Revisiting the Moderating Effect of Social Support on Strain: A Gendered Test

Agnew's General Strain Theory (GST) has both revived and advanced strain theory. It has recently been applied to topics ranging from gender differences in delinquency to differences in community crime rates. Tests of GST are now focusing on the intermediate variables that fall between GST and delinquency, such as anger and social support, but these tests have produced varying results. This paper adds to GST literature by empirically analyzing whether social support moderates individuals' responses to strain and whether this moderating effect varies by gender. Testing is conducted using data from wave six of the National Youth Survey (NYS). Results provide support for GST and suggest that there are gender differences in the types and levels of strain experienced during the late teens. Further, there is evidence to support the hypothesis that social support does moderate females' responses to certain types of strain.     

论仪式在生命过渡阶段的心理治疗价值

仪式作为一种社会文化现象引发了多学科的研究兴趣。在心理治疗领域,仪式的交流和变化特征使其可以成为一种治疗手段,尤其在帮助人们顺利完成生命过渡、避免心理疾病方面具有重要价值。在人们出生、成年、结婚等重要节点,仪式带给我们的心理作用不可忽略,不做处理的生命过渡会带来心理危机。仪式化的心理治疗通过意义的传递、给予心灵稳固支撑、建构自我、增强控制感、面向未来、促进联系等机制实现。     

中国农业现代化发展水平时空格局及趋同演变

采用熵权TOPSIS法对我国2001—2012年31省份的农业现代化发展水平进行综合评价,进而采用GIS技术对我国农业现代化发展水平进行空间格局分析,并运用Markov链方法对我国农业现代化水平的趋同演变进行了实证研究。研究发现：（1）整体上我国农业现代化水平从东部到中部再到西部梯度降低,且存在显著的空间自相关,发展水平相似的地区呈现集聚分布;（2）农业现代化水平还表现出一定的俱乐部趋同特征,随着时间积累,各俱乐部的趋同迹象有所缓解,但一直都存在着“高水平垄断”现象;（3）空间因素对地区农业现代化的发展具有积极影响,高水平的邻居更能带动本地区农业现代化水平的提高,研究还发现在考察期内这种带动作用需要3年的时间积累才能体现。     

Gender and Casual Sexual Activity From Adolescence to Emerging Adulthood: Social and Life Course Correlates

The prevalence of casual sexual activity among teens and emerging adults has led to much public attention. Yet limited research has investigated whether the number of casual sexual partners per year changes as heterosexual men and women transition from adolescence into emerging adulthood. We considered the influence of social context and life course factors on the number of casual sex partners. We examined four waves of interviews from the Toledo Adolescent Relationships Study (TARS) and used negative binomial growth curve models to investigate patterns of change in the number of casual sex partners (N = 1,196) ages 15 to 22. Men and women both reported increases in the number of casual sex partners over time and did not differ from each other in the rate of change over time. In all, 40% of respondents reported a recent casual sex partner at age 22. Number of prior dating relationships, education status, substance use, and perceptions of peer sexual behavior significantly influenced the number of casual sex partners. Emerging adults who did not complete high school, compared to those enrolled in four-year degree programs, reported significantly more partners. The findings contribute to research on intimate relationships and provide insights for programs targeting emerging adults.     

BEHAVIORAL PATTERNS IN SOCIAL NETWORKS

In this article, we focus on the analysis of individual decision‐making for the formation of social networks, using experimentally generated data. We analyze the determinants of the individual demand for links under the assumption of agents' static expectations and identify patterns of behavior that correspond to three specific objectives: players propose links so as to maximize expected profits (myopic best response strategy); players attempt to establish the largest number of direct links (reciprocator strategy); and players maximize expected profits per direct link (opportunistic strategy). These strategies explain approximately 74% of the observed choices. We demonstrate that they are deliberately adopted and, by means of a finite mixture model, well identified and separated in our sample. (JEL C33, C35, C90, D85)     

Threshold‐free estimation of functional antibody titers of a group B streptococcus opsonophagocytic killing assay

Opsonophagocytic killing assays (OPKA) are routinely used for the quantification of bactericidal antibodies in blood serum samples. Quantification of the OPKA readout, the titer, provides the basis for the statistical analysis of vaccine clinical trials having functional immune response endpoints. Traditional OPKA titers are defined as the maximum serum dilution yielding a predefined bacterial killing threshold value, and they are estimated by fitting a dose‐response model to the dilution‐killing curve. This paper illustrates a novel definition of titer, the threshold‐free titer, which preserves biological interpretability while not depending on any killing threshold or on a postulated shape of the dose‐response curve. These titers are shown to be more precise than the traditional threshold‐based titers when using simulated and experimental group B streptococcus OPKA experimental data. Also, titer linearity is shown to be not measurable when using threshold‐based titers, whereas it becomes measurable using threshold‐free titers. The biological interpretability and operational characteristics demonstrated here indicate that threshold‐free titers are an appropriate tool for the routine analysis of OPKA data. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

再论詹姆士的实用主义真理观

实用主义是 2 0世纪西方哲学的一个重要流派。詹姆士的实用主义真理观是实用主义方法、原则的引伸 ,是实用主义理论的核心内容。在詹姆士那里 ,真理是指与实在相符合的观念以及观念必须具备适用性 ;真理既有绝对的一面 ,又有相对的一面 ,是绝对性与相对性的统一 ;真理是观念证实它本身的过程 ,这种证实包括直接证实和间接证实两种方式。从实用主义角度来说 ,间接证实的运用比直接证实更方便、更合算。     

试论西藏社会经济跨越式发展的内含、背景及可能性

本文论述了西藏实现社会经济跨越式发展的内含及背景,分析了“跨越式”发展的可能性,提出为了确保使西藏社会经济实现跨越式发展的可能性转化为现实的社会经济实践,必须采取一切必要的措施,加大投资力度,优化投资环境及调整产业结构。     

汉语方言自动聚类与分区及相关计算方法

本文回顾了学界对汉语方言之间相互关系的三种计量方法：特征统计、词源统计和词汇相似度计量,指出这三种计量方法采用的是非整体的、语音和词汇上受限的考察方法。文章阐述了一种更适用的计算模型,即Levenshtein Distance算法(莱文斯坦距离,或称编辑距离),该方法对语言或方言之间线性字符串的语音相似性和词汇对应性具有协调功能,并蕴含特征比对和词源概率效用。本文自动分区实验汇集了南方吴、闽、粤、湘、客、赣、徽、淮8个分区的78个方言,官话方言有东北、北京、冀鲁、胶辽、中原、兰银、西南108个方言,共计186个汉语方言点。每个方言收集了斯瓦迪士100个基本词,并对方言之间展开相似性计算。计算结果与传统分区基本一致,但更为精准。     

The Impact of Family Transitions on Child Fostering in Rural Malawi

Despite the frequency of divorce and remarriage across much of sub-Saharan Africa, little is known about what these events mean for the living arrangements of children. We use longitudinal data from rural Malawi to examine the effects of family transitions on the prevalence and incidence of child fostering, or children residing apart from their living parents. We find that between 7 % and 15 % of children aged 3–14 are out-fostered over the two-year intersurvey period. Although divorce appears to be a significant driver of child fostering in the cross-sectional analysis, it is not significantly associated with the incidence of out-fostering. In contrast, maternal remarriage has both a lagged and an immediate effect on the incidence of out-fostering. Furthermore, the likelihood of out-fostering is even higher among children whose mother remarried and had a new child during the intersurvey period. Using longitudinal data collected from living mothers rather than from children’s current foster homes offers new insights into the reasons children are sent to live with others besides their parents.