Returns on education amongst men in England and Wales: The impact of residential segregation and ethno-religious background

Individuals’ occupational and educational attainment is influenced by their ethnicity, religion and colour in the UK and elsewhere. In this paper, we analyse the impact of ethnicity, religion and colour along with residential segregation¹ and socio-economic deprivation on returns to education for men in England and Wales. We analyse the 2001 UK census data by employing multi-level logistic regression models. It is found that non-White groups including Christian Black-African, UK born Sikh-Indians and South Asian Muslims are found to suffer an ethnic penalty compared to Christian White-British. While there is evidence to suggest that Muslim men may experience a greater penalty compared to some non-Whites other non-Muslim groups too face ethno-religious penalties, sometimes even more severely such as in the case of Christian Black-Africans. Socio-economic difficulties faced by ethnic minorities are also linked to spatial segregation only when associated with high levels of area deprivation. This suggests that what matters may not be segregation per se, but whether or not it is associated with deprivation.     

Assessing One-Step-Ahead Prediction Error Based on the Median for First-Order Autoregressive Models in the Presence Of Outliers

The prediction of the one-step-ahead observation of the first-order autoregressive process in the presence of outliers is considered. The mean square of the prediction error is obtained based on the median estimator of the model parameter for a stationary process. Monte Carlo simulation methods are employed to investigate the performance of the proposed estimator as well as the conventional ordinary least squares estimators proposed by Zhang and Shaman (1995 Zhang , P. , Shaman , P. ( 1995 ). Assessing prediction error in autoregressive models . Trans. Amer. Mathemat. Soc. 347 : 627 – 637 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and Kabaila and He (1999 Kabaila , P. , He , Z. ( 1999 ). On assessing prediction error in autoregressive models . J. Time Ser. Anal. 20 : 663 – 670 .[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) for a process without outliers. The results show that the proposed method outperforms the conventional method. These conclusions are substantiated with results from actual datasets.     

THE SOCIAL GEOGRAPHY OF GENDER-SWITCHING IN VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS ON THE INTERNET

The virtual social worlds of the internet give people unparalleled control over the construction and presentation of their identities. Gender-switching is perhaps the most dramatic example of how people exercise this control. It occurs when people present a gender that is different from their biological sex. While gender-switching figures prominently in academic commentaries and popular writings about on-line social life, there is little systematic research on the phenomenon. On-line surveys of two stratified random samples (N's=233 and 202) of MOO users were conducted. The majority of participants (60 per cent) in social MOOs (popular text-based internet social venues) had never engaged in gender-switching, while the majority in role-playing MOOs were either gender-switching currently (40 per cent) or had done so in the past (16.7 per cent). More than half of those who currently gender-switched did so for less than 10 per cent of their time on-line. In spite of the freedom to use indeterminate or even plural gender identities, most participants who switched genders (78.7 per cent) did so within traditional binary conventions (male to female, female to male). The primary reason for gender-switching was the desire to play roles of people different from one's self. The primary barrier to gender-switching was the belief that it is dishonest and manipulative. Attitudes toward gender-switching and on-line participation were better predictors of gender-switching than personal background demographics or personality measures. The images of gender-switching that emerge from this first systematic study of the phenomenon are considerably more benign than that usually portrayed in the literature. Gender-switching appears to be practised by a minority of MOO users for a small percentage of their time on-line. Gender-switching within MOOs of all kinds might best be understood as an experimental behaviour rather than as an enduring expression of sexuality, personality, or gender politics.     

Habitat selection by an arboreal lizard in an urban parkland: not just any tree will do

The nocturnal, arboreal Marbled Gecko, Christinus marmoratus, is a common reptile in urban areas in southern Australia. This study compared the demographics and the distribution of geckos occupying different tree species in a modified urban park, the Adelaide Parklands, with those of a population occurring in Ferguson Conservation Park, a nearby native vegetation remnant surrounded by suburbia. The geckos in the modified urban and native remnant parks demonstrated different demographic characteristics. These differences were explained by tree circumference and the amount and type of bark cover on the tree trunk. In the Parkland, geckos were limited by the availability of thick exfoliating bark, its clearly preferred microhabitat as demonstrated by a laboratory choice experiment. The preference for trees with larger circumference, more cover, and thick bark were probably linked to thermoregulation, predator avoidance, and food resources. This study supports the premise that to support populations of urban animals, tree species selection needs careful consideration with regard to its microhabitat capabilities as well as food provision and other resource supports it can provide.     

A cognitive-behavioral plus exercise intervention for older adults with chronic back pain: race/ethnicity effect?

This pilot study examined the feasibility and potential efficacy of a self-management program for seniors with chronic back pain and assessed for possible race/ethnicity differences in program impact. Sixty-nine seniors (24 African Americans, 25 Hispanics, and 20 non-Hispanic Whites) enrolled in the 8-wk community-based program. Efficacy outcomes included pain-related disability as measured by the Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire (RMDQ), pain intensity, pain self-efficacy, depressive symptoms, social activity, and functional status. Eighty percent of enrollees completed the program. Clinically important decreases in RMDQ scores were found for non-Hispanic White (adjusted change score = -3.53), African American (-3.89), and Hispanic (-8.45) participants. Improvements in all other outcomes were observed, but only for Hispanic participants. Results confirm that implementation of the protocol in urban senior centers is feasible, and the program shows potential efficacy. The race/ethnicity differences observed in the current study merit further investigation.     

‘Dirt,Death and Danger? I Don't Recall Any Adverse Reaction …’: Masculinity and the Taint Management of Hospital Private Security Work

Drawing on an ethnographic narrative written by one of the authors following his resignation from a hospital private security team in Ottawa, Canada and interview data gleaned from eight security men (all former colleagues), this article explores how hospital private security officers draw on discourses of masculinity to navigate the ‘dirty’ boundaries of their work, and to preserve their alpha‐guard statuses as controlled, autonomous and authoritative subjects. We found that hospital guards manage and deflect taint status by emphasizing their resiliency, emotional detachment and enthusiasm towards morbid, disturbing and dangerous tasks. Guards who seek to challenge these components of the job may be subject to gender harassment and reprisal from other guards, senior security officials and nursing staff. Overall, these narratives call attention to the necessity of hospital training programmes, de‐briefing exercises and best‐communication practices that promote the physical and emotional well‐being of persons who engage in intensive forms of dirty work.     

Work, income, the economy, and married fathers as child-care providers

Previous research on fathers as child-care providers indicates a need to study the father’s role in child care in the context of different economic cycles. Using data from the 1988, 1991, and 1993 panels of the Survey of Income and Program Participation, we examine whether father’ availability and the couple’s economic resources are differentially related to child care by fathers over time. We focus on the differences between 1991—a recession year—and 1988 and 1993—two nonrecession years. Increased availability of fathers is significantly related to higher levels of fathers’ participation in child care in all three years. Relative economic resources between husbands and wives help explain care by fathers only during the recession year, whereas family income is important only in the nonrecession years. These results suggest that in the future, researchers should acknowledge fluctuations in the economy when studying husbands’ participation in traditional female tasks, as macroeconomic shifts appear to impact the likelihood of married fathers caring for their preschoolers during mothers’ working hours.