Life satisfaction and the economic and social characteristics of neighbourhoods

This paper uses data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey to investigate the association between neighbourhood effects and life satisfaction. We find that neighbourhood measures of social support and interaction and the absence of socio-economic deprivation are positively and significantly correlated with individual life satisfaction. Neighbourhood fixed effects, however, explain only an additional 1.5 to 2.5% of the variance in life satisfaction over the 14% explained by individual characteristics.

Nature’s Experiment? Handedness and Early Childhood Development

In recent years, a large body of research has investigated the various factors affecting child development and the consequent impact of child development on future educational and labor market outcomes. In this article, we contribute to this literature by investigating the effect of handedness on child development. This is an important issue given that around 10% of the world’s population is left-handed and given recent research demonstrating that child development strongly affects adult outcomes. Using a large, nationally representative sample of young children, we find that the probability of a child being left-handed is not significantly related to child health at birth, family composition, parental employment, or household income. We also find robust evidence that left-handed (and mixed-handed) children perform significantly worse in nearly all measures of development than right-handed children, with the relative disadvantage being larger for boys than girls. Importantly, these differentials cannot be explained by different socioeconomic characteristics of the household, parental attitudes, or investments in learning resources.     

TRUST,RECIPROCITY, AND RULES

Many economic interactions rely on trust and trust violations can have serious economic consequences. Simple minimum standard rules are attractive because they prevent egregious trust violations. However, they may undermine more trusting and reciprocal (trustworthy) behavior that otherwise would have occurred, leading to worse outcomes. In an experimental trust game, we test the efficacy of exogenously imposed minimum standard rules. Rules damage trust and reciprocity, reducing economic welfare. While sufficiently restrictive rules restore welfare, trust and reciprocity never return. Results indicate that participants are concerned about payoffs while also using the game to learn about trust and trustworthiness of others. (JEL C72, C90, D63, D64, L51)     

DEVELOPMENT OF THE FAMILY EMOTIONAL INVOLEMENT AND CRITCISM SCALE (FEICS): A SELF-REPORT SCALE TO MEASURE EXPRESSED EMOTION

This paper reports on the development, reliability, and validity of a self-report scale to assess from the recipients' perspective two factors derived from Expressed Emotion (EE) theroy. The Family Emotional Involvement and criticism Scale (FEICS) has two subsles: Perceived Criticism (PC) and intensity of Emotional Involvement (EI). These two factors are analogous to Critical Comments and Emotional Overeinovlvement, the two main factors of EE that are assessed through the camberwell Family Interview, the original direct observation measure of EE. FEICS was completed by 83 respondents who were a random sample of patients over 40 years of age receiving care at a Fmily Medicince Center. Cronbach's alpha was. 82 for the PC subscale and .74 for the EI subscale. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that each item loaded onn its propsed factor (all at ≥ .50) and not with the other factor (all at ≤ .15). The subscales exhibited expected correlations and partial correlations with FACES III subscales, ISEL subscales, the SCL-90 depression and anxiety subscale, and demographic variables. We conclude that the EFICS is a reliable instrument with perliminary evidence of its construct and criterion validity.     

Intrahousehold Resource Allocation: Do Parents Reduce or Reinforce Child Ability Gaps?

Do parents invest more or less in their high-ability children? We provide new evidence on this question by comparing observed ability differences and observed investment differences between siblings living in the United States. To overcome endogeneity issues, we use sibling differences in handedness as an instrument for cognitive ability differences. We find that parents invest more in high-ability children, with a 1 standard deviation increase in child cognitive ability increasing parental investments by approximately one-third of a standard deviation. Consequently, differences in child cognitive ability are enhanced by differential parental investments.     

Perception of family need in pediatric oncology

This paper studies the needs of a family in which a child has been diagnosed with cancer. The tasks of the family include meeting the physical and psychosocial needs of the child while attempting to maintain normal family functioning. Various psychological and social factors affect the outcome of medical treatment and the recovery process. The paper highlights the needs assessment as a tool in a comprehensive approach to service delivery.     

“Sexy” And “Laddish” Girls

Unpacking ideologies at work within contemporary popular media discourses about young womanhood can be challenging when the terrain of their representation is often presented in a kind of binary-oppositional fashion. There is concern that in contemporary popular culture traditional gender roles are becoming even more entrenched, with femininity increasingly defined around notions of (hyper, hetero-normative) “sexiness.” At the same time, it seems that certain aspects of masculinity, namely sexual hedonism and social, drinking-centred hedonism, have conditionally opened up to young women. The panics that exist around both the figures of the “sexy girl” and the “laddish girl” lead me to unpack here how it is that concerns about women's excessive “sexiness,” and the gendered reinforcement of the sex-object role, relate to discourses of gender “transgression” that often circulate around the figure of the “ladette,” and the supposedly new-found freedoms she is exercising. I suggest that while the figures of the “sexy girl” and the “laddish girl” are both to some extent deplored and constructed as “excessive” and “transgressive” in recent media discourses, they are also both normalised and publicly imag(in)ed through such discourses as central post-feminist paradigms of young womanhood. I go on to explore a possible ideological function of the co-existence of “sexy” and “laddish” girls as normative figures within contemporary media culture.     

A model of temporary migration: the Egyptian case

"In this article, a family migration model is introduced where differences in regional amenities and wage rates can result in voluntary, temporary migration. A household production model of temporary migration will be developed and tested to analyse Egyptian temporary migration to the Gulf region. The theoretical model will be a two-period model of temporary migration and will be empirically tested using the well known and comprehensive 1982 Egyptian Fertility Survey, which is part of the World Fertility Survey and covers a period for which temporary migration from Egypt was at or near its peak. This was also before the Gulf War, after which patterns of migration were different." (SUMMARY IN FRE AND SPA)     

CRITIQUING THE NEW EPISTEMOLOGIES: TOWARDMINIMUM REQUIREMENTS FOR A SCIENTIFIC THEORY OF FAMILY THERAPY*

The purpose of this paper is to critically analyze the structures of the new epistemologies. Epistemology is a technical term within the field of scientific philosophy. When it is used looselyby family therapists, confusion results. The central argument of the present author is that the new epistemologies are, in fact, weak theories. It is suggested that the practice of using the term “epistemology” to denote theory or paradigm, be discontinued. A more limited and narrowly defined use for the term “epistemology” is proposed. Specifically, this paper presents: (a) a discussion ofthree areas of philosophy that serve as foundations for the construction of scientific theory, (b)a critical analysis of the new epistemologies, (c) a logical structure for scientific family therapy theory, and (d) minimum requirements for a scientific theory of family therapy.