Marginal regression models with a time to event outcome and discrete multiple source predictors

Information from multiple informants is frequently used to assess psychopathology. We consider marginal regression models with multiple informants as discrete predictors and a time to event outcome. We fit these models to data from the Stirling County Study; specifically, the models predict mortality from self report of psychiatric disorders and also predict mortality from physician report of psychiatric disorders. Previously, Horton et al. found little relationship between self and physician reports of psychopathology, but that the relationship of self report of psychopathology with mortality was similar to that of physician report of psychopathology with mortality. Generalized estimating equations (GEE) have been used to fit marginal models with multiple informant covariates; here we develop a maximum likelihood (ML) approach and show how it relates to the GEE approach. In a simple setting using a saturated model, the ML approach can be constructed to provide estimates that match those found using GEE. We extend the ML technique to consider multiple informant predictors with missingness and compare the method to using inverse probability weighted (IPW) GEE. Our simulation study illustrates that IPW GEE loses little efficiency compared with ML in the presence of monotone missingness. Our example data has non-monotone missingness; in this case, ML offers a modest decrease in variance compared with IPW GEE, particularly for estimating covariates in the marginal models. In more general settings, e.g., categorical predictors and piecewise exponential models, the likelihood parameters from the ML technique do not have the same interpretation as the GEE. Thus, the GEE is recommended to fit marginal models for its flexibility, ease of interpretation and comparable efficiency to ML in the presence of missing data.     

Vocational education: A clean slate for disengaged students?

Students’ social psychological adjustment to school is an important determinant of achievement growth as well as school continuation and post-secondary educational attainment. Yet many students begin high school with low levels of efficacy and self-worth, and low levels of identification with and liking of school. In this study, we investigate the hypothesis that vocational education in high school provides disengaged students with an educational clean slate, leading to a recovery of engagement for at-risk students. Using propensity score models, we assess the relationship between vocational course taking and changes in effort, extracurricular participation, sense of belonging, interest in school, attitudes toward school and teachers, educational expectations, career aspirations, locus of control, and self-concept with the NELS:88 database.     

Demography and Public Health Emergency Preparedness: Making the Connection

The tools and techniques of population sciences are extremely relevant to the discipline of public health emergency preparedness: protecting and securing the population’s health requires information about that population. While related fields such as security studies have successfully integrated demographic tools into their research and literature, the theoretical and practical connection between the methods of demography and the practice of public health emergency preparedness is weak. This article suggests the need to further the interdisciplinary use of demography by examining the need for a systematic use of population science techniques in public health emergency preparedness. Ultimately, we demonstrate how public health emergency preparedness can incorporate demography to develop more effective preparedness plans. Important policy implications emerge: demographers and preparedness experts need to collaborate more formally in order to facilitate community resilience and mitigate the consequences of public health emergencies.     

Racial harassment, job satisfaction, and intentions to remain in the military

Our results indicate that two thirds of active-duty military personnel report experiencing offensive racial behaviors in the previous 12 months, whereas approximately one in ten reports threatening racial incidents or career-related discrimination. Racial harassment significantly increases job dissatisfaction irrespective of the form of harassment considered. Furthermore, threatening racial incidents and career-related discrimination heighten intentions to leave the military. Finally, our results point to the importance of accounting for unobserved individual- and job-specific heterogeneity when assessing the consequences of racial harassment. In single-equation models, the estimated effects of racial harassment on both job dissatisfaction and intentions to leave the military are understated.

Changing patterns in the allocation of savings,investments and debts within couple relationships

Using data from the British Household Panel Study (BHPS) from 1995 to 2005 we examine the nature of the allocation of savings, investments and debts between heterosexual couple members, how these vary by individual and household characteristics, and how these patterns vary over a ten‐year time horizon. We find savings are more commonly held in joint names than investments or debts and there is evidence of an increasing independence in financial arrangements between couple members throughout the period 1995 to 2005. Controlling for age and other factors, cohabitation reduces the likelihood of shared financial arrangements. Both partners' labour market income affects the likelihood of having any savings or investments for both men and women but as men's labour income increases, the likelihood of men having jointly held savings and investments with their female partner reduces. Psychological well‐being is improved where individuals have any savings or investments either solely or jointly held with their partner.     

Watson Kirkconnell on “The place of Slavic studies in Canada”: a 1957 speech to the Canadian Association of Slavists

This article introduces and reprints a speech by Watson Kirkconnell to the Canadian Association of Slavists in 1957. Watson Kirkconnell (1895—1977) was an influential Canadian scholar, university administrator, Baptist activist, and prodigious translator of verse. The introduction discusses his significant role in the development of Slavic and East European studies in Canada, as founder of the Humanities Research Council of Canada, and as an early promoter of multiculturalism in Canada. In his speech, Kirkconnell discussed his personal encounter with Slavic studies and the early development of the field in Canada, his role in the pre-history of the Canadian Association of Slavists, and the importance he accorded to fostering critical knowledge of the Slavic and East European societies and cultures in Canada. Slavic studies, he argued, were necessary both intellectually and politically: the Slavic and East European literatures constituted “major stones in the arch of modern civilization”; moreover, in the atmosphere of the Cold War, knowledge of the languages and societies of Soviet-dominated Central and Eastern Europe would play a fundamental role in the fight against communism.     

Is Baby a Blessing? Wantedness,Age at First Birth,and Later‐Life Depression

Research has found that both unintended and nonnormatively timed births have negative consequences, yet little is known about how birth timing and intention jointly influence mothers' mental health. This study explored how the interaction between intention and age at first birth influenced depression 5 to 13 years later by analyzing the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (N = 2,573). We found that mistimed births, when compared with wanted births, were associated with depression, but only for normatively timed transitions to motherhood. Surprisingly, teen mothers who had unwanted births had better later‐life mental health than teens who had wanted or mistimed births. Among women with wanted or mistimed first births, increasing age at birth was associated with lower probabilities of depression. Most, but not all, of these effects were explained by selection factors and life circumstances. Results show the importance of examining joint effects of first birth wantedness and timing.     

"Why can't you control this?" How women's interactions with intimate partners define menopause and family

In this article I explore women's discussions of the interactions that families have about menopause and, thus, attempt to broaden feminist knowledge of women's experiences of menopause within families. Data on which this article is based were collected in 61 in-depth interviews with menopausal women in a midwest state in 2001. Findings suggest that biomedical definitions of menopause are often reaffirmed within interactions between intimate partners. Thus, women reported negative familial interactions about menopause, as they were encouraged to define symptoms as problematic and seek medical treatment. Alternatively, some interviewees reported positive interactions about menopause, as a few partners helped them soothe symptoms and follow health regimens. Women interpreted these latter interactions as support or care, rather than surveillance or monitoring. The author concludes that familial interactions bolster dominant constructions of both menopause and family because, as menopause is discussed between intimate partners, definitions of gendered familial roles and responsibilities are cemented.