Late,But Not Too Late? Postponement of First Birth Among Highly Educated US Women

We examine the link between the postponement of parenthood and fertility outcomes among highly educated women in the USA born in 1920–1986, using data from the CPS June Supplement 1979–2016. We argue that the postponement–low fertility nexus noted in demographic and biomedical research is especially relevant for women who pursue postgraduate education because of the potential overlap of education completion, early career stages, and family formation. The results show that women with postgraduate education differ from women with college education in terms of the timing of the first birth, childlessness, and completed fertility. While the postponement trend, which began with the cohorts born in the 1940s, has continued among highly educated women in the USA, its associations with childlessness and completed parity have changed considerably over subsequent cohorts. We delineate five distinct postponement phases over the 80-year observation window, consistent with variation over time in the prevalence of strategies for combining tertiary education and employment with family formation.     

Political behavior in organizations—A cross-cultural comparison

The purpose of this study is to explore the differences in the meaning attached to organizational politics (OP) across cultures. A critical incidents scale was distributed to two samples of university faculty, one in Canada and one in Israel. Three aspects relevant to the perception of OP were investigated : (1) the role that elements previously identified in the literature play in the actual perception of OP by employees; (2) the extent to which OP is perceived as moral; and (3) the degree to which OP is perceived to be prevalent or likely to occur in the subjects’ organization. The results showed that the Canadian sample perceived the various elements in the scale as generally more political, less moral, and less prevalent in their organization than the Israeli sample. Both samples considered informal influence attempts as more political than formal or illegal ones. The two samples also considered illegal influence attempts as less moral than formal or informal ones. Elements defined in our study as circumstantial, i.e, “conflict,” “power attainment,” “concealment of motive,” and “acting against the organization,” were found to make a smaller contribution to the perception of situations as political than elements defined as behavioral, i.e., “formal,” “informal,” and “illegal,” influence attempts.     

Estimation of an indicator of the representativeness of survey response

Nonresponse is a major source of estimation error in sample surveys. The response rate is widely used to measure survey quality associated with nonresponse, but is inadequate as an indicator because of its limited relation with nonresponse bias. Schouten et al. (2009) proposed an alternative indicator, which they refer to as an indicator of representativeness or R-indicator. This indicator measures the variability of the probabilities of response for units in the population. This paper develops methods for the estimation of this R-indicator assuming that values of a set of auxiliary variables are observed for both respondents and nonrespondents. We propose bias adjustments to the point estimator proposed by Schouten et al. (2009) and demonstrate the effectiveness of this adjustment in a simulation study where it is shown that the method is valid, especially for smaller sample sizes. We also propose linearization variance estimators which avoid the need for computer-intensive replication methods and show good coverage in the simulation study even when models are not fully specified. The use of the proposed procedures is also illustrated in an application to two business surveys at Statistics Netherlands.     

Paid maternal leave is associated with better language and socioemotional outcomes during toddlerhood

The United States is the only high-income country that does not have a national policy mandating paid leave to working women who give birth. Increased rates of maternal employment post-birth call for greater understanding of the effects of family leave on infant development. This study examined the links between paid leave and toddler language, cognitive, and socioemotional outcomes (24–36 months; N = 328). Results indicate that paid leave was associated with better language outcomes, regardless of socioeconomic status. Additionally, paid leave was correlated with fewer infant behavior problems for mothers with lower levels of educational attainment. Expanding access to policies that support families in need, like paid family leave, may aid in reducing socioeconomic disparities in infant development.     

BOOTSTRAP TESTS FOR THE ERROR DISTRIBUTION IN LINEAR AND NONPARAMETRIC REGRESSION MODELS

In this paper we investigate several tests for the hypothesis of a parametric form of the error distribution in the common linear and non‐parametric regression model, which are based on empirical processes of residuals. It is well known that tests in this context are not asymptotically distribution‐free and the parametric bootstrap is applied to deal with this problem. The performance of the resulting bootstrap test is investigated from an asymptotic point of view and by means of a simulation study. The results demonstrate that even for moderate sample sizes the parametric bootstrap provides a reliable and easy accessible solution to the problem of goodness‐of‐fit testing of assumptions regarding the error distribution in linear and non‐parametric regression models.     

Resolving the (Apparent) Talker Recognition Paradox in Developmental Speech Perception

The infant literature suggests that humans enter the world with impressive built‐in talker processing abilities. For example, newborns prefer the sound of their mother's voice over the sound of another woman's voice, and well before their first birthday, infants tune in to language‐specific speech cues for distinguishing between unfamiliar talkers. The early childhood literature, however, suggests that preschoolers are unable to learn to identify the voices of two unfamiliar talkers unless these voices are highly distinct from one another, and that adult‐level talker recognition does not emerge until children near adolescence. How can we reconcile these apparently paradoxical messages conveyed by the infant and early childhood literatures? Here, we address this question by testing 16.5‐month‐old infants (N = 80) in three talker recognition experiments. Our results demonstrate that infants at this age have difficulty recognizing unfamiliar talkers, suggesting that talker recognition (associating voices with people) is mastered later in life than talker discrimination (telling voices apart). We conclude that methodological differences across the infant and early childhood literatures—rather than a true developmental discontinuity—account for the performance differences in talker processing between these two age groups. Related findings in other areas of developmental psychology are discussed.     

Characteristics of effective summer learning programs in practice

The Center for Summer Learning examined various summer program models and found that there are nine characteristics that provide a framework for effective summer programs. In this chapter, the authors demonstrate how effective practices lead to positive results for young people. The nine characteristics of effective summer learning programs are (1) accelerating learning, (2) youth development, (3) proactive approach to summer learning, (4) leadership, (5) advanced planning, (6) staff development, (7) strategic partnerships, (8) evaluation and commitment to program improvement, and (9) sustainability and cost-effectiveness. These characteristics are divided into two sections. The first three characteristics address a program's approach to learning. Summer instructional techniques are most effective when academic learning is woven into enrichment activities and youth development. The second section covers program infrastructure to ensure the organization achieves and maintains quality programming. The nine characteristics complement each other to ensure a strong program that works to prevent summer learning loss and narrow the achievement gap. To demonstrate the variety of high-quality programs that include the nine characteristics, thirteen program profiles at the conclusion of the chapter each highlight one of the characteristics. These profiles show the various approaches that different summer programs have developed to accelerate academic achievement and promote positive development for young people in their communities.     

Co‐occurrence of and cross‐informant agreement on shyness,unsociability, and social avoidance during early adolescence

We investigated the co‐occurrence of and cross‐informant agreement on early adolescents’ shyness, unsociability, and avoidance measured by self‐ and peer reports for fifth to eighth graders (N = 383; 51% male) in the United States. Avoidance was significantly and positively associated with shyness and unsociability based on peer reports and self‐reports. Furthermore, 45% and 30% of peer‐ and self‐reported withdrawn adolescents had multiple motivations for withdrawal, suggesting prevalent co‐occurrence of withdrawal subtypes. Cross‐informant agreement was moderate for shyness and weak for unsociability and avoidance. We draw attention to the complexity of motivations underlying withdrawal, theorize about subtype co‐occurrence, and discuss challenges and opportunities related to peer‐reported unsociability and avoidance.