Predicting welfare benefit claiming using expectancy theory

Explanations for why over 600,000 UK pensioners do not claim their entitlement to Supplementary Pensions (a means-tested benefit) can be attributed to three types of attitudinal factors: (1) their perceptions of their situations; (2) their beliefs that applying leads to certain outcomes and has certain implications; and (3) their feelings about these outcomes. Although beliefs and feelings about the outcomes of applying are central insofar as many of them represent responses to factors which government can hope to influence, it is clear that these beliefs and feelings are not important to all pensioners. Thus in order to identify and to determine the importance of key beliefs and feelings, a method must be devised to locate those non-claimants for whom such expectations are strongly related to their behaviour. This small study of Scottish pensioners tests the effectiveness of a conceptual model which employs pensioners' perceptions of need, of the utility of the benefit, and of the stability of their situations both as predictors of non-claiming and as moderators of the relationship between their beliefs and feelings about the outcomes of applying and their actual claiming behaviour.     

Food for feminist thought

Women's relationship with food on a daily basis is contradictory and problematic. Women are expected to deny themselves food in order to remain sexually attractive and, at the same time, they have to feed their partners and children with healthy and nutritious meals. The power of ideologies equating sexual attractiveness with slimness means that most women are not happy with their body image. This dissatisfaction is reinforced by the comments of men, particularly their partners. Food, as well as being a‘fattening’enemy is a comfort and is resorted to at times of emotional stress. Women's‘normal’relationship with food lies on a continuum of which the eating disorders are the extremes and is a product of their structural position in society.     

The Intersection of Neglected Ideas: Durkheim,Mead, and the Postmodernists*

In this article, the author examines pragmatic philosophy as a tool to open a richer dialogue between modern and postmodern depictions of reality. Exploring the pragmatic influences in the thoughts of G. H. Mead and Emile Durkheim (as well as C. Wright Mills and others), the author argues that ideas found in these theorist's writings, as they are informed by American Pragmatism, can act as a metaphorical bridge in linking modern and postmodern thought. In this context, the author shows that the functionalists and structuralists wrongly depict Durkheim and Mead as disciples of and inheritors of the Enlightenment project. Conversely, the postmodernists simply ignore them because they are wrongly perceived to be part of the totalizing, “enemy” camp of the Enlightenment tradition. The author asserts that a more accurate read of Durkheim and Mead finds a nuanced, middle ground in regards to opposition to versus submission to the Enlightenment project, and hence Durkheim and Mead (due in large part to American Pragmatism's influence in their writings) offer a way for modern and postmodern theory to enter into more fruitful dialogue with each other.     

A Reinterpretation of Parental Monitoring in Longitudinal Perspective

A commonly used measure of parental monitoring is parents' knowledge of adolescents' daily activities. This measure has been criticized on the grounds that parents get more knowledge about teenagers' daily activities through willing youth disclosure than through their own active monitoring efforts, but this claim was based on cross-sectional data. In the present study, we reexamine this claim with longitudinal data over 2 years from 938 seventh and eighth graders and their parents. Youth disclosure was a significant longitudinal predictor of parental knowledge in single- and cross-rater models. Neither measure of parents' monitoring efforts—control or solicitation—was a significant predictor. In analyses involving delinquency, parental monitoring efforts did not predict changes in delinquency over time, but youth disclosure did. We conclude that because knowledge measures do not seem to represent parental monitoring efforts, the conclusions from studies using these measures should be reinterpreted.     

Intergenerational income immobility in Finland: contrasting roles for parental earnings and family income

An intergenerational model is developed, nesting heritable earning abilities and credit constraints limiting human capital investments in children. Estimates on a large, Finnish data panel indicate very low transmission from parental earnings, suggesting that the parameter of inherited earning ability is tiny. Family income, particularly during the phase of educating children, is shown to be much more important in shaping children’s lifetime earnings. This influence of parental incomes on children’s earnings rises as the children age because the returns to education rise. Despite Finland’s well-developed welfare state, persistence in economic status across generations is much higher than previously thought.     

Do Flow Rates Respond Asymmetrically to Water Level? Evidence from the Edwards Aquifer

This research examines the time series relationship between the Comal Springs flow rate and the water level in the Edwards Aquifer (Well J-17). The empirical methodology utilizes threshold autoregression (TAR) and momentum-TAR models that allow for asymmetry in responses and adjustments to a disequilibrium in the long-run cointegrating relationship. Based on the results, an asymmetric error-correction model (AECM) is proposed to characterize the short-run and long-run dynamic relationship between spring flow and water level. The results have implications for the management of water resources, water demand, and ecosystems.