THE IMPACT OF THE INTRODUCTION OF THE U.K. MINIMUM WAGE ON THE EMPLOYMENT PROBABILITIES OF LOW‐WAGE WORKERS

This paper uses longitudinal data from three contrasting data sets (matched Labor Force Surveys, the British Household Panel Survey, and matched New Earnings Surveys) to estimate the impact of the introduction of the U.K. minimum wage (in April 1999) on the probability of subsequent employment among those whose wages would have needed to be raised to comply with the minimum. A difference‐in‐differences estimator is used, based on position in the wage distribution. No significant adverse employment effects are found for any of the four demographic groups considered (adult and youth, men and women) or in any of the three data sets used. (JEL: J38, J23)     

Maternal depression,parental attributions,and adolescent psychopathology: An evaluation using observational and video-mediated recall methods

Parenting styles associated with maternal depression are a risk factor for adolescent psychopathology, and maternal attributional styles may be a key mechanism in this relationship. Mother-adolescent dyads (N = 180; 96 male; ages 10–15) completed in-person interactions and then the mothers participated in a video-mediated recall procedure to assess maternal attributions. Maternal depression was associated with negative attributions. Negative attributions were associated with low parental acceptance, aggressive parenting, and low positive parenting. Positive maternal attributions were associated with less aggressive parenting, and more positive parenting during one interaction task. Adolescent externalizing behaviors were associated with negative attributions. Future research should evaluate whether maternal attributions mediate the association between maternal depression and both parenting behaviors and adolescent mental health.     

Economic Inequality is Associated with Lower Internet Use: A Nationally Representative Study

Social Indicators Research - Previous studies have documented the associations of objective class with either social capital or subjective social status, yet little attention has been paid to the...     

How does Inequality Hamper Subjective Well-being? The Role of Fairness

Social Indicators Research - In this study, we aim at clarifying the role of economic inequality on the subjective well-being of individuals. For this purpose, we use more than 180,000 individuals...     

Biosocial Influences on the Family: A Decade Review

The past decade brought a remarkable increase in the number and quality of biosocial studies of family processes. The current review summarizes recent advances in biosocial family research by providing key exemplars of emerging research paradigms. Research in the past decade has substantiated the claim in the previous Decade Review ( Booth, Carver, & Granger, 2000 ) that bidirectional influences between all levels of analysis are paramount. There is an emerging consensus that integrating factors at multiple biological and social levels is highly informative. Because ignoring biological factors often will underestimate mediating or moderating mechanisms, the review provides recommendations for biosocial family research. We also highlight the need for researchers who understand complex family environments to lend their expertise to biosocial studies.     

Sex Differences in Parenting Behaviors in Single‐Mother and Single‐Father Households

Research on family structure has led some to claim that sex‐based parenting differences exist. But if such differences exist in single‐parent families, the absence of a second parent rather than specific sex‐typed parenting might explain them. We examine differences in mothering and fathering behavior in single‐parent households, where number of parents is held constant, and we describe individualist and structuralist perspectives for potential sex‐based parenting behaviors. We compare 3,202 single mothers and 307 single fathers in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (Kindergarten Cohort). Results suggest that, although there are small differences in the parenting behaviors of single mothers and single fathers, differences are sensitive to demographic disparities and do not translate to academic deficits for children in either family type.     

A preference foundation for Fehr and Schmidt’s model of inequity aversion

Fehr and Schmidt (FS) introduced an influential social utility function for individuals in interpersonal contexts that captures self-centered inequity aversion. The value of this social utility function lies in its exceptionally good balance between parsimony and fit. This paper provides a preference foundation for exactly the model of FS with preference conditions that exactly capture the exceptionally good balance of FS. Remarkably, FS is a special case of Schmeidler’s rank-dependent utility for decision under uncertainty.     

Dynamics of adolescent friendship networks and smoking behavior

The mutual influence of smoking behavior and friendships in adolescence is studied. It is attempted to disentangle influence and selection processes in reciprocal and non-reciprocal friendships. An actor-based model is described for the co-evolution of friendship networks and smoking behavior. This model considers alternative selection and influence mechanisms, and models continuous-time changes in network and behavior. The data consists of a longitudinal sample of 1326 Finnish adolescents in 11 high schools. Findings suggest that selection as well as influence processes play an important role in adolescent smoking behavior. Selection had a relatively stronger role than influence, in particular when selecting non-reciprocal friends. The strength of both influence and selection processes decreased over time.