 2004)on the impact of government policy in England and Wales forchildren aged from birth to thirteen at high risk of socialexclusion as recorded up until May 2004. It describes the conceptof ‘social exclusion’; its meaning for children;the aims of government policy; the specific impact of governmentpolicy on vulnerable families and children in need (includingchildren needing child protection and all ‘looked after’children) as defined by the 1989 Children Act. The paper demonstratesthat although progress has been made, there are still majorareas of concern. The more discursive parts at the end of thepaper reflect the views of the author and later thinking, andwere not part of the original submission to the Social ExclusionUnit.     

Patenting Our Food Future: Intellectual Property Rights and the Global Food System

Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) underpin the new knowledge economy and their ownership and control affects the distribution of wealth and power. This paper explores the changing international IPRs regime and its possible impact on the food system, in particular through their connection with biotechnology and marketing. It outlines how IPRs have been extended into agriculture globally through the Agreement on the Trade–Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights ( TRIPS) at the World Trade Organization ( WTO) and the other related international agreements. It identifies two problems. One is with the way the global rules are made—which is unbalanced with too few of the interested parties taking part in the process. The other is with whether the rules themselves are appropriate in food and agriculture. Their possible impact, especially patents, on increasingly proprietary, agricultural research and development is discussed as well as the possible effects on seed provision of the requirement for some form of IPRs protection to be available for plant varieties in all WTO members, sooner or later. Possible options for rethinking the rules to make them more appropriate for food and agriculture are discussed, as well as effects on market structure and the environment. Brief mention is made of other IPRs—trademarks, trade secrets and geographical indications—upon the way business in the food system is carried out. The paper concludes that this complex subject area is worthy of much more scrutiny because of the potential impact of these esoteric and complex rules.     

The New Statistics for Better Science: Ask How Much,How Uncertain,and What Else Is Known

Abstract

The “New Statistics” emphasizes effect sizes, confidence intervals, meta-analysis, and the use of Open Science practices. We present three specific ways in which a New Statistics approach can help improve scientific practice: by reducing overconfidence in small samples, by reducing confirmation bias, and by fostering more cautious judgments of consistency. We illustrate these points through consideration of the literature on oxytocin and human trust, a research area that typifies some of the endemic problems that arise with poor statistical practice.