Happiness the World Over

In the 21 countries reported in “Happiness the World Over” the relationships between subjective wellbeing were found to be positively correlated with countries that enjoy individual and economic freedom, higher life expectancy, lower rates of infant mortality and greater wealth. There were no significant correlations between happiness and marriage rates, divorce rates, fertility rates, literacy rates, suicide rates and penal incarceration rates.     

Resisting your good intentions: substance‐misusing parents and early intervention to support and monitor children in need

Children from substance‐misusing families face elevated risks in growing up well and safe. Early intervention is an opportunity for local authorities to offer support and keep a watching brief on children's welfare. However, the basis upon which agencies voluntarily engage with families in advance of major problems becoming evident is far from straightforward. This qualitative pilot study in Scotland followed professional decision‐making over 6 months (n = 20 professionals) with a small number of families (n = 6) defined as in need of supportive intervention. This support was allied with an intention to monitor the family situation, which, in these data, appeared to affect the willingness of families to engage with services. As services sought to increase their voluntary oversight, sometimes by threatening escalating involvement, so families by various means appeared to resist it. Successful early intervention is reliant on voluntary family participation and thus requires close attention to means of positive and motivated parental engagement to disarm resistance.     

Preference Theory and Low Fertility: A Comparative Perspective

The discussion on the causes of the most recent fertility decline in Europe, and in particular on the emergence of lowest-low fertility, emphasizes the relevance of cultural factors in addition to economic ones. As part of such a cultural framework, the heterogeneity of preferences concerning the “career vs. family” dichotomy has been systematized in the “Preference Theory” approach developed by Catherine Hakim. This heterogeneity in preferences, however, has so far been underinvestigated in a comparative framework. This paper makes use of comparative data from the 2004/2005 Round of the European Social Survey to test the links between individual-level preferences and both fertility outcomes and fertility intentions, in a variety of societal settings. Results confirm an association between work–family lifestyle preferences and realized fertility in a variety of European countries, while they do not show a relationship between lifestyle preferences and fertility intentions. Results further support the existence of heterogeneous patterns of association between lifestyle preferences and fertility choices among welfare regimes.     

Attitudes, Norms and Perceived Behavioural Control: Explaining Fertility Intentions in Bulgaria

In this article, we study fertility decision-making through timing parity-progression intentions. The theoretical framework builds on Ajzen’s social-psychological “Theory of Planned Behavior”: intentions are seen as directly dependent on three components: attitudes, norms and perceived behavioural control. We study the case of Bulgaria, a “lowest-low” fertility country. In 2002, a sample survey containing a specially designed module was conducted. This module included an implementation of our framework, with a special attention to the links between normative pressure and the social network of respondents. Results show that the three components are broadly predictive of fertility intentions. More specifically, attitudes are more relevant than norms for higher parities. Socio-economic, ideational, psychological and social capital-based factors are relevant background determinants.     

The Voice of Deception: Vocal Strategies of Naive and Able Liars

The aim of this research was to analyze the main vocal cues and strategies used by a liar. 31 male university students were asked to raise doubts in an expert in law about a picture. The subjects were required to describe the picture in three experimental conditions: telling the truth (T) and lying to a speaker when acquiescent (L1) and when suspicious (L2). The utterances were then subjected to a digitized acoustic analysis in order to measure nonverbal vocal variables. Verbal variables were also analyzed (number of words, eloquency and disfluency index). Results showed that deception provoked an increment in F₀, a greater number of pauses and words, and higher eloquency and fluency indexes. The F₀ related to the two types of lie—prepared and unprepared—identified three classes of liars: good liars, tense liars (more numerous in L1), and overcontrolled liars (more numerous in L2). It is argued that these differences are correlated to the complex task of lying and the need to control one's emotions during deception. The liar's effort to control his/her voice, however, can lead to his/her tone being overcontrolled or totally lacking in control (leakage). Finally, the research forwards an explanation on the strategies used by the good liar and in particular treats the self-deception hypothesis.     

International Dimensions of Post-1980 Internal Migration in the United States: The Role of Sustenance Specialization and Dominance

Post-1980 internal migration patterns were unanticipated, and prevailing explanations of them fail to account for the effects of new international relationships. A human ecological theory is developed which suggests an explanation based on the sphere of sustenance activities in ecosystems and relative dominance in these activities. Larger net migration was expected for counties specialized in activities that operate in international ecosystems in which the United States is dominant and less in other types of counties. The results for post-1980 migration in United States counties support these expectations and the utility of an expanded human ecological perspective.