The new labor market: Immigrants and wages after IRCA

We examine the effect of the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) on migrants' wages using data gathered in 39 Mexican communities and their U.S. destination areas. We examine changes in the determinants of wages before and after the passage of IRCA, as well as the effects of its massive legalization program. Migrants' wages deteriorated steadily between 1970 and 1995, but IRCA did not foment discrimination against Mexican workers per se. Rather, it appears to have encouraged greater discrimination against undocumented migrants, with employers passing the costs and risks of unauthorized hiring on to the workers. Although available data do not permit us to eliminate competing explanations entirely, limited controls suggest that the post-IRCA wage penalty against undocumented migrants did not stem from an expansion of the immigrant labor supply, an increase in the use of labor subcontracting, or a deterioration of the U.S. labor market.     

Remote access and care: A comparison of Queensland women's maternity care experience according to area of residence

BackgroundThis study fills a gap in the literature with a quantitative comparison of the maternity care experiences of women in different geographic locations in Queensland, Australia.MethodData from a large-scale survey were used to compare women's care experiences according to Australian Standard Geographical Classification (major city, inner regional, outer regional, remote and very remote).ResultsCompared to the other groups, women from remote or very remote areas were more likely to be younger, live in an area with poorer economic resources, identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander and give birth in a public facility. They were more likely to travel to another city, town or community for birth. In adjusted analyses women from remote areas were less likely to have interventions such as electronic fetal monitoring, but were more likely to give birth in an upright position and be able to move around during labour. Women from remote areas did not differ significantly from women from major cities in their satisfaction with interpersonal care. Antenatal and postpartum care was lacking for rural women. In adjusted analyses they were much less likely to have booked for maternity care by 18 weeks gestation, to be telephoned or visited by a care provider in the first 10 days after birth. Despite these differences, women from remote areas were more likely to be breastfeeding at 13 weeks and confident in caring for their baby at home.ConclusionsFindings support qualitative assertions that remote and rural women are disadvantaged in their access to antenatal and postnatal care by the need to travel for birth, however, other factors such as age were more likely to be significant barriers to high quality interpersonal care. Improvements to maternity services are needed in order to address inequalities in maternity care particularly in the postnatal period.     

‘I’m not a quants person’; key strategies in building competence and confidence in staff who teach quantitative research methods’

Initiatives, like the UK ESRC’s RDI/CI programmes and the Q-Step Centres, have a long-term aim of addressing the well-documented decline in the pool of academics able and willing to teach quantitative methods (QM). However, these initiatives will take time to make an impact; therefore, the upskilling of current staff is a vital strategy if we want to maintain QM in curricula. This paper draws on findings from the ESRC RDI project, ‘No More Pointy Clicky, numbers stuff; building staff quantitative skills’. This project focussed on upskilling staff in a large Sociology department. The project was committed to delivering training to develop staff competence in QM; however, it became clear that this alone would not be sufficient to build staff confidence. Therefore, the project rolled-out a more complex strategy that addressed a range of central issues, including, pedagogy, infrastructure, Departmental resourcing and strategy, and staff worldviews, which this article explores.     

Comparison of conflict of interest policies and reported practices in academic medical centers in the United States

The authors reviewed the conflict of interest policies of 9 academic medical centers in the United States and interviewed members of the Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) and Conflict of Interest Committees (COICs) at those institutions. They found that many institutions used processes for reporting and managing conflicts of interest that were more decentralized than the processes described in their policies. Also, most institutions had no clear and comprehensive policy to guide investigators regarding disclosure of conflicts of interest to potential research participants. Considerable differences in understanding of conflict of interest policies were observed between IRB and COIC officials.     

Women's acceptance of the diaphragm: the role of relationship factors

The vaginal diaphragm is a candidate for a female-controlled method of reducing risk of HIV/STI acquisition. We examined the association between relationship and partner factors and three measures of diaphragm acceptability: current use, consistency of use, and satisfaction with use. We conducted a telephone survey with 448 female members of a managed care organization, aged 18-49, who currently used contraception (including 140 diaphragm users, 187 pill users, and 121 male condom users). Use of a specific contraceptive was significantly associated with relationship length, condom-use negotiation self-efficacy, importance of covert use, perceived motivation of partner to prevent HIV/STIs, and perceived satisfaction of partner with current method. In addition, among diaphragm users, communication about HIV/STIs and perceived partner motivation to use a diaphragm were related to consistent use. These results suggest that acceptability of contraceptive methods among women is influenced by their perceptions of their male partner and relationship factors.     

Premarital cohabitation and marital disruption among white,black, and Mexican American women

We use data from the 1995 National Survey of Family Growth (N = 4,547) to investigate racial and ethnic differences in risk factors for marital disruption, with a particular emphasis on premarital cohabitation. We find that the nature and strength of the estimated effects of several risk factors for disruption differ across groups. In particular, premarital cohabitation is positively associated with subsequent marital disruption among non‐Hispanic White women but not among non‐Hispanic Black or Mexican American women. Little of the observed gaps between groups in levels of disruption, however, appears to be attributable to differences in premarital cohabitation. In addition to improving our understanding of marital disruption, this research contributes to a growing literature emphasizing heterogeneity across groups in the meaning and function of cohabitation.     

The link between unemployment and crime rate fluctuations: An analysis at the county, state, and national levels

Cantor and Land (1985) developed a theoretical model that proposed two pathways through which economic activity - as indexed by the aggregate unemployment rate - could affect the rate of criminal activity. The first is by increasing levels of criminal motivation within the population as deteriorating economic conditions affect social strain and social control; the second is by influencing the availability and vulnerability of criminal targets and thus the number of criminal opportunities. Although much empirical research has applied this theoretical model, few analyses have done so at disaggregated units of analysis. We present the most comprehensive analysis to date by empirically evaluating this model with data on 400 of the largest US counties - and examine the effects of aggregation on results as these county data are combined to the state and national levels - for the years 1978-2005. For seven Index crimes at each of the three levels of analysis, and with or without controls for structural covariates at each level, the directional effects hypothesized by Cantor and Land are found for 78 out of 84 estimated relationships. Even after taking into account the lack of statistical independence of these estimates by drawing on recently developed statistical theory, this is a very unlikely outcome. In accordance with expectations based on theory and prior research, (a) some of these relationships are weak and not statistically significant, and (b) the strongest and most consistent patterns of relationships for both the crime opportunity and crime motivation effects are found for three property crimes: burglary, larceny, and motor vehicle theft. Suggestions for further research on this topic are given.     

Conducting research with children: the limits of confidentiality and child protection protocols

This paper addresses the issue of child protection protocols within research conducted with children. Based partly on primary data this paper raises questions about the role of ethics committees in defining the limits of confidentiality in relation to child protection protocols within research, the perceptions of both children and parents about the meanings of confidentiality and notions of ‘harm’, and the role of the researcher in relation to legal and professional guidance about the protection of vulnerable people in society. We explore the concept of confidentiality within a research setting from a child protection perspective. In doing so we examine the legal and moral obligations of researchers to report child protection concerns, how children themselves perceive ‘harm’, and the need for much clearer guidance to researchers, as well as child participants and parents, about the limitations of confidentiality.     

Women's sexual experience during the menstrual cycle: identification of the sexual phase by noninvasive measurement of luteinizing hormone

Imprecise measures of ovulation obscure the relationship between women's sexuality and the menstrual cycle, as does studying women with different contraceptive goals in different social contexts. Here we present a novel noninvasive method to precisely pinpoint the preovulatory surge of Luteinizing Hormone (LH), demarcating hormonally distinct cycle phases with greater than 95% reliability. Women were more sexually active on days prior to and including the preovulatory (LH) surge. This pattern was evident only when women initiated sexual activity and not when their partners did, indicating an increase in women's sexual motivation rather than attractiveness. A second study replicated the 6-day increase in sexual activity beginning 3 days before the LH surge, accompanied by stronger sexual desire and more sexual fantasies. We propose the term 'sexual phase' of the cycle, since follicular phase is over inclusive and ovulatory phase is not sufficient. These findings are striking because the women were avoiding pregnancy and were kept blind to the hypotheses, preventing expectation bias. The sexual phase was more robust in women with regular sexual partners, although the increase in sexual desire was just as great in nonpartnered women, who also reported feeling less lonely at this time. We use these results to evaluate potential neuroendocrine mechanisms underlying women's sexual motivation and activity.